Eat the Bread of Life
When Ezekiel began his ministry on July 6, 594 BCE (Tammuz 5), which was the 30th year from finding the book of the Torah during the 18th year of Josiah’s reign in 624 BCE, Yahweh said a couple fascinating things to Ezekiel in chapter 2:8-10, “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house (of Israel); open your mouth (your heart) and eat what I give you (His living Word, Yeshua).” 9Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book (of prophecy) was in it. 10Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.” Friends, I do not apologize for writing to you regarding the end times. Prophetic events are unfolding so rapidly, we can barely catch our breath between disasters. Do not be rebellious! Eat what Yahweh gives you to eat. Most of the world does not know Yeshua nor do they want to. They will face unimaginable trauma in these coming days and years. Judgment is not for Yahweh’s children unless they are in rebellion. All end time prophecies must be fulfilled and that includes a lot of destruction, in nature, from nature, and at the hands of evil men. But we don’t have to fear any of it, because we know Who holds our future, which is bright and glorious! If the Yellowstone volcano blows two thirds of America to Kingdom come, that’s a good thing, then our mission is over and we can rest until Yeshua returns. Verse 6, “And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions (See, Yahweh knew some of you would be living in Texas!); do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.” Of course, the briers, thorns, and scorpions are speaking of tares, the evil men and women who are rebelling against Yahweh and persecuting His saints. Don’t worry about them, Yahweh’s strong right arm of Justice is coming to deal His vengeance upon them. We follow Yahweh and feed His sheep; sheep were created for slaughter and sacrifice. That is our lot on this planet. Get used to it.
Daniel received His visitation and vision in chapters 10-12 in the third year of Persian King Cyrus, on Sabbath, April 10, 549 BCE, at the turn of the new Hebrew religious year. In verses 3-4, Daniel explains that he was fasting and humbling himself with unleavened bread, during the great holy days of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Feast of First Fruits, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 3I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. 4Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month (Sabbath, Nisan 24, 549 BCE), as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris.” Apparently, Daniel began his mourning fast on Sabbath, Nisan 3. That Sabbath was actually known as the first-second Sabbath, because the priestly cycle had just begun with the first course of priests on the Sabbath before Nisan 1, known as the first-first Sabbath. The twenty-four course priestly cycle lasted six months, and started over again on the Sabbath before Tishri 1 in the fall, known as the second-first Sabbath, as referred to in Luke 6:1, “Now it happened on the second-first Sabbath that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.” Any Hebrew reader in the 1st century knew exactly which Sabbath Luke was writing about. When Daniel states he was mourning three full weeks, he is counting inclusively, accounting for the Sabbaths of Nisan 3 and Nisan 24, 549 BCE. The angel claims he was held up fighting the prince of Iran, I mean Persia, for twenty-one days, from Sabbath, Nisan 3 to Friday, Nisan 23, then he was able to proceed to give Daniel the vision on Sabbath, Nisan 24, which of course began on Friday night at sundown. Since the first Temple had been destroyed back in 588 BCE, this was Daniel’s way of celebrating Passover that year.
Notice what Daniel was focusing on during those 21 days. The angel states in verse 12, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your Great One, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.” Daniel was eating unleavened bread, the Bread of Life, Yeshua. He was pressing in to his relationship with Yahweh. First, Daniel got his heart right, set to understand Yahweh and His vision for his life. Second, Daniel humbled himself before Yahweh by restricting his consumption of sustenance, beyond the required 7 days of eating only unleavened bread. Daniel was more than a religious man, he was a spiritual man with a heart hungry for Yeshua, the true bread from heaven. Here’s Daniel in his 51st year of captivity, 39 years after the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem had been destroyed, still seeking Yahweh with his whole heart. And what was the word to Daniel? Do not fear. Friends, we’re going to be going through some stuff like Daniel, I just pray it won’t last as long, but don’t fear, rejoice, because at the end of our Great Tribulation, Yeshua will be reigning supreme on His throne in Jerusalem.
Notice how the messenger of Yahweh has to fight his way through demonic resistance to get the message to Yahweh’s servant in verses 13-14, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia (Iran) withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia (Iran). 14Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days (early 21st century), for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”” This vision given to Daniel 2,559 years ago certainly did refer to many days yet to come, but those days the angel was speaking about have come upon us, the last generation of mankind. The demonic prince of Iran is rising again to fight against Yahweh’s people. What you see happening on the daily news in Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia is part of the realignment of the Islamic kingdoms under the dominion of the prince of Persia, Iran, the soon to be recognized king of the South of Daniel 11. You will soon see a powerful Islamic confederation in the Middle East rise out of the sand to prosecute war against the beastly superstate of the European Union, led by Germany, the angry Assyrians. Israel, of course, will be caught in the middle again, and quite possibly taken into another temporary captivity. Stay tuned, you don’t want to miss this end time event, and try not to get squeamish thinking about getting your head cut off. Fear not.
