Gemstone Foundation

Amethyst

The Entrances to The Courts of The Lord

The Gates of Baptism

A baptism is an immersion in something. Can you see how a baptism would be a gate to, something? Before I start this teaching I want to address the issue of three baptisms --yet one baptism, spoken about in Eph 4:5,6 ---There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

The word “one” that is underlined in this scripture is the Greek word heia 1520 meaning “a certain one” or also meaning one of something or some. The word “one” that is not underlined is the Greek word mia 3391 meaning one in agreement. This is some very subtle stuff.

In the Trinity there are Three in One correct? So also in baptism. Just as man is made of body, soul and spirit; the one baptism spoken about in this scripture, is not only into one body (water baptism- physical) but also includes the baptism of the Holy Spirit (soul) , and the baptism of Jesus (spirit), while we are still ONE in HIM with no divisions.

The ONE baptism referred to in the Ephesians scripture includes all three, the biblical type of this being the Trinity and the three parts of man. For more details for the understanding of these types go to: Melchizedekstreasure.com and click on “Sapphire” for The Trinity, and on “Chalcedony” for Man.

The baptism of John (water baptism) is a definitive act in the physical realm, which is the gate into the outer court. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a spiritual event based upon your desire that enables you to enter the inner court. The baptism of Jesus with fire comes as a consequence of obedience and suffering for Christ.  Now let’s study.

OUTER COURT

GATE
For an Israelite to get inside the temple of God, he had to go through a gate to enter the outer court. The first thing inside that gate was the altar of sacrifice. 

Your entrance to the Courts of The Lord, through the salvation offered in Jesus Christ, is dependant upon:

passing through the gate of:  the water baptism of repentance ----of sin, and a turning toward God.  This is what is called the baptism of John.  Jesus’ disciples baptized believers with this baptism. This is a physical baptism for the new life of Christ in you.  It is the outward act signifying the death of the old life.  This is where our sin is dealt with. This is where you become justified before God.

This is also the baptism into one body where we fellowship with God and with man –“where we were all made to drink of one Spirit”. 1 Cor 12:13 

This enables you to fellowship together with other Christians.

INNER COURT

GATE
To get from outer court to the inner court, the gate is:

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit Acts 2:2.  This baptism is always given by Jesus, but often He uses believers’ reports, prayers, or the laying on of hands for it to be given. 

I received this baptism from a report about it on television, and when I said, “I want that”, I began to experience ecstasies and a heavenly language. 

This baptism is:

1. Your baptism into self’s death, as from now on you die and Christ reigns in

you. Rom 6:3 

With this baptism “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be My witnesses (to leave a record, a martyr) both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

With this baptism, the spiritual gifts are given for the building up of the body1Cor 12:4-11.  This court contains the supernatural stuff everyone loves so much. This court is full of fun and pain, as priests grow up into Christ. Here is the preparation for holiness. Here we are sanctified Heb. 2:11.   It is in this place where our hearts are tested. Those who pass their tests will walk into the highest court, for the way has been made for us through the power of an indestructible life Heb7:16.

HOLY OF HOLIES

GATE
This gate is a fire baptism by Jesus.

 I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished.  Luke 12:49-50

Please take note that this statement by Jesus was made after his baptism by John.

I believe that Jesus is referring to the things that he would suffer to institute the New Covenant in His blood when he says that, “He has a baptism to undergo”.

The reason that I hold this belief is because of this scripture in Hebrews:

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things that he suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Heb 5:8-10

If He had to go through this baptism of suffering to cast fire on the earth, how much should we appreciate and value this fiery baptism given to those who are willing to suffer with him?

How strange it is that many Christians turn their back on these baptisms, when Jesus’ whole purpose was to accomplish this. Did you catch His heart in the phrase, “and how distressed I am until it is accomplished? “

This fire first came to the earth when the disciples were in the upper room and received both the Holy Spirit and the fire together Acts 2-3.  The fire baptism is given only by Christ.  It can come with the Holy Spirit baptism, or after that baptism.

We as sons, make choices to walk into holiness through obedience.

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things that he suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Heb 5:8-10

With this baptism you will bow low.  There is reverence, fear, and awe, as you partake of His heart for the world. In this place you are identified with Him alone. There is only Him, as YOU are melted away into his love. You live to please only Him. You love all of His creation in the same way He does.  You feel His pain and anguish.  You CARE.  This is life in the Holy of Holies.

