East of Eden

Transcript

I thought we'd actually explore this theme East of Eden and it's it's it truly is a theme like I said in my teaser that that spans scripture and it's it's it's it truly is maybe a little eclectic but the thing is it does make a full circle for us when we start looking at it and so to start let's actually go right back to Genesis 2 and start looking at Eden itself so as we go back you know the Garden of Eden is God's Garden isn't it and so the the first thing we need to see is we go down to verse 8 in Chapter 2 of Genesis and it says on the Lord God planted a garden Eastward in Eden so a lot of times we run this together the Garden of Eden we just think of this one place but I think we need to think out of the box a little bit here you know we have the land of Eden and now we have God separating out part of this in the eastern part of Eden as his garden and again it is God that establishes the garden and this is what this verse is all about it is God that does all this so the verse goes on to say and there he put the man whom he had formed it's God that put the man there man hadn't gone there by himself God places him there and out of the ground God made the Lord God made to grow every tree that is Pleasant to the site and good for food it's God that claws the plants to grow and to yield food and more so brother and sisters the tree of life also in the midst of the garden it's God that crossed caused that tree of life to grow and also we have to remember the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and God caused that to grow also and so as we come down a little bit farther in that chapter we get a little bit more insight into the man that he's going to place there and so we go down to verse 15 and it says in the Lord God took them in and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it so it's a verse that we can actually kind of look at quite quickly and dismiss it and say yep so Adam's there you know he's he's going to till the garden easy he's gonna he's gonna keep it keep it pretty but I don't think that's what this verse is really saying and when we look at the first ver first word there put you know um in the Hebrew it's enough which means to cause to rest to give rest to or make quiet and in fact you know if there's other places in the scripture where it actually brings us out you know in Deuteronomy um 12 verse 10 it says but when you go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord you heard God giveth you to inherit when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about so that you may dwell safely it's that same word it's that same thought so if we think about this Adam is put there in a state of rest and it's an interesting concept because the thing that's interesting is of course we know that man has not sinned at this point in time sin is not in the equation and so God can put him in the garden to rest and that's why Paul would go later on in Hebrews tell us we labor to enter into that rest trying to come back to this concept well the next thing we look at is to dress which is yabad which means to serve by labor but notice the the way it's used actually this word means to serve with levitical services to serve God and so it isn't that just Adam is just placed in this Garden to wander he's placed in this Garden at rest which means that God will take care of things for him but he is in God's service and to keep it that that verb is Shemar which means to guard keep watch Ward protect and save life and we have to look at that and say did he actually do that and God only gave one commandment at this point identity you understand 17 of Genesis 2 it says and the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil Thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof Thou shalt surely die only one commandment's needed brothers sisters because sin hasn't entered the world yet the law is not needed at this point in time it's not a concept that would even Adam would have understood but we know that there's something that Adam doesn't do the thing that he doesn't do is he doesn't keep guard on the garden you know let me stop at this point in time and just just as As a matter of housekeeping here if you could hold your comments and your questions till the end we should have enough time at the end to discuss them if I if I do it in the middle I'm I'm going to get confused I'll tell you so we find that Adam really doesn't do that and what's the outcome of that brothers and sisters well sin enters the world and we see that in the very next chapter in the first six verses and what happened at that point in time well we have the serpent beguiling Eve and I would like you to consider the concept brother to sisters that Adam was supposed to guard and keep this Garden in God's service to guard it from sin and it seems when you really look at this there's a great possibility that the serpent did not keep that commandment because it seems that he probably did eat of that tree and he's Not Dead so maybe he can get somebody else to do it too because the other thing he would know now also is that he has sent but he's not going to go down down alone so we know this story you know it's one that we learn in Sunday school all the time you know he beguiles Eve who then goes and deceives her husband and sin enters the world and because of that what happens well we know that Adam and Eve hide themselves they're hot trying to hide from God and they try to cover their own their own their own shame and their own sin with clothing that they make for themselves out of the vegetation and so God comes and he confronts the serpent the way she confronts all three but we look at the sentence of the