Questions for thought:
1. Why do we not need to be concerned about Gog and Magog?
2. In whom was the restoration of the glory of the temple fulfilled?
3. Who provides us with the living waters?
In this final blog looking at the book of Ezekiel, we will cover chapters 38-48. These chapters have been explained by many commentators who have tried to make them apply to literal Israel. I have taken a different view of these chapters after much study from Bible scholars who are convinced as I am these chapters are concerned with the new Israel or the church as it dwells in the sinful world. We have already seen in several places how God had Ezekiel prophesy to the people concerning what was going to happen to the nation of Israel and we saw that it happened. In the previous blog, we saw the valley of dry bones where the bones were joined back together and given the breath of life. I noted how this sign and the sign of the two sticks joined together represent the new kingdom of God or the church or temple of God. Thus, these final chapters seem to be very Messianic and church related as I believe you will see when we go through them.
There have been many interpretations concerning Gog and Magog in which they are said to represent specific nations of the world. When you read about Gog and Magog in Revelation 20:7-8, they represent ungodly nations across the earth who are gathered and led by Satan to battle God’s people. Here in Ezekiel Gog is the ruler and Magog is the county. The interesting thing is according to Ezekiel 38 verse 17 God’s prophets of the past have been prophesying concerning the destruction to come by way of Gog and Magog, and according to verse 16, God is the one who is using them against His people. His purpose for using Gog and Magog is very much like His purpose of using other nations in the past to come against His people: it is so God will be sanctified and the people will know He is God (verse 23).
God said in Ezekiel 38:3 He is against Gog and Magog, and according to chapter 39 once Gog and Magog have come against God’s people, God will turn them back and smite them much like He has done to the many other nations He used to discipline Israel. He again gave His reason for allowing Gog and Magog such power, and it was twofold. In chapter 39 verse 22 God said it was so the house of Israel would know He was their God and in verse 23 He said the heathen would know Israel had gone into captivity for their iniquity. In the end of the chapter God promised a pouring out of His Spirit upon Israel. This pouring out of the Spirit took place in Acts 2. And God said in Ezekiel 39:29 when this pouring out took place, He would not hide His face from His people.
We in the church can rest assured there will continue to be Gogs and Magogs, but no matter what Gog and Magog come up against this spiritual kingdom, we do not need to be concerned because God will take care of His church. We may suffer hardships here on earth, but we are citizens of the kingdom and this world is not our home. This spiritual kingdom has a spiritual temple and the last chapters of Ezekiel give us a picture of this new spiritual temple.
In Ezekiel 40, the prophet was given a view of the outer court, inner court, and temple porch. Then in chapter 41 he saw the temple, and in chapter 42 he saw the chamber in the outer court and the place of separation. In chapter 43 the glory of the Lord came into the temple from the east. Remember earlier in Ezekiel 10 how the glory of the Lord had left from the old temple. Now it is restored in the new spiritual temple. This restoration of the glory of God was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We read in John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh and swelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Jesus himself said He was the temple (the place where God and humans meet). In John 2 after Jesus had driven the money changers out of the physical temple, He said in verse 19, “…destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The people thought He was referring to the physical building, but John said in verse 21 Jesus was referring to His body. He is the chief cornerstone of that temple and we are the lively stones that make up this spiritual house according to 1 Peter 2:5-9. In verse 7 of Ezekiel 43 God said He would dwell in the midst of the children of Israel right here in this spiritual temple. Then in verse 10, God told Ezekiel to show the people the temple so they would be ashamed of their sins.
Ezekiel was shown many of the components of the new spiritual temple in chapters 44-46. In chapter 44 he saw the priests and their duties and in 45 he saw the measurements of land and offerings of the temple priest. In 46, the duties of the prince are discussed as they pertain to feasts and offerings. Then Ezekiel is brought back to the door of the temple where waters flowed out from under the threshold. As Ezekiel began walking through the waters, in verse 3 they were ankle deep, in verse 4 they are knee deep and then loin deep, in verse 5 they were deep enough for swimming. When Ezekiel made it back to the brink of the waters, the man who was measuring told him every living thing that moved, these waters would cause it to live. By the river would grow all trees for food and the leaves would be for healing.
These waters described here in Ezekiel 47 are also described in Revelation 22. The water of this new temple will provide the life and healing for the people. Remember what Jesus said in John 4:10, 13-14? He told the woman at the well about the living water He would provide. He told her whosoever drank of that water would never thirst and it would be a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Then over in John 7 teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus told the people in verses 37-38 “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Rivers of living water would flow from Jesus. Jesus is the temple as we saw in John 2:19. If we but come to Him and believe Him and obey Him, we will be drinking of this water and from us shall flow to others God’s magnificent word as given by the Holy Spirit. Recall what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 when He said in verse 5 “…except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Being born of the Spirt is what changes us. That is what happened to those bones in Ezekiel 37 when they received the breath of life.
In the last part of chapter 47 the division of the land is mentioned. For Israel this was a very important concept because that is what happened when they entered the promised land. Each tribe was given land based upon the size of the tribe, but here in Ezekiel 47:14 the meaning is each tribe will have an equal share of the land. According to verse 22 even the strangers were to have a part in the inheritance. And that is the case in the new kingdom, the church, both Jew and Gentile are welcome and have a part.
While there are many verses in Ezekiel that we may not be able to fully understand, just as there are many in Revelation that we may not comprehend, in Ezekiel 48:35, the name of the city is given as “The Lord is there.” That is the city in which we all should want to have a part. That is the city of which we read in Revelation 22:14 “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they my have right to the tree of life, and my enter in through the gates into the city.”
That’s the city where I want to be. Don’t you?
Our next blog will begin a short study of the book of Daniel.
Christian Women's Responsibility in Sharing God's Word 