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Your Word for Today

Many messages will be preached this morning concerning what God is able to do, but will we be pointed to the place He does it all?

THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST

I don’t need only to hear what God is able and willing to do but also HOW and WHERE He will be found doing it!

COMING BACK TO THE PLACE GOD SPEAKS FROM AND WORKS THROUGH

This is REALLY what 2 Chronicles 7:14 is all about!!

Pastor Curtis
 
Your Word for Today

“so Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together (I Sam. 31:6).

It is believed that Saul was twenty years old when he was crowned king. He reigned forty years; therefore, he would be sixty at the time of his death. The sunny morning of his beginning ended in a black night of horror and death. It must be said that self-will wrecked his life and his reign (I Chron. 10:13-14). In that self-will, he found himself opposing God at every turn of his life. He disobeyed what he was commanded to do, and he opposed the one whom the Lord had called, namely, David. Only one who is born of the Spirit can serve and please God. Saul was raised up, as a king after the people’s heart, to deliver them from the Philistines and other enemies.

Please read the following words very carefully:

If it were possible for “the natural man” to do God’s Will, and to win victories for the Lord, then Saul most definitely would have succeeded; but he didn’t succeed. He rather failed, and failed miserably! He perished at the hands of the very enemies he set out to conquer! Such must ever be the result when “the flesh” attempts to do battle for God. And yet, most Christians, sadly and regrettably, attempt to live this life in the manner of Saul instead of the manner of David.

Most modern Christians simply do not know how to live for God; consequently, they make the attempt in all the wrong ways, which results in the words of the Apostle Paul being fulfilled in their lives, “O wretched man that I am . . .” (Rom. 7:24). Living for the Lord can be carried out successfully in only one way, and that is by the Believer understanding that everything we receive from the Lord comes to us exclusively through Christ as the Source and the Cross as the Means.

Ever maintaining the Cross as our Object of Faith guarantees perpetual victory (Rom. 6:14), and is the only manner of victory.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker (II Sam. 3:1).

As is obvious, there was contention and outright hostility for many years between “the house of Saul” and “the house of David.” To be frank, fellowship between the two was impossible.

Concerning this, Williams says:

“As then, he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the Spirit, so is it now (Gal. 4:29). A carnal nature is the enemy of the spiritual; but victory is assured to the latter.”

Why did the Lord allow “Saul” to continue? For many years, Saul caused David untold problems. As well, many of us presently struggle with difficulties, all the time knowing that God has the Power to eliminate those difficulties, and to do so immediately. But yet He oftentimes allows them to continue. Why?

First of all, the Lord minutely looks after His Children, even to the extent of numbering the very hairs of our heads (Mat. 10:30). This means that nothing can happen to us but that the Lord either causes it or allows it. Of course, He definitely doesn’t cause us to sin, but He does allow us to do wrong, that is, if we are so foolish to do so. And if we do so, there will be negative results!

The Lord allowed Saul to continue as long as he did for many reasons. One of those reasons, no doubt, was the attempt to get Saul to repent. The Lord loved Saul; regrettably, that love was not reciprocated. However, the greatest reason of all, probably, for allowing Saul to continue was that David might learn trust and faith, which, despite what some say, can be learned no other way (II Cor. 12:9-10).”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
“and the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spoke unto David, saying, Except you take away the blind and the lame, you shall not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the City of David (II Sam. 5:6-7).

The Jebusites inhabited Jerusalem when David became king. Saul was never able to dislodge them. The Believer must remember this: If inward battles are not won (the Jebusites), then certainly we cannot hope to win the outward battles (the Philistines). In fact, the Philistines ultimately killed Saul.

The following also must be remembered:

That which God will use, Satan will make every attempt to sully, just as he did Jerusalem. The Evil One knew that Jerusalem would be chosen by God to be His City; consequently, he would place his strongest opponent to Righteousness, the Jebusites, there. This means that even though Zion was God’s City, it was so completely in the power of the enemy that even the blind and the lame were deemed sufficiently strong to garrison it.

But David took the city, even though others before him had been unable to do so. As well, our Heavenly David has defeated the enemy, all on our behalf, but yet the same is required of us, spiritually speaking, as it was David of old.

How did he take the city?

First of all, immediately on becoming king, he recognized that his enemy in their very midst had to be defeated. We must look at the weaknesses in our personal lives in the same manner.