serpent and the serpents to be cursed above all cattle all domesticated animals cursed above every beast of the field over all life he's cursed there's nobody that's going to be lower than the serpent because of what he represents representing sin he's supposed to move on its belly all its life crawling forever before God in humility for what has happened and notice this easy to eat the dust of the Earth and you think of what he told Eve Thou shalt not surely die and God says because of that eat the dust of the Earth as a reminder every day that this is where you're going to return enmity between him and the woman hatred for what the serpent had done and hoped and he hates the woman for the hope that she will have enmity between their offspring it's going to be a Perpetual hatred throughout all future generations for everyone that's righteous against the unrighteous righteousness against sin and it will bruise the Serpent's head who are actually in the Hebrew it couldn't it it can be rendered he he will bruise the serpents and we know who that points to know it points to Jesus because Jesus would deal sin that that complete fatal blow and the serpent would bruise his heel the wound that is not fatal but the wound that would Usher in forgiveness the Forgiveness that would come from the destruction of The Serpent and in this we see our hope isn't it and it was in this sentence that the Hope comes out and comes to us throughout the ages but then we went to the sentence on Eve well it says that she's going to have her sorrow greatly multiplied pain and worrisomeness would now come into her life these Concepts were not known before why would they he hasn't sin hadn't been here there was no reason to be sorrowful God supplied them with everything greatly multiply her conception and this is another thing I don't think we think about often enough but you know it's not until verse 20 of this chapter after all this has taken place that Adam calls her Eve the mother of all living before this she didn't have to bring fourth children and that's a whole study in itself and hopefully I'll be having a a article in the in the tidings hopefully soon on that because that's a whole class in itself the fact that childbirth would be painful a reminder of where she was and what what was the outcome of this but in that childbirth there would also be hope and I want you to really think about this when you read into in second Timothy chapter 2. her desire would now be for her husband instead of being thinking that she had the answers like she did before that she could be on her own she now wants to come under her husband's wing and her husband would rule over her he would have dominion over her she wouldn't be as independent as she was before she thought she could handle this on her own which she couldn't but then we come to the sentence to Adam the ground is now cursed you know before this he didn't want for anything did he you know the the garden that God had given him supplied him with everything he need but now now that's going to change the ground isn't going to bring forth everything like it did before he would eat in sorrow all his life eating in pain knowing what was lost you would grow thorns and thistles not the pleasant visitation that the garden had given him that he enjoyed and he would eat of the herbs of the field and I want you to think about this brothers and sisters because this is actually an interesting side light of this because it's actually going to be pointing back to what he's lost you know if you think about what it says in Chapter 2 in in verse 9 where it says an out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is Pleasant to the site and good for food and so when we take fruit from the trees what are we doing we're we're looking up to grab that fruit it's above us we're looking up to the heavens we're looking up to our Heavenly Father but now it would happen the herbs of the field he's bent over he's picking things up off the ground he's looking down for his food not up to God but looking at that Earth where he's going to return he's going to eat in the sweat of his face all his days laboring now is for his food and like before when it was just given to him working the soil as a constant reminder of where he came from and where he was headed and that he would surely die and return to the dust of the Earth and there was another thing that they had to learn and of course that was that sacrifice was now instituted they couldn't cover themselves to hide their own sin something had to die to accomplish this and of course we know that again this points to the sacrifice it would eventually come from God's only begotten son and so what happens well Adam and Eve were driven from the garden and they're driven out by God because as it says in Genesis 3 verses 22 and 23 and the Lord God said behold the man has 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 forever we have to get him out because God's actually giving Mercy on man so that he wouldn't live forever in sin because that was now the danger if he goes back into the garden goes back to the Tree of Life for all eternity the state that we are in right now would be the state that we would have forever and that just can't be therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken man's constant reminder of his death sentence looking at the ground he had to work and where he would return and where is he cast out is cast out to the east says so he drove 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 he goes out through the East Gate of the garden and that cherubim is placed there as a way to protect them from our everlasting life of sin but the theme starts traveling