The Years of Punishment Prophecy (part 2)
Ezekiel 4 tells us when the punishment years begin and when they will end.
Ezekiel 4:4 “Then lie down on your left side (toward the north) to bear [symbolically] the wickedness and punishment of the house of Israel. You shall bear their wickedness and punishment for the number of days that you lie on your side. 5 For I have assigned you the years of their wickedness and punishment, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days [representing three hundred and ninety years]; in this way you shall bear [symbolically] the wickedness and punishment of the house of Israel. 6 When you have completed these [days for Israel], lie down again, but on your right side (toward the south), and you shall bear the wickedness and punishment of the house of Judah forty days. I have assigned you one day for each year. 7 Then you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 8 Now behold, I will put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.
9 “But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them into one vessel and make them into bread for yourself. You shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days. 10 The food you eat each day shall be [measured] by weight, twenty shekels, to be eaten daily at a set time. 11 You shall drink water by measure also, the sixth part of a hin; you shall drink daily at a set time.
390 days for the house of Israel representing 390 years.
40 days for the house of Judah representing 40 years.
Both punishments are related to a siege of Jerusalem. The 390 years of punishment began at the first siege of Jerusalem and the 40 years of punishment leads to the last siege of Jerusalem.
Leviticus 26:18 And I will kill her children (followers) with pestilence [thoroughly annihilating them], and all the churches will know [without any doubt] that I am He who searches the minds and hearts [the innermost thoughts, purposes]; and I will give to each one of you [a reward or punishment] according to your deeds.
The punishment was for 390 years but Israel still did not listen so it was increased sevenfold. The same is with Judah, they also did not listen and so their punishment was also increased sevenfold.
Ezekiel is told to turn his face towards the siege of Jerusalem, so the siege of Jerusalem is the starting point for each time of punishment. The punishment period begins when we see the punishment begin.
Ezekiel 4:1 “Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you and inscribe on it [a diagram of] the city of Jerusalem. 2 Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise a ramp against it; set up [enemy] camps and place battering rams all around it. 3 Further, take an iron plate and place it as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel represents the siege, the brick is Jerusalem, and between the two there is an iron wall. This means this first siege does not break through the wall. They limit food and water, but the first siege is not successful. The punishment of Israel began at the first siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians in 701 BCE. This was the first siege of Jerusalem and it was unsuccessful. This was the beginning of the punishment period for Israel. 311 BCE is 390 years after 701 BCE. Did Israel repent? No.
390 x 7 = 2730 years. 2730 + 701 BCE = 2030 AD (there is no 0 year).
2030 is the next available opportunity for Israel to repent, return to the Lord and be joined to Judah to enter into the reign of Jesus the Messiah according to Ezekiel 37.
Now let’s look at the punishment for the house of Judah.
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who murders the prophets and stones [to death] those [messengers] who are sent to her [by God]! How often I wanted to gather your children together [around Me], as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 Listen carefully: your house is being left to you desolate [completely abandoned by God and destitute of His protection]! 39 For I say to you, you will not see Me again [ministering to you publicly] until you say, ‘Blessed [to be celebrated with praise] is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Their punishment began in 30 AD when Jesus was crucified. According to the record they were punished for 40 years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. The curtain separating the holy of holies was torn asunder. Every year for forty years the temple doors would not stay shut, the Menorah would not stay lit for forty years, the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand for forty years and the Yom Kippur scarlet thread would not turn white for forty years.
They failed to repent and so the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem began their 7 fold punishment period.
40x7=280, 280+70 = 350 AD.
Did they repent in 350 AD?
So then 280 x 7 = 1960 years. They have already served the first 280 year period.
1960 + 70 = 2030
2030 is the first and last time that Judah and Israel can repent, and be joined together as one stick. After this their punishment periods will not end at the same time. Both punishment periods would be multiplied by 7 and they will never mathematically sync up again.
While Ezekiel is laying on his side he is to only eat 20 shekels weight of food and ⅙ hin of water.
20 x 6 = 120. Pointing us to 120 jubilees.
120 x 50 = 6,000. Pointing us to the 6,000 years that to God is 6 days in which He creates a man.
Finally, the punishment period of the House of Israel is represented by his laying on his left side and the punishment period for the house of Judah is depicted by laying on his right side.
If we have a timeline the right side would begin after the siege of Israel, and the left side would begin before the siege of Israel, but that is because in the west we read from left to right. In Hebrew it is the opposite, they read from right to left. So then for the Jews this is the opposite, the punishment for Israel begins with the siege of Jerusalem, whereas the punishment for Judah begins 40 years before the siege of Jerusalem when they crucified Jesus.
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