PART #9: THE PORCH OF THE TEMPLE OF GOD

THE PORCH

It is worth noting that everything inside the temple is made of gold. Everything outside the temple was made of brass. This is not an accident but it's too early to explain that here. But now as we go outside the temple we arrive at the porch.

1 Kings 6:2-3 And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.

The porch was ten cubits long and twenty cubits wide. I've already explained the length as representing the millennium; but here is another view on that same idea:

Zechariah 5:1-2 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

This is the only other thing I know of in the Bible that shares the same exact dimensions as the porch. That could conceivably be a coincidence; however, when you see what it does, that possibility disappears. I have said elsewhere (See “The Simple Truth About The Millennium”), that the millennium's primary purpose is to prove that the law works. I can't take credit for this idea as my father did most of the work on it long before I was around.

But when you think about it, when was God's law as delivered from Sinai ever kept? I mean, the history of Israel reads like a manual on how to disobey God. There were a few good leaders, but as soon as they died the next generation was back offering their children to Molech again. When those leaders did administer God's law, like David did, the people were prosperous and happy; but the world today thinks that the Old Testament law was a mistake God made which He had to die to correct. And that's just not so.

Galatians 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

So despite the fact that the “law was weak through the flesh” (Romans 8:3), if the law was obeyed it would have brought good fruit. The flaw was not with the law, but with the people;

Hebrews 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

The fault was with THEM – Israel – not with the laws, or the covenant, but the people. Anyway, the millennium will restore that system God set up; that's why we see sacrifices being offered in Zechariah 14:21, Jeremiah 33:18, etc. A physical system, but administered by incorruptible rulers. The first resurrection people, who are in training, as kings and priests with Christ a thousand years before their BIG job starts.

I can't do justice to the concept here, but the short answer is the millennium will be a time to prove that God's way, even with physical people and physical ordinances, produces good fruits and that GOD WAS RIGHT – Levitical system, physical temple, and all. And the porch of the temple represents that time – as does the seventh day of tabernacles and the seventh day of unleavened bread (see my “Plan of the Holy Days” article).

Now this roll that was 20 cubits x 10 cubits also represented the porch and the millennium; for look what was written on that roll:

Zechariah 5:3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

Notice that this is a CURSE. What is written on that curse? “Thou shalt not steal” is written on one side, and “thou shalt not take the name of God in vain” is written on another. Remember that the Ten Commandments were written on two tablets front and back (Exodus 32:15). Most people don't realize that the Charlton Heston version isn't quite accurate.

Zechariah 5:4 I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

So in this 10x20 area – the millennium – this roll goes into the house of every man who breaks these commandments – by extension, all ten are implied – and curses his house, until it is consumed. So what this is saying is what I already said – that the Millennium returns the world to the old covenant, and back under the curse of the law!

Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that CONTINUETH NOT in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

The law isn't a curse to those who obey it, but a blessing! But it IS a curse to all who do not OBEY all the things written in the book! And so in another sense, the law will be administered everywhere; as it says in:

Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

And that's the purpose of the millennium proper – that and a training ground for the first resurrection people. The purpose of the end of the millennium is to prove that, despite all that righteousness, man without the spirit of God living in him will always choose Satan. Which is why Satan is loosed. But that's another story. Hopefully this is enough to convey the point for now.

It's difficult not to touch on these other subjects, because the temple ties together every symbol and every facet of the plan of God together; the doctrines and plans we understand are illustrated in the windows and the widths of the doorways and the rooms and the staircases; and so when explaining what all this means, I can't help but connect it to these other things we understand, which not everyone knows but which can't all be explained here.

If one truly understood the temple, the sacrifices, and the holy days, and didn't have a single word of the rest of the Bible, I believe you'd see the entire plan of God and everything you would ever need to know about how to fit yourself into it.

Before we finish the porch, we need to study the pillars, which are either on the porch, or (as I suspect) immediately in front of it.