Perhaps the most well-known verse concerning the Mark of the Beast can be found in the Book of Revelation 13:16 which reads,

And he causeth all , both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or a mark in their forehead. Now God didn’t mention anything about the right hand now did he? Interesting it is in the right hand to begin with, what about left handed people all of a sudden they don’t count to Satan? Well for one thing a majority of us are right handed and on top of that it seems some studies have been done to indicate most of us have a higher degree of functionality with the right hand over the left hand. The mark or Satan’s seal is also in the forehead and it is not clear why there is an option or how that is going to break down, the forehead or the right hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We do know Satan wants everyone to get the mark and he does cause everyone to get it, just about. If you don’t you can’t buy or sell and chances are you will be put to death as well. So we know the Antichrist (Satan’s puppet) is going to force the issue and will force this to happen against the will of many. Now this being said, many want to know whether someone who is a born again Christian can accidentally take the Mark of the Beast? The answer I believe is no, and the reason is because of what we covered already.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One cannot serve two masters; one cannot have the seal of God and the seal of the Devil at the same time. If one is sealed by God, they are sealed forever. If one takes the Mark of the Beast it is also forever, these are eternal consequences we are talking about not a wash off tattoo. God will protect his elect from the Devil if they remain pure of heart (a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not reject).

Satan doesn’t care if you get his Mark on your forehead or on your right hand. As long as he makes sure that you get it, that’s all he cares about. The word used is causes in the King James Version, as in he causes everyone to get the mark and because he causes everyone to get it, we know he’s going to force it to happen. So what are the consequences for taking this satanic mark? Revelation 13:17 goes on to say And no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. So what has preoccupied so many minds forever is guessing who the Antichrist is.

We will not get involved in that as scripture has made it known what to look for and how to identify this son of perdition. So Presidents, Popes, People of Royalty and government officials have all been listed as probable candidates for being the Antichrist in the past few years, especially if they can get their name to add up to 666.

Santa Claus adds up to 666 apparently but is that the Antichrist? Perhaps we can all agree that the concept of Santa is Antichrist for sure, as it steals the glory of what Yeshua did on the cross for all of us to grants us salvation in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No we can safely say that a fictional character called Santa Clause is not the Antichrist, but it is of the Antichrist spirit which there are many of, may we add. Still, there have been many Antichrists that have come into the World and it will stay that way until Christ returns and does away with the evil that has saturated this planet with the ways of Satan. People seem to put their hope in anyone but God, Almighty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There always have been so many and there always will be until the Lord comes back to set things right once and for all. So we know scripture makes it pretty clear that you can’t buy or sell without this mark, it works similar to a bar code in that you must have it on you every moment to be identified. Every move you make will be known, every transaction as well will be monitored. You will be a citizen of the Brave New World that Aldous Huxley wrote about in the novel of the same name. This is why so many have claimed that the RFID chip has come along way in technology and imbedding it under the skin has been happening in a lot of countries.

 

It started first with pets and now with humans for the past few years’ time. Is the RFID chip the Mark of the Beast? We cannot know for sure, but getting it does not sound like a good idea just the same. The Mark will contain the name of the Beast or his Number. Interesting that it is one or the other, the name or the number. Many have tried to imply the name has to add up to the number 666 and that would make sense. However that being said, something so obvious that almost anyone could figure out in advance seems to defy the idea that so many people could be so oblivious and deceived into taking a mark of a name of someone that spells out to 666.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a much more severe consequence however waiting for those that have taken the Mark of the Beast and this consequence is reserved for what God is going to do about it. In Revelation 14: 9, The third angel warns with a loud voice that if any man worships the beast and his image and receives the mark of the beast in his forehead or his hand, the same will drink from the cup of God’s wrath. In contrast we see God’s saints who have kept God’s commandments and had faith in Jesus the Lord and have had victory over Satan’s Antichrist. his mark and the number of his name.

Revelation 20: 4 John’s vision on the island of Patmos continues,

he sees the thrones and those that sat on them.

John sees the judgment to follow.

John sees the souls of those that were beheaded for their witness of Jesus and the word of God. These were the ones who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, nor received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

There is one thing that needs to be clarified here; a few details that once added may make more sense to those foreign to it. Did you know that some Jews wear what is called a head Tefillin? This is called a shelrosh in Hebrew, and it is a small black leather box that contains scrolls of parchment containing verses from the Torah (the 5 books of Moses).

Now why do Jews wear them? They wear them during weekday morning prayer. Jews got the ideas from reading the Talmud which is the oral tradition of Rabbinical Judaism and from the following verses in the Book of Exodus 13: 9, 16 where God talks about there being a sign in your hand (this could be where Satan is getting the hand idea) and for a memorial between your eyes.

Exodus 13:16 continues with this theme, saying that it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt. You can find more of the same in Deuteronomy 6:6 and 11:18 mentions almost the exact same thing as well. So there is a strong connection between the hand and forehead here. It is interesting that Jews strap or bind these Tefillins to their foreheads as the word bind implies control, reinforcement, restraint as in God restraining our iniquity. God’s seal is in part the knowledge of God and the beginning of wisdom that is kept in us and it is stored in our thoughts (our forehead). The hand reference signifies action and one can say God controls our thoughts and ultimately our actions. This combination of both hand and forehead is a form of reverent worship and bringing our bodies into obedience to the Lord God.

Now as we return back to the Mark of the Beast study, does it now make more sense to see why Satan would have his counterfeit mark, in either the hand or the forehead? I think it does make more sense. He desires to make a mockery out of God’s holiness and a mockery out of those trying to faithfully worship Yeshua. So there you have it, you have 2 seals, 2 marks one of God and one of the god of this world, Satan. One seal represents godliness, reverence, faithfulness, humility and allegiance to Yahweh. The other seal is blind allegiance to the Father of Lies, that old Serpent, the Devil himself, the beast Satan.
Will Satan’s seal be a literal one or a spiritual one? The mark does cause one without it to not be able to buy or sell, so many do think it is the RFID chip.

Seven Day Adventists think that church goers worship the Beast and take his mark every time they go to church on Sundays because it is a sanction they say of the Roman Catholic Church and Pope mandated plus many think the Pope is the False Prophet spoken of in the Book of Revelation. 

The Lord is the Lord of the Sabbath remember. So there are many interpretations of what the Mark of the Beast is and who the Antichrist and False Prophets are and so on and so on. Much of this is speculation just as trying to figure out when the day the Great Tribulation will begin. No man may know the hour save the Father; we may know the signs to indicate that we are near, but not the exact hour or exact day.

So we leave you with this, what does God say? It does not matter what we say, or even you say. What does God say in his word? Pray for clarity, pray for reasoning and pray most of all for discernment. Rather than being concerned about whether a microchip will be imbedded under your skin of your hand or your forehead, concentrate on getting right with God. Trust God and have faith. God will then give you the strength and wisdom to put off the wiles of the devil.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
He will indeed flee from you. God through his Holy Word has promised it.
Coming up next…

 

Mystery # 4: Ichabod : The Glory is departed 

Ezekiel 10:18 Then the Glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
The Glory of the Lord, the Shekinah Glory, if you remember a while back we covered that in one of our earlier MOB’s in the Book of Exodus 3. At that time we talked about how God was revealing his glory to Moses and the Israelites to build up their faith in him, by displaying his glory in the form of a great cloud,

sometimes a pillar of smoke, a pillar of fire

and sometimes as a burning bush. Interesting how God used the natural elements more often than not when it came to displaying his glory, since he is the creator of the Universe, it makes only sense that he would show his glory by his mastery over his own design, the natural realm.