East traveling that Eastward motion is a path away from God and away from God's blessings but there's something else that happens brother and sisters when we travel east compared to when we travel West and I think this is what Adam and Eve experience I have to tell you doing what I did for all these years you know sitting in the hospital overnight going through sometimes horrendous nights the thing that would always help was when that sun came up in the morning things weren't so bad all of a sudden the light of day things cleared and it made you feel better and you were renewed again and brothers and sisters this is where Adam and Eve are now they're going out into a new day they're going into that dawn of the new day with hope they're not going Westward into the Setting Sun and into the darkness they're going out into the light and it's a constant reminder for them that there is hope a reminder that every day they'll have sinned There's Hope for a new day each new day is a chance to start fresh and the hope of the one that would come to provide an everlasting covering for sin and surrender forgiveness and the gift of everlasting life I mean this is this this is the hymn that we have don't we knew every morning is the love our waking and Uprising proof through sleep and darkness safely brought restored to life and power and thought and so David would say of the king to come and shall be as the light in the morning when the Sun rises even a morning without clouds is a tendered rest springing out of the Earth by clear shining after rain because this is what our Lord and savior represents from sisters that new day but we don't have to go far do we till we find out that though there's this hope here and we've had this problem and sin is now here well it gets accentuated just a little bit more doesn't it because the next chapter we find the story of Cain and Abel again things we've heard since we were children Adam and Eve have those two sons and we know that there's a problem isn't there and because of this king is going to do something and there's going to be a punishment we know that you know Abel is one that tends the flocks you know if we look at chapter four you know and we look at verse two it says and Abel was a keeper of the sheep and it says in Abel he also bought of the first first things of his flock and the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel unto his offer because this is a type of sacrifice God was looking for something had to die so that that sin could be covered so that that curse could be reversed something had to die and Abel recognized this but Cain doesn't and what does it say s Cain was a tiller of the ground and it says Cain also brought his offering and he had not respect and Kane was very rough and his confidence fell because Cain offers what he thinks is actually what God requires and of course this isn't it this isn't it at all is it it's his own interpretation of what sacrifice is indeed these were the things he had and so you can say it's the sacrifice of him giving from what he has but it isn't what God requires and so we know the outcome he kills his brother out of envy and frustration and it seems that he probably berries berries able and again trying to hide his own complicity and sin but we also know that God knows what's happened God knows what's happened he's taken on a life that he has no power to create and so what does God say because of this in verse 9 of chapter 4 of Genesis it says and the Lord said unto Cain where is Abel thy brother and he said I know not my My Brother's Keeper and he said why has thou done the voice of thy brother's blood cryeth unto me from the ground and now Thou Art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to received thy brother's blood from thy hand when thou tell us the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth he's sentenced to a life where he will not Farm successfully anymore because remember that's what he did he was the farmer he was bringing a great abundance of of fruit and produce but it's not going to happen anymore and now he's going to become a Wanderer wandering from place to place begging for sustenance and so what's the outcome of the sentence and Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the Land of Nod on the East of Eden and actually there's a digression this is the verse that John Steinbeck drew his inspiration for his his novel The East of Eden but notice here Cain goes out from the presence of the Lord he's traveling East and now look what happens it seems that when Adam and Eve are taken out of the garden I don't think they'd go very far I still think that they reside in Eden itself they want to be close and maybe try to get back to do whatever they can realizing what what they've lost but now now Kane leaves Eden itself and goes even farther east to the land of not farther away from God further away from the things that his mother and father had taught him but even sober of those sisters he's still traveling East as he's wandering East he can still see that Rising Sun that that that that sign that there is hope still if he'll just turn back to God as he travels into the new day but we know what happens from here brother and sisters don't we mankind goes farther and farther from God until finally at the time of Noah they have gone so far from God the mankind is wiped from the face of the Earth by a flood and Noah's the only righteous man that lives he and his family and it's from them that the world is reborn again but this time there's sin in the world it's not like before you know Noah is still a sinner just like the rest of us and so that curse is still on him and the curse of Adam and the curse of