This articles interpretation of Ezekiel 37- 39
is probably to great of a stretch for many. It seems to be speaking so
directly to ancient Israel that it can't be speaking to anything else.
To some extent it was but that extent is limited to the New Testaments
teachings of who in Gods foreknowledge the prophesied Israel of God has
always been.
Galatians 3:6 Even as
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7.
Understand therefore that they which are of faith, they are the children
of Abraham. 8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
gentiles through faith, beforehand preached the gospel to Abraham,
saying, "in you shall all nations be blessed."
Galatians 3: 16
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He says not, And to
seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ.
Or as the simple English version says: God made
promises to Abraham and his descendant. God did not say ``and to your
descendants.'' That would mean many people. But God said, ``and to your
descendant.'' This means only one person--Christ. It can be
clearly ascertained then that the Apostle is teaching that the promises
made to Abraham were not about or to his physical descendants (which are
the many descendants referred to.) Rather they were to Jesus Christ,
Gods one and only begotten Son. Then in verses 26 -29:
he shows how God "foresaw" that the nations would be Abrahams children:
26. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for all are one in Christ Jesus.29.
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's children, and heirs
according to the promise.
Romans
9:6......For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.: 7. Nor
are they Abrahams children just because they are his physical
descendants;
Romans 2:27 And
shall not un-circumcision which is by nature (meaning Gentiles),
if it (they) fulfill the law, judge you (Paul
speaking to his Jewish countrymen), who by the letter and
circumcision transgress the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of
men, but of God.
1 Peter 1:12 To whom (the
prophets like Ezekiel) it was revealed, that not to themselves,
but to us they did minister the things, which are now reported to you by
them that have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Ghost sent down
from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Ezekiel 37:1The hand of the Lord was on
me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the
middle of the valley which was full of bones, 2And caused me to pass by
them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley;
and, see, they were very dry. 3And he said to me, Son of man, can these
bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, you know. 4Again he said to me,
Prophesy on these bones, and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word
of the LORD. 5Thus said the Lord GOD to these bones; Behold, I will
cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: 6And I will lay
sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am
the LORD. 7So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied,
there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together,
bone to his bone. 8And when I beheld, see, the sinews and the flesh came
up on them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in
them. 9Then said he to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man,
and say to the wind, Thus said the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. 10So I
prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they
lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army. 11Then he
said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel:
behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut
off for our parts. 12Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus said the
Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to
come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13And
you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my
people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14And shall put my spirit
in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then
shall you know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, said
the LORD. 15The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 16Moreover,
you son of man, take you one stick, and write on it, For Judah, and for
the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and
write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of
Israel his companions: 17And join them one to another into one stick;
and they shall become one in your hand. 18And when the children of your
people shall speak to you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean by
these? 19Say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the
stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of
Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of
Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. 20And
the sticks where on you write shall be in your hand before their eyes.
21And say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the
children of Israel from among the heathen, where they be gone, and will
gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22And I
will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel; and
one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two
nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at
all. 23Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols,
nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions:
but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have
sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be
their God. 24And David my servant (Jesus) shall be king over them; and they all
shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and
observe my statutes, and do them. 25And they shall dwell in the land
that I have given to Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have
dwelled; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children,
and their children's children for ever: and my servant David
(Jesus) shall be
their prince for ever. 26Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with
them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place
them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the middle of them
for ever more. 27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yes, I will be
their God, and they shall be my people. 28And the heathen shall know
that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the
middle of them for ever more. Remember that the tabernacle and
the temple of God are his people.
Ezekiel 38 1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2Son of man, set your face
against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal,
and prophesy against him, 3And say, Thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I am
against you, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 4And I will
turn you back, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth,
and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all
sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of
them handling swords: 5Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of
them with shield and helmet: 6Gomer, and all his bands; the house of
Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with
you. 7Be you prepared, and prepare for yourself, you, and all your
company that are assembled to you, and be you a guard to them. 8After
many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come into
the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of
many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always
waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell
safely all of them. 9You shall ascend and come like a storm, you shall
be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your bands, and many
people with you. 10Thus said the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass,
that at the same time shall things come into your mind, and you shall
think an evil thought: 11And you shall say, I will go up to the land of
unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell
safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor
gates, 12To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn your hand on the
desolate places that are now inhabited, and on the people that are
gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that
dwell in the middle of the land. 13Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants
of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say to you, Are you
come to take a spoil? have you gathered your company to take a prey? to
carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a
great spoil? 14Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, Thus said
the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwells safely, shall
you not know it? 15And you shall come from your place out of the north
parts, you, and many people with you, all of them riding on horses, a
great company, and a mighty army: 16And you shall 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 you against my land, that the heathen may
know me, when I shall be sanctified in you, O Gog, before their eyes.
