Tag Archives: Ezekiel

On Gold and Silver, the Glory Cloud and a Mark on the Forehead…

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Ezekiel 7

Ezekiel 7:19, Throw their silver…gold like refuse.When the judgments of Elohim become so severe with war, pestilence and famine (v. 15) that money as well as gold and silver will be of no value to anyone. After all, if there is no food to buy due to famine, what good is money of any kind? Until that time, though, money is of great value.

Ezekiel 9

Ezekiel 9:3, The glory of Elohim.(See also Ezek 10:4, 18.)Ezekiel watched in vision as the glory of Elohim departed the temple in Jerusalem prior to its destruction. The glory of Elohim never returned to Jerusalem, even in the second temple, until Yeshua the Messiah came to the temple. Haggai the prophet predicted the coming of this greater glory (Hag 2:9).

Ezekiel 9:4, Mark [Heb. tav] on the forehead.The letter tav, the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, pictographically, apparently, signifies “the sign of the covenant.” This would indicate that YHVH protects from his divine judgments those with whom he has a special covenantal relationship , which are those who have been “bought by the blood of Yeshua” and are “under the blood of Yeshua” as the Israelites were on the first Passover in Egypt when the messenger of death passed over those who had the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses (Exod 12:7, 12–13 cp. Rev 12:11). This also recalls Rev 7:3 and 14:11 where Elohim will write his name on the foreheads of his end times saints thus marking them to be spared from his severe judgments upon the wicked.

Ezekiel 9:6, Begin at my sanctuary. Elohim’s judgment begins first with his spiritual leaders who are supposed to teach his people his ways, and from there moves out to the people who are to be a spiritual light to the nations. As Peter says, “for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of Elohim” (1 Pet 4:17).

Ezekiel 10

Ezekiel 10:18–19, The glory of YHVH departed. As the glory of YHVH came down upon the tabernacle of Moses and filled it when it was initiated, and has happened similarly when the Temple of Solomon was dedicated, even so when the sanctuary became corrupt because of men’s abominable practices and was about to fall under YHVH’s judgments, the glory of Elohim had to depart. This speaks of the grace of Elohim that he had inhabited his temple for so long despite the sins of Israel. Similarly, Spirit of Elohim dwells within the saints who are now the temple of the Spirit of Elohim, and if and when the saint walks away from Elohim, because of the grace of Elohim, his Spirit remains in the person to convict him of his sin and to bring him back to Elohim, even as the prodigal son in Yeshua’s parable when in the distress of his spiritual waywardness was convicted of his sin and brought back to his father. However, if the sinner refuses to repent and to return to Elohim, then heaven’s judgments begin to be poured out until either repentance occurs, or until, due to the hardness of heart, the unrepentant sinner resisting the grace and Spirit of Elohim commits the unpardonable sin and is lost forever (Heb 6:6; 10:26).

Ezekiel 11

Ezekiel 11:16, A little sanctuary [Heb. miqdash]. Miqdash is another name for the Tabernacle of Moses and derives from the word kadash meaing “to be clean, to make clean, to pronounce clean” and figuratively means “to be holy or set-apart. The primary root verb kadash is a cognate of the noun kodesh meaning “a sacred or holy place” and is another name for the sanctuary or holy place of the Tabernacle of Moses. This verse appears to be a prophecy regarding the infilling of the saints with the Spirit of Elohim and the Spirit’s indwelling presence in the redeemed believer’s life such that they are, as Paul describes it, the temple of the Set-Apart Spirit of Elohim (1 Cor 3:16; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21–22; 1 Pet 2:5 cp. Acts 7:48). The spiritually clean, holy or set-apart saint has replaced the physical temple that has not existed since its destruction in A.D. 70.

Ezekiel 12

Ezekiel 12:15, Will spare a few. YHVH always spares a remnant of faithful saints, a righteous seed, who will carry on his work as a light to the nations and be a witness of him wherever they go.

 

Are you in “the wilderness of the peoples”?

