39:1ffThe story of the battle continues. The defeat of the evil forces will be final and complete; they will be destroyed by divine intervention. Because of this victory, God’s name will be known throughout the world. His glory will be evident, and the nations will understand that he alone is in charge of human history. God will clearly show his love for his peop!e by restoring them to their homeland.
Life Application Study BibleEzekielChapter 39
Ezekiel 39
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1361, 1362
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39Ezekiel 39
1“Son of man, prophesy against Gog. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: 1am your enemy, O Gog, ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. 2I will turn you around and drive you toward the mountains of Israel, bringing you from the distant north. 3I will knock the bow from your left hand and the arrows from your right hand, and I will leave you helpless. 4You and your army and your allies will all die on the mountains.! will feed you to the vultures and wild animals. 5You will fall in the open fields, for I have spoken, says the Sovereign LORD. 6And I will rain down fire on Magog and on all your allies who live safely on the coasts. Then they will know that I am the LORD. 7“In this way, I will make known my holy name among my people of Israel. I will not let anyone bring shame on it. And the nations, too, will know that I am the Lor, the Holy One of Israel. 8That day of judgment will come, says the Sovereign LORD. Everything will happen just as I have declared it. 9“Then the people in the towns of Israel will go out and pick up your small and large shields, bows and arrows, javelins and spears, and they will use them for fuel. There will be enough to last them seven years! 10They won't need to cut wood from the fields or forests, for these weapons will give them all the fuel they need. They will plunder those who planned to plunder them, and they will rob those who planned to rob them, says the Sovereign LORD. 11“And I will make a vast graveyard for Gog and his hordes in the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea.* It will block the way of those who travel there, and they will change the name of the place to the Valley of Gog’s Hordes. 12It will take seven months for the people of Israel to bury the bodies and cleanse the land. 13Everyone in Israel will help, for it will be a glorious victory for Israel when I demonstrate my glory on that day, says the Sovereign LORD. 14” After seven months, teams of men will be appointed to search the land for skeletons to bury, so the land will be made clean again. *Whenever bones are found, a marker will be set up so the burial crews will take them to be buried in the Valley of Gog’s Hordes. 16(There will be a town there named Hamonah, which means ‘horde.’) And so the land will finally be cleansed. 17“ And now, son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call all the birds and wild animals. Say to them: Gather together for my great sacrificial feast. Come from far and near to the mountains of Israel, and there eat flesh and drink blood! 18Eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of princes as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all fattened animals from Bashan! 19Gorge yourselves with flesh until you are glutted; drink blood until you are drunk. This is the sacrificial feast I have prepared for you. 20Feast at my banquet table—feast on horses and charioteers, on mighty men and all kinds of valiant warriors, says the Sovereign LORD. 21In this way, I will demonstrate my glory to the nations. Everyone will see the punishment I have inflicted on them and the power of my fist when I strike. 22And from that time on the people of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God. The nations will then know why Israel was sent away to exile—it was punishment for sin, for they were unfaithful to their God. Therefore, I turned away from them and let their enemies destroy them. 241 turned my face away and punished them because of their defilement and their sins.
Restoration for God’s People
2625"So now, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will end the captivity of my people*; I will have mercy on all Israel, for I jealously guard my holy reputation! 2¢They will accept responsibility for their past shame and unfaithfulness after they come home to live in peace in their own land, with no one to bother them. 27When I bring them home from the lands of 39:11 Hebrew the sea. 39:25 Hebrew of Jacob. their enemies, I will display my holiness among them for all the nations to see. 2°Then my people will know that I am the LORD their God, because I sent them away to exile and brought them home again. I will leave none of my people behind. 29And I will never again turn my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon the people of Israel. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!” 2. Restoring the worship of God
Life Application Notes 3 notes
39:12-16Two themes are intertwined: God’s total victory over his enemies, and the need to cleanse the land to make it holy. After the final battle, special crews will be appointed to give proper burial to the bodies of the dead enemies in order for the land to be cleansed. The land would have been defiled by unburied corpses. Those who would come in contact with the corpses out in the open would become ceremonially unclean (according to Numbers 19:14-16). There will be so many bodies that all kinds of birds will be called in order to help dispose of them (39:17-20). This message is exciting for us: With God on our side, we are assured of ultimate victory over his foes because God will fight on our behalf (see also Zephaniah 3:14-17, Romans 8:38, 39).
39:29Both in this prophecy and in Joel 2:28, 29, God promises to pour out his Spirit on his people. The early church believed this began to be fulfilled at Pentecost, when God’s Holy Spirit came to live in all believers (Acts 2:1-18).
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6:10; Hebrews 9:12; 10:10, 18). Our sins have been removed; no further sacrifice is needed. In Ezekiel’s day, however, the only kind of worship the people knew was the kind that involved sacrifices and ceremonies as described in Exodus through Deuteronomy. Ezekiel had to explain the new order of worship in terms the people would understand. The next nine chapters tell how the Temple is the focal point of everything, showing that the ideal relationship with God is when all of life centers on him. 40:1ff Ezekiel explained God’s dwelling place in words and images the people could understand. God wanted them to see the great splendor he had planned far those who lived faithfully. This kind of Temple was never built, but it was a vision intended to typify God’s perfect plan for his people—the centrality of worship, the presence of the LORD, the blessings flowing from it, and the orderliness of worship and worship duties. Don’t let the details obscure the point of this vision: One day all those who have been faithful to God will enjoy eternal life with him. Let the majesty of this vision lift you and teach you about the God you worship and serve. 40:1-43:27 This vision came to Ezekiel in 573 B.C. Chapters 40-43 give the Temple’s measurements and then describe how it would be filled with God's glory. Because Ezekiel was a priest, he would have been familiar with the furnishings and ceremonies of Solomon's Temple. As in Revelation 11:1, 2, the command to “measure” defines the areas God has marked out for special use. As you read all these details, remember that God is sovereign over all our worship and over the timetable for restoring the faithful to himself. 40:3, 4 Who was this man? He was obviously not a human being, so he may have been the angel in 9:1-11 or one like him. Some say he may have been Christ himself because he speaks as God had been speaking to Ezekiel, calling him “son of man.”