We're turning our Bibles to Hebrews, the ninth chapter. We're gonna read verses 22 through 28. Then we'll go to Isaiah, and we'll go to Ezekiel, and we'll just go through the Bible tonight. But we will begin Hebrews, the ninth chapter, and verse 22. And almost all things or by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heaven should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy place, places made with hands which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself. now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as a high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men, once to die. after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Let us pray. Father, please help us tonight, guide us, glorify your son, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. In these few verses, We notice the word appeared appears some three times. In verse 26, it says, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now that's salvation, that comes first. And then in verse 24, it says, now to appear in the presence of God for us. that is after salvation, he's making intercession for us. Then in verse 28, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation, that is the rapture of the church. And so we have, we go from salvation, to intercession, he'd make an intercession for us, to the time that we're called out to meet him in the air. So there's a lot of ground covered in those scriptures. That's not what we're talking about tonight, but I just thought you would like to know that. Anyway, beginning with verse 23, it was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heaven should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." Now, we must understand this, that the patterns of things in the heavens. On earth we had the pattern. We had the tabernacle, we had the temple, a pattern of that which is in heaven. And that they should be purified with these, that is, they are purified with things on the earth. but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. In other words, the heavenly things need to be purified with sacrifices that are better than those that purified the things on the earth. Now, the question would be, God's sanctuary in heaven is not defiled. He is holy as is everything that dwells in his presence. So why did the heavenly tabernacle need to be purified since all things in heaven are holy? Why are we talking about purifying the things in heaven? Well, scripture gives more than one reason why that needs to be. First, Satan had access before he fell and afterwards, after his rebellion against God, he had access to heaven. Listen to Job 1.6. Now that was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. Now it seems to me the sons of God, we're thinking the same people, came and they had a prayer meeting and they came to God. And as they came to God, it's a prayer meeting, the devil came with them. So, you know, that's about as sacred as you can get in a prayer meeting, is that right? And we notice that Satan was there. So we can learn from this that Satan is at the prayer meeting. He is at every meeting that we have. He is at every business meeting that ever was. So we have to really watch it. We have to be careful. He comes to hinder, to falsely accuse, and so we have to know that. Now if you will, turn to Isaiah, the 14th chapter, And we're going to read verses 12 through 14. Let's not forget the subject of our message tonight, cleansing of the heavenly things. And there's a reason that they need to be. And first, Satan had excess right into the presence of God or in the presence of God before he rebelled and after he rebelled. So Isaiah, the 14th chapter, Verse 12 says, how art thou fallen from heaven? Old Lucifer, notice, he fell from heaven. Old Lucifer, son of the morning, how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? I want you to notice that. He was cast out of heaven, down here, in the atmosphere someplace, makes his throne out there someplace. But he is here on Earth and he's got all these demons here on Earth. But you notice he weakened the nations. Now one day he's going to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit. And he's not going to ramp it on Earth and in the sky, whatever. He will be bound in the bottomless pit. What will be the strength of the nations? What will be the spiritual strength of the nations? Because at the present time, he has weakened the nations. And we do not want to underestimate his power. Now let me say, he does not have more power than God, and we know that. But he is a powerful individual. And then let's read verse 13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I want you to notice as we read these two verses, 13 and 14, notice How many times do you say, I will? I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Can't you see all the pride in there? He said, I will, I will. And you know, that's a weakness among Christians, what I will, what I want to do, and I'm going to do. Maybe a good thing in the church, but it's self that's wanting to do it, and that's what he did. He says, I will some five times. Five in the Bible is the number of grace. And you see, the devil wants to be the, recognized as the one with grace, having the power. Of course, he doesn't have any grace. But that is interesting to note that. But he is saying, I will. Here is one who has access into the presence of God. He was in heaven. He still has access to the presence of God. Therefore, heaven needs to be cleansed of whatever there. It's a spiritual cleansing. Now, Ezekiel, the 28th chapter, Ezekiel, the 28th chapter. And we're gonna read verses 11 through 19. And while you're turning, we notice that the devil's pride. And in Matthew, the 23rd chapter, verses one through seven, the religious leaders wanted the chief seats, the special seats. Now, I just asked a question. They wanted the chief seats. Who was behind that? Who was controlling them? When a person is jockeying for that choice position, who