Leviticus 26, Ezekiel 4 and the Fullness of the Gentiles
Published by Rob Skiba May 18, 2014 at 10:21 PM
This past Shabbat, we finished the book of Leviticus. I have to say, Leviticus 26 is such a VERY POWERFUL portion of Scripture:
Leviticus 26:
1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God.
2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
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.
7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
Many are fearful concerning the days ahead. Well, those are some seriously POWERFUL promises we just read! It continues…
Leviticus 26:
10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.
11 And I set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
13 I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
Many think of YHWH’s Law as “bondage.” OK. Think about that for a minute. Did YHWH really rescue the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt, just to put them into His own bondage?? How does that make any sense to anyone?? No. I see tremendous freedom and joy in obedience to YHWH’s commands.
Now, on the flip-side, you have those out there likening obedience to YHWH to being influenced by demons [See for instance: https://ephraimawakening.com/obeying-yhwh-doctrine-of-devils/].
Well consider where disobedience gets you…
Leviticus 26:
14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
Honestly, I fear for many of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I post a lot of stuff on my wall to get people to think about the importance of obeying YHWH. ESPECIALLY as these days continue to get darker. And it seems the more I do, the more come out of the woodwork “despising” YHWH’s commandments, judgments and statutes. Worse yet, doing so in the name of “freedom in Christ.”
But according to the above verses in Leviticus 26, that’s not a good thing to do. Disobedience brings judgment. But He brings that bad stuff on His people so that they will stop their wickedness (sin) and turn back to His ways (which bring life). He gives us a chance to turn back, but…
Leviticus 26:
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins {defined as transgression of the Law in 1 John 3:4}.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
How incredibly interesting that the “seven times” punishment is mentioned 4 times. Could this be a shadow of things to come during a SEVEN YEAR TRIBULATION in which there are 4 judgments given: Seals, Trumpets, Thunders and Bowls? Is it just a coincidence? I don’t really think so.
Leviticus 26:
40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God.
45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.
46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
I am far from perfect and struggle like anyone else to live a life without sin. But it was 5 years ago that my wife and I (together) came into a realization that we really are grafted into the cultivated olive tree that is Israel (Romans 11) and as such we realized that what YHWH said to them, now also applies to us as members of the “commonwealth” (Ephesians 2). As we began this journey and even to this day, we continue to meet people from all over the world who also came into this awareness at roughly the same time we did. Over and over and over again, we keep meeting people who point back to 2009 as roughly the time they realized the commandments, feasts, dietary laws, etc. were still applicable to us as Believers in Christ. For quite some time, I’ve wondered why 2009? This weekend, my friend Chad Graves pointed something out that really caught my attention…
Ezekiel 4:
1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
In the context of this story, it is talking about Israel as in the Northern Kingdom, also known as Ephraim. Now, if my understanding of my identity as an adopted/grafted son of Israel is correct, I believe I am grafted onto Ephraim’s stick (of Ezekiel 37). This is due to the prophetic blessing of Jacob over Ephraim in Genesis 48. He was to become the “goyim” or the Gentile nations. Thus, the “fullness of the Gentiles” coming into the commonwealth of Israel, would seem to go back to this. For more on that, see my blog: Who is the Church Anyway?
Now, Judah also went into captivity and served 70 years (1 year for each of the Sabbath years they did not give the land rest) in Babylon. But they learned their lesson, repented and were thus brought back into the land and remained there until their disobedience got them booted out again in 70 AD. But there is no evidence Ephraim ever repented. Ephraim’s sentence was 390 years according to Ezekiel 4. But since they did not repent, they had 7 times the length of punishment added on according to the principle established in Leviticus 26. This weekend during our study, my friend Chad wondered if Ephraim received 7 times the judgment for not repenting after the 390. If this theory is true, check out the math:
390 years of initial judgment x 7 for not repenting = 2,730 years total
According to BibleStudyTools.com, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/revelation/related-topics/northern-kingdom-falls-to-assyria.html they went into Assyrian captivity in 721 BC.
2,730 total – 721 = 2009
Now consider this: The last chapter of Malachi is written in a Last Days context. It ends with:
Malachi 4:
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again here, I am NOT in the Hebrew Roots Movement, nor the Sacred Name Movement. I say this because I think the mainstream “official” movements that have become known by those titles have done a pendulum swing into wackiville in many ways. That said, I don’t believe they started out that way. I believe both movements may have had there start in a 2009 fulfillment of Ephraim beginning to wake up and repent. In my opinon, some took it too far and found themselves lost in crazy ideas relating these things to salvation issues and others into a modern Pharisee mindset. But that doesn’t nullify what YHWH seems to be doing here.
