Lessons From Ezekiel – Lesson 33
We have seen over and over how God works ahead. He would give details about something that was going to happen in the future and then say when they see this they will know that I am the Lord.
And sometimes what He said would happen was not that far off. Like with Trye. Or with how Egypt would fall so that Nebacanezzer’s army could get paid for what they did to Trye.
Sometimes what God said would happen was a little farther out. Less than 100 years. For example the promises that God gave in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel about the return to the land.
And there are some things that God said would happen that are thousands of years in the future from the time He said it.
The greater the time in between does not make it any more difficult for God. He sees the end of all things just as clearly as He sees next week.
In Chapter 38 and 39 God gives Ezekiel some things that will happen thousands of years in the future. They might not be that far in the future from our day.
Chapter 38 and 39 have to do with Gog and the land of Magog.
EKE 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
John who was one of my bosses was part of one of those rock n roll churches. They can’t preach a lot of things. If they did, it would not be too long before the place practically empties out. Things must be kept vague and positive and entertaining and uplifting.
Don’t offend. Don’t talk about sin much. Can’t preach separation from the world or what living for Jesus would really mean. This causes a little bit of a problem.
What can you preach then? Many times I would talk to John about things from the Bible that we preach and he would get the dear in the headlight look. John really did not know much about separation or sanctification or what abiding in Jesus means.
But ask about Gog and Magog and his face would light up and he could go on and on.
That is because to have enough things to preach his church would concentrate on Jesus is King, and on Israel, and on prophecy of the end times. That is 3 of the top subjects for them.
Those are safe non offending subjects and so they were big on those.
They would also make a lot of guesses and assumptions about Gog and Magog and preach those as facts. And the church that John was a part of is not alone in this.
One of the assumptions that they will make is to say that Gog and Magog is Russia. The bible in no way says that. What the Bible says is that Magog is in the North.
EKE 38:14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
EKE 38:15And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
Russia is a major power to the north of Israel, but they are not the only ones. Things in this world can change and change fast.
For example at this time most of Europe is in danger of becoming a new state for Islam. Huge sections of France already are. There are many sections of France and Germany that the police dare not to go into and those sections are being run by sharia law.
It is now illegal to criticize Muslims in Brittan. They have actually arrested and have people serving time in prison for posting a tweet that did not agree with Islam.
The Europe we knew is gone, and is on the verge of being replaced. The Soviet Union fell apart and it happened so fast it was a shock to most people.
Just this week Syria fell. Things can change fast.
Gog may be Russia or it may be a new country that replaces Russia. Or it might be a new country that replaces Europe.
I believe that it is an error to major on the minor and minor on the major. The fact is that it does not matter if it is the Russia we know or not.
What God shows Ezekiel here takes place at the end of the tribulation period. There are many things throughout chapter 38 and 39 that prove that is the case.
EKE 38:16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
One of the reasons God does to Gog what He does is mentioned here. That the heathen may know me. When God brings this to pass against God just like it was foretold thousands of years before, some of the heathen will wake up and go.
He is the Lord.
That does not mean salvation. We understand that there is knowing the Lord as in knowing who He is and there is knowing the Lord as in a personal relationship.
A few of the heathen might have the light bulb go off and actually get saved, but we know the overwhelming majority will not. We know this by what happens at the end of the 1,000 years.
Satan is released and deceives the heathen nations and they rise up against Jesus.
So I believe that when verse 16 says that the heathen may know me, it is talking mainly about knowing who He is.
That He is the Almighty, with all power. This event is so big and powerful that there is no doubt who Jesus is and they all stop fighting. There will be not one attack from them for 1,000 years.
They will dislike Jesus, they will hold contempt in their hearts for Him. But they have no doubt of His power and no doubt as to who is in charge.
EKE 38:17Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
EKE 38:18And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
EKE 38:19For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
EKE 38:20So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
EKE 38:22And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
If you think back to when we went thru the book of Revelation you should recognize several things mentioned in those verses. Earthquakes, the mountains shall be thrown down. And pestilence, and natural disasters, hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
And again God brings up one of reasons in verse 23.
EKE 38:23Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Again and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Maybe you are thinking that what is about to happen must be pretty huge and mighty and dramatic for all the sudden for God to be known in the eyes of many nations.