Eve still rests upon mankind and we know that there were problems right you know you know right off the bat you know we we know the problem of of Noah planting the vineyard and what happens there but we also know brothers and sisters that Noah as he's as he's teaching his sons and he's teaching his family he's teaching them about God and they've seen the power of God firsthand But as time goes on that thought and that feeling in that knowledge of God begins to get less and less and less and we find mankind then again being far from God and we come to chapter 11. and it says and it came to pass as they journeyed from the East that they found the plane on the land of China and they dwelt there and that that that phrase from the east from our sisters is the same one that we talked about in Genesis that's that Eastward Direction and in fact if we look at the NIV the Jewish publication Society the RV they actually translate this verse is that people moved Eastward they found a plane in shinar and settled there they're still traveling away from God brothers and sisters they're relying upon themselves because this is what they say they said to another go-to let us make brick and burn them through Lee and they had brick for stone and slime they had from order and they said go to let us build us a city in a tower whose top May reach unto heaven and let us make us a name lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole Earth they're relying on themselves moving completely away from God is not even in the picture here so now at this point in time they're even worse than Cain and they've even forgotten the lesson of the Flood Brothers and Sisters and of course what's the outcome of this one chapter 11 verses 8 and 9 it says so the Lord scattered them abroad from this upon the face of all the Earth they left off to build the city therefore is the name of it called Babel because the Lord did there confound the language of all the Earth and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the Earth the thing they tried to avoid by their own hand is now their sentence they sought this to coalesce one and God says no not in the state that you're in and he scatters them but juxtapositioned against this brothers sisters we have an amazing thing that happens because even though we see this terrible state of mankind there's a man that rises up that God sees and God wants and that's the man Abram and now we have a reversal of the direction is given to Abram and we're told that God calls Abram out of herb of the chaldees you know it's still in that land of China that's where he's from in Mesopotamia but God has sees something in this man in his character that he desires and it's so much so that he's that actually Abraham is is going to be called the friend of God and Abram's journey is to be directed by God he you know we think about this he doesn't go on his own way but allows himself to be led by God and then when you think about that brothers and sisters think how remarkable this is this isn't the only incident you can actually see these same type of things you know you can see them time and time again and what that is is think about what happens in reality in his life as he's packing up and packing up his household and he's Gathering everything he has and people will say well Abram what are you doing he says well I I have to leave I'm I'm about to take a journey and they say where are you going and he says I I don't know they said well how do you know what he's going to get there and he says God will tell me and I'm sure there must have been ridicule that he felt at that time but he presses forward brother and sisters and time and time again we see that same theme and it's an amazing faith that Abraham displays and notice brothers and sisters he's not LED Eastward but he's LED Westward to the land of Canaan the Promised Land not Eastward away from God anymore but God is bringing him back it's the beginning of the Journey Back to Eden back to that Garden and we know that God promises the land to him he's promised the land of Israel for possession along with his seed but we also know Abraham or abrahamasilla Wanderer during his lifetime and the reason being brothers and sisters is during that mortal life he can't possess the land because he's still a sinner he can't get back into that Garden that's for a time to come well brothers and sisters the theme continues though doesn't stop there one of the other themes we began to explore is we we see that Abram truly is a man isn't he he's a sinner just like the rest of us and it's proven at the end of chapter 12 because there's a famine in the land that he goes down into Egypt and while in Egypt he doesn't tell a lie but it doesn't tell the complete truth because he we know the story how he says this Sarah is a sister but he neglects to tell anybody that she's his wife and Pharaoh Caesar and what does pharaoh do well it's interesting brothers and sisters it says in verse 16 of chapter 12 of Genesis that he entreated Abram well for her sake and he had sheep and oxen and she and he asses and Men servants and maidservants and she asses and camels and he gives all these things to Abram in exchange for Sarah and we know that God plagues Pharaoh's house and Pharaoh understands that there's a problem and he understands now what is happening he says what have you done and it's at this point in time that Abram confesses what he has done and what's what's he told he's told to leave take everything you have and leave and so he does he does brother and sister and as he goes up to Bethel and there we have an amazing thing at because the theme continues in the story of lot Abram and his household have now journeyed