Day 242, Chronological Bible Study Timeline. Map. Go to today’s Bible reading (use your browser arrow to return): Ezekiel 37–39
Chronological Note: Although there are differing opinions about when the battle of Gog and Magog against Israel takes place, it seems the most reasonable to follow the chronology of Revelation 20. Then Satan will deceive the nations and gather them for a battle with primative weapons against Israel. Why primative weapons like wooden swords and shields?
Israel and the rest of the world would have to be at peace for a long time if all the world would abandon warfare and training for war, and all weaponry, and live in unwalled, defenseless countries. This only makes since if the battle occurs after the one thousand year reign of Christ.
God Brings Renewed Hope
Sometimes at the end of a storm, there is a rainbow. Its beauty gives us renewed hope. Perhaps there has been a storm in your life. Have you ever lost hope, felt abandoned by God or your family and friends? Has your family split apart? Have your prayers seemed to bounce off the ceiling, and your spiritual life seemed dry or maybe even dead? If so, you know how Israel felt. You need renewed hope. Where can you get it?
In today’s Bible reading, Babylon killed or exiled the people and land of Israel. Then they looted and demolished her temple and palace, and burned the city. All that is left of Jerusalem is charred rubble and a few starving residents. The situation looks utterly hopeless to the exiles in Babylon.
Vision of the Dry Bones
For all intents and purposes, Israel is dead. The Spirit of God takes the prophet Ezekiel to a valley full of dry bones and then speaks to him.
He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:3, NIV).
Suddenly, there is a rattling of bones, and as Ezekiel looks on, God causes the bones to come together. As they do, cartilage and skin form upon them. He then calls the wind to breathe into them, and they come back to life, a very great army (Ezekiel 37:3-10).
Ezekiel is to share this vision with the Jewish exiles in Babylon. This mental picture illustrates that although they are dead as a nation, the LORD will bring them back to their land and give them new life.
Illustration of Two Sticks
A second illustration gives Israel further hope. The LORD instructs Ezekiel to take two sticks and bind them together. When the exiled Jews ask what this means, God says through Ezekiel,
“I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms” (Ezekiel 37:22, NIV).
The divided family of Israel will come together again and live as one people in their land. What joy!
Redemption and Restoration
God promises to save Israel. When she returns to God, he will forgive them. Then he will return them to their land, bless them, and give them peace. Impossible? Not with God. He is the LORD, the Almighty. He can do anything.
In the end times of the earth, as we know it, a righteous king will rule over Israel forever. This will be the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. The king will either be a resurrected King David or a king and priest with the same spirit to love and obey God, a man after God’s own heart. As discussed in our last lesson, this king will not be Christ because he will offer sacrifices for himself and all the people.
The LORD also promises to live with the Israelites and set his sanctuary (holy dwelling place) among them forever. This, too, will be fulfilled in the last days. The Jewish people’s return to the land of Israel, the fulfillment of God’s promises, and his presence among them will show the rest of the world that the LORD is Israel’s God. He was punishing his people, not abandoning them. God gives his people renewed hope.
Perhaps your prospects or your situation looks dead. If the LORD is your God, he has not abandoned you. Although we cannot claim Israel’s promises, he can revive dead relationships and bring unity. He can give you renewed hope. Believe it and pray for it.
Trouble and Victory
Before Ezekiel’s prophecies can be fulfilled, tribulation and wars must come.
In the last days, a terrible tribulation will come upon the earth and Israel (see Revelation 6-19). At the end of the tribulation, Israel will be saved physically and spiritually.Then Christ will come back to the earth, and he'll reign a one thousand years. It'll be so peaceful that "the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them." An infant child can put his hand near a cobra's nest and not be bitten (Isaiah 11:6-8). Tthe whole world will be at peace with absolutely no war. Weapons of all kinds will no longer be needed or used. Israel will be the center of the world, and Christ will rule from Jerusalem.
At the end of the millennium Satan will be loosed to wage one final battle against God and his people. He will deceive the nations (those born in the Millennium who aren't followers of Christ) and gather them in a great battle against God and Israel. There will be a great earthquake, and the new armies of the earth will be destroyed with a fire from heaven (Revelation 20:7-10). Those gathered against Israel will be slaughtered, and it will take seven months to clean up the carnage. Who are these armies?
Magog is an area far north of Israel, possibly in the land of modern-day Russia. Also involved in the coalition of nations against Israel will be Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Beth Togarmah (the area of Turkey), Persia (the site of Iran), Cush (the location of Sudan and Ethiopia), and Put (the territory of Libya).
What about Now?
From God’s promises of the future in Ezekiel 39, God moves the discussion to what he will do for Israel “now.” The Israelite exiles would soon repent with genuine remorse, and then her punishment would end. The LORD would then restore the remnant to her homeland (Ezekiel 39:25-29, NIV).
If we are Christians, having trusted Christ for our salvation, we have the future hope of heaven, but what about now? God can be our comfort and guide. If we confess our sins and seek him, he can restore devastated lives.
Discussion
What is the meaning of the dry bones rattling? What hope has God renewed in us?
What is the meaning of the two sticks joined together? Do we have fractures in our life? How can this illustration also give us hope?
If our prospects or situation seems dead, has God abandoned us? Why or why not?
Focus Verse
Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV) “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.”
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Looking Ahead: How Will We End? It is a morbid thought but worthy of consideration. Please join us for our Next Lesson.
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