Ezekiel 40:1-4 – Being a faithful messenger of God

In Ezekiel’s vision described in chapters 8-11, the temple in Jerusalem was seen to be desecrated with idols. The Lord and His glory were also seen to depart from the temple. However, in later chapters, the prophet gave hopeful messages of a future restoration for God’s people. He hinted that in their homeland they would have a sanctuary and the presence of God.  

 

In chapter 39, we saw the blessings that God’s people would experience when they returned to the land. This chapter seems like a neat place to bring the book to a conclusion. But after this chapter, the book of Ezekiel has nine more chapters. Some have considered them as an appendix added to the book that had concluded in chapter 39.

 

These next nine chapters are not easy to interpret much less to understand. The first readers probably understood the description and illustrations of Ezekiel 40-48 better. Unlike us, they didn’t have to overcome the language, geographical, and cultural barriers that we have. That is why we will need to trust God to lead us to find the needful personal application for our growth in Him. It is undeniable that these chapters are spiritual truths God wants us to discover, apply, and grow in Him.  

 

Ezekiel chapters 40-48 present a climax of hope in God for His people. The Temple, a priesthood, and a worship system are seen to be constructed. This future Temple would be a holy and sanctified place where God would dwell. It would be a key part of the promised land which would be supernaturally blessed by God. Included in this blessing would be Gentiles whom God would make His people.   

 

Ezekiel 40:1-4 says that the vision the prophet saw happened in the 25^th year of the exile on the tenth day of the first month, and 14 years after Jerusalem was captured. He was taken to a very high mountain in Israel and given a tour. Toward the south, he saw the structure of a city. Here he was brought closer to the gate of that city. Standing in the gateway, he saw a man, an angelic being, glistening like bronze. In his hand were two pieces of measuring equipment. One was a rod and the other, a reed.

 

Ezekiel was then told to pay close attention to what would be revealed to Him. He was to take careful note of all that he would see with his eyes and hear with his ears. Whatever would be revealed to him, Ezekiel had the responsibility to declare all to the House of Israel.

While truths will be concealed from unbelievers, God will make it known to those who believe in Him. Like He had chosen and used Ezekiel as His instrument, God can also use us as His messengers. All of us are God’s redemptive agents in the world. It behooves us to pay close attention to all that He will reveal so that we can pass it on to warn or bless others. Let’s be God’s faithful instrument!     

Ezekiel 39:25-29 – The blessing of restoration

In this last paragraph of Ezekiel 39, Israel is restored by God. Gog and his host had been exterminated. Whatever fortune Israel had lost would be restored to her. God’s mercy would also be shown to His people. And He would zealously guard over His Holy name. Through these verses, we cannot get away from seeing the blessings that one would enjoy when one's relationship with God is restored.

Verse 26 says that when His people had dwelt securely in the land, they would no longer remember their disgrace and all the treacheries they had perpetrated against Him. This is grace. It is by way of saying that God had forgiven and erased whatever effect of their sin committed against Him.

 

God’s people would be restored to the land, and He would sanctify and make them His set-apart people. They would, henceforth, live in close relationship with Him and He would be their savior and redeemer.

 

Through all that had happened to them, God’s covenant people would realize and know God, their covenant Lord. It was He who had allowed the enemy to carry them into exile and then would bring them back into their homeland, leaving none behind. There they would experience His presence as He poured out His Spirit upon them.

 

While this passage talks about God’s dealing with Israel and their restoration, it also anticipates ours. This is the grace of God. In Christ and His work at Calvary, we are initiated into the blessings of a restored relationship with God. In Him, we are reconciled to God. Our sinful past is removed, and we are given a new life. In Second Corinthians 5:17, that assurance is that in Christ our old sinful nature is erased, and we have a new start to living. We can experience God’s perpetual presence in our life. 

Ezekiel 39:17-24 – God chastens us to perfect and not destroy us.

The slaughter of Gog and his host is outlined in a scene of gigantic sacrifice in Ezekiel 39:17-2o. Here God told Ezekiel to invite every foul bird and wild beast to come and feast on the sacrifice.  At the Lord’s decree, the wild beasts and foul birds would come and feast on the sacrifices till they become bloated and drink the blood to the point of intoxication.  

The purpose of why all these had to take place is given in verses 21-24. God would be demonstrating His glory through the judgment. And through it, Israel would recognize that Yahweh, their covenant Lord is indeed their God.

 

Besides, all nations would also come to realize the reason why God’s people were taken into exile. They would know what led to her rejection by God. They would know why God hid Himself from His people and gave them into the hands of their adversaries. It was all because of their iniquities and treacherous acts against the Lord. God was dealing with their transgression and treachery.

 

God loves Israel too much to allow them to destroy themselves. All the discipline they have experienced and will experience has only one purpose – to help them come to truly know God, their covenant Lord.  As God’s people in Christ, God loves us too. Those whom He loves, He chastens, not to destroy us but to build us up. Our trials are moments of His molding. When He is through with us we shall come forth pure as gold.       

