47 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
47 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Ezekiel 38:1–16"
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date = "2023-06-24"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel38.1-16)
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Things are going to start getting weird now, as if they haven't been weird in
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Ezekiel already. The word of the Lord to Ezekiel concerns a prophecy against
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Gog, the prince of Magog, Meshech, and Tubal. Unfortunately, no one can really
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figure out who Gog is or where Magog is. Meshech and Tubal are tribes of
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Anatolia, located in modern-day Turkey, but that doesn't help much either.
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What we can tell from this prophecy about Gog is that he is an enemy of the
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Lord. He leads a tremendously large army; a coalition of several nations:
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Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah. Why has the Lord said He is
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against Gog and his army? Because they are marching against Israel, after the
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Lord had restored the people to their land. They come as an innumerable horde,
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overshadowing the land with their multitude.
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When does this happen? The clue we are given is in verse 8: "after many
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days" and "in the latter years". There are also similarities in chapter 39
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to events John describes in Revelation, not just the names Gog and Magog,
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but we'll discuss those when we get there. Based on this, we can expect these
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events to happen in the end times, even after the millenial reign of Christ
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and His saints. I think this might explain, from our modern perspective, why
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this great army is equipped with primitive weapons like swords and shields,
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riding horses instead of automobiles. Not only would Ezekiel not have words
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to describe a modern soldier, but after 1,000 years of world-wide peace, all
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of the infrastructure to produce modern weapons would have been repurposed or
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just never rebuilt after the judgements inflicted on the earth through most
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of Revelation.
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The Lord tells us that there will come a day when Gog will devise an evil scheme
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to go against the peaceful land of Israel to carry off plunder because they do
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not have defensive walls. Sheba, Dedan, and Tarshish were famous merchants and
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traders of Ezekiel's day, and they are used to show that the nations that aren't
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part of the evil coalition directly are hoping to profit from the ill-gotten
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gains that Gog hopes to acquire.
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However, Gog's plan is also part of the Lord's plan to vindicate His holy name,
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and Gog will not accomplish anything but his own destruction.
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* * *
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You know all the thoughts of man and are sovereign over them.
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