So in this edition, we will deal with a very important event dealing with the departing of the Glory of the Lord God from his temple, in this edition of MOB. This event took place somewhere between 66 A.D and 69 A.D when the Shekinah Glory

left the Temple and went directly to the Mount of Olives and remained over the top of the mountain for roughly 3 and 1/2 years — from late Spring in 66 A.D to about December of 69 A.D, some eight months before the Temple was actually destroyed by the Romans. It then went back to Heaven and has not yet returned to the Earth and will not be seen again until the Millennial reign of King Jesus. God had been through enough longsuffering with Israel and did not witness any true repentance from the house of Israel to return to the Lord thy God sufficient to stave his judgment, so he let Israel be plundered by its enemies and he sent a message to Israel that he was no longer going to have the glory of his presence on display at the Temple because of their great sins before him. It is interesting that when we look at just how God’s Glory does depart from the temple, we note that it departs in stages and not all at once. It is as if God is trying to show his people what they were losing and in a way what they were taking for granted. This is a theme that we will be running into over and over again in many MOB’s for it is an issue near and dear to the Lord. In the first stage we see the Glory of the Lord went up from the cherubim’s over to the Ark of the Covenant, to the threshold of the temple.

Then in the next stage, the Glory of the Lord stood over the cherubim’s and then headed towards the east gate of the temple. Finally in the last stage, the Glory of the Lord moved towards the Mount of Olives where it dwelt for a while and then eventually returned to its place of divine origin, its Heavenly domain.

As we will refer to in a little bit, we will see that the Glory of the Lord will not return until the Millennial temple is built and prepared for the 1000 years reign of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach. So Ezekiel (as has happened a number of times before for him), gets to see a Vision from God that no one else can be privy to and so it is, he witnesses the Glory of God departing from the temple in stages. At one time, we can see the wonder of God’s Glory on full display, the House of God is filled with the cloud and the court is full of the brightness of the Lord’s Glory.

Even the sound of the cherubims wings could be heard even in the outer court. The cherubims come to life. Once again we have a description of the cherubims, the wings, the four faces and the wheels all very similar to Ezekiel’s first vision when God called him into the prophetic ministry. The wings and the wheels were full of eyes, exactly like the original vision that God gave Ezekiel.

Ezekiel is convinced that this is the same living creature that he originally saw by the river of Chebar. It was then that this living angelic creature, the cherubims, the wheels and wings mounted up that the Glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the House of the Lord. At this point and time, the Glory of the Lord now stood over the cherubims. The cherubims lifted up their wings and rose upwards; every cherubim resided at a door at the east gate of the Lord’s House.

The Glory of the Lord remained above them. Again Ezekiel is sure that this is the same living creature that he saw at the river of Chebar for he remembered the appearance of the cherubims. From the east gate the Glory of the Lord moved towards the Mount of Olives (the same place where Jesus gave one of his most well-known dissertations, the Sermon on the Mount). Speculation as to how long the Glory of the Lord actually stayed there before returning to the Heavenlies is just that speculation for there were no known recorded eye witnesses on that mountain during this time to have made a record of it.

In any case, as part of the judgment Israel would face from God, for its lack of repentance, God decided it was time to remove his Glory from the Temple. It was assign that Israel would not go unpunished for its defiant and rebellious ways. What we do know is how God’s Glory would fill the temple again in the future and when that would happen. In Ezekiel 43:2 we read And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. So in this passage, we can clearly read that the Glory of the Lord which departed before Jerusalem’s fall, signified that God’s Judgement upon Israel was now in full swing. When God had redeemed his people and the land of Israel, then and only then, is when the Glory of God would return from the same place it departed, the Mount of Olives. That time would be after the land had been purged of evil and Christ’s Millennial Kingdom would be established. The temple was now free from the evil created by the Abomination of Desolation, the Beast, the Antichrist and his False Prophet and of course Satan. The prophet Ezekiel in his description of what he sees, he also personalizes in a unique fashion in Ezekiel 43 by stating human traits like “his voice” and the “soles of his feet.” Could Ezekiel be addressing God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be in his full glory at his second coming? Once again the Prophet Ezekiel is reminded by the vision of the living creature for a third time, and he is now convinced more than ever it is the exact vision he had at the river Chebar. V.4 reads And the glory of the LORD came into the House by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. From the title of this MOB you see the name of Ichabod,

who was the son of Phineas and the grandson of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh.

The sad story of Eli and his two wayward sons, Phinehas and Hophni, is found in 1 Samuel, chapters 2 and 4. Hophni and Phinehas died in battle with the Philistines

who captured the Ark of the Covenant and took it away from Israel. Upon hearing this terrible news, Eli fell backward off his chair and broke his neck and died.

Phinehas’s pregnant wife went into labor and bore a son. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, ‘The glory has departed from Israel!’ because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, ‘The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured (1 Samuel 4:21–22). Again the Glory of the Lord returns the same way that it departed. The Spirit of God takes Ezekiel up, bringing him to the inner court where once again Ezekiel can see the Glory of the Lord filling the Holy House of God.

God, the Father speaks of his son, the Lord Adonai Yeshua, who will sit upon his rightful throne and he will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.

God is talking about the millennial kingdom that begins the 1000 year reign of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in the New Jerusalem. This is the time when Jew and Gentile will come together to worship the Lord together as one.

So God’s Glory has returned to Jerusalem despite God’s Disappointment with Israel, with its idolatry, adultery, sexual immorality, violence and general evilness including worshiping graven images in the high places. God has forgiven Israel of it’s abominations before him and has allowed his glory to once again return to Israel. For it’s through God’s Grace and mercy and supplication that God forgives all of us of our sins. There can no longer be sacrifices at the temple for the one who has atoned for all of our sins, now sits on the throne of the temple.

Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, were the very words out of the mouth of John the Baptist at the sight of Jesus the Messiah, as he was baptizing people in the River Jordan one day. The sight of Yeshua, the words of praise when we too see God sitting on his rightful throne in his temple, it will be the greatest sight we will ever see, for our eyes will see our very salvation, in all his glory.

Next up…

Mystery # 5 : The Noisome Beasts : The Sore Judgements of God

Ezekiel 14: 15,17,21 If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts: or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, sword go through the land: so that I cut off man and beast from it: For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

So what in the World is a noisome beast anyway and why are we covering it, in this edition of MOB? What is a sore judgement you might also ask. That is just another way of describing a severe judgement from God. Well let’s start with a working definition of what noisome means, for it’s not a word that we would use in contemporary times. Well according to Strong’s Hebrew Concordance the word noisome means “bad, evil, grievous, harmful.”

You get the idea. In other words, a noisome beast is not a good thing at all. Webster’s dictionary concurs this and defines the word noisome as “harmful, dangerous, even disgusting and destructive and unwholesome.” I think you definitely get the picture here by now. The word noisome is not just here in Ezekiel. There is a noisome pestilence in Psalms 91: 3; there is a noisome and grievous sore upon men in Revelation 16:2.

