The Final Conflict
How do we find peace when it feels like the forces of chaos are constantly winning?
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Ezekiel 38:1-39:29
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1The LORD’s word came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
4I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;
5Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
6Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes—even many peoples with you.
7“‘“Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are assembled to you, and be a guard to them.
8After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought out of the peoples and they will dwell securely, all of them.
9You will ascend. You will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.”
10“‘The Lord GOD says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.
11You will say, ‘I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12to take the plunder and to take prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth.’
13Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, will ask you, ‘Have you come to take the plunder? Have you assembled your company to take the prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”’
14“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and tell Gog, ‘The Lord GOD says: “In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, will you not know it?
15You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
16You will come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land. It will happen in the latter days that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me when I am sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.”
17“‘The Lord GOD says: “Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you against them?
18It will happen in that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that my wrath will come up into my nostrils.
19For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken. Surely in that day there will be a great shaking in the land of Israel,
20so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all creeping things who creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth will shake at my presence. Then the mountains will be thrown down, the steep places will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.
21I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
22I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood. I will rain on him, on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, torrential rains with great hailstones, fire, and sulfur.
23I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”’
1“You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
2I will turn you around, will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you onto the mountains of Israel.
3I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.
4You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort and to the animals of the field to be devoured.
5You will fall on the open field, for I have spoken it,” says the Lord GOD.
6“I will send a fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the islands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
7“‘“I will make my holy name known among my people Israel. I won’t allow my holy name to be profaned any more. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8Behold, it comes, and it will be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day about which I have spoken.
9“‘“Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years;
10so that they will take no wood out of the field, and not cut down any out of the forests; for they will make fires with the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them,” says the Lord GOD.
11“‘“It will happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it will stop those who pass through. They will bury Gog and all his multitude there, and they will call it ‘The valley of Hamon Gog’.
12“‘“The house of Israel will be burying them for seven months, that they may cleanse the land.
13Yes, all the people of the land will bury them; and they will become famous in the day that I will be glorified,” says the Lord GOD.
14“‘“They will set apart men of continual employment who will pass through the land. Those who pass through will go with those who bury those who remain on the surface of the land, to cleanse it. After the end of seven months they will search.
15Those who search through the land will pass through; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog.
16Hamonah will also be the name of a city. Thus they will cleanse the land.”’
17“You, son of man, the Lord GOD says: ‘Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, “Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat meat and drink blood.
18You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19You shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20You shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men, and with all men of war,” says the Lord GOD.’
21“I will set my glory among the nations. Then all the nations will see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.
22So the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God, from that day and forward.
23The nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword.
24I did to them according to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions. I hid my face from them.
25“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. I will be jealous for my holy name.
26They will forget their shame and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwell securely in their land. No one will make them afraid
27when I have brought them back from the peoples, gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am shown holy among them in the sight of many nations.
28They will know that I am the LORD their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land. Then I will leave none of them captive any more.
29I won’t hide my face from them any more, for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”