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Ezekiel 20:33–38, I will bring you out. This prophecy has never been fulfilled. In the end times, YHVH will begin to regather his scattered people (the 12 tribes of Israel) with his mighty, sovereign hand in the midst of his last days fury or judgments that he will pour out upon the earth just prior to Yeshua’s second coming.

As an intermediate step before returning his people to their inheritance in the Promised Land, he will bring them into the “wilderness of the peoples.”

This is the only place this term is found in the Bible. It appears to be a spiritual wilderness (not a literal one) in the midst of the Gentile nations where YHVH’s people find themselves.

Presently, there are many saints who have answered YHVH’s call to come out of the spiritual Babylon of the church system. They presently find themselves alone in a spiritual wilderness where YHVH is teaching them about the Torah and Hebraic roots of their faith.

This wilderness is a time to testing for YHVH’s people for him to determine who will love him by keeping is commandments or not (v. 37).

This period will be similar to the that of Israel in Goshen, Egypt (v. 36). At that time, YHVH tested the children of Israel by allowing them to go through the first three plagues, but he protected them from the last seven plagues. This is how he refined them spiritually and, at the same time, got their attention focused on him and off of Egypt.

YHVH will make all to pass under the rod of his judgment and separation (v. 37). He will purge out from is flock those who refuse to follow his Torah (the rebels and transgressors) and they won’t be allowed into the Promised Land (v. 38).

Ezekiel 20:35–36, Wilderness [Heb. midbar] of the peoples [Heb. am, not goy]. This wilderness is like the “wilderness” of Goshen in Egypt. This prophecy doesn’t seem to be referring to a wilderness outside of Egypt, but one that is in Egypt prior to the Exodus.

In end times Babylon the Great, this could be a prophetic reference to a spiritual wilderness experience YHVH will force believers to endure to test whether they will be obedient to his Torah or not (vv. 37–38) to determine whether they’re worthy candidates to come into the Promised Land as Yeshua’s warrior bride at his second coming.

This wilderness of the peoples seems to be a wilderness in the midst of the heathen people in which believers find themselves as opposed the wilderness of Rev 12:14 that YHVH will carry his end times persecuted remnant into for three-and-a-half years.

 

There is a connection between profaning YHVH’s sabbaths and his judgments

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Ezekiel 20:12, 13, 16, 20, My Sabbaths. YHVH cites Israel’s failure to keep his sabbaths as a prime reason for YHVH not permitting the older generation to enter the Promised Land. Judah’s not keeping the land sabbaths determined the length of her captivity in Babylon; namely, 70 years. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews brings up the Sabbath issue in chapter four of that book. What is the connection between keeping YHVH’s sabbaths and entering the spiritual rest of his Promised Land? (Read Heb 4:1–11.)

The Sabbath was the eternal sign between YHVH and his people, and it was one of the first Torah laws YHVH called upon Israel to practice. As noted, the failure of YHVH’s people to keep his sabbaths prevented the Israelites from going forward into their spiritual destiny.

Likewise, the fourth or Sabbath commandment of the Ten Commandments is the only one of the ten where YHVH instructs his people to “remember” it implying that they would eventually forget to keep his Sabbaths. History records that the Sabbath was the first so-called Jewish law that the early church left replacing it with Sunday (in the second century a.d.). In the modern Hebrew Roots Movement, YHVH’s people are beginning to leave the non-biblical religious traditions of men by returning to a more true-to-Scripture spiritual walk (a fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy about the heart of the children being turned back to their fathers in the end days in preparation for Messiah’s arrival [Mal 4:4–6]).

How prominently does the Sabbath figure in the lives of those believers who are returning to the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith? How significant is this prophetically? Is history repeating itself in reverse? Instead of YHVH’s people leaving the Sabbath, they are returning to it. The keeping of the Sabbath is an acknowledgment of YHVH’s sovereignty as the Creator of all, and of his sovereignty over our time, work and lives. Keeping the Sabbath is a direct assault on idolatry, materialism, selfishness, rebellion, and assimilation into the surrounding pagan culture that occurred when Israel forsook the Sabbaths of YHVH. Notice how Ezekiel ties the idolatry, rebellion and general apostasy of Israel with her desecration of YHVH’s Sabbaths. What was Israel’s heart condition that caused her to rebel against this commandment of YHVH? What are the excuses used by many today in order to justify themselves in desecrating YHVH’s Sabbaths?

