THE SERVICE of The temple

to be performed within its courts and walls by the "priests to God" and to the people. These, as we have shown, are immortal and mortal men, the sons of Zadok and the sons of Aaron. So long as sin and death are in the world, the Melchisedec service of the Messiah-erected temple will continue; and the sons of Zadok, the Prince, or Just One, members of his immortal flesh and bones, will also with him be sacerdotally regarded as identified with the sins and trespasses of the people.

Therefore it is, that the priesthood under the New Covenant of the kingdom is not purely immortal, but of a mixed character. A priesthood composed entirely of resurrection men, of angelic or spiritual nature, in whose flesh there was no sin or evil principle, would not be in harmony with the institution, and therefore unfit to perform a service for the purification of the erring and the ignorant; for priesthood must be sympathetically related to the ignorant who worship through it, having infirmity in itself, that it may offer for itself as well as for the people.

The infirmity of the New Covenant priesthood of the kingdom resides not in Zadok and his sons, but in the priests, the Levites, who minister to the people, and perform the humbler duties of the order. Nevertheless, the Just One and his sons are represented in the service as offering their burnt offerings, and peace offerings; not for themselves as individuals and sinners, but only in their priestly capacity as part of a priesthood of mixed character, which partakes of Christ's mortal flesh, as well as his immortal nature, in reckoning the mortal descendants of Levi and Aaron among its constituents.

It would be discordant with the fitness of things that the priesthood should be wholly mortal, or entirely constituted of immortals, seeing that the kingdom itself is a mixed institution the subjects thereof being Israelites in flesh and blood; and its higher order of kings or rulers, incorruptible men. The Twelve Tribes will then be obedient, and keep the covenant of Yahweh, and be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." This is said of Israel in flesh and blood subsisting. They will be the secondary kings and priests over the nations; the intermediate order between these and Zadok and his sons, the kings and priests to God over them and all the earth.

The kingdom and priesthood under the Mosaic law was of an unmixed character, the members of its civil and ecclesiastical orders being all of them subject to death. Not so, however, with the kingdom and its orders in the Age to Come. Its subjects and inheritors are an intermingling of flesh and spirit, until the kingdom shall be surrendered to the Father at "The End;" when the people, and all their superiors worthy of exaltation, shall be all spirits, or incorruptible men; and priesthood and priestly service, but not the royalty, will be done away.

Israel and the nations subjected to them will bring of the flocks and herds of Kedar, and of the rams of Nebaioth, and present them for sin offerings, and burnt offerings, and thank offerings at the north gate of the inner court of the temple; and present them to the Levites of Aaron's seed. These, who are not permitted to approach the altar, nor to minister before the Lord in the temple, will have the "charge at the gates of the house, and minister to the house" "for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein."

They will therefore take charge of the people's gifts; and "they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them." They will slay the sacrifices, namely, "the burnt offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offerings," upon the eight tables of hewn stone in the porch of the north gate, and at the right and left side of the north entrance without. They will then wash them in the place appointed at this gate; and divide a portion to the people, and reserve that devoted to the Lord.

The people's part of the sacrifices they will boil in the corner courts of the paved outer court of the sanctuary; but "the most holy things," or parts of the sacrifices and offerings dedicated to the Lord, of the meat offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering, will be boiled and baked in "the holy chambers of the priests" on the two sides west of the inner court, and eaten there by the sons of Zadok, "the priests that approach unto the Lord." After this arrangement will

"all they that sacrifice come and take of the pots of the Lord's house, and seethe therein"—Zechariah 14: 21.

While the Levites are slaying the sacrifices and passing to and fro in the inner court, they are to wear linen garments that perspiration may not be produced. But they are not to go forth into the outer court with these upon them; but to put them off "and lay them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments:" and the reason given is, that "they shall not sanctify the people in their garments."

It will be their duty after washing the sacrifices, to transfer the fat and the blood to the sons of Zadok, who on the Eighth Day, which is our First Day of the week, and the Sabbath of the Age to Come, instead of the Seventh, as under Moses' law—on the Eighth, shall they burn the fat upon the altar, and sprinkle the blood upon it.

This is the duty of Zadok's seed. They are privileged to approach the altar and to enter into the temple, and stand before the Lord; but not the Levites, the people's priests. They are ministers of death to the sacrifices before the people; but the sons of Zadok, everliving ministers, salvation-clothed, before the Lord. The former slay the unblemished yearling lamb for the daily morning offering by fire, the voluntary offerings of the Prince, and the things devoted of the people; while the latter cause their rich odour to ascend in clouds from Hah ariail haharail, the Altar, or Lion of the Mountain of God.

