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This chapter deals with the appearing of Messiah when He came the first time, to found the kingdom of God in the earth. In these pages, Father clearly delineates the events in history which led up to Messiah's first appearing, and the careful divine preparation that was given to help the people to recognize Him when He came. Father also sets forth here in detail, the specific things in history which prevented the people who had been divinely cultivated and prepared, from recognizing the One Anointed for their deliverance, and to reject Him as simply a man, when He did come. If the reader will be observant, there will be seen the correlation between the first coming of Messiah to found the kingdom of God, and His return the second time, to consummate in the soul the Messianic salvation that was founded in the soul by Jesus of Nazareth. You will see clearly why the manner in which Messiah appeared again, to consummate the kingdom of God in the earth, was as unexpected to us, as it was to those at His first appearing.
When the divine pillar of cloud arose and floated over to the wilderness "Tent of Meeting," dedicating it with the Presence of God, as It descended upon it and embraced it, the people saw clearly that it was the actual Presence of God coming to dwell in His sanctuary, which alone gave that moveable tent its true meaning and significance. Thereafter, the people were to continually witness this special manifestation of God's Presence over the wilderness sanctuary, as It responded visibly and reciprocally to the cloud of incense when it was refreshed at the morning and evening sacrifice, and when Moses would draw near to commune with God.
After the children of Israel entered into the land that God had given them, the visible Presence of God continued to be revealed at the "Tent of Meeting," which was pitched at Shiloh. Though the people were no longer camped in tents around this sanctuary, but were living in houses throughout the land, the visible cloud of light could still be seen above the "Tent of Meeting" when they came to Shiloh.
When Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, that same visible cloud of the Presence dedicated the temple which had been built for Him.
Thus, all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished...And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, to the sanctuary of the house, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim... Then Solomon said...Now, O my God, I beseech You, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this temple. So now arise, O Lord God, and come into Your resting-place, You and the ark of Your strength and power...When Solomon had finished praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. The priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. 2 Chron. 5:1,7,11-14; 6:1,40,41; 7:1,2 Amplified.
From the beginning of this earth, a dark force has been present, continually working to undermine Father's tender designs for the recovery of the lost, whom He was seeking to draw back to Himself. The satanic power that had become an adversary in heaven, came to this earth. He schemed and worked untiringly to intercept the communion that God was patiently working to establish. He could not stop what God was doing, but he worked to cause the people to see in a distorted light what God was doing, and to misinterpret His movings in their behalf.
Through Moses, God's purpose to send His Son as the Redeemer of the fallen race, was kept before Israel. On one occasion, shortly before his death, Moses declared, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken." Plainly had Moses been instructed for Israel concerning the work of the Messiah to come. "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee," was the word of Jehovah to His servant; "and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him." Deuteronomy 18:15, 18.
In patriarchal times the sacrificial offerings connected with divine worship constituted a perpetual reminder of the coming of a Saviour, and thus it was with the entire ritual of the sanctuary services throughout Israel's history. In the ministration of the tabernacle, and of the temple that afterward took its place, the people were taught each day, by means of types and shadows, the great truths relative to the advent of Christ as Redeemer, Priest, and King; and once each year their minds were carried forward to the closing events of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the final purification of the universe from sin and sinners. The sacrifices and offerings of the Mosaic ritual were ever pointing toward a better service...
When Adam and his sons began to offer the ceremonial sacrifices ordained by God as a type of the coming Redeemer, Satan discerned in these a symbol of communion between earth and heaven. During the long centuries that have followed, it has been his constant effort to intercept this communion. Untiringly has he sought to misrepresent God and to misinterpret the rites pointing to the Saviour...
When God's written word was given through the Hebrew prophets, Satan studied with diligence the messages concerning the Messiah. Carefully he traced the words that outlined with unmistakable clearness Christ's work among men as a suffering sacrifice and as a conquering king. In the parchment rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures he read that the One who was to appear was to be "brought as a lamb to the slaughter," "His visage...so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." Isaiah 53:7; 52:14. The promised Saviour of humanity was to be "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;...smitten of God, and afflicted;" yet He was also to exercise His mighty power in order to "judge the poor of the people." He was to "save the children of the needy," and "break in pieces the oppressor." Isaiah 53:3, 4; Psalm 72:4. These prophecies caused Satan to fear and tremble; yet he relinquished not his purpose to thwart, if possible, the merciful provisions of Jehovah for the redemption of the lost race. He determined to blind the eyes of the people, so far as might be possible, to the real significance of the Messianic prophecies, in order to prepare the way for the rejection of Christ at His coming. Not without the most determined opposition was the divine purpose carried out...[This effort to blind the eyes of the people beforehand was also exercised at the time of Christ's second coming.]