Ezekiel 3:9-16 –Only in God can security be found

In the first eight verses of Ezekiel 39 said that God would urge Gog and his massive army to come against Israel. They would come only to be defeated and destroyed on the mountains of Israel by God Himself. Their dead bodies would be left as food for “every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field.”

Verses 9-10 say that in the defeat, they would leave a sizeable amount of their weapons behind. The many weapons would require seven years to be cleared as wood for fire. They would have no need to go and gather wood from the fields or trees for fuel. That need would be provided by the weapons left behind. Besides, they would also seize everything of those who came to plunder them and not the other way around.

It would require seven months for the corpses to be collected and buried. So verses 11-16 said that Israel would be their burial ground. The place where they would be buried in horde would be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. With the task done the land would be searched thoroughly to ensure that not even a single bone would be left. This suggests a thorough cleansing of the land where every trace of evil force would be eliminated.

These verses tell us that battle does not always belong to the strong. But sure victory is the Lord’s. It is in Him that our security must rest. Let us not be terrified by the increasing turmoil we see in the world. Instead, let the turmoil be a signal for us to draw even closer to God. Only in Him are we totally secured.

     

Ezekiel 39:1-8 – God disciplines to advance His purpose

In Ezekiel 39:1-8, we see a repetition of what had already been described in chapter 38. It is a summary of what Ezekiel had already said previously but in a summary form. God would be the one who would goad the forces of Gog on. They would be taken from the remotest part of the north to the mountains of Israel to come against the nation.  

There God would strike and defeat them.  The bow which Gog held with the left hand would be knocked off and arrows dash to the ground, so that purpose would be thwarted. This is to say that the military endeavor led by Gog would fail.

 

Instead of defeating Israel, Gog and his massive force would be destroyed. Their dead bodies, left unburied, would become food for the birds of prey and beasts of the field. God would also send fire upon Magog and incinerate her coastland leaving a heap of ashes. They would indeed recognize God, the Lord.     

 

In the act, God would uphold His name and holiness amid Israel, His people. He would also not allow His holy name to be desecrated anymore. And through it, His name would be upheld and established as the Holy One in Israel.  It would be known that nations are in His hands and not in Gog’s.  

 

Without a doubt, God uses even our opponents to discipline and perfect us, His people. It seems paradoxical that God would use an instrument to deal with us and then would at the same time be the one to destroy the instrument that He uses. We must know that the God we worship and serve is sovereign. And He would even use those who may not be for Him to serve His purpose to make His name known.    

Ezekiel 38:17-23 – Under God’s protective hand

Ezekiel 38:17-23 declares concerning the havoc Gog would wreak against Israel. Verse 17 indicates that God had already made known this through the lips of his former prophets. Here God did not identify the prophets whom He had spoken through concerning this matter. However, we know that the messages of prophets always dovetail with each other's because God is their source.   

Verses 18-19 reveal that on that day when Gog attacked Israel, God’s wrath would be stirred against him. A great earthquake would occur in Israel. Furthermore, there would be a great upheaval. Man, beasts from land, sea, or sky, and physical features such as mountains, pathways, and ground would all be thoroughly affected by the catastrophe.

Verse 20 describes the turmoil this way: “The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.” 

 

God would bring a judgment against Gog and his armies. He would call for a war against them. There would be infighting among themselves. Pestilences and bloodshed would be their experience. Upon them, God would also send on them “a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.”   

 

Through His mighty judgment, God would magnify and sanctify and make Himself known in full view of the nations. And they would come to recognize and know that He the Lord is the true God.

 

God’s people are ever under His protective care. To touch God’s people is to touch the apple of His eye. No one can plot against God’s people and get away from His reckoning. He promises to keep us and He is faithful and will do it.    

Ezekiel 38:10-16 – Live life vigilantly.

Ezekiel 38:10-16 describes Gog scheming an unprovoked attack on the people of God’s people securely settled their reinhabited land. The intention of Gog was to plunder and take the wealth and possessions God’s people had accumulated. Verse 12 indicates that the land where the people of God had reinhabited was strategic and central.

The enemy knew and reckoned that it would not be difficult to pillage the restored and inhabited land. Notice verse 11 says that the land the people were living in was “without walls and having no bars or gates.” In other words, they were not well protected. Encouraged by “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages” Gog would seek to plunder Israel.

 

Verses 14-16 then say that knowing that as the people of God dwell securely and peacefully in their land, an invasion would come from the remote part of the north. A great horde of people, a mighty army on horses would descend and invade Israel. Their coming upon Israel would be like a great cloud covering the land. In other words, it would be a massive all-out attack.  All these would happen because the Lord’s goal was to let the people of all nations recognize, know, and reverence Him as the sovereign Lord.

 

God is sovereign. This is an undisputed truth. But sadly, the way we His people live and conduct themselves, have often caused questions to be raised regarding His sovereignty. God cannot allow that and would do all to correct the false image of Him. Let us live in such a way that will demonstrate His reign in our life.

 

Another lesson to glean from these verses is the need to be vigilant in our lives. We cannot afford to be complacent in our walk with God. It is in moments when we let down our guard that the enemy would attack.  We need to be ever conscious that our enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Is in our moments of unguardedness that we are most vulnerable and susceptible to his attack. We need to always stay alert.