Nebuchadnezzar, who has spent most of his life oppressing God’s people, ends his life well. Compare him to the apostle Paul.

Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that Daniel interprets for him. The king is given another chance to repent which he doesn’t do. The dream becomes reality as the king is reduced to living with wild animals. Some think this was a form of mental illness called lycanthropy. This illness lasted “seven times” which means seven years.

Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon which was founded by Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah. The city was surrounded by a wall 350 feet high and 87 feet thick and wide enough for six chariots to drive abreast. There were 250 watchtowers on top of the wall and it was surrounded by a moat.

When the king raised his eyes toward heaven, his sanity was restored and he praised God. Doesn’t that sound like something we should all do…raise our eyes toward heaven? When our eyes are on the world around us, we can easily become insane. It’s only when we look toward God and our eternal future with Him, that we are truly sane!

In yesterday’s reading there was mention of the holiness of the millennial temple. There in the millennial temple, the house of Israel will never again defile His holy name.

Ezek 43:7-9
He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name-- neither they nor their kings-- by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places. When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever.

How have we as Christians defiled His holy name by placing our threshold (our limits) next to His? Our doorposts (our laws) beside His? Have we defiled His holy name by joining secularism with God’s ordained holy festivals? (Christmas???) Have we sacrificed His commands on the altars of paganism?

In today’s reading there are commands for the millennial kingdom concerning the observance of some of God’s holy festivals, specifically Passover and the Feast (Feast of Tabernacles). If these are observances that God has ordained for believers, shouldn’t we as Christians be observing them now?

(Feast of Tabernacles begins on September 22 this year. We will have a remembrance at our house. Email us at philandpatti@gmail.com if you are interested in attending.)

Again in today’s reading…so much to write about!

The God-ordained Millennial Temple will be built in Jerusalem in the great valley created by the split in the Mount of Olives at Jesus’ return. Over the temple will be a cloud by day and a glow of flaming fire at night. There will be no darkness and no night time. The gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel.

The area immediately surrounding the temple will be a most holy place. The whole Kidron Valley east of Jerusalem will be holy to the Lord, the most holy place on earth. In the Millennial Temple there will be no common things. Jerusalem will become the true worship center of the world.

At the completion of the Millennial Temple the glory of the Lord will enter the temple through the eastern gate. The gate will be shut.

The temple will be absent of a few things that were previously found in the temples of Jerusalem. The curtain between the Holy place and the Most Holy place will be absent. There will be no barrier between God and man. The table of showbread will be absent. Jesus takes the place of the showbread because He is the bread of life. The Ark of the Covenant will be absent. However the altar of sacrifice will again be present.

Serving at the temple under Jesus as Lord of Lords will be a select family of priests, from the tribe of Levi who are descendants of the faithful priest Zadok.

I Samuel 2:35
I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always.

Ezekiel 44:15-16
"'But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD. They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.

These sacrifices and offerings will be done as a memorial or a remembrance much the same as we do communion today. The animals represent the blood sacrifice and a remembrance of what Jesus did for the people. The other offerings will represent gifts of praise, fellowship, unity and joy as offerings to God.

- excerpts from the book THESE LAST DAYS.

What great faith as testified by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! They knew God could save them from the fiery furnace. They also believed that no matter what happened He was still their God. And the outcome? Not only did He save them from the fire, but their hair was not singed, their robes not scorched, nor was there any smell of fire on them. Isn’t that just like God? To do more than we could imagine?

Eph 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

God does more than we can ask or imagine, according to the Holy Spirit, the power at work.

Who was the fourth man in the furnace? Could that have been the pre-incarnate Son of God?

When Ezekiel writes the lament for Egypt in chapter 32, it sounds a bit like what will happen at Armageddon.

Ouch! Watchman’s Accountability! We’re sure glad He hasn’t called any of us to be “watchmen”! I mean, this was only for Ezekiel’s day, right??? It isn’t really for us today is it???

Mark 13:37
What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'"

Oops! We stand corrected! Guess we're all called to be "watchmen".

Oh, so much to say concerning today’s reading, and so little time!

“Ezekiel figuratively describes the nation of Israel as being a valley full of disassociated skeletal bones indicating that the nation of Israel would cease to exist as a nation, her people scattered throughout the world and the nation considered dead. The whole house of Israel in this vision has been disassembled and its identity has been destroyed.

The 12 ancestral tribes of Israel are illustrated by the dry bones and is an analogy of God bringing Israel and Judah back together into a living state. During World War II and especially in the years immediately after World War II a determined effort was made to reform the nation of Israel. This prophecy in Ezekiel was fulfilled in the noisy and sometimes violent effort to form the new nation. The rattling of the bones is the rattling of war as the bones of Israel come back together.

The prophecy of the dry bones corresponds to another symbolic prophecy of two sticks also found in the book of Ezekiel. The prophecy of the two sticks is another view of Judah and Israel being brought back together. The Judah stick was put in place first. That happened May 14, 1948 when the nation of Judah came back into the land. The descendants of the nation of Israel are still out in the world somewhere. They will not come back into the land until after Jesus returns. When the Millennial Kingdom is established, Jesus will bring the other tribes out of the nations and they will reclaim their identities. The Israel stick will be bonded to the Judah stick and they will become one nation and will never again be separated. When the two sticks are bonded together the analogy of the dry bones will be complete.”
-excerpt from the book THESE LAST DAYS

Gog, Magog, Meshech and Tubal all play extremely significant roles in the prophecies of the last days. Ezekiel also prophesies about what will happen to these nations at Armageddon. It will take seven months to bury the dead.

Today’s reading ends with another one of the great promises from God.
Ezek 39:29
I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD."

In Ezekiel’s prophecy to Jerusalem he warns them that they are listening to his words but not putting then into practice. In effect, they are practicing churchianity instead of Christianity.

Ezek 33:30-32
"As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, 'Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.' My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.

God tells the people through Ezekiel that the shepherds have not taken care of the flock and that He, Himself will tend His sheep as recorded in Psalm 23 and again in John 10.

In the millennial kingdom, David will be prince.
Ezek 34:23-24
I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

Another prophecy of the millennial kingdom is that there will be true peace.

Ezek 34:25
"'I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety.
Ezek 34:28
They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid.
Wild beasts here have a literal (literal wild beasts) and a figurative (unbelievers) meaning.

Another great promise for the millennium is this one.
Ezek 36:24-28
"'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

All people will be moved to follow His decrees and His laws.
All these great promises for the millennium will of course follow on the heels of the cleansing of the earth by fire.

Ezek 36:35-36
They will say, "This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited." Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.'

There will be a replanting and the land will be made fresh and new with new growth.

For more details see the book THESE LAST DAYS!