FOR WHY WILL
YOU DIE, O HOUSE
OF ISRAEL?
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one
according to his ways, says the Eternal God. Repent, and turn
yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be
your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby
you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new
spirit.......For I have no pleasure in the death of him that
dies, says the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live.
Part One
(All Scripture quotations from the KJV, unless otherwise noted)
by
Keith Hunt
Will you listen to the voice of the Eternal, O you people of
the British Commonwealth, United States of America, and nations
of North-Western Europe? Will you open your ears to the word of
the Almighty? He speaks to you with power and certainty through
the prophet Ezekiel, with end time, this time, the age of the
21st century predictions of what WILL befall your nations, unless
total humble repentance with a turning away from sin to
ighteousness, is accomplished on a national scale.
You, as a collection of prominent nations of the world, with
the British Commonwealth and the United States of America
spear-heading this family of Celtic-Anglo-Saxon peoples, are
mentioned in the pages of Bible Prophecy MORE than any other
peoples on the face of this earth - believe it or not. And yes, I
know that most of you will not believe it, though it be told you.
Listen, you nations! You are THE PEOPLES AND DESCENDANTS OF
THE BIBLICAL HOUSE OF ISRAEL! Yes, you are the very LITERAL AND
SPIRITUAL peoples of the ancient house of Israel. Most of you
will laugh and scorn such an idea as that, most of your religious
leaders will vehemently deny that the nations of North-Western
Europe, the British Commonwealth, and the United States of
America, are the peoples of Old Testament Israel. Yes, I know
this will be the case - utter denial by most in your nations.
I do not come to you in this series of messages to try to
prove or to convince you that such a statement by myself is
correct. I do simply come to you to TELL you quite
dogmatically, whether you believe it or not, that you are the
nations of the House of Israel, in the prophecies of Ezekiel and
others contained in the Old Testament(OT). There is ample proof,
volumes of proof, that my statement is absolutely correct.
What I am about to begin to relate to you from the Eternal
God through the words that Ezekiel was inspired to write so long
ago, the words that God spoke many centuries ago, to be given to
you in the last days, WILL COME TO PASS AS SURE AS THE RISING OF
THE SUN, if as nations you will not repent. And if that will be
the case, if you will not as peoples turn and repent from all
your wickedness, then when these prophecies of the Lord do indeed
come upon you, then you will know you are the children of Israel,
and the Eternal did send His prophets to warn and to teach you,
just as the Lord had promised (Amos 3:7).
The time is at hand, O house of Israel! Will you not give
ear to the admonition and cry from the Lord God, to mend your
ways, and return unto Him with all your heart, mind, and soul, to
worship Him in spirit and in truth, to hunger and thirst after
righteousness? Will you choose to live and not to die? For the
Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
wicked should turn from their iniquity and sin, and LIVE!
In the time past, God chose a man called Abram from the city
of Ur. He told him to pack his bags and head west, for a land
that He would promise him. Abram trusting, obeyed. God told him
that he would make him a GREAT nation. God then changed Abram's
name to Abraham, because he would be a father of many nations and
many kings would come from his descent. The Lord gave Abraham
perhaps the greatest test of all - to give up his son of promise.
Because he was willing to do so, God promises with an oath - "by
myself have I sworn, says the Lord" - that Abraham's seed would
be as the stars of heaven, posses the gates of their enemies,
and in his seed all nations would be blessed.
Isaac, was the son of promise, that was born unto Abraham.
He had two sons, namely Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn
and to him should have gone the birthright of physical bounty and
greatness, but for a bowl of pottage he sold it to Jacob. Isaac
passed on this birthright officially to Jacob with blessing of
the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, plenty of corn
and wine, with nations bowing down to his offspring, even the
nations of his mother's sons - his own brothers.
Jacob was also tested by the Lord. He wrestled with the Lord
all night and did prevail boldly, so much so that God changed his
name from Jacob to Israel, meaning a prince of God, for it was
stated that "as a prince hast you power with God, and with men,
and hast prevailed." Later, God appeared to Jacob or Israel
again, and promised him that of his seed would come a nation and
a company of nations!
Israel had 12 sons, one being called Joseph. He was a
favorite of his father's. Joseph's brothers being envious sold
him to the Egyptians. After much trials and tests Joseph rose to
become second in command over Egypt under the Pharaoh. Famine in
the land of his father eventually brought Joseph's brothers and
his father to Egypt where they were all united again in family
love. There they were given the land of Goshen, where they
greatly multiplied and found favor in the eyes of the Pharaoh.
Before, just before, the death of Jacob, Joseph visited him
bringing with him his two sons that were born unto him in the
land of Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob knew this was God's
doing and placed his name upon them as his own two sons, and
placing his hands on them blessed them. The birthright promise
was given to Joseph while the sceptre promise was Judah's(1
Chron.5:2). Joseph and his seed through Ephraim and Manesseh
would become as a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches would
run all over the wall. They above all other peoples on the face
of the earth would inherit the blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep, blessings of the breast and of the womb.
They would be mighty in battle strength though many would strive
against them. When another Pharaoh was king who did not know the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the peoples of Israel were made
bond slaves, and worked in servitude under harsh task masters.
They cried unto the Lord for deliverance and He did hear their
cry, sending a man called Moses to lead them out of the bondage
of Egypt to the land of promise. Even then as today, the peoples
of Israel showed wickedness in rebelling against the word of the
Lord, even when He suffered long with them. Time and time again
they disobeyed His voice, turned their ears away from the words
of God's servant Moses as he led them for 40 years in the
wilderness. Before Moses died he blessed and prophesied about the
tribes of Israel, again the physical blessings of the heaven, the
earth, and the sea, were promised to Joseph through his two sons,
Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob had done the same before his death.
Promises and blessings to fall upon the tribes of Israel in the
last days.
When all that faithless and evil generation had died in the
desert, God led Israel into the promised land by faithful Joshua.
Under his leadership they served the true God. Yet, it was not
long after the death of Joshua that the peoples of Israel turned
away from serving the Eternal God with all their heart and soul,
and went whoring after other gods and other nations round about,
doing wickedness in the sight of the Lord. Often, God would
correct and punish them by being conquered by the nations around.
Then they would again repent and cry out for mercy, and the Lord
would deliver them from their enemies. They would for a while
serve and obey the Almighty, but in the process of time they
would forget the true God and once more return unto practicing
falsehood and carnality.
In time the peoples of Israel wanted a king to rule them as
the other nations around. Their leader Samuel, God's faithful
priest and prophet was displeased, as was the Lord Himself, yet
the desire of their carnal hearts was granted. God chose Saul, a
tall handsome man of valor, to be the first king of Israel. At
the beginning he walked with God, but soon departed from the ways
of the Lord and was rejected as king, the Lord choosing a young
man whose heart was after the heart of God. David was his name.
Under David, Israel continued to serve the Eternal in truth and
righteousness. Solomon, the son of David, took the throne and
continued for most of his life to follow in the foot-steps of his
father. But he multiplied many wives from foreign nations who did
not know the true God of Israel, and it is written they turned
his heart away from serving the Lord in truth and spirit. He also
burdened the people with heavy taxation.
Upon the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam was to take the
throne. The elders of Israel told him if he would lift the
taxation burden his father had imposed upon them, then they would
serve him, but he listened instead to the young men, and rejected
the wisdom of the elders, to which 10 of the 12 tribes revolted
against Rehoboam, setting up their own kingdom and throne in
Samaria, under the leadership of Jeroboam.
Up to this time the 13 tribes(the tribe of Joseph now being
two tribes - namely, Ephraim and Manesseh) were known as "Israel"
or "House of Israel." Now from the reign of Rehoboam, it was the
10 Northern tribes that would be known as Israel or the House
of Israel, the Kingdom of Israel, and the 3 Southern tribes
would be known as the Kingdom of Judah or House of Judah. They
would both have their own land, their own dynasty of kings, their
own laws, their own national capital cities, their own religious
worship, with their own priesthoods, and temple service. It is
written this separation and division was allowed and was from the
Lord, to fulfil His worldwide plan of the ages to the time of the
end. Many prophets from the Lord were sent to both these
kingdoms, to correct and to teach them the true ways of the
Almighty, if they would but listen and heed.
Immediately, upon the departure of the northern 10 tribes to
form their own kingdom under Jeroboam, this man established a
false counter-part temple priesthood worship practice, with two
calves of gold, one in Bethel and the other in Dan, an imitation
feast of Tabernacles in the eighth month instead of the seventh
as commanded by the Eternal God. He caused Israel to sin a great
sin in the eyes of the Lord.
The books of Kings and Chronicles contain the histories of
these two kingdoms, their ups and their downs, their righteous
kings and their evil kings, the times they served the Lord in
truth and holiness, and the times they departed from the Lord
into wickedness and sin.
The times of wickedness and great evil for Israel or the 10
tribe House of Israel, grew more and more frequent. The patience
and the mercy of the Lord finally came to its end. Mighty
prophets such as Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, were sent to warn the
northern kingdom of Israel, that unless true humble repentance
was forthcoming, then Israel would be conquered, taken captive,
and deported as slaves to the land of their enemy - the
mighty and great Assyrian nation. With a stiff neck and
rebellious heart, the people of Israel refused to repent and
depart from their wicked ways. So God, as promised sent the
Assyrian empire and armies to enslave them. From about 745 B.C.
to 718 B.C. Israel, the 10 northern tribes, and many from the
house of Judah to the south, were deported as captives to
Assyria. As foretold by Hosea, the house of Israel started to
abide many days without a king, without a prince, and without a
sacrifice. And as Amos was inspired to forecast, the nation of
Israel was to be sifted among and through all nations, as corn is
sifted through a sieve, yet not one grain was to fall upon the
earth. God was still going to be merciful, He was working out His
plan with the children of Israel to the end time, when they would
inherit the great physical blessing of the earth, and when
Ephraim and Manasseh would become the nation and company of
nations as promised to Jacob and Joseph.
The house of Israel together with much of Judah, left the
land of Assyria, and began their centuries long wandering through
Asia Minor, south-west Russia, the Black and Caspian sea area,
through Europe and on west to eventually settle in Northwest
Europe and the British Isles. The became known as Celts(Kelts),
Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Jutes, Gauls, Normans, and other names. The
peoples of Manesseh, leaving Europe and Britain to form the
mighty United States of America, while the Ephraimites settled
England and came to world greatness through the British
Commonwealth of nations and all the other lands upon which at one
time the sun never set.
Yes, whether you will believe it or not, I tell you with
dogmatic assurance, you peoples of the lands of Northwest Europe,
the British Commonwealth, and the United States of America, are
the very literal descendants of the Old Testament House of
Israel. And the Lord has MUCH to say to you through the prophetic
books of the Bible. The message of the book of EZEKIEL is
especially for you peoples of the above nations.
The House of Judah was not all carried away with the
captivity and deporting of the House of Israel. Jerusalem
survived the Assyrian onslaught. It was not until about 120
years later that Judah became so wicked and rebellious towards
God that He sent them into a 70 year captivity to the
Babylonians. Their deportation started about 604 B.C. and
lasted till about 586 B.C. During that time, Ezekiel, at the age
of 25, was taken captive and in the environs of Babylon, by the
river Chebar He was chosen by the Lord to be a prophet to many
nations, in particular to the nations of the House of Israel.
Now, remember, the peoples of the Northern Kingdom of Israel had
ALREADY gone into captivity about 120 to 150 years EARLIER! They
were no longer in the land of Samaria. They never as a majority,
returned, only a few individuals and a few families of Israel
ever came back to live with the peoples of the house of Judah.
Some were, by the time Ezekiel was writing, starting to leave the
land of Assyria and heading west into Europe. They became known
as Celts in history.
Ezekiel, as we shall see, never got to the nations he was
told to prophetically warn and call to repentance. His message
to the House of Israel never reached them. It was not intended to
reach them at that time, for it was for a time way beyond the
days of Ezekiel. It was a warning, a teaching, a call to repent,
and what would happen if the nations of Israel did not repent, at
the time of the end, shortly before the coming of the Messiah in
glory to establish the government and Kingdom of God of this
earth for a thousand years.
People of America, people of the British Commonwealth,
people of the lands of Northwest Europe, the message of Ezekiel,
IS FOR YOU TODAY!!
Through the words of Ezekiel, the Almighty God tells you of
your sins, your wickedness, your wayward ways in departing from
the laws, commandments, statues, and judgments of the Eternal,
into false doctrine of false religions, perverseness, evil, sin,
and utter depravity of rebelliousness and the way that seems
right unto men, but which ways end in death.
The Lord says through Ezekiel, He is not pleased with the
death of the wicked, but that the wicked should REPENT and turn
from their sins and LIVE! The Lord DOES NOT want you to DIE, O
house of Israel. He does not want to have to bring these
predictions of Ezekiel to fruition upon you, BUT THEY WILL SURELY
COME UPON YOU IF YOU WILL NOT TURN YOURSELVES FROM ALL THE EVIL
YOU NOW PRACTICE!
LISTEN CLOSELY, O peoples of the nations of Israel. Mark
the words you hear well, for if God must bring them to pass, you
will know He sent His servants to warn you beforehand, and you
will KNOW you are the people of Israel indeed, you will know you
are not Gentiles at all, as you have been led to believe by your
false priests and ministers who come to you in the name of the
Lord, but are in truth wolves in sheeps clothing, and ministers
of Baal.
Listen now closely as I begin to expound to you the message
of the Lord from the words of the prophet Ezekiel, for in them
contains DEATH on the one hand and LIFE on the other hand. Maybe
the nations of Israel as a whole will not repent and so save
themselves from the punishment and destruction God will send upon
them, but you my friend, can personally find protection and LIFE.
I pray you will!
EZEKIEL IS CHOSEN TO WARN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
Chapter one - the setting:
Ezekiel is a captive by the river of Chebar. He is 25 years
old. The year is about 597 B.C. The word of the Lord comes unto
Ezekiel the priest. He is given a vision of four living
creatures and four wheels. There is a firmament above the heads
of the living creatures, and upon the firmament is a throne.
Upon the throne is the appearance of a man. The likeness of the
man is expressly and specifically said to be the "glory of the
Lord."
This throne is a travelling throne, different from the
throne room in the Temple in the heavenly Jerusalem.
God begins to talk to Ezekiel, starting in chapter two.
GOD TELLS EZEKIEL TO SPEAK TO ISRAEL
"And He said to me, Son of man, I send you to the children of
Israel....." (verse 3-7).
Comment:
Israel had gone into captivity and had been deported to
Assyria one-hundred-and- twenty to one-hundred-and-fifty years
earlier. Ezekiel was a captive of Judah near Babylon. It would
have been impossible for him to literally have gone where the
peoples of the once northern kingdom of Israel were now beginning
to spread out and wander through the nations.
God tells him that He is sending him to a stiff-hearted and
REBELLIOUS people. He is not to be afraid of them, although they
be as thorns and scorpions. He is to speak the words of the Lord
to them, whether they will listen or not. Ezekiel is given a
vision of a roll of a book, written on both sides. Symbolically
he is to eat this book. It contains lamentations, mournings, and
woe.
Most in the nations of Israel today will not listen to this
Ezekiel message. Most will say it is not a prophecy towards much
of Europe, the United States, and the British Commonwealth. Such
denial of the modern identity of the house of Israel, will result
in the very predictions against these peoples, coming to pass.
As before stated, when these dire events do come upon you who
live in the lands of Israel, then you will surely know you have
been most rebellious, and you will know that the true people and
servants of the Lord within the "Church of God" did WARN you
beforehand. You will know who were the genuine children of God.
And you will know or start to know, who the one and only true God
is, and that you are literally the children of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.
"And He said to me, Son of man, go, get you to the house of
Israel, and speak my words unto them. For you are not sent to a
people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the
house of Israel......but the house of Israel will NOT HARKEN unto
you, for they WILL NOT HARKEN unto ME: for all the house of
Israel are impudent and hardhearted. Behold, I have made your
face STRONG against their faces, and your forehead strong against
their forehead......fear them not, neither be dismayed at their
looks, though they be a REBELLIOUS house"(chapter 3:4-9).
Comment:
It is clear, Ezekiel was sent with a message to the HOUSE OF
ISRAEL, which were away in captivity far from where he was a
captive near Babylon. They were already moving up to the Black
and Caspian sea areas. The house of Israel and the house of
Judah were STILL at this time TWO SEPARATE kingdoms and peoples.
Ezekiel was a Jew. A good portion of the house of Judah were in
captivity from the invasion by the Babylonians, but the city of
Jerusalem had not yet fallen. God was sending Ezekiel to warn and
preach to the HOUSE OF ISRAEL!
He was told by the Lord that the peoples of the house of
Israel, you people of Celtic-Anglo-Saxon-Danish-Viking-Jute
ancestry, ARE HARDHEARTED, stiff-necked, and an impudent people
WHO WILL NOT LISTEN to the Eternal, so you will not listen to
Ezekiel. Yet, he was told that God had made his face and forehead
STRONG to withstand your rebelliousness.
God told Ezekiel to go to them of the captivity, to speak to
them, whether they would hear or whether they would not
hear(verse 11). Ezekiel could NOT physically go to the house of
Israel, for he was a captive in a prison camp by the river of
Chebar. So in the spirit of a vision, the living creatures and
the wheels, together with the Spirit of the Lord, lifted him away
to where others were captive at Telabib, on the banks of the
river Chebar. There he remained astonished among them for seven
days (verses 12-15).
After seven days the word of the Lord again came to him,
saying:
"Son of man, I have made you a WATCHMAN unto the house of
Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and GIVE THEM
WARNING FROM ME......"(verse 17).
Comment:
You nations of Northwest Europe, the British Commonwealth,
and the United States of America. This message is not from some
human man, with human ideas, that may or may not come to pass.
The words you are about to read and to hear are FROM THE
ALMIGHTY, ETERNAL GOD of this Universe, the one who created ALL
THINGS by and through Jesus Christ. He is the author of the
words, not me, not Ezekiel, and He is ABLE TO BRING TO PASS WHAT
HE PROPHECIES WILL COME UPON YOU IF TOTAL HUMBLE REPENTANCE IS
NOT FORTHCOMING!
Those to whom God tells them to proclaim the message of
Ezekiel MUST DO SO or the blood of the people will be required at
their hands if they do not. The wicked will die in their
wickedness, but if the watchman has not WARNED them, the blood of
the wicked will be upon them. But, if the wicked have been
warned, the watchman will save his own soul, though the wicked
will die(verses 18,19).
Sometimes God will TEST even the righteous man, putting or
allowing a snare to be placed before him, and if he turn away
from his righteousness he will die in his sin. If the watchman
has not warned him then his blood will be required at the
watchman's hand. If the watchman has warned him and the righteous
man does not sin, he shall live. The watchman will also deliver
his own soul from death(verses 20-21).
Was Ezekiel to literally go out from the prison camp by the
river of Chebar and walk, run, ride off to the peoples of the
house of Israel, far far away from there in the land of Assyria
and beyond, to give them the words of the Lord? Was he to
literally, personally himself, to go out preaching among the
children of the ten tribe house of Israel, that at least 120
years earlier had been removed from their land of Samaria by the
Assyrians, and were now moving North and West?
The word of the Lord gives us the answer.
"Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and
spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, SHUT YOURSELF WITHIN YOUR
HOUSE. But you, O son of man, behold, they shall PUT BANDS UPON
YOU, AND SHALL BIND YOU WITH THEM, and you shall NOT GO OUT AMONG
THEM: And I will make your TONGUE TO CLEAVE TO THE ROOF OF YOUR
MOUTH, that you shall BE DUMB, and shall NOT be to them a
REPROVER: for they are a rebellious house. But WHEN I SPEAK WITH
YOU, I WILL OPEN YOUR MOUTH, and you shall says unto them, Thus
says the Eternal God; He that hears, let him hear; and he that
forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious
house"(verses 24-27).
Comment:
Now, does all this sound a little confusing? God calls
Ezekiel to be a messenger, a watchman to the house of Israel.
Gives him a message and tells him if he does not go and preach it
to those who will die if they do not repent, the blood of their
lives He will require at the watchman's hands. The Lord tells
Ezekiel he must warn them of their wickedness. Then He tells
Ezekiel He will SHUT HIS MOUTH, BIND HIM UP and he will not go
out among them. He tells him that he will be DUMB and not a
reprover. But also goes on to say that WHEN HE speaks to Ezekiel
then he will open his mouth and speak to them the words of the
prophetic message.
Ummm, what on earth can it all mean? Just this, and I will
prove it to you in the following parts to this series. Ezekiel
was chosen to be a watchman to the house of Israel, house of
Judah, and some other nations. He was given a prophetic message
for those nations. He ALSO WAS TO WRITE it down, to PRESERVE it!
He was NOT allowed to go himself, personally and bodily, to those
nations. He was to remain a captive by the river of Chebar. In
that sense his mouth was shut. He was not to be like the other
prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea, who did
personally preach among the peoples of Israel and Judah. He was
to be "dumb" in that sense. His message to the nations he was to
warn WAS NOT FOR HIS DAY! It was for a time FAR BEYOND the
time and age of Ezekiel. He was to be somewhat like much of
Daniel's prophetic messages, closed and sealed up till the time
of the end. Daniel would sleep in death, rest in the grave, and
his messages would rest with him UNTIL the time of the end, when
people would run to and fro and knowledge would be increased.
Then Daniel's messages would be understood and
preached(Dan.12:4).
So it was to be for Ezekiel. His warning messages to Israel
and other nations, were for the time of the end, the time just
before the coming of the Messiah in glory and power to rule all
nations on the face of the earth. Ezekiel was to remain dumb,
his mouth shut, UNTIL THE LORD SPOKE and then the messages that
Ezekiel had written down WOULD BE PROCLAIMED LOUD AND STRONG.
The time for those warning cries to go to Israel, Judah, and
some other nations, concerning punishments, mercy, restoration,
and the age of the Kingdom of God on earth through the return of
the Messiah to earth, came in this 20th century, and will
continue to be shouted to them as we head into the 21st century.
Part of that very fulfilment is being done right now as you read
these words, and whenever others distribute these words and this
series of articles, or themselves proclaim this same truth as you
will hear be reading.
LISTEN CLOSELY, O you people of the modern house of Israel.
God is sending you His servants who are faithfully telling you
His word of promise. What he told Ezekiel to write down so many
centuries ago, is now being proclaimed to you. The Lord has
promised He will not do anything but first He reveals it to His
servants the prophets, who do understand His prophetic word and
the messages contained in books of the Bible such as in the book
of Ezekiel.
What you shall hear in this series of articles WILL COME
UPON YOU UNLESS AS NATIONS YOU REPENT! The Almighty Eternal God
says you are a most rebellious people, an impudent hardhearted
people. He says your lands are filled with wickedness and that
you will die in your sins if you will not turn from your
wickedness and live. He will show you through the words of
Ezekiel that your prophets and priests are profane, leading those
of you who are "religious" into the way of falsehood, sin,
deception, and Baal worship. The Eternal will show you through
the writing of Ezekiel, that your secular leaders of your nations
are MAD and without the knowledge of the true God and His true
ways that lead to health and life. The Lord will get quite
specific at times, naming specific sins. He will get specific at
telling you exactly HOW He will punish you, even to percentage of
numbers who will die from specific things He will bring upon you.
He will tell you some of your past history, some of your future
history, how He will bring you to real deep repentance, the mercy
some of you shall find, and the gathering together He will
perform on you, so you will never again depart from His holy,
righteous, honorable, and perfect laws and commandments.
There is GOOD NEWS for you, but as it seems to be so many
times, the good news must come AFTER the bad news. It would seem
that you as nations will not repent, so therefore the bad news
will come to pass as God foretells in the early chapters of the
book of Ezekiel.
May you as an individual reading this, seek for the Lord
with all your heart, soul, and mind. May you acknowledge the
truth, hunger and thirst after righteousness, fall upon your
knees and cry out to the Eternal for grace and mercy, to be
forgiven your sins through the death and blood of Christ Jesus,
and walk in a personal relationship with both the Father and the
Son. In so doing God says through Ezekiel, He will mark you with
His Spirit so you may escape the destruction that will surely
come upon the modern nations of the house of Israel.
It is written: Let him that has an ear to hear with, HEAR
what the word of the Lord does say. The time has come for YOU to
HEAR and to HEED!!
A MAJOR KEY IN UNDERSTANDING EZEKIEL'S MESSAGE
"You also, son of man, take you a tile, and lay it before you,
and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem: And lay siege
against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against
it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against
it round about. Moreover take thou unto you an iron pan, and set
it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face against
it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it.
THIS SHALL BE A SIGN TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.......Moreover he
said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of
bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with
care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with
astonishment. That they may want bread and water, and be astonied
one with another, and consume away for their iniquity"(chapter
4:1-3, 16,17).
Comment:
Did you find from the above this most important key to
unlock the book of Ezekiel to your understanding? Most of Judah
were already in captivity to the Empire of Babylon. Basically
only the city of Jerusalem was still to be captured and destroyed
by the armies of Babylon(this would take place around the year
586 B.C.). Ezekiel was a captive by the river of Chebar. He was
going to be taken IN VISION, through the Spirit, many times to
Jerusalem and even the Temple in Jerusalem. There he would be
shown many of the abominations, sins, and wickedness taking place
in the city and in the Temple within the city. Jerusalem was to
fall to the armies of Babylon in a most horrific and painful
manner, partly given in the verses quoted above.
The key is: All that was to happen to the city and
inhabitants of Jerusalem WAS A TYPE OF WHAT WAS TO BEFALL AND
COME UPON THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AT THE TIME OF THE END, A TIME
JUST BEFORE THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH IN GLORY, AND TO WHICH HE
WOULD RE-GATHER THE SCATTERED CAPTIVES OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH,
RESTORE THEM AS ONE SINGLE PEOPLE(13 TRIBES AGAIN AS ONE NATION),
AND ESTABLISH THE KINGDOM OF GOD OVER ALL NATIONS UPON THIS
EARTH, JERUSALEM BECOMING THE CENTER AND CAPITAL CITY OF THAT NEW
AGE TO COME, AS PROPHESIED BY MANY OF THE OTHER PROPHETS BESIDES
EZEKIEL.
ALL THIS IS STEP BY STEP PROCLAIMED AND UNFOLDED AS WE
PROCEED THROUGH THE PAGES OF THIS BOOK OF EZEKIEL.
REMEMBER, MARK IT WELL, NEVER FORGET THIS VITAL KEY! ALL
THAT WAS TO TAKE PLACE TO THE CITY OF JERUSALEM WAS AND IS A TYPE
AS TO WHAT WILL TAKE PLACE TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (AND THE HOUSE
OF JUDAH) ONCE MORE SHORTLY BEFORE THE COMING OF CHRIST THE
MESSIAH TO ESTABLISH GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH.
Notice verse 13. The words are FUTURE TENSE!! It concerns
the "children of Israel" who had ALREADY gone into captivity
some 120-150 years earlier. Now, with Jerusalem as a type, God
says the children of Israel will eat their defiled bread among
the Gentiles, "WHITHER I WILL(future tense) DRIVE THEM."
