[0:00] I want us to think for a little while this evening about this concluding verse in this 48th chapter, the final chapter, the final verse of the book of the prophet Ezekiel.
[0:10] It was round about 18,000 measures. And the name of the city from that day shall be, the Lord is there. The city being described in the latter chapters of Ezekiel is, it's not earthbound in the sense that it's not simply physical Jerusalem and the physical temple.
[0:32] Remember that Ezekiel is the prophet who is prophesying to the exiles in the Babylonian captivity. They are, as it says in the opening chapters, by the river of Kibar, that is in what is now modern day Syria, that was part of upper Babylonia, part of the Babylonian empire, where that particular part of the children of Israel had been taken away into captivity.
[0:56] And whilst they're in captivity, they naturally have a normal kind of homesickness, but a homesickness which will be heightened by the knowledge of not only the land they have left behind and the homes that were theirs once, but also that which made the land and the nation unique.
[1:19] And that which made Israel unique, of course, was its relationship with the Lord. Yes, it was a rich and fertile land in many ways, of great diversity, with both deserts going down to Jericho and so on, and rich pasture land on the sea coastal plain and mountainous areas and very hot areas, and likewise also the snows of Mount Hermon almost all year round, as it were.
[1:44] So it's got great contrasts and great diversity in such a comparatively compact small area. It's a rich and wonderful land, and it is in many ways the linchpin of the continents of the world.
[1:58] You think of where it is positioned, at this sort of crux, as it were, between Africa and Asia, and almost, as it were, as one commentator has put it, within sight of Europe.
[2:10] How perfectly, when the gospel came, that geographical position was placed for sending it out into all the world there and then. But the desire of the Lord through his prophet here is to enable his people to have not only a hankering for the land and for the nation and for homesickness in that sense, but to, as it were, accentuate that, to refine it by recognizing the uniqueness of the land and the nation and the people, and that is their relationship to the Lord, and that uniqueness came to be epitomized by one location more than any other.
[2:51] And that was the location of the temple, the temple mountain, all its environs, and that became, in the people's minds, the very essence of what they were missing most, that of which they were most bereft, the house of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the presence of the Lord.
[3:11] And in the closing chapters, from chapter 40 onwards, in Ezekiel, the prophet is given this vision, this vision of not simply a restored holy land, but also, if you start to sort of unpack the kind of dimensions here, it's a sort of supernatural holy land.
[3:33] The only way that these kind of dimensions actually begin to make sense is if you're thinking in terms of not simply a restored holy land, but rather, as we have it in Revelation, you know, a new heaven and a new earth.
[3:47] If this is part of the new earth, then you can see it perhaps beginning to make sense. We came in sort of, I don't know, in olden days, you know, when people used to watch films in cinemas and everything, it used to be the situation, you came in halfway through maybe, and you paid one ticket, and you watched sort of the latter half of that film, then you saw the whole of the other one, and then you'd sit in again until you came into the place where you left, or where you came in, and then you'd get up and go out, because now you'd seen everything.
[4:16] And a wee bit of this kind of, in verse 17, we've sort of come in halfway through the final chapter, and we don't necessarily get the context here of these measurements that are being made.
[4:27] So if you look back with me briefly to verse 8, where it says, By the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side shall be the offering which he offer, five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth.
[4:39] Now, when it talks in verse 17 about north, 250 to the south, 250. 250 what? 250 cubits, 250 miles, 250 measures, 250 reeds.
[4:51] And we have to look back to what it says at verse 8 here. Now, of course, the reeds is in italics, which means it's not there in the original. It's been inserted by the translator. And if we were to work back, the reason the translator has put it in there, in verse 8, is because you have to sort of begin to work back through the chapters of the descriptions that Ezekiel is giving, of the city and of the temple and of all its courts and environs.
[5:17] And you begin to see as you read these chapters that this temple that he has a vision of is far more vast than anything in a physical temple marked in Jerusalem.
[5:28] It's just not possible to contain it all within the comparatively compact area that's there in Jerusalem. So if we go back to chapter 40, where he begins his descriptions and measurements and so on.
