Ezekiel 12 for 2012? Pack Up Your Suitcases!!
I would like to share some encouragement to Doves for watching and warning from the greatest source of encouragement: the Holy Spirit speaking through the written Word of God. This is the first of two parts - the other is the Nearing Fulfilment of Every Vision. The full quotation of the first part from Ezekiel 12: 1-11 is quite long, and is presented in full below. First, however, I have given my take or interpretation of it.
What Does it Mean to Pack Up Our Belongings? And Dig Through the Wall?
Revelation 18:4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
The Lord God wanted to give a sign that the Babylonian captivity was approaching, and asked Ezekiel to do some strange things. First, he was to pack up his belongings and prepare to leave his house in the sight of all the people - a warning, to show that he was going to another place. The next step is interesting - rather than come out through the (front) door (the expected way), Ezekiel was told to dig through the wall and take his belongings, on his shoulder, out through the wall.
He was faithful to God in this, even though his behaviour would have seemed strange and premature. The world is spiralling towards another (and greater) Babylonian captivity, and we are a called out people. Our warnings may sometimes not be seen or listened to, but we must (like Ezekiel) be prepared to exhibit (at times) strange behaviour. We long to go to another place, one that Jesus has prepared for each one of us individually. For now we must watch and warn others. Jesus himself warned in Luke 21: 34, 35 lest that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose, for it will come upon all who live upon the face of the entire earth!
· Ezekiel’s warning sign is reminiscent of Noah entering the Ark as a rehearsal, or a final sign, before re-entering seven days later when the rain (and fountains) started.
· For those who are left behind at the Rapture, the awful end-time Babylonian captivity will surround them, even to the point of not being able to buy and sell.
The Twilight (Two Lights) Connection (Leviticus 23:5)
5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.
Twilight is the time between dawn and sunrise or between sunset and dusk, during which sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere illuminates the lower atmosphere, and the surface of the earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark (from Wikipedia)
Have we wondered why the word Twilight (a warning of a change or transition coming) has been occupying the minds of the world, through the Twilight books and movies? Ezekiel carried his belongings away at (the evening) twilight. This is the time of day when the Lord’s Passover is remembered. What a wonderful picture of us being delivered from the Babylonian world through the Passover Lamb, the Cross of Christ! We are in a twilight period: the darkness is closing in (evil is getting worse), but the Light of the Day of the Lord is dawning!
What Ezekiel 12: 1-11 Says - Pack Up Your Belongings and Dig Through the Wall!
(NKJ) Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.
3 “Therefore, son of man, prepare your belongings for captivity, and go into captivity by day in their sight. You shall go from your place into captivity to another place in their sight. It may be that they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. 4 By day you shall bring out your belongings in their sight, as though going into captivity; and at evening you shall go in their sight, like those who go into captivity.
5 Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your belongings out through it. 6 In their sight you shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight; you shall cover your face, so that you cannot see the ground, for I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.”
7 So I did as I was commanded. I brought out my belongings by day, as though going into captivity, and at evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought them out at twilight, and I bore them on my shoulder in their sight.
8 And in the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’ 10 Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are among them.”’ 11 Say, ‘I am a sign to you. As I have done, so shall it be done to them; they shall be carried away into captivity.’
Selected Quotes from the Angelfire Commentary
http://www.angelfire.com/ok/bibleteaching/ezekielb.html
Israel could not believe that Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed. They could not believe that God would allow it. They had heard what Ezekiel had to tell them, but they were sceptical and unbelieving. So it would now be necessary for Ezekiel again to act out vividly and graphically what was about to happen.
What Ezekiel had to do this time was make a great show of packing his household goods and chattels as though he was moving house and going on a journey. Indeed just as though he was going into exile. He was to pack during the day and leave in the evening, bearing his goods and transferring from one place to another.
He was to leave his house through the wall, symbolising surreptitious escape from the city, and he was to leave as it was becoming dark in order to indicate the idea of secrecy and haste. The houses in Babylonia would be made of sun-dried brick which, with some effort, would not be difficult to hack through, removing the bricks in order to make a way through.
And these things were to be ‘a sign’, a guarantee of their happening. They would warn the house of Israel of what was coming. Ezekiel carried out his instructions, and the people came to him and asked him what he was doing, and why he was doing it.
‘This burden.’ Prophecy is regularly described in this way, for it was a heavy burden to the prophet, who did not delight in what he had to prophesy, and to the people.
Denis Maranatha!