This next scripture shows us the necessity of the fire, and then links it to peace in the body. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt (fire) in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.  Mark 9:49-50

In Rev. 8:5  when the 7^th seal was broken, before the 7 trumpets of doom sounded, “an angel took the censer; (in this censer was incense mixed with the prayer of the saints) and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake”.

This passage tells us that this baptismal fire comes from the altar in heaven.  It also comes with power, for when it ignited the incense and prayer there were manifestations of power; thunder, lightening, and earthquakes, just as when it came upon the disciples in the upper room there were sounds of rushing wind, visible flames, etc.

What will be the identifying marks of those baptized with fire?

1. They walk with God in obedience.
2. They are holy and live in peace with others.
3.  The fire of God burns within them.
4.  Their prayer and walk is with God’s power and authority.

Dear Lord, baptize us into YOU.
 

The Courts of the Lord

And Our Priesthood Today

in

Moses’ Tabernacle     

 The Tabernacle of David

The Temple of Solomon

The Spiritual Temple

Jesus’ work in these four temples are shown in colored ink. In this study, I want to show you Christ’s eternal work in these courts; distinguished by

 His eternal work in us, individually and corporately.

 Moses’ Tabernacle

The physical tabernacle, given by pattern to Moses, is the forerunner of the the permanent temple which it replaced many years later. Since the tabernacle was moveable, the people carried it with them wherever the cloud and fire (the manifest presence of God) led it. It represents Christ in us (individually and corporately) as a living temple, being led by the Spirit of God.

This tabernacle has its’ completion in the church age---the Spirit of God leading the different reform movements of this 2000 year time frame (represented by Israel’s   wilderness experience) to the millennium, (represented by the promised land). This includes our death to the flesh (the crossing of the Jordan (death) into Canaan), with the presence of the Lord into the millennium(with the priests carrying the ark into the promised land ).

The provision provided by God, (manna, and quail) in the wilderness, (before the crossing of Jordan) is a picture of the daily provision that goes with being led by the Spirit; where everything is given to us; requiring only our cooperation and overcoming.. 
1.      manna- the supernatural food from heaven –the bread of life—Christ
2.      quail –physical food from the skies –food not labored for, only gathered.
The provision is both for the spiritual and the physical!  It represents the supernatural faith walk.
 

THE OUTER COURT OF THE TABERNACLE

This  "tent of meeting" or tabernacle, faced east and had two inner courts with an outer court outside the tent which was the place of sacrifice. To serve as a priest in the outer court, their job was one that received other people’s sacrifices and presented them to God on behalf of the person. Today, no one enters here without the sacrifice of accepting the atoning blood of Jesus Christ for their personal and Adamic sin.

 In this place was the: 

Altar of Sacrifice for burnt offerings

(The old testament priest) and the new testament priest deals with :

1. (the sin offering) sin

2. (trespass offering) guilt from wrong acts

3. (burnt offering) becoming pure in God’s sight

4. (meal offering) feeding on Jesus

 The laver  for washing.,

This is where we are washed and cleansed, qualified and authorized to enter the inner court.  Carnal Christians can spend their whole life in this outer court – while priests from the inner court minister to them continually there. The present day priests who serve in the outer court are due honor as they continually deal with people’s sin, guilt, getting clean and staying clean, instruction and establishment of righteous life principles.  Does this remind you of the work of today’s church pastor?

Jesus speaking in Mark 1:15 says: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 
This is the perfect present day description of the outer court.
Priests go in and out of this court to: preach the gospel and bring others into it.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:19

INNER COURT IN THE TABERNACLE

Currently, to serve in the inner court –you must be a priest doing God’s will (service-work) (Latreia, Greek). This work required being sanctified (dedicated to God) handling the tithes, and offering worshiping prayer (ministering unto God Himself) (Proseuche, Greek).

Only priests could move in this court.  Priests were appointed and sanctified. Today as we heed His call to become a kingdom of priests, we will take our place in this court moving in His supernatural life with the flesh under crucifixion. In this court we die and HE lives. His will is done, and His words are spoken. If you are doing your own will and speaking your own words you are not dwelling here, no matter what you might think.