Now in this instance we are talking a literal sore, it goes hand in hand with disease and pestilence as we will see when we get into the 4 Horse Riders of the Apocalypse in a little bit.

Noisome beasts come as part of an overall judgment from God. God sent four sore judgments to Israel as punishment for its sins. This includes a sword (as we have studied already this is a common theme in the Old Testament as a judgment from God and as well a common theme of this website’s MOB’s), the famine, the noisome beasts, which we are covering today and pestilence.

These noisome beasts can be defined as wild animals or evil beasts but as we shall also see there is another type of beast much closer to man then animal that we will discuss as well. This is not the first time that God has sent wild beasts as part of his judgments, we have seen from previous MOB’s where a Lion tore apart a false man of God, Bears have ripped apart rebellious and sinful younger people who mocked a Prophet of God and Poisonous Vipers have run rampant throughout Israel biting and killing everyone in their path. All those killed by these “beasts” were sinful and unrepentant people, no one was killed that had not willfully sinned and was innocent and accidentally slain. With God there are no accidents. In Leviticus 26: 22, God sends wild beasts that will destroy the sinful, their children, their cattle, everything. In Jeremiah 15: 2-3 we see how God will use wild dogs to tear apart the sinful and fowls of the heavens, and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

The 4 sore judgments also parallel that of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as covered in Revelation 6:8.

In fact it is the fourth horseman on the pale horse that ironically has been given power, to kill with a sword,

with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the Earth.

It certainly sounds familiar to the sore judgments of Ezekiel 14: 21 doesn’t it? In this instance God certainly uses noisome beasts and wild animals as part of his judgment. Still another interpretation makes equal sense and that there are many people on the planet today (and have always been in existence) who act like wild and evil beasts. Ecclesiastes 3:18 states, I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

The fourth and final beast that is dreadful and terrible is the very definition of what the word noisome means and is described in Revelation 13:2 as resembling a leopard with feet like a bear, and a mouth like a lion. The Dragon (Satan) has given this beast satanic power.

This is also comparable with Daniel 7: 4-7, which talks again about this beast and the dreadful terrible beast, the 4th beast. In Hosea 13: 7-8, God foretold about these 4 sore judgments that we are now reading about in Ezekiel. We read Therefore I will be unto them as a lion; as a Leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and I will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion; the wild beast shall tear them. These are 4 very distinct sore judgments that are foretold by the Lord and how he plans to carry out his righteous judgments. Ezekiel 14:21 than foreshadows the Four Horseman judgments that come once the 4th seal has been opened and that we read about in Revelation Ch.6. God is consistent with his judgments, so we see these sore judgments coming up again and again throughout the prophetic Word of God.

Perhaps in the mind of some there is a mystery maybe how the noisome beast that is the wild beasts of the World, can fit in as one of the 4 sore judgments of God. We can definitely see how some of the judgments play themselves out such as the sword and weapons of death and destruction as well as the return to barbarism including the return of ancient even medieval death by guillotine as part of capital punishment especially for Christians during the Tribulation time period.

We can see how famines (we have already had this going on for a long, long time in certain parts of the world) as well as pestilence, all seem to make sense as major population reduction processes. You add what the plans of both the Illuminati and the New World Order agendas are to reduce the population by close to 90% (500 million) as decreed on the Georgia Guide stones and to rid the world of “useless eaters” (that is code for basically you and all of us here at MOB). Oh well.. what can you do? We can’t be everyone’s favorite I guess.

So how can these beasts cause that much death on the Earth? It only makes sense if we take the view point that man will act like savage beasts to one another. Man is already slaying one another left and right with reckless abandon.

Man is killing woman, woman is killing man, man and woman is killing child and now we have children killing other children and sometimes even adults.

It doesn’t matter if your kids are in school,

or a school playground, you’re in a church,

or at a movie theater,

a shopping center.

Obvious False Flags aside and there are quite a few over the past 10 plus years (and we are not advocating gun control here) people are really killing one another with everything and anything imaginable. The reality is your life can be taken by a madman or a stray bullet from something you’re not even involved in This is not meant to scare anyone needlessly, but it is to be realistic as to the times we live in. The World is indeed, full of violence as in the days of Noah so shall be the signs of the coming of the Lord.

In the news you will read that the 10 Commandments are being taken down everywhere and yet satanic statutes are being allowed to be erected all over the place.

Satanism is on the rise big time around the World.

Satanists teach that man is really a beast and he should act on his urges and be true to his inner beast self. No wonder why many a satanic ritual held underground often (not always) ends up with a sacrifice of either an animal or sometimes even a human being.

Satanic doctrine is spreading as more and more people move away from God and get deeper into the world of the occult, paganism and the new age.

They then become demon possessed and often act like savage beasts during the times they are possessed.

Their hearts and souls are corrupted by darkness, their minds filled with depravity. The World is becoming more and more obsessed with carnality and sexual sin and is becomes animalistic in its desires in seeking immoral and deviant pleasure.

Think about the way Sodom and Gomorrah was before God destroyed it, really America and other parts of the Western hemisphere resemble it more and more each day. We know God’s Infinite Judgment is approaching.

Remember God did warn us of the consequences of sin.

In Leviticus God warned all those that would listen that he was going to send wild beasts that would rob them of their children destroy their livelihood and then destroy them. Jude 1:10 speaks of the brute beasts as does 2 Peter 2:12 in the New Testament. They are referring to the corruption of man’s civility and not actual wild animals.

Earlier in the Book of Ezekiel 5:17, the Lord told the Prophet Ezekiel that he would send famine and evil beasts as well as the pestilence and the sword. These are the exact same 4 sore judgments of God again. God will eventually rid the land of these evil and corrupt beasts and bring peace once again to the land.

Leviticus 26: 6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. Ezekiel 34: 25 talks about God making a covenant of peace and he promises to make the evil beasts cease, so that man can dwell safely in the wilderness and if desired, to sleep in the woods. Ezekiel 34:28 adds that man will no longer be prey (an interesting choice of words to use and very suitable in discussing noisome beasts) to the heathen. The beasts of the land will no longer devour man; he shall dwell safely and no longer live in fear.
The ultimate beast to overcome and the ultimate noisome beast, would be those that overcome the Mark of the Beast, the Antichrist. God promises he will deal with this beast as well in the Book of Revelation 20:4.

Here in John’s amazing vision of the future, he sees the thrones and those that judged upon them

and he sees the souls of those that were beheaded (by the guillotine) for the witness of Jesus and had not worshiped the beast neither his image, nor received his mark in their foreheads or their right hand.

We covered this very recently if you recall. In Revelation 19: 18-20, this passage refers over and over again to the Antichrist as the beast. It is only fitting in Revelation 20:10 that the devil is thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the Beast (the Antichrist and the False Prophet).

Apart from being let loose from the Abyss where Satan has been trapped for a very short time after the millennial kingdom, the noisome beasts and all the beasts are no more. God has brought the new Heavens and the new Earth into complete tranquility and peace and the noisome beasts and the 4 sore judgments are a thing of the past and God has promised to wipe away all sorrow and pain, so that the former things are passed away.