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The service of the temple will be daily, weekly, and annual.

For further details of the weekly service the reader can consult Ezekiel for himself. We proceed to remark, that before the edifice is opened for public worship, the altar has to be "purged and purified," the house reconciled, and the glory of the God of Israel to make His august entry by the eastern gate.

The cleansing of the altar and reconciling the house, which are synchronous, commences on the 1st day of Abib, (sometimes called Nisan, the First month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, and answering to part of March and April,) and continues for seven days. This is a grand and important national event, for it is nothing less than reconciling the House of Israel itself, as appears from these words—

"And the priest shall take the blood of the sin offering and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house."

This event will complete the reconciliation of the House of Israel in form as well as in principle. The reconciling of the temple, altar, and inner court, will be the formal memorial celebration of the reconciling of the Tribes of Israel, when, having believed in Jesus and been baptised into him, Yahweh shall have

"cast all their sins into the depths of the sea"

—Psalm 68: 22; Micah 7: 19; Zechariah 10: 10-11.

Then will Jesus, who is the glory of God, attended by the 144,000 redeemed from among men as the First-Fruits unto God and himself, with a voice like the noise of many waters, and as the sound of a great thunder, ascend into the hill of the Lord, escorted thus into the holy place.

They will sing the new song before the throne, even the song of Moses and the Lamb. By the eye of faith we see them approaching

"the temple by the way of the gate whose prospect is towards the east,"

Mount Olivet, long since in sunder cleft, and all the region round, shining with the glory; we hear them exclaim with loud hosannas,

"Blessed be He that comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of Yahweh. Hosanna in the highest!"

We behold the glorious multitude demand admission for "the mighty God," the Conqueror of the World, within the walls of the city where he intends to dwell

"in the midst of the children of Israel for ever." "Lift up your heads, O ye gates," say they; "and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of Glory shall come in!"

Ah! now how still the crowd! How hushed is every voice! "Who is this King of glory?" is the only sound, echoing from Salem's walls, that vibrates on the ear. The answer to this bursts forth as the roar of many waters proclaiming him to be

"The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle:"

and followed by a renewal of the demand for admission, saying,

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors: and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory?" do ye ask? Jesus, "the Lord of armies, He is the king of glory."

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The dedication of the house, the reconciliation of Israel, and the return of the glory of God to the temple for the first time since its departure in the reign of Zedekiah, being accomplished, the next thing is the celebration of the fulfilment of the Passover, nationally, in the kingdom of God. The reader will remember what the High Priest in the days of his flesh said to his brethren upon this subject.

"I will not any more eat of this Passover," said he, "until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

By the time the temple is opened as the house of prayer for all nations, it will have been fulfilled in their worse than Egyptian overthrow, and in the deliverance and restoration of the Tribes of Israel. The kingdom being restored to them, the Passover is revived, and the Lord Jesus "eats and drinks at his table in his kingdom" with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the prophets, and the apostles, &c., according to the ordinance contained in Ezekiel 45: 21-24.

—"In the first month, in the 14th day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. And upon that day shall the Prince prepare for himself, and all the people of the land, a bullock for a sin offering," &c.

The feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover, is not celebrated in the temple service of the kingdom. It was primarily fulfilled in the events of the fiftieth day after the crucifixion; and will be secondarily or nationally, in the latter rain of the spirit on Israel when restored previously to the building of the temple by "the man whose name is The Branch."

The two wave loaves of that feast, made of fine flour, represented "the First Fruits unto the Lord." The sons of Zadok being the substance of that representation, as Jesus himself was of the wave sheaf, waved before the Lord by the Aaronic priest on his resurrection day, the shadow will not be reproduced hereafter in the service. Christ and his brethren, the First Fruits, being there in person, the representation would cease to be in place.

Neither will there be "a memorial of blowing of trumpets" on the first day of the seventh month, as under the Mosaic law. The thing represented by the "memorial" will have been altogether accomplished before the dedication of the temple to be built by Jesus.

It began to be fulfilled by the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom by apostles; and will be wholly completed when the "everlasting gospel" shall be preached by "the angel flying through the midst of heaven"—Revelation 14: 6-7.

There can be no type when the thing typified has come to pass in full. It has then answered its purpose and is abolished.

The day of Atonement on the 10th of the seventh month forms no part of the amended service for the same reason. It was a type, and will be secondarily or nationally, and therefore, entirely fulfilled in the reconciliation of the house of Israel.