Second, the way that entrance was gained into the city was by the water gutter, which is a Type of the Holy Spirit. In other words, that which we personally need to be before Christ cannot be brought about by our own machinations, only by the Holy Spirit.

Third, the Jebusites taunted David by saying that he was so weak that the “lame and blind” could defend the city against him and his army. David’s response was that he “hated the lame and the blind,” meaning, in the spiritual sense, that we should hate everything in our lives that makes us spiritually lame or spiritually blind.

David took the city and “dwelt in the fort.” The Holy Spirit demands that we dwell in victory where previously had been defeat. Only then, as David, can we “grow great, and the LORD God of Hosts be with us.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“and David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David arose, and went with all the people who were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the Ark of God, Whose Name is called by the Name of the LORD of Hosts that dwells between the Cherubims (I Chron. 13:1; II Sam. 6:2).

As it regards the bringing up of the Ark of God into Jerusalem, this was a noble desire, no doubt placed in the heart of David by the Lord; however, as to the carrying out of this all-important task, David consulted not with the Lord, but rather with other men. Had he consulted with the Lord, success, and not disaster, would have resulted. But he consulted man, imitated the Philistine (placed the Ark on a new cart), and organized a great public function in which he and his plans largely obscured God and His Glory; consequently, the day ended in death, anger, and fear. All this was the planning of “the flesh.”

The Ark of the Covenant was to be carried on the shoulders of Priests, because Priests, under the Law of Moses, were types of Christ (Deut. 10:8; 31:9, 25). The results were that Uzzah put forth his hand to steady the Ark and died instantly — all because of David’s disobedience.

What man has set up, he feels himself bound to sustain. But the God of Israel needed not, as the gods of the nations, a human hand to uphold Him. It was necessary that He should teach His People this lesson. He must be held in reverence of all them who are round about Him; and all must learn that God judged the “flesh” in an Israelite in the same manner as in a Philistine; for there is no difference.

Uzzah, no doubt, thought with exultation how the Ark of God was death to the men of Ashdod, but he never anticipated it being death to himself! But the Living God is a consuming fire to the actions of the carnal nature, whether inside or outside the family of Abraham. Thus, did He judge the presumption of the flesh in Uzzah. This should be a lesson to us, in that God judges the “flesh” wherever it is found.

Paul plainly said: “So then they who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). The “flesh” is our own self efforts. Placing our faith in anything other than Christ and His Cross constitutes “walking after the flesh” (Rom. 8:1).”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“and David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?
(II Sam. 9:1).

Why did David, even after Saul was dead, desire to show kindness to the house of Saul, considering that Saul, when alive, had repeatedly tried to kill him? The reason was the covenant that David had made with Jonathan, Saul’s son and David’s close friend (I Sam. 23:16-18). Such a covenant was inviolable, meaning it was unbreakable. Whatever belonged to Jonathan, also belonged to David, and vice versa.

It was found that one son of Jonathan was still alive. His name was Mephibosheth. His very name meant “the reproach of shame.” He lived in a place called “Lo-debar,” which means “the desert place, no pasture.” He also was a cripple. Thus, he aptly pictured man as a rebel by nature, a sinner by practice, morally deformed, self-convicted, and far from God. Yet David, “for Jonathan’s sake,” sought him, found him, pardoned him, enriched him, gave him a place among his sons, and brought him into his banqueting house, unfolding over him his banner of love!

The one condition which Mephibosheth fulfilled, and which made real to him his translation from hungry Lo-debar to the banqueting of Mount Zion, was that he surrender unreservedly to David. A similar surrender on the part of the sinner to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, of which all of this is a type, carries with it a consciousness of forgiveness, life, and glory.

When sitting at the king’s table, Mephibosheth’s eyes must have shone with admiration when fixed on David; but what self-abasement must have clothed his mind when his gaze fell upon his deformed feet! Yet the knowledge that he was there, “for Jonathan’s sake,” and not because of any personal worthfulness, must have continually assured him of his position. So “he did eat continually at the king’s table.”

Grace saved him; the riches of that Grace endowed him; and its exceeding riches set him as a son at the king’s table continually. And so will it be for all who look to the Grace afforded by Christ (Eph. 2:8-9).”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every”) Day Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“and Nathan said to David, You are the man (II Sam. 12:7).

