A Teaching About the End From God through His Prophet Ezekiel

[Davy]

I'd like to bring to the attention of my brethren in Christ here a teaching from God regarding the end of this world given through His prophet Ezekiel. It is about the time just prior to last day, which means great tribulation timing. Some folks wrongly taught may have a difficult time grasping that not all prophecy in God's Old Testament prophets has been fulfilled yet today. The reality behind that is how many Churches only keep their focus in The New Testament, mainly in The Four Gospels. Yet we are now in a time very near the 'end' when certain prophecies are going to be fulfilled, and they will affect all of us, believer and non-believer alike. This is one of them from the Book of Ezekiel. And I'm going to cover it chapter by chapter, line upon line from Ezekiel 8 and Ezekiel 9 mainly. Read it, don't read it, it's up to you. But do verify in the Bible Scriptures for yourself.

This may take multiple posts, so be forewarned. I'll try to be as short as possible, but I won't skimp when something is especially linked to prophecy given in The New Testament about the end of this world.

Ezek 8:1-5
8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of His loins even downward, fire; and from His loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.

If you recall Apostle John in Revelation 1 saying he was in The Spirit on the Lord's day, this is similar to what happened to Ezekiel. God gave Ezekiel visions of the future. Ezekiel even had similar visions to what he had in Ezekiel 1 with seeing God's throne upon one of the winged creatures in Ezekiel 1 that had that "colour of amber".

3 And He put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

Ezekiel was in the Babylonian captivity to Babylon. That captivity was about the Jews of the southern kingdom, the "house of Judah", which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon had done to the Jews, conquering Jerusalem, destroyed it and the temple, and taking the Jews of the southern kingdom of Judah captive to Babylon for seventy years. The ten northern tribe kingdom of Israel, also called the "house of Israel", had already been taken captive by the kings of Assyria about 120 years prior to Judah's captivity. The ten tribes never returned to the holy land, even as it still is to this day. God had made Ezekiel a prophet to the ten tribe "house of Israel" (per Ezekiel 3).

4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
5 Then said He unto me, "Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north." So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
KJV

God took Ezekiel (by vision) to a view of the temple in Jerusalem, towards the north. And there was this "image of jealousy" in the entry, which means an IDOL in false worship. In case you are not aware, the Daniel prophecy that Lord Jesus quoted in His Olivet discourse signs of the end with the "abomination of desolation", is about this "image of jealousy" Ezekiel was given to see here by vision. It is called an "image of jealousy" because God said He is a jealous God; He doesn't like His people turning away from Him to worship false gods that are no gods (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14, etc.).

Ezek 8:6
6 He said furthermore unto me, "Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations."
KJV

God is like saying, "You see what these backsliders of the ten scattered tribes of Israel do here at My sanctuary? Hey, but Ezekiel, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Turn again and look, and you'll see even greater abominations they do here in My sanctuary."

What sanctuary would that be? How many have actually read what Apostle Paul showed in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 about the "man of sin" (Antichrist), at the end of this world, coming to sit in the "temple of God" and exalt himself in place of God, and over all that is called God, or that is worshiped. The "abomination of desolation" prophecy that Jesus quoted from the Book of Daniel about the end time signs He gave in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, requires a standing Jewish temple in Jerusalem for that prophecy to be fulfilled. And ultra-orthodox Jews in the today's Jerusalem have been collecting materials to rebuild their 3rd temple for several decades now.

Ezek 8:7-10
7 And He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
8 Then said He unto me, "Son of man, dig now in the wall": and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

Ezekiel is still at the temple in his vision God gave him. In the court area, Ezekiel saw a hole in the wall, and God told him to dig in the wall. A door was then revealed, like a secret door. The whole idea is one of things done in secrecy and in hiding, like those there were trying to hide their wicked idol worship from God.

(Continued...)

 

[Davy]

(Continued...)

Ezek. 9 And he said unto me, "Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here."