Think about it: Why is it that within the last 5 years or so there have been SO MANY Christians waking up to the “PAGAN ROOTS” of our faith and have begun to dump those bogus traditions? Why are SO MANY Christians all of a sudden now concerned about the name of God and trying to obey His commandments? Why are the Feasts being talked about in just about every church now-a-days (thanks to the Blood Moons)? Is this mass hysteria, or a legitimate move of YHWH, wherein His (former) Gentile people are finally ready to repent and get back to the precepts and promises of the “good parts” of Leviticus 26?
I’m thinking there’s something to this, because I have never been more “on fire for God” in all my life (and I’ve been in some form of ministry for nearly all of it – since age 7). I’ve learned more about my Savior from the Feasts and Commandments of YHWH than in all my studies of the New Testament. I have more “freedom in Christ” and understanding of His Scriptures (especially the writings of Paul) than I ever did before. I spend more time studying the Bible – and can’t get enough of it – than ever before. I can sit in a room or on the radio for 3 – 10 hours straight talking about Scripture. This has NEVER been the case for me until these last few years. And I know the same is true for many others. So again… could we be seeing the final return of Ephraim and the beginning of the “fullness of the Gentiles” coming back into the fold? Are we seeing the two sticks of Ezekiel 37 coming back together?
Could be.
– Rob Skiba
4 Responses to “Leviticus 26, Ezekiel 4 and the Fullness of the Gentiles”
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Rob,
Not sure where to even begin, or even what to say. But, to start, firstly “Thank You”, for being the “beautiful feet” that have brought the gospel(Romans 10:15)
We share many similarities in ministry, and even though I thought I “knew” Gods word(have been teaching/preaching for 25 years, and even had a Metal Band devoted to bringing the gospel, in your “bored out of your mind time”, check out http://www.myspace.com/togonline, or our now defunct Facebook page, Temple of God. I’m the dufus with the long red Hair.
Anyway, my wife and I have been gifted with musical and singing talents, and myself with teaching/ministry talents. Even planted a Purpose Driven Church called Live Wire for all the tattooed and pierced headbangers that traditional church didn’t need or even want in their buildings. I’m preaching to the choir here, but I digress. I know you have had similar experiences.
Continuous failures in every ministry….the band was too heavy for our area/no support, disagreements with Pastors for trying to show the way in misinterpretation of scriptures, “ahem” pre, mid, post, trib rapture, 6 years of Pastoring said Live Wire Church to also watch inevitable failure, because I just could not get on the “pay 10% to me so I can sit on my butt all week and read you a purchased sermon from the latest trendy website.
For the past 3 years I have been reading material by people you know like Missler, Quayle, Horn, and others. And then I ran across some crazy guy talking about Flat Earth that I knew was certifiably bat crap crazy……..Like I said, 3 years…..then slowly I began to wake up. God bless you man!
I feel like once again a babe from the womb as Nicodemus must have thought Yeshua meant..so much to relearn in the proper context.
I still have a long way to go. The laws have been a struggle in some way, due to my own ignorance in Pentecostal/Baptist theology.
I struggle with foods. I struggle with letting go of traditional Holidays, and know very little of the actual Holy Days. Honestly, I have to confess I fight the flesh daily teeter tottering between law and the gentile lies that even I myself have taught.
Keeping the Sabbath is easier for me. I don’t know why, it just feels right, and I Enjoy it. My lovely wife is not on board with most of what I am trying to adhere to, but I am grateful for 28 great years and continue to pray for her eyes to be open. I still take her to traditional church on Sunday so she can socialize with her friends. I would be happier giving it up honestly.
Not sure what else to say, other than thank you again for what this truth has helped me to see, even though it has personally cost you and your wife so very much. Adonai bless you and your house for your sacrifices for the truth.
I don’t want anything from you, just wanted to share how you have helped this heavy metal preacher to find more truth in the Bible than any other I have ever studied under. And I look forward to however I can ever be of help to Yeshua in the trouble and sorrow that is quickly coming before the joy of his return. God bless you brother!! I appreciate you.
Sincerely,
Jason Dalton
Wow. Awesome testimony. Thanks for sharing bro. May YHWH continue to bless you as you press in with renewed child-like faith. Stay the course my friend.
Rob I started following your work when I was interested in the discovery and hidden truths about Giants. I was in a fallen away state at the time. Yahuah was bring me back after many years of running away. I was once a Pastor in the Pentecostal church went to Bible college but never had the zeal for the word and Yahuah as I do now. In my walk back or I should say, leading back by the Ruach. I started down the road of flat earth (Ruach lead I am sure) and once again I came across your teaching and research. And then just over little more than a year ago Yahuah lead me the truth about his commandments and feast which are His and not pagan rituals that we celebrated as “Christian Holidays.” Once again your research and teaching came to me by the Ruach. You have had an incredible effect on me and my steps in coming back to the truth of Yahuah. I give all Praise and Honour to YAHUSHA Ha’Mashiach! You are servant of the most High and he is using your work to reach people like me.
Praise YHWH! Thanks for sharing your testimony with me.