from Egypt back North to Bethel and it seems that there is just not enough Pastor to support the herds of the family we have the herdsmen of lot and the herdsmen of Abram fighting amongst themselves for the pastor land I mean we have to think why does this happen at this time well I'd also like you to consider that before this I don't think Abram have that much to travel with I think his his nephew lot did lot's father died back in in Mesopotamia and lot inherited that household but at this point in time Abram's been given all of this wealth and the land of Egypt which is actually an interesting thing because it completely foreshadows what would happen you know hundreds of years later when the children of Israel would come out of Israel because they would spoil Egypt also then but again coming back into the into the story so they're now in Bethel up in the mountain and while there Abram gives lot the choice of where to go in the land and so if we look at a map here right here is Bethel and actually he's Abram is probably actually living between Bethel and AI because that's where he had built the the altar and so as they are in this area lot has a choice and this whole area truly truly is is is great for pastoring but he sees this area in the Jordan Valley which is just Lush and he says you know what that's where I'll go and so he travels there and what is he doing he goes east to the plain of Jordan he's going East Providence sisters away from God Eastward away from Abram and what Abraham has taught him he's now going into kindling upon himself and brother and sisters what I think has happened is he when he goes there he actually crosses Jordan because the next thing we find out in chapter 14 is the Battle of the Kings and we know we have the the Four Kings from Mesopotamia under Chevrolet Omer come against the five Kings from the east side of Jordan including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and zor in that the armies of Mesopotamia are victorious and they completely plunder the land and part of that is they take lot and his family and everything that he has away but then there's something remarkable brothers and sisters that happens and we know that Abram goes up and he rescues lot and brings him back into the land he's now back in and we know that because as they come down we find that Abram actually then encounters Melchizedek the king of Salem Melchizedek the king of righteousness the king of Peace foreshadowing him who would be there in the future that Future King under that future order and Abram does obeisance to him and lot would see this and lot has given a chance to come back brother and sisters to come back into this into this this his relationship with his uncle and more so brothers and sisters to his relationship with God but he chooses to go back East again well what's the outcome of that brother and sisters well the outcome of that now is even worse than before in chapter 19 he says and there came two angels from Sodom and even and lot sat in the gate of Sodom he's actually living in the city of Sodom itself and we we think of the words in second Peter you know in in Chapter 2 verses 7 and 8 it says just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vex's righteous soul from day to day with her unlawful Deeds and so he still is trying to hold fast but it's it's it's quite hard and brother and sisters we know we can't be part of the world if we believe in God even if we try and it could be that he thought if he went there he could teach them about God her brother and sisters when he saw that he couldn't he didn't leave he stayed there and so what happens we know that the angels are telling him this this this city is going to be destroyed God is going to destroy it because of the wickedness and so he's told to gather his family and of course the only ones that he that he has there with him in the morning are just his wife and his two daughters and so the Angels actually take him literally by the hand and pull him out of the city and it says and it came to pass when they brought him forth abroad that he said Escape for thy life look not behind thee neither thou stay on the plane escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed so where are they telling him to go back back West go to the mountains of Israel go back to Abram go back to your God but what's his reply brother and sisters lot said unto them oh not so my Lord I cannot escape to the Mount unless some evil take me and I die because he's forgotten how to trust in God even though he is now being saved by him and he had been saved by him in the past but still he trusts in himself we know he does because he says behold now the city is oh it's a little one let me escape thither still trusting in himself that he knows a better way still not trying to come back to God but going farther away and so he goes to zor but after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah a lot leaves or but he still doesn't go back to Abram he's still trusting in himself that he knows what to do he's not trusting in God but he's still in that Eastward path and the legacy of Sodom is found in his daughters because of his choices it was failure of teaching God correctly his family has paid the price also you know the daughters now have taken the example of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and the outcome of that is they stay east of the land they don't go back into the land and we know the countries of Ammon and Moab east of the land arise and so time goes on brothers and sisters and we find the nation of Israel being established at the foot of Mount Sinai and as they as they as they walk through the Wilderness they have problems