As one reads this Chapter, one must come to the conclusion that it testifies to the inspiration of the Bible, for only the Holy Spirit could have (would have) recorded so faithfully its infamy and horror. It gives a true insight into man’s nature as sinful and fallen. It teaches the reader the humbling lesson that such is the nature he possesses, and that, if Divine restraints are withheld and temptations sufficiently attractive and skillfully offered, there is no depth of evil, shame, and falsehood to which he will not fall.

Uriah, the husband of Bath-sheba, was one of David’s thirty-seven mighty men (II Sam. 23:39). To make him the bearer of the letter arranging for his murder was a depth of infamy which is appalling; worse yet, it was committed by one of the Godliest men who ever lived — David.

David’s efforts to shield Bath-sheba is the one redeeming feature in this sad history. But his plans were his own, and, unfortunately, they succeeded. Bitter fruit usually follows from successful human plans. Had David, directly he had sinned against God, Uriah, and Bath-sheba, cast himself with anguish of heart upon God, the Lord would have made a way of escape and forgiveness consistent with Himself and morally instructive to David (Williams).

The Lord raised up David as a king to witness to the nature of Divine Government. In this matter of Uriah, David falsified that testimony; God, therefore, vindicated Himself by judging and chastening David in the sight of all men. He was accordingly disgraced by one son (13:14), banished by another (15:19), rebelled against by a third (I Ki., Chpt. 2), cursed by a subject (16:5), betrayed by his friends, and deserted by his people. His child was stricken with death; the sword never departed from his house. His whole subsequent history was a succession of sorrows and calamities.

Concerning this, Williams says, “Thus God protects women, honors marriage, and strikes with burning judgments the sin which men lightly regard, clothe with poisonous poetry, or treat as a subject of humor and jesting.”

David’s anger in Verse 5 concerning the lamb is a remarkable instance of how sensitive the moral judgment may be at the very time when the heart is blinded by sin! This fact illustrates the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13). And yet, David had a true knowledge of God. When his sin was pointed out by Nathan the Prophet with the awful words, “You are the man,” David’s first thoughts were, not the punishment that would follow, but the injury done to God.

Psalm 51 witnesses to the depth and sincerity of the king’s Repentance; and his submission to the judgment that smote his child showed that, although more guilty than they, yet he had a spiritual knowledge of God which others did not possess. He laid open the tenderest emotions of his heart to God — the heart that God was wounding — but directly the Will of God was manifested, he at once submitted. This was the evident Work of the Holy Spirit in him.

David really loved Bath-sheba; and she was, in many respects, a woman of character. In fact, the last Chapter of Proverbs, written by her son Solomon, portrays Bathsheba. The Holy Spirit sanctioned all that was written.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“and Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom (II Sam. 15:12).

The rebellion and violent death of Absalom were, without a doubt, the greatest trials of David’s life; more so because he felt that he was to blame. David was now 56 years old; Absalom, 24; and Solomon, 6 years of age. Absalom easily deceived the people by a profession of devotion to them (II Sam. 15:2-6), and as easily deceived his father by a profession of devotion to God (II Sam. 15:7-8).

Because man has fallen from God’s moral image, he can readily deceive and be deceived (II Tim. 3:13).

Deception and rebellion are grievous in any case; however, for such to lodge in the heart of one’s own son, and against David, presents injury of the highest sort. Absalom reasoned that inasmuch as David had sinned with Bath-sheba and had planned the murder of her husband (actions which were heinous indeed), he could take the throne. Most of the people of Israel agreed with him! However, God had not selected Absalom to take the throne; God had selected David. Even though David had sinned terribly, the Lord had not deposed him as king. If Absalom had succeeded in his plan, it would have destroyed Israel.

At this time, Israel was one of the greatest nations in the world. It was prosperous far beyond most of the surrounding nations. This was all owed to David; however, most of the people did not recognize that, or else they didn’t care. So they would put a deceiver on the throne.

Thus, the conqueror of Goliath was hunted from his throne and dishonored in his home by his own son — and that in fulfillment of the Word of the Lord! Such is God’s holy wrath against sin. And such is the bitter fruit of sin — the sharp two-edged sword of the Word of God was unsheathed against David.

How just is God! But whom He loves, He chastens; and accordingly, while thus revealing His righteous Anger, He, at the same time, overruled these judgments to draw David into a closer fellowship with Himself. The Lord did this in order to discipline and teach his heart so that his sorrows, the fruit of his sins, became occasions of spiritual enrichment to him.