DOZENS of prophecies in the prophetic books declare this
same truth. The house of Israel and also the house of Judah are,
if as nations they do not repent, going to be destroyed by their
enemies, taken as captives to foreign lands, in a time called
"Jacob's trouble" by Jeremiah. A time approximately three and one
half years before the return of Christ Jesus to this earth. These
many prophecies show that when Jesus comes in glory, the children
of Israel and Judah are in a state of captivity and slavery, that
Christ DELIVERS them out of, and restores them as one people(what
is left of them, which will be one tenth of their present
populations) to the promised land of Palestine. There they
will serve God with a new heart and a new spirit, to finally be
the light of the world that God originally wanted them to be.
Israel had already suffered, had already been conquered, had
already been deported out of Samaria into the lands of the
Gentiles, over a HUNDRED YEARS previously to Ezekiel writing
these words. And God tells him that the children of Israel
WILL BE DRIVEN away among the Gentiles. This is part of the
prophetic message the Eternal tells Ezekiel to tell the house of
Israel. That a time is YET TO COME when they will eat their
defiled bread among the Gentiles, a time when God WILL - "whither
I WILL drive them."
Yes, you peoples of the British Commonwealth, North-western
Europe, and the United States, the fall of the ancient city of
Jerusalem, its captivity, and its destruction, the pain, the
suffering, the death, and the captivity of its people, is a type
and an example, as to what is to befall YOUR NATIONS in the time
beyond us, in the 21st century.
You as peoples, have turned away your hearts and minds from
the word and ways of the Holy One of Israel. You have multiplied
wickedness and sin in your homes, your schools, your
Universities, your work places, your religious temples, and in
your leisure practices. As you increased in population and in
material wealth, so you forgot God and increased your whoredom,
unrighteousness, lewdness, vanity, jealousy, lust and greed.
Even your religious leaders have led you into sin, saying
the grace by which you are saved abolishes the law and
commandments of the Almighty God. They have turned the grace of
God into a license to sin and to practice those things that are
an abomination to the Holy One. Your religious leaders have put
no difference between that which is holy and that which is
un-holy. They call black, white, and call white, black. Or they
turn everything into the shade of gray.
The turning of things upside-down, and not right-side-up,
means there is no real knowledge of the Lord in the lands, and
because you have rejected true knowledge then the Eternal is
going to reject you. God is no respecter of persons, and what
everyone
sows that they will reap. Even if you do not want to believe you
are the literal people of the house of Israel, still you will
face punishment and destruction as nations of peoples, because
all people who have entered upon the pathway of grave and
plenteous sins, have crumbled from within and finally from
without. You only have to look at the mighty iron Empire of
Rome, or more recently the falling apart of the "God rejecting"
empire of Russia.
The hand-writing is clearly on the wall. Soon it will be
time to meet your maker, O nations of the house of Israel.
Starting in chapter five of Ezekiel, the Lord God begins to
get very specific as to the punishment to come upon you O Israel,
even to the percentage of you that will live(and live what kind
of life) and die.
BUT WHY WILL YOU DIE O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? TURN YOURSELVES
FROM YOUR WICKEDNESS SO THAT YOU WILL NOT DIE, BUT THAT YOU MAY
LIVE!
To be continued
The best Website to prove that the nations of the West are the literal descendants of the 10 tribe House of Israel is---- britam.org .................................
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapter 5 FOR WHY WILL
YOU DIE, O HOUSE
OF ISRAEL?
Part 2
by
Keith Hunt
EZEKIEL 5
People of the nations of the British Commonwealth, the
United States of America, and countries of North-west Europe, you
are the literal people of the 10 tribes of the Old Testament
House of Israel, who were taken as captives and slaves by the
armies of the Empire of Assyria from 745 to 718 B.C. Those ten
tribes never returned to their land of Samaria in Palestine, but
eventually migrated north to the area of the Black and Caspian
seas. Through the following centuries they came into Europe under
various names, the most familiar ones being the names of Celts,
Danes, Gauls, Anglo-Saxons, Jutes, Franks, Normans, and Vikings.
Those peoples settled in North-west Europe and the British isles.
There the people of the tribe of Joseph - Ephraim and Manesseh -
multiplied together, eventually forming a multitude of nations
and a great single nation, as foretold in the book of Genesis.
There are dozens of prophecies in the OT concerning the last
days of this present age, and what portends for YOU as nations,
IF as nations you will NOT repent!
Those words of prophetic significance WILL come to pass as
sure as day turns into night. The Eternal says that as you
multiplied in population, wealth, and power, so your SINS
multiplied, until your lands are full of every kind of wickedness
and corruption and perversion, from the top of your head to the
sole of your feet.
The Almighty God gives you a warning and a sure end result
of your sins, through the prophet Ezekiel. He tells you that His
punishment, His correction, His chastising, will come upon you,
and in no uncertain manner.
Last time we saw the setting and calling of Ezekiel to warn
the House of Israel. He was a prisoner by the river of Chebar. He
was to tell the children of Israel (far away from where Ezekiel
was) about their future destruction and captivity, yet he was NOT
to go about among them, and his mouth was to remain shut....until
God opened it, and that was to be way down at the time of the end
of this present age.
The events to come upon the city of Jerusalem was to be a
type of the events to come upon the House of Israel, shortly
before the coming of the Messiah in glory to rule all nations
with a rod of iron.
We have now come to the beginning of the 5th chapter of the
book of Ezekiel. Here God gets very specific in percentage of
your peoples and what WILL happen to them in the yet future time
of "Jacob's trouble" or the "great tribulation" that is to come
upon the whole world, about three and one half years before the
glorious return of Christ Jesus to this earth.
Your sins and wickedness O house of Israel is very great and
have come before the Holy One of Israel, for judgment and
correction.
You, nation of Britain, have about 4% of your population
that attend religious services on a regular basis. Even most of
those have little knowledge or desire to find the truths of the
word of the Lord. You are a people of secular materialism, and
such sexual desires of lust that the most popular daily newspaper
has its topless girl on page three each day.
Canada, your violent crime is growing - killings and murders
on the increase, and still you will not bring back the death
penalty for those guilty of willful murder, as the laws of the
Eternal proclaim should be the law of the land.
The United States of America, your crime rate is the highest
in Israel, and blood does touch blood. You have a high percentage
of church going people, and ones that say they believe in a God,
yet your land is full of every sin and evil imaginable.
Every day in the lands of Northwest Europe, the British
Commonwealth, and the United Sates, the local news of your towns
bring the sordid reality of a people that have forgotten the true
ways of the Almighty, have turned their back on the commandments
of God, have fallen into drug abuse, food abuse, alcohol abuse,
gambling abuse, pleasure and sports madness, hate and violence,
unhappy families, abuse within families of every kind, and a huge
divorce rate. Your schools by and large have no discipline, and
true to the prophecies, children are your oppressors. Those that
lead you cause you to err and destroy your paths. Your leaders
are mad and your prophets are profane, so says the Lord.
Your lands kill tens of thousands of the most helpless and
innocent each year in your freedom of choice abortion clinics.
Your courts are full of injustice, where sometimes the rich
and the famous can literally get away with murder. Then on the
other hand many innocent people are found guilty because of the
pressure from some to find and convict a suspect - to solve a
case.
You have judges that take bribes, and lawyers that will
defend anyone for pay, manipulating the law, withholding
evidence, lying and twisting things, using the race issue, and
doing just about anything to win a case if paid enough money.
The poor and the widow and the fatherless are being
forgotten, while the rich get richer. The people's money
collected through taxes is often greatly abused by your
government agencies as clearly reported by your investigative
news programs.
There is lust, greed, envy, immorality, perversion,
unbridled anger, a calling of good "evil" and the calling of evil
"good" through your lands O children of Israel. You have a form
of godliness but deny the power thereof! You trample on the holy
Sabbath day of the Eternal. And reject His feasts while observing
those He hates. Most of your religious teachers have taught you
to believe that God's grace gives you license to break the law of
God. While they offer you liberty, they themselves are the
servants of corruption and sin. Because there is no knowledge of
the Lord in the land, because you have chosen to reject true
knowledge, the Almighty is going to reject you that you will be
no priest unto Him.
You are increasingly teaching and proclaiming that
Homosexuality and Lesbianism is fine among consenting persons.
You are starting to even give them "family" status, with child
rearing rights. All this, while the perfect righteous and holy
One calls living this life style an abomination!
I could go on and on listing and expounding your wickedness
and sins, but those I have commented on shall bring punishment
upon you from the Eternal in no uncertain way. That certain way
God will now reveal and proclaim to you. Unless you repent as
nations what you are about to read is certain to come to pass. So
it is written, and so it will be done. And when it will come upon
you, then you will know there is a God in heaven who rules in the
kingdoms of men, setting up and setting down as He has decreed by
His holy prophets, one of them being the prophet Ezekiel.
Remember, the city of Jerusalem and that which was to befall
it, is used in the book of Ezekiel as a type of the nations of
the house of Israel, and what is to befall them just before the
coming of the Messiah in power and glory to rule all nations and
establish the Kingdom of God over the whole earth for a thousand
years.
"And you , son of man, take you a sharp knife, take you a
barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your
beard: then take you balanced to weigh, and divide the hair.
You shall burn with fire a THIRD PART in the midst of the
city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall
take a THIRD PART, and smite about it with a knife: and a THIRD
PART you shall scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword
after them.
You shall also take thereof a few in number, and bind them
in your skirts. Then take of them again, and cast them into the
midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a
fire come forth into ALL the HOUSE OF ISRAEL.
Thus says the Lord God; THIS IS JERUSALEM: I have set in the
midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
And she has changed my judgments into WICKEDNESS more than
the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are
round about her: for they have REFUSED my judgments and my
statutes, they have not walked in them" (Ezek.5:1-6).
This is the word of the Lord unto the HOUSE OF ISRAEL, not
the house of Judah, but unto those that had already, 120-150
years earlier, gone into captivity and were now out of the
Assyrian land and in the area of the Black and Caspian seas,
heading North and West into Europe and South into Asia Minor.
The House of Israel was typified by the city of Jerusalem. What
was written here was to yet happen to the people of the holy
city, and in so doing this prophecy had a first fulfilment, but
the MAIN and ULTIMATE fulfilment was to take place on the peoples
of the House of Israel, still in the FUTURE of us TODAY. These
words are YET to come to pass on YOU PEOPLES of the United
States, Northwest Europe, and the British Commonwealth, unless
you REPENT AND SEEK THE ETERNAL WITH ALL YOUR HEART!
"Therefore thus says the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am
against you, and will execute judgment in the midst of you in the
sight of the nations. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in
the midst of you, and the sons shall eat the fathers; and I will
execute judgment in you, and the whole remnant of you will I
scatter into the winds" (chapt.5:8-10).
The time will yet come in Jacob's trouble, that starvation
and hardship will be so intense people will literally eat each
other to try and stay alive. Those of you who shall survive will
be scattered into the winds as captives and slaves of your
enemies.
"Wherefore, as I live, says the Lord God; Surely, because
you have DEFILED my SANCTUARY with all your detestable things,
and with all your ABOMINATIONS, therefore will I also DIMINISH
you; neither shall my eye spare, neither will I have pity" (verse
11).
One of the reasons that judgment and punishment will come
upon you is because of the FALSE RELIGIONS that you espouse. The
Eternal calls your religions, yes even your so called "Christian"
religion, an ABOMINATION! You have defiled His name and His
sanctuary with evil abominations!
You have changed the holy Sabbath day of the 4th
Commandment, the 7th day, to the pagan sun-god day of the first
day of the week, which not one verse in the entire Bible declares
is the Lord's day to be set apart as holy unto Him.
You have rejected the FEATS of the Lord as listed in
Leviticus 23, the Festivals that Jesus observed in the NT
Gospels, the Festivals that the early apostolic church continued
to observe, and you have adopted and adapted the feasts of the
heathen, deceived, Satanically influenced nations around you.
Spend a few hours in your Encyclopedias and look up the topics of
Easter, Christmas, January 1st, Valentines Day, Halloween, and
even Thanksgiving Day, and enlighten your eyes and mind to the
truth of the matter concerning these festivals that are passed
off by the leaders of your churches as "Christian" and pleasing
to God to celebrate. Then search the Scriptures and find what
the Eternal has to say about taking the feasts of the spiritually
darkened nations around you and worshipping Him with them. You
can start with Deuteronomy 12:29-32.
The word of the Almighty says your priests and ministers
have put NO DIFFERENCE between that which is holy and that which
un-holy, that which is clean and that which is un-clean, that
which is righteous and that which is un-righteous. Your religious
leaders have led you astray and have deceived you with enticing
and sweet words. You heap to yourselves ministers with itching
ears that tell you what you have hired them to tell you. You and
your workers in the sanctuary of God have turned the grace of the
Lord into a license to sin and practice wickedness. You have
church organizations that support the sin of abortion on demand.
You have churches that teach their members that homosexuality and
Lesbianism is acceptable to God and just another life style that
is within His law.
You have ministers that have fallen into gross sins many
times, that have brought shame and embarrassment on the word and
name of Christ and His true church, which you allow to remain as
leaders of the flock of God.
Because of all this and more, listen to what the Almighty
Eternal God says to you:
"A THIRD PART shall die with the pestilence, and with
famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you: and a THIRD
PART shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter
a THIRD PART into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword
after them" (verse 12).
Here the order is pestilence, famine, the sword, and
scattering, but later as we shall see, the order is the sword,
famine, and pestilence (chapter 6:11). So we cannot be dogmatic
as to which will come first upon you, but whichever is first, the
message is very clear, when all is done, two thirds of you will
be dead while the other remaining third is scattered into the
winds and a sword comes after them. The prophet AMOS was
inspired to foretell that only ONE TENTH of you shall remain
alive after God has poured out His judgments on you (Amos 5:1-3).
"Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my
fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they SHALL
KNOW that I have spoken in my zeal, when I HAVE(future tense)
accomplished my fury in them. Moreover I will make you waste, and
a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the
sight of all that pass by you. So it shall be a reproach and a
taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that
are round about you, when I shall execute judgment in you in
anger and in fury and in furious rebuke. I the Lord have spoken
it. When I shall send upon you the evil arrows of famine, which
shall be for their destruction, and which I shall send to destroy
you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your
staff of bread. So I will send upon you famine and evil beasts,
and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass
through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I the Lord have
spoken it" (verses 13-17).
As if all this was not enough emphasis, the Lord God opens
up the other barrel of the shot gun and unloads it upon you in
chapter six. Most of you will not listen or harken to these words
so you may repent from all your wickedness, for you are a most
rebellious and stone-hearted people, but for the few among you
who will fall upon their knees in humble repentance, and so save
their souls, I will give you the words of the Eternal as found in
Ezekiel the sixth chapter.
"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man,
set your face towards the mountains of Israel, and prophecy
against them, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of
the Lord God; Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, and to the
hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will
bring a SWORD UPON YOU, and I will destroy your high places. And
your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken:
and I will CAST DOWN YOUR SLAIN MEN before your idols. And I will
lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their
idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. In
all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the
high places shall be made desolate, and your idols shall be
broken and cease, and your images shall be cut down, and your
works may be abolished. And the slain shall fall in the midst
of you, and YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.
Yet will I LEAVE A REMNANT, that you may have some that
shall escape the sword among the nations, WHEN you SHALL BE
scattered among the countries. And they that escape of you shall
remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried
CAPTIVES, because I am broken with their WHORISH heart, which
have departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring
after their idols: and they shall LOATHE themselves for the EVIL
which they have committed in all their ABOMINATIONS. And they
shall KNOW that I AM THE LORD, AND THAT I HAVE NOT SAID IN VAIN
THAT I WOULD DO THIS EVIL UNTO THEM.
Thus says the Lord God; Smite with your hand, and stamp with
your foot, and say, Alas for ALL the EVIL ABOMINATIONS of the
house of Israel! for they shall FALL BY THE SWORD, BY THE FAMINE,
AND BY THE PESTILENCE. He that is far off shall die by the
pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and
he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus
will I accomplish my FURY upon them. THEN shall they KNOW that I
am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols
round about their altars, upon every high hill, and in all the
tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under
every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savor to
all their idols. SO WILL I STRETCH OUT MY HAND UPON THEM, AND
MAKE THE LAND DESOLATE, YES, more desolate than the wilderness
towards Diblath, in all their habitations: AND THEY SHALL KNOW
THAT I AM THE LORD."
Do not think that your wealth and your mighty weapons of
war, all your space-age computer driven rockets and machines of
mass destruction with their nuclear war-heads, will protect you
from the destruction that surely lies in wait for you, O peoples
of the House of Israel. Have you no remembrance of how the
Eternal has used with mighty results of devastation, the forces
and power of NATURE against some of your towns and cities in the
past? It would only be a matter of hours that you would be on
your knees, broken and helpless, to the sword of your enemies, if
the Almighty was to turn the power of nature upon you from coast
to coast, border to border, nation to nation. If the God in
heaven was to pour out upon you plagues, pestilence, and famine,
that you have never seen the like of for hundreds of years, if
all these natural evils of huge paralyzing death and pain were to
come upon you from the hand of the Lord, if one third of you were
lying dead in the streets from these destructive plagues, you
would be helpless to withstand the sword from your enemies.
You may be preparing to LIVE as great nations, you may
eventually see who your real enemies will be, and you may, at the
stroke of midnight BLOW THE TRUMPET, to make ready, but you will
not stand to fight.
More from the Eternal about this point in the next part as I
proceed through the book and prophecy of Ezekiel.
.........................
Written November 1997.
Permission is given to print, copy, and distribute by any
means, all studies and articles by Keith Hunt, trusting nothing
will be changed without consent from the writer.
THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AND UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY-- book of Genesis gives end time prophecy
IF YOU TUNE IN TO JUST ABOUT ALL FUNDAMENTAL PROTESTANT SPEAKERS ON THE RADIO, TV, OR YOUTUBE, THEY WILL TELL YOU THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ARE NOT MENTIONED IN BIBLE PROPHECY.
THEY ARE VERY WRONG!
COULD NATIONS LIKE EGYPT, LYBIA, ROME, BABYLON, RUSSIA, SYRIA, AND OTHERS, BE MENTIONED IN BIBLE PROPHECY, AND NOT THE MIGHTY POWERS OF THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AND THE USA?
WELL I TELL YOU THE GREATEST MILITARY AND THE GREATEST PHYSICAL WEALTH POWERS, THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN, THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ARE MENTIONED MORE TIMES IN BIBLE PROPHECY THAN ANY NATION IN THE PAST OR PRESENT.
WHERE THOSE PEOPLES COME FROM IS GIVEN TO YOU IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE; IT IS AS PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE; EVEN A CHILD OF 9 OR 10 CAN READ AND UNDERSTAND IT. JESUS SAID THAT UNLESS YOU BECOME AS A CHILD IN ATTITUDE OF MIND, YOU WILL NEVER BE IN GOD'S KINGDOM. HE ALSO SAID, "I THANK YOU FATHER THAT YOU HAVE HID THESE THINGS FROM THE WISE AND PRUDENT, AND HAVE REVEALED THEM UNTO BABES."
IT DOES NOT TAKE SOMEONE WITH A PhD TO READ THE BOOK OF GENESIS, AND UNDERSTAND THE PROMISES AND PROPHECIES GOD GAVE, AND SEE THEM FULFILLED TODAY RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES.
SO LET'S BEGIN!
"And the Lord said unto Abram. Get you out of your country....unto a land that I will show you. AND I WILL MAKE OF YOU A GREAT NATION, AND I WILL BLESS YOU....AND YOU SHALL BE A BLESSING....AND IN YOU SHALL ALL FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED" (Genesis 12:1-3).
Pretty simple words, they mean what they say and say what they mean!
"After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying.....But he that shall come forth from out of thine own bowels shall be your heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall your seed be" (Gen. 15:1-5).
Again simple words to understand, the descendants of Abram would be like the stars of heaven, "so shall YOUR SEED be."
"And Abram fell on his face; and God talked to him, saying. As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and YOU SHALL BE A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS. Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be ABRAHAM; FOR A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU." Does this just mean something "spiritual" - we read on.....
"And I will make YOU EXCEEDINGLY FRUITFUL, AND I WILL MAKE NATIONS OF YOU, AND KINGS SHALL COME OUT OF YOU" (Gen. 17:3-6).
Out of Abraham.....nations of YOU, and kings shall come out of Abraham. BOTH PLURAL.... nationS, kingS....shall come out of you.....simple language, "come out of you" means what it says, "come out of" the physical man Abraham, his descendants.
"And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give you a son also of her; and she shall be a mother of NATIONS; and KINGS OF PEOPLE SHALL BE OF HER" (Gen. 17:15-16).
This is not something "spiritual" - it is physical - a son from Sarah - she, from her literally, shall come, through that son, NATIONS and KINGS - PLURAL.
"And as for Ishmael [the son Abraham and Sarah's handmade had between them] I have heard you; Behold, I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget; and I will make him a great nation" (Gen.17:20).
God is still talking in the physical descendants mode, the context is physical descendants. ALL Arab nations admit and claim to be from Abraham via Ishmael. Today there are about 1.5 BILLION Muslims in the world. ISHMAEL has become exceedingly multiplied.
"And God said unto Abraham.....for in ISAAC shall your SEED be called" (Gen. 21:12).
Paul used this verse in Romans when contrasting spiritual "children" of Abraham with "physical seed" of Abraham [ Rom.9:7). There would come a time when a huge massive people would be known by Isaac. Where is there a mighty people who were called Isaac sons? Saac sons - Saxons!
"And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time. And said; By myself have I sworn says the Lord, for because you have done this thing and not withheld your son, your only son: that in blessing I will bless YOU, and in multiplying I will MULTIPLY YOUR SEED AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN, AND AS THE SAND UPON THE SEA SHORE....AND IN YOUR SEED SHALL ALL NATIONS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED, because you have obeyed my voice" (Gen. 22:15-18).
This is multiplying the literal seed, descendants, of Abraham; that seed would possess the gate of his enemies - same passage - not something "spiritual" but literal and physical - God is talking in the literal not spiritual; I mean what on earth is "gate of his enemies" in a spiritual sense, just does not make sense as spiritual, and if it was spiritual surely someone like Paul would have explained it to us; surely God would have inspired someone to explain this if spiritual, but it is nowhere used in the New Testament to explain God was talking about something spiritual. Abraham's literal seed was to multiply over the ages to be like the stars of heaven, and those physical seed would bless all nations of the earth.
"Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmade, bare unto Abraham.....twelve princes according to their nations" (Gen. 25: 12-16).
And Ishmael's seed have multiplied into billions down through the ages.
"And JACOB [from Abraham] went near unto Isaac [from Abraham] his father......And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son....Therefore God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you; and be lord over your brethren and let your mother's sons bow down to you; cursed be everyone that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you" (Gen. 27:22-29)
This is again clearly talking about the physical - nothing spiritual here - very plain to read and believe - even a child can understand it. It means what it says and says what it means.
"And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day.....And he said [Jacob] I will not let you go, except you bless me. And he [God] said unto him [Jacob] What is your name? And he said Jacob.And he [God] said unto him, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince have you power with God and with men, and have prevailed.....and he [God] blessed him [Jacob] there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Gen. 32:24-30).
Here we find how the name "Israel" came about....the first time in the Bible it is used. Jacob would be known as Jacob Israel from this time forward.
"And God appeared unto Jacob again....And God said unto him, Your name is Jacob: your name shall not [only] be called any more Jacob, but ISRAEL shall be your name; and he [God] called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God ALMIGHTY; be FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY; A NATION AND A COMPANY OF NATIONS SHALL BE OF YOU, AND KINGS SHALL COME OUT OF YOUR LOINS" (Gen. 35: 9-11).
Oh wow..... DO YOU BEGIN TO SEE IT? ARE YOU READING AS A CHILD? THIS IS PHYSICAL....OF YOU, OUT FROM JACOB'S ANCESTRY! NOTHING SPIRITUAL HERE. AT SOME POINT IN HISTORY THROUGH THE AGES, FROM THE DESCENDANTS OF JACOB WOULD COME A NATION AND A COMPANY OF NATIONS......RIGHT FROM THE VERY LOINS, PHYSICAL SEED, OFFSPRING, DESCENDANTS OF JACOB. AND FURTHER FROM THE OFFSPRING OF JACOB WOULD COME KING S.... PLURAL! NOT JUST ONE KING [LIKE AS OF CHRIST] BUT KINGS - MANY KINGS.....IT IS NOT LIMITED, IT IS KING S - UNLIMITED, AS MANY AS GOD AND TIME ALLOWS.
LOOK AT HISTORY, LOOK AROUND YOU RIGHT NOW. IS THERE A PEOPLE WHO ADMIT THEY ARE BROTHERS, THE SAME STOCK OF PEOPLE, WHO FOUNDED WHAT WOULD BE A COMPANY OF NATIONS, AND ALSO ONE GREAT NATION, LIKE THE WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN IN ALL ITS HISTORY?
IT IS SO EASY TO SEE; A CHILD CAN READ THESE VERSES, LOOKING AT A MAP OF THE EARTH, AND SEEING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM, THEY CAN EASILY SEE IN THE WORLD, A NATION and COMPANY OF NATIONS, who are brother peoples.
OH THE SIMPLICITY OF THE PROPHECIES FROM GOD IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS.....ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS BELIEVE!
IT DOES NOT TAKE A PhD, IT DOES NOT TAKE A THEOLOGY DEGREE IN THE BIBLE. ALL IT TAKES IS READING THE WORDS, BELIEVING GOD IS TRUE [though men be liars], AND ACKNOWLEDGING THIS PROPHECY AND PROMISE IS BEING FULFILLED BEFORE YOUR EVERY EYES TODAY!
AS JESUS SAID, THANK YOU FATHER THAT YOU HAVE HIDDEN THESE THINGS FROM THE WISE AND PRUDENT AND HAVE REVEALED THEM UNTO BABES.
BUT THERE IS YET MORE!
JACOB IS DYING....JOSEPH HIS SON COMES TO HIM.
"And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, your father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob [see he did not loose his original name but got another added - Israel] and said, Behold your son Joseph comes unto you: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon his bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And said unto me, Behold I will make YOU fruitful, and MULTIPLY YOU, and I will make of YOU a multitude of people.....And now your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh....are MINE; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall BE MINE.....AND ISRAEL BEHELD JOSEPH'S SONS, and said, Who are these [looks like Jacob Israel had a short time memory by his sickness]? And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. and he said [Israel], bring them I pray you unto me, and I will BLESS THEM. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see [very good at all]. And he [Joseph] brought them near unto him [Jacob] and he kissed them, and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see you again, and lo, God has shown me also your seed.....And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand towards Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him [Jacob]. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manesseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly [not what one should have done] because Manasseh was the first born. And he BLESSED Joseph, and said, God before whom my father Abraham and Isaac did walk.....the angel which redeemed me from all evil, BLESS the LADS; let MY NAME be named on them [the name Israel] and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them GROW INTO A MULTITUDE in the midst of the earth. [Joseph goes to change around Jacob's hands for the right hand should have gone on Manasseh's head being the firstborn]. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head. AND HIS FATHER REFUSED, AND SAID, HE ALSO SHALL BECOME A PEOPLE; AND HE ALSO SHALL BE GREAT; BUT TRULY HIS YOUNGER BROTHER SHALL BE GREATER THAN HE, AND HIS SEED SHALL BECOME A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS!