is behind them or driving them to do that? You see, we have to recognize some things. Now, Ezekiel, the 28th chapter, beginning with verse 11, and we'll make some comments as we go through, says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus. Now, the king of Tyrus, there's a double reference here. This could not refer only to an earthly king. Because there are things in here that Tyrus never saw, never did, and wasn't even born at the time they happened. So it's looking beyond just an earthly king. But take up a lamentation on the king of Tyrus and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and and perfect in beauty. Now, let us remember that Satan is an intelligent being. He is more intelligent than we are. That's what he says. His psalm is full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. There was a privilege. He was there for the wrong purpose, but he was there. Every precious stone was thy covering. The sardis, topaz, the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold. Listen, all of these precious stones, there's wealth, there's wealth. I'm telling you, he still controls a lot of wealth on this earth. Don't think that he doesn't, he does. Then it says, the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was created in thee in the day that thou wast created. Now when Satan was created, he is a created being. God created in him tabrets, pipes, that is music. May I ask you a question? You are intelligent people, you're well-learned people. Who is in control of the music of this world? Let me ask another question since you're intelligent and know a lot. Has any of that music gotten into churches? So we see. Billy Graham was preaching, I think, in New Orleans, Crusade, and he mentioned this, that the devil had created in him musical ability and so on. In his throat or whatever, he had these pipes and so on. And one man said, I know he's crazy now, but the fact is he's not crazy. That's what the Bible said. They were prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. Thou was up on the holy mountain of God. Now there's position. Listen, he had everything. He was up on the holy mountain of God, but this was not sufficient for him. You see, he wanted the chief seat, pride. Now, said, thou hast walked up and down the midst of the stones of fire, up in the midst of the stars. There's liberty. He had liberty to do whatever he so pleased. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. He was blessed, so blessed. By the multitude of thy merchandise and thy wealth, they have filled the midst of thee with violence." Listen, violence. The Bible says there's coming a day of lawlessness, a day of iniquity. We believe that we've entered into it. The whole world just filled with lawlessness. Iniquity means lawlessness. And we see it every place. So fill the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned, his heart is vented. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee. There's judgment that comes upon him. And that will come upon every person who follows him instead of receiving Christ. Oh, covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire, Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. There's pride. And he has pride, he's filled with it. And I think of corrupted thy wisdom, Romans 121. But when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful but became vain in their imagination. and their foolish heart was darkened. You see, it affected their minds, and then that affected their hearts. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy trafficking. traffic being trade or merchandise. In fact, that word traffic has to do with trade by peddling. Now let me ask you, what has he been peddling all these years? And let's ask it another way. What would he have to give to you? What would he have to agree to give you before you give yourself to him and follow him? Would it be position in life? Money. People sell their souls for money. Would it be prestige? Power? I heard the story of a preacher. He was sitting in a booth in a restaurant. There were two young ladies sitting in the booth behind him. And one of them said to the other one, said, I sold my soul to the devil. Listen, a lot of people have done that just for popularity, to be recognized. I think that the higher you get in the politics, the more severe it is. You know, people warning, doing whatever's necessary to have the chief seat. And he said, I will cast it to the ground, and I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic. will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee. We'll say more about this in a moment. And I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. Now watch this, verse 19. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee and shall be a terror and never shall thou be anymore. Now, all they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee. God is gonna lay him bare. And everyone that has followed him, and sometimes they may not know that that's who they're following, they got this greed or whatever, but they're following Satan. But they're going to look at him and say, is that what I followed? Did I Give up salvation in Christ for that. That's what's happening. Now, once Satan sinned, he defiled his own sanctuary in heaven. Let us read it, verse 18, Ezekiel 28, 18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuary by the multitude of thine iniquities. It's his sanctuary, he had a place. He was an anointed cherub. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuary by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic. Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee. It shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. That's amazing, isn't it? This is the power of God. Oh, listen, we're not seeing God's power demonstrated at the present time. Not as it is here. But it's coming. There will be a day when He demonstrates it. The whole world will know. All the people will know. Now, Revelation, the 12th chapter. You see, the heavenly sanctuary has to be cleansed because Satan has had access to it before he rebelled and now has, could go into the very presence of God, Revelation the 12th chapter. We will read verses nine and 10. It says, verse nine, Revelation 12, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, And Satan wished to deceive the whole world. Now, this is going to happen during the tribulation period. But he is cast out. He was cast into the earth. You see, the tribulation is going to be a tribulation. There's going to be much tribulation. One thing, the devil has access here now. He's doing his business now. But it's not anything now like it's going to be during the tribulation. When he is here and those demonics, the imps are here. Listen. And his angels were cast out with him. There'll be the devil and his angels cast out, says, into the earth. It's gonna be bad. It's gonna be bad. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, a loud voice. Someone not timid, it's a loud voice, said, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accused of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Now listen, when is that going to happen? When are they saying now has come salvation? Well, it's when he's cast down, cast down to this earth. You see, heaven had to be purified because of his presence. And we see it happening. Now, another thought, Jesus shed his blood to reconcile everything on earth, everything in heaven. Let me read the scripture, Colossians 1.20. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him, to reconcile all things unto himself, all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. His blood that was shed is going to cleanse it all. Now, here's something else, the work of the unsaved are recorded in books that are kept in heaven. Revelation, the 20th chapter, verse number 12. You can turn there if you like, or I'll just read it. It says, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. The dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books, plural, were opened And another book, singular, was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works. Isn't that amazing? There's one book, the Book of Life, that contains the names, those who are saved. But then it takes books to contain all of the works that those who reject Christ have done. You see, God has a record right there in heaven. No one can stand before God and say, I'm not guilty of that. He's got it. He's got it right there, the books. Now, the joyful thing is to know is this, that I had books up there. They were there containing all of these things that I wish were not so. They were there. God had them. But one day, one night, a preacher preached Jonah 2.9, salvation is of the Lord. Phyllis pushed me down the aisle. Anyway, not quite that way, but I came to Christ. He took away the guilt. He took away the burden of sin. He did cleanse me. But hey, another wonderful thing happened. The books are not there. My name now is in the book of life. You see, one day there'll be a balancing of these books. And if a person's name is here in the books, all their works, wicked works, And then look in the book of life and the name is not there. It's going to be kind of bad, isn't it? That means the person will not be in heaven. So we need to make sure, very sure, that our name is in the book of life. Now, I want to read another verse in Hebrews. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the truth. That's verse 24, Hebrews 9. But into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Listen, Christ is not entered in the holy places made with hands. He didn't go into the tabernacle, or he didn't go into the temple on earth. Those were the figures of the truth. of that which is in heaven. So, but he went into heaven itself. He went into that tabernacle now to appear in the presence of God. Why? For us. He is there tonight for you. For me. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that great? Listen, the tabernacle on earth was merely a I like this, of the true tabernacle that's in heaven. You see the Levitical high priest entered the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, in the temple, once a year, only once a year. And he did that on the Day of Atonement to offer animal blood to atone for Israel's sins, or to cover them for one year. And when he went in to the Holy of Holies, he also carried with him hot coals from the altar of incense. And the reason he carried the coals from the altar of incense was because they produced smoke, and the smoke would fill the room, and that would protect him from seeing the shakonic glory of the presence of God. Oh, listen. what the earthly priests did. But Jesus went into the Holy of Holies, and I believe that He took His blood with Him. That's what I believe. And I believe He sprinkled the altar there with His blood. And I believe when He returns, a revelation of the Lord Jesus, in Revelation 19, He has a vesture dipped in blood Where did he get the blood if it's not his blood? Why would he come with a vesture dipped in blood as a witness if it's not his blood? There he's coming. No one can say, well, I couldn't have been saved. Here's the truth. Here's the fact. You could have been. Here's the blood that could have cleansed you. You see, Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary to appear in the very presence of God the Father face to face on our behalf. And the fact the word appear really means something manifested or something brought about because of something that's new and better. You see, it was In the Old Testament, they did what God said. And we had a symbol of it all. But here, you see he is manifested, he appeared, face to face with a heavenly father, and he could do that because that now there is something new and something that is better. And it's him, his blood, what he did. Christ now appears in the presence of God with a new and better ministry as an advocate in heaven. So we thank him for that.