This account, consequently, is a valuable testimony that God does not cast off His People when they sin against Him; that He forgives them directly as they confess their faults; that He overrules all to enrich their knowledge of Himself; and that He furnishes them with expressions and sentiments proper to the Restoration of the soul.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“and David built there an Altar unto the LORD, and offered Burnt Offerings and Peace Offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel (II Sam. 24:25).

The Twenty-fourth Chapter of II Samuel, in point of time as it regards events, precedes those of the Twentythird Chapter. This is designed by the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as Chapter 23 prefigures the glories of Christ and records the names of the companions of that glory. The Twenty-fourth Chapter speaks of the sufferings of Christ, as the Sin Offering, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. David foreshadowed this, for no Priest is mentioned.

David had given orders that a census should be taken in both Judah and Israel. That, within itself, was not wrong, that is, if David’s motives were right. The great wrong came in that David disobeyed the Word of God, in that a half-shekel was to be paid to the Sanctuary for every man who was numbered. This proclaimed the fact that Israel’s foundation was Redemption, in fact, the foundation upon which the Tabernacle stood. All were based on the Precious Blood of Christ. To ignore this was to invite a plague, which is exactly what happened (Ex. 30:11-16).

When the census was brought back, the number was 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword for Israel and 500,000 for Judah. And then the Scripture tells us that several things happened, which are:

1. “David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people”: David’s heart did not smite him until the sin was accomplished, though its pursuit occupied more than nine months. Sin, when accomplished, occasions disgust; it is the pursuit of it which has such a hateful attraction to the heart. Directly the sin is committed, Satan no longer cares to hide its ugliness.

2. David said, “For I have done very foolishly”: To be sure, sin makes fools of people! At this point, the Lord sent Gad the Prophet to David. The Lord gave David one of three choices: A. Seven years of famine; B. Defeated three months by his enemies; or C. Three days’ pestilence in the land, sent by the Lord.

Quickly was David’s choice made: “Let us fall now into the Hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.”

So the Lord sent a plague on both Israel and Judah. Seventy thousand men died in that three-day plague. The only remedy was the Cross of Christ, as the only remedy is the Cross of Christ. David purchased the threshing floor of Araunah the Jubusite, which was in the heart of Jerusalem, in order to “build an Altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.” On that Altar, David “offered Burnt Offerings and Peace Offerings,” all serving as types of Christ and what He would do at the Cross. The

Cross alone stops the plague of sin in the human heart and life. Nothing else will, because nothing else can. The answer for sin in any form is the Cross, even as the answer always has been the Cross! (Rom. 8:2).”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Happy Resurrection Sunday—Jesus is alive, the tomb is empty, and the stone has rolled away!

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives”
 
Your Word for Today

“even as I swore unto you by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day (I Ki. 1:30).

David, one of the greatest men of God who ever lived now comes to the place that he must die. The giant-killer cannot evade death; because of Adam’s Fall, death is passed on all men. Thank God, that enemy was defeated at Calvary; even though its effect will be the last to be destroyed, that day for certain will come (I Cor. 15:26, 54-57).

The Lord had promised David that he would give him a Son Whom God would raise up to Him, God being His Father, and He being His Son, Who should build the Temple of Jehovah and reign forever and ever. This was the Promise, and David himself knew it referred to Christ (II Sam., Chpt. 7).

But the words, “If he commit iniquity . . .” (II Sam. 7:14), expressed responsibility; and David understood that this concerned Solomon and not the Christ of Glory. Solomon was God’s choice to occupy the throne after the death of his father David; however, Adonijah, Joab, and Abiathar (the High Priest) set up their kingdom in opposition to God’s elect king. God had no place in their hearts, and so Solomon did not suit them. God’s choice never does suit man.

Adonijah, the fourth son of David, was now the eldest surviving son. Amnon, Chileab, and Absalom were all dead. Adonijah was Absalom’s half-brother and, like him, very handsome and overindulged by his father. We find from all of this that men never make a common choice with God. Solomon, as stated, was God’s chosen king; and the conspirators knew that very well.

If the plans of these evil men had succeeded, it would have meant the ruin of Israel. The glory under Solomon never would have transpired. Tragically, all too often, even presently, and especially presently, men are attempting to set up their kingdom in opposition to that which is desired by the Lord. Ruin is always the result!