THERE IS A WHOLE SECTION OF SCRIPTURE DEVOTED TO A SPECIFIC PROPHECY.....IT IS THE SAME PROMISE GIVEN TO JACOB OF A NATION AND COMPANY OF NATIONS COMING FROM HIS OFFSPRING, NOW THAT PROMISE AND PROPHECY IS GIVEN TO THE TWO SONS OF JOSEPH, THAT JACOB NEVER THOUGHT HE'D EVER SEE. HE NEVER THOUGHT HE'D SEE JOSEPH LET ALONE JOSEPH'S TWO SONS. GOD WAS AT WORK - AT SOME TIME IN HISTORY THE TWO SONS WOULD GROW TOGETHER, THEN FROM THEM WOULD COME A COMPANY OF NATIONS, AND A GREAT SINGLE NATION. (GENESIS 48:1-19).
OH YES A CHILD CAN UNDERSTAND IT - NO THEOLOGY DEGREE NEEDED - IT SAYS WHAT IT MEANS AND MEANS WHAT IT SAYS!
THERE IS YET MORE!
"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the LAST DAYS" (Gen. 49:1).
The "last days" - let us let the Bible interpret for us what "last days" can mean. "God at sundry times and in different manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. Has in THESE LAST DAYS spoken unto us by His Son...." (Hebrews 1:1-2)
There it is, not from me but from the Bible itself, the LAST DAYS in once sense started in the time of the first century! SO THE PROPHECY OF GENESIS 49 COULD NOT BE FULFILLED UNTIL THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST AND AFTER.
WHAT WAS THE PROPHECY FOR JOSEPH?
"JOSEPH IS A FRUITFUL BOUGH, EVEN A FRUITFUL BOUGH BY A WELL; WHOSE BRANCHES RUN OVER THE WALL. THE ARCHES HAVE SORELY GRIEVED HIM, AND SHOT AT HIM, AND HATED HIM; BUT HIS BOW ABODE IN STRENGTH, AND THE ARMS OF HIS HAND WERE MADE STRONG BY THE HANDS OF THE MIGHTY GOD OF JACOB.....EVEN BY THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, WHO SHALL HELP YOU; AND BY THE ALMIGHTY WHO SHALL BLESS YOU WITH BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN ABOVE, BLESSING OF THE DEEP THAT LIES UNDER, BLESSINGS OF THE BEASTS, AND OF THE WOMB. The blessings of your father have prevailed ABOVE the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: THEY SHALL BE ON THE HEAD OF JOSEPH....." (Gen. 49: 22-26).
Again I say, a child can understand this prophecy; it is simple; it is physical blessing like on no other peoples have ever had, or ever fought for in battles and obtained.
ALL THIS PROPHECY SHOULD BE PRETTY PLAIN TO YOU BY NOW. WHERE IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY HAS THERE BEEN A BROTHER PEOPLE, WHO IN THE LAST DAYS, BECAME A NATIONS AND COMPANY OF NATIONS, AND WHO WOULD HAVE WEALTH LIKE NONE EVER HAD; A VINE BY A WELL WHOSE BRANCHES OF WEALTH RUN ALL OVER THE WALL. WHO WILL HAVE MANY ENEMIES SHOOTING THE DARTS OF WARFARE AGAINST THEM BUT SURVIVE BECAUSE GOD MEANS THEM TO SURVIVE AND WILL DEFEND THEM.
YOU LOOK AT HISTORY; THE BRITISH ISLES WEATHERED THE STORM OF THE ROMANS, THEY ONLY OCCUPIED ENGLAND, THEY NEVER COULD EVEN OCCUPY SCOTLAND. THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH TRIED TO CONQUER BRITAIN....THEY WERE DEFEATED! BRITAIN GREW INTO A COMPANY OF NATIONS; OUT FROM HER, HER BROTHER PEOPLE SETTLED THE NEW WORLD AND BECAME THE GREATEST SINGLE NATION IN ALL HISTORY FOR WEALTH AND MILITARY POWER. THE GERMANS TRIED TO CONQUER THEM IN TWO WORLD WARS, THEY FAILED BY THE HELP OF THE MIGHTY ARM OF GOD. THE JAPANESE TRIED TO CONQUER THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - THEY FAILED. THE MIRACLES AND GENEUS MINDS THAT DID THINGS SOMETIMES BEHIND THE SCENES [LIKE THE TRUE MOVIE "THE IMITATION GAME"] AND ONLY NOW BEING TOLD TO THE WORLD; PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER AND MANY BOOKS WOULD FILL THE BOOK SHELF..... GOD'S MIGHTY HAND WAS THERE IN IT ALL.
YES RIGHT NOW, BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES YOU ARE WITNESS TO THE SURE PROMISES AND PROPHECIES OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS!
THERE IS YET MORE!
"AND THIS IS THE BLESSING, WHEREBY MOSES THE MAN OF GOD BLESSED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BEFORE HIS DEATH" (Deuteronomy 33:1).
"And to JOSEPH he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that lies beneath. And for the precious fruit brought forth by the sun; and for the precious things put forth by the moon. And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills. And for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; let THE BLESSING COME ON THE HEAD OF JOSEPH......HIS GLOSRY IS LIKE FIRSTLING OF HIS BULLOCK, AND HIS HORNS ARE LIKE THE HORNS OF THE UNICORNS, WITH THEM HE SHALL PUSH THE PEOPLE TOGETHER TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH; THEY ARE THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF EPHRAIM, AND THEY ARE THE THOUSANDS OF MANASSEH" (Deuteronomy 33: 13-17).
WHICH NATION ADOPTED THE LION, THE BULL, AND THE UNICORN? TWO GUESSES AND THE THE FIRST ONE DOES NOT COUNT.
THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND IT PROMISES AND PROPHECIES TO JACOB ISRAEL, AND JOSEPH AND HIS TWO SONS, ARE IN THESE LATTER DAYS, FULFILLED BEFORE YOUR EVERY EYES.
WHAT A MIGHTY PROOF THAT GOD EXISTS; THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO HE COULD HAVE MOSES [most scholars believe Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible] WRITE DOWN THE PROMISES AND PROPHECIES HE GAVE TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, AND JOSEPH..... AND NOW IN THESE END TIMES, LAST DAYS, THEY ARE FULFILLED AS YOU DRAW BREATH.
THERE IS YET MORE!
THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL HAD SETTLED THE PROMISED LAND; DAVID WAS KING IN ISRAEL - THEN NATHAN THE PROPHET WAS SENT TO DAVID WITH THIS MASSAGE:
"MOREOVER I WILL APPOINT A PLACE FOR MY PEOPLE ISRAEL, AND I WILL PLANT THEM, THAT THEY MAY DWELL IN A PLACE OF THEIR OWN, AND MOVE NO MORE, NEITHER SHALL THE CHILDREN OF WICKEDNESS AFFLICT THEM ANY MORE, AS BEFORE TIME [think of affliction under Egypt] (2 Samuel 7:10).
GOD TOLD DAVID ISRAEL WAS TO YET MOVE AND BE PLANTED!
ANY SCHOLAR WORTH HIS SALT IN READING THE BIBLE, WILL KNOW AFTER SOLOMON THE 13 TRIBES DIVIDED - THREE TO WHAT BECAME THE HOUSE OF JUDAH [JUDAH, LEVI, AND BENJAMIN] AND TEN TRIBES OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.
BECAUSE OF GROSS SIN GOD HAD THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL CONQUERED AND REMOVED BY THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, AND NEVER AS A WHOLE [some individuals before and during moved to the House of Judah] TO RETURN.
THE HOUSE OF JUDAH LATER BECAUSE OF GROSS SIN WHERE CONQUERED BY THE BABYLON EMPIRE AND REMOVED TO BABYLON. AFTER 70 YEARS SOME OF THEM CAME BACK TO JERUSALEM AND FORMED THE JEWISH NATION IN THE HOLY LAND.
THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AS THEY WERE BEING WARNED BY GOD'S PROPHETS OF IMMANENT DESTRUCTION AND CAPTIVITY, GOD TOLD THE PROPHET AMOS: "FOR LO, I WILL COMMAND, AND I WILL SIFT THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AMONG THE NATIONS, LIKE AS CORN IS SIFTED IN A SIEVE, YET NOT THE LEAST GRAIN SHALL FALL UPON THE EARTH" (AMOS 9:9).
GOD WOULD WATCH OVER THEM, LEAD THEM THROUGH THE NATIONS, KNOW WHO THEY WERE, CARE FOR THEM SO THEY WOULD NOT EVER BE SWALLOWED UP BY THE EARTH AND OTHER PEOPLE. GOD WOULD AS HE TOLD DAVID, PLANT THEM AGAIN, GIVE THEM A NEW PLACE, WHERE THEY WOULD NEVER AGAIN BE AFFLICTED WITH SLAVERY FROM ENEMIES LIKE AS UNDER EGYPTIAN BONDAGE.
THEY WOULD GROW; THEY WOULD IN TIME BE GIVEN THE PROMISES FORETOLD IN GENESIS AND DEUTERONOMY AS WE HAVE SEEN.
IF YOU SEE AS A CHILD THE FULFILMENT OF THE GENESIS PROMISES AND PROPHECIES, YOUR HEART WILL [maybe your eyes also] WEEP, FOR NOW YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE TO ISRAEL AND JUDAH IN THE PROPHETIC BOOKS OF THE BIBLE.
OUR ISRAEL PEOPLE WERE GIVEN A NEW LAND, FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY [WHEN I RECENTLY FLEW BACK FROM LONDON, THERE WERE NOT MANY CLOUDS AND THE LAND GOING UP INTO SCOTLAND, WAS SO LUSH AND GREEN AND PRODUCTIVE....TRULY MILK AND HONEY], WE WERE GIVEN THE WHOLE BIBLE. WE AT ONE TIME FOUNDED OUR LANDS ON THE BIBLE, GOD WAS OPENLY A PART OF OUR SOCIETY; WE ONCE [this new younger generation will not know] OBSERVED A WEEKLY SABBATH DAY - THE TOWNS CLOSED SHOP, SPORTS CLUBS [pro and amateur] RESTED, MORE PEOPLE WENT TO CHURCH. KILLING OF THE UNBORN WAS BASICALLY UNKOWN; SAME SEX MARRIAGE WAS UNHEARD OF. ISLAMIC TERRORISTS DID NOT EXIST IN OUR LANDS. FORNICATION [sex before marriage] WAS NOT THE NORM AT ALL. ADULTERY WAS UN-COMMNON. PEOPLE WERE MORE HONEST, TRUSTWORTHY, CARING, IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE.
NOW YOU SEE WHAT WE HAVE BECOME AND ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE EACH WEEK AND MONTH AND YEAR.
WE THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH ARE YET TO FULFILL WHAT WE WERE CALLED TO DO...... BE A SPIRITUAL LIGHT TO A DARK WORLD. BUT BEFORE WE CAN DO THAT WE HAVE TO BE BROUGHT TO REAL DEEP REPENTANCE THROUGH A TIME OF TROUBLE TO COME ON THIS EARTH LIKE THERE HAS NEVER BEEN BEFORE.
OH YES INDEED THE PEOPLE OF THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, YOU ARE MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE FAR MORE, WAY MORE, THAN ANY OTHER PEOPLE ON EARTH!
NOW YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! ..........
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapters 5 to 8
FOR WHY WILL
YOU DIE, O HOUSE
OF ISRAEL?
Part 3
by
Keith Hunt
Over and over again God shows through the prophets of the OT
that when the time comes to send the Messiah (Christ Jesus) back
to this earth in POWER and GLORY to establish the Kingdom of God
on earth, the peoples of the House of Israel and the House of
Judah (all 13 tribes of Jacob or Israel) have already gone into a
three and one half year captivity, a scattering abroad into the
land of their enemies, FROM WHICH they are DELIVERED by the
Messiah, and returned to the land of Promise, the Holy land of
Palestine, when they shall rest in peace, build the fallen
cities, cultivate the land with such bounty that the seed planter
and the reaper will overlap each other.
We see this foretold in the book and prophecy of AMOS. Amos
was sent to the House of Israel in the main, to warn them that if
they did not REPENT and turn to worship the true God in spirit
and in truth, they would be punished with destruction and
captivity. THIS IS A PROPHECY FOR YOU, O PEOPLE OF THE
CELTIC-ANGLO-SAXON NATIONS OF THE USA AND BRITISH COMMONWEALTH,
AS WELL AS NATIONS OF NORTH-WEST EUROPE. IT IS A PROPHECY FOR
THE END TIME, JUST BEFORE THE PLOWMAN OVERTAKES THE REAPER.
The prophecy is set just before the Lord sends you into
captivity for ALL YOUR SINS. It takes us through the time of
"Jacob's trouble" (as it was called by Jeremiah), a time such as
NEVER BEFORE on this earth(see Jer.30; 31; 32; 33), and into the
restoration of Israel, into the ABUNDANCE of the reign of the
Messiah on earth.
"BEHOLD, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the SINFUL
kingdom(the people of Israel - that's most of you who are reading
these messages), and I will DESTROY IT(the Kingdom, the power,
the government) from OFF the face of the earth; SAVING I WILL NOT
UTTERLY DESTROY THE HOUSE OF JACOB, says the Lord(the prophet
said in chapter 5 that by the time it was all over only 10% of
you would remain alive to return under the Messiah's hand).
For, lo, I WILL COMMAND, and I will SIFT the House of Israel
AMONG THE NATIONS, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, YET SHALL
NOT THE LEAST GRAIN FALL UPON THE EARTH. ALL THE SINNERS OF MY
PEOPLE SHALL DIE BY THE SWORD, which say, The evil shall not
overtake nor prevent us (Many reading this will laugh at it, they
will deny that the nations of North-west Europe, the British
Commonwealth and the USA are the literal peoples of the house of
Israel. Your leaders will deny it, your religious teachers will
deny it. They will say "this evil will not come upon us." God
says these and others are SINNERS, who will die by the sword. 90%
of you shall perish, by the sword and by the famine and by the
pestilence. Yet the 10% that remain shall be sifted through the
nations, but shall live and the book of Revelation says that
144,000 shall find repentance and the first resurrection at the
coming of the Messiah. The rest will live as human flesh and
blood and be restored to the promised land where they shall learn
the ways of the Lord and find rest and blessings beyond belief).
In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David this is
fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up
his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old(a fulfilment
took place concerning this prophecy once in the days of the NT
church when the Gentiles were brought into the fold of God - see
Acts 15 - but a larger, end time fulfilment is yet ahead, when
after you have been restored to the Promised land, and are
the true light to the world that the Eternal chose you to be
among the nations - see Deut.4 - then the Gentiles from all
nations shall want to learn from you and from the Almighty God
that will be among you - see Isaiah 2; Micah 4).
That they may posses the remnant of Edom, and of all the
heathen, which are called by my name, says the Lord that does
this.
Behold, the DAYS COME(they have never yet ever been, not
days like this that you are about to read) says the Lord, that
the PLOWMAN SHALL OVERTAKE THE REAPER, AND THE TREADER OF GRAPES
HIM THAT SOWS SEED; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and
all the hills shall melt.
AND(NOTICE IT, AT THIS TIME AS WHEN THE ABOVE IS TO TAKE
PLACE) I WILL BRING AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF MY PEOPLE ISRAEL(bring
once more FROM captivity as it was in the days of Moses when the
Eternal brought Israel from the land of their captivity in
Egypt), and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they
shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no
more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, says
the Lord your God" (Amos 9:8-15).
So, there is GOOD news and there is BAD news for you. Before
you experience the GOOD news YOU WILL HAVE TO LEARN SOME MIGHTY
BIG LESSONS! YOU WILL HAVE TO COME TO LOATHE YOUR SINS, YOUR
WICKEDNESS, YOUR IDOLATRY, AND ALL YOUR PERVERSE WAYS WHEREIN YOU
HAVE REBELLED AGAINST YOUR GOD AND SAVIOR!!
People of BRITAIN, head tribe of Israel, you who have such a
long glorious history. You who have seen the hand of the Lord
working with and for you so many times over the centuries. You
who were blessed with greatness above your brethren. You have in
these last days, the last years of this 20th century, increased
in so much violent crime that a recent report now makes you as
your brother the United States, that for so long a time stood
alone in the western world where "blood touched blood." But you
O people of Britain are now not far behind your brother. Daily
your streets and towns are being filled with violent crime of
every sort and evil.
The Lord God calls you by name in His prophetic word. He
lays it open and squarely on your plate. He pulls no punches. He
gives it to you right between the eyes. He first tells Israel you
will be many days WITHOUT A KING, and without a PRINCE, the
throne of Israel will not be as it is today, it will not function
when in CAPTIVITY (Hosea 3:3-4). As before, the Eternal goes on
to say that after all this punishment you SHALL RETURN AND SEEK
the Lord, and even DAVID(who shall be resurrected at the return
of the Messiah - see Jer.30:9) and shall at last truly FEAR the
Lord Almighty and His goodness. In the LATTER DAYS - the end
time, this shall all come to pass (verse 5).
But as for YOU O nations of Britain, the lands of Ephraim.
Here is what the Lord says, "EPHRAIM IS JOINT TO IDOLS: LET HIM
ALONE! Their drink is SOUR: THEY HAVE COMMITTED WHOREDOM
CONTINUALLY....O EPHRAIM, YOU COMMIT WHOREDOM, AND ISRAEL IS
DEFILED....EPHRAIM SHALL BE DESOLATE IN THE DAY OF REBUKE:
AMONG THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL HAVE I MADE KNOW THAT WHICH SHALL
SURELY BE(THESE MESSAGES AND WHAT OTHERS WILL DO TO WARN YOU ARE
PART OF THIS PROPHECY)....Ephraim is OPPRESSED and broken in
JUDGMENT(you do not fear the Lord any more, only about 4% of you
attend "church" on a regular basis. You have rejected the
knowledge of the Lord and so He is going to reject you)....For
I will be unto Ephraim as a lion....I will TEAR AND GO AWAY...I
will go and return to my place, TILL THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR
OFFENCE, AND SEEK MY FACE: in their AFFLICTION they WILL SEEK ME
EARLY(THE NEXT VERSES OF THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER show it will be in
the THIRD YEAR of captivity God will start to answer you - a day
for a year principle of Bible prophecy)" (sections from Hosea 4
and 5).
Those that will lift up their voice like a TRUMPET AND WHO
SHOW the people their sins, do not have a pleasant task at times.
It brings me no pleasure to have to expound to you the words of
the Lord regarding this matter of WHAT IS GOING TO COME YOUR WAY
unless you as peoples will REPENT!
Listen to the voice of the Lord: "O Ephraim, what shall I
do unto you....I have SLAIN THEM WITH THE WORDS OF MY
MOUTH....FOR I DESIRE MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE; AND THE
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD MORE THAN BURNT OFFERINGS. But they like men
have transgressed the covenant: and have dealt treacherously
against me....And as troops wait for a man, so the COMPANY OF
PRIESTS MURDER IN THE WAY by consent: for they commit lewdness.
I have seen a HORRIBLE THING in the house of Israel: there is the
WHOREDOM of Ephraim, Israel is defiled....." (Hosea 6:4-10).
The Eternal has already SPOKEN IT! It has gone forth out of
His mouth. DESTRUCTION is coming your way O nations of Israel.
It is ONLY A MATTER OF TIME. And that time is in the hands of
the Lord. Even if you were NOT Israel, you would still die in
your sins because they are so heavy and so multiplied. All
nations with such wickedness have finally DESTROYED THEMSELVES.
So it was with the mighty Roman Empire, and so it shall be for
you. It is only a matter of time, and time is marching on!
You will notice once more(God repeats it over and over again
through the prophets) what the Eternal says about your MINISTERS,
your PRIESTS, your leaders in religious worship. They are as a
pack of hounds chacing the fox. As a troop of men waiting to
beset and plunder the traveller. What they do SPIRITUALLY is as
MURDER! So says the God of israel. Their theology KILLS! They
offer you LIBERTY but they themselves are the servants of
CORRUPTION! They put no difference between that which is HOLY
and that which is UN-holy. They have a FORM of religion, they
have sacrifice, but they have no KNOWLEDGE - true knowledge - of
the Lord God. They come in the name of Jesus, but they lead MANY
astray. They are BLIND and they lead
the blind, both they and their followers going into the ditch.
You have been TOLD! It is time to OPEN YOUR EYES, to search
the Scriptures DAILY (Acts 17), to HUNGER AND THIRST after
RIGHTEOUSNESS, to LOVE THE TRUTH, so some of you can escape from
the fouler and find the TRUTH THAT SHALL SET YOU FREE!
EZEKIEL SPEAKS AGAIN
As nations you may be planning on sticking around for a
while, planning on raising your children, seeing them off to
College or University, looking forward to spending time
with your grandchildren. And as nations you will plan and make
sure you have a DEFENCE FORCE to protect your from the enemy
without. You have Early Warning machines and computers incase an
enemy should want to strike. You have secret spies and
under-cover agents. You have indeed MADE READY, and the trumpet
has been blown so can go to war if it is so determined by others
who would have your wealth and lands. You are the "tops" in the
world for military might and power, well for now you are,
as I write these messages to you from Ezekiel, in the year of
1997/98. The future holds a different pattern of events that
will see your "lovers" in Europe, emerge as the number ONE super
power in trade and commerce and military might. But for now, you
are prepared, at least you think you are prepared, BUT THE
ETERNAL SAYS DIFFERENTLY.
"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Also,
you son of man, thus says the Lord God unto the LAND OF ISRAEL;
An end, the end, is come upon the four corners of the land. Now
is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger upon you,
and will JUDGE YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR WAYS, and will recompense
upon you all your ABOMINATIONS. And my eye will NOT SPARE you,
neither will I have pity....and you shall KNOW that I am the
Eternal....An end is come, THE end is come, it watches for
you; behold, it is come....Now will I SHORTLY pour out my fury
upon you, and accomplish my anger upon you....Behold the day,
behold, it is come....Violence is risen up into a rod of
WICKEDNESS....THEY HAVE BLOWN THE TRUMPET, EVEN TO MAKE ALL
READY; but none goes to the battle, for my wrath is upon all the
multitude thereof. The SWORD is WITHOUT, and the PESTILENCE and
the FAMINE within: he that is in the field shall die with the
sword; and he that is within the city, famine and pestilence
shall devour him.
BUT they that ESCAPE of them escape, and shall be on the
mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them MOURNING, every
one for his INIQUITY. All hands shall be feeble, and all knees
shall be weak as water....They shall cast their silver into
the streets, and their gold shall be REMOVED: their silver and
their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the
wrath of the Lord....because it is the STUMBLINGBLOCK of their
INIQUITIES....And I will give it into the hands of the
strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil;
and they shall pollute it (Now you stop and think, ask yourself
this question: WHO, what people in this century could you
classify have been the wicked of the world, that have brought
more pain, suffering, and death on the world than any others?
The Eternal will yet use those same people to bring you this
time to DEFEAT and to your knees in humble repentance)....
Make a chain: for the land is FULL of BLOODY CRIME, and the
city(Jerusalem - the type here used to foretell what will come
upon the House of Israel, as we saw earlier) is full of violence.
Wherefore I will bring the WORST OF THE HEATHEN, and they shall
posses their houses: I will also make the POMP of the STRONG to
cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. DESTRUCTION
COMES; AND THEY SHALL SEEK PEACE, AND THERE SHALL BE NONE!
Mischief shall come upon mischief....then shall they SEEK
a VISION of the PROPHET; but the LAW shall perish from the
PRIEST, and COUNSEL from the ANCIENTS (Those who should KNOW the
Lord and the true ways of righteousness, health, and
safe-keeping, those ministers of yours who come in the name of
the Lord and who say "thus says the Lord" when He HAS NOT SPOKEN
TO THEM, they shall fail and fall. You shall then see them for
what they have always been - false prophets and false deceivers).
The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with
desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be
troubled: I will do unto them AFTER THEIR WAY, and according to
their DESERT will I judge them; and they SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE
ETERNAL" (Various sections of Ezekiel chapter 7).
Paul, the great apostle of the NT church, was inspired to
write that WHATSOEVER WE SLOW THAT SHALL WE REAP! The mighty
Russian Empire stood strong and mighty after WW2, stood for a
while, forty years or so. But it sowed among its people that
which finally brought it to collapse and disintegration. It sowed
economical sins that now still hold its people in poverty and
misery.
You also, peoples of the English speaking nations and lands
of North-west Europe, are sowing the sins of rejecting the ways
and commandments of the Holy One, for the ways that seem right
unto a man, but which end in dead. You have chosen to cast the
Eternal and His Word out of the schools, by and large, out of the
court-rooms, by and large, out of your governments, both
nationally and locally, by and large. In so doing it is only a
matter of time before you also crumble and disintegrate as a
people, ready to be taken over by the worst of the heathen, who
will show no mercy, as they kill and force those left of you to
serve them and the state religion of Babylon the Great, that they
will put around your neck. To be sure, they will think they do
God a service, they will think they are acting righteously for
their god whom they will believe is the true God.
It is at that time, when those left of you shall come to see
WHO is the real true God, who are His real true servants, and
WHAT real REPENTANCE is all about! But before that day arrives,
the Almighty has more to say against you and your religious
leaders and the false worship you extend towards Him.
In chapter 8 we find Ezekiel in his house, with some of the
elders of Judah sitting around - he was still a captive by the
river of Chebar. He had not be allowed to go to the peoples of
Israel who were far from where he was a captive. More messages
from the Lord concerning the sins of Israel were to be given him.
Ezekiel was lifted up in VISION and taken to the house of
God in the city of Jerusalem. Taken to the very center of what
was supposed to be the true pure religion of the true pure
Almighty Eternal God of the people of Judah. Taken to the Temple
or Tabernacle that King Solomon was allowed to build in honor of
the God of his father David. It was David, the man after God's
own heart that wanted to build the Temple, but he was not allowed
to undertake the task because he was a "blood man" but the Lord
did say his son would build it, and so it was.
Notice verse SIX! All that he saw in vision was to portray
the ABOMINATIONS that were within the HOUSE OF ISRAEL'S RELIGIOUS
WORSHIP TOWARDS THE ETERNAL! In vision he even saw seventy men
of the house of Israel as if they were literally there acting out
the worship of religion and believing that this false worship
(which the context clearly shows it was) was acceptable to
the true God(verses 10,11).