[5:42] Chapter 40, verse 5. Behold, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand, a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an handbread.
[5:55] So he measured the breadth of the building one reed, and the height one reed. Now, this reed proves to be a sort of standard measuring stick by which the angel or the man that he has seen in his vision, as we see in the opening verses of chapter 40, is measuring all the dimensions of everything.
[6:15] It is the length of reed. It says a cubit and a handbreadth. Now, the reason it says this, and again, if you turn a couple of pages to chapter 43, you'll see what it says at verse 13.
[6:26] These are the measures of the altar after the cubits. The cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth. Well, that sounds like a contradiction in terms. Either it's a cubit, or it's a cubit and a handbreadth.
[6:37] So if the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth, even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border, and so on. Now, the reason it has these both in is that obviously it was what was known as the lesser cubit and the greater cubit.
[6:51] The lesser cubit was typically the distance or the measurement from a man's elbow to his wrist, which is sometimes taken as being about 18 inches, probably about a foot, really, you would say.
[7:05] And the greater cubit added the length of the hand, a handbreadth, it says, or a hand width or whatever it may be. And that meant that the greater cubit was the length of the elbow to the tip of the longest finger.
[7:20] Now, of course, everybody's different in size and length and everything. It approximates roughly to a foot and a half, 18 inches. Some commentators take it as being two feet.
[7:31] That's an awful long lower arm you've got that's two feet long, you know. So, approximately 18 inches. But you could perhaps stretch it up to two feet.
[7:43] Let's take the measurements for the sake of argument as being a foot and a half for the greater cubit. And if one reed is, going back to chapter 40 there, one reed, verse 5, is a reed of six cubits long by the cubit in the handbreadth.
[7:59] So, that means six times 18 inches, six times a foot and a half. That means that each reed that the angel is using is nine feet long. And you'll find that this reed tends to be taken as the standard sort of measuring stick throughout all that is used for this great vision that Ezekiel is seeing of the temple and of its courts and environments and so on.
[8:24] So, just to take an example, a wee flavour of verse 18 here. The residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be 10,000 eastward and 10,000 westward.
[8:36] 10,000 what? Well, 10,000 reeds, it would have to be. If you go to the previous verse, verse 17, the city shall be toward the north, to the suburbs, 250. 251, 250 reeds.
[8:49] 250 reeds translates roughly as 2,268 feet. Okay, not roughly, precisely. And that makes, what, 756 yards, which is two and a third miles.
[9:01] So, you've got two and a third miles of suburbs, as it were, outlying fields and so on in this city. Fair enough. It doesn't sound too unreasonable.
[9:12] If you think in terms of the actual geography of physical Jerusalem, with its sort of steep-sided gullies and so on, and the Kidron Valley and then the Hinnom Valley and so on, if you're going to go two and a half miles outwards, you know, by the time you've crested them out of olives and everything, your two and a half miles is pretty mountainous, and it's not really much use as suburbs.
[9:31] However, then we look at the residue. When you've gone these two and a third miles in each direction, verse 18, the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be 10,000 eastward.
[9:42] Now, whatever we're talking about in terms of this residue, it's 10,000 reeds in each direction. A reed is, let's say, nine feet. That's 90,000 feet or 30,000 yards.
[9:55] That is, in other words, over 17 miles eastward and westward that this residue is going. When it talks about the oblation, an oblation is an offering, and this is a reference to the fact that in this restored holy land, a portion has been set aside, an oblation has been set aside for the holy city.
[10:20] And this holy city, what do we read of it? In verse 20, all the oblation shall be 5 and 20,000 by 5 and 20,000. Ye shall offer the holy oblation four square with the possession of the city.
[10:34] So, this offering to the Lord, this portion of the holy land that was to be especially sacred for the holy city was to be 25,000 reeds in every direction, four square.
[10:47] That's 225,000 feet or 75,000 yards. Or, in other words, more than 42 and a half miles in each direction. Now, if you were to look at a map with Jerusalem on it, and you were to go north, 42 and a half miles, you're going to be well and truly halfway to Galilee.