Israel, in a sense, was the Kingdom of God on Earth. Consequently, the way of the Lord was much more obvious. Presently, the Kingdom of God is in the hearts of men, and it is not so obvious. Thus, the two kingdoms, man’s religious kingdom and God’s Kingdom, struggle side by side.

Accordingly, every Believer must make a choice. Will it be that of man, or will it be that of God? If the choice for the kingdom of religious man is made, spiritual wreckage will be the result, with even the possibility of the loss of the soul.

That’s why Paul said: “I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him (the Holy Spirit) Who called you into the Grace of Christ (made possible by the Cross) unto another gospel (anything which doesn’t have the Cross as its Object of Faith):

“Which is not another (presents the fact that Satan’s aim is not so much to deny the Gospel, which he little can do, but to corrupt it); but there be some who trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ (once again, to make the Object of Faith something other than the Cross [Gal. 1:6-7])”.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms, from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life (I Ki. 4:20-21).

Now we see the result of God’s Way, which is always “more abundant life” (Jn. 10:10). The prosperity, the eating, drinking, and making merry (I Ki. 4:20), the abundance (4:22-23), the peace and safety (4:24-25), the extended dominion (4:21), the external honor (4:34), and the internal dignity (4:2) all resulted from the one fact that Solomon, God’s choice, was king. The destruction of the rebels and the enthronement of God’s elect prince originated this universal contentment and prosperity.

It is a forepicture, although feeble, of the happy day that awaits the Earth, when the rebels who now govern it and fill it with misery will be overthrown, and the Prince of Peace, the Greater than Solomon (Mat. 12:42), will take unto Himself His great Power and reign gloriously before His ancient People Israel. The present miseries that oppress the nations, which they, by repeated efforts, vainly try to remove, would at once all be put to an end and universal peace, happiness, and prosperity secured, if men would invite the Messiah to return and take the government of the world into His Mighty Hands. We all know, however, that the world is not going to do that; nevertheless, at the appropriate time, the Lord Jesus Christ is definitely going to come. That of which Solomon’s reign was a forepicture will then be a reality (Rev., Chpt. 19).”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“and Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the House of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the Statutes of David his father . . . (I Ki. 3:1, 3).

Israel was forbidden to make affinity in marriage with the Canaanites; with respect to the Egyptians, such Passages as Isaiah 19:21, 23, 25; Zechariah 14:18; Deuteronomy 23:7; and, Ezekiel 29:13 suggest that they are vessels of mercy, prepared unto Millennial Glory, in union with Israel, and, as such, are representative of the future redeemed Gentile nations.

Solomon’s marriage, therefore, with the daughter of Egypt and her introduction into the city of David, where the Ark was — symbol of the Covenant and of God’s relationship with His People, brought her into that Covenant (Ps. 105:8-23). The Covenant was not made with Pharaoh’s daughter. But Grace placed her where the Ark, the symbol of the Covenant, was hidden; and thus was she safeguarded and sheltered by Him Who had made that Covenant with His People, and Who will, in the latter day, include in it all the nations of the Earth (Jer. 12:16).

At this time, the Brazen Altar was at Gibeon, where the Tabernacle was; however, the Ark was in Jerusalem, the city of David. The Brazen Altar was visible; the Ark was hidden. The Brazen Altar pictures Christ lifted up from the Earth in suffering, rejection, and death; the Ark of the Covenant pictures Christ hidden in the heavenlies awaiting the time of His manifestation in Glory.

In the sad days of the Judges and of Saul, the Tabernacle was forsaken and the Ark of the Covenant disrupted from the Brazen Altar, retired into the city of David, there hidden till the glory under Solomon was established. It was there that Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter (where the Ark of the Covenant was), and not to Gibeon, where the Brazen Altar was. Such is the Grace which awaits the Gentile.

Having put away sin at the Brazen Altar (Calvary) by the Sacrifice of Himself, Christ has retired into the Heavens, and we Gentiles, like Pharaoh’s daughter, shelter ourselves in that hidden Saviour. He, like Solomon, will build us a House with many mansions, and we, in union with Israel, will enter into the glory of His Millennial Kingdom.

All of this, therefore, which took place in the first part of Solomon’s reign, pictures the Gentile Church; it also looks forward to the coming Kingdom Age.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“and it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month (May), that he began to build the House of the LORD (I Ki. 6:1).