They were so deceived they actually thought(and no doubt
taught it to others of their flock who blindly followed them) IT
MADE NO DIFFERENCE! That God did not see, did not take into
account the false from the true. They thought and they taught
that the Lord was not really concerned with those who worshipped
Him on the earth, that He had left them to decide and figure out
for themselves HOW TO WORSHIP HIM! They said God was FAR AWAY,
with more important things on His mind than to be concerned with
telling people on earth HOW to worship Him. They were teaching
that the Eternal would ACCEPT EVERYONE, just as they were without
searching to know and to practice the righteous ways of the Lord
(verse 12).
And this is precisely the state of YOUR religion in your
nations today O House of Israel. You are being taught that
GRACE, the grace and mercy of God through the blood of Christ
Jesus frees us from all obligations to obey the laws and
commandments of God. You are being taught that you can live ANY
life-style you desire and it's okay with the Father in heaven.
Why you were "born" that way, the Lord made you that way, many
tell
you. You were "born" a homosexual or Lesbian, you were "born" a
child molester, or spouse abuser, or addicted to alcohol, or
gambling. You have churches that accept such people's styles of
life and do not teach them to REPENT AND CHANGE! You have
hundreds and thousands of ministers up and down your lands that
claim they represent the true God but teach you He does not see,
that it does not matter to Him, that you take false pagan
traditions and customs from the darkness of the un-converted
world, and ADOPT and ADAPT them to try to worship the ONE who
says He will NOT ACCEPT such worship towards Him. For starters,
look up in your Encyclopedias the origin of HALLOWEEN! Many
"church going" people and whole church congregations openly
participate in this day or evening of "fun." Then after that
little bit of investigation, you may like to continue with
finding out the facts about Easter and Christmas, Valentines
Day, January the first celebrations, and yes even "Thanksgiving
Day."
Ah, and many of your leaders of religious matters work in
darkness, behind closed doors, to practice their habitual sins,
that seem to hold them in the grip of slavery. We have seen a
number of them, well known evangelists, in the spotlight of your
public media to reach the masses, fall in disgraceful ignominy.
And to the shame of themselves and yourselves, some of them have
refused to retire to the back seat of the church, as long as some
will continue to give them acclaim and adoration. As shocking as
it is, some of those preachers claim they are above the law of
God, too important for the work of the Lord. They claim the
Eternal does not see (verse 12).
The IMAGE of jealousy that stands in the door of your
churches(verse 3), could be today any NUMBER of things, that will
provoke the Lord to jealousy. I have mentioned a few above.
Certainly far too many of you give your allegiance to an
organization, be it locally or nationally, or to the church
building itself, or to the people in that building, so making
them your "social club" from which you cannot pull away no matter
how corrupt or false in doctrine they become. That also is an
idol that will provoke the Supreme One to jealousy.
Then in verse 14 we have the persons who "weep for Tammuz."
What on earth is this all about? Well it's quite a story, longer
than we have time for here to cover in detail, but I will cover
some of it.
Before we go back to the very beginning of the entrance of
Tammuz on the earth and where he really came from, a little
information about his celebration is educational for us as it
pertains to the time of Ezekiel.
The word Tammuz is the Syriac for Adonis. Yes, the supposed
handsome mystic fellow all the women swoon over and cry about
with emotional butterflies in their stomach. He was, in the pagan
world, the paramour of Venus, the sex goddess. These women at
the Temple, instead of weeping over the SINS of the nation are
crying over the idol Tammuz.
He was said to have been killed by a wild boar, and then
permitted by the gods to spend half the year on the earth and
then the other half in the lower world. An annual feast was
celebrated to him in June at Byblos, when the Syrian women, in
wild grief, tore off their hair, and gave their persons over to
prostitution, consecrating the hire of their infamy to Venus;
next followed the days of rejoicing for his return to the earth -
the former feast being called "the disappearance of Adonis," the
latter, "the finding of Adonis." See on this the Bible
Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Vol.2.
Now to the story of Tammuz as it was in the beginning. For
this we must go back to NIMROD, mentioned in Genesis 10. He was a
MIGHTY ONE, a MIGHTY HUNTER, and he was such it is written
BEFORE the Lord. He established a KINGDOM, the first so
mentioned in the Bible. The JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA says: "he who
made all the people REBELLIOUS against God." They have good
reason to say this. The expression "a mighty one" has a hostile
meaning. The expression comes from the Hebrew word "gibor" which
means TYRANT; while the very name Nimrod means "let us rebel."
The Hebrew word "before" as in "before the Lord" also carries a
hostile meaning - AGAINST!
Nimrod was AGAINST the Lord, the one who taught and led the
people to REBEL against the Lord. He was a priest of
DEVIL-worship. He was the priest-king of Babylon, his empire.
Nimrod did die, for he was but human. The Babylonian religion
which he founded CONTINUED on and DEVELOPED further under the
leading of his WIFE.
After Nimrod's death, his wife, Queen SEMIRAMIS, claimed
that he was now the SUN-god. And later, when this idolatrous
woman gave birth to an illegitimate son, she claimed that this
son, TAMMUZ by name, was Nimrod REBORN.
Now Satan knew the promise from the Lord that a "seed" would
come from woman, that was to be the SAVIOR of the world, who
would conquer sin, death, and Satan himself. Queen Semiramis, as
an instrument in the hands of Satan, claimed that HER son was
supernaturally conceived(immaculate conception) and that HE was
the PROMISED SEED, the "savior" of the world. This Babylonian
religion went on to formulate that the MOTHER(Semiramis) was to
be worshipped as much as the child, if not more than the child in
certain respects.
The "golden calf" was a SYMBOL of Tammuz, son of the Sun-god
Nimrod. This Nimrod-Sun-god was the Baal of the Scriptures, so
often mentioned as the false god that your fathers O house of
Israel worshipped time after time, until the True Lord had to
send them into captive punishment, for their idolatry and Sabbath
breaking.
This system of false TRINITY worship(Nimrod-Sun-god, Mother
queen of heaven, and the child Tammuz) spread from Babylon to the
nations of the world. We find evidence of this Babylonian
religion - in one form or anther - in all the false religions of
the earth and all nations upon it. As it spread, the names of
the three principle characters often CHANGED and other rites
added and expanded upon, but the basic form still remained in
tact. It ALL started in BABYLON, under Nimrod, who was under the
influence of Satan.
The whole system has many MYSTERIOUS parts to it, many
mysterious patterns, rites, forms, symbols, feasts, codes of
worship etc. In the book of Revelation it is called BABYLON
MYSTERY RELIGION. It is symbolized by a WOMAN, a fallen woman.
One who is drunk on the BLOOD of the SAINTS of God, whose history
has been to persecute and kill the true children of the Almighty.
She rides a BEAST that does her bidding, a civil power that acts
on her behalf. She is said to be a MOTHER, who had children born
from out of her. They are called HARLOTS, for they also have many
of her character traits and ways and practices.
LISTEN ISRAEL! Many of your past theological scholars of
the 16th to the 19th centuries KNEW WHO SHE WAS, AND BOLDLY
PROCLAIMED IT TO ALL WHO WOULD READ THEIR BIBLE COMMENTARIES,
which are still in print to this day and can still be purchased
through the your Bible Book stores.
Tammuz was the false savior, being dressed up by Satan to
deceive the world as the true Savior. The women weeping for
Tammuz in this section of Ezekiel's message is to teach you that
there is a FALSE EMOTIONAL RELIGION in your lands. A people
that THINK they are worshipping the real SAVIOR of the world, but
are in truth only following in a physical emotional way the FALSE
savior of Satan. They may think they are worshipping Jesus
Christ, but in reality they serve and worship Tammuz, the son of
the Sun-god Nimrod, who taught the whole world to rebel against
the one and only true Eternal Lord of the universe.
Now notice verses 15 and 16 of Ezekiel the 8th chapter. If
all this was not enough, God says that an even GREATER
ABOMINATION is going on in the sanctuary of the House of the
Lord. TWENTY-FIVE men, representing the 25 courses or orders of
the priests, 1 Chr.24:18,19, with the high priest at their head,
which in turn represents the WHOLE priesthood of your lands.
These then are said to have their BACKS to the west and WORSHIP
THE SUN IN THE EAST!
Pretty clear! God is telling you that your religious
leaders AS A WHOLE are nothing but a group of PAGAN SUN
WORSHIPPERS! O, they may come to you in the "name of the Lord"
and say to you that "Jesus is the Christ" but as Jesus Himself
said, they would and they do DECEIVE MANY! Read again Jesus'
prophecy in Matthew 24.
What does the Eternal says to all this:
"Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not
spare, neither will I have pity: and though they CRY unto me in
mine ears with a LOUD VOICE, yet will I NOT HEAR THEM" (verse
18).
IS THERE NO HOPE, FOR AT LEAST SOME? WE SHALL SEE IF THERE
IS NEXT TIME AS WE CONTINUE WITH THE MESSAGE OF EZEKIEL.
.................................
Written December 1997
Permission is given to Copy, E-mail, Publish and distribute all
articles and studies by Keith Hunt.
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapters 9 to 18 FOR WHY WILL
YOU DIE, O HOUSE
OF ISRAEL?
Part 4
by
Keith Hunt
Over and over again in the pages of the Prophets of old, God
has stated WHY He must punish the whole peoples of the House of
Israel and the House of Judah, with a punishment like no other in
all recorded history - Jeremiah called it "Jacob's trouble"
(chap.30:7). Daniel talked about the same time of trouble, like
no other before or after. And it was at this time that the people
of God would be delivered (Dan.12). Dozens of passages teach that
the peoples of the 13 tribes of Israel are in a captivity to
their enemies at the time of the end. Jesus comes again, and one
thing He immediately does is bring forth the remnant of Israelite
people out from the lands they have been scattered in, to restore
them to the land of Promise - the land of Palestine.
The punishment was needed to bring them to deep and true
REPENTANCE. One passage in the writings of Jeremiah gives the
clear reason why the Eternal will have to lower the rod of
correction upon the Jewish people, and the people of the British
Commonwealth, USA, and nations of Northwest Europe.
"For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have
only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of
Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their
hands, says the Enteral....Because of the evil of the children of
Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to
provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their
priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me their
BACK, and not their face: though I TAUGHT THEM, RISING UP EARLY
AND TEACHING THEM( yes, God has always had His faithful true
ministers proclaiming His truths to the nations of Israel,
especially in the last days - Keith Hunt), YET THEY HAVE NOT
HARKENED TO RECEIVE INSTRUCTION...." (Jeremiah 32:30-33).
We have come to chapter 9 in the book of Ezekiel, and the
Lord is now ready to start to act upon what He has promised,
punishment and death, if the nations of Israel will not turn to
Him in repentance. But the Lord is merciful to those that are
after His own heart. Remember when the Almighty with two angels
came to destroy Sodom and Gomorah(Gen.18) and Abraham asked Him
about the innocent? The Eternal would have mercy for the
innocent. You will remember Lot and some of his family were
spared death.
This situation to befall Israel is not quite the same, for
they will be punished regardless of how many righteous are
within. But we now see in Ezekiel nine, that the Lord is still
looking out for the righteous who dwell in the nations of Israel.
These righteous "sigh and cry for all the ABOMINATIONS" being
committed (verse 4). Please keep in mind that "the city"
(Jerusalem) and all that is to take place in her, is a TYPE of
all to come upon the whole 13 tribes of Israel and Judah. This we
have seen in previous studies.
These righteous have a mark set upon them. They are marked
as God's people. The indications are that they will be protected
from the death when it starts, as those under the blood were
protected from death when God brought Israel out of Egypt under
Moses (Ex.12). This would seem to be the logical conclusion from
the context of chapter nine. It could be that the righteous are
noted, God has them in His book of life, and that they will be a
part of the first resurrection, those who will rise to meet
Christ in the air, the clouds, and so ever be with Him.
The righteous marked here are so marked at the beginning, or
just before the start of the announcement to slay the young and
the old. They are spared from death as Jacob's trouble begins.
These marked here are not to be confused with the 144 thousand
of Revelation 7. Those in Rev.7 are brought to conversion just
before the great day of the wrath of God, after the heavenly
signs and killing of true saints during the great tribulation(see
the 5th and 6th seals of Rev.6 with Mat.24). Revelation 7 is a
later time frame from this prophecy of Ezekiel 9.
We certainly do have very plain words about the death to
come for a great many of the inhabitants of the nations of
Israel, immediately after the marking of those who cry and sigh
for the abominations being committed.
"...Go you after him through the city, and SMITE: let not
your eye spare, neither have you pity: Slay utterly old and
young, both maids and little children, and women....and BEGIN at
my SANCTUARY....and they went forth and slew in the city. And
it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left,
that I fell upon my face and cried, and said, Ah Lord God! will
you destroy ALL THE RESIDUE OF ISRAEL in your pouring out of your
fury upon Jerusalem?
Then said He unto me, The iniquity of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL
and JUDAH is EXCEEDING GREAT, and the land is full of blood, and
the city full of perverseness....And as for me also, mine eye
shall not spare, neither will I have PITY, BUT I WILL RECOMPENSE
THEIR WAY UPON THEIR HEAD...."
Ezekiel is again lifted up by the Spirit and brought to the
Temple in Jerusalem, chapter 10:1.
God here speaks to the princes of Israel. To the men who
give you advice and leadership. You receive BAD and
self-deceptive advice O nations and people of Israel.
They tell you to plan for the next century, way down the road,
for they tell you no evil will befall the might Western nations.
You increase in crime overall (USA has declined in crime
recently, during the 90's, but Britain has greatly increased,
especially in violent crime. By the time God is going to punish,
crime will be out of sight in the nations of Israel). The
Eternal says you have feared the sword of war, and indeed the
sword will come upon you. God will deliver you over to your
enemies and so execute judgment upon you. You shall fall by the
weapons of war, and when it happens the Almighty says you
will finally KNOW that He is the Eternal. He will so bring you to
humble repentance, for He says you have not walked after His
statutes, and His judgments, but have done the manner of the
heathen around you.
After all this has taken place, yet the Lord will not cast
you away. He will see your repentance. He will hear your cries
for mercy, and He will forgive, and love you. He will answer you.
Oh, how wonderful and longsuffering is the Eternal. The day is
coming when you will be given a new heart and a new life. Will
you listen people of Israel and Judah to the good that your God
will yet perform towards you.
"....Although I have cast them far off among the heathen,
and 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....I will even gather you from the people, and
assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered,
and I will GIVE YOU THE LAND OF ISRAEL. And they shall come
hither, and they shall take away....all the abominations...And
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you; and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and
give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes,
and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they SHALL BE MY
PEOPLE AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD...." (Ezek.11:16-21).
The Eternal had Ezekiel act out a literal removal of himself
and his "stuff" of captivity in chapter 12, to teach the lesson
to Israel that they would indeed be removed. Again the emphasis
is placed on Israel that they are a REBELLIOUS household of
people, with eyes to see but will not see, with ears to hear but
will not hear. God says He will leave A FEW IN NUMBER who shall
escape the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, to declare all
the abominations that they will then fully recognize, among the
nations where they shall come (verse16).
There will be among you people and leaders who will laugh at
this warning, they will say the day of destruction for such great
and powerful nations as the British Commonwealth and the USA is
many many years away. But the Eternal says He is the Almighty,
and it WILL NOT BE PROLONGED, for He will say the word and it
shall come to pass (verse 25-28).
Listen O nations of Israel, you have famous religious
preachers and prophets in your lands. But they teach and prophesy
"out of their own hearts." They talk out of their own spirit,
and God says they have SEEN NOTHING! (chapter 13:1-3). They come
to you in the name of the Lord, but the Lord says He has NOT SENT
THEM! They have lulled you to sleep with a false grace and false
hope. They have built up a false wall that looks strong and right
but there is no true cement to hold the bricks, and the Eternal
will blow with His stormy wind upon it, until it and its builders
are smashed (verses 6-16).
Ah, the Lord also speaks to the women that now lead in your
nations in various influential positions of power and leadership
- spiritually(many are now ordained ministers of religion) and
physically(positions of power and influence in governments from
local to federal). Because in the main they have strengthened the
hands of the wicked and have not led the people to turn from
their evil ways, God will in the coming punishment return to them
their reward of sin and evil, and will deliver the people from
their clutches of corruption (verses 17-23).
We see in chapter 14 and verses one to eleven, a very
interesting principle of teaching. If the attitude of the bulk
of the people is that they do not really want truth or
righteousness, that they have closed their hearts and minds to
hungering after righteousness, if they have turned their minds
over to being deceived, and put whatever idols before their
minds(i.e. comfort, wealth, biblical laziness, overlooking sins,
corruptions, lies, making the "church" into a social club) and
still come in an outward form to the religious leaders to
supposedly ask about the things of God, then we learn one BIG
principle of truth here. Under those circumstances, with that
attitude prevailing, GOD WILL DECEIVE THE VERY RELIGIOUS LEADERS
THE PEOPLE COME TO SEEK AFTER FOR GOD'S WAY.
This shows that the grass roots PEOPLE of the churches are
just as MUCH RESPONSIBLE FOR DECEPTION AND WILL BE PUNISHED AS
MUCH AS THOSE THAT DECEIVE!
The whole NT shows that religious deceivers WOULD COME, some
would be FROM WITHIN THE VERY CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST(i.e. Acts
20). The whole NT declares every Christian is personally
responsible for searching the Scriptures, proving all things,
loving the truth, and trying the spirits to see they are from
God. This must always be the case throughout any Christian's
life. Never going to sleep on this job. If they do, then they
are in the above attitude of mind, and what goes around will come
around, deception leads to deception. Those that are deceivable
will be deceived by those who are deceptive. AND GOD SAYS BOTH
ARE JUST AS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DECEPTION - THEY SHALL BOTH
BEAR THE PUNISHMENT OF THEIR INIQUITY. YES, THE ETERNAL PULLS NO
PUNCHES, HE CALLS THIS MIND-SET - INIQUITY (verse 10).
We notice also here that the Lord will GIVE YOU YOUR DESIRE.
The one who WANTS to deceive, will be granted his wish, God will
allow him to do so. The one who has turned from seeking truth and
righteousness will also be led by God (for God will not step in
and prevent it) into the deception of the deceiver (verse 9).
Yet, the ultimate free will to deceive or be deceived, is still
the responsibility of each individual. And they will personally
bear their punishment.
The Lord goes on to show HOW PERSONAL this really is, in
verses 12 to 23. When God does bring the promised destruction
upon your nations, only those who will see, acknowledge, and who
will be practicing righteousness will be spared from death. No
one will be able to deliver anyone else, no one will be able to
save anyone who is not in the righteous mind-set. Some will
already be in a state of righteousness as we have seen in chapter
9. Some will come to deep repentance as all these four evils
come upon the lands of Israel (the sword, the famine, the beats,
the pestilence, verse 21). A REMNANT will be spared.
The first part of chapter 16 tells us in an analogy, how the
Almighty found and chose you peoples of Israel.
You mighty nations of Britain, USA, and Northwest Europe,
were not always powerful and great. Your beginnings as a people
goes back a very long way, and the Eternal says you were like a
helpless un-cared-for baby cast away in the field to die. God
rescued you, washed, clothed, and fed you, until you increased
and became great in the world.
The Lord goes on to tell you how He was the one who built
you up, made you into a fine lady, even a beauty queen dressed in
the best clothes and jewelry and ointments available. He says you
then became "exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper into a
kingdom" (verse 13).
Your fame throughout the world for your beauty and wealth
and perfectness was known by all (verse 14).
BUT, the Eternal goes on to say, starting in verse 15, that
all this fame, fortune, wealth, beauty, greatness, was your
downfall, were the things that led you to play the HARLOT! You
have let your material wealth lead you to commit idolatry - you
are a people engrossed in pleasures and materialism, with the
rich ever getting richer and the poor ever getting poorer (verses
16-19).
In turning your back on your God, in rejecting His ways, in
casting Him out of your schools and places of business, in
turning to the ways that seem right for man but which end in
death, you are destroying your children. You are raising a
generation that does not know, has never opened the pages of the
Bible, have never read one single word within its pages. You
have broken homes, children with one parent, or no parents, or
children with two mothers and no father, or two father and no
mother, as you accept the life style of the homosexuals and grant
them family status. You have children being raised on crime and
violence as they watch all your violent TV shows. You have
children being raised on your "sick-cons" during prime time
hours, which portray sexual immorality, fornication, adultery,
homosexuality, as the normal thing, and that which is clean and
straight and moral as something to be laughed at. You have not
solved the "ghetto" problem, and with it today the problem of
hard drug use by an ever younger population of your children.
You have an increase of children killing children. The violence
among teenage girls is shooting off the charts. There is an
epidemic is teen cigarette smoking.
Surely you are, with your children, sacrificing them to be
devoured (verse 20). And the Lord asks you if you think this is a
small matter. You are reaping what you are sowing. Through the
prophet Amos God speaks to you: "Hear the word of the Lord,
you children of Israel: for the Lord has a controversy with the
inhabitants of the land, because there is NO TRUTH, NOR MERCY,
NOR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD in the land. By swearing, and lying, and
killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out,
and BLOOD TOUCHES BLOOD....My people are DESTROYED for LACK of
KNOWLEDGE: because you have REJECTED knowledge, I will also
reject you....seeing you have FORGOTTEN THE LAW OF YOUR GOD, I
WILL ALSO FORGET YOUR CHILDREN....(Amos 4:1-6).
The Eternal in this age, does not force anyone to learn and
to love His knowledge contained in His word. He does not at this
time force anyone to love and obey His laws, commandments,
statutes, and judgements. You people of Israel, in the main,
have chosen to REJECT the word and laws of the Almighty God, and
as He allows you this freedom, and as you then produce a
generation of children who do not know Him, who do not seek Him,
who do not want him in their lives, He then, not forcing them to
do differently, in human terms says to you, "I will forget your
children." God will keep hands off and allow you and your
children to reap the results of doing your own thing. So today
we have an epidemic of children bashing and killing children,
children killing themselves, children and youths on an ever
increasing drug binge, more and more children running away from
home and living on the streets, and as Isaiah wrote, "And my
people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by
his neighbor: the CHILD shall behave himself proudly against the
ancient...As for my people, CHILDREN are their oppressors...they
which LEAD you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your
paths" (Isa.3:5,12).
Among all this whoredom, you have your "religion" - your
"churches" on every street corner. You have a form of religion,
an outward show of religion. You, the USA still print on your
dollar bills, "In God We Trust." You claim you are Christian
nations, yet as a prostitute you have sex with those who come to
you (verses 24-26) like the Egyptians.
You have gone to the Assyrian - the German nation - and the
rising mighty power of Europe, and played the harlot with them,
but still you could not be satisfied (verse 28).
Then the Eternal says, you have not acted as a prostitute as
a prostitute acts and works. You have not taken gifts from your
lovers, but you have been like an adulterous wife, you have given
gifts to your lovers and you hire them to love you. In this you
are truly unlike any whore of prostitution. You defeated Germany
and Europe in the Second great World War of 1939 to 1945, and
then immediately started to re-build her and re-store her to
former glory and power. You have made your enemies into your
lovers, and you have given them presents for loving you. Those
very lovers will come against you to execute God's judgement upon
you. Your lovers will form A COMPANY of nations to fight and
destroy you. Listen to what your God tells you will come to
pass(if you will not repent):
"Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: thus says
the Eternal God; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your
nakedness discovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and
with all the idols of your abominations, and by THE BLOOD OF YOUR
CHILDREN, which you did give unto them; Behold, therefore I will
gather all your LOVERS, with whom you have taken pleasure, and
all THEM THAT YOU HAVE LOVED, WITH all them that you HAVE HATED;
I will even GATHER THEM ABOUT AGAINST YOU, and will discover your
nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness. And I
will judge you as a woman that breaks wedlock and shed blood are
judged; and I will GIVE YOU BLOOD IN FURY AND JEALOUSY.
And I will also give you into their hand....they shall
strip you of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and
leave you naked and bear.
They shall also bring up a COMPANY against you, and they
shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their
swords.....and execute JUDGMENT upon you....and I will cause you
to cease from playing the harlot...." (verses 35-41).
In Ezekiel chapter 18 the Eternal shows that those who sin
and practice evil shall personally bear their punishment.
Everyone will have to personally give account for their own
actions. The son will not be punished because his father did
wrong. The Mother will not be punished because her daughter did
evil. The soul that sins shall die, for his or her sins (verse
20).
Once more the Lord cries out to you the people of the House
of Israel. He cries out for your people to REPENT! He shows you
that His way is JUST and EQUAL. He does not want to have to
bring all these prophecies upon your lands and your people.
They do not have to come to pass. Will you not listen to what
your God proclaims to you?
"But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has
committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful
and right, he shall surely live, he SHALL NOT DIE. All his
transgressions that he has committed, shall not be mentioned
unto him: in his righteousness that he has done he SHALL LIVE.
HAVE I ANY PLEASURE AT ALL THAT THE WICKED SHOULD DIE? SAYS
THE LORD GOD: AND NOT THAT HE SHOULD RETURN FROM HIS WAYS, AND
LIVE?
....When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness,
and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he
has done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turns away
from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is
lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he
CONSIDERS, and TURNS AWAY from all his transgressions that he has
committed, he shall surely LIVE, he shall not die.
Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not
equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your
ways un-equal?
Therefore I will JUDGE you, O house of Israel, EVERY ONE
ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS, says the Lord God, REPENT and TURN
yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be
your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have
transgressed; and MAKE YOU A NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT: FOR WHY
WILL YOU DIE O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?
For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says
the Eternal God: WHEREFORE TURN YOURSELVES, AND LIVE YOU"
(Ezekiel 18:21-32).
May there be some of you out there in the lands of Israel
who will not only listen to the words coming from your merciful
Everliving God, but may there be some of you who will act upon
those words. It is never too late to REPENT, TURN around, depart
from wickedness and do that which is righteousness, and to accept
Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.
....................
To be continued
Written February 1998
Ezekiel For Today and Tomorrow
Chapters 19 to 24
WHY will you DIE,
O House of Israel?
Part 5
by
Keith Hunt
You peoples of the lands of Northwest Europe, the British
Commonwealth, and the United Stated of America, are the very
literal people of the ancient House of Israel, believe it or not!
Dozens of booklets and whole books have been written by various
persons over the last 200 years, proving that the
Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples came from the area where the 10 tribed
house of Israel was taken captive by the great Assyrian armies
from 745 to 718 B.C. That captivity was the end result of
decades of preaching by different prophets sent by the Eternal
God of Israel to His people, telling them that if they did not
TURN and REPENT from their wicked ways and seek Him with their
whole heart and mind, He would bring the mighty Assyrian Empire
against them who would carry them away into captivity and
slavery. They did not heed the words of the prophets, and so the
rest of the story came to pass as God promised. Yet the Lord
also said through Amos that not one grain would fall, they would
be sifted as through a sieve among the nations (Amos 9:9). God
would lead them on and plant them in a new land as He promised to
David (2 Samuel 7:10), and there He would comfort them, bless
them, multiply them. There He would bring about the promises and
the prophecies of Genesis 48, 49 and Deut. 33.
