“Am I my brother’s keeper?” What would Ezekiel say to this question? Are you and I our brothers’ keepers? 521-1 - 2-1

Like Ezekiel, we are called to be “Watchman on the Wall” and provide warning of coming judgment. I even have a “Watchman on the Wall” ball cap from the Hal Lindsey Ministry. A watchman warns but is not accountable for how those warned choose to react. Like the man on the corner with a sign saying “The end is near,” I warn of coming/ present judgment.

With thanks to CM, four cases of “Blood Accountability”:

1. The habitual sinner who is not warned v.18
2. The sinner who is warned but does not repent v.19
3. The righteous man who apostatizes but is not warned v.20
4. The righteous man who is warned and remains righteous v.21  

Ezekiel was held accountable by God to deliver God's message, however, he was not held accountable for its success or failure.

Ezekiel 3:17-19, “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Hundreds of years later Jesus charged His disciples to bring people to faith by The Great Commission. Matthew 28:16-20, “16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That said, Jesus understood that there would be unbelief, Matthew 10:13-15, “If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”  

What is the significance of “wheels” in Scripture? 521-1 - 1-5

Ezekiel 1:1, “In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.” With these words Ezekiel begins his description of his vision of the “Throne of God.” Ezekiel's vision was of the throne of God and not a UFO as is often alluded to.

It sounds like the throne on the wheels was possibly using something like an anti-gravitational effect to move around it was always facing forward and could go from side to side without turning. Either the wheels within wheels engaged independently depending on direction or the throne was hovering. When I was working for the McDonald Douglas Helicopter Company I observed that the Apache helicopter always seem to be pointed forward when flying. Unlike fixed wing aircraft, the helicopter's rotor blades can be tilted side to side or front to back relative to the helicopter. As the blades would be tilted up in front the helicopter would move back even while appearing to be aimed straight ahead.

Wheels are interesting things. The wheel is a circle and analogous to a ring that has no beginning and no end and are exchanged when pledging eternal devotion one to another. Just as a ring/ circle or wheel has no beginning or end, God always was and is and always will be; no beginning and no end.

There are other mentions of the Throne of God in the Bible. Daniel 7:9, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.”

Wheels and cherubim’s are often seen together such as in the temple’s furnishings. 1 Kings 7:27-30, “And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it. And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges: And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim’s: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work. And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.”
Ezekiel 1:24, "When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels." What the relationship was between the cherubims and the wheels moving I cannot begin to imagine; a dimension too far for my limited mind. 

Line up the timelines between the captivity prophets major milestone “visions” and experiences. Do you see patterns 521-1 - 1 - 4

Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel are known the “Captivity Prophets.” The period of time between the First Siege and the Decree of Cyrus is known as the "Servitude of the Nation" and lasted 70 years. The period of time between the Third Siege and the Decree of Artaxerxes was known as the "Desolations of Jerusalem" and also lasted 70 years. The Decree of Artaxerxes was the triggering event that started the "70 Weeks of Daniel."

The Babylonian captivity actually took place in three sieges, but it had been extensively prophesied as in Jeremiah 25:8-12, Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord, and will make it desolate forever.”

· 606 BC: The Babylonians began the 1st of 3 deportations of the Jews; the teen-ager Daniel was in this group.

· 597 BC the second deportation group was taken in 597 BC and included the 25 year old Ezekiel.

Ezekiel was called to be a prophet in 592 BC while living in Tel-aviv a few hundred miles from the city of Babylon. Concurrent to Ezekiel being called to be a prophet while in captivity, Jeremiah was an old man and still in Israel warning the people of the destruction of Jerusalem to follow six years later. Daniel would be in the city proper and in high office. Daniel was aware of the prophecies of Jeremiah and mentioned then in Daniel 9. Ezekiel likely heard Jeremiah speak while still in Jerusalem.

Three “Captivity Prophets” ministering to three difference groups of people; Daniel was in the King’s court, Ezekiel was with those tilling the land and Jeremiah was with the remnant in Jerusalem and would not leave for Egypt until later.

While in exile Ezekiel warned the people to accept their captivity just as Jeremiah warned those still in Jerusalem. The prophets said that God was using Babylon as judgment for Israel’s sins. As the temple was still standing and Jerusalem had not been destroyed the false prophets were still telling the people that they were God's people and they would go back home, wrong. These horrific events would not happen until seven years after the group of second siege captives arrived in Babylon.

Added Later:

The following well-known prophecy and its fulfillment after the third siege required the virgin birth of the seed of the woman. Ezekiel 12:13, "My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there." This prophecy was fulfilled Jeremiah 39:6-7, "There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon."

 Daniel knew the 70 years prophesied by Jeremiah was coming to an end and was in prayer when Gabriel disclosed the Seventy ‘sevens’ to him. Daniel 9:24,”Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish[b] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.”

Then came the amazing prophecy of the arrival of the Messiah, Daniel 9:25, “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
Daniel 9:26, “After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.” For nearly two thousand years the world has waited upon the 70^th week of Daniel.