Lastly God says in the Book of Revelation 22:14 that those who do God’s commandments are blessed that they may have the right to eat of the tree of life, and, may enter in through the gates into the city (the New Jerusalem). Those that won’t make it in, God compares the corrupt sinners who refuse to repent to dogs, these are the sorcerers, the whore mongers, murders, adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, idolaters and those that love to lie. It is interesting that God compares this type of person to a dog, one must suspect he was referring also to a noisome beast.

Next…

Mystery # 6: Two Eagles & A Vine

Ezekiel 17:3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD ; A Great eagle with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
We have been studying The Book of Ezekiel and we have been looking at what God has been showing the Prophet Ezekiel though visions. In this case the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and told him to be prepared to speak a parable to the house of Israel, in order to prepare them for what God was going to do next. In today’s MOB we look at this parable. So before we go any further here, what is a parable anyways you might ask. The word parable comes from the work “parabello” or in Greek parable. A parable is used to give an instructional lesson or principle and is usually a significant comparison between two objects in order to teach something. In this case we have a parable about the Eagles and the Vine. So let’s take a look at what the Lord God is trying to teach the Israelites and us as well.

There was a great eagle, powerful, with big wings full of feathers and all kinds of colors that came from Lebanon.

This eagle took up the highest branch of a cedar tree. He picked up the branch and carried the branch as well as a seed of the land into a busy city.

The seed ended up most likely falling from the eagle’s talons (in flight) and it fell into a field by some water. This seed grew and became a vine and in turn it brought forth branches of its own.

There was still another eagle, much like the first one, also with big wings, many feathers.

This eagle also picked up a seed and planted it in very good soil, by great waters and this seed brought forth not only branches but fruit as well. This was deemed a goodly vine.

The Lord God’s message is to challenge the listener with the question; will the vine still prosper if man plucks the fruit off the vine? Will man leave the vine to wither when the east wind blows it around?

God’s Message is to what he calls a rebellious house of Israel. God is referring to the King of Babylon coming to Jerusalem and taking away all the Kings, Princes and riches with him back to Babylon.

Taken as well was the King’s seed. The King of Israel broke his own covenant with God so that he would do his very best to protect his kingdom but he sold out the covenant to Egypt, for horses and power the Bible says.

It’s partly this treason with God that causes Israel to be put into captivity with Babylon along with its great sin against God.

How was this King to prosper after breaking his covenant with God? He never thought that God would judge him for his betrayal to him. God promises that this very King, who broke his covenant with God, would indeed die in Babylon as part of his judgment from God.

Not even Pharaoh and his mighty army or those going to war could prevent this king from meeting his fate. God promises since the King despised his oath by breaking the covenant with him, he will not escape. God promises to spread his net upon him and that the king will be taken into God’s Snare. God will deal with this King in Babylon as well. All the King’s men will also die and those that remain will be scattered like the wind.  

The Lord God also promises he will take the highest branch of the highest cedar tree and he will break off a branch and plant it upon a high mountain top. This branch will bear much fruit and will be a goodly cedar and under it shall dwell all fowls of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
God has shown that just like the high tree that he brought down (the King of Israel), he has in turn exalted the low tree. The dry tree will now flourish. God shows how sovereign he is. He will not stand for injustice; he will not promote evil in this case slander, bribery and corruption. So here it is, the message for today is this. In the World we live in today, God has let the West enjoy its sinful and decadent lifestyle as well as its excessive wealth

all the while in parts of Africa, Asia, India and many other places around the world, children and families have starved to death by the millions upon millions.

Now God will make the high tree (of the Western World) low and the meek of the dry, barren land and the dry tree, will receive God’s Blessing and be fruitful. The meek shall inherit the earth and the wicked and the unjust and those who refused to live for God’s Righteousness, will be judged and brought down. You, beloved are one of the eagles, are you the one that will simply go through the motions and drop your seed anywhere you desire or will you be the eagle to drop your seed where good fruit can be created? This is very similar to the parable of the mustard seed that Jesus taught his disciples.

It was a parable of course that Yeshua taught and it was very similar to the one covered in Ezekiel 7:3. In Matthew 13: 31-32 Another parable he put forth unto them saying The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field. Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and he becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

So this analogy of the mustard seed contrasts the size of the seed with the great results it will produce. Jesus wanted his disciples to know that while at the time the Kingdom of Heaven seemed so far away to the disciples and it was hard to relate to, soon it would have far reaching effects just like the tree that grows from a mustard seed. So what of you beloved? Do you have faith like a mustard seed that can grow? Are you letting the branch (the Holy Spirit of God) make you fruitful. Good fruit comes from a good tree, since none of us are good, it can only come from the Father, who is good and gives good gifts.
God wants you to be challenged by these parables, so you can reflect and let God show you where you are and where you need to get to in your life and in your walk with Christ. The goal is to get to that mountain top where God will let that fruitful branch grow good fruit.

 

Coming up…

Mystery # 7: The Sword of the LORD

Ezekiel 21: 3 – 5 And say to the land of Israel, thus saith the LORD Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

As you all know on our home page we mention that our trip through the Mysteries of the Bible is actually a trip into the God Breathed Word of God, the Spirit’s Sword. Today we look at that Sword of the Lord in our MOB taken from our continued prophetic look at the Book of Ezekiel.

God speaks through the Prophet Ezekiel warning that he is going to use his sword to separate the wicked from the righteous.

He will use his word as a source of judgment from the south to the north; basically all of Israel will be under judgment. God wants all flesh, that is everyone alive to know that he has drawn his sword out of his sheath and he has no plans to put it back in his sheath.

He is going to use it. So what’s going on here? God on several occasions comes to the Prophet Ezekiel

to let him know he has sharpened his sword and that it is sharpened for slaughter of the sinful and unrepentant. The sword is furbished, so it shall glitter and that it can be handled. In other words it is ready to be used.

God says that judgment will be upon all people, even to the Princes of Israel, the sword is upon the people. The third occasion that God calls Ezekiel to prophesy the news of the sword; he refers to it as the sword of the slain. God says he set the point of the sword against all their gates so that the Israelites would be in fear and that the ruins that they’ll face will be great. God calls it a slaughter. For it’s God’s Fury and God’s Judgment that is happening here.

In V.28 God says to all of Israel’s enemies, that the sword is drawn and furbished in preparation of the slaughter. In V.30 God asks Shall I cause it (the sword) to return into his sheath? God is clearly judging Israel. God is pouring out his indignation and the fire of his wrath is upon the land of Israel.

For great have been the sins of Jerusalem and Israel as a whole. Israel has caused many abominations of sins, from idolatry, adultery and sexual immorality of all sorts, murder and every sinful action imaginable.

You can read about all of Israel’s sins in Ezekiel ch.22, to see just why God is so angry that he has pulled his sword out of his sheath and plans to use it on Israel. There are many places especially in the Old Testament where the Sword of the Lord is addressed. We have covered a number of MOB’s where the angel of the Lord has had a sword and often it was for the purpose of handing down judgment on wicked and rebellious individuals, groups and even nations. Isaiah 66:11 reads For by the fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

It’s important, we believe on this website that God’s Holiness is emphasized and consequently, we often mention the need to be sober and to take God seriously and certainly, never for granted. For the time will come when everyone on the earth will be able to testify to God’s righteousness.
In Revelation 19:15, Jesus himself returns just prior to the final annihilation about to take place in the Valley of Megiddo (the Valley of Decision) at Armageddon. Out of the Lord’s mouth will go forth a sharp sword that will smite the nations.