The Mosaic atonement primarily prefigured the reconciliation of those who, believing "the word of reconciliation" ministered by the apostles, should have their sins and iniquities borne away by Jesus when resurrected, as represented by the bearing away of the sins of Israel by the scape-goat.

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The iniquity of all believers was laid upon him when crucified. He was then "the goat for the Lord;" but when raised from the dead, he became "the scape-goat presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement."

Being raised, his relations were changed. He then became the High Priest destined to enter alone into the Most Holy to make an atonement "for his own household" with his own blood.

He is there now; and will remain there, until all who shall constitute "his house" shall have come in and been reconciled. Till then no man can be where he is. When he shall have finished making atonement for his household, "He will come out," and "make an atonement for all the congregation of Israel."

"His house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."

The household of the Lord Jesus appears in the temple of the kingdom, "holy, unblameable, and unreproveable," as the sons of Zadok, performing service before the Lord as his priests.

But when the household of the Lord Jesus shall be reconciled, their judgment or acceptance, still remains to be pronounced, and the secondary reconciliation for the nation of Israel effected. These particulars of the Mosaic typical atonement are yet unaccomplished.

Some of us who believe the gospel of the kingdom are looking for him. We are anxiously waiting for him to come out of the Most Holy place that we may be clothed with salvation, and enter the kingdom with him. "After death the judgment." Judgment on the members of the king's household; and judgment on the nations.

Will the dead in Christ—will the living in him—be accepted, or shall we not? That remains to be seen. Who but God's High Priest can tell; for He only knows whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Until He come out of the Most Holy, the consummation of the reconciliation of the faithful dead, the living believers, and the Twelve Tribes, will be in abeyance. But when He appears in his kingdom, the first will rise, the next be changed, and reconciliation be made for the whole house of Israel, as described above, in the purging and purifying the altar, and the reconciling of the house, in the first seven days of the first month.

When this is accomplished, the Mosaic representative atonement will be lost in the substance. There will be no more remembrance of sins once a year. Therefore the atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month forms no part of the annual service of the temple in the Age to Come.

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The Mosaic Feast of Tabernacles was "the Greatest of the Feasts."

It was celebrated during seven days, beginning on the 15th of the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, which is the first of the civil year, which in its antitype is

"the acceptable year of the Lord."

This year of civil or national acceptance under the new covenant, begins with the first day of the month, when the temple, altar, inner court, and nation, are reconciled by Messiah the Prince. Like the rest of the Mosaic Feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles represents

"the knowledge and the truth,"

first in relation to Christ's Household, and secondly, in relation to his nation, the Twelve Tribes.

The members of his household are

"strangers before the Lord, and sojourners; their days on earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding."

Like Israel, as it were, during the interregnum, they

"sojourn in Meshech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar;"

passing the time of their sojourning there, rejoicing in fear and trembling. But when their elder brother, the High Priest of the covenant, shall come out from the Royal Presence to bless them, they will be pilgrims no longer; but permanent dwellers in their Father's house, partaking of "the joy." They will have passed through the primary signification of the Feast, and have attained perfection.

The Feast of Tabernacles was the celebration of the ingathering of the harvest. As a type, this had a two fold signification, namely, the ingathering of the Royal Household of the kingdom, when Christ shall "gather his wheat into his garner" at their resurrection; and the ingathering of the Twelve Tribes, when at that crisis they shall be gathered "from the outmost part of heaven," and replanted in their own land.

They now sojourn literally in Meshech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar; but when the kingdom is restored to them under the New Covenant they will dwell in their own habitations, and the nations will come up to Jerusalem to worship their king, and occupy the booths.

But the antitype of the feast, which is,

"a feast of fat things for all nations,"

is not fully completed till the wheat harvest of the Age to Come shall be entirely in-gathered at its expiration, when "death shall be swallowed up in victory," and the earth shall lie under the curse no longer. The feast of tabernacles, therefore, continues to be celebrated in the temple service, for this temple is

"the holy of the tabernacles of the Most High;"

wherefore its posts and walls will be adorned with palm trees, the branches of which, with those of other goodly trees, the Israelites carried on the first day of the feast, as the emblems of the joy that awaits the nation, when it shall have obtained the victory over all its enemies on the establishment of the kingdom of God.

Therefore "in the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall the Prince do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, &c."

—Ezekiel 45: 25; Leviticus 23; Zechariah 14 &c.

The Herald of the Kingdom and Coming Age, Sept 1851.