Ezekiel 1:2
On the fifth day of the month – it was the fifth year of the exile
of
King
Jehoiachin – the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel son of Buzi (a priest).
Ezekiel 3:17
O mortal, I appoint you watchman (prophet) for the House of
Israel;
and when you hear a word from My mouth, you must warn them for Me."
Ezekiel 3:27
"He who listens, listens and he who will not shall not – for
they are a rebellious breed."
Ezekiel 4:10
"Parents shall eat their children in your midst, and children
shall eat
their parents. I will execute judgment against you, and I will scatter
all your survivors in every direction." (Fulfilled in AD70 Roman war.)
Ezekiel 5:14
I will make you (Judah, Jews) a ruin and a mockery among the
nations around you, in the sight of every passerby…you shall be
a warning and a horror, to the nations round about you:
Ezekiel 6:8
Yet I will leave a remnant…
And so, the persecution of the Jews is foretold and now will be brought to an end at the re-entry of Melchizedek, the long awaited Messiah of the Jews. Note again how the prophet attributes the cause of these negative events to God, but in reality the cause is the rebelliousness of the people in removing themselves from the guidance of God. God continues to love us, but knows that we must learn for ourselves to choose good over evil.
Ezekiel 33:11
As I live – declares the Lord God – it is not My
desire that the wicked shall die, but that the wicked turn from their evil ways and live.
Ezekiel 34:1
The word of the Lord came home: O mortal, prophesy against
the shepherds: Ah you shepherds of Israel, who have been tending yourselves!
…You partake of the fat, you clothe yourselves with
the wool, and you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not tend the
flock. You have not sustained the weak, healed the sick, or bandaged
the injured; you have not brought back the strayed, or looked for the
lost; but you have driven them with harsh rigor,
Ezekiel 34:5
and they have been scattered for want of anyone to tend
them;…
The sheep are of course the people and the leaders are the shepherds.
Ezekiel 34:6
My flock is scattered all over the face of the earth…
Ezekiel 34:8
…the shepherds tended themselves instead of tending the flock
Hear indeed, O shepherds, the word of the Lord: I am going to
deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for
My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock:…
Ezekiel 34:12
I will rescue them (the people) from all the places to which
they were scattered on a day of cloud and gloom. I will take them out
from the peoples and gather them from the countries,…I Myself will
graze My flock, and I Myself will let them lie down – declares the Lord.
I will look for the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, I will bandage
the injured and sustain the weak.
The one who rescues and gathers and is referred to as Lord is Melchizedek who will personally do these things. The rescued people are the remnants of "Israel," faithful people of the One God throughout the countries of the world. The shepherds are the leaders, makers and shakers, who "tend only themselves" and not the flock from whom they derive their wealth. These shepherds have been given much and much is expected. These lines describe the upcoming messianic period because the people are "scattered all over the world, in many countries" and the Lord himself tends to the sheep. The "day of cloud and doom" brings to mind mushroom clouds and nuclear detonations. (I hope I’m wrong.)
Ezekiel 36:34
…and the ruined places shall be rebuilt: and the
desolate land, after lying waste in the sight of every passerby, shall again be tilled.
And men shall say, "That land, once desolate, has become like the Garden of
Eden…And the nations that are left shall know that I the Lord have rebuilt the places
and replanted the desolate land.
The "Garden of Eden" reference also indicates the messianic period of restoration. Also notice that the land of Israel is devastated, this must be due to the upcoming war when "all the nations" come against Israel. Also, all the nations do not survive this war to come – some are completely destroyed. To summarize, the "day of cloud and doom" leaves devastation in the Middle East with complete annihilation of some entire nations. The remnant of Judah (the Jews) after this event is gathered back to Canaan along with the globally scattered remnants of "Israel." The army coming upon modern Israel from the north is identified as Gog from the land of Magog of whom the Lord says through his prophet:
Ezekiel 38:7
After a long time you (Gog) will be summoned; in the distant
future you shall march against a land restored from the sword (Modern
Israel)…liberated from the nations, and now dwelling secure. (My parenthesis)
On that day, when Gog sets foot on the soil of Israel (modern)…On that day, a terrible earthquake shall befall the land of Israel…and every man’s sword shall be turned against his brother…and I will make Myself known in the sight of many nations. (My parenthesis)
And so, as we reach that period prophesied 2600 years ago we are startled by this prophecy that foresaw a regathering of Jews from among many nations. How can a logical mind not grasp and deal with such well documented successes of prophecy. Most people do not love truth and so they sacrifice it to maintain their view of the way they want their universe to be, so we sweep away any inconvenient facts to the contrary. Even the majority of our scientists do this on a regular basis to maintain their vested interests in a certain worldview. And so despite many inconvenient facts scientists continue to espouse a big bang cosmology and refuse to recognize cold fusion and other new-energy devices that are already working and producing energy. These very same scientists use ridicule and power to silence any new ideas or viewpoints. Again, our future comes through the "marginal" groups; individuals that continue to search for truth despite the conventional powers to be. Now, next is a line that also bothers me:
Ezekiel 39:6
And I (the Lord) will send a fire against Magog and against
those who dwell in the coastlands.
Again, I don’t believe that God or Melchizedek eventuates such catastrophes, but irregardless, the events themselves may be and have been accurate prophecies. As I have tried to demonstrate elsewhere "coastlands" has a strong chance of denoting the United States of America, among others. I hope I am wrong here as well, as "a fire" is likely to mean a nuclear event.
Ezekiel 39:25
Assuredly, thus said the Lord God: I will now restore the
fortunes of Jacob and take the whole House of Israel (Judah and Israel) back in
love;…when I have brought them back from among the peoples and gathered them out of
the lands of their enemies and have manifested My holiness through them in the sight of
many nations.
Israel once again is united. Faithful Christians and Jews, among others,are brought together. God’s holiness has been manifested through "his people"-- those that love and honor Him. The enemies are the power holding leaders of the various nations who persecute God's peoples because they resist the tyranny of the powerful. Next, in chronologic line is Obadiah.