Ezekiel38

1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 And say, The Lord God says this; Behold I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal: 4 And I will turn you back, and put hooks in your jaws, and will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: 6 Gomer, and all his troops; the house of Togarmah of the remote regions of the north, and all his troops: and many people with you. 7 Be prepared, and prepare for yourself, you, and all your company that are assembled unto you, and be a guard to them. 8 After 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 a continual waste: its people brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. 9 You shall ascend and come like a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your troops, and many people with you.

• Gog, Magog, Meshech and Tubal are modern day Russia. ‘In the latter years,’ we are closer to this time with every day that passes.

10  The Lord God says this; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time things shall come to your mind, and you shall think an evil thought: 11 And 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, 12 To take plunder, and to take 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 midst of the land. 13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, shall say to you, Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your company to take a prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great plunder?

• Sheba, Dedan and Tarshish are modern day Yemen, Arabia, and the Persian Gulf area.
• God has plenty of everything for all people as shown by Jesus feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fishes.
• However, people often turn to stealing rather than to their Maker for help.

God will bring enemies against His lands so that the nations mighty know Him

14  Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, The Lord God says this; In that day when my people of Israel dwell safely, shall you not know it? 15 And 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: 16 And 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 nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in you, O Gog, before their eyes. 17 The Lord God says this; Are you he of whom I have spoken in ancient times by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring you against them?

• God knows the hearts of all men.
• He knows who will seek Him and follow Him.
• He knows who will refuse His unspeakable gift of eternal life through His Son.
• Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.

18  And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. 19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20 So 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.

• Revelation 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

21  And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, says the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. 22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain on him, and on his troops, and on the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 Thus 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.

• If the nations do not come to know Him they will burn in hell forever. It is vital that they come to know who is the Lord.

• Revelation 16:21 And there fell on men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a hundred pounds each: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for its plague was exceedingly great.

• Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

• Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

                                              Ezekiel 39

1 Therefore, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, The Lord God says this; Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 2 And I will turn you back, and leave just the sixth part of you, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and will bring you upon the mountains of Israel: 3 And I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your troops, and the people that are with you: I will give you to the ravenous birds of every wing, and to the beasts of the field for food. 5 You will fall on the open field: for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD.

• This continues Ezekiel 38 where God, as sovereign and loving ruler over all life foretold that Gog, the area and peoples of Russia, would come attack God’s people, Israel, in the latter days at a time when they were quietly minding their own business.
• God told them they were coming to plunder or steal silver, gold, livestock and goods.
• God said He would show the nations of the world that He is the Lord, controller over all by what He does to Russia for this.
• If people do not know who is the Lord, they will come to an eternally horrible end—the lake of fire forever.
• God sent His Son to die in our place so that will not happen. If we will not listen we are eternally damned.
• God uses those who reject Him to show that He is the Lord; so that people will turn to Him and believe.

6  And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they will know that I am the LORD. 7 By this I will make known 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 naitons will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Behold, it has come, and it is done, says the Lord GOD; this is the day of which I have spoken. 9 And those that dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, the javelin and the spears. They will burn them with fire seven years: 10 they shall take no wood out of the field, or cut down any out of the forests; for they will burn the weapons with fire: and they will plunder those that plundered them, and rob those that robbed them, says the Lord GOD.

• Today some of the weapons in Russia are made of lignite, a brown form of coal usable as fuel.

• Isaiah 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded you, though you have not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 22 Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

11  And it will happen in that day that I will give to Gog a burial ground in Israel, the valley of those who pass by the east of the sea: and it will block off those who pass by: and there they will bury Gog and all his multitude: they will call it The valley of Hamon-gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them to cleanse the land. 13 Yes, all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to them a renown the day that I will be glorified, says the Lord GOD. 14 And they will set apart men who continually pass through the land burying those who passed through that remain on the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months they will search. 15 And of those that pass through the land, when any sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a sign by it, until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. 16 And also the name of the city will be Hamonah. By this they will cleanse the land.

• Just like Pharaoh of the book of Exodus, God gave these people many chances to follow Him and be saved.
• In pride they refused and, knowing the prophecies, they still march to their death.
• And yet God promised them that He would preserve 1/6th of them (verse 1).
• God even uses those who refuse Him for good ends.

17  And, you son of man, the Lord God says this; Speak to every feathered bird, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh, and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice that I have sacrificed for you. 20 Thus you will be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men and with all men of war, says the Lord GOD.

