INSIDE THE EASTERN GATE AND MINISTERING IN THE SPIRIT

MF Blume
January 12, 2014

Gen 3:22-24 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:(23) Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (24) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Eze 44:1-3 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. (2) Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. (3) It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

Eze 44:17-18 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.(18) They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

I love the truths of God's return of mankind to the Garden of Eden relationship that Adam once knew.

Last week we ministered about the glory filling the earth.

We referred to Ezekiel's vision of the glory of God he saw in Ezekiel 1 which showed Jesus on the throne and cherubims underneath as though royally transporting the king.
That glory left the temple in Ezekiel 11 and returned in Ezekiel 43 by the same eastern gate.

The HOUSE, or temple, had some very significant details correspond perfectly with the entire human race's overall problem since the Garden of Eden.

Man was cast out of the garden through the eastern entrance as the glory of God left the temple's eastern gate.
So, the return of the glory of God through the same gate shows the greater picture of returning to the garden of Eden.

The gate is shut.

We find in Ezekiel 10 that the temple of Israel saw God's glory

Eze 10:4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory.

Eze 10:18-19 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. (19) And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

Eze 11:22-23 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. (23) And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

God's Glory left the EAST GATE.

He returns through the eastern gate and it is said to be shut.
ONLY THE PRINCE CAN ENTER IN BY THIS GATE.
Jesus is the PRINCE OF PEACE.
Like a High Priest, Jesus Christ alone was able to enter the most holy place correspondent to the Garden of Eden.
And He would enter and eat bread in there.
Recall that the tree of life was in the Garden.
And PRIESTS would be allowed to then enter this SANCTUARY.

Eze 44:17-18 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.(18) They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

But they cannot wear anything that causes SWEAT.

Gen 3:17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; (18) Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
(19) In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

When Adam was cursed from the Garden, to return to the dust that he was never meant to return to in death, God said he would WORK.

He would SWEAT to provide himself with sustenance in order to live, but end up dying anyway.
Previously GOD planted the Garden.
God tilled the ground.
God planted the trees.
And the tree of Life that God put there, free for man's eating, would make man live forever.
And now man must WORK and SWEAT and DIE ANYWAY.
Notice that the FRUIT OF THE KNOWLEDGE of GOOD AND EVIL is associated with CURSE AND SWEAT AND WORK AND DEATH.

A lot of religion is like that.

Maybe you have made Christianity into that sort of cursed manner of thinking.
You see, if all you think you need is KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS EVIL, as the serpent tempted the woman, you will think you can IMPROVE UPON YOURSELF AND inevitably be a sort of god all on your own!
Who needs God if you can improve upon yourself?
And what you will be left doing is, IN YOUR OWN POWER, working and sweating in order to get yourself to heaven one day.

Man also had bath of God's life breathed into him in the garden.

This is literally inspiration.
Spirit comes from the same word as inspire.
SPIRO means breathing, and Spirit in Hebrew literally means wind.
Spirit is rooted in the word SPIRO.

Breathe the wind of God.

Many believers do not live and minister by inspiration or breath of life.
What they do is not the result of having been inspired of God to do it, but they do it of their own ingenuity and planning.
God was not consulted nor relied upon.
They assume God will bless their good ideas, but the bible teaches far from that sort of concept.

Working in the flesh to work for God.

People can preach in the flesh by thinking what they think is good for next Sunday, or reading a script dictated to them from their church's headquarters.
They do not realize they can ask God in prayer for direction and expect and see God answer with a message.

The gate is shut, but only the PRINCE shall enter into that gate, and there shall be priests in there.

But these priests cannot wear WOOL that causes SWEAT.
In other words they cannot be people who think in a cursed manner that they can improve upon themselves and get their own path constructed that reaches Heaven.
They cannot function as ministers of God with natural fleshly minds and contrive their own accomplishments.
We must reach out and touch the supernatural and see God use us by His Spirit.

Genesis shows us that the curse, sweat, work and death are all associated.

Eze 43:1-10 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: (2) And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.(3) And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.(4) And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. (5) So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. (6) And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. (7) And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in
their high places.(8) In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.(9) Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.(10) Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

Think of the Garden.

Man polluted it with self-exalted, deity-achieving dreams from the serpent's fruit.
No more defilement can occur in this SANCTUARY.
For that reason the priests who enter cannot wear anything that causes SWEAT.
Wool is from FLESH.
LINEN is from flax, and not flesh.
Being clothed in fleshly efforts is something that is not allowed in this holy Garden.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Walking after flesh is being religious without the inspiration of God directing you.

It is a counterfeit of human flesh putting on a godly appearance.

Col 3:8-10 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (9) Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (10) And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Notice this:

Eze 44:6-9 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,(7) In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. (8) And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. (9) Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

Col 2:10-13 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (11) In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:(12) Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.(13) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

A spiritual Circumcision occurs, but it is performed WITHOUT HUMAN HANDS.

Our HEARTS are circumcised with God's circumcision.
And this operation REMOVES THE BODY OF THE SINS OF THE FLESH.
And this is what baptism is all about.
We're buried with Him in baptism.
Baptism PUTS YOU INTO HIS DEATH.

Rom 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We can walk in a NEW TEMPLE!

A new LIFE!
The tree of LIFE was in the Garden that we can once again take and eat and live forever as God first intended us to do!

They cannot wear WOOL, as though their mindset is one that believes they can remain clothed in FLESH and through efforts of their flesh please God.

The wool must be CIRCUMCISED off their hearts!

This FLESH with all it's inclinations to put forth fleshly effort to please God.

When you TAKE OFF THE OLD MAN (WOOL), YOU PUT ON THE NEW MAN (LINEN).

Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

IT IS GRANTED AND NOT WORKED FOR.

JESUS did the work, not you!

Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS is the result of HIS GOOD WORKS, and they are not FLESHLY WORKS, because God is a Spirit!

Something happens when you are baptized into His death:

SERMONS