As the Tabernacle in every aspect of its structure presented Christ in His Atoning, Mediatorial, and Intercessory Work, likewise, the Temple did the same, but with one difference. Just as every whit of the Tabernacle symbolized the glories attaching to Christ in His First Advent, so all the dazzling splendor of the Temple prefigured the glories of His Second Advent. Both buildings were designed by God; nothing was left to the religious feeling, taste, or imagination of Moses, David, or Solomon (Heb. 8:5; I Chron. 28:19).

The Temple was built of stone, cedar, cypress, olivewood, and gold. The instruments of its service were largely copper. These materials set forth the Deity, the precious and sinless humanity, and the strength, the grace, and the governmental Power of Christ.

As this Temple was built without outward noise, meaning “there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (6:7), so was Christ, the True Temple, prepared of God without observation (Lk. 17:20; Heb. 10:5). In the Tabernacle, there was a Veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies; however, no Veil is mentioned in the Temple. The figure here is not that of access to God, as was the Tabernacle, but of dwelling with God. There were folding doors which opened; for Millennial fellowship will be real and partial. Full fellowship will only be enjoyed in the new Heavens and the new Earth.

The Cherubim symbolized Judgment. Their wings met over the blood-sprinkled Mercy Seat and reached to either extremity of the Most Holy Place. In fact, the Most Holy Place was 30 feet wide, 30 feet long, and 30 feet high (6:20). The Great Brazen Altar (II Chron., Chpt. 4) also was 30 feet square; for Atonement and Glory are one. In other words, as great as the Throne of God, of which the Holy of Holies was a type, is the Redemption of God, symbolized by the Brazen Altar.

This is the reason the conversation on the Mount of Transfiguration was about the decease of Christ which He should accomplish at Jerusalem (Lk. 9:31). Atonement, it must ever be understood, is the theology of Heaven, and the entrance into Heaven is gained only by acceptance of the Atonement. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit will bar all entrance (Eph. 2:18).

The Cherubim of Gold, attached to the Mercy Seat and made of the same mass of gold, looked downward upon the sprinkled blood; the Cherubim made of olive wood, which filled the Holy of Holies in the Temple, looked outward. This refers to the fact that God’s Perfect Judgments will, in the Millennium, be enabled to look out from Calvary upon a kingdom wherein shall dwell Righteousness. This now is not possible, for Righteousness retreated to Heaven when Christ went back to the Father (Jn. 16:10).

But Jesus is coming back. He will establish a Kingdom which will incorporate the entirety of the world, of which Solomon’s Temple was a forepicture.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
Your Word for Today

“for he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits (27 feet) high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits (18 feet) did compass either of them about (I Ki. 7:15).

The pillars of copper are mentioned seven times in the Bible (I Ki. 7:15; II Ki. 25:13; I Chron. 18:8; II Chron. 3:15; Jer. 27:19; 52:17; Rev. 3:12).

These Scriptures state that the copper was captured by David from the Syrians (I Chron. 18:8). David’s incursion into these Gentile areas and the taking of the copper symbolize believing sinners being brought into the Kingdom of God. Before David took it, almost all of this copper (which consisted of lampstands, doorstops, altars to heathen gods, etc.) was dedicated to heathen gods, symbolizing believing sinners brought from the world into the Grace of God.

At the appointed time, Solomon took all of these ornaments and melted them together, thereby destroying their past identity, even as our wicked past is destroyed in Christ (II Chron. 4:17). We like to think that the talent and ability of the ungodly, should they come to the Lord, could be used greatly for Christ; however, none of it truly can be used for God. Everything of the world and of the flesh must be stripped away, with the Holy Spirit Alone having His Perfect Way.

These notable pillars were peculiar to the Temple, as distinguished from the Tabernacle; for, in the Tabernacle, God was the traveling Companion of His People, but, in the Millennium, He will be a Resident among them. The pillars were works of art, displaying strength, beauty, and grace of surpassing splendor. These pillars, therefore, pictured Christ as Israel’s Millennial King; they voiced the strength, the grace, the beauty, the life, and the varied fruit of the Spirit, which will be seen in Him when He sets up His visible Kingdom over the Earth. Their dazzling splendor of polished copper, illumined by the rising sun (for the pillars faced the rising sun), prefigured the moral glory of Christ as the Door of the House of God.

And yet, our Lord tells us, “Him who overcomes will I make a pillar in the Temple of My God” (Rev. 3:12). This plainly tells us that every Believer, of which the pillars in the Temple were a type, will rule and reign with Christ.”

—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart
 
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