From time to time divinely appointed messengers of truth were to be raised up to call attention to the meaning of the sacrificial ceremonies, and especially to the promise of Jehovah concerning the advent of the One toward whom all the ordinances of the sacrificial system pointed. PK 684-689.
This satanic counter-process began its attack on the sanctuary of God, not by destroying it, but by changing the way in which the people of God related to it, and the way in which they interpreted the symbolism of it. The adversary didn't destroy the temple building, but, instead, destroyed its meaning to the people. While the divine Presence had initially been the main object of attention at the wilderness sanctuary, as it hovered over and came down into the temple in response to the events transpiring within it, something changed. The "Tent of Meeting" became no longer the central object of focus and thought. Through the insidious working of the adversary, the people began relating to the visible Presence of God in their midst as a common thing. As the people settled down in their own homes throughout the land of their inheritance, they became occupied with the busyness of life. They ceased to cherish the gratitude and awe that they had felt when God first came down to dwell visibly among them. It was only several times a year that they traveled to the place where they saw the visible Presence of God manifested over His dwelling place. Out-of-sight, the visible Presence soon became out-of-mind. This most special gift and precious privilege was no longer cherished.
In addition, the people of God were not true to their divine instructions to completely subdue the land of its idolatrous influences. They now came to dwell under the dark influences which they had not been faithful to dismiss, and soon were no longer under the divine protection which comes through the following of God's will. Their attention was diverted from the One to Whom this symbol was pointing forward, and with commonness of regard, and lack of appreciation, came the apostasy which always follows this state.
The sacrifices, pointing forward to the death of Christ, were designed to preserve in the hearts of the people faith in the Redeemer to come; hence it was of the greatest importance that the Lord's directions concerning them should be strictly heeded...Irreverence on the part of the priests soon robbed the service of its holy and solemn significance...The great antitypical sacrifice to which they were to look forward was no longer recognized...God could not communicate with the high priest and his sons; their sins, like a thick cloud, had shut out the presence of His Holy Spirit. PP 576-582.
Through Jeremiah the prophet, God told His people that they would go into captivity to Babylon for seventy years. At the same time, God also told them, "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you, causing you to return." Jer. 29:10 Amplified. True to God's word, Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon's army, the city and Solomon's temple were plundered and destroyed, and the people were taken to Babylon. This time of captivity, though a result of their apostasy, was designed by God to be turned into a blessing for His self-blinded people. It was to be a help to them as their hearts were drawn out to feel after their God, and to awaken in them appreciation for Him anew.
Daniel was one of those who was taken into captivity. At the end of the seventy years, God put it upon his heart to pray that He would release His captive people and bring them home.
I, Daniel, understood from the books the number of years which, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass by before the desolations which had been pronounced on Jerusalem should end; and it was seventy years. And I set my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes; and I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession. Dan. 9:1-4 Amplified.
At the conclusion of his prayer confessing the spiritual condition of God's people, which had caused them to go into captivity in the first place, he prayed:
Now therefore, O our God, listen to and heed the prayer of Your servant and his supplications, and for Your own sake cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary which is desolate...For we do not present our supplications before You for our own righteousness and justice, but for Your great mercy and loving-kindness. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and act! Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name. Dan. 9:17, 18 Amplified.
Daniel was not the only one who was aware of God's prophecy and the deliverance He had planned. Invisible, adversarial forces were also aware of God's purposes for the hour. At this very time they were exerting their utmost power of influence to keep the prince of Persia, the head of the nation who was now holding the people of God in captivity since its conquest of Babylon, under their power of influence. The adversary was attempting to thwart the deliverance of God which had been prophesied. But through the special interposition of the Son of God, (Who was Michael the archangel), the prince of Persia was released from the influence of the hostile spirit forces that were striving to dominate him, and he was enabled to freely cooperate in the purposes of God for His people.
Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind and heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come as a consequence of and in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief celestial princes, came to help me...There is no one who holds with me and strengthens himself against those hostile spirit forces except Michael, your prince. Dan. 10:13,21 Amplified.
As a result of Michael's prevailing divine strength, in driving back the hostile spirit forces, Cyrus' heart was allowed to continue under the divine influence that was moving upon him to release the captive people of God, and he wrote a decree freely and fully releasing God's people to return to their home in Jerusalem and rebuild the desolate sanctuary of God. Michael stood up to initiate the fulfillment of God's promise to His people, and to assure the rebuilding of the temple of God.
At this time, two visible witnesses were chosen to lead the people of God home from Babylon, and to rebuild the temple. The Bible describes these two as "the two sons of oil...Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince of Judah, who...led the return of the exiles from Babylon, and were undertaking the rebuilding of the temple...the two anointed ones who stand before the Lord of the whole earth as His anointed instruments." Zech. 4:7,14 Amplified.
In the rebuilding of the desolate temple, a very significant turn of events occurred. It was as if the symbolism of the next dispensation of light, which was to unfold with the coming of Messiah, began breaking through beforehand into this dispensation.
In the second year of their coming to God's house at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel...and Joshua made a beginning, with the rest of their brethren...And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord...all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid! But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, Solomon's temple, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, though many shouted aloud for joy. So the people could not distinguish the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far off. Ezra 3:8, 10-13 Amplified.
The old men who had watched, as the foundation of Solomon's temple was laid, were remembering the costly materials and the visible cloud of light which revealed God's Presence in that magnificent house, and they were judging the rebuilding of this temple through the eyes of human comparison. How could any glory be greater than the former house of God, with its magnificent array of riches, and the visible light of God's Presence hovering over it? Well, those who were used to the former way which God revealed His glory, didn't have any comprehension of how any glory could be greater than that. But through Haggai, God revealed to those returned exiles two specific, invisible realities which they could not see, about the temple that they were rebuilding.
Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remainder of the people, saying, Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? IS NOT THIS IN YOUR SIGHT AS NOTHING IN COMPARISON TO THAT? Yet now be strong, alert, and courageous...For I am with you, says the Lord of hosts.
And the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. Haggai 2:2-4 Amplified; 2:9 KJV.
God was clearly telling them: I AM with you; and, the glory of My rebuilt house will be greater than the first building of it. The two anointed instruments of God and all of the people who had followed them back from Babylon, had to literally take God at His word, and look at things through His eyes, on both of these accounts, because they certainly couldn't go by what they saw with their own human eyes.
In this rebuilt temple, God's Presence was not going to be manifested in the visible way in which they were accustomed. There would be no bright pillar of glory revealing the divine Presence to their senses, like there had been in the wilderness "Tent of Meeting", and in the house of God which Solomon had built. Now, they were required to take God's word at face value when He said, "I AM with you," for their senses could see no outward evidence of it. At least, not the outward evidence that they were used to. The first coming of Christ was accompanied by many visible miracles and certain divine manifestations. That coming was glorious. The second coming has none of these things visibly seen, yet it is more glorious than the first. The people hear the voice of the Father only, declaring the coming of His Son. The people hear that voice and respond, not simply because they saw a visible miracle, but because they heard the Father speak. There is no greater glory to the soul than this, and no greater miracle. Truly, the second coming has with it many miracles, but they are not seen as before, and people are not converted because of them.
In this rebuilt temple, the people were being given a divine premonition of the real glory of the living temple to come. For it was prefiguring in a special manner, the change which would be occurring in the way that the glory of God's Presence was going to be revealed in the next unfolding of light. It was God's desire to prepare the people to recognize the living Temple of God, when His Son would be born among them in His "tent of flesh." It was not by physical proofs to their natural senses that they were going to recognize the Presence of God in Him. In Messiah's life there would be no visible cloud of light continually hovering over His head. The light of God's continual Presence would be revealed in another way. On Messiah's face, in the very expression of His countenance, the light of intimately knowing God would shine forth. It would be written of Messiah's life:
For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as to beam forth the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God [the illumination of knowing what the glory of God is] as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed in the face of Christ, the Messiah. 2 Cor. 4:6 Amplified.
Chapter 10, page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