but they still are trying to come back and God is leading them back leading them Westward into the land coming back to him back to the garden but as the decades unfold Israel removes herself from God farther and farther and we we read about those problems don't we in these unfolding chapters we read about it during the period of Joshua it starts and we see it in the judges so distinctly and then more so into the time of the Kings and so the nation splits and God removes the northern kingdom because they have not held to God and have gone their own way God leads them East under the Assyrians and takes them to Assyria and then because Judah doesn't learn the lesson and she turns from God and goes farther and farther away God takes them East also to Babylon but though they're carried East they are given hope aren't they as Jeremiah told them for thus saith the Lord that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and causing you to return to this place and it happens and it's remarkable we read about that in Ezra and Nehemiah they're brought back Westward again God is unfolding them again but even at the time as soon as they come back they're starting to have problems and then we know how the history goes we have the grecians coming in and taking over the land but they're still there and then the Romans and it's at that point in time brother and sisters that they've gone so far from God that they're scattered throughout the world by Rome due to their behavior towards God and brother and sister is the the remarkable thing here is this is something that God had told him he would do going back into Deuteronomy it says in verse 63 and it shall come to pass and as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you so the Lord will rejoiced over you to destroy you and to bring you to not and you should be plucked up from the land whether thou go to possess it and the Lord shall scatter them among all the people from one end of the Earth even unto the other and there Thou shalt serve other gods which thou nor thy fathers have known even wood and Stone and among these nations Thou shalt find no ease neither shall the soul of thy foot have rest but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and a failing of eyes and a sorrow of mind and we know that happened isn't it and it happened when it's there today we also know that God says no I will still bring you back we have a nation being founded again in 1948. again God trying to bring them back but we still know the state of Israel today and the Heart Is of of of the of the Jewish races and complete with their God yet and brothers and sisters the thing that we have to realize is this is where we find ourselves today isn't it we have to think about this if we have been adopted as Sons and Daughters into the nation of Israel well we're scattered throughout the world also and it is a curse you know there's so many of us have have friends in the truth or brothers and sisters in different parts of the world and it's so hard to be able to talk with them and to see them yes I mean we can do that on the phone and you can do that on FaceTime and it's not the same as being there face to face they have that that warm touch that warm hug but we also know brothers and sisters it's a blessing isn't it because of the scattering because of what's happened God's word has been taught throughout the entire world and this entire world knows about God and knows about his son and we too brother and sisters look forward to the coming of our Messiah to reverse the curse of Adam and to bring us back to the garden and so we're given some wonderful prophecies about this and one of the things I'd like to look at is the wonderful lessons in Ezekiel and in particular the temp Le in Ezekiel 40 verses or chapter 40 through 48. and we do know that sometimes it's hard to study these chapters isn't it um I remember you know as a as a young young person growing up coming through these chapters and reading about all the measurements and all the all the chambers and and all the gates and um the the way it's it's situated in the land it was it's it's almost overwhelming but what God has done is given us a glimpse into the kingdom age and if we view it this way brother and sisters we can create an excitement as we look forward to that new wage because that's what God is doing for us it's the age of sinlessness and perfection Our Hope so what is this to do with our topic East of Eden well there's some details of the east side of the Temple they give us some wonderful Reflections on our way back to God and reminders on where we came from and what it took to heal us and where we're going and so we look parallel of the gates particular the East Gate of the Temple and if we look over at Ezekiel chapter 43 it's a remarkable statement that's given here because it says in Verses 4 and 5 and the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose Prospect is toward the east so the spirit took me up and brought me into the inner cord and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house God's glory enters through the East Gate the East Gate of Eden where man was cast out brothers and sisters because that's what this is reflecting that path Now lies open the angel with the Flaming sword is now removed there's nothing there that blocks just the door and the reason is why this can take place is mankind has now been perfected the way to the tree of life has now been laid open through the work of Jesus our sins have been forgiven we are now changed and so we go over a chapter brother and sisters and in the first three verses of chapter 44 we're given this remarkable statement since then he brought me back by the way of the