The Hidden History of Verse Forty - Number Twenty

It is an acceptable biblical understanding to identify the prophet Ezekiel as thirty years old in his opening verses.

Some believe “the thirtieth year” is based upon a specific jubilee cycle, which began with king Josiah and ended with verse one of chapter forty.

Biblical chronologists date verse one of chapter forty as either April 28 or October 22, 573 BC. All the prophets identify the latter days, so the fall date of October 22, 573 BC is the omega date of a line that began fifty years prior in what is called “Josiah’s Great Passover” on May 5, 622 BC.

The number thirty is a symbol of the priests who were to be thirty years old when they began to serve. Whether verse one through three of Ezekiel one, is identifying Ezekiel’s age as thirty, or simply as a symbol of a priest he would also be represented as thirty years old. If the thirty years of verse one is as others believe; representing the thirtieth year since Josiah’s Great Passover in 622 BC, the prophetic implications are still the same.

Josiah means “foundation,” and his Great Passover began a jubilee period that ended on October 22 on the Day of Atonement 573 BC. The “jubilee line” from Josiah to October 22 aligns with the history of 1840 to 1844. The foundations of 1840 were represented by king Josiah and also by Josiah Litch. October 22 was represented by the horn of the jubilee trumpet being sounded along with the horn of the Day of Atonement.

Ezekiel is set within the Jubilee line from king Josiah to October 22, a line that represents Revelation ten’s first and second angels from 1840 unto 1844. Ezekiel represents the Millerites of the first and second angels and the one hundred and forty-four thousand of the third angel. Ezekiel represents the priesthood of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, but his primary prophetic attribute is that he is a prophet.

There are three biblical characters that began to serve when thirty years of age. Along with Ezekiel were David and Joseph. Because they all began to serve at the age of thirty, they are all priests. David is a symbol of the king, Joseph is the priest and Ezekiel is the prophet in the threefold kingdom of glory that consists of a prophet, a priest and a king.

However we might apply the prophet Ezekiel as a symbol, he is a priest, and when applied in the line of the jubilee from Josiah to October 22, Ezekiel is a priest who would represent a priest in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand as typified by the history of 1840 to 1844 and king Josiah to October 22, 573 BC.

The Bible is clear that Ezekiel ministered for twenty-two years. “Twenty-two” is a symbol of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are the ensign of Divinity combined with humanity. In the history represented by Josiah’s Passover unto chapter forty’s October 22’s Jubilee celebration, Josiah’s Passover typified the work of Josiah Litch in 1838 and 1840. That work was setting forth the time prophecies of the first and second woes. It can now be seen that the prophecy of the first and second woes is much larger than the pioneers recognized.

Ezekiel as a biblical prophet identifies more specific dates in his writings than any other biblical author.

Ezekiel is the omega of the day equaling a year in Bible prophecy. In the book of Numbers, the alpha mention of the day year principle is represented at the first rebellion at Kadesh that brought about forty years of wandering in the wilderness. The last, or omega rebellion is being represented by Ezekiel in chapter four as Jerusalem is destroyed.

Kadesh and Jerusalem’s destruction represent the alpha and omega rebellion representing the day for a year principle. The “day for a year principle” was the primary rule of the Millerite's and in the history of 1840 to 1844, as typified in the Jubilee line of king Josiah unto October 22. Ezekiel sets forth more dates than any other prophet. Within the dating of Ezekiel, the line of the Jubilee is identified, tying Ezekiel’s witness directly into the history of the first and second angels, and thereafter the history of the third angel.

Along with the “Jubilee line” Ezekiel lies on his side for three hundred and ninety days, then on his other side for forty days. “Four hundred and thirty” is a symbol of the old and new covenants, for Abram’s covenant promise of four hundred years of captivity in Egypt found the second witness of thirty years with the apostle Paul. Together Abram, (later Abraham) of ‘the old’ and Saul, (later Paul) of ‘the new’ combined their witnesses to establish four hundred and thirty years as a symbol of the everlasting covenant. “Three hundred and ninety days” “shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.” “And” “thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.” Together the right side and the left side equal Abram and Paul.