Daniel went through a long wilderness experience, but notice he sustained and encouraged himself by eating unleavened bread, Yeshua, the true Bread of Yahweh. We must develop a life-sustaining relationship, or oneness, with our Heavenly Father that will take us through this coming seven-year wilderness experience, known as the tribulation of the saints. Daniel showed incredible courage in the face of all kinds of opposition from the Medes and Persians. His many life-threatening experiences kept him on his knees seeking Yahweh, his Savior. When you are forced to your knees before a Muslim with a big bloody sword, that is a good time just to continue your disciplined prayer life. One moment you’ll be praying in this life, the next moment you’ll be praying in the Kingdom. You may not even notice losing your head. Dying physically is nothing to fear for one who has habitually learned to die daily to self, as Daniel did. As we’ve said before, we may have already seen 63 of Daniel’s 70 Feast of Weeks go by, that only leaves 7 more to go, meaning we are already in the 2nd year of tribulation. I guess that would explain current world events.
Now is a good time to be thankful for Yahweh’s providential protection and provision. His Bread from heaven, Yeshua, will sustain us daily. Eat His flesh and drink His blood 3 times daily then text me in the morning. Really, partaking of His life and letting Him take your life and use it for His purposes is what you were created for. It’s the principle of giving and receiving. You give your life to Yeshua, He takes it and consumes your self, but gives you His life-giving life in return, so you can produce more fruit for His kingdom. You breathe Him in, taking in His Word and Holy Spirit, then you breathe out what He teaches you, to bring life eternal to other people. It’s THE cycle of life everlasting. You eat Yeshua, He eats your old nasty self, you digest what He’s teaching you then teach others. Yeshua called it disciple making. Many today call it mentoring. His word is bread to you. It is food for you. It is your life.
Take a look at John 6, the story of Yeshua feeding 5,000 men from a few loaves and fish. After that miracle, verse 15 states, “Therefore when Yeshua perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.” Many people in Palestine in the 1st century recognized Yeshua was the Messiah, the prophesied King they were expecting to come. After that fantastic miracle, they were ready on the spot to make Yeshua king of Israel. But their hearts weren’t right and it wasn’t His time. Later, Yeshua rebuked them for only being interested in the flesh, verses 26-27, ““Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because Yahweh the Father has set His seal on Him.”” We need Yeshua’s spiritual food. Most of us could afford to turn away from a lot of flesh food, and instead eat Yeshua’s spiritual food, the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, Yeshua Himself. And guess what? It takes time, one of the first things Yahweh created for us to use to glorify Him. Don’t waste time eating flesh food when you could be investing the same time in the Kingdom of Yahweh. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, time was created in sort of a stopwatch mode, counting up to Yeshua’s second coming. When time is up it’s UP. We are daily running out of this life’s most precious commodity, time. Use it wisely.
Let’s get this picture in our heads. Imagine pulling out a Torah scroll. The left side is rolled up with 6,000 years of history, or fulfilled prophecy, it’s long, large and heavy. The right side only has a few columns of prophecy left rolled up on it, it’s thin and light. The couple columns lying open on the table in front of you are today’s headlines. Friends, there are only a few verses of prophecy left to be fulfilled from Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Revelation, and maybe a couple others, but do you see the picture? Almost all of prophetic human history is already in the PAST! Very little prophecy remains to be fulfilled to bring the Kingdom of Yahweh to earth. That prophetic time capsule is flying by at an astonishing rate. We all need to meditate on the point that we may already be in the 2nd year of tribulation and the 3rd year starts with the fall feasts of 2011 CE. It is too exciting to fully comprehend.
I read Hal Lindsey’s book, The Late Great Planet Earth, back in 1973, when I was running my own life, thank you very much. Yahweh hooked me then with end-time prophecy. That was 38 years ago next month. I gave my life to Yeshua on April fools day, 1973. That was Ve-Adar 27 (2nd Adar, 13th month, 27th day), or April 1, 1973 CE, about the 2,181,600th day of creation. It took Yahweh that many days of working through human history to get me to repent and turn to His Son, Yeshua. He’s been consuming my life ever since, and I’ll be grateful for all ages to come for what He has done in my life. Don’t let another day go by, without turning your life over to Yeshua, there just aren’t that many days left on Yahweh’s calendar. When Yeshua stands up and leaves the heavenly Sanctuary, it’s ALL OVER down here. You know the old saying, it ain’t over till it’s over, but it truly is about OVER! Revelation 10:5-7, “The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay (of time) no longer, 7but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of Yahweh would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”
Gene Benjamin II February 2, 2011 CE