[11:08] And that's just the portion of the city in that direction. If you go south, you reach almost to the bottom end of the Dead Sea. That's how far south it's going. If you go east, then you're almost due south of Rabbah, which is modern-day Amman, the capital of what is now Jordan.
[11:25] And if you go west, well, you're well into the Mediterranean Sea. You're actually in the sea by then, by the time you go 42 and a half miles west. So, the dimensions of this holy city are way too big for physical Palestine.
[11:43] They are way too big for the physical holy land. The portion that is given to each of the tribes, if you were to read all the chapters, is, if you were to mark it on a map, they're straight bands.
[11:55] They're not sort of all the different, sort of kind of higgledy-piggledy sort of portions that are given to this tribe and that tribe and Asher and Zebulun and Judah down in the south and Benjamin, this tiny little bit or whatever.
[12:07] They're straight bands right across from east to west of pretty much equal amounts. Certain amounts set apart for the prince, certain amounts set apart for the holy of nation, the holy city. But there's straight, big, broad widths of bands right across the holy land.
[12:22] And the dimensions of the holy land simply don't cope with it. Which means that he cannot be talking in terms of the mere earthbound physical holy land of Palestine.
[12:34] He is talking about a renewed or a restored or a new earth in which there is a new, restored, sanctified holy land, which is the same, only massive by comparison.
[12:53] Now, in a sense, you might think, well, this doesn't make sense just in terms of Ezekiel's vision alone. And you think in terms of Revelation and you think of how the Lord says he's making a new heaven and a new earth.
[13:05] It is not unreasonable to suppose that the new earth will be bigger and better than the present earth. In that sense, you could say Ezekiel's vision makes perfect sense.
[13:17] Not in terms of part of heaven as such, because again, Revelation tells us that in heaven there is no temple there. You know, the Lord himself is the temple. He don't need a temple there.
[13:28] But Ezekiel is seeing a vision of the temple. A restored earth, a new earth, might have this temple, which if again you read through the chapters, you find it's conspicuous by its emptiness.
[13:43] You don't read that there are priests going about, bustling about in it and slaughtering animals and people worshipping and praying and sending up incense and all the rest of it. It is like going through an echoing chamber, court after court and place after place.
[13:57] It is pristine, it is perfect, but it is essentially empty. Now an empty temple building, of course, is exactly what you would expect if, yes, it's a symbol, a shell perhaps, a glorious shell, but the true temple is already the one enthroned in glory in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[14:19] The key thing that makes this new earth temple, this vision that Ezekiel is seeing, that makes it special, that makes it meaningful, is this concluding statement, the Lord is there, or as it is in the Hebrew, Jehovah, Shammah, the Lord is there.
[14:42] The name of the city from that day shall be, surely the name of the city is Jerusalem, but remember that name in Scripture does not mean simply a sort of luggage label, or a sort of, you know, personal belongings label, writing your name on your lunchbox, or whatever it might be.
[14:58] It's not just an identity tag. The name encapsulates within its identity all the character, all the being, all the essence.
[15:10] It is descriptive, not only of the identity, but of the very being, the reality of the person, the place, or whatever it may be. The name of the city, the identity of the city, what sets the city apart, what makes it special, what gives it its purpose, its fulfillment, its identity is, that the Lord is there.
[15:34] Now, earlier on, in the prophet Ezekiel, some of you will know, of course, that you've got Ezekiel's vision, while he's in exile, of the old physical Jerusalem, and all the idolatry that's going on there, in the temple courts, and all the evil that is practiced, and how he sees, in the vision, the presence, the cloud of God's presence, as it were, being lifted up from off the temple, and going, as it were, eastward to the top of the Mount of Olives, in other words, having departed from the temple itself, and then disappearing, then going, vanishing, as it were, that it is no longer dwelling, no longer abiding on the city, because it's all, it's all, the evil that is practiced there.