The covenant was always based upon obedience or disobedience—life or death. The year day principle in Millerite history was a life or death issue, and the history was announced by the first angel as the everlasting gospel. The “gospel” is a life or death issue, and the life or death testing issue of Millerite history was set within the context of the principle of a day equating to a year. The prediction that empowered the message of the first angel was the three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days prophecy of the second woe. Within the three hundred and ninety days that Ezekiel laid upon his left side is an illustration of the three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days time prophecy of the second woe. It requires prophetic discernment to rightly divide the prophecy, but it is nothing less than the continuing work of the Lion of the tribe of Judah unsealing the message of the midnight cry.

I contend that Ezekiel must be treated as a symbol of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, but primarily as a symbol of the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy, whether represented as a manifestation of a latter-day prophet, or as a manifestation of the covenant people who understand the principle of line upon line methodology.

I contend that Ezekiel’s light upon the three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days prophecy aligns with the dirt brush man casting the jewels into the larger casket.

I contend that the light from Ezekiel is an essential element of the capstone message, when the temple is finished.

Ezekiel is at October 22 in verse one of chapter forty, and it is there that the vision of the future temple is given to Ezekiel. That temple is the temple of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, of which Ezekiel is a symbol of that number. That group will have passed two tests before they reach the third and litmus test. Ezekiel is portrayed as receiving his light in the temple, and therefore the light he produces as a symbol represents the light that comes when God’s people enter the Most Holy Place in alignment with Daniel chapter ten.

The light of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that is unsealed, is unsealed just before probation closes.

The “time is at hand” just before probation closes in verse eleven, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ is therefore unsealed at that time, for “the time is at hand.”

Probation closes for Laodicean Seventh-day Adventism at the Sunday law and Adventism is represented as Jerusalem in chapter nine of Ezekiel. There those who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land and in the church receive the seal. The sealing takes place when the east winds of Islam are angering the nations, just before probation closes. In Ezekiel chapter eight the four generations of Adventism conclude with the fourth generation being symbolized by the twenty-five leaders bowing to the sun.

That vision was given symbolically one day before the Sunday law, or just before the close of probation as represented by six, six, six.

The vision of the sixth year, sixth month and fifth day came just before ‘666,’ a symbol of the Sunday law, when probation closes for Laodicean Adventism. That vision was “according to the vision” Ezekiel “saw in the plain.” The vision he saw in the plain is found earlier, in chapter three.

The vision of the “plain”, which was the vision of the sixth year, sixth month and fifth day was the vision Ezekiel had seen earlier at the river of Chebar.

The “visions of God” which Ezekiel “saw,” by the river of Chebar, was the vision of the plain, which was also the vision of Ezekiel chapter eight through eleven. Those visions were presented in the context of Ezekiel looking into the sanctuary, which is where the "marah" looking glass vision of chapter ten is accomplished. Ezekiel represents those who partake of the prophetic light radiating from the Most Holy Place as the Revelation of Jesus Christ is brought forth just before the close of probation.

When we identify king Josiah’s Jubilee line that begins with Passover and ends on October 22, we are identifying the symbol of the Spring feasts and the Fall feasts as set forth in Leviticus twenty-three. There the spring and fall feasts are set forth with twenty-two verses each, just as Ezekiel’s ministry was for twenty-two years. Aligning Ezekiel in the thirtieth year of the Jubilee line allows Ezekiel’s birth to align with Josiah’s revival. If he was thirty years old in the thirtieth year of the Jubilee cycle, then Ezekiel would be born at Josiah’s reformation.

Ezekiel is a symbol of those who by faith enter into the Most Holy Place. Once there they see the wheels within the wheels representing the complex play of human interactions. As with John in Revelation chapter ten, Ezekiel represents the Millerites, but more directly the one hundred and forty-four thousand. His parallel three-hundred-ninety-one-years and fifteen-days time prophecy illustrates the final judgment of Laodicean Adventism with the destruction of Jerusalem, and it includes the enigma of thirty-eight and forty.

It includes the symbolism of four hundred and thirty years.

It includes the four-year period represented by 1333 to 1337, 1449 to 1453 and 1840 to 1844.

We will begin our considerations of this most important subject in the next article.