After defeating evil God will set His glory among the nations

21  And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward. 23 And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, so I hid my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have done to them, and hid my face from them. 25 Therefore the Lord God says this; Now I will return the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name.

• Notice that God gave them according to their transgressions. They deserved it. 861 years they disobeyed, worshipped idols, leading people to eternal death. Yet God still has mercy on them for the sake of His holiness.

• Micah 4:3 And he will judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations far off; and they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation will not lift up a sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.

26  And after they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. 27 When 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 they will know that I am the LORD their God, who 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 there anymore. 29 Now I will not hide my face from them anymore: for I have poured out my spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.

• The Jews on earth will all live in Israel instead of scattered to every nation.

• John 15:26 But when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me.

• 2Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God.

                                              Ezekiel 40

God showed Ezekiel visions of His future temple at Jerusalem

1 On April 28, during the twenty-fifth year of our captivity—fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem—the hand of the Lord was upon me and brought me here. 2 In a vision of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. From there I could see what appeared to be a city across from me toward the south. 3 As he brought me nearer, I saw a man whose face shone like bronze standing beside a gateway entrance. He was holding in his hand a line of flax and a measuring rod. 4 He said to me, Son of man, watch and listen. Pay close attention to everything I show you. You have been brought here so I can show you many things. Then you will return to the people of Israel and tell them everything you have seen.

• Ezekiel 40 and 41 are the vision that God gave Ezekiel of the house that God/Christ will live in at Jerusalem during His thousand-year reign as king on earth.
• Chapter 40 describes the wall and courtyard surrounding the temple and chapter 41 describes the architecture of the temple.

• John 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, What do you seek? They said to him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where do you live? 39 He said to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he lived, and stayed with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.

5  I could see a wall completely surrounding the Temple area. The man took a measuring rod that was 11 feet long and measured the wall, and the wall was 11 ft thick and 11 ft high. 6 Then he went over to the gateway that goes through the eastern wall. He climbed the steps and measured the threshold of the gateway; it was 11 ft deep. 7 There were guard alcoves on each side built into the gateway passage. Each of these alcoves was 11 ft square, with a distance between them of 9.2 feet along the passage wall. The gateway’s inner threshold, which led to the foyer at the inner end of the gateway passage, was 11 ft deep. 8 He also measured the foyer of the gateway

• Isaiah 2:2 And it will come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house will be established in the top of the mountains, and will be exalted above the hills; and all nations will flow unto it.

• Psalm 145:16 You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

• John 10:28 And I give to them eternal life; and they will never perish, neither will any man pluck them out of my hand.

9  and found it to be 14.7 feet deep, with supporting columns 3.7 feet thick. This foyer was at the inner end of the gateway structure, facing toward the Temple. 10 There were three guard alcoves on each side of the gateway passage. Each had the same measurements, and the dividing walls separating them were also identical. 11 The man measured the gateway entrance, which was 18.3 feet wide at the opening and 23.8 feet wide in the gateway passage.

12  In front of each of the guard alcoves was a 22-inch curb. The alcoves themselves were 11 ft square. 13 Then he measured the entire width of the gateway, measuring the distance between the back walls of facing guard alcoves; this distance was 45.8 feet. 14 He measured the dividing walls all along the inside of the gateway up to the gateway’s foyer; this distance was 110 feet. 15 The full length of the gateway passage was 91.7 feet from one end to the other.

• The chambers in the temple Solomon built for God were used to store the offerings brought by the people and rooms for the priests to change into the holy garments.

16  There were recessed windows that narrowed inward through the walls of the guard alcoves and their dividing walls. There were also windows in the foyer structure. The surfaces of the dividing walls were decorated with carved palm trees. 17 Then the man brought me through the gateway into the outer courtyard of the Temple. A stone pavement ran along the walls of the courtyard, and thirty rooms were built against the walls, opening onto the pavement. 18 This pavement flanked the gates and extended out from the walls into the courtyard the same distance as the gateway entrance. This was the lower pavement. 19 Then the man measured across the Temple’s outer courtyard between the outer and inner gateways; the distance was 183.3 feet.

20 There was a gateway on the north just like the one on the east, and the man measured it.

• What kind of home does the maker of heaven and earth deserve? What kind of a home does the One who died so that we might live forever deserve?

• 1Chronicles 22:5 the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries.

