The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #8004

The children of Israel are going to eat these dung cakes? Yes, they are! The LORD God said so! They would be scattered among the Gentiles and eat their defiled bread, and they eat it to this very day!

As we begin chapter four of Ezekiel, it is worth noting that one of the paradoxes concerning the Word of God is that our Father uses very simple examples and illustrations to make clear what it is He would have us to understand, and yet when people read these simple illustrations and the events He brought forth in the Old Testament, they find them confusing and inexplicable. "These things" are supposed to make our understanding easier, but they do not see the simplicity because they have failed to eat the whole scroll "within and without" and consequently do not understand the symbology used or the plan of God to which it relates. We will find this ever so true in this book of Ezekiel as this prophet and priest is asked to do some things which "seem strange" to some. But as the Apostle Paul said concerning the events and deeds of old, they happened as examples for us in these LAST DAYS!

1 Cor. 10:11
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Here's an example:

If you looked out your window and saw a chicken and a horse in your yard, that would be unusual, wouldn't it?  (Farmers excluded, perhaps.) But, if you looked out your window and saw the chicken riding the horse, that would be VERY unusual, right? However, if you looked out your window and saw the horse riding the chicken, you would NEVER FORGET IT!

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one picture is with the Lord as a thousand words, and a thousand words as one picture."

Here are Ezekiel's instructions:

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.

Personal Note: We used to build forts and battle grounds like this when we were kids, with our little rubber and plastic soldiers and tanks and cannons, etc. Sometimes we even played cowboys and native americans. (see I'm politically correct!)

Now for the spiritual illustration.

[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.

Oh boy! Just wait until you see what kind of barley cakes Ezekiel is ask to bake! Yeecch!

Let's recap the first three chapters of Ezekiel. The LORD God Almighty came down from heaven in a highly polished spectrum metal vehicle (a space ship, we call it!), expressly to Ezekiel, to make him strong and to deliver His messages to him, so that we in the last days would also be made strong through knowing what is happening now, what is about to happen, and what we are to do!

The first thing God told Ezekiel was that He was going to send him to the children of Israel, but only after he was qualified and had eaten the "scroll written within and without". This analogy is simply a PICTURE to illustrate how we are to study and absorb into our very being the ENTIRE Word of God and to prepare ourselves to be used by Him. You know, study to show yourself approved (for use) (2 Tim. 2:15). No where was Ezekiel told he just needed to go to church one day a week or preach that to the people.

Then, after Ezekiel had eaten the scroll, he was promoted and made a WATCHMAN unto the House of Israel, an extremely important position of responsibility, and he was instructed to hear the words of God from His mouth (His Word), and to give warning to the people from Him (His Word) in the manner of, "Thus saith the Lord", and its various forms such as, "It is written".

Now Ezekiel is being instructed to physically act out and demonstrate by doing things and using things that we can "SEE", so that we have a clear PICTURE in our minds of what He wants us to understand. They are like little plays on a stage giving us a VISION in our minds, thereby helping us to understand and remember. And it works very well!

The Lord began Ezekiel's demonstrations for us by telling him to go position himself on the "plain" between two mountains and He would talk to him there. Ezekiel was to know from this geographical placement that he would be in the "split" between the mountains, which are symbolic of nations, meaning Israel and Babylon, or on a higher level, the two powers, Christ and Satan. So it shall be for the watchmen in this final generation.

Ezekiel was then told to build a model of the city of Jerusalem under siege, by taking a Babylon brick and etching a picture of the city of Jerusalem on it and laying it before him and setting the enemy camps and battering rams, etc. around it. He was then to take an iron griddle used for baking "bread" and set it as a wall between him and the city. He was to face the iron wall and then show the city under siege while he is fully protected behind it. In like manner we will be protected by that iron shield when the city once again comes under siege by the king of Babylon (Satan, the spurious messiah) in these last days. The LORD God is our wall of protection, symbolized by the impenetrable iron.

We are now ready to SEE the next scene in the play, "The Siege of Jerusalem", starring Ezekiel the prophet, and understand its message. Here is the script as narrated by the Writer of writers, the LORD God.

Ezekiel 4:4
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. (not Judah)

Ezekiel 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days (not Israel): I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Ezekiel 4:7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

Isaiah 52:10
The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Ezekiel 4:8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

Do you remember how long Israel sojourned in the land of Egypt? It was 430 years, wasn't it? At the end of those 430 years was the Passover.

Exodus 12:40
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

[41] And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

[42] It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

[43] And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:

Before we witness what is about to be demonstrated, it is worth reminding ourselves that "bread" is always symbolic of "doctrine". Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is that true bread that came down from heaven (even born in the town called "House of Bread", Beth-lehem in Hebrew) and is the daily bread that we are to eat. But there are other "breads", other than the Word of God, that are made by man and fed to God's children. They are the "traditions of man".

Here are Christ's words to His disciples concerning bread:

Matthew 16:11
How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

[12] Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Ezekiel 4:9
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

Ezekiel 4:10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.

Ezekiel 4:11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

Ezekiel 4:12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

Ezekiel 4:13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.

Pretty graphic, isn't it? Man's 6 grain bread, his mixed bag of doctrines, is baked with man's dung. The "man" whose dung it is mixed with is the "ish" (man) of Isaiah 14:15. It is Satan's output, his crap, the "bread" of the false-christ, and it is an abomination!

But I guess his nice little religious cakes, like the Rapture Theory, must taste pretty good after all, for it is a very popular menu item in our churches, today. (Now you know why their seats upon which they sit in church are called in pews.)

Have you noticed that up to this point Ezekiel hasn't said much about the things he's had to do and the parts he's had to play? He went to the plain like a good watchman, he built the siege of Jerusalem model, he placed the iron bread griddle, and is now willing to lay, laid on his side for 390 days. But when asked to eat these dung cakes, made with man's dung none the less, he quickly objects, "Ah, Lord GOD, can I say something here?"

Ezekiel 4:14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

Ezekiel 4:15
Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.

Ezekiel 4:16
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

Ezekiel 4:17
That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

Amos 8:11
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

You now know what they eat: "Dung Crisp", "Dung Toasties", and "Sugar Dung Pops". Yummy!