Yet the Eternal knew also that in so restoring Israel to
prosperity and greatness, they would over a period of time, once
more turn away from Him and His word into sin and wickedness and
idolatry. He knew that once more, just before the end of this
present age and the return of the Messiah Christ Jesus back to
this earth, He would again have to bring Israel to repentance by
allowing a mighty nation and company of nations to subject them
to death and captivity and slavery, as it was in the days when
they were held under Egyptian bondage before God delivered them
by the hand of Moses. The Almighty, knowing this had to be the
way (because it would be unlikely Israel would repent without
facing such punishment) He had Jeremiah and the other prophets
WRITE down the words of their first preaching to Israel back in
the 8th and 7th century B.C. for a time to come in the latter
days (Jeremiah 30:2,3; Hosea 3).
The time is at hand O peoples of Israel to see the works of
the Lord upon you, to accomplish what is written, to bring to
pass the many prophecies of old, and to deal with you in such a
way as that you will never backslide again, never go after your
lovers to make love to them and their carnal deceptive religions.
The Eternal says Britain (Ephraim) has gone after Assyrian (the
German peoples) when she saw her sickness, when she was named the
sick nation of Europe, to seek help (Hosea 5), yet she will only
eventually find a lion waiting to devour her. You together with
the peoples of the house of Judah will be torn to pieces without
rescue. The Lord will turn from you UNTIL you acknowledge your
sins. You will be two full years (a day for a year principle in
prophecy) in slavery. During the third year of Jacob's trouble
(Jer.30:7) God will start to deliver you, give you some life and
hope (Hosea 6).
Why must this come upon you? Why will you have to die (two
thirds and more of you according to Ezekiel)? Will you not see
why O Israel, as you read the words of Hosea in his 8th chapter.
"Set the trumpet to the mouth....because they have
transgressed my COVENANT, and trespassed against my
LAW....Israel has cast off the things that are GOOD: the enemy
shall pursue him. They have SET UP KINGS, but NOT by me: they
have made PRINCES, and I knew it NOT: of their SILVER and their
GOLD have they made them IDOLS, that they may be CUT OFF....For
they have sown the WIND, AND THEY SHALL REAP THE WHIRLWIND....
Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a
vessel wherein there is no pleasure. For they are gone up to
Assyria (Germany) a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim has HIRED
LOVERS....Because Ephraim has made altars to sin, altars shall
be unto him to sin. I have written to him the GREAT things of my
LAW, but they were counted as a strange thing....For Israel has
forgotten his Maker, and builds temples: and Judah has multiplied
fenced cities: but I will send a FIRE upon his cities, and it
shall devour the palaces thereof."
Notice Hosea chapter 9. "....Ephraim shall RETURN to
Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria....The days
of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come, Israel
shall know the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for
the multitude of their iniquity, and the great hatred....As for
Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird....though they
bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their
womb. My God will CAST THEM AWAY, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT HARKEN
UNTO HIM, AND THEY SHALL BE WANDERERS AMONG THE NATIONS" (various
verses).
You people of America, Britain and Northwest Europe, you
have in your history always been a stiff-necked people, hard to
deal with, rebellious in heart and mind, going away from the
Eternal's laws and commandments when in the good times, the
prosperous times. It was no different when God made Himself
known to your fathers in the land of Egypt. Read about your
history in Ezekiel chapter 20.
God revealed and gave to you His laws, statutes, precepts,
and His Sabbaths, as a sign so you would know the true and only
God, but your fathers REBELLED and despised the judgments of the
Eternal, they refused to walk in them.
The Lord God asks if YOU are the same as your fathers were.
It would seem the answer is a positive, YES! So, the Eternal
will deal with you as to bring you to repentance and into His
covenant. A FIRE will come upon you and those not burned up
shall come forth to serve the Almighty in Spirit and in Truth.
Notice the revealing prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 21 and
verse 14. Two GREAT swords of war have come upon you already in
the this 20th century. Both great wars stated by your old enemy
the Assyrian - the German people. The sword was sharpened
twice already, you have seen the enemy that shall again come upon
you twice before. The THIRD TIME the sword is being sharpened in
Europe. Yet this third time is and will be different than the
previous two times. The battle will be from two directions, yet
it will be one. The modern BABYLON of the Europe Empire now
forming in the area of the old Roman Empire, together with the
mighty German nation now united once more, will be the power and
the end time Empire that God will use to strike the sword and
kill you. This end time "religious" whore woman that will ride
the beast of secular Europe, shall also come against your
brothers of the house of Judah. You will both FALL TOGETHER
(Hosea 5:5).
Again, why will you fall from your power and might? Once
more, like a broken record it would seem, God repeats again your
sins in Ezekiel chapter 22. Will you not listen? Maybe, if
repeated enough times some will listen and repent.
"....Now, you son of man, will you judge, will you judge
the bloody city, yes, you shall show her ALL HER ABOMINATIONS...
You have despised my holy things and have profaned my Sabbaths...
And one has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife, and
another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law, and another
in you has humbled his sister (sexual immorality)....In you have
they taken gifts(bribes) to shed blood ( the hired gun) you have
taken usury and increase (your loan and banking system is not
from God), and you have greedily gained of your neighbor by
extortion ( low wages for some, exploiting the women and the
needy), and you have FORGOTTEN me....Son of man, the house of
Israel is to me become DROSS.....As they gather silver , and
brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the
furnace....so will I gather you in my anger, and in my fury, and
I will leave you there, and melt you....
Her PRIESTS (RELIGIOUS LEADERS) have violated my LAW, and
profaned my holy things: THEY HAVE PUT NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
HOLY AND THE PROFANE, NEITHER HAVE THEY SHOWED DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THE UNCLEAN AND THE CLEAN, AND HAVE HID THEIR EYES FROM MY
SABBATHS....
Her PRINCES (SECULAR LEADERS) IN THE MIDST THEREOF ARE LIKE
WOLVES RAVENING FOR THE PREY, TO SHED BLOOD, AND TO DESTROY
LIVES, TO GET DISHONEST GAIN.
And her PROPHETS (RELIGIOUS FORECASTERS TO THE SECULAR
LEADERS AND THE PEOPLE)....SEEING VANITY, AND DIVINING LIES
UNTO THEM, SAYING, THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD, WHEN THE LORD HAS NOT
SPOKEN.
The PEOPLE of the land have used oppression, and exercised
robbery, and have vexed the poor and the needy: yes, they have
oppressed the stranger wrongfully (those in positions of power
and able to employ others have taken advantage of the weak, the
poor, the needy, the new immigrant, and the stranger among you)."
NOW TAKE A GOOD LONG LOOK AT VERSE THIRTY!!
Within the context of the whole Bible, this is not saying
the Eternal does not have ANY true ministers of the Church of God
doing His work in Israel and proclaiming His word faithfully.
Jesus said He would build His Church and the gates of the grave
would never prevail against it. So the Lord does have His
servants on this earth and within the nations of Israel, telling
it like it is. Why this message and my web page is just one small
witness to this truth. What God is saying here is a GENERAL
statement, and within the context of speaking to the SECULAR
nations of Israel, it is a secular comment. The Almighty looks
at the secular peoples of Israel and all their secular leaders,
together with all the leaders of false Christian religions, and
then He says HE CANNOT FIND ANY AMONG THEM TO MAKE UP THE HEDGE,
TO STAND IN THE GAP, SO HE SHOULD NOT DESTROY MOST OF YOU AS A
PEOPLE!! THEREFORE HE SAYS IN VERSE 31 HE WILL CONSUME YOU IN
HIS WRATH AND BRING UPON YOU WHAT YOU HAVE SOWN BY YOUR SINS AND
INIQUITIES!
Chapter 23 of Ezekiel shows clearly that Israel and Judah
are not the same people. It shows plainly they are at this time
SISTERS, and separate KINGDOMS of people. Yet BOTH will face the
same ENEMY! This did not happen the first time they went into
captivity. The house of Israel were taken captive by the
Assyrians, and the house of Judah by the Babylonians.
The Eternal says there are TWO women, the daughters of one
mother - they both come from the same origin and were one woman
at the beginning. The books of Kings and Chronicles are devoted
to the two separate Kingdoms of the house of Israel and the
house of Judah. The house of Israel is AHOLAH, and the house of
Judah represented by Jerusalem is AHOLIBAH (verse 4). Aholah
played - past tense - the harlot. She went to Assyria and made
love to her (verse 5). Then God says, "Wherefore I HAVE
delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the
Assyrians, upon whom she doted. These discovered her nakedness,
they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the
sword...." (verses 9,10). Notice the PAST tense is used. When
this message was given to Ezekiel, the house of Israel was
already over 120 years in captivity to the Assyrians and actually
most were moving away and entering eastern Europe.
Not to be outdone, the house of Judah, after seeing all
this, went one better and became even more corrupt than her
sister (verses 11,12).
Yet it was ultimately the Babylonians that Judah doted upon
and loved (verses 17,18).
Judah is warned that the Empire of Babylon will come upon
her and discover her nakedness. Actually such had already taken
place as Ezekiel was a captive. Most of Judah had already fallen,
only the city of Jerusalem was yet to fall into the hands of the
Babylonians (verses 22-35).
The prophecy now comes to the end time captivity of Israel
and Judah, starting in verse 36. BOTH Aholah and Aholibah are to
be judged. THEIR sins are now listed. Some are the same as given
before, a few basically the same but with a new twist, such
as described in verses 40-45. The key is verse 46 and 47. A
COMPANY OF NATIONS ARE TO COME AGAINST BOTH HOUSES OF THE PEOPLES
OF JACOB - ISRAEL, AND BOTH ARE TO FALL TOGETHER! This is also
given in Hosea 5:3. In the strict technical way, this did not
happen back in the 7th and 6th century B.C. In that time frame
there was over 120 years between the downfall of the kingdom of
Israel and the kingdom of Judah. Yet there are a number of clear
prophecies that plainly forecast there will be a destruction
TOGETHER of both the house of Israel and the house of Judah BY a
COMPANY of nations that include the Assyrians (German peoples)
and the Babylonians (Italian peoples). Other prophecies call
this end time empire - Babylon, or the daughter of Babylon
(Isa.47). Compare Isaiah 47 with Revelation 18. The book of
Revelation calls this end time power, the Beast! It is a ten
nation (feet of Daniel's image - chapter 2 - ten toes). Ten
kings/nations/secular powers will for a short time give their
might and devotion to a king man, also called "beast" in the book
of Revelation. He will be the secular political leader while the
woman whore/religious part of this empire will have its man who
can bring fire down from heaven and perform miracles. In the book
of Revelation he is called "the false prophet."
This great beast power will contain the Germans and the
Italians - Assyrians and Babylonians. They will try to literally
conquer the world, for God, as they will claim, to bring peace
and establish, as they will further claim, the one true religion
of God. They shall first begin their quest by conquering the
"king of the south" (Daniel 11:40) who will push at them in some
way not specifically revealed to us. They shall be victorious -
the king of the north, this beast power, and shall proceed to
enter the Holy Land, and Jerusalem (continue reading Daniel 11 to
the end). It is at this time (proceeding to read into Daniel 12)
that a time of trouble such as never before or ever will be again
(Jeremiah calls it "Jacob's trouble" as we have seen) shall come
upon the earth. It is at this time that the Beast power will
head for second base in its quest to rule the world, by attacking
and destroying the Jews and the house of Israel - you people of
Northwest Europe, the British Commonwealth, and the United States
of America. Jacob's trouble will have arrived.
Along with all this there will come the time when the true
people of the Church of God, who have the testimony of Jesus and
who keep the commandments of God (Rev.12), coming under fire,
under persecution, and many being put to death because they will
not worship the false religious system of the Beast power. Some
of God's people will find protection in the wilderness, yet many
will suffer death as many did in past ages for the truth of the
Lord.
It is GOING TO HAPPEN (if national repentance is not
forthcoming)! Mark my words well. Read my lips. A day of
reckoning for all the sins of the nations of the West
is coming. The Assyrian/Babylonian Beast power of Europe will
rise - it will be the 7th resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire,
and the Eternal has declared it will be His battle sword (Isa.
10) against His people of the whole 13 tribes of Israel, as well
as the power to persecute the very Church of Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel chapter 24.
Remember, the city of Jerusalem is a type of the House of
Israel, and in some cases all of Israel including the House of
Judah (all 13 tribes). Here in chapter 24 we have the prophetic
end time king (beast man) leading the end time Babylon of the
European resurrected Holy Roman empire (the 7th and last
resurrection) against the nations of Israel (typified by the city
of Jerusalem in Ezekiel's day).
The Eternal describes you Celtic-Anglo-Saxon nations to a
huge boiling pot of death, your sins and iniquities boiling up as
scum. You have not repented, your scum is yet within you. Once
more the Lord God cries out to you:
"She has wearied herself with lies, and her GREAT SCUM went
not forth out of her: her scrum shall be in the FIRE. In your
filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged you, and you were
not purged, you shall not be purged from your filthiness any
more, TILL I have caused my FURY to rest upon you. I THE ETERNAL
HAVE SPOKEN IT: IT SHALL COME TO PASS, and I will do it; I will
not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent;
ACCORDING TO YOUR WAYS, and according to your doings, SHALL THEY
JUDGE YOU, says the Lord God" (verses 12-14).
Yes, it is written that we shall REAP what we SOW! Even if
you do not want to believe you are the very people of literal
physical Israel, you shall still die because of your sins and
wickedness. The Eternal is no respecter of persons, and because
you people of the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon race were given the words of
the Almighty (the Bible) like as no other people in modern times,
because at one time you founded your nations and culture upon
those words of the Bible, because you proclaimed to be Christian
nations, and because you have rejected that heritage, the Supreme
One is going to reject you, and allow your lovers to come in and
defile you, lay your shame open to all, and punish you till you
so deeply repent and cry out to Him for mercy.
The DEATH of Ezekiel's wife in one sudden stroke was also to
be a sign to you the nations of Israel (verses 15-24), that your
destruction will come quickly and not really expected. It will
take many of you by complete surprise.
The Lord does give and leave some hope. Those of you who
live through Jacob's trouble in the end time, shall be able to
find the truth of the Eternal through faithful servants of the
Almighty like Ezekiel, in type.
"Also, you son of man, shall it not be in the day when I
take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire
of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their
sons and their daughters. That he that escapes in that day
shall come unto you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?
In that day shall your mouth be opened to him which is
escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall
be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the Eternal"
(verses 25-27).
There follows a number of chapters dealing with some Gentile
nations in the context of the last days and as it relates to the
time when Israel and Judah will again experience death and
captivity by the hands of the last days Assyrian/Babylonian Holy
Roman empire. Those prophecies we shall look at next time in
this series on the message of Ezekiel.
.....................................
Written March 1998
To be continued
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapters 25 to 32
CHAPTER 25
Prophecy against Ammon and Moab (the Jordan area).
We have covered this prophecy in the book of Isaiah and
Jeremiah, so it is repeated in Ezekiel. When Jerusalem, the house
of Judah and the House of Israel fall in the end time, the people
of the Jordan area are going to say, "Ah!" It is an "ah" with a
smirk, a tongue in cheek, a contestable "ah." The Arabs of the
Jordan area are going to smile and smirk and will say in effect,
"The Israelite people are cast off, God does not look upon them
as anything different than any heathen nation." Now, in one
respect that is a truism, for the Lord is no respecter of
persons, but the Jordanians will be saying this with a laugh,
with an attitude that will not be pleasing to God, and so those
people will, at the end time, go into captivity themselves by the
"men of the East."
The armies of Russia, China, and others from the East will
come into the Holy Land and will destroy certain peoples there.
The war machine of the East will have a representation dwelling
in the Holy Land during the last 42 months of the end of this age
(verses 1-11).
Prophecy against Edom (Turkey)
We have also seen this prophecy in Isaiah and Jeremiah. When
the Great Tribulation comes on this earth, as the people of Judah
flee NORTH and try to escape through Turkey, the people of that
land will NOT HELP them, in fact they will kill many of them, and
will "greatly offend" the Lord by so doing. The people of Turkey
were not to be used by the Lord to persecute the children of
Judah, but they will. God will not forget this!
When Israel and Judah as brought back from captivity at the
coming of the Messiah Christ, as Israel is gathered from the
nations of Europe, and as they exodus from Europe back to the
Holy Land, they will needs go through Turkey. The people of
Israel returning, will take revenge, they will "do in Edom
(Turkey) according to mine anger and according to my fury; and
they shall know My vengeance, says the Lord God" (verses 12-14).
This prophecy is given in full detail in the prophetic book
of Obediah, which I will expound later, when we come to that book
of the prophets.
Prophecy against Philistia (the Palestinians)
The Philistines have long been the enemy of Israel and
Judah, centuries upon centuries the hatred has been there for the
Jews. The Palestinians will rise up in glee and help destroy the
Jews in the Holy Land when the Beast Babylon power of Europe
comes marching into Palestine and Jerusalem, at the start of the
last 42 months of this age. The old Palestinian Philistines will
help destroy Judah. The Lord will remember this and will execute
great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes (verses 15-17).
We saw in Isaiah 11:10-16, that it is the returning people
of Israel and Judah who shall lay their hand on the Palestinians
and shall execute God's revenge.
CHAPTER 26
Prophecy against Tyrus
There was a very real past fulfilment of this prophecy, and
all the details of chapter 26 DID HAPPEN. You can see the Bible
Commentaries and Bible Encyclopedias for the historic details.
CHAPTER 27
Prophecy of end-time Tyrus
This chapter concerns the prophecy against the coming mighty
world TRADING POWER of the Beast Empire of Europe, as it is now
forming under the European Common Market.
Some of the trading nations will be Egypt (v.7); Tarshish
(Spain, Portugal, v.12); Javan (Japan, v.13); Tubal and Meshech
(Russia, v.13); Syria (v.16); Judah (the Jews, v.17); Israel
(most of the West, v.17); Dan (Ireland; Denmark, v.19); Arabia
(the Arabs, v.21); Assur (Germany/Austria, v.23).
Notice verses 27-36 and compare them with Revelation 18. It
is the SAME TIME, AND IT IS THE FALL OF MODERN BABYLON, the Beast
Empire over-ruled by the Babylon Mystery religion - the church
drunk with the blood of the saints.
CHAPTER 28
The Man False prophet and the Devil behind him
Read verses 1-2; now read 2 Thes.2:1-12. We have a man at
the end time, who has set his heart as the heart of God, way
above the idea of just turning to love God and His ways; this is
above anything like that; it is making out you are God in the
flesh, as some "religious" mystery of a kind. It is best
illustrated with a real life example. The man who is head of the
largest "Christian" church on earth came to a South American
country a few decades ago. A TV interviewer asked a young lady
(she looked to be in her early 20s), "What do you think of this
man visiting your country?" She replied, "He is God on earth!"
This is what this chapter in Ezekiel is telling you. This is
what 2 Thes. 2 is telling you. A man at the end time will come,
who is really, according to the book of Revelation, a FALSE
prophet. But he is not going to tell you he is a false prophet; a
false prophet does not tell you he is a false prophet. This man
will come in the name of Christ. He will have MILLIONS believing
as that young lady believed, that he is "God on earth!" That will
be the spiritual deception that will continue to deceive hundreds
of MILLIONS at the time of the end. This false prophet man will
be able to work MIRACLES! Hundreds of millions already believe
this head of the largest Christian church is "God on earth" - so
add MIRACLES to that theological teaching and you have the
ingredients for a power to rule the Western world.
It is the last days. We are into the time when this
religious Christian false prophet, with his "church" is once more
riding and ruling the Beast of the resurrected Roman Empire of
Europe. This false prophet's heart is so deceived that it is
quite possible he himself does not realize he is being inspired,
if not possessed, by the very Devil himself. The evil work will
be done, but God says He has appointed the "terrible of the
nations" to draw a sword after this false prophet's Empire. This
Western "religious" Empire of Europe will come crashing down. As
I've already written, the men of the East, the war machine of the
terrible power to the East, will come against her and the power
of the Empire of the false prophet will be smashed down. This is
all given in Revelation 9.
The prophecy of Ezekiel shifts in verse 12 to the individual
behind the scenes of this false prophet. The individual sealed up
the sum of wisdom, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. The
individual had been in Eden, the garden of God, certainly not now
referring to a physical man. This individual was covered with all
kinds of precious stones; with the workmanship of "thy tabrets
and of thy pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were
created" (verse 13). This individual is the "anointed CHERUB that
covereth" and was once upon the very mountain of God; he had
walked up and down in the midst of the fire. He was PERFECT in
his ways UNTIL ... until INIQUITY was found in him. He is going
to be destroyed, this cherub, from the midst of the stones. He
was corrupted by the reason of his wisdom and BRIGHTNESS. His
VANITY got the best of him (verses 15-17).
This is not a physical man here being talked about. This is
the COVERING CHERUB - the one time full of BRIGHTNESS cherub. But
he SINNED, and in so doing became the individual we today call
the DEVIL or SATAN.
This fallen cherub angel, will one day inspire and maybe
even possess, the end time king man, false prophet man, of the
end time Tyrus Empire now forming in Europe.
At the end of verse 17 to the end of verse 19, the prophecy
switches back to the physical false prophet man. The false
prophet will meet his end. He will be brought to ashes,
literally, as he is thrown into the lake of fire by Jesus Christ
Himself at the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16; 17; 18; with
Rev.19:20 and context).
Prophecy against Zion
Zion or Jerusalem will have her punishment, and at that time
she will indeed be no more a pricking thorn to the House of
Israel. Today, as Israel of the West backs and supports the Jews
in the Holy Land, it can be said that they are a somewhat
pricking thorn of adversary to Israel, many other nations,
especially those of the Arab world, do not like the most powerful
nations of the West (Britain and the USA) be-friending the Jews
(verses 20-24).
Beyond it all, when the House of Israel is gathered and
restored from their captivity, when they are taken back to the
Holy Land, then they shall build the houses, plant vineyards, and
they will dwell with confidence, when the Lord executes judgments
upon those people who are still despising them, at the beginning
of the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. The first years of
this 1,000 year age will not be a bed of roses for some people.
Lessons will need to be learned by some nations (verses 25-26).
CHAPTER 29
Prophecy against Egypt
Here we come to a few chapters concerning Egypt. Back in the
1960s and 1970s the nation of Egypt was in the news weekly,
sometimes daily. Today Egypt is hardly mentioned in the news. But
it will not be this way forever. Egypt is yet to rise to a major
important nation in the Middle East and Arab world. Egypt will
spear-head the coming "king of the South" as given in Daniel
11:40-45. But God says that the end time Babylon, the "king of
the North" will come against Egypt and her Arab partners. It will
be the time when the horn of the House of Israel will but forth -
the time of the end restitution of the House of Israel (verses 1-
21).
CHAPTER 30
Egypt and her allies DOOMED!
The prophecy is "even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy
day; it shall be the time of the heathen" (verse 3).
No mistaking this, it is a prophecy for the great day of the
Lord, the time of the end of this age. Those allies of Egypt will
fall together with Egypt (verse 5-8). We know from other prophecies
that Egypt and her allies will fall at the BEGINNING of the last 42
months of this age (see Daniel 11:40-45 and into Daniel 12).
Great pain is to come on Egypt and on the Ethiopians. It is
Babylon of Europe that will put an end to this Egyptian power of
the king of the south. It is the time when judgment is to be
executed on Egypt and her allies, the time when "they shall know
that I am the Lord" (verses 9-19).
The Egyptians and Arab nations do NOT know the Lord. God
uses that expression over and over again in the book of Ezekiel;
it means what it says; nearly all nations today DO NOT KNOW the
Lord! The time is coming when they most assuredly will; when the
knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover
the sea beds.
Once more God proclaims to Egypt and her allies that she
shall be broken, put to the sword, and the power to do that will
be the king of Babylon, the king of the North - Daniel 11:40-45,
and on into Daniel 12.
CHAPTER 31
Allegory of the fall of Egypt
God uses the mighty Assyrian Empire (the Assyrians migrated
through Europe and are the German people today) - verses 1-9.
Because of the pride of Egypt as it will be in that day, she
and her allies will be brought low by the mighty hand of the
"terrible of the nations" - and in modern times the terrible of
the nations has been the German people. They will again spear-
head a resurrected Holy Roman Empire of Europe that will come
against the Egypt/Arab king of the South, in the last 4 years or
so of the end of this age (verses 10-18).
CHAPTER 32
Lamentation over Egypt's fall
The setting for this prophecy is the "heavenly signs"
(verses 7-8) given by Christ for the end of the age, and also as
given in Revelation 6 and the 6th seal (verses 1-8).
This is the GENERAL time frame only, to help us see that it
is a prophecy for the every end of this age. We know from Daniel
11:40-45 and into Daniel 12, that the SPECIFIC time of Egypt's
destruction by the king of the North is AT THE BEGINNING of the
GREAT Tribulation. The CONTEXT of Daniel 11:40-45 and into
chapter 12, proves that point. But that is so near the time of the
"heavenly signs" that God mentions it here in Ezekiel 32 so we
will understand this prophecy WILL HAVE AN END TIME FULFILMENT!!
It is the sword of Babylon - the king of the North - the
Babylon Beast power of the book of Revelation, that will be used
to bring destruction on Egypt and her Arab allies. It is the time
when all nations will "KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD" (verse 9-15).
It is also within the time span when not only Egypt will
KNOW GOD IS GOD, but other nations like Meshech and Tubal (the
mighty Russian nation); it is the time when Edom (Turkey) will be
with the dead men (verses 17-32).
Yes, it is true, prophecy can have MORE THAN ONE
FULFILMENT!!
That is one very good reason as to why prophecy was WRITTEN
DOWN AND PRESERVED for us, as we saw in Jeremiah 30:1-9. Because
in the last days prophecy will be REPEATED, BUT WITH THE MODERN
OFFSPRING OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS. It is also true as they say,
that if we will not learn from the past, we are doomed to REPEAT
the PAST in the FUTURE!
History has sadly and clearly shown that Israel and Judah do
not learn from the past. It would seem we have ONE MORE BIG
LESSON TO LEARN, at the end of it Jesus the Messiah will come to
earth again and pour out His Spirit on us so we will NEVER again
DEPART from His love and the way of His righteousness.
.......................
To be continued
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapters 33 to 34
The Work of the Watchman!
CHAPTER 33
Down through the centuries we as a people have had various
large and small wars, many nations have wanted to sink the
British people and those who have sprung from them, to the bottom
of the sea. We've had at the turn of the page into the age of
A.D. those like Boadicea and Caractacus who saw the tyranny of
the Roman Empire. They raised their voice to give warning and
through their leadership the British peoples were delivered and
freedom remained. There was the time when the Spanish with their
fleet of ships like the world had never seen, came across the
English channel. Britain had its champions then who raised their
voice and led the people to victory over their enemies. The Fresh
under Napoleon tried to subdue the British under their heel and
could not. It was people like Nelson, Wellington, Drake, and
others who stood tall and were the watchmen of their time, the
freedom fighters.