21  Here, too, there were three guard alcoves on each side, with dividing walls and a foyer. All the measurements matched those of the east gateway. The gateway passage was 91.7 feet long and 45.8 feet wide between the back walls of facing guard alcoves. 22 The windows, the foyer, and the palm tree decorations were identical to those in the east gateway. There were seven steps leading up to the gateway entrance, and the foyer was at the inner end of the gateway passage. 23 Here on the north side, just as on the east, there was another gateway leading to the Temple’s inner courtyard directly opposite this outer gateway. The distance between the two gateways was 183.3 feet. 24 Then the man took me around to the south gateway and measured its various parts, and he found they were exactly the same as in the others. 25 It had windows along the walls as the others did, and there was a foyer where the gateway passage opened into the outer courtyard. And like the others, the gateway passage was 91.1 feet long and 45.8 feet wide between the back walls of facing guard alcoves. 26 This gateway also had a stairway of seven steps leading up to it, and there were palm tree decorations along the dividing walls.

• The temple Solomon built for the Most High God also had carvings.

• 1Kings 6:29 And he carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, inside and outside.

27  And here again, directly opposite the outer gateway, was another gateway that led into the inner courtyard. The distance between the two gateways was 183.3 feet. 28 Then the man took me to the south gateway leading into the inner courtyard. He measured it and found that it had the same measurements as the other gateways. 29 Its guard alcoves, dividing walls, and foyer were the same size as those in the others. It also had windows along its walls and in the foyer structure. And like the others, the gateway passage was 91.7 feet long and 45.8 feet wide. 30 (The foyers of the gateways leading into the inner courtyard were 9.2 feet deep and 45.8 feet wide.) 31 The foyer of the south gateway faced into the outer courtyard. It had palm tree decorations on its columns, and there were eight steps leading to its entrance.

• Psalm 84:1 How amiable are your tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cries out for the living God.

32  Then he took me to the east gateway leading to the inner courtyard. He measured it and found that it had the same measurements as the other gateways. 33 Its guard alcoves, dividing walls, and foyer were the same size as those of the others, and there were windows along the walls and in the foyer structure. The gateway passage measured 91.7 feet long and 45.8 feet wide.

34 Its foyer faced into the outer courtyard. It had palm tree decorations on its columns, and there were eight steps leading to its entrance. 35 Then he took me around to the north gateway leading to the inner courtyard. He measured it and found that it had the same measurements as the other gateways. 36 The guard alcoves, dividing walls, and foyer of this gateway had the same measurements as in the others and the same window arrangements. The gateway passage measured 91.7 feet long and 45.8 feet wide. 37 Its foyer faced into the outer courtyard, and it had palm tree decorations on the columns. There were eight steps leading to its entrance. 38 A door led from the foyer of the inner gateway on the north side into a side room where the meat for sacrifices was washed before being taken to the altar. 39 On each side of this foyer were two tables, where the sacrificial animals were slaughtered for the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.

• Remember that every offering in some way portrayed our Savior and Lord.

• John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

• 1Peter 1:18 you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold, from your empty way of life received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

40  Outside the foyer, on each side of the stairs going up to the north entrance, there were two more tables. 41 So there were eight tables in all, four inside and four outside, where the sacrifices were cut up and prepared. 42 There were also four tables of hewn stone for preparation of the burnt offerings, each 33 inches square and 22 inches high. On these tables were placed the butchering knives and other implements and the sacrificial animals. 43 There were hooks, each three inches long, fastened to the foyer walls and set on the tables where the sacrificial meat was to be laid. 44 Inside the inner courtyard there were two one-room buildings for the singers, one beside the north gateway, facing south, and the other beside the south gateway, facing north. 45 And the man said to me, The building beside the north inner gate is for the priests who supervise the Temple maintenance. 46 The building beside the south inner gate is for the priests in charge of the altar—the descendants of Zadok—for they alone of all the Levites may approach the LORD to minister to him.

• Psalm 73:28 It is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all your works.

47  Then the man measured the inner courtyard and found it to be 183.3 feet square. The altar stood there in the courtyard in front of the Temple. 48 Then he brought me to the foyer of the Temple. He measured its supporting columns and found them to be 9.2 feet square and the width of the gateway was 5.5 feet on this side and 5.5 feet on that side. 49 The depth of the foyer was 36.7 feet and the width was 20.7 feet. There were ten steps leading up to it, with a column on each side.

• Luke 2:36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;  37 And she was a widow of about 84 years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

• Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. :6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

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SUMMARY:  Ezekiel 38-40

• God will bring enemies against His lands so that the nations mighty know Him
• After defeating evil God will set His glory among the nations
• God showed Ezekiel visions of His future temple at Jerusalem