[16:16] But what he is seeing now, in this new vision, is, by contrast, the Lord, is there. Now this, of course, is part of the characteristic, just of the temple, and the new earth, that Ezekiel sees, but also, of, of course, the holy city, in Revelation.
[16:34] If we read, in chapter 21, of Revelation, verse 3, I heard a great voice, out of heaven, saying, behold, the tabernacle of God, is with men, the dwelling place of God, is with men, he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself, shall be with them, and be their God.
[16:54] It is part of the definition, of heaven, that God is with his people, and they are with him. Chapter 22, verse 3, there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God, and of the Lamb, shall be in it.
[17:07] And his servants, shall serve him. Then the fact, that the Lord is there, they shall see his face, his name shall be, in their foreheads.
[17:18] This is the presence, of the Lord, with his people. Now, talking about dimensions, if we were to go, and look at the dimensions, of the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, the one that is actually in glory, as opposed to the sort of, new earth, the one that, that Ezekiel sees, we would find there, the dimensions of it, that it is described, as being, chapter 21, verse 16, the city lie four square, and the length, is as large, as the breadth, and he measured the city, with the reed, 12,000 furlongs.
[17:53] Now, as I'm sure you all know, a furlong, is an eighth of a mile. 12,000 eighths of a mile, makes 1,500 miles. Now, think of a city, 1,500 miles across.
[18:07] You can't conceive of it, we can't, but we can see the length, and the breadth, it's four square, and the height, 1,500 miles up, we just can't get our heads, around that at all. Just to set it, sort of in perspective, you can imagine, the biggest city, in the United Kingdom, is of course London, there's 8 million people, living there.
[18:24] But London itself, proper London, is reasonably self-contained. If you think of Greater London, in its most generous description, which would be, we could say, that which is contained, within the ring road, of the N25.
[18:38] At its widest point, that's that Greater London area, contained within the N25, is 40 miles across, perhaps. You know, at most, 40 miles across.
[18:50] Now, this means that, the Holy City, with its dimensions, I know we have to take everything, sort of, slightly, we're interpreting somewhat, but it's, it's like 37 Londons, right across.
[19:02] You know, that's how big, we're looking at, with this huge, massive dimensions, of the Heavenly City, the length, and the breadth, 37 Londons in length, 37 Londons in breadth, and that's just, Greater London, huge London, within the N25.
[19:19] But at the same time, we might perhaps say, okay, fine, the Lord is there, that's brilliant, but, why a city? You know, don't, don't we really want to be going, back to paradise, the garden, the Eden, isn't the whole thing, surely, that we get, restored, to our innocence, that we get, restored, to our, our wholesome, cleanness, in which, the human race was created, surely, that's it, as though, we have never seen.
[19:47] Well, in one sense, you might think, that is the ideal, but, in a sense, there is, greater joy, greater blessing, in, having endured, what we do, and coming out, the other side, than simply going back, as though it had never happened.
[20:03] You know, which is the greater joy, for example, the wife who welcomes, her soldier, her sailor, husband, back in the war, after all the battles, he's been through, after all the, the close shaves, he's had, after all the, the dangers, they had met him, there he comes home, and the homecoming, and the welcome, and the joy, of it being restored, is, I would suggest to you, more intense, and more thankful, than if, you know, he'd never gone off to war, in the first place, because it had never been declared, they just moseyed along, quite easy and happy, but no, the war came, he had to go off, he faced all the dangers, was in so many battles, kept writing home, faithfully, kept in touch, and maybe he was wounded, and maybe he was taken prisoner, whatever the case may be, but eventually, he comes home, he's restored, safe and sound, the joy, I would suggest to you, is more intense, having been delivered, from the jaws of death, time and time again, and I would suggest to you, that perhaps the joy, in the Lord's heart, apart from in others, is more intense, for the children, that he himself, has delivered, from the jaws of hell, from the dangers, of eternal death, he has brought them, it's not just sort of, running the film back, and going back to the beginning, as if we had never sinned, not just going back, to the garden, and let's pretend, it never happened, it did happen, and the whole reason, why God the son, had to come to the earth, and to become a human being, and to die on the cross, and to descend, as it were, into hell, and to endure, all the spiritual, hardship, and horrors, that he endured, for the sake, of his children, his elect people, all of that, was done, that they might be redeemed, that intensity, of divine love, that devotion, to his children, you cannot just, let's just pretend, it was never necessary, let's just pretend, it never happened, that man had never sinned, you almost, do dishonor, to the presence, the glory of God, by wishing, it had never happened, of course we wish,