In Ezekiel 20, we see that YHVH’s feasts (or sabbaths) are a covenantal sign between YHVH and his people (Ezek 20:12) that they were to live by (Ezek 20:11), yet which Israel, in rebellion, refused to do while in the wilderness. Instead they defiled his sabbaths by, presumably, not doing them and doing other things on YHVH’s holy days (Ezek 20:13). Israel’s rebellion against YHVH with regard to their refusal to keep his sabbaths brought upon them YHVH’s judgments (Ezek 20:13). In other words, it was YHVH’s will for the Israelites to keep his sabbaths in the wilderness, but because of their idolatrous rebellion, they refused to do so. In fact, YHVH calls refusing to observe his sabbaths idolatry and for this sin (along with other sins), the Israelites had to wander in the wilderness for forty years (Ezek 20:15–16). In profaning his sabbaths, YHVH accuses the Israelites of despising his Torah (Ezek 20:16). YHVH then goes on to urge his people to not follow the example of their rebellious forefathers, but rather to walk in all of his Torah commands (including his sabbaths, Ezek 20:18–20). Because of their profaning his sabbaths, he punished them by scattering them in exile among the heathens. Those modern saints who refuse to keep YHVH’s Sabbath and feasts are walking in the same sin as the ancient Israelites. Often people who refuse to keep YHVH’s feast days holy do so because the feasts conflict with their secular activities (such as their jobs and recreational activities). YHVH calls this idolatry and being like the heathen (Ezek 20:30, 32). In the end times, YHVH is going to separate his people out from the heathen and bring them back into covenantal agreement with him including obedience to his sabbaths (Ezek 20:33–38). He will purge from his people those rebels who refuse to obey him including keeping his sabbaths (Ezek 20:38), which are a sign of his covenantal relationship with them.

 

The West’s Idols and High Places Are Being Attacked

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Ezekiel 6:3–5, High places…idols…corpses. As a judgment against the backslid and idolatrous “mountains of Israel” (Ezek 6:1), YHVH promises to bring a sword against his people as they are worshipping their idols instead of him.

The “mountains of Israel” in this instance is a poetic and prophetic Hebraism for the nations of Israel that YHVH has scattered around the world because of his judgments against their sin.

In this modern age, few people bow down to literal idols, but idolatry is as rampant now as it was in ancient times. Any person, thing or idea that gets in the way of or hinders a person from worshipping and obeying Elohim is an idol to that person. It may be money, sex, drugs, education, power, sports, philosophies, entertainment or pleasure.

The “mountains of Israel” today are largely the Christian nations of the world, which are backslid spiritually.

Typically, YHVH raises up Israel’s enemies to punish his backslid people in hopes they will repent of their sinful ways and return to him. The biblical Edom (or the jihadist Moslems) are YHVH’s end times paddle by which he is spanking his wayward people.

So what are the high places of the Christian nations where their idols are located that Edom is attacking resulting in slain corpses being strewn about? Think of the places where Edom has been detonating bombs and spraying bullets in their attempts to massacre the “people of the book” (as the Koran calls them), who are the Jews and the Christians. The West’s high places of idol worship include sports arenas and sporting events, Christmas parties, schools, night clubs, “gay” night clubs, financial centers, churches and other places of religious activity, places of governmental authority and military installations to name a few. All these high places where idolatry occurs represent the gods and idolatrous concepts of post-Christian Israelites who have rejected Elohim for their idols.

These are YHVH’s judgments upon his people to bring them to repentance.