17Thus said the Lord GOD; Are you 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 you against them? 18And it shall come to
pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel,
said the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. 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; 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 on the earth, and all the men
that are on 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. 21And I will call for a sword
against him throughout all my mountains, said the Lord GOD: every man's
sword shall be against his brother. 22And I will plead against him with
pestilence and with blood; and I will rain on him, and on his bands, and
on the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great
hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 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.
Ezekiel 39:1Therefore, you son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus said the
Lord GOD; Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech
and Tubal: 2And I will turn you back, and leave but the sixth part of
you, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and will bring
you on the mountains of Israel: 3And I will smite your bow out of your
left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.
4You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your bands, and
the people that is with you: I will give you to the ravenous birds of
every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5You shall
fall on the open field: for I have spoken it, said the Lord GOD. 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. 7So will I make my holy
name known in the middle 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. 8Behold, it is come, and it is done, said
the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken. 9And 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 hand staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them
with fire seven years: 10So 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 they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob
those that robbed them, said the Lord GOD. 11And it shall come to pass
in that day, that I will give to 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. 12And seven
months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may
cleanse the land. 13Yes, all the people of the land shall bury them; and
it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, said the
Lord GOD. 14And they shall sever out men of continual employment,
passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain
on the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months
shall they search. 15And the passengers that pass through the land, when
any sees a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the
buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. 16And also the name of
the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. 17And, you
son of man, thus said the Lord GOD; Speak to every feathered fowl, and
to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather
yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you,
even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat
flesh, and drink blood. 18You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and
drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of
goats, of bullocks, all of them fatted calves of Bashan. 19And you shall
eat fat till you be full, and drink blood till you be drunken, of my
sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20Thus you shall be filled at
my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of
war, said the Lord GOD. 21And 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 on them. 22So the house of Israel shall know that I am
the LORD their God from that day and forward. 23And the heathen shall
know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity:
because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them,
and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the
sword. 24According to their uncleanness and according to their
transgressions have I done to them, and hid my face from them.
25Therefore thus said the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity
of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and will be
jealous for my holy name; 26After that they have borne their shame, and
all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they
dwelled safely in their land, and none made them afraid. 27When I have
brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their
enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them
to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them to
their own land, and have left none of them any more there. 29Neither
will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit
on the house of Israel, said the Lord GOD.
The
enormity of this war is a prophecy of the great clash of civilizations
prophesied in Revelation 20's Gog and Magog. This is being fulfilled by
the attempts of the nations that have rejected or been unaffected by the
Gospel and the Word of God to conquer the peoples who have been
influenced by the Government of God. Since the Roman Empire fell in 1453
A.D. this great clash between the barbarisms
of the ancient world and the light and freedoms of the modern world have
cost literally hundreds of millions of lives. The good news in this? The
wicked have not prevailed and the meek are slowly but surely inheriting
the earth.
Psalm 37
1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers, neither be you envious against
the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the
green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and
truly you shall be fed.
4 Delight yourself also in the LORD: and he shall give you the desires
of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it
to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your
judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not yourself
because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings
wicked devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not yourself in any wise to
do evil.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait on the LORD, they
shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yes, you shall
diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in
the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes on him with his teeth.
13 The LORD shall laugh at him: for he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast
down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.
15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be
broken.
16 A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many
wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholds the
righteous.
18 The LORD knows the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall
be for ever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine
they shall be satisfied.
20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as
the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume
away.
21 The wicked borrows, and pays not again: but the righteous shows
mercy, and gives.
22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that
be cursed of him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delights in
his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD
upholds him with his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
26 He is ever merciful, and lends; and his seed is blessed.
27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for ever more.
28 For the LORD loves judgment, and forsakes not his saints; they are
preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.
30 The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of
judgment.
31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
32 The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him.
33 The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is
judged.
34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt you to inherit
the land: when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a
green bay tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and, see, he was not: yes, I sought him, but he
could not be found.
37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man
is peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the
wicked shall be cut off
39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their
strength in the time of trouble.
40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them
from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
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