[22:10] Christ had never had to suffer, but given that he has, and what he has been through, he is not just, sort of the benign God, the son, who never had to, go through anything, he is the hero, of our deliverance, and all that he endured, and all that he suffered, and the hell, which he did, experience, is the reason, we can be with the Lord, for all eternity, so you might say, well why a city, why not just a garden, like in the paradise, of the first, it is partly, of course, what we could say, cities can have gardens, in them, you know, if you think of, go back to London, think of Hyde Park, or Kew Gardens, or any major city, with its botanic gardens, or its parks in it, you can have gardens, within a city, you know, one that's pretty much, 1500 miles, in both directions, yeah, you can probably, put in a few gardens, and parks into that, but also, never mind the size, gardens, as well as, yes, being places of peace, and yes, tranquility, but what do we also, associate with gardens, we associate, isolation, we associate, oh is it lovely, to be in a peaceful garden here, what we mean is, there's not lots of people, about, there's maybe us, and one or two other people, just having peace, tranquility, and a sort of, nice summer day, or whatever it might be, that's our ideal of a garden, there's no fun in a garden, if it's absolutely heaving, with crowds of people, going in and out, and making a noise, and crushing you, and pushing you over, and so, there's no benefit, in being in a garden, if it's chock-a-block, with people, you want tranquility, you want a little bit, of isolation, you want being apart, from the madding crowds, for a little while, and I would suggest, you'd even, within the holy city,
[23:53] I know, places of God's redemption, there will be, such space, fine, but why would God, want a city, well, think back, if you will, to what some people, used to describe, the old tenements, in Glasgow, or the new towns, when they built them, and one of the things, although yes, the tenements, slums, some of them, and so on, but what do people talk about, they would say, oh yes, it was all, they were so filthy, it was so bad, oh the conditions were terrible, we didn't have any problem, running water, you don't hear people, who lived through it, actually, complaining about the conditions, what you do hear them, is saying, oh the neighbours, were in and out of each other, we'd hang out the windows, and chat to each other, and the kids were running around, playing, all families mixing together, they'd play out in the street, in other words, it was safe for them, to play out in the street, cars thrown up every few minutes, there wasn't people, who would nick them off the street, and abduct them, it was safe, because it was like, one big extended community, and family, maybe we didn't have much, but we all helped each other, it was community, and the memories, that people have, even of that comparative, urban poverty, is that it was good, is that life was good, because there were people together, as extended families, there were children everywhere, there was lots of people, helping each other, even in the new times, when they first went up, you know, children playing the streets, in and out of each other's houses, running about noise, and all the rest of it, and people's memories, oh yes,
[25:23] I remember the street, when there used to be children, playing all over it, and so now it's just lined with cars, and nobody sees anybody else, and everybody's hermetically sealed, in their own, in their own, and holes in front of their big screen TVs, and nobody talks to anybody else now, and the memories, despite the comparative affluence, are not good now, whereas looking back, the memories are good, of lots and lots of people, children everywhere, playing in the streets, and so on, that is what people think, when they think back, to cities of their youth, now why would God choose, a city, for the fulfilment, of his work of salvation, I would suggest to you, that the Lord delights, to have the family, of his children, round about him, those of you, who are nieces, or nephews, or perhaps grandchildren, of your own, do you not delight, to have family gatherings, with all the generations there, and kids everywhere, running in and out, maybe making a bit of a noise, instead of being quiet, but it's great, to have them all there, because, they're spilling about, all over the place, and they're yours, and you delight, to be in the midst, of your family,