During the Second World War it was Churchill who was the
champion of the time. Winston Churchill was laughed at by the
British government when he voiced his cry that there would never
be peace with Adolf Hitler. Churchill was out working in his
garden when the call came from London and the King to return to
London and lead the British people against the might of the
German army. The British government came to acknowledge Winston
Churchill was correct.
God has from the beginning of Israel being led out of Egypt
by Moses, had prophets sent to them, to SHOUT and DECLARE the
warning message of punishment and destruction, when Israel would
not repent of their sins and leaving the way of truth and
righteousness of the Lord. We can see the prophets of old as
contained in the Bible, sent to Israel and Judah, the so-called 3
Major (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) and 12 Minor prophets
(Hosea through to Malachi). They were the WATCHMEN for the first
captivity of Israel and Judah.
But ONE MORE great and mighty CAPTIVITY is yet to befall the
modern offspring of Israel and Judah. Most of the Western world
are the nations of modern Israel and Judah. God's original
message to them was to be written down (as we have seen in
Jeremiah 30) FOR the time was to come again at the end of this
age for Israel and Judah to go into punishment captivity.
When God shows someone the truth of His word, the truth of
the modern meaning of the prophets of old, then that someone has
a GREAT RESPONSIBILITY to WARN the nations, not only of Israel
and Judah, but other nations of the world also, as the prophecy
applies.
If that someone knowing the truth WILL NOT lift up their
voice like a trumpet and shout the warning message, then the
people's blood will be required at the prophet's hands. If the
prophet does proclaim the warning message, then the people's
blood will be upon their own shoulders. The prophet has done his
job!
I certainly did not plan or even consider as a young man
that God wanted me to be one of His prophets to Israel and Judah.
It was the furthest thing from my mind. I had other plans and
thoughts for my life. But the Eternal brought be to see many of
His truths that had been hidden from me as a young man. One of
those truths is the very fact that the nations of modern Israel
are the nations of North-Western Europe and the British and
American peoples. I was not called to be one of the detailed
expounders of that truth, that was for others to do, and indeed
has been done. Probably the most scholastic research ever done on
this subject can be found on the Website britam.org
It has never been my calling to expound to you the in-depth
details proving that a very good portion of the nations of the
West are indeed the descendants of the House of Israel. But with
that truth, I have been called to be ONE of the watchmen to the
nations of Israel. I have been called not only to be a teacher of
the word of the Lord, but one who has been given the
understanding of the prophetic books of the Bible. So, it is my
RESPONSIBILITY to SHOUT OUT to you of Israel what WILL BEFALL you
IF you as nations will NOT REPENT!
My duty is then done. Your blood will not be upon my head.
With the modern worldwide INTERNET God is SHOUTING OUT to you
concerning your SINS, your WICKEDNESS, your ABOMINATIONS. All
peoples around the world, in most nations, certainly more and
more every year, have access to the Internet. All are free to
what is on the worldwide Internet. All, from the kings, to the
people on the street, have access to the Internet. People can be
informed, they can pass on to others what is there. From the
heads of state to the kids playing in the back-yard, the
INFORMATION HIGHWAY is out there for all to drive down.
Be assured when your blood comes upon you, as it will indeed
in God's own time, you will not have the excuse that you were not
told your sins and wickedness.
But, God has NO PLEASURE in the death of the wicked. He
would like you to TURN from wickedness, to REPENT of your sins,
and so the evil which He has thought to do to you, He will not
do. For as he has said, WHY WILL YOU DIE O HOUSE OF ISRAEL - TURN
FROM SIN AND LIVE!! If the wicked will turn from sin then he will
not die, none of the sins will be mentioned; if you will do what
is lawful and right then you will SURELY LIVE, says the Lord
(verses 1-20).
Jerusalem falls!
Ezekiel was told that the city of Jerusalem had fallen.
Remember that Jerusalem was a TYPE of what was going to happen to
Israel in the last days. Ezekiel here is told that Israel says
they have the land and none will take it from them. They are
confident in their own power (verses 21-26). Ezekiel is told that
many people come to him, sit at his feet, hear the words of God,
BUT THEY WILL NOT DO THEM! They send forth "love" with their
mouth towards God, but in their heart there is no desire to do
anything but what they covetously want to do. Many God says, look
upon the prophets like Ezekiel with favor, look at them as he
that sings a lovely song, or has a pleasant voice, or can play
well on a musical instrument; they will be willing to hear the
words of the prophet, BUT THEY WILL NOT DO THE WORDS OF TRUTH!!
When the words of the prophet COME TO PASS, and God says
THEY WILL COME TO PASS, then you WILL KNOW a prophet of God was
among you (verses 27-33).
Are you one that is willing to open up this Website, one who
will read it, study from it, say, "Yes, yes ... tell it to 'em
Keith. Give it out and let them know their sins!" But then do YOU
go away, turn off the Computer, and forget about DOING THE WILL
AND WAYS of the Lord?
I hope and pray you are NOT one of which the Lord speaks
about in this section of Ezekiel. I hope and pray you are one
that is not a forgetful hearer but a DOER OF THE WORD.
CHAPTER 34
God's concern for His flock
The Eternal One is very much concerned for each individual
of His flock. He tells Ezekiel to give a WARNING to the
"shepherds" (spiritual and political) of Israel. God asks, "Should
not the shepherds FEED the flock?" the answer of course it a BIG
YES!! God goes on to say that the shepherds of Israel have fed
themselves, lived very nicely thank you, but have NOT healed the
sick, have not bound up the wounds of the injured, have not gone
seeking those who were driven away.
The Eternal speaks of why Israel was to be scattered and
fallen and driven away in the end time. Why they are to wander
through the maintains and high hills. It is to be because they
had no real shepherds to feed and guide them. And the shepherds
did not bother to search for them.
So, God will indeed deliver His flock from the lazy and
"couldn't care less" shepherds. God Himself will search them out. He
will deliver them from the false shepherds and He will search
them out and find them and bring THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN SCATTERED,
HE WILL DO IT IN THE CLOUDY AND DARK DAY!! (verses 1-12).
We will see as we read the CONTEXT, that the expression
"cloudy and dark day" is interpreted for us.
God will gather Israel from OUT OF the countries they have
been scattered in, bring them back to the plenty and safety of
the land, to feed them with JUDGMENT. God will feed them. They
shall no more be a prey, the Lord will be the judge, and they
will have ONE master shepherd, EVEN DAVID, and the Lord will be
their God, and David will be a prince among them! (verses 13-24).
It is the time of the end, the cloudy and dark day of the
Lord will have come. The judge of the earth will come. Jesus will
return and the RESURRECTION of the saints will take place. David
will be raised up from the dead, just as we saw in Jeremiah 30:1-
9. There can be no mistaking the TIME of this prophecy!
We go on to read about the House of Israel and the House of
Judah being sown together, and as God plucked them up and
scattered them, to destroy and afflict, so He will watch over
them to build and to plant. It is the time every person shall be
judged for themselves, individually and personally. It is the
time when a NEW COVENANT is to be made with the House of Israel
and the House of Judah.
It is a covenant of PEACE, where people can dwell safely in
the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Showers of blessing will
come down. They will be safe in the land. The heathen will prey
on them no more. They will dwell SAFELY and none shall make them
afraid. And "thus they shall know that I the Lord their God an
WITH THEM, and they, even the House of Israel are My people, says
the Lord Go" (verses 25-30)
Can it be said that ANY nation has EVER had this covenant
bestowed on them. No nation has EVER experienced such an
everlasting covenant. It is the same covenant spoken about in
Jeremiah 31:27-34; 32:37-44; 33:7-16.
What a BLESSING is in store for Israel and Judah. We wait
with anticipation for all the promises of the Kingdom of God on
earth.
.......................
To be continued
Ezekiel For Today and Tomorrow
Chapters 35 to 36
Prophecy against Seir
CHAPTER 35
As noted by the Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, "In
general, "Seir," "Mount Seir," and "land of Seir," have become
synonyms for Edom (2 Chron. 25:11; 20:10; and Gen. 36:30
respectively).
This is again a prophecy against Edom or TURKEY today.
God is against the land of Edom for their perpetual hatred
of the children of Israel. In the time of the calamity to come on
Jacob Israel at the time of the end, the people of Turkey will
stand in the way of those in Judah who flee to the north and try
to escape the destruction upon them by the armies of the king of
the North, the Babylon Roman Empire of Europe. The land of Edom
Turkey will use the sword to kill many Jews fleeing north through
their land, at the time of the end. It is the very last days of
this age, it is the time frame when the iniquity of Israel and
Judah will have its END (verses 1-5). Iniquity is FAR from having
its end in Israel UNTIL the coming of the Messiah in glory. Verse
5 and the iniquity of Israel having its end gives us the time
frame of this prophecy; there will be an END TIME FULFILMENT!
The people of Turkey are going to smear and laugh so to
speak, at the calamity of Israel and Judah, at the destruction of
the Jews in the Holy Land, when the end time Babylon Mystery
Religion Empire of Europe marches into Jerusalem and makes
desolate that city and the Jewish people of Judah Palestine.
Further to the time frame of this prophecy is verse 14. When
the whole earth REJOICES, WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME TO
EARTH, WHEN IT WILL BE THE TIME THAT THE WHOLE EARTH CAN REJOICE
UNDER THE RULERSHIP OF CHRIST, then will be the punishment of
Edom Turkey. As Turkey rejoiced at the desolation of Israel and
Judah, so God will make desolate the land of Turkey. I have
covered this previously and will again as we explain the book of
Obediah.
CHAPTER 36
Judgment on Israel's enemies and the
Restoration of Israel
The whole CONTEXT of these chapters together with chapter
37, is the VERY END OF THIS AGE, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE AGE TO
COME UNDER THE MESSIAH CHRIST.
God tells Israel that as their enemies have said, "Ah, these
lands are ours to have and possess" all the hills and valleys and
mountains and rivers; to the desolate cities God now says, "I
will lift up my hand and the heathen (not knowing the true God)
nations shall bear their shame" (verses 1-7).
God will restore as before the people of Israel, they are at
hand to come. The prophecy is for the time of the end of this
age, when Jesus will return and bring out of captivity the
peoples of Israel and Judah, when the lands of Israel will be
replenished and built back; it is the time of multiplying the
people of Israel, and the cities be inhabited once more; it is
the time to settle Israel again after their old estates; it is
the time when the people of Israel will KNOW GOD IS THEIR GOD
(verses 8-12).
The Eternal tells us in verses 13-21 WHY He had to punish
Israel. Over and over again in the prophets there is left no
doubt as to why Israel and Judah have to be punished.
For God's Holy Name, because Israel and Judah have profaned
His name, in the way they have lived, to bring them to REPENTANCE
AND BACK TO SERVING GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH, the Lord must
deal with them in a manner so the end result will be that God can
be GLORIFIED by all nations. It is the time when God WILL BE
SANCTIFIED in them. Israel and Judah will be taken from the
nations and gathered out of the countries they have been
scattered in and brought back to the Holy Land. God will CLEAN
THEM UP! It will be the time when they shall have a NEW HEART AND
A NEW SPIRIT; THE STONY HEART WILL BE GONE AND A HEART OF FLESH
THEY WILL HAVE.
It is the time when Israel and Judah will have GOD'S SPIRIT,
AND WHEN THEY WILL WALK IN THE WAYS OF THE LORD, KEEPING THE
STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS OF GOD!
Never, not yesterday, not today, have the people of Israel
and Judah, had the pouring out of the Spirit of God on them as
nations of people. Some Jews have returned to the Holy Land in
this last 100 years BUT it cannot be said they have had the
Spirit of God poured out on them to observe the statutes and
judgments of God, as these verses portray. Even if you think this
prophecy is for only the Jews returning to the Holy Land in our
time, it just cannot be said they are as a people, CONVERTED to
the commandments of God. The Jews today are MAINLY SECULAR and
UN-converted to the Spirit of God.
The CONTEXT of these verses in Ezekiel make it clear they
will NOT become a reality UNTIL the end of this age, when Christ
the Messiah is here to indeed pour out God's Spirit on all the
peoples of Israel and Judah.
It is the time of good harvests, beautiful orchards and vine
yards, the time when Israel and Judah will REMEMBER THEIR EVIL
WAYS, AND SHALL LOATHE THEMSELVES FOR THEIR INIQUITIES AND
ABOMINATIONS (verses 22-32).
Do the Jews in the Holy Land today LOATHE themselves for
their sins and iniquities and all their abominations? Can any say
they have DEEP REPENTANCE AND GOD'S SPIRIT POURED OUT ON THEM?
Can anyone claim the peoples of North-West Europe, the British
Commonwealth, and the United States of America (the modern House
of Israel) LOATHE themselves for their many sins and iniquities
and abominations? Can anyone in the far reaches of imagination,
claim the peoples of the House of Israel and the House of Judah
are filled with God's Spirit and serving Him with a heart and
mind that is led and filled by the Holy Spirit? NO!! This is a
prophecy YET TO COME TO PASS!!
It is a prophecy for the END OF THIS AGE. When Israel and
Judah will have become DESOLATE, when all that is written will
come to pass, when all in the book of Revelation has been
fulfilled. It is for the time when Israel and Judah will be
brought out of their captivity, out from the nations where they
have been scattered, brought back as in a MIGHTY EXODUS to the
Holy Land; when they will build the cities, plant the corn, reap
great harvests, dwell safely and in peace; when the land will be
as the garden of Eden; when the heathen nations will KNOW that it
is God who is building and blessing. It is the time when Israel
and Judah will "KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD" (verses 33-38).
There is no history of any people that has ever fulfilled
this prophecy. It is all for the time of the end of this age and
into the Kingdom of God on earth age. There is an absolute flow
in the book of Ezekiel - Israel and Judah to be PUNISHED - Israel
and Judah to be RESTORED - AT THE TIME WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS
TO COME TO EARTH, WHEN ISRAEL AND JUDAH WILL BE UNITED AS ONE
PEOPLE, WHEN GOD WILL DWELL AND SET HIS SANCTUARY IN THE MIDST OF
THEM FOREVER - as we shall clearly see from what is told to us in
chapter 37.
.....................
To be continued
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapter 37
The Valley of Dry Bones and
the Reunion of Israel and Judah
Once more the CONTEXT of this chapter shows clearly that it
has NEVER YET come to pass. That it WILL come to pass when
God shall set His dwelling and tabernacle in the midst of
regathered Israel. It is a prophecy for the Kingdom of God on earth.
The hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel and he was carried in
spirit or vision and set down in a valley of dry bones. The
prophecy is upon the dry bones, breath will come into them;
sinews will be laid; skin will cover the bones; and the covered
bones will LIVE!. Ezekiel gave the prophecy and indeed the bones
came together and skin covered them and they DID LIVE!
The wind is to come on these SLAIN AND BREATH ON THEM AND
THEY WILL LIVE!
And SO IT WAS, they did live and stood upon their feet like
a great army (verses 1-10).
What is this? The answer is in verse 11. The House of Israel
says their bones are dried up; their hope is gone; they are cut off.
The House of Israel has fallen; they have gone into
captivity; they have been punished for their sins. It is the last
days of this age, the last 42 months of this age. Israel (the
peoples of North-West Europe, the British Commonwealth and the
United States of America) have met their doom, their destruction,
at the hands of the last resurrected Babylon Holy Roman Beast who
is guided by a false prophet and his Babylon Mystery religion
church. Israel has sinned, their iniquity and wicked abominations
have reached up to heaven. God has finally said they must be
brought to DEEP REPENTANCE through the fires of literal
destruction. Israel is now in the mental state of thinking all is
truly LOST, that there is no hope of them ever being a great
peoples again. Indeed, how can such a MIGHTY AND GREAT a people
as Britain and the United States believe they can ever be so
great again, when their people have been so hugely destroyed,
when what is left of them are in captivity in the lands of their
enemy lovers, scattered, and so many of them now lying dead.
Their heart is in despair; they believe there is no more
hope for them; they now believe they will go down in history as a
"once upon a time a great people, who like other Empires, finally
came to and end" (verse 11).
But GOD CRIES OUT, "Behold, O my people, I WILL OPEN YOUR
GRAVES, AND CAUSE YOU TO COME OUT OF YOUR GRAVES, AND BRING YOU
INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL. And you shall KNOW that I AM THE LORD,
when I OPEN your graves, and bring you UP out of your graves, and
shall PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU, and you SHALL LIVE. I will place you
in your own land: then shall you KNOW that I THE LORD HAVE SPOKEN
IT, AND PERFORMED IT, says the Lord" (verses 12-14).
Have you ever read anything like this? The world will see
many MIRACLES in the last days! THERE WILL BE THE MIRACLES OF THE
FALSE PROPHET. THERE WILL BE THE MIRACLES OF THE TWO WITNESSES IN
JERUSALEM. There will be MIGHTY SIGNS in the earth, the sea, and
in the heavens. The world will never have ever seen such a time
as the last 42 months of this age. The Great Tribulation will
bring such death and horror that there will be no time before or
after it that will be the like. The Day of the Lord will be the
time when, if Jesus did not come back to save us from ourselves,
no human flesh would remain alive. The Battle of Armageddon will
be horrific as Jesus and His armies destroy the armies of the
Europe Beast power and the kings of the East. Jesus said in Luke
21 that the last years of this age would be the time when all
things that are written will come to pass. THERE IS MUCH WRITTEN -
THERE IS MUCH TO COME TO PASS!
BUT HERE IN EZEKIEL 37 YOU ARE READING ABOUT A MIRACLE FOR
THE LAST DAYS THAT REALLY BLOWS THE MIND!!!
GOD WILL PERFORM A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION OF SO MANY SLAIN
ISRAELITES THAT IT WILL LOOK LIKE A MASSIVE ARMY. THEY WILL RISE,
THEY WILL COME BACK TO THE LAND GOD PROMISED THEIR FATHERS
ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB.
TRULY NO SUCH MIGHTY A MIRACLE HAS EVER TAKEN PLACE IN THE
HISTORY OF ISRAEL. BUT HERE YOU HAVE THE WORD OF THE LORD THAT IT
WILL TAKE PLACE!! IS ANYTHING IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE LORD? NO! NO!
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE LORD TO DO. HE HAS WRITTEN WHAT YOU
HAVE JUST READ, AND HE WILL PERFORM IT!!
ISRAEL - YOU ARE SINNERS - YOU ARE A WICKED GENERATION. YOUR
EVIL AND ABOMINATIONS REACH TO HEAVEN. YOU WILL BE PUNISHED. YOUR
DAY OF RECKONING IS COMING. WHAT YOU HAVE SOWN YOU WILL REAP. GOD
IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS. ALL PEOPLES WHO HAVE SINNED AS MIGHTY
AS YOUR SINS ARE, HAVE INDEED FALLEN, HAVE DESTROYED THEMSELVES.
MANY MIGHTY AND GREAT NATIONS AND EMPIRES HAVE WRITTEN THEIR
HISTORY IN FINAL DESTRUCTION. YOU WILL BE NO DIFFERENT. IF YOU DO
NOT REPENT AS NATIONS I TELL YOU YOU WILL PERISH BY FAMINE,
PESTILENCE AND THE SWORD OF WAR!
YET GOD TELLS YOU THE HAPPY ENDING - YOUR SLAIN WILL RISE
AGAIN - AS A GREAT ARMY YOUR PEOPLE WILL RISE FROM THE GRAVE AND
GOD WILL PUT HIS SPIRIT IN YOU. THEN YOU WILL INDEED KNOW THAT
GOD IS ALIVE, THAT HE DOES EXIST, THAT HE WILL STILL LOVE YOU,
TO YOU HE WILL GIVE THE LAND THAT HE PROMISED TO ABRAHAM.
Judah and Israel REUNITED
It is the time in earth's history that Israel and Judah be
brought back as ONE PEOPLES again. All Jews of any scholastic
mind of Old Testament history KNOW that the House of Israel and
the House of Judah since their SEPARATION after the death of
Solomon, HAVE NEVER BEEN RESTORED AS ONE PEOPLE - AS ONE NATION
OF 13 FAMILIES OR TRIBES OF JACOB ISRAEL.
THE TWO STICKS - ONE FOR JUDAH AND HIS COMPANIONS OF ISRAEL
- ONE FOR JOSEPH, THE STICK OF EPHRAIM AND ALL THE HOUSE OF
ISRAEL.
THE TWO STICKS GOD WILL MAKE AS ONE STICK. THE CHILDREN OF
ISRAEL AND JUDAH WILL BE GATHERED OUT OF THE NATIONS AND THEY
WILL BE BROUGHT BACK TO THE HOLY LAND. THERE THEY WILL BE ONE
NATION AGAIN. THEY WILL BE CLEANSED OF THEIR SINS AND GOD SAYS,
"SO SHALL THEY BE MY PEOPLE AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD" (verses 15-
23).
Ah, LOOK, see what it to happen, DAVID (RAISED FROM THE DEAD
AT THE RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS AT CHRIST'S COMING) WILL BE
THEIR KING. THEY WILL WALK IN THE JUDGMENT AND STATUTES OF GOD.
THEY WILL DWELL IN THE LAND GIVEN TO JACOB, THEY AND THEIR
CHILDREN AND THE CHILDREN OF THEIR CHILDREN, FOREVER; AND DAVID
SHALL BE THEIR PRINCE (verses 24-25).
IT IS THE TRUTH WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN IN ISAIAH AND JEREMIAH.
A TRUTH YET FOR THE FUTURE AHEAD OF US TODAY. YES IT IS THE TIME
GOD MAKES A COVENANT OF **PEACE** WITH THEM; AND SAYS GOD, "WILL
SET MY SANCTUARY IN THE MIDST OF THEM FOR EVERMORE. MY TABERNACLE
ALSO SHALL BE WITH THEM: YES, I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL
BE NY PEOPLE. AND THE HEATHEN SHALL KNOW THAT I THE LORD DO
SANCTIFY ISRAEL, WHEN MY SANCTUARY SHALL BE IN THE MIDST OF THEM
FOR EVERMORE" (verses 26-280.
A most remarkable, sober, but very INSPIRING chapter of
Ezekiel.
Jesus will return; He will raise from the death many slain
Israelites, they with the ones still alive, shall return to the
Holy Land. David (the king of old Israel) will be raised to
immortal life as will thousands of saints. David will be the king
again over them, the 12 apostles, as Jesus promised in the
Gospels, will each rule one of the twelve tribes.
God in the form of Christ Jesus will dwell among them, plant
His sanctuary in their midst forever more. Oh yes, the nations as
well as the people of Israel will then KNOW THAT GOD IS GOD.
IT IS THE TIME OF THE START OF THE EARTH BEING FULL OF THE
KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA BEDS!
SO IT IS WRITTEN AND SO IT WILL COME TO PASS!
.........................
To be continued
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapters 38 to 39
The prophecy concerning Russia and China -
peoples of the East and even from Africa
CHAPTER 38
FEW understand these chapters of Ezekiel. There are TWO
basic reasons for not correctly understanding these chapters.
First, most miss the fact that Ezekiel has a story flow. It
is quite simple. Israel and Judah are to be punished in
destruction, then RESTORED as one people, being brought back to
the Holy Land at the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. Then
after being restored we have the invasion of the Holy Land by the
kings of the East and their armies.
Secondly, most people and certainly most "scholars" so-
called, will not take the time to study where the modern nations
have come from. And for sure most will NOT ADMIT that most of the
Western world is the very people of the House of Israel.
Are you will to prove all this I've just mentioned,
especially that the nations of North-Western Europe, the British
Commonwealth and the United States of America are INDEED THE VERY
PEOPLE OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL? I hope you are! Because it is a
fact of recorded history. The very BEST Website on the Internet
to prove this truth is: BRITAM.ORG
Ezekiel is told to set his face against GOG, the land of
MAGOG, the chief prince of Rosh and Tubal. God is AGAINST them!
Most will freely admit that this prophecy is concerning Russia
and China and other nations of the EAST - Persia (Iran) Cush (not
Ethiopia - who are India, Put (not Libya - West and Central
Africa and other countries of the east of the Euphrates river).
These nations will AFTER THE START OF THE MILLENNIUM, come
against the restored people of Israel and Judah, now back in the
Holy Land. God will turn them back and He personally will DESTROY
THESE ARMIES! It will be people from the North and the East and
even the South West into parts of upper Africa, that will come to
invade Israel in the Holy Land.
IF YOU READ CAREFULLY VERSES 7 TO 16 YOU CAN SEE WHEN ALL
THIS IS TO TAKE PLACE.
It is after many days, IN THE LATTER YEARS; the context will
tell you what the latter years are; in this case it is the
beginning years of the millennium, the latter years of Israel and
Judah BEING UNITED and a land BROUGHT BACK FROM THE SWORD, A LAND
THAT IS GATHERED OUT OF MANY PEOPLE, MANY PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT
LANDS CALLED FROM THOSE LANDS AND GATHERED BACK TO THE HOLY LAND,
THE VERY MOUNTAINS OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL. THOSE PEOPLE WILL DWELL
SAFELY ALL OF THEM! (verse 8).
Can it be said that the people now living in the Holy Land
are DWELLING SAFELY? You must have a strange imagination if you
can so claim. The people now in the Holy Land are NOT DWELLING
SAFELY!! This prophecy CANNOT be for some invasion of the Holy
Land by the kings of the East in the last years of this age, as
most so-called "prophets" of prophecy would like you to believe.
There is more clear proof this prophecy is not for a time
that most would have you believe, BEFORE Jesus returns.
Notice it all in verse 11. This invading army is going to a
land with UNWALLED VILLAGES, people who are at REST; to a people
that DWELL SAFELY; without ANY WALLS, HAVING NEITHER BARS NOR
GATES.
This is NOT modern Palestine; this is NOT the Holy Land
today. Why the Jews themselves have BUILT A WALL AROUND
THEMSELVES!! All the people of the Holy Land are NOT at REST,
dwelling SAFELY. They are FIGHTING EACH OTHER! They have BARS AND
GATES AND WALLS AND GUNS AND ROCKETS POINTING AT EACH OTHER!!
This prophecy is for a day "when my people Israel dwell
SAFELY and you will not know it."
This is for a time when MASS TV AND INTERNET AND NEWS
REPORTING AND VIDEO AND CAMERAS HAVE BEEN BLOWN TO BITS, GONE,
DISAPPEARED, AND COMMUNICATION BETWEEN NATIONS IS NOT AS IT IS
TODAY! After all the events of the book of Revelation has come on
this earth, there will be so great a MASS DESTRUCTION on the
earth, with only a mangled world left behind, it will indeed be
like a wild science-fiction world of a blown-up earth with rag-
tag people enduring a survival that will truly be horrendous in
scope. As Jesus said in His Olivet prophecy of Matthew 24, unless
those days were to be shortened NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED ALIVE!