 

Ezekiel 37, Matthew 24, Revelation 6–7: Putting Pieces of the Prophetic Puzzle Together

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Ezekiel 37 Explained: On Bones, Earthquakes, Wind, Angels, Revival and the Second Coming

Ezekiel 37, The Reunification of Israel and The Return of the Messiah. Before we start studying this passage, let’s identify and define the key players who are mentioned in Ezekiel 37. They are:

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  • Judah: This name refers to both the tribe of Judah and to the southern kingdom. Scriptural context will determine which is meant.
  • Children of Israel: This term is found 603 times in the Scriptures and is used 472 times from Genesis through Second Samuel in obvious reference to the united kingdom (prior to the split of the northern ten tribes from the southern two tribes [in addition to the Levites]). There are times, however, when, after the division of the kingdom, this term refers specifically to either the kingdom of Israel (i.e., the northern kingdom) or the kingdom of Judah (i.e., the southern kingdom), but not to both (e.g. in reference to the southern kingdom only see 1 Kgs 18:20; 19:10, 14; 20:15,  27,  29; and in reference to the northern kingdom only see 2 Kgs 17:7,  8,  9,  22,  24).
  • Joseph: He was the eleventh son of Jacob and the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, who fathered two tribes of their own (i.e., the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh). These two tribes took the place of what might otherwise have been known as the “tribe of Joseph.”
  • Ephraim: This name is used 180 times in the Tanakh (Old Testament) and is referring to this specific Israelite tribe or as a metaphor for the northern kingdom of which the tribe of Ephraim was the leading and largest tribe (Isa 7:9, 17; 9:9; 11:13; Ezek 37:19; Hos 4:17; 5:12,  13,  14; 6:4; 7:1; 10:11: Zech 9:13). When blessing the two sons of Joseph, Jacob placed his right hand of power and strength upon the head of Ephraim signifying the position of primogeniture for him and his descendants (Gen 48:17).
  • House of Israel: This term is used 146 times in the Scriptures. Prior to the division of the united kingdom after the death of Solomon, this phrase referred to all twelve tribes of Israel. Afterwards (during the time of the prophets) it was used in contradistinction to the phrase “house of Judah” in reference to the northern kingdom. In the Testimony of Yeshua (the NT), Yeshua makes reference to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 10:6; 15:54). In some references in the Testimony of Yeshua, this term refers to all twelve tribes of Israel (Acts 2:36; 7:42; Heb 8:10), while in some biblical passages it refers to just the northern kingdom (Heb 8:8). The context of the passage of the scriptures surrounding this phrase determines its meaning.
  • Mountains of Israel: This is a poetic metaphor referring to the twelve tribes of Israel (Ezek 34:13, 14; 36:1,  4,  8; 37).

Ezekiel 37:1–14, The vision of the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel 37 continues where chapter 36 left off by giving us two prophetic visions focusing on the (spiritual) rebirth and reunification of the nation of Israel. The first part of the chapter recounts Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, while the second half of the chapter is his vision of two sticks or trees being reunited and becoming one tree.

Both prophetic visions concern the same people: the whole house of Israel comprised of Continue reading →

 

Failure to keep YHVH’s sabbaths — NOT okay with Him!

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Ezekiel 20:12, 13, 16, 20, My Sabbaths. YHVH cites Israel’s failure to keep his sabbaths as a prime reason for the older generation’s not entering the Promised Land. Judah’s not keeping the land sabbaths determined the length of her captivity in Babylon; namely, 70 years. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews brings up the Sabbath issue in chapter four of that book. What is the connection between keeping YHVH’s sabbaths and entering the spiritual rest of his Promised Land? (Read Heb 4:1–11.)

The Sabbath was the eternal sign between YHVH and his people, and it was one of the first Torah laws YHVH called upon Israel to practice. As noted, the failure of YHVH’s people to keep his sabbaths prevented the Israelites from going forward into their spiritual destiny.

Likewise, the fourth or Sabbath commandment of the Ten Commandments is the only one of the ten where YHVH instructs his people to “remember” it implying that they would eventually forget to keep his Sabbaths. History records that the Sabbath was the first so-called Jewish law that the early church left replacing it with Sunday (in the second century a.d.). In the modern Hebrew Roots Movement, YHVH’s people are beginning to leave the non-biblical religious traditions of men by returning to a more true-to-Scripture spiritual walk (a fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy about the heart of the children being turned back to their fathers in the end days in preparation for Messiah’s arrival [Mal 4:4–6]).