[26:38] I would suggest to you, God delights, to be surrounded, by, the milling, crowds, and multitudes, in the city, of his, children, whom he, has himself, redeemed, crowds, close-knit community, family, children, everywhere, yes, perhaps noise, but contentedness, this is, this is, this is what Job, described, you know, chapter 29, verse 5, longing to be, as I was, in the days, of my youth, when the secret, of God, was upon my tabernacle, when the almighty, was yet with me, when my children, were about me, this, I will suggest to you, is what the Lord, delights, in having his children, round about him, it is the definition, of God's, holy city, it is the definition, of Ezekiel's, vision of the temple, the Lord, is there, where his children, are, he delights to be, and this is a theme, we find, not only in the New Testament, but also running, through the old, as well,
[27:49] Jesus of course, says to his, his disciples, at the end of Matthew, the kind of the gospel, they are to go teaching, people to observe, all things whatsoever, I command of you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end, of the world, whenever you go, in this world, the Lord, is there, he is with you, Zechariah chapter 2, verse 10, sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, says the Lord, I will dwell, in the midst of thee, saith the Lord, turn a couple of pages, to chapter 8, verse 23, and we'll find, thus saith the Lord, of hosts in those days, it shall come to pass, that ten men, shall take hold, out of all languages, of the nations, even shall take hold, of the skirt, of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard, that God, is with you, this is the delight, the desire, of the Lord's people, that he be with them, and it is the delight, of God, to be, where his children, are, if we're to go back, further in Ezekiel, we begin chapter 11, at verse 16, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, although,
[28:57] I have cast them, far off, among the heathen, although, I have scattered them, among the countries, yet, will I be to them, as a little sanctuary, in the countries, where they shall come, now, what Ezekiel sees, towards the end of his prophecy, is not so much, a little sanctuary, but a big, massive temple, the glory of Israel, because it is, the glory of God, and yet, God's glory, is ultimately, greater, and more glorious, than this big, white, pristine, empty temple, that Ezekiel sees, the glory of God, is, the Lord himself, in the presence, in the midst, of his people, and this is his promise, that wherever they go, and remember, Ezekiel is prophesying, to those, in exile, who will probably, never, most of them, set eyes, on the physical temple again, but wherever they are, although I have scattered them, among the countries, yet, will I be to them, as a little sanctuary, in the countries, where they shall come,
[30:03] Isaiah 57, verse 50, we read, for thus saith the high, and lofty one, that inhabited eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell, in the high, and holy place, with him also, that is of a contrite, and humble spirit, to revive, the spirit of the humble, and to revive, the heart, of the contrite ones, where does the Lord dwell, when in temples, made with hands, that he dwells, in the midst, of his, believing, contrite people, him, that is of a contrite, and humble spirit, that is the sanctuary, where the Lord dwells, why, because the Lord, delights, to be, in the midst, of his children, turn a couple of pages, we made reference to it, on the Lord's day, Isaiah 66, verses 1 and 2, thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth, is my footstool, where is the house, that he built unto me, where is the place, of my rest, where all those things, at mine hand may, and all those things, are being, saith the Lord, but to this man, will I look, even to him, that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth, at my word, you see, even the vision, that Ezekiel sees, of the new heaven, new earth, temple, filling, the vastness, of a restored, holy land, and the Lord, is there, even this, doesn't really, grasp, the glory, of the Lord's presence, in the midst, of his people, you see, it's, it's perhaps easier, for us, to recognize, yes of course, we delight, to be where the Lord is, than it is for us, to grasp, that the Lord, delights to be, where his children are, any family person, does, they delight, to be in the midst, of their children, they delight, to be with, nieces and nephews, or grandchildren, they delight, to have, their family, round about them, they feel, strengthened, they feel, joy, when they're, surrounded, by their families, we didn't make, reference to it, explicitly, when we looked, in the Lord's day morning, about the eagle, fluttering, over her nest, and so on, but what we could have seen, is verse 9, of that chapter 32, in Deuteronomy, where it says, the Lord's portion, is his people,