Out of it all, Israel and Judah, will be RESTORED to the
Holy Land. Jesus the Messiah will be WITH THEM. David and the 12
apostles will be raised from the dead, and ruling over the 12
tribes of Israel, under Christ. The peoples of Israel will now be
in FULL AND COMPLETE SAFETY, ABSOLUTE PEACE AND PROSPERITY, NO
WALLS, NO BARS, NO GATES, JUST PERFECT PEACE AND MIGHTY BLESSINGS
OF A LAND AS THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
The nations of the East will have been in a war with the
Beast Power of Europe. Those are the days to be shortened or no
flesh would survive from an all out war between the West and the
East. The East is left desolate in many ways, they will be barely
handing on as we say. It will be a time of DESPERATION! They
will, with time, HEAR about how a people in the Holy Land are
PROSPERING, LIVING AT PEACE, LIVING WITH NO ARMY, NO WEAPONS OF
KILLING, NO WALLS OF ANY KIND FOR PROTECTION, AND THEY WILL BAND
TOGETHER IN AN ARMY OF PEOPLE TO INVADE THIS PROSPEROUS AND
PEACEFUL LAND. THE PEOPLE OF THE EAST WILL COME AS A CLOUD TO
COVER THE LAND. IT WILL BE INDEED THE LATTER DAYS OF ENDING ONE
AGE AND MOVING INTO THE NEXT AGE.
Peoples from the North African continent will also hear
about the gadren of Eden that the Holy Land has become. When
people are in a desparate state for the basics of survival, such
news of a bountiful land travels quickly, probably through the
land of Egypt (see Zechariah 14).
The movement from one age to the Kingdom age will not all
happen in a short month or so, and will not happen without some
troubles for some people (Zechariah 14). What will be left of the
peoples of the East at the beginning of the millennium will be as
nothing in comparison to what they shall hear is the prosperity
of the people dwelling safely in the Holy Land. The eye of some
people will be on the war-path to invade.
Some looking at this will say it sounds like a people on the
march to invade that have no modern weapons to fight with, so it
cannot be a prophecy for our day. Not so! Such people forget the
context of the world at the end time. Such destruction will have
come, that yes, literally modern weapons of war will have been
blown to bits, most of the cities of the West and East will have
been blown to bits. People will be as nomads, seeking food, and
just barely surviving all the wars and plagues and utter
destruction that has come on the earth in the last 42 months of
this age. It will be for them a survival of the fittest, a bare
knuckle fight to live.
When you understand the CONTEXT of the world and end time
prophecy, then what you read here in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will
indeed be a back to basics of fighting to invade another nation.
There will be no nation on earth after the coming of Christ that
will be left with "modern space war machines" to invade another
nation. People who throw out Ezekiel 38 and 39 based upon the
crude way it describes this invasion, just forget to understand
the book of Revelation and the desolation of the earth and the
nations upon it by the time the 1,000 years of the new age
begins.
When the people of the North and the East come against the
Holy Land, God will be mighty jealous over His Israel people.
There will indeed be a great shaking in the land. What is
described in verse 20 can hardly be said to have happened. The
shaking of the earth and the mountains being thrown down in the
Holy Land has not been recorded as here mentioned. People
fighting each other, being destroyed by pestilence and with
blood, and with an overflowing rain, with great hailstones, fire,
and brimstone, cannot be said to have taken place in the recorded
history of the Holy Land (verses 18-23).
CHAPTER 39
God will step in, only ONE SIXTH of this army of people from
the North and the East will remain alive. This army of people
will fall on the mountains of Israel; the fallen will be food for
the birds of the heaven, and the beasts of the field to be
devoured. It would seem that either God has not yet at this time
CHANGED the nature of animals like the lion to eat straw like the
ox, or for this battle their old nature is restored to them;
or again as a co-worker of mine said, maybe the birds will continue
to be as they are, for animals will die as they do today, and birds
do clean away the body (verses 1-6).
Israel will surely know the name of God in no uncertain way
and the heathen also shall know that the Lord is the Holy One IN
Israel (verse 7).
Those that dwell in the cities of Israel at this time shall
go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons that people
will now be using (yes crude old basic weapons to kill) to
destroy each other, FOR SEVEN YEARS! (verse 9).
There is no space-age weapons left in the nations of the
earth by the time the 1,000 years begins. We are back to the old
crude weapons that peoples have used to kill each other for
centuries. Is there ANY RECORDED HISTORY of Israel EVER taking
SEVEN YEARS TO BURN WEAPONS of killing from the lands of their
enemies that would destroy them? NO THERE IS NOT!! IT HAS NEVER
HAPPENED!! IT IS YET TO TAKE PLACE!!
IT WILL TAKE 7 MONTHS FOR ISRAEL TO BURY THE DEAD OF THE
NATIONS THAT COME AGAINST THEM IN THAT DAY (verse 12). MEN CHOSEN
JUST TO MOVE THROUGH THE LAND TO BURY THE DEAD WILL BE FOUND.
BONES WILL BE MARKED AND THERE WILL BE A SPECIAL VALLEY CALLED
HAMONGOG FOR ALL TO BE BURIED IN IT (verses 7-16).
The message of a food feast is to go out to all the
feathered fowl and to every beast of the field. They are to feast
ON THE DEAD (verses 17-20).
The GLORY of God will be set and felt among the HEATHEN,
THEY WILL SEE HIS JUDGMENT (verse 21).
If there is any doubt in Israel (human nature is still human
even with Israel having God's Spirit) that the Lord is God, this
massive destruction of those invading Israel will make that doubt
disappear. Israel will know from that day forward that the Lord
is their God (verse 22).
The heathen will also know that the House of Israel went
into captivity for their iniquities; so God for a time did hide
His face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies
to be punished. But now they will know that the God of heaven has
healed them and is WITH them, as He did bring them from their
captivity from the lands of the enemies, and is now SANCTIFIED in
them in the sight of many nations.
"Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused
them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have
gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any
more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I
have POURED OUT MY SPIRIT UPON THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, SAYS THE LORD
GOD" (verses 28-29).
The House of Israel has NEVER HAD GOD'S SPIRIT POURED OUT ON
THEM AS A WHOLE PEOPLE! BUT AS WE HAVE SEEN IN ISAIAH AND
JEREMIAH THIS OUT-POURING OF GOD'S SPIRIT ON ALL ISRAEL WILL ONE
DAY TAKE PLACE.
THIS PROPHECY IS YET FOR THE FUTURE! AFTER JESUS HAS RETURNED AND
THE OUTPOURING OF GOD'S SPIRIT HAS TAKEN PLACE ON ALL ISRAEL AND THE DEFEAT OF THE RAG-TAG PEOPLE OF RUSSIA, CHINA, THE EASTERN NATIONS AND PEOPLES OF NORTH AFRIA HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. WHEN ALL ISRAEL WILL DWELL IN SAFETY AND PEACE UNDER THE MESSIAH AND HIS KINGDOM.
........................
To be continued
Ezekiel For Today and TomorrowChapters 40 to 48
THE EZEKIEL TEMPLE OF THE MILLENNIUM KINGDOM AGE
The "Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible" Vol.5 p.634, will
give you detailed information of the Temple described in Ezekiel
chapters 40 through 48. Some of the writers comments are quite
correct while others are incorrect as to the application of these
chapters at the end of this prophetic book. The Encyclopedia
gives you the drawing outline of this Temple. As the author says,
it is very much like Solomon's Temple but NOT exactly the same in
all of its dimensions. The bottom line is that the Temple of
Ezekiel is UNIQUE! This Temple with its dimensions HAS NEVER BEEN
BUILT BY ANYONE!!
IT IS A TEMPLE THAT WILL BE BUILT, BUT ONLY UNDER THE
GUIDANCE OF THE MESSIAH JESUS CHRIST! IT IS THE TEMPLE FOR THE
KINGDOM OF GOD AGE!
Some of the points of the author in the "Pictorial
Encyclopedia" are worth stating here.
"Ezekiel was taken back to Jerusalem in a vision, and an angel in
his presence measured the Temple.
A. Meaning of the Temple.
What is the significance of Ezekiel's Temple? This is expressed
in 'the law of the house' (Ezek.43:12) that the 'top of the
mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy.
Behold, this is the law of the house.' It was an expression of
the holiness of Yahweh through the complex that is revealed in
the measuring process, and from it the people are to 'measure the
pattern' (cf.the way of holiness) that they may be 'ashamed of
their iniquities' (43:10; BS, 106:58).
"Since the vision occurs at the end of the prophecy of Ezekiel,
one must look at it as the culmination of the work of the
prophet. God's holiness was the focal point of his ministry.
there was to be the process of exposure, arraignment, and
judgment of Israel (ch.1-26), the judgment of the surrounding
nations so Yahweh's name might be vindicated in all the earth
(chs.25-32), followed next by the rebirth and restoration of the
prodigal people (chs. 33-39), which would include the last great
attack on His people, concluding with the revelation of God
dwelling among the people (chs.40-48. BS, 106:57). The Temple
(cf.Mal.3:1) is to become the dwelling place of the divine glory
)cf. Ezek 43:1-6): This is 'the place of my throne, and the place
of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the
children of Israel for ever' (43:7).
B. Identity of the Temple.
What Temple is this? Is it completely separate from the previous
Temple in Jerusalem? Is it a completely new complex of building?
A study of the sequence of events helps to answer this question.
Israel had, in all her tribes, gone into captivity; the
destruction of her Temple symbolized God's judgment upon her for
her sin. She had been promised restoration upon repentance
(Deut.30:1ff). The departure of the Shekinah ('glory,'
Ezek.11:22,23) signified the fall of Jerusalem. The return of
this glory (43:1ff) signified the restoration of Israel to God's
favor and blessing. But if a Temple vastly different from the
Temple that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed, how could it carry any
assurance to the people? Since the Holy Place and Holy of Holies
are the same size as in Solomon's Temple, and in the light of
other similarities, the conclusion is that Ezekiel's Temple is
basically Solomon's Temple, but with modifications in the court
structure and arrangement. It is not merely an 'ideal' Temple,
for when describing the use of the altar, Yahweh 943:18ff)
describes its sanctification (vv.18-27) concerning what should be
done by a people restored to their God.....
The arrangement of the courts impressed the people of a need for
personal holiness; but also, Yahweh's presence there (43:1-12)
demonstrated His accessibility by the people. The ritual, having
been restored, conveyed to Israel that she was truly accepted,
and therefore could hope to become a cleansed and restored
people. Therefore, Ezekiel's Temple was a 'visual aid' to
faith.....
The true restoration of Israel is YET TO COME, when God a SECOND
TIME (Isa.11:11) will recover Israel from captivity, when they
would be given a new heart (Ezek 36:26) and their nation would be
born in a day (Isa 66:8-10). This REFERS to the MILLENNIUM and
the REBIRTH of Israel, for all the Gentiles must wait so that
they also may be renewed and share in the blessings of God's
house (Isa.56:7)."
Ah, the author of this entry in the Pictorial Encyclopedia
HAS GOT IT!! It is what I have been telling you all through the
book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. It is NOT HARD TO
UNDERSTAND! It is CLEARLY WHAT THE PROPHETS TALK ABOUT OVER AND
OVER AGAIN! WHY A YOUNG CHILD CAN UNDERSTAND IT! All you need to
do is read it and BELIEVE IT!
The author in the Pictorial Encyclopedia understands the
overall truth of these chapters. He concludes his long entry on
Ezekiel's Temple:
C. The Temple Precincts.
The Temple is surrounded by a sacred area and the angel proceeds
to measure it: 500 reeds (3,000 cubits) on each side. The
measuring process was done to emphasize its sacred character
(v.20)- that it is holy, in contrast to all other areas that are
called profane. The 'it' measured in v.15 is this area, not the E
wall or gate. The relation of the Temple complex within this area
is that of a city within a wall, the whole set upon a mountain
that rose up to provide the high eminence on which to erect the
Temple (40:1,2).
It is at this point that one must look to the FUTURE for this
Temple.The terrain of Jerusalem in Ezekiel's time could NOT
ACCOMMODATE this development. After the events of Zechariah 14:1-
4, 10, this Temple could be set in the place of the height of the
present Haram. The peace of the millennium will offer opportunity
for construction, and if this Temple proclaims holiness, it most
certainly agrees with the theme 'Holiness unto the Lord' (Zech
14:20). The similarity of the house of Solomon's Temple assures
the people that this is indeed their house, and God's presence in
it gives assurance of His favor. The other structures are
'teaching' elements, to teach them the 'way of holiness.'"
YES, IT IS TRUE, ALL YOU READ ABOUT IN CHAPTERS 40 THROUGH
48 WILL LITERALLY COME TO PASS. THERE WILL BE A PHYSICAL TEMPLE
IN JERUSALEM FOR THE MILLENNIUM AGE. THERE WILL BE A RESTORED -
RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS REGARDING THE TYPE OF LEVITICAL
PRIESTHOOD AND THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM. IT WILL BE AS WRITTEN. OUR
LORD GOD CHRIST JESUS WILL OVERSEE THE BUILDING OF THIS TEMPLE.
THE WHOLE OF IT WILL BE A TEACHING AID, FOR IMPRESSING THE
HOLINESS OF THE LORD AND TO REMIND ISRAEL AND THE WORLD OF THE
MIGHTY AND GREAT SACRIFICE GOD MADE TO RESCUE MANKIND FROM SIN
AND WICKEDNESS. ONLY THROUGH BLOOD (NOT THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND
GOATS) - THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, CAN SINS BE TAKEN AWAY. AS IT IS
WRITTEN: "BUT IN THOSE SACRIFICES THERE IS A REMEMBRANCE AGAIN
MADE OF SINS EVERY YEAR. FOR IT IS NOT POSSIBLE THAT THE BLOOD OF
BULLS AND GOATS SHOULD TAKE AWAY SINS" (Heb.10:3-4).
YOU NEED TO STUDY THE BOOK OF HEBREWS ON THIS WEBSITE UNDER
"THE NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE STORY."
YOU NEED TO STUDY THE STUDY CALLED "ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE
MILLENNIUM?" ON THIS WEBSITE.
YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH OF WHY GOD GAVE ISRAEL A
TABERNACLE OR TEMPLE AND THE WHOLE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD WITH
ANIMAL SACRIFICES. IT WAS INDEED AS A TEACHING AID TO FAITH. SO
IT WILL BE AGAIN IN THE 1,000 YEAR AGE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON
EARTH. THE WORLD AND ISRAEL AND JUDAH WILL NEED A TEACHING AID SO
ALL GENERATIONS DURING THE 1,000 YEARS WILL NEVER FORGET THE
HISTORY OF THE WORLD OF SINS AND INIQUITIES OVER THOUSANDS OF
YEARS OF HUMAN LIFE ON EARTH, AND THE AWESOME BLOOD SACRIFICE OF
JESUS THE SAVIOR MESSIAH, TO BLOT OUT THOSE SINS AND GIVE
SALVATION TO ALL WHO WILL ACCEPT HIM AS PERSONAL SAVIOR.
Key verses of some of these chapters!
CHAPTER 43
"Afterwards he brought me to the gate even the gate that looks
towards the east .... And the GLORY of the Lord came into the
house by the way of the gate whose prospect is towards the east.
So the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court;
and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house ... And he
said unto me, Son of man, the place of MY THRONE, and the place
of the SOLES of my feet, where I will DWELL in the midst of the
children of Israel forever, and my holy name, shall the house of
Israel no more defile .... show the house to the house of Israel
.... and write it in their sight .... This is the law of the
house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round
about shall be MOST HOLY. Behold, this is the law of the house
..." (43:1,4-7,10-12).
There will be a type of Levitical priesthood from the false
ministers of Israel who were partly to blame for Israel and Judah
going into captivity, They will learn, they will teach CORRECTLY
between what is unclean and the clean, they shall observe God's
statutes, they shall HALLOW GOD'S SABBATHS. (44:9-12,23-24).
The FEASTS of the Lord will be observed; of the NEW MONTH;
and the SABBATHS.
The PASSOVER shall be observed and the SEVEN DAYS OF
UNLEAVENED BREAD.
The FEAST of the SEVENTH month - the Feast of seven days -
the Feast of TABERNACLES shall be observed (45:17-25).
The gate of the inner court that looks towards the East,
shall be opened on the SABBATH and in the day of the NEW MONTH.
Worship services will be held at this gate on the SABBATH and on
the NEW MONTH day.
The SOLEMN FEASTS of the Lord are taught (46:1-15).
THE RIVER OF LIFE
CHAPTER 47
What the world has gone through to this point, all that has
taken place according to the book of Revelation; the great
slaughter and upheaval in the seas of the earth, there will needs
be as God has decided, a river of life to RESTORE all things in
the seas. This river will flow from the holy city of Jerusalem
and restoration of all things will come to the waters of the
earth.
BOUNDARY OF THE HOLY LAND AND DIVIDING BY THE 12 TRIBES
THE LORD'S PORTION FOR THE CITY OF GOD
CHAPTERS 47:13 TO 48:1-29
At last it will be as God original promised Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.
THE NAME OF THE CITY SHALL BE "THE LORD IS THERE" - OR IN
HEBREW "JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH"
WHAT A SPLENDID BOOK IS THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL. OUT OF THE
DARKNESS OF WAR AND DESTRUCTION COMES THE LIGHT OF THE
RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS; A TIME OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH AS ONE
PEOPLE LIVING IN PEACE AND BLESSINGS IN THE PROMISED LAND; A NEW
TEMPLE IN WHICH WILL DWELL THE LORD GOD SITTING ON THE THRONE OF
DAVID, AND ADMINISTERING ALL THE PROMISES WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS
ON THE KINGDOM OF GOD AGE ON THIS EARTH.
SO IT IS WRITTEN AND SO IT SHALL COME TO PASS.
......................
Animal Sacrifices during the Age to Come?The "context" of ProphecyWILL THERE BE ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE MILLENNIUM?
AN ANSWER TO CARL M.SCHAEFFER'S ARTICLE #1
by Keith Hunt
Mr. Schaeffer was a fellow minister with me in the 1980s before
his somewhat sudden death. It was a pleasure to have known him.
The subject of whether or not animal sacrifices in a Temple in
Jerusalem during the 1,000 year age to come, is not an issue of
salvation, but for interest sake I do present here my answers to
a paper written by Mr.Schaeffer before he died.
I have studied and meditated on Mr.Schaeffer's arguments against
the idea that there will be a literal temple, or priesthood and
animal sacrifices in the age to come. I find his arguments
unfounded. Here are my answers:
1. Please note what I have listed as number one argument, which
is that "Ezekiel furnished the plans for the new Temple, in
vision, while the other rebuilt the Temple."
If the reader will note carefully from the ADAM CLARKE'S
COMMENTARY and THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ENCYCLOPEDIA I think he
will have to agree with the WYCLIFFE BIBLE COMMENTARY when they
state, "Others say it represents a lofty ideal, a general pattern
to guide the returning exiles in their building. The whole
section is viewed as a constitution for the post-Exile theocracy.
But nowhere in the past-Exilic books of the OT (Old Testament) is
there a reference to Ezekiel's Temple, nor is there any hint of
it in the work of Zerubbabel and Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah
...and Nehemiah... that this was the kind of temple they were
required to build."
Ezekiel's Temple was for no other age but that of the
Messiah's age. It was never intended for the returning Jews. It
was not given to them. It was not given to the House of Judah.
Zerubbabel and others, if they were familiar with what Ezekiel
wrote, knew it was not given for them, but for an age beyond
their age, an age yet future - the Messiah's age.
This whole section of Scripture was not intended for Judah -
it was not given to Judah. It is a prophecy (as most of Ezekiel's
book is) to THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (ch.40:4). "Thou son of man, show
the HOUSE OF ISRAEL .... you shall describe to them the Temple
and its fittings --- all the details of its elevation and plans.
Explain to them and draw them so --- they may carry them out ..."
(Ezek.43:10-12 KJV and NEB). The House of Israel have never yet
carried out this instruction. The Jews have never carried out
this instruction. The House of Israel were in captivity and had
been for 130 years when Ezekiel wrote this instruction to them -
they migrated into Europe and the British Isles. They have YET to
follow this instruction WHEN they return to the promised land at
Jesus' return and when the age of the Messiah has come.
2. I find this argument is only personal conjecture as no
scriptural proof is given. If Ezekiel's Temple is not as splendid
as Solomon's Temple, so what? Ezekiel's Temple has the Lord God
dwelling in it in person, that alone is glory that far out-shines
anything Solomon had. The Lord can build His Temple anyway He
likes - I will be the last to say He can not.
3. Trying to explain Ezek.43:1-7 by saying this is the Throne
in the New Holy City of Rev.21 is I find a very slick way to get
around the obvious context of these last eight chapters of
Ezekiel. It is also the only way to uphold a teaching that does
not accept these verses as referring to events that will take
place when the Messiah will personally be dwelling and walking in
a Temple at Jerusalem during the age to come.
4. In its prophetic setting I do not find where chapter 44 is
speaking to the Levitical Priesthood of that day. God was using
language that Ezekiel could readily acquaint with in his day but
also have plain significance for the House of Israel at the end
time. Ezekiel could hardly be expected to use words like,
Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian or Unconverted Catholic when
talking about the false ministers that have polluted the service
and religious sanctuaries of the God they said they represented.
These shall bear their iniquity for causing the HOUSE OF ISRAEL
to fall into iniquity - some will live on into the Messiah's age
to be servants in God's sanctuary and some that were true to God
shall live on as physical humans into the 1,000 years to serve
God in a very special way (Ezek.44:9-31).
5. I see no difficulty in accepting that in the age to come -
the age of the Messiah, many of the laws under Moses and the old
covenant regarding the Priesthood will again be in force. If the
Lord so wishes to reinstitute a Priesthood, Temple service,
Animal sacrifices and all the laws pertaining to such, who am I
to say no He can not?
6. This division of land has never been realized at any time in
Israel's history. It is for a yet future age - the age to come.
7. Chapter 47 is I find an amplification of what Zechariah
wrote about in his 14th chapter verse 8. As Zech.14 is about the
Messiah's age yet to come so is Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48. I do
not see it as an inset chapter at all as my college Mr.Carl
Schaeffer would want us to believe.
8. This can not be "back to the time of the building of the
second Temple" as Mr.Schaeffer asserts. The land was and has
never been divided among the tribes of Israel this way (see
Clarke's Commentary). This division is for the Kingdom of God on
earth age.
9. If the Lord declares that in the Kingdom age every pot or
any pot in Jerusalem can be used for sacrificial purposes and not
as it was under the OT, who am I to argue differently.
Mr.Schaeffer asserts that "The word 'sacrifice' in verse 21 is to
'slaughter an animal.' It does in a few places in the OT have
this meaning, but this is not the primary meaning as used
throughout the OT. The basic meaning is "sacrifice." Please see
any good Hebrew Lexicon. I find he is grasping at straws here to
uphold his view.
10. I do not see where circumcision has anything to do with the
topic here under review.
11. Because we are the Temple of God, does that mean God can not
have a physical Temple in the Millennium? We Christians are
called Israel in the NT but does that mean there is no longer a
physical Israel? We Christians are called Jews in the NT but does
that mean there are no physical Jews? I think not!
12. Animal sacrifices never did atone for sin in the Salvation
way (Heb.10:4).
13. What Paul is showing the Hebrews in Heb.10 is that animal
sacrifices could never take away sins (v.4,11), as they had begun
to believe over the centuries of practicing such. It was only the
ONE sacrifice of not an animal but JESUS that could take away the
sins of all people who had lived or would yet live. Paul was also
showing them that it was foretold that a day and age would come
in which animal sacrifices would stop (v.5-9). The book of
Hebrews was preparing the people of Jewish background for this
event. Paul was not speaking about the age of the Messiah, the
age when Jesus would return, the age spoken and prophesied about
by the prophets, but he was speaking about THIS AGE and some
CHANGES that were to take place. The age yet to come is another
age in which God can again change or reinstitute laws AS HE SEES
FIT.
14. I find this paragraph to be contradictory. Mr.Schaeffer says
"There will be one more 'Temple' built" and yet say "Therefore it
is not a 'Temple of God' in the true sense." Now I submit it is
either a temple of God or it is not a temple of God.
It can not be and yet not be. The Scriptures he gives (2 Thes.
2:3-4 ) plainly say it is "the temple of God." So it is possible
for Christians to be called the temple of God and also have a
physical temple that is also called "the temple of God" as it was
in the first century up to 70 A.D. when that physical temple was
destroyed by the armies of Titus.
15. When is it that there will be "NO TEMPLE THERE"? Is it
during the 1,000 year age? No! It is when the NEW HEAVENS AND NEW
EARTH come (Rev.21:1).
16. Will there not be any symbolism or rituals to remind us of
sin during the Millennium? Will the Passover service be no longer
in the Kingdom age? Yes it will (Mat.26:28,29) be observed. I
submit that the Passover service is very symbolic and ritualistic
- we observe it exactly the same way year after year after year,
at least with the foot washing, bread and wine.
Will the Days of Unleavened Bread be observed during the
1,000 years? Yes I submit that cleaning the house of leavened
bread and eating only unleavened bread during that feast is very
symbolic and ritualistic as well. We do it year after year -
taking out the leavened bread and crumbs from here and there in
our homes -- that's ritual. We preach about the meaning of leaven
(representing sin) and of putting it away from our lives and
putting in unleavened bread - representing righteousness. That is
highly symbolic. This all reminds us of SIN!
Will Baptism upon repentance be followed in the Millennium?
I think it will. Baptism is a ritual - it is done the same way
for everyone, over and over again. Think of baptizing say 20
people one after the other, can you say it would not be a ritual.
The Worldbook Dictionary defines the word 'ritual' as: "a
form or system of rites: The rites of baptism, marriage, and
death are parts of the ritual of the church..... 2. a book
containing rites or ceremonies. 3. the carrying out of
rites......."
Baptism is also very symbolic - it has great meaning in its
ritual. It also reminds us of SIN!
So even today in the NT church we have some rituals that are
very symbolic and constantly reminding us of sin. It will I think
be no different for those in the Millennium - they will have lots
of symbolism and rituals to remind them of sin and its
consequences, including that of a Priesthood, Temple and Animal
Sacrifices.
"For the law .... can never with those sacrifices .... make the
comers thereunto perfect .... BUT IN THOSE SACRIFICES THERE IS A
REMEMBRANCE AGAIN MADE OF SINS EVERY YEAR...." (Heb.10:1-3).
WILL THERE BE ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE MILLENNIUM?
AN ANSWER TO PART TWO
by Keith Hunt
I have evidence in my answer to Mr.Schaeffer's first paper
on this subject, that the Temple of Ezekiel was NOT the temple
built by the returning Jews under Ezra and Nehemiah - that in
fact Ezekiel's Temple has NEVER yet been built. In contrast to
this proof Mr.Schaeffer insists on page 15 of his second paper:
" ....Ezekiel's Temple .... was the temple built upon the return
of the Jews after their captivity in Babylon."
His arguments for this assertion must now be examined and
answered. My reply is pointed. I hope the reader will understand
the arguments from the context of my answers.