How prominently does the Sabbath figure in the lives of those believers who are returning to the Hebrew roots of their Christian faith? How significant is this prophetically? Is history repeating itself in reverse? Instead of YHVH’s people leaving the Sabbath, they are returning to it. The keeping of the Sabbath is an acknowledgment of YHVH’s sovereignty as the Creator of all, and of his sovereignty over our time, work and lives. Keeping the Sabbath is a direct assault on idolatry, materialism, selfishness, rebellion, and assimilation into the surrounding pagan culture that occurred when Israel forsook the Sabbaths of YHVH. Notice how Ezekiel ties the idolatry, rebellion and general apostasy of Israel with her desecration of YHVH’s Sabbaths. What was Israel’s heart condition that caused her to rebel against this commandment of YHVH? What are the excuses used by many today in order to justify themselves in desecrating YHVH’s Sabbaths?

In Ezekiel 20, we see that YHVH’s feasts (or sabbaths) are a covenantal sign between YHVH and his people (Ezek 20:12) that they were to live by (Ezek 20:11), yet which Israel, in rebellion, refused to do while in the wilderness. Instead they defiled his sabbaths by, presumably, not doing them and doing other things on those holy days (Ezek 20:13). Israel’s rebellion against YHVH with regard to their refusal to keep his sabbaths brought upon them YHVH’s judgments (Ezek 20:13). In other words, it was YHVH’s will for the Israelites to keep his sabbaths in the wilderness, but because of their idolatrous rebellion, they refused to do so.  In fact, YHVH calls refusing to observe his sabbaths idolatry and for this sin (along with other sins), the Israelites had to wander in the wilderness for forty years (Ezek 20:15–16). In profaning his sabbaths, YHVH accuses the Israelites of despising his Torah (Ezek 20:16). YHVH then goes on to urge his people to not follow the example of their rebellious forefathers, but rather to walk in all of his Torah commands (including his sabbaths, Ezek 20:18–20). Because of their profaning his sabbaths, he punished them by scattering them in exile among the heathens. Those modern saints who refuse to keep YHVH’s Sabbath and feasts are walking in the same sin as the ancient Israelites. Often people who refuse to keep YHVH’s  feast days holy do so because the feasts conflict with their secular activities (such as their jobs). YHVH calls this idolatry and being like the heathen (Ezek 20:30, 32). In the end times, YHVH is going to separate his people out from the heathen and bring them back into covenantal agreement with him including obedience to his sabbaths (Ezek 20:33–38). He will purge from his people those rebels who refuse to obey him including keeping his sabbaths (Ezek 20:38), which are a sign of his covenantal relationship with them.

 

The Two Sticks Prophecy Yet to Be Fulfilled

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Ezekiel 37:14–28, The vision of the two sticks (trees). The second vision Ezekiel records in chapter 37 involves YHVH commanding him to take two sticks (or trees) and writing upon one stick “for Judah and for the children of Israel and his companions [i.e., those who have knit themselves together with or joined to the tribe of Judah],” and upon the other stick, write “for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel and his companions.” Ezekiel was to told to then join the two sticks together, so that they would become one stick (or tree) in his hand (verses 15–17).

One Stick in His Hand

Image courtesy of messianicisrael.com

How were these two nations, which separated from each other some three thousand years ago, to be rejoined into one nation? That has been the subject of much debate between both Jewish and Christian commentators for years. Some modern historical revisionists view this prophecy as having been fulfilled when the Jews returned to the land of Israel in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah after their Babylonian captivity ended. But this interpretation leaves some unanswered questions. The book of Ezra, which chronicles the return of a remnant of Jews from Babylon to the land of Israel, lists the numbers and tribes of those who returned. All the tribes listed were originally from Jerusalem and Judah and were from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Ezra 2:1; 4:1; 10:9), and there is no mention made that any of the ten northern Israelite tribes joined the Jews in resettling the land of Israel. So far as the returning Jews were concerned, it is likely that they considered their northern brothers lost and assimilated among their Assyrian captors and that only they were left of all the twelve tribes to resettle the Promised Land after their captivity. If this were so, Continue reading →