[32:17] Jacob, is the lot, of his inheritance, now we've been talking, in Ezekiel, about the different, the different areas, given to the tribes, how there are straight, band, straight across, the holy land, in the vision of Ezekiel, that's not how they were, in the physical, earthly holy land, they were all sort of, different patchwork quilts, sort of in the holy land, and you can see, if you've got maps, in the back of your Bible, the different areas, that the different tribes, were given, and yes, that was their inheritance, that was their portion, but you know, what's the Lord's portion, what do you give, to the guy, who's got everything, to the person, who already owns the world, because he made it, to the person, who knows, that the world, is less than a tiny speck, in the vastness, of the universe, to whom the sun, is just like, a little green pea, compared to the big star, Arcturus, and a great big basketball, beside it, and even Arcturus, is not the greatest, of the stars, which the Lord, has made, what do you give, to somebody, who already owns, the heavens, and the earth, what can he have, as his portion, as his inheritance, the Lord's portion, is his people,
[33:26] Jacob, Jacob, is the lot, of his inheritance, the Lord, delights, to be, where his children, are, and he delights, to have them, with him, all around him, at the last, and the greatest, honor, that can be put, upon any land, any nation, any vision, of any temple, or sanctuary, of the Lord, who is himself, a little sanctuary, to his children, wherever they are, is this, but the Lord, is there, it should be, our prayer, for this, physical house, of prayer, and any, sanctuary, of a physical kind, you see, you can make, buildings, with wood, and stone, and glass, and you can make, them beautiful, and you can make, them into, outward places, of worship, and yet, we've all been, in places, and churches, and big cathedrals, or whatever, and we can sense, they are stone cold, and I don't just mean, physically, there's that sense, of emptiness, there's not that sense, of the Lord's presence, the desire, the glory, of any sanctuary, of any gathering, of the Lord's people, is, that the Lord is there, it is the glory, of Israel, when they are faithful, it was the glory, of Scotland, in the days, of our covenants, it will be the glory, of any nation, any land, any community, any island, that the Lord, is there, but the glory, and the joy, for us, is not simply, that the Lord, decides, he likes to gather, his children, around him, at the last, in heaven, but that the Lord, has commented, to be, wherever his children, gather, even where two, or three, are gathered, in his name, the sanctuary, is defined, by the fact, the Lord, is there, and that is not, simply, our comfort, and consolation, that is, the Lord's, delight, we cannot, understand, why the Lord, should delight, in the likes of us, we want to, hang our heads, in shame, we want to, turn away, we want to, thank, oh Lord,
[35:35] I shall never, wash my feet, that's what we, want to protest, and yet, we dare not, go away from him, we cannot, go away from him, we long, to be where he is, but we are ashamed, to be so, but the Lord, delights, to be where his children are, and just like we mentioned, you know, the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent, upon the rock, the way of a ship, in the midst of the sea, the way of a man, with a maid, these are all things, where the defining characteristic, is invisible, you can't see the air, that supports the eagle, you can't see the way, that the ship, rides in the sea, because it's, it's helm, is beneath the waves, you can't see, how the serpent, moves on the rock, you cannot see, the power of love, it is that, that you may feel, you may experience, you may know, but you can't see it, it is invisible, and you cannot, understand, with real human intellect, why somebody, should love, somebody else, most of all, why God, should ever love, us, sinners, all we can do, is accept the fact, that he does, because he has told us, and his delight, is to be, where they are, in this vision, and in all, visions, and statements, that the prophets, of the Lord, and the son, of the Lord, are inspired to give, this is the defining, characteristic, of the Lord's people, that he is, in their midst, he is amongst them, it was around, about 18,000 measures, great, vast dimensions, so what, in a sense, the name, of the city, the character, the identity, the fulfillment, the blessing, the glory, of the city, from that they shall be, the Lord, is there, we may not have, such a city, here and now, we may not have, an outward glory, in our gathering place, or in our numbers, that gather with us, but if the Lord, be amongst, then not only, is that our glory, joy, and identity, and crown, but it means, that all, is exactly, as it should be, in ourДа sitäes,
[37:52] Thank you.