1. If Ezekiel was supplying the plans for Ezra and Nehemiah and
the returning Jews to rebuild the temple, I must ask why does not
the books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain at least ONE statement
such as "the temple was rebuilt according to the plans given by
inspiration to Ezekiel." Such silence is, I think, very
significant.
2. Mr. Schaeffer quotes Ezek.40:4;43:10-11. Notice how Ezekiel
was to listen, draw plans, write laws "in their sight." Chapter
40:1,2 "... the HAND of the Lord was upon me, and brought me
thither. In the VISIONS of God brought be me into the LAND OF
ISRAEL ... Verse 3 says "he brought me thither." Verse 4 "... to
the intent that I might show them unto you are you brought
hither: declare all that you see to the house of Israel."
Ezekiel was brought hither IN VISION only. Ezekiel was a
CAPTIVE by the river of Chebar - he never left his confines while
in captivity except through VISIONS (notice chap.1:1; 8:1-4).
Ezekiel was able to DO and SAY and WRITE things for the House of
Israel, as a FUTURE warning, teaching and instruction for then,
and in some cases "write it in their sight." Notice chapter
12:1-11, and 14:1-3. He also did things and wrote things in
"their sight" when IN VISION among then.
Yes, Ezekiel was to "declare all that you see to the House
of Israel ... show the house, to the house of Israel ..." (chap.
40:4; 43:10). This is what Ezekiel was told when God revealed
Himself to him, "Oh, Son of man, I SEND YOU TO THE CHILDREN OF
ISRAEL ... GO, GET YOU UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, AND SPEAK WITH
MY WORDS UNTO THEM ... GO, GET YOU TO THEM OF THE CAPTIVITY ...
AND SPEAK UNTO THEM ... " (chap.2:3; 3:4,11). Now how did Ezekiel
go - did he physically walk away from his captivity? NO! "So the
spirit LIFTED ME UP AND TOOK ME AWAY ... Then I came to them of
the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar and I
sat where they sat ..." (chap.3:14,15). Ezekiel moved around
among the captives, was taken to the land of Israel, was
transported to Jerusalem and the temple, said and did and wrote
things in their sight by the Spirit in VISIONS.
Ezekiel was to DECLARE things to the House of Israel - true
- but he was not to go out among them! Notice "But you, 0 son of
man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you
with them, and you SHALL NOT GO OUT AMONG THEM. And I will make
your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be
DUMB ... But when I speak with you, I WILL OPEN YOUR MOUTH ...
(chap.3:25-27). Ezekiel was not to travel around among them
except in VISION, and he was only to speak when God told him to
speak. We can see a few of these literal speaking times - when he
spoke to some elders of Israel in chapter 14:1 and chapter 12.
Ezekiel was to say many things of warning not only to the House
of Israel but OTHER NATIONS also (AMMON - MOAB - EDOM - PHILISTIA
- EGYPT - GOG) - he never got to them! But he did write God's
words down - and he is declaring these messages and truths TODAY
to these nations through his written word and through those true
ministers of the Lord who come in the spirit and power of
Ezekiel, just as John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of
Elijah.
The Plans of the Temple, the laws and ordinances and all
that Israel are to DO are indeed written down and shown to the
House of Israel in their presence - Ezekiel's words still exist
and Israel still exists. They (the plans and laws of the Ezekiel
temple) are ready to DO when, " .. I will dwell in the midst of
them for ever ... the place of MY THRONE, and the places of the
SOLES of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children
of Israel for ever ..." (chap.42:9,7).
3. Ezek 44:6-8 is not talking about a situation during the
Millennium but how the house of Israel (not Judah) polluted
themselves with false ministers in God's holy things, which led
the Eternal to punish them. (v.12).
4. Ezek 44:9-12. God is giving instruction here as to how His
religion will be carried out - who will serve Him in a close way
and who will bear their shame.
It is the UNCIRCUMCISED in heart as well as flesh, among the
foreigner that shall not enter the Sanctuary, not just the
foreigner PER SE.
5. The prophecies of the Bible are to be taken as literal in
fulfilment but with one very important understanding. God uses
terminology of the day, it was written to express thoughts and
conditions for thousands of years later.
Example: God said through Malachi that before the "day of the
Lord" came, ELIJAH the prophet would come. Not only is this
prophecy DUAL (John the baptist was Elijah - Mat.17:1-3) but in
both fulfilments it will be a literal man (as the first was) yet
not the literal Elijah that once lived. The prophecy is literal
but was terminology that is typical - the individuals fulfilling
this prophecy come in the spirit of Elijah the old.
So it is with many of God's prophetic words to Israel and
other nations. The book of Malachi is to Israel mainly - with
prophecies for the yet future, and God calls her religious
leaders PRIESTS (chap 1:1,6 2:1,7). Certainly the religious
leaders of modern Israel are not from the Levitical priesthood of
old, but typically they can be regarded as the same in the same
way John the Baptist was regarded as Elijah.
Notice a prophecy to EGYPT in Ezekiel 30. The setting is
sometime before and up into the DAY OF THE LORD (v.2,3). Egypt is
to be punished by NEBUCHADREZZAR king of Babylon (v.10). The
prophecy is to be understood as a literal punishment but with
typical overtones. King NEB. of ancient Babylon is DEAD - the
original Babylon Empire has gone, but another modern, last day
empire with a great leader is to arise - God typically calls it
Babylon and typically calls its leader NEBUCHADREZZAR.
Notice the leader of Egypt is called PHARAOH (v.20-26; chap.
31:2). Now today we don't remotely call the head of the Egyptian
government a PHARAOH. But in typology the leader of Egypt is in
spirit Pharaoh of old, even if he is not literally descended from
a line of the actual Pharaohs.
There are many more examples that could be given as above,
but space does not allow us here to do so.
Mr.Schaeffer writes "Ezekiel and Jeshua, together with other
sons of Zadok cleansed and purified the new Altar... (p.11). He
then gives EZRA 3:13. I fail to see in Ezra 3:13 or any part of
the book of Ezra or Nehemiah the name of Ezekiel, even mentioned,
let alone a record of him being present at the dedication of the
new temple build after the captivity of Judah.
Mr. Schaeffer goes to extreme lengths to show Ezekiel
cleansed and purified the new Altar, yet the FACT is the words of
Ezra and Nehemiah show no evidence of this being the case. It is
to me incongruous to think that Ezra or Nehemiah would have
missed recording the fact that a prophet and priest of Ezekiel's
standing was not only among them, but had an important part in
the restoration and dedication of the new Temple. If indeed
Ezekiel was given the blue-print of the temple to be built after
the captivity - if indeed he was to be there with Ezra and Jeshua
and was to purify the Altar, surely Ezra would have recorded this
memorable service, if only to give honor to a faithful priest
that had been used in a mighty way by God through the trying
years of Judah's captivity. No such record is found in God's
word. And at present I have found no recording of such an event
in secular history.
So what about the 3rd part of Ezekiel's commission as stated
by Mr.Schaeffer on page 11? The explanation is a simple one. As
most of Ezekiel's message is PROPHETIC - for the end time and
into the millennium, so is chapter 43. It is for the time when
God (in the form of Jesus Christ) will be literally dwelling
among the children of Israel (v.7). Ezekiel will have been
resurrected at Christ's return - the Temple shown him will have
been built, and yes he himself will have a major part in its
purification and dedication. What could be more fitting than to
have the prophet who was shown these things and who was to record
them, be the one who should lead in its dedication service.
7. Many physical individuals living through the last years of
the old age over into the first months of the new age, will still
have carnal nature and will still remember the former evil
practices they and others did in Israel before the great
Tribulation and Lord's return. God is here in Ezek.45:8-10
telling them to remove their former ways of life and now live His
way.
Can and will God allow such behavior in the millennium? The
answer is YES - but swift justice and punishment will follow (see
ISA.30:19-21; 66:15-24; ZECH.14:9,13-19).
8. I do not see where Ezekiel 46 cannot apply to a Prince or
Princes during the Millennium. The above will apply to any ruler
of people during the 1,000 year reign.
9. While I agree that the Bible is written, a little here and a
little there and prophecy moves around from type to antitype,
back and then future and back again in dream like qualities - the
context as a whole will help to determine what passage is to be
understood in what area of time. We must not fall into the trap
of taking a passage and arbitrarily putting it into a time slot
that we want it to fit, so it lines up with our views of
doctrine.
I see no evidence in the last eight chapters of Ezekiel to
believe that most of it applies to the Temple built after the 70
year captivity of Judah and those parts which are un-mistakenly
the Kingdom era, to be lifted out and separated from the general
context. Surely it is safer to understand the context in the
light of key verses which give the time setting of the prophecy.
An example would be the prophecy regarding Egypt in Ezekiel
30. Without verse 3 we would conclude this prophecy to be only
for the time of the original King Nebuchadrezzar, but one small
sentence gives the whole another setting in another era of time.
10. I have shown elsewhere (referred elsewhere to Adam Clarke's
Bible Commentary) that the Temple built by Ezra and Nehemiah was
NOT to the plans given by Ezekiel. If it was surely somewhere
they would have stated that what God had given to Ezekiel was now
being fulfilled.
11. see previous point #10.
12. If it was a gross insult to Christ and the Father to offer an
animal sacrifice after the death of Jesus, then Paul and other
true children of God did gross insult as they went to the Temple
and purified themselves from a Nazarite vow (see ACTS 21:17-26
and NUMBERS 6:1-21).
13. Other passages of Scripture do show that people will come
before Him to sacrifice an animal (see ZECH.14:20,21; EZEK.
40-48; JER.33:14-18; ISA.19:19-21; MAL.3:1-4).
14. Surely obedience to God's law is far more important than
physical sacrifices. To do animal sacrifices in a form of worship
to God and yet not obey His spiritual law is not accepted by God
- He does not desire that form of worship. BUT does that mean God
is never pleased with sacrifices - not at all! When the heart is
right He does accept animal sacrifices. See verses 18,19 of Psalm
51 which Mr.Schaeffer did not quote.
Psalm 40:6-8 is a prophecy about the FIRST coming of Christ
and that He would not offer an animal sacrifice. See how Paul
used it in Heb.10:1-10. As Jesus was to set us an example for us
to follow in this AGE, it was right He offer no sacrifice (needed
not to because He was also perfect - sinless) for He knew that
after 70 A.D. the Temple in Jerusalem and that Priesthood would
be no more until His return.
15. Paul is trying to show to people who had put their stock in
physical sacrifices that it was Christ's sacrifice that was the
important one. They had over emphasized animal sacrifices. Paul
knew the day was coming when the Temple in Jerusalem would be no
more and animal sacrifices would stop for this age. He was
showing them it was prophesied to be that way, and that Christ's
sacrifice was for all ages the important one. Paul was dealing
with THIS age and said nothing about the age to COME in regards
to animal sacrifices.
16. The High Priest on the Day of Atonement REPRESENTED Christ. I
see nothing wrong or disrespectful for a mortal man to REPRESENT
Jesus on the Day of Atonement during the millennium. Then again
as Christ is supreme HIGH priest, He may well do the officiating
in the Temple on this feast day Himself. I take exception to Mr.
Schaeffer calling these ceremonies "a series of meaningless
rituals." They were FAR from meaningless! There was great
significance to every act in the Temple on this solemn feast day.
17. Isaiah 19:18-21. The land of Egypt will do SACRIFICE
(Strong's Concordance #2077). A review of this word in the
ENGLISHMAN'S or STRONG'S Concordance will quickly show it to be
the most common word used for "sacrifice." It is used for BLOOD
sacrifices. (i.e.Deut.12:27).
This verse of Isaiah 19:21 shows that in the millennium the
Egyptians will perform blood sacrifices to the Lord.
Jeremiah 33:17-18. The context is the beginning of the
millennium. The promise to David and his throne was UNconditional
as can be seen from Psalm 89. No such unconditional promise was
ever made about the perpetual continuity of the Levites offering
sacrifices. They have not been so doing for nearly 2,000 years.
How do we understand then JER.33:17-18? Very simple. God is
telling us through Jeremiah that when He restores Judah and
Israel from captivity (v.7) at the start of the millennium, He
will send the Messiah (Jesus) to reign upon David's throne (that
was to continue throughout all generations - Psalm 89) and then
adds in verse 18 the truth and teaching that at this same time
(start of the 1,000 years.) and for the duration of the
millennium "Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man
before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings,
and to do sacrifice continually."
The Lord will re-establish the Levites (He knows who they
are, even if we do not) and the sacrificial system during the
millennium. This He promises with the covenant of day and night
(v.20-21,24-26).
18. The question of ACTS 15 was not whether CIRCUMCISION, LAWS of
MOSES, SACRIFICES, should be done per se, but if you could be
SAVED by not doing them. The answer was YES you can be saved
WITHOUT these physical rites. The re-instituting of the Levitical
sacrificial system in the millennium will not be so people will
"have favor with God" above the way we have favor with Him now,
but in order to teach people (especially Israel and Judah) about
sin (Heb.10:3) and that Israel and their leaders FAILED to find
the true God and His ways during the age of no Temple and
sacrifices. (Ezekiel 44:6-16,23).
19. We are here in this study debating the Levitical Priesthood
and SACRIFICES which is different from the debate of CIRCUMCISM
which was settled at the synod of Jerusalem in ACTS 15. But it is
true that those who will seek sacrifices and circumcism for
salvation will fall from grace. That is now or in the future very
true.
20. If this is true then Paul and other Christians of the first
century NT church of God INSULTED and REJECTED Christ's sacrifice
when they performed the "ceremonial law of Moses" in ACTS
21:17-26. They of course did no insult to Jesus. Neither will
those in the 1,000 year age to come insult or reject Christ's
sacrifice, when they sacrifice at the Temple during that age.
21. I ask the reader to indeed notice the time setting of Ezekiel
47:1. The time setting within the last chapters of this book is
the MILLENNIUM. Rev.22:1-2 is an entirely different time setting.
I Cor.15:24-28 says nothing about Christ's THRONE, only that the
KINGDOM and AUTHORITY will be handed over to the Father.
Certainly the Father's throne will be above all other thrones.
22. Why should this be so when the Jewish Christians, including
James (one of the Jerusalem pillars of the church - Gal. 2:9)
were ZEALOUS of the law (ACTS 21:20)? They were not in their
sins, nor had they lost favor with Christ. They also knew that to
offer animal sacrifices at the temple did not justify or save
them from sin - only the blood of Jesus could do that.
Why should this be so when Peter was inspired to tell us at
the onset of this NT age that Jesus had gone back to heaven only
until, "the RESTITUTION of ALL things, which God has spoken by
the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (ACTS
3:21).
23. Is it unthinkable and an insult to Christ to believe and
teach His WRITTEN WORD as given by Him to His prophets of old? I
believe that just as the prophecies concerning His first coming
were literally fulfilled, so also will be the prophecies about
His second coming. And those prophecies talk about a restoration
of a TEMPLE with a PRIESTHOOD and ANIMAL SACRIFICES.
If we believe the prophecies were LITERALLY fulfilled
concerning Jesus' FIRST coming (and they were indeed), then we
really have no choice but to believe the prophecies about his
SECOND coming will be LITERALLY fulfilled!
.................
Animal sacrifices in the Age to Come #2Purpose for Them! ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE 1,000 YEAR AGE
HERE IS THE WAY ANOTHER WRITER HAS PUT THE TOPIC. As my study on
the subject shows, I would agree with this study - Keith Hunt.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN the atoning work of Jesus Christ
and the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament has raised many
questions for Bible theologians. This is especially true in light
of the book of Hebrews and Old Testament prophecies concerning
worship during the millennium. The answer may have to do with
distinct functions in the plan of God for the blood of
sacrificial animals and for the precious blood of Christ. This
distinction is especially significant for understanding the
reinstatement of animal sacrifices during the future millennial
kingdom of Christ.
The atoning work of Christ is infinite in value and
therefore eternally sufficient and effective for those who put
their trust in Him. The book of Hebrews especially emphasizes the
contrast between the substitutionary work of Christ and the blood
of bulls and goats in the Old Covenant (see Hebrews 7:19; 9:9;
10:1,4,11,18). The New Covenant is infinitely superior to the Old
Covenant of Moses, which was "only a shadow of the good things to
come" (10:1 NASB). However, neither Hebrews nor the rest of the
New Testament teaches that Israel as a nation has been forever
set aside by God. The Old Covenant given by God to Israel through
Moses has ended, but the New Covenant (stemming from the
Abrahamic covenant) is in place and will be applied to Israel
during the millennium. The contrast in Hebrews is between the
shadowy, insufficient nature of the Old Covenant and the
sufficient, permanent nature of the New Covenant.
During the present age, national Israel has been "rejected"
(Romans 11:15-22) because of "transgression," "failure," and
"unbelief" (11:11-12,23). But that has not terminated Israel as a
nation (11:11). Some day it will experience divine "fulfillment"
(11:12) and "acceptance" (11:15). The church has not supplanted
Israel in God's program, for "the gifts and the calling of God
are irrevocable" (11:29).
The New Covenant promises a new heart through the Holy
Spirit for the entire nation of Israel (Ezekiel ;6:26-27), the
restoration of the regenerated nation to its ancestral land
(36:28), and a dynamic, functioning theocracy of 12 tribes with a
great new city and Temple (Ezekiel 40-48; see Deuteronomy
30:1-4). When this covenant is fulfilled for Israel, its high
priest will be the Messiah Himself, not a descendant of Aaron
(Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7).
MENTION OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES
Isaiah foresaw not only God's New Covenant with Israel but
also a Temple in the holy land (2:2-3; 60:13). Animal sacrifices
would be offered on its altar by Egyptians (19:21) and Arabians
(60:7), through priests and Levites (66:21), at God's "holy
mountain" with burnt offerings and sacrifices on God's altar
(56:6-7; 66:19-20).
God revealed the expression "a new covenant" first to
Jeremiah. This New Covenant included the offering of animals on
the altar of a Temple in the holy land. God announced through
him, "I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring
forth.... David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of
the house of Israel; and the Levitical priests shall never lack a
man before me" (33:I5,17-18). Thus Jeremiah, while stating the
total demise of the temporary Old Covenant (31:32) and
anticipating the national regeneration provided in the permanent
New Covenant (31:31-34; 32:38-40; 336-13; 50:5), included animal
sacrifices offered by Levitical priests as permanent aspects of
this New Covenant for national Israel.
Ezekiel also described the New Covenant, including a
provision for "My sanctuary in their midst forever" (37:26,28).
This sanctuary or Temple is described in great detail in chapters
40-48. Included in the description are the different types and
characteristics and purposes of its animal sacrifices (40:38-43;
42:13; 43:1827; 45:15-25; 46:2-15; 46:20-24). Other prophets who
spoke of the future Temple include Joel (3:18), Micah (4:1-5),
and Haggai (2:7,9).
We will consider the theological issues arising from these
descriptions by answering three questions: (1) What was the true
function of animal sacrifices in the Old Covenant? (2) What are
the fundamental differences between Ezekiel's picture of the New
Covenant system of worship and the Old Covenant system of
worship? (3) Would a worship system involving animal sacrifices
represent a step backward for New Covenant Israel during the
millennial age?
FUNCTION OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES
Animal sacrifices could never remove spiritual guilt froth
the offerer (Hebrews 10:4,11). Onc major purpose of these
sacrifices (as teaching symbols) was to prepare the people of
Israel for their Messiah and His infinite: atonement. Another
purpose was to provide a temporal, finite, external, and legal
"forgiveness" through an "atonement" (a ritual cleansing -
Hebrews 9:10,13) made by a priest (Numbers 15:25-26). This was
not merely a prophetic anticipation of Christ's atoning work. In
the Old Covenant, God provided a highly complex and rigid
structure for his "kingdom of priests." National transgressions
would receive national forgiveness when legitimate priests
offered appropriate sacrifices to God at the Tabernacle or Temple
altar. This forgiveness was promised regardless of the spiritual
state of either the offerer or the priest.
However, such sacrificial blood could never cleanse the
conscience or save the soul (Hebrews 10:1-2), so God repeatedly
sent prophets to call His people to love and obey their God from
the heart. Apart from such genuine faith, all the ceremonially
"kosher" animals in the whole world would avail nothing in the
spiritual realm (Psalm 50:7-IS: Isaiah 1:12--20; Jerennah 6:20:
7:21-23; Hosea 5:6; Amos 4:4-5; 5:20-27; Micah 6:6-H). It has
always been true that "it is impossible for the blood of bulls
and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). But it was also true
then, under the Old Covenant, that "the blood of bulls and goats
... sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh" (Hebrews 9:13).
In the Millennial Temple under the New Covenant, future
sacrifices will have nothing to do with eternal salvation, which
only comes through true faith in God. Future animal sacrifices
will be "efficacious" and "expiatory" only, in terms of the
strict provision for ceremonial (thus temporal) forgiveness for
national Israel. Thus, animal sacrifices will be not only,
memorial (like the bread and cup in church communion services)
but also temporally atoning for believing Israel (Ezekiel
43:20,26; 45:15,17,20). Hoekema notes, "if the sacrifices
mentioned in Ezekiel arc to be understood literally, they must be
expiatory, not memorial offerings" (Hoekema, p.204). The
distinction between ceremonial and spiritual atonement is
significant, for it is at the heart of the basic difference
between the theocracy, of Israel and the church, the body and
bride of Christ.
ISRAEL'S WORSHIP IN OLD AND NEW COVENANTS
The Temple of the millennium will be vastly different from
those of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod. The outer court, gates,
walls, grounds, locality, and furniture will all be different.
The Temple will not have the ark of the covenant, no pot of
manna, no Aaron's rod, no tables of the Law, no cherubim, no
mercy scat, no golden lampstand, no show-bread, no veil, no holy
of holies, no high priest, no evening sacrifice (West, pp.
429-30). No feast of Pentecost, no feast of Trumpets, and no Day
of Atonement. These modifications indicate that the millennial
sacrifices will focus on sanctification grounded upon the
reconciliation already provided by Christ.
(The Temple sacrifices may not be as they were under the Old
Covenant, what scrifices, the number etc. But that being said,
does NOT mean there will be no Pentecost, feast of Trumpets, or
Day of Atonement. Those Feasts are still in effect today, and a
"religious" Jew would laugh at the idea that because today there
is no Temple or animal sacrifices, then there is no Feasts of the
Lord to observe. The Feasts of God are not dependant on physical
animal sacrifices or a Levitical Priesthood or even a literal
Temple in Jerusalem - Keith Hunt)
NOT A STEP BACKWARD FOR ISRAEL
It is the conviction of the present author that consistent
dispensationalism must teach the practice of animal sacrifices
for a restored and regenerated Israel in the millennium. But
would such a worship system represent a great step backward for
New Covenant Israel? Israel will be under a New Covenant program,
not the Old Covenant given to Moses, which was never designed to
guarantee salvation. Millennial Israel will have the entire New
Testament available to them, including the book of Hebrews. They
will know about the full and finished work of Christ. They will
see no conflict between Ezekiel and Hebrews, and they will
understand the omission of a high priest in Ezekiel 40-48 as
opening the door to the Melchizedekian High Priest of Psalm
110:4, Jesus Christ Himself.
Believing Jews will experience regeneration and
sanctification just as Christians do today - by the grace of God
through faith in the Lord Jesus. These future Jewish believers
will not be glorified (they will be survivors of the Tribulation
and their descendants). The New Covenant theocracy of Israel will
retain its distinctive Israelite characteristics - a promised
land, a temple, appropriate animal sacrifices, and an earthly
Zadokian priesthood (subordinate to Jesus Christ).
(The writer is obvious thinking that "Israel" = "Jews" which is
incorrect. The House of Judah was only made up of the tribes of
Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. There are TEN more tribes that make up
the entire nation of Israel, so the above comment of the writer
must be understood to apply to all 12 tribes of Israel - Keith
Hunt)
These sacrifices, illumined by a corporate understanding of
the true significance of the Lamb of God who took away the sin of
the world, will be appreciated all the more for what they can and
cannot accomplish for the offerer. For non-glorified millennial
Israel and her Gentile proselytes throughout the world (see Psalm
87; Isaiah 60:1-14; Zechariah 8:2023), the continued presence of
a sin nature will call for constant instruction and exhortation
in revealed truth. Not even a perfect government will
automatically solve this deep, universal problem. In distinction
from the perfection of the eternal state described in Revelation
21-22, Christ will "rule all nations with a rod of iron"
(Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15) and with strict controls,
especially in religious practices (see Zechariah 14:16-21). Even
though outward submission to these religious forms will not
necessarily demonstrate a regenerate heart, it will guarantee
protection from physical penalties and temporal judgments. Those
who love Christ will exhibit a genuine spirit of submission to
His government. But those who do not truly love Him will follow
Satan in global rebellion at the end of Christ's righteous reign,
and they will be destroyed in cosmic fire (Revelation 20:7-9).
(Few under the Messiah will reject the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea beds, which is one promise to be
fulfilled during the 1,000 year age. With Christ back on earth,
saints ruling with Him, in an open and powerful rod of iron
rulership, and add to that the promise of the Holy Spirit to be
poured out mightily, it would be few indeed that will throw away
eternal salvation. The battle at the end of the 1,000 years is
because Satan will be let loose once more from the bottomless pit
to go our again the deceive certain people - see Revelation 20 -
Keith Hunt)
FORM AND CONTENT OF WORSHIP
How can vital spiritual instruction be accomplished for
citizens of the millennial kingdom through a system of animal
sacrifices?
If it is theoretically possible for the church today to
achieve a spiritual, symbolic, and pedagogic balance in the use
of the bread and cup in communion, then it will be all the more
possible for regenerated Israel to attain the divinely intended
balance between form and content within the structures of the New
Covenant. It is not only possible but prophetically certain (in
the view of this author) that millennial animal sacrifices will
be used in a God-honoring way (Psalm 51:15-ig; Hebrews 11:4) by a
regenerated, chosen nation before the inauguration of the eternal
state.
JOHN C. WHITCOMB
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruce, F.F. "The Epistle to the Hebews." New International
Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1964
Hoekema, Anthony A. "The Bible anD the Future" Grand Rapids.
Eerdmans Publishing Company 19?)
Hullinger, Jerry M, "The Problem of Animal Sacrifices
in Ezekiel 40-48" Bibliotheca Sacra 152 July-Sept.1995), pp.
279-89
Kent, Homer A., Jr. "The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary"
Winona Lake, IN. BMH Books, 1972.
Pentecost, J. Dwight. "Things to Come." Grand Rapids:
Zondervan,1964.
Ryne, Charles C. "The Basis of Premillennial Faith," New York:
Loizeaux, 1953.
Sauer, Erlch. "From Eternity to Eternity" Grand Rapids Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1954.
Walvoord, John F "The Millennial Kingdom." Findlay, OH. Dunham,
1959.
West, Nathanael. "The Thousand Years in Both Testaments."
NewYork: Revell, 1880.
Whitcomb, John C. "Christ's Atonement and Animal Sacrifices in
Israel" Grace Theological Journal 62 11985), pp 201-17
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