This court has furniture in it that speaks of Christ’s work for us and in us. The 12 loaves of bread were on a table overlaid with gold showing its’ holiness. The bread was baked with fire, the lampstand oil was kept burning with fire, and the incense was burned with fire. Now that is a lot of fiery stuff. It is the fire that purges and purifies. That is why there is so much burning in this court.

Table of shewbread

This holy bread is called the “bread of the Presence” (Face) and these 12 loaves were offered on the table to God. The priests eat of this bread of life -- Jesus Himself. They get their food directly from Christ. This enables them to feed others (teach) who have little access to direct food because of their distance away from the presence of the Lord. Once you taste of this food you tend to lose your desire to feed the starving, and selfishly gorge! The bread from this table was given to the priests to eat every Sabbath. This speaks of the living food of eternal life being dispensed through “rest” since the Sabbath was a day of rest. This is referring to the Hebrews 4 “rest from our own works”.

Lampstand having seven lamps

This typifies Christ and the Church just as in Revelation 1:13, He was seen standing in the midst of the seven candlesticks which represented the 7 churches.

Isaiah paints this picture of the Messiah in 11:12, that includes these 7 attributes which are the light of Christ: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. These seven attributes speak of Christ’s eternal ministry that he imparts to His church to make it pure and holy. This is a corporate anointing for the bride.  Concerning us individually, this lampstand speaks of the fire from the oil (Holy Spirit) that is kept burning within us; burning with the fiery zeal of those 7 attributes.

Altar of Incense  just in front of the veil to the Holy of Holies

Today, the incense burned here is the fragrance of our prayers. It could be offered only by the one who could enter the Holy of Holies, although it was still in the inner court. This represents Jesus’ high priestly ministry, forever living to make intercession for us and offering the incense of our prayers before God.

There are two things here; the altar, and the incense. I believe that the altar represents the foundation that Christ laid during the atonement, the whole passion from beginning to the new beginning!  Personally, for us, the incense is our trials and tribulations, stored up through prayer, until there is perfect fullness of time for the answers.

HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE TABERNACLE

To get into the Holy of Holies you had to be an appointed high priest from the royal tribe. You wore special clothes (purity), and carried the tribes with you on your shoulder (intercession for the nations of the earth), and you applied the Blood to remove sins from a nation (royal work).  Jesus ministers from the holy of holies in heaven, and has made the way for us to enter. This is our inheritance, but there are few who care for this kind of work.

The Tabernacle of David

Moses’ tabernacle was functioning at Bethel when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines and taken into exile. Later, it was rescued by King David, and put into a new tent in a new location (Jerusalem on Mt. Zion, Melchizedek’s city) This tent contained only the ark, with 24 hour worship by Asaph and his Levite musician family 1Chron.16:7. It was the forerunner of Solomon’s temple, which was later built on this hill.

This was the arrival of God’s presence to Zion--- through worship. This looks past the one time blood sacrifice of Christ, to our entrance into God’s presence through worship alone. Once again the Ark is in a tent representing not mobility but impermanence!  There were no sacrifices and no courts, only worship to the Father. Moses’ tabernacle in Bethel, continued functioning without the ark (presence of the Lord), although Zadok the priest and his relatives offered burnt offerings there before the tabernacle of the Lord, in the high place which was at Gibeon, until the Temple of Solomon was built. Solomon’s Temple would be built on the hill of Zion, where David’s Tabernacle was, not at Gibeon.  God made a covenant with David about a greater temple that was to be eternal 1 Chron17:11-14. This leads to the Spiritual Temple and ultimately to the New Jerusalem from above, the ultimate Ark. We see this worship tabernacle operating today in our round the clock worship events, as we are entering the spiritual temple of glory.  See Spiritual Temple.

The Temple of Solomon

The Temple of Solomon was a glorious physical structure on the actual Mount Zion (Isa 8:18;18:7; Mic 4:7) that represents the millennial dwelling of God among men on the spiritual, or possibly physical Mount Zion. Isa 60:14,Heb.12:22, Rev.14:1. The Temple of Solomon took two generations to build. David had the vision and did all of the preparation (while the Tabernacle of David was in operation.). Solomon’s reign of peace with wisdom, built it.  Today, the “Tabernacle of David” prepares it, and the priests of the Kingdom-reign of Christ, will build it through “peace” and “rest” (from our own works). Heb. 4:9,10

The priests for this temple were taken from the sons of Zadok at Gibeon, not from Asaph’s family of worshippers. This shows that the priesthood in the millennial reign will be appointed. The worshipers of David’s tabernacle were to prepare the way.

