Ezekiel 38–39 – The Great Battle Of The Ages
Thoughts about serving others
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
As we read about event that are happening in Israel in 2015, I wonder just how relevant Ezekiel’s prophesies are today? Some who study these prophesies, with an emphasis on current events, see parallels and write with great anticipation that God is moving in our modern world with vigor. From a military background, the judgments against Gog and Magog sound like the results of a very modern and horrible type of warfare–certainly something Ezekiel would not have understood from a practical perspective, i.e., they didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. But sadly, there are such weapons of war these days. The headlines will read of catastrophic destruction and provide explanations as to how the battle unfolded. Meanwhile, Biblical scholars will be reading Ezekiel 38 & 39 over and over again to see how the prophesies actually came true.
“In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am proved holy through you before their eyes” (38:16).
The end of chapter 39 gives great hope, “I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord” (39:29). I wonder if this means the Jews will see Jesus as Christ when this happens? Will the unity spoken of in Ezekiel 37:19, “I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand,” be seen as a uniting of Jews and Christians? That would be a great day indeed!
Lord help us to understand how to read and comprehend these prophesies, not to be so forward looking that we don’t see what’s right in front of us, but excited about the future you are carving into stone for your people. Let us be inspired by words that depict a brighter future to fuel our present day work in the mission field.