The Lord will rule all the nations with a rod of iron and he will tread the winepress of fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.

That day is coming, Israel took the Lord for granted and paid during the time of Ezekiel. Today, a good part of the World is taking God for granted again, some scoffers even think he is dead,

some think he never existed,

others blame God for everything that is wrong in the World instead of realizing the fallen state of the World and many just try to mock God by the way they live their lives, contrary to God’s words and commandments.

Today’s World is taking God for granted again just as before and the Lord will be taking the sheath out once again, but this time the sharp sword will come from the Lord’s Mouth.

It’s time to get right with God and repent before it’s too late and avoid his wrath and embrace his love and forgiveness of your sin and experience the power of redemption through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection on the cross of Calvary beloved.
Next..

Mystery # 8 : The Boiling Pot of Scum

Ezekiel 24: 6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it: bring it out piece by piece: let no lot fall upon it. Here in the 24th chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, we come across another parable that the Word of the Lord has given Ezekiel to tell the people about. Every time the Lord has a word for Ezekiel it is not for the sake of Ezekiel, it is instead for the sake of the nation of Israel. This parable has to deal with the Boiling Pot of Scum in this edition of M.O.B. It was during a time when the King of Babylon was laying siege to Jerusalem and he had every intention of not just conquering it but destroying it as well.

The boiling pot of scum becomes a symbol for what has happened to Jerusalem. For the flesh that was boiling on the pot over the fire, had given away to scum and filthiness. It is the filthiness of sin that we are addressing here. Jerusalem is described as a rebellious house and it’s no coincidence that God is taking away the protection of the city and letting the King of Babylon have his way with the City.

So the Lord says, set the pot in its place, turn the heat on, and pour water into it. Grab the good meat and the choice of the flock, boil it well and cook the meat down to the bone. For God refers to Jerusalem as the bloody city and it has become like the pot of scum residue that is left after all the water and meat and have been cooked down.

The scum remains you cannot get rid of it, for the scum is representative of sin. The sin is like blood dripping from the wound of Jerusalem. God will not let Israel cover her sins up, he wants the sins exposed. Dust cannot cover up the blood; a rock cannot cover up the blood.

God says woe to the bloody and sinful city of Jerusalem. The recipe for disaster is to carry on in sin and the recipe as follows can be found in Ezekiel 24:11, Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spite it well, and let the bones be burned. Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it maybe hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, and that the scum of it may be consumed. So God is saying to Jerusalem, if you want to sin and will not repent, then here is your boiling pot of scum and filthiness that you created from your sinful and wicked ways.

We find out Jerusalem and the people of it, have lied and denied their lack of faith in following God and have even wearied themselves with their lies and the scum and sin of Jerusalem’s degradation will burn in fire and judgement. The filthiness is described as lewdness. God promises that despite previous attempts to purge sin from Israel, Israel never repented and now God promises he will not purge the filthiness from Jerusalem until it first experiences God’s Fury and anger.

 

The Lord spoke that his judgement would come to pass and he will not repent (change his mind) about it for everyone will be judged according to their ways. Where have we heard this before beloved? How about Revelation 20:13 which states And the sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged everyman according to their works.

Yes this in the final Judgment Day and yes it is the day when Christ the Lord sits on his Great White Throne and the Book of Life is opened up and all will be judged by the works that they have done. Everyone not found written in the Book of life will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

How similar is the Pot of Boiling Scum and the Lake of Fire? Perhaps one can argue that the Pot of Boling Scum did not put an end to Jerusalem whereas the Lake of Fire is indeed the Second death, and that is the death that separates you once and for all from the sovereign hand of God. The one common element is that both are examples of God’s Fury and God’s Will to exercise his righteousness upon the filthiness and scum of the boiling pot, not only of Jerusalem, but of all humanity.

God will purge the scum and filthiness out of that pot and God will purge the sins and evil ways of man from the Earth as well. In the Book of Revelation 22:11 we read He that is unjust, let him be unjust still and he which is filthy, let him be filthy, still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. At that time, the hour of redemption is over and there is no second chance to repent after that or get right with God, the age of grace is over and the window is now closed. There is no additional rapture coming to rescue you from the wrath to come and no additional time to get right with God.

 

And why you might ask is this important to take note of because in Revelation 22 V.12, And behold I come quickly: and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. The Lord’s Reward is with him and he comes quickly and soon enough all that we have either done or not done in his name (not works per salvation but works upon redemption as part of the sanctification process) will be out in the open once and for all. For those of you who know the Lord or say that you do, what have you done with the knowledge and the good news of the salvation, through Christ and Christ alone, beloved?

Next…

Mystery # 9 : Beware of the once anointed cherub (Lucifer/ Satan)

Let’s get into the scripture right away in this very important edition of MOB. Ezekiel 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God: thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

What starts as a prophetic scriptural passage about an earthly ruler (the King of Tyre).

Changes to what is called an oracle (a message from God Almighty) to the Prophet Ezekiel

concerning the once anointed cherub formerly known as Lucifer, now called Satan. So let’s backup a verse to a very revealing V.13 this is where the transition changes from a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus to the one who was in the Garden of Eden.

Well who was in the Garden? if you can recall the Book of Genesis, there was Adam and Eve of course,

and God the Father was there and the Lord Yeshua as well. And of course, the villain of villains, that old Serpent himself, the Devil, Satan

carefully masquerading and fittingly so as a snake.

The description in V.13 mentions that this individual was in the Garden of Eden, but was nothing like the serpent described in the Book of Genesis concerning the Garden of Eden which seems to physically describe a physical manifestation of an actual snake. In fact this creation of God was covered with precious stones of all sorts, including diamonds and sapphire, emerald and gold. How bright and shiny indeed was this individual.

This is nothing resembling some lowly slithering serpentine creature writhing around on its cold blooded belly.

This individual had stringed instruments and pipes that it played; a master musician if there ever was one. Who is this magnificent creation?

Why it was none other than Lucifer, created to give God glory.

We use the past tense in the strongest sense in the last sentence because as we know, Lucifer had a great fall from the Heavenlies.

It was both a symbolic fall in pride, in position, in spirit and in destiny and a literal fall from the Heavenlies at least the 2nd and 3rd Heaven. There is enough sound doctrine to believe Satan has access still to the first heaven (the sky and space). In time, there will be a war in the Heavenlies to come, Michael the Archangel will stand up and Satan will be permanently cast out of all of Heaven unto the Earth where he will cause great havoc.

Lucifer was indeed the anointed cherub, the light bearer. This is why the Illuminati, the Illuminated ones and the Masons worship Lucifer, they think he is the light therefore he is good and worthy to be worshiped.

In reality he is Satan and he is pure evil and there is nothing redemptive in him. God had even blessed Lucifer and he even resided on God’s Holy Mountain and he had the ability to walk on stones of fire at one time. God had given Lucifer much power and ranking, head and heels above Gabriel, the head Messenger Angel and quite possibly even over Michael the Arch Angel, God’s Warrior angel.