Gate of the outward Sanctuary which look at toward the East and it was shut then said the Lord unto me this gate shall be shut it shall not be opened no man shall enter in by it because the Lord the god of Israel hath entered in by it therefore it shall be shut and then notice it is for the prince the prince he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord he shall enter in by the way of the porch of that gate and he shall go out by the way of the same and so let's look at the details brother and sisters we're again told this is the gate where God's glory has entered and it's it's something we have to remember God has come in by this gate there is nothing about Sin that can again reflecting on that East Gate of Eden and who's allowed to enter in the priesthood the prince however is allowed to enter in through this gate where God has gone and we know who that is it's Jesus who's able to enter in by that gate and Jesus can enter in by the same gate because he is now and always has been sin less the only one that can do that the only one that can go where his father is and we know that because he sits at the right hand of his father today and he's going to go out through that same gate and why again brothers sisters because he is and always has been sinless he can come and go throughout the gate he can come and go throughout that East Gate of Eden there is nothing that will stop him from going back and forth and so we come down a little bit further resistors into chapter 46. and it says this and the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate without and shall stand by the post of the gate and notice and the priest shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate then he shall go forth but the gate shall not be shut until the evening likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord and the sabbaths and in the new moons sacrifices are taking place at this gay brothers sisters sacrifices taking place at this gate as a reminder what it took for all this to happen the sacrifice of Jesus and it's something we can never forget and this will be there for the time of the Kingdom brothers and sisters and it goes on in verse 8 to say and when the prince shall Enter he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate he shall go forth by the way thereof only Jesus again is allowed to use that gate because he's the only one who walked the Earth's sin less know that the people come and they worship at that gate but they can't get in they can't go in through that same way because even though now they've been perfected they were Sinners at one time and they're been tainted by that sin and so what about the rest of the people what are they to do how can they come into worship we go down a little bit farther in that chapter brother and sisters and it says this but when the people of the land shall come before the Lord and the solemn Feasts he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go up by this way of the south gate and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in but shall go forth over against it the subjects of the Kingdom you and I Brethren and sisters because that's the way we have to look at ourselves you and I brothers sisters go through either the north gate or the South Gate and when we leave the temple we go out the opposite gate and why my brother and sisters because we have sinned we have sinned and what this will be a reminder is when we go in by the one gate it's showing that we go out by the other gate because there's been a change we're not the same one that we were when we entered that that Temple but we have been changed it's a reflection on who we were no longer Sinners but made perfect for the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ and because we are now now sinless we can meet once again with our God in his Temple but notice brothers and sisters it also goes on to say this and the prince shall go in the midst of them and when they go in she'll go in and when they go forth she'll go forth unless Jesus is there we can't be there it's a constant reminder of who we are and for where we came brothers and sisters something we can never forget for all time the lessons of scripture given by God that we cannot accomplish anything by ourselves especially our Redemption without his help and so brothers sisters a new day dawned are the wanderings in the world will only stop when God's kingdom is set up upon the Earth through his son and there's those remarkable words that we read in psalm 103. verse 12 and I want you to think about them in this theme brothers sisters as far as the East is from the West so far hathy removed our transgressions from us you know from our brother Steve Davis gave such a great class on the um what that meant and that's where we're living now isn't it we're living in Exile but our Exile ends at this time through the love of our heavenly father and the sacrifice and love of his son and there's something else interesting Brethren that we see in Revelations because in the last chapter of Revelation the first five verses it says this and he showed me a pure River of Water of Life clear as Crystal proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the lamb in the midst of it on either side of the river there was the Tree of Life which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations the way is now open for the Tree of Life brother and sisters here it is for the taking there shall be no more curse the curse of of the garden has now been reversed completely but the Throne of God and the lamb shall be in it in a servant Shall Serve him they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads and there shall be no night there