“Guarding the Gates”

Jeremiah 33

19 And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying,

20 Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.

22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

Never before have we needed men of God in the pulpit as in these days. We’ve outsinned Sodom and Gomorrah 25 years ago already.

God said, if you could break my covenant with the night and day, then my covenant with David can be broken.

v15: The first part has been fulfilled in Jesus. In the second part, God promises that He will never lack ministers (Levites) to minister before Him. In spite of all those who are quitting the ministry, God is still raising up His Levitical Priesthood.

There are two streams, 2 concurrent types of priesthoods. Ezekiel prophesied that in the last days there’ll be two kinds of congregations, preachers and ministers. There will be those who minister unto God. In Ez 40-44, Ezekiel has the vision of a great temple that was to be built. That is not a physical temple, because it stretches over lands and seas and mountains. He is talking about the church of the last days. He sees the church as having no boundaries.

And the glory of the Lord is coming down on that house/temple. But Ezekiel saw a strange, horrifying sight. Despite the glory, a rebellious priesthood came forth. The Levitical priesthood were to guard and cleanse the gates of the tabernacle. Nothing evil was to be allowed into the temple.

Ez 44:4-7. Here we find priests who defiled God’s temple. Ezekiel is being warned by God what will happen in God’s house. There is a type of priesthood, that ministered to the people’s idolatry. The gates ought to be guarded. God has called you, pastor, to guard the gates of your church. Never let a wolf enter your congregation.

Even tonight there are two types of pastors present here too.

In 1 Sam 2: 27 we read of the unknown prophet coming to Eli, saying (paraphrased), “You’ve been disobedient to the Lord’s commandment, and honoured your sons above God. There shall not be an old man in your house. Your sons will die soon.” Then a strange prophecy which one could paraphrase as: “The one who will not be cast out of the ministry, will consume his days with grief.” In other words, there will always be the same compromising type of preacher in the priesthood.

Saul commanded 85 priests to be killed at Nob (1Sam 22). These were sons and grandsons of Eli. But Abiathar escaped to David, as the prophet prophesied. When David came to the throne, he had two priests, Abiathar, and Zadok. Abiathar is the Eli-priesthood. For a long time they seem equally anointed. However, in the end it was shown how he turned against God’s anointed. There has been many ministers I’ve seen who have preached for years with anointing, but in the end they turn away. Why? There is one thing not settled – one besetting sin God has spoken to them about time and again, but they never settled it.

Ez 44:9-12, shows us that, even though they are uncircumcised in their flesh, the Lord will still appoint them to minister in the House. They will go through the sacrifices, but, says the Lord, “I am not with them”.

It speaks here about men living in sin, with unclean hands and impure hearts, yet still minister to the people. However, God said that they shall not come near Him – they shall “bear their shame”. What does God do to a man who compromises; it is the worst thing that can ever happen to a man – when the presence of the Lord is removed and the Holy Ghost departs, and nothing is left but death.

If you want to know if you’re that kind of priest, you can test yourself with this question. Have you been under the glory of the Lord for a long time, heard many sermons and were convicted, but now you can sit under God’s word unmoved and untouched – no matter who preaches. There’s no Holy Ghost anguish, but hardness of heart. God still leaves you to minister to the people, but every holy person will leave you and will be replaced with those who have their idols in their heart.

Ez 44:15-16 The ministers, sons of Zadok, who were faithful, they shall minister unto God and His people, and guard the gates. The Zadok priesthood, will minister with “blood and the fat”, (life and the best of everything). They will minister with the “fat” which helps the fire burn brighter. Are you of the Zadok priesthood?

This is the covenant we have read of in the beginning of this message.

This message is not to put you down but to give a loving warning from the Holy Spirit.