To God, Lucifer was almost perfect in every way, except as we would soon discover, he was susceptible to pride and he ultimately let the iniquity of sin overtake him. You see the one thing God did for all of his living creations, besides man having free will he also gave the angels freewill, as he wanted them to desire to worship and honor him, not by force but freely out of their own will. Somewhere down the line, Lucifer could not deal with how much God had built him up and became “puffed up” and grew an enormous ego and became the ultimate narcissist, totally in love with himself. His love for God withdrew and was replaced by vain jealousy, loathing, pride, arrogance and blind seething hatred and contempt for the things of God.

Sin indeed gave way to evil thoughts and deeds and Lucifer (soon to be known as Satan) was responsible for all of it or certainly provoking it. God promised to cast Lucifer from his holy Mountain. God desired to even destroy Lucifer by the very stones of fire that he had walked on just a short time before, as a just judgment. We are told why this happened in the first place. God says Lucifer just loved himself too much, he was in love with his own beauty, he lost all manner of reason and wisdom as he succumbed to conceit, jealousy and pride.

 

He forgot who created him and why he was created, to give God glory, not himself. It sounds just like Satanism doesn’t it? Well we know who the Father of Lies is, and we know who created Satanism of course. So God desired to bring Lucifer low, down to the ground, just like a snake on its belly (funny how that is exactly what he appeared in the Garden of Eden as a snake in a tree – perhaps as just punishment).

Satan also has the ability to shape shift as do certain of his legion of demons but we will save that for another time.

God wanted Lucifer to be subject to Kings and rulers of the Earth, to be put in his place and be subordinate to them on Earth since that would be his new home. With all of Lucifer’s sins he had defiled the sanctuaries that God set up for him to be worshiped in.

God promised to bring a fire that will eventually consume and devour Satan. Satan loves to defile God’s sanctuaries and he will do so in the Holy of Holies- God’s Temple, and set up the Abomination of Desolation when Antichrist (his false satanic counterfeit Christ) appears on the scene. The passages in Ezekiel dealing with God’s punishment of Satan echoes that of the Book of Revelation and how he will be thrust into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. God promises he will take the ashes of Satan and cast them off into the Earth. All those that had some type of experience with Satan, will see his defeat. All those that worshiped him over God will become terrified at how powerless their “god” now appears.

All those that were terrified of Satan at one time, will now see him defeated and vanquished by God. Satan will not be able to make his presence known anymore save a tiny little rebellion at the end of the millennial kingdom just before he is permanently dumped into the Lake of Fire where he can join his cronies, the Antichrist and the False Prophet who were already cast into the Lake after Yeshua came back to set things right.

So what can we learn from this prophetic scriptural passage? Simply put for one thing, pride comes before a fall. If an anointed cherub like Lucifer can fall, how easy can man fall? Much, much easier, even without all the vanity of Lucifer, man’s sinful nature and pride of life is reason enough to be a stumbling block to our salvation. On a spiritual level, simply put, many will be deceived by Satan’s false light. The Bible is clear, woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

 

One of Satan’s greatest tasks is to blur those lines between evil and good and get it twisted enough that it becomes backwards to what God’s Original intentions were. If God chooses right for example, Satan’s intents are to make you go left, it’s just that he will make it appear you’re going right but you’re really slowly turning left and not even knowing it. So too will false teachers and false prophets (who are doing Satan’s work) sprinkle in enough scriptural truth that the small twists and lies are mixed in so deceptively so that the biblically illiterate and half asleep apostate church will not catch it and will succumb to Satan’s will over time. What the World wants from Christians is what they call tolerance, but that is another name for compromise and that is not acceptable to a just and holy God. To hate sin (not the sinner) to the World is a hate crime these days!

The Word of God even tells you to beware that Satan will come as a bearer of the light; and it’s his age old trick that he has mastered forever. 2 Corinthians 11: 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

The lies that many have bought and have been conditioned purposely to accept for a great deception to come, is the lie that Satan is red and has horns and a pitchfork and when you see that character there is your Satan.

Where beloved does the Bible describe Satan like that? Name just one place. You can’t because it is nowhere to be found in the Bible. It is something fostered over time and perpetrated by deliberate powers to be that way when you to think of the devil. For when the false messiah comes that looks like the one you see on all the bibles and other graven images of the long, brown haired brown bearded blue eyed Jesus (an odd sort of Europeanism look for a Jew born in Bethlehem is it not?) doing all signs of lying wonders guess what many will be deceived.

And we mean Many. It is quite possible this bogus messiah will even be pitched as the savior of the World who comes from another planet, even outer space.

Far more people believe in aliens and UFO’s then in God these days, international polls indicate. This is of course the work of the Devil and his attempt to mock and blaspheme God in everyway possible even the Lord’s resurrection , Satan will tamper with.

Perhaps this is why so many of these so called UFO’s (many are just orbs that demons are manifesting themselves in order to fool people into thinking they are seeing flying saucer discs in the sky)

constantly want to be seen, in order to condition the human mind that soon an alien in invasion is coming and the one to save us, is an Alien himself.

More deception from the Father of Lies, beware the anointed cherub! The governments of the World particularly the Black Ops going on in the U.S are helping with this deception by flying their triangle shapes TR-3B’s all over the place making people certain they are outer space flying machines because they are in fact, real and can be seen by the naked eye. Could it be that they are somehow partnering with the demons as part of the Grand deception as well?

So back to the idea of mind conditioning and brainwashing techniques, so when Satan’s blasphemous incarnate son of Perdition, the Antichrist comes on the scene looking more like a lamb then a lion many will be deceived into thinking that it is not Satan they are seeing but Jesus. This is even without any assistance from project blue beam

or any other speculative theories on how the deception will go down. How else is it that the elect are almost deceived?

I say almost because they won’t be deceived, they will have enough sense and the gift of discernment to know the Word of God and the Holy Spirit will guide them to the truth, but everyone else will be deceived. So many are going to willfully take the Mark of the Beast thinking it’s a wonderful thing to do. How can this be, unless the masses are deceived to begin with.

Satan’s great deception is of course, to make everyone believe he’s just a fairy tale, old world superstition, a laughable cartoon character full of clichés and ultimately powerless.

Scriptures says the Devil, Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he will devour. Does that sound like someone that should be laughed at to you? Satan loves it when people say he doesn’t exist, it just makes things that much easier for him. Satan loves it when people point a finger in a direction and say here is the identity of the Antichrist.

Satan loves it when people blame God for all the wrongs of the World and forget Satan’s role in the equation.

The Word of God warns man not to waste time trying to identify who the Antichrist is

and to run here and there looking for either the Antichrist or the Messiah for they are opening their hearts up to be ultimately deceived.

For there have been many Antichrists that have gone out into the World and even right at this very moment, there are many Antichrists and many who even claim to be the Messiah as well.

 

We are not to run to and fro like the heathen acting dismayed and shocked at the fulfillment of these end times. God has told us things in advance that we should not be dismayed so that we can give the heathen confidence that we know what is going on and what the solution is, salvation through Yeshua, Jesus.
God instead has made it clear by signs and indications of the events that must happen before he comes again. One of the most obvious signs is the Great Tribulation. It is only after those days have come to a conclusion and the Antichrist has been revealed, that the sign of the Son of Man shall be seen and made known, that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back. What will happen to all those who thought they were going to be part of the Pre-trib rapture and they are left behind?