Currently, Solomons’ Temple represents the gentile Church together with Israel as the one new man Eph.2:15, being built into a millennial and eternal structure. v.16-22. This is different from the tabernacle which was moveable, representing God in us leading us, providing for us and being our life (second day light). In the millennial temple we corporately go to where HE is.  He abides in Zion. This temple is about all of US IN HIM. This is the next step in our mutual (restored Israel & the Church) journey.

The temple had the same courts and articles as the tabernacle, but on a much grander scale for the glory of the Lord dwells there. Do you recall how the priests could not even stand to minister because of the glory? As we explore these temple courts we will explore them as the millennial temple.

There was one addition to the temple that the tabernacle did not have:

The Court of the Gentiles

This was originally for those outside of the Mosaic covenant. Because this court was added to the Temple, it will also exist in millennial Zion. What was this court doing in the Lord’s house? It seems that He has made a place for everyone that wishes to connect with Him. This demonstrates that in the millennial rule a place will be made for all people to come and worship the Lord. That temple will be inclusive, not exclusive.

The Outer Court

The ONE NEW  MAN dwells in this glorious court in Zion; the beloved place of God.

The Inner Court

In this millennial temple the “one new man” are becoming priests and moving in HIS ministry in the inner court. By the end of the millennium we will have become The Kingdom of Priests.. 1Peter2:9

 From the inner court, priests minister in the outer court to the one new man, and in the court of the Gentiles to those who will bring their tribute to the KING. These priests can also enter the Holy of Holies to minister with Christ in blessing and prayers.

The Holy of Holies

This court is a dwelling place for the priests to minister unto Him --close to his glorious presence as represented by the ark of the covenant

What will this future temple look like? Will it be physical? We know that it cannot look like Solomon’s’ Temple, nor Ezekiel’s visionary temple because never again will there be blood sacrifices offered. The way was made once and for all, through Christ’s offering of Himself as the Lamb. Heb. 9:26,28  Yes, I believe that there will be a millennial structure, on physical Mt. Zion, in physical Jerusalem, because there are too many scriptures stating this. It will not be the heavenly city, nor will it have blood sacrifices. Yes, it will probably have courts because the type for this is Solomon’s temple, not David’s tabernacle. David’s tabernacle is the type for the spiritual temple.

These are my opinions, based on the revelation given at this point of time.

The most important thing is to be part of the spiritual temple that is eternal.

To learn about what kind of work goes on in the millennial temple (and even today) please read: The Melchizedek Priesthood. (in three levels–one for each court.) 

The Spiritual Temple

So what does it look like?  If Christ now dwells in us, then we have to be that eternal spiritual temple. And, if we are the structure of the temple, that structure must be able to be seen spiritually. God, give us eyes to see.

This spiritual temple is likened to a body, just as our physical body is likened to a temple many times in scripture. 1Cor.6:15,19

Jesus’ ministry as the high priest in the spiritual temple is one of intercession and blessing. Blessing to God (achieved by perfect obedience because of perfect oneness), and blessing to man. Our own priestly ministry will look like this too. Out of the blessing to man come the promises. Abram was the type of this, for after he received the blessing of Melchizedek  he received the promise of an heir (from Isaac to Christ), and descendants. (from the 12 tribes to the body of Christ).Gen.14:19,20 and Gen.15:1,4,5  

In Hebrews 6:19-20 the writer points to a spiritual pearl that enters the most holy place with Christ in the Spiritual Temple:

    "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to

the order of Melchizedek.

What is this hope that enters the Holy place?

It is the faith of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 11:12  That is the hope that enters the most holy place.

Faith, in connection to the promises, is mentioned again in Hebrews 11:33.

"who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness,

obtained promises"

This spiritual temple that has been, and is being built in the earth, leads us to:

The new creation-- the new heaven and the new earth, containing

the New Jerusalem from above,

the ultimate Ark of promise,

our eternal dwelling place.

Descriptions in the Three Courts

There are spiritual descriptions and activities, found throughout the Bible, that  abide in these courts. Here are some of them for you to ponder. The first listing refers to the outer court, with the inner and most holy court following.   Contributed by John Munns (therapon@yahoo.com).