If you are thinking that, then you would be correct.
EKE 39:1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
EKE 39:2And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
EKE 39:3And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
Only 1/6 of them will survive. They will turn back but only after 5/6 of them die.
EKE 39:4Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
EKE 39:5Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
So their army is devastated. And God then does not leave their homeland alone.
EKE 39:6And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Isles is a word for Islands. Again we don’t know which islands just that they are north of Israel. It could even be Britain and Wales or it could be Cyprus or other such islands. Wherever they are God sends a fire upon them.
And at the same time God will move in the hearts of Israel and they also will know that He is the Lord.
EKE 39:7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
EKE 39:8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
And O’ the mess that is left behind.
EKE 39:9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
It will take 7 years for them to burn all the weapons.
EKE 39:10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: …
And O’ the stink of all of the bodies. Verse 11 says it shall stop the noses of those who pass by.
EKE 39:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
EKE 39:12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
So for 7 months they are burning the weapons and for the same 7 months they are burying the bodies. And not just a small few are involved in the burying.
EKE 39:13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
EKE 39:14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
EKE 39:20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
With horses and chariots. And if you noticed earlier spears and bows. Some people will use this as a basis for taking the Bible as figurative. That is it metaphorical and that it is not literal.
This lets them take everything symbolically and thus they can make it mean anything they want it to mean. They will say if this is future, then anyone attacking from the north would come at Israel with tanks and rockets and jets.
After all we don’t use horses and spears and bows and chariots. We use technology and advanced weapons. They then make the mistake of saying therefore there is no alternative the Bible cannot be literal.
Don’t make that mistake. The Bible is in fact correct. And it is not hard to see why if you read the book of Revelation.
It does not take much to throw our civilization off. Look at what happened in North Carolina. One storm. The end of a hurricane and that entire area got thrown back to the middle ages.
Look at what happened to Japan after that tsunami. It can take weeks to restore electricity to an area after one snow storm.
Technology requires stability. You read Revelation and think about the devastation and how it is nonstop. In all of that it would not be possible to keep the power plants running and the factories and everything else that is required for technology.
Almost everything we have is not simple to produce. And most of it is not produced by one factory. It is all interdependent.
Don’t believe me. Go out and without help, gather the resources and make your own car. I mean the rubber and the metal and plastic and electronics. Start with the sand and make glass and find and mine the copper for wires and refine it.
Mine your own iron and the trace elements needed to make steel.
Technology requires stability and it requires interdependence with a lot of people and a lot of resources.
Try something simpler. Make your own cell phone. And if somehow you did it, it would still not work. Why because it is dependent upon the cell towers, and all the internet circuits and routers that they use.
A small virus like COVID totally disrupted our supply chain. And COVID was nothing compared to what is going to happen in the tribulation.
And technology takes a huge amount of hours of manpower. You throw man into a situation where he is having to spend all of his time in a literal fight for survival and he no longer has the time to build and maintain technology.
I can very easily see how things revert back to horses. I believe that my Bible is 100 percent correct. They will come against Israel with an army on horses.
And God will wipe them out. And God is going to keep this prophecy. He always does what He says He will do.
And by doing this He will achieve 2 things that are now mentioned.
1 is so that the heathen will see it and know that it was God that did it.
EKE 39:21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
2 is so that Israel will know it. And not just know it, but change because of it.
EKE 39:22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
This is where it happens. The Bible says that one day all Israel will be saved. From this day forward Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God.
Israel has already turned to Jesus in the tribulation. Remember there are 144,000 Jewish witnesses to Jesus that are sealed. What I am talking about happening here is the total fulfillment of all the promises that God made to Israel.
This is where that happens.
EKE 39:29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
At this time God pours out His spirit upon them.
We know from putting the pieces together with Revelation that this event happens when Jesus comes back and puts this foot down on the Mount of Olives and with so much power that the mountain splits in two.
We know that with just a word from His mouth is this army destroyed.
And Jesus will be with them in Israel for 1,000 years.
And all of the promises that He made to them will be fulfilled. All of them. 100 percent. They will be His people and He will be their God.
He is faithful to what He has said and must make it come to pass.
If you understand that principal, then you don’t have a problem with the last part of Ezekiel chapters 40 thru 44.
Some get confused with it and some get upset about it. We are going to go over that next.