2 December 2012: In the 6th Century before Jesus Christ the LORD God raised up by the Holy Spirit a priest to become a great prophet and a watchman for the whole house of Israel. We know him as Ezekiel. Just prior to Israel's captivity and exile to Babylon this priest-prophet Ezekiel became the literal voice of God to Israel, reminding Israel of why they were sent into captivity and promising their restoration to the land in the future. The key point to remember when reading this prophetic work is that when Ezekiel spoke he spoke as the LORD God who put the words in his mouth. Where Ezekiel wrote 'Thus says the Lord God," it is literally the Lord God speaking, and Ezekiel is charged by the LORD God to speak these words irregardless of whether Israel will listen and heed them or whether Israel will ignore them.
This is a look at Ezekiel in a manner that is slightly different than has been traditional and will treat chapters 20 through 28 as a cohesive unit of prophecy. In these chapters, which many overlook because of the perceived all-importance of the Battle of Gog-Magog in chapters 38 and 39, there is much to learn from as I believe they set the prophetic stage for events which immediately precede that final and critical pre-70th Week event. In these chapters Israel has been partially restored to the land and as the LORD God continues to set the conditions by which He ultimately will turn His full attention to Israel; when He will have ceased to hide His face from them and will have poured out His Spirit on the house of Israel.
65 years ago Israel's restoration to the covenant land began as Israel was still in rebellion and, for the most part, Israel remains in that rebellious condition to this day. However, this rebellion is irrelevant to the Lord in going about His purposes prior to the coming of His Kingdom on this earth and fulfilling the promises of His covenant with Israel. So the same conditions exist today, as they did 65 years ago, as they existed when Moses informed Israel of the additional covenant of Moab (Deuteronomy 29: see verse 4). This is the focus of the Lord's word to Israel through Ezekiel in chapter 20; the LORD God is telling the Israel we know today that they are currently no different than when He brought them out of Egypt. Nothing has changed, and will not change until the LORD God pours out His Spirit upon Israel - Israel will remain hard of heart, spiritually blind and deaf even though they no longer wander in the wilderness of the nations of this world (Ezekiel 20:23-24).
Yet the promise of the Lord for Israel's restoration to the land began and remains in progress, for it is in the land of Israel that the LORD God shall accept them as a sweet aroma and pour out His Spirit upon them for His name's sake.
Beginning in Ezekiel 25 and continuing through Ezekiel 28 we find prophetic proclamations against the same groups - Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia and Lebanon - that are found in Asaph's Psalm 83. The concluding verses of Ezekiel 28:24-26 provide both the time frame and the result of the prophetic proclamations against the peoples: prior to the prophetic events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39!
65 years ago Israel's restoration to the covenant land began as Israel was still in rebellion and, for the most part, Israel remains in that rebellious condition to this day. However, this rebellion is irrelevant to the Lord in going about His purposes prior to the coming of His Kingdom on this earth and fulfilling the promises of His covenant with Israel. So the same conditions exist today, as they did 65 years ago, as they existed when Moses informed Israel of the additional covenant of Moab (Deuteronomy 29: see verse 4). This is the focus of the Lord's word to Israel through Ezekiel in chapter 20; the LORD God is telling the Israel we know today that they are currently no different than when He brought them out of Egypt. Nothing has changed, and will not change until the LORD God pours out His Spirit upon Israel - Israel will remain hard of heart, spiritually blind and deaf even though they no longer wander in the wilderness of the nations of this world (Ezekiel 20:23-24).
Yet the promise of the Lord for Israel's restoration to the land began and remains in progress, for it is in the land of Israel that the LORD God shall accept them as a sweet aroma and pour out His Spirit upon them for His name's sake.
Beginning in Ezekiel 25 and continuing through Ezekiel 28 we find prophetic proclamations against the same groups - Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia and Lebanon - that are found in Asaph's Psalm 83. The concluding verses of Ezekiel 28:24-26 provide both the time frame and the result of the prophetic proclamations against the peoples: prior to the prophetic events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39!
“And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.‘Thus says the Lord God: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”We are witnessing each day the threshold of these prophecies fulfillment, a process of fulfillment which began 65 years ago with the first Arab vs. Israel battles of November 1947.
.....very very soon!
ReplyDeleteI think so too Sean. It's just a matter of time. It seems to me an attack on Iran would be all that is needed for the fuse to be lit. JMHO.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the time-frame that Yahweh gave to Ezekiel in Chapter 4 which, when given the Leviticus rule of 7X judgement Yahweh applies for continued disobedience, point exactly to the year of 1948 as the end of His judgement on Israel, the return of His people and the beginning of the end of this age.. Truly the Lord is, was and will be!
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 4 Ezekiel literally performed the symbolic action of 390 days on the left side and plus 40 days on the right side as a total 430 years which was to be a specific sign to Israel.
ReplyDeleteSean,
ReplyDeleteDo you agree with what has been speculated in Ezekiel 4 as laid out here: http://www.alphanewsdaily.com/mathprophecy2.html
Forgive me if you already know about this, I just wanted to see what you thought, since everything else on your site has helped me in my studies.
Matt Epilogue,
ReplyDeleteNo, I do not agree with that numerical speculation. I believe the text is quite explicit in what it is saying, and that is as follows
The LORD God declared that He placed upon Ezekiel and that Ezekiel must take upon himself the iniquity of Israel for ONLY 390 days on his left side. Each day represented a full year.
Certainly Israel had accumulated more than 390 years of iniquity since Moses led them out of Egypt?
Yet 390 was all that God required of Ezekiel.
Then the LORD God declared that Ezekiel must take upon himself the iniquity of Judah for ONLY 40 days on his right side. Again, each day represented a full year.
Certainly Judah had accumulated more than 40 years of iniquity since they had entered the promised land? Yet 40 was all that God required of Ezekiel.
In total the LORD God had Ezekiel take upon himself 430 years worth of Israel's and Judah's iniquities.
Ezekiel literally did this thing, he literally paid this price for both Israel and Judah. Ezekiel took upon himself the iniquities (i.e. the sins) of Israel and Judah.
This is a type of sacrifice, a foreshadowing of what God Himself in the person of Jesus would do in taking upon Himself the iniquities (i.e. the sins) of the whole world.
The amount of iniquity that God placed upon Ezekiel was a very limited, very finite amount.
Interesting. Yes I believe Ezekiel actually did this act as well and surely Israel deserved more and that's why I thought this specificity applied to this chapter made sense using Gods words in Leviticus, seeing as cohesion is common in the bible with different books applying to each other and 7 being the number of completion.. I also thought it was interesting that if you shift the exact same prophetic timeline to start on the year when Babylon returned and destroyed Jerusalem (19 years later) this timeline's "end-point" now falls on the exact year Israel once again took sovereign control over Jerusalem in 1967 (after the "Six Day War.) Just thought it might be relative since Ezekiel was mainly a prophet with a good deal to say about the end times and that he put the sin of Israel on himself but the following exchange spoke of prophesying by symbolically doing on the clay tablet what God would actually do to Israel and Judah. But I will definitely keep in mind that sometimes it's just bringing to light the ways in which God will perform his judgements both symbolically and actually.. Thanks Sean!
ReplyDelete