10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
KJV

Images of creeping beasts, abominable beast images, and idol images portrayed upon the wall inside. And God is pointing specifically to the "house of Israel" in that. At this point in Israel's history with this time of Ezekiel, it is very important to understand just who... that "house of Israel" represented when Ezekiel was given this vision.

Back in Solomon's day, because he allowed his many foreign wives to bring in their idols among the children of Israel, God split the old kingdom of Israel into two separate kingdoms. One kingdom remained at Jerusalem-Judea and Solomon's son of the house of David reigned over it, called the "kingdom of Judah", or "house of Judah". They were made up only of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, and a small remnant out of the northern ten tribes. The larger portions of the children of Israel in the northern land, with ten tribes, God gave one of the tribe of Ephraim to reign as king over the "kingdom of Israel", or "house of Israel". (See 1 Kings 11 forward).

By the time of Ezekiel going into captivity with his brethren of the "house of Judah", or Jews, the ten tribe "house of Israel" had already been taken captive north of Babylon. And God sent Ezekiel to the ten tribes dwelling in the lands north of where he was, to give them the many prophecies in the Book of Ezekiel. I will make this more plain - the ten northern tribes of Israel were scattered first, and would be the founders of the early Christian nations. So when Ezekiel is seeing this vision of God's sanctuary, and false worship being done by the ten northern tribe kingdom called the "house of Israel", it means us, and is for today also.

Ezek 8:11-12
11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

12 Then said He unto me, "Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, 'The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.'"
KJV

Again, don't make the mistake of thinking this applies only to the unbelievers of the house of Judah, the Jews. By this time God had already split old Israel into the two separate kingdoms long before. Because He is pointing especially to the ten tribe "house of Israel" that was scattered first, and here in connection with His sanctuary in Jerusalem, it is pointing to the future 3rd temple today's orthodox Jews are preparing to build in Jerusalem. This reveals many of today's Churches are going to be deceived at the end along with unbelieving Judah. But by whom? By the coming of that "man of sin" Apostle Paul and Lord Jesus warned us about for the end (See 2 Thessalonians 2 and Matthew 24:23-26).

Ezek 8:13-14
13 He said also unto me, "Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do."

14 Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
KJV

Tammuz was an idol representing animal and vegetable life. It was a an idol of ancient Phoenicia and Babylonia.

Ezek 8:15-16
15 Then said He unto me, "Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these."

16 And He brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
KJV

They had turned away from recognizing The LORD's place at the temple towards the sides of the north, and instead faced the east towards the sun in worship, like Oriental paganism in the Far East does.

Ezek 8:17-18
17 Then He said unto me, "Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

That idea, "they put the branch to their nose", refers to the Asherah, which was from a branch of a tree shaped into an idol and worshiped.

18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them."
KJV

The next Ezekiel 9 Chapter will reveal what God is going to do about all this, which will reveal what timing this prophecy is about.

 

[Davy]

(Continued...)

Ezekiel Chapter 9

Ezek 9:1-4
1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, "Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand."

2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.

3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;

4 And the LORD said unto him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
KJV

These six men, most likely are angels. God then told the man clothed with linen that had the inkhorn, to go put a "mark" upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry because of the abominations that both the "house of Judah" and the "house of Israel" do at Jerusalem, at the end of this world.

Where have we read about that 'mark' in The New Testament? And who would be sighing and crying because of the abominations? It is in Revelation 9, and that "mark" refers to God's mark of His elect servants at the end of this world. The Hebrew word there for "mark" is Tav, which is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in ancient Hebrew characters was written in the shape of an X, a cross. I believe beyond a doubt it represents Christ's cross that all believers on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are marked and 'sealed' with, in the invisible world.

Ezek 9:5-6
5 And to the others He said in mine hearing, "Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:

6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
KJV

Where in The New Testament have we heard that on the day of Christ's future return, Judgment will begin at God's House, the Church?

From Apostle Peter...

1 Peter 4:17-19
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
KJV

That gives weight that this Ezekiel 9 event of the six angels smiting those who are not... sealed with God's "mark", shows this Ezekiel 8 & 9 prophecy is actually about the END of this world.