How disappointed nevermind angry will be those that find out the hard way that there are no more chances to repent of their sin without literally letting go of their physical lives? How disappointed and disillusioned man will become, never mind unprepared spiritually for the type of hideous persecution the saints of God are to face at the hands of the Antichrist.

Scripture is clear on this the Antichrist will make war with the saints and he will wear them out. The saints are not backslidden church goers, they are the born again true believers of the Body of Christ, guess what they are still on the Earth beloved. They are the Tribulation Saints and they will go through the Tribulation and that includes  some of you who have not given your life over to Christ yet. For all the brothers and sisters in the Lord around the World if they are indeed born again followers of the Lord Jesus Christ they will be part of the rapture and you can to if you repent with your whole heart and accept the Lord as your Savior and only hope of Salvation.

So expect a great falling away at this time, as well. Scripture has predicted it, there already is a huge population of apostate church goers, listening to lies every Sunday from a false teacher working on behalf of Satan.  See how far the Church has become Worldly in the very principles it was built upon. There has to be a great falling away and there has to be a great deception upon the Earth. Scripture prophetically told us about it so again, we would not be surprised when it happens. The New World Order is everywhere around us, time is slipping away.

So again we ask you to pay heed, beware of the anointed cherub, he loves to disguise himself as the one who says peace, peace and then suddenly all of a sudden it’s war. He will come in looking like a lamb and then suddenly he will change and will be speaking great blasphemies out of his mouth like a Lion. The anointed cherub is not anointed anymore, he is the wicked one, Satan, the Devil and you must flee from him at all costs.

Ephesians 4: 2, exhorts us to not give place to the devil. We will end this MOB with a scripture passage we hope will minister to you. Please never forget that Romans 16: 20 states And the God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Amen.
Next…

Mystery # 10 : WATCHMEN: Watchman on the Wall

Ezekiel 33: 2, 6,7 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whomsoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not the warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

Ezekiel Ch.33 The Watchman on the Wall and his very important duties is the topic of discussion in this edition of MOB. Ezekiel was the definition of a watchman. In Ezekiel Ch.3:17 God clearly describes Ezekiel being the watchman, Son of Man, I have made thee a watchman, unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. Ezekiel is laid charge over the house of Israel to warn Israel of when God’s impending judgement would come.

So now in Ezekiel 33, God seeks to renew Ezekiel’s commission due to Ezekiel’s message being changed to one of future cleansing of the people and hope for their return to Jerusalem. The watchman’s duties alone make him very accountable to not only God but those he is to warn and instruct. A watchman is much more than just a prophet among God’s people, the watchman is responsible for letting God’s People know when danger is approaching.

So in ancient Israel, the watchman would be on top of watchtowers usually in the hill country of central Israel.
God wanted Ezekiel to go to both Judah and Israel with Prophetic Messages from God. The watchtowers would often be placed overlooking the fields,

so that news on how the crops were doing could be communicated to the local townspeople. However the role of the watchman was far more significant than that as we shall soon see. The watchman would mount the city walls and survey what was happening in the towns. The watchman bared witness to the good and the bad of the townsfolk.

The major reason why God wanted the watchman to be a Prophet of God is he wanted the people of Israel to be warned of their sins and any forthcoming punishment that loomed from that sin.

The message is clearly coming from God and not Ezekiel. God’s Message was simple repent of your sins, or pay the price for your sins. If the people hearing the message sinned or didn’t sin after hearing the message, it didn’t affect the watchman. He had done his job and was not held accountable for the actions of the one who the message was intended for. If however the prophet did not deliver the message properly or at all, he would be judged along with the wicked by God. In fact, if a righteous person turns to sin, he suffers the consequences but so does the prophet if he did not give fair warning to that person caught in their sin.

Ezekiel was among the captives from the nation of Judah, taken into Babylon sometime during the first seize of Jerusalem in 597 BC.

God wanted the house of Israel to hear a message concerning the fact, it was their sins that caused them to go into captivity and that they had already been punished for it. The Watchman on the Wall does not just announce God’s Wrath and Judgement however; he also preaches the good news about God’s Plan of Redemption for his people.

In Isaiah 52: 7-9 Isaiah states How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bring good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God Reigns”. Your watchman shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion. So God is stating that it is the watchman who holds a prayer vigil day and night for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel. God seeks those who will pray for the needs of his people and he seeks intercessors and intercessory prayer to act on behalf of him in their prayer lives. We as believers and followers of Yeshua Messiah are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

So today, we have some stating they are a watchman or watch woman for the Lord. Who but God can question their hearts or their true motives (either to give God the glory or keep it for themselves). May anyone stating they are a watchman come to realize, the accountability that they have before God and man. They must sound the alarm and blow the trumpet in Zion, to announce any danger on the horizon.

They are the Watchmen, on the Wall and they are to let us know when trouble is coming and what the consequences of sin are for disregarding God. They are also instrumental in sharing God’s Plan of redemption and good news as well. So if God has called you to be a watchman (man or woman) then embrace the responsibility and dedicate your service to the Lord with tidings of gladness and joy for God’s Honor and Glory.
Coming up next:

Mystery # 11 : Israel Restored : The future Restoration & Regathering of Israel

Today, our MOB concerns the regathering of God’s people to the land of Israel and the future restoration that will take place of the nation of Israel upon the Lord’s return. So let us take a look at our scripture passage in this edition of MOB. It reads as follows:

Ezekiel 36:26 -27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart of your filth, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. And ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Ezekiel 36: 22-28 contains the key prophecy concerning the regathering of Israel at the end of the Great Tribulation in Ezekiel 34, the Lord God gave Ezekiel the word to prophesy against the false shepherds of Israel that were leading the people astray. For it is the good shepherd that gathers the flock and takes them to a safe pasture where there is plenty of nourishment and they are a safe distance from the wolves that prey on them. We then come full circle in that we see God is the True Shepherd who resides over the flock. Ezekiel 34:30 The Lord says This shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. We mention this passage because God is in the process of both regathering and restoring Israel at the end of the Tribulation period. For the first time Israel will finally embrace the new Covenant including all the spiritual implications surrounding them. First of in V.24 we read that Israel must be regathered from all the Nations. We read in Ezekiel 36: 24 & 25 For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

It’s at this time, that God will cleanse Israel of all of it’s sins (this purging of evil will happen at the same time that it happens to the rest of the World- see the Day of the Lord MOB for more details). In V.25, God mentions sprinkling clean water on Israel and washing away the filthiness of sin. God is also doing this to the rest of the World as well as well. God will then place his spirit within his people as we read in the opening verse 27. God promises that the people of Israel will dwell in the land that he originally intended for their forefathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). God’s Promise he shall keep that they shall be his people, and he will be their God.

We will see more of this restoration of Israel mentioned in the Book of Zechariah, coming up later in our look at the prophetic books of the Old Testament. God’s Judgment upon Israel takes place sometime in between the gathering and the actual settling of God’s People in the Promised Land. God also promises that the land that became desolate and will again become like the Garden of Eden.

There will be some heathen that are left to stand as a testimony to God’s Restoration.

All the saints of God will of course be gathered in preparation of the New Jerusalem and God’s Millennial Reign. The Lord promises he has spoken it, and he will do it. God considers the flock of Jerusalem, to be a holy flock, and all will know that he is indeed the Lord. We can take it to the bank that indeed if the Lord says it, it will indeed take place beloved.
next…

Mystery # 12 : The Valley of Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37: 1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.
The Valley of Dry Bones a very well-known vision that God gave Ezekiel is our MOB study in this edition God gave Ezekiel this vision as a way to reassure the exiles that the promises of God are always secure.

The exiles had been away from their homeland for so long, they felt just like the dry bones in the valley, that there was no vitality of life remaining and all hope was gone.

Ezekiel noticed how many dry bones were in the valley.

God asks Ezekiel a question that he already knows the answer to, and even Ezekiel knows that God knows the answer. God asks questions like these to test one’s motives. Just like Adam in the garden when God asked him where he is. God of course knew where Adam was, he wanted to see what Adam would say in response to his question. So the Lord breathes life into the bones so that they may in fact live and sinew and tissue and flesh and skin will all grow on the bones, all indications that the bones are alive, healthy and full of vitality. Then next, the bones come together, bone to bone to form a living, breathing skeleton

and the skin covered all the bones.

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy unto the wind in order that life is breathed into these once disconnected bones, now standing up, like a mighty army. God tells Ezekiel that the bones represent the whole house of Israel. They were once dry and hope seemed lost, now they have become alive again.

God tells Ezekiel to go and prophesy to his people that God will open their graves and cause them to come up out of their graves. God will bring them into the Land of Israel. No matter wherever they were, God affirmed that he would bring them back to their homeland.  The righteous dead of Israel indeed would live in graves for they are dead in a literal sense and as well the graves can also represent the foreign nations into which the Israelites were exiled to. They could be considered as a type of grave of sorts, as they were no longer allowed to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel while in exile.

Once again God is telling Israel his plans to renew and restore Israel and God’s Plans to place his Spirit within Israel once the reign of Messiah Yeshua begins at the start of the millennial kingdom in the New Jerusalem. God reminds Ezekiel to tell the people he will make an everlasting covenant (the New Covenant) with his people and God’s Presence with his redeemed people will now be evident to all. Now the 2 kingdoms of Jerusalem and Judah will no longer be divided. God will get his people from the heathen and God’s Sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

And what of you beloved, are you like those dry bones in the valley? Are you spiritually dry and need to gain vitality from the Lord? Are you going through the motions of your faith like it’s a dry, ritual in your prayer life and your walk with the Lord? Perhaps now it’s time to go on a retreat, go somewhere quiet , meditate, reflect, maybe even repent of sins and draw closer to that still small voice of God. Remember Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly.

Next…

Mystery # 13: The Gog and Magog War

Our 2 scripture passages of note that we will study in this MOB are found in Ezekiel 1, 2 and Ezekiel 38:14.
Ezekiel 38: 1, 2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying Son of man set they face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.
Our secondary passage we will review as well is in Ezekiel 38:14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD, in that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

The Prophecy of Gog and Magog, on this edition of MOB, is not without controversy or the very least considerable dispute among scholars as we will soon see. There are 2 main parts of this prophecy. There is the actual description of the invasion of Gog and Magog

and secondly, the judgment that falls on them.

The controversy derives from the passages that identify the nations of Rosh, Meschech, Tubal, Gog the prince of the country of Magog.

Despite the efforts to do so, these nations cannot be identified with 100% certainty in today’s world. For example many scholars believe Rosh to refer to modern day Russia.

We know that these nations do lie to the north of the Promised Land, and we know there will be an end time attack from the north. However on closer inspection there seems to be the evidence that all these nations lie in Asia Minor in the Country of Turkey.

This is not the only controversy however, as the specific time of this attack upon Israel from the North is not well defined either.

Some say it will happen at the end of this present age, others during the Tribulation and still others insist the attack will occur after Yeshua’s return but sometime before the Millennial reign of Christ. There is even a fourth scenario of those that believe the attack from the north will happen after the millennium. This idea does align itself with The Book of Revelation 20:8 where we read And shall go out to deceive the nations (that is Satan) which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. So here the war with Gog and Magog is referred to as happening after the millennial kingdom is done, before the Great White Throne of Judgment and of course the unveiling of the New Jerusalem. The issue of adopting the theory that the attack from the north will happen shortly after Christ’s return but before the millennium as opposed to after the millennium (as scripture seems to lend itself to being the case) is that there are events proceeding and following the battles, that are quite different. So let’s take a closer look at this Gog and Magog Prophecy and see if the Lord has left us enough clues to build a case for one of the 4 theories, for we know it’s going to happen sometime in the coming future.

So the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, with God wanting his prophet to know that he should prophesy against Gog, Magog, Meschech and Tubal. Modern interpretations would have these locations as being: Magog, Meshech and Tubal which are all in Modern day turkey in Asia: Minor.
Ezekiel wants Gog the chief prince of Meschech and Tubal to know that God is against them. God promises to turn his back on Gog and he will put hooks in his jaws and lead his army into a great battle with Persia (Babylon or Modern day Iraq), Ethiopia and Libya. Included will be Gomer and Togermah from the North.

V.14 states Therefore, Son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, thus saith the Lord GOD: In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

God will protect Israel despite the danger at hand against all the armies coming from the north riding on their horses. This is the mighty army that will come against God and God’s People like a cloud that covers the land. God says it will happen in the latter days. One of the outcomes of such a battle like this, is the heathen will know who God is.

The Lord God mentions that the prophets of Israel had prophesied in the past that God would rise against these nations such as Gog, who will come against Israel. The Lord’s Fury shall rise up. There will be a great shaking in the land of Israel as Israel’s enemies will experience the fire of God’s Wrath. The mountains will be thrown down and all living creatures including all men shall shake at the presence of God. God will rain pestilence, with blood an overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone. 

These nations will know once and for all that God is the one and true Lord over all.

The prophecy continues in Ch.39 of the Book of Ezekiel. In the mountains of Israel, Gog will meet his defeat as well his armies. Their bows and arrows will be rendered useless and their dead carcasses will serve as food for the ravenous birds and beasts of the field, to be devoured. God promises to send a fire on Magog. God will make his name holy in Israel once more. God will not let his name be polluted anymore or defiled in anyway. Once again God promises the heathen shall know that he is the Lord, the Holy one of Israel.

The people of Israel shall take all the weapons of war and burn them in a fire for seven years. God promises to give Gog a burial site, called the Valley of Hamongog. All Gog’s dead army will be buried there. It will take seven months to bury all the dead from this battle and the land will be cleaned once more. The name of the city where this burial site is, will be called Hamonah.

God calls every fowl and every beast to eat the flesh of the dead, the flesh of the mighty and the blood of the princes of the Earth. This is God’s Sacrifice to take place upon the mountains of Israel. At that time Israel will be restored unto God. God’s Glory will be set upon the heathen and all the heathen will see God’s Judgment being executed. The house of Israel will know that the Lord is their God from that day forward.

V.29 of Ezekiel 29 says Neither will I hide my face anymore from them; for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.