Ezekiel 39: 1 – 29
The Clean Up
1 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; 2 and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD. 6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day of which I have spoken.9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. 10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord GOD. 11 “It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD. 14 “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.”’ 17 “And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD. 21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. 23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.”’ 25 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— 26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
Today we finish the second most interesting perceived passages of scripture in the book of Ezekiel – chapter 39. The leader of an Islamic invasion who has been given the name Gog, along with his armies, will get theirs. They will make it into the land but will not leave. They will all fall. A special area will be set aside to bury them.
1 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; 2 and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD.
Please note that first of all this is God’s fight. The battle cry comes from our Holy Father Himself, 1 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.” I can tell you one thing my friends without any doubt, is that you do not want the Lord God Himself against you.
We see in verse 2 that He Is in total control of everything,’2 and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel’ He will cause these armies to go whenever and wherever He chooses. I believe this must come about because our King has to deal with the Islamic nations for a couple of reasons. For one thing they have been causing problems in the world and especially against God people the Jews. This hatred cannot continue. It has to be dealt with. Secondly, the Islamic nations have to be eliminated as a threat,.
The world will witness a miracle. In a moment the Lord will shatter all the enemy’s weapons. Look at verse 3 again, ‘3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand.’ I had identified in chapter 38 the power person behind the human leader Gog, as being no other than Satan. The person Gog will be eliminated. That’s military talk for being killed. Satan will move on to influence another human leader. This time it will be the Antichrist. Look at the book of Revelation chapter 6, “1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. 3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. 5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” 7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”
It is interesting to me that the first rider is also carrying a bow and arrows, which signify military armaments. The rider on this white horse is Antichrist who uses false religion to deceive mankind. Psalm 120: 4 says this, “2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. 3 What shall be given to you, or what shall be done to you, you false tongue? 4 Sharp arrows of the warrior, with coals of the broom tree!”
Lying lips and a deceitful tongue are likened to ‘sharp arrows of the mighty.’ In addition the following scripture speak of the deceitful bow;
Psalm 78, “57 But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.”
Hosea 7, “16 They return, but not to the Most High; they are like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the cursings of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.”
We thus see that the bow and arrows are seen as weapons of deceit used by the great enemy to surprise and destroy humans. One more point I would like to make regarding the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. If you notice the colors of the horses, they are the colors used on the flags of all Muslim nations.
The mountains of Israel are important to the nation of Israel’s defense. In addition to this, if you were with us in the previous studies of the book of Ezekiel you would quickly understand that these mountains were called the ‘high places’ where abominable idol worship took place. It is fitting that the nations who influenced the Israelites to worship their phony gods should meet their end on their polluted altars.
To clean up this mess of carnage, our All Powerful Master will call upon all ravenous birds and animals. These evil people will not receive any proper burial. The emphasis that they will fall in the open field points out the Lord’s protection of the Jews who live in the citites. These armies will not even hurt anyone in the populated areas but they will be destroyed in the wasteland.
The event with all certainty will happen. The Lord has determined it and it will come about just as He described.
6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day of which I have spoken.9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. 10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord GOD.”
The next few passages say a lot. The fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely on the isles/coastlands reveals that the homelands of these invading armies will suffer retribution. The Islamic nations will be destroyed by fire. This could be from the direct hand of God as He did to Sodom and Gomorrah or He may use the nuclear weapons at mankind’s present disposal.
God used fire and brimstone against Sodom and Gomorrah. Many of you are aware of Billy Graham’s famous statement, ‘If God does not judge America, then He owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah.’ Perhaps this is the time the US gets judged. Since we have been labeled as the ‘Great Satan’ by the Muslim world, it may be that they cause a nuclear exchange between our country and Russia. The Isles and coastlands were not previously mentioned. Now they are included in this catastrophe as verse six informs us, 6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.’
Our Holy God will proclaim and defend His Holy Name, ‘7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.’ His Righteousness and Purity will be known to His people and to all others in the world.
God will not only proclaim His Majestic Name to all the world by this event, but He will also clean up the pollution and the mess that this attack caused, ‘9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. 10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons.’ If any of these weapons were nuclear then it would fit in very nicely with its use as fuel. I find it interesting that a nuclear bomb has a 7 year use it or lose it time frame.
11 “It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD. 14 “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.”’
I have hinted that this scripture might be referencing a nuclear exchange. The significance of the burial site and how the undertakers go about finding and burying the bones contributes toward this possible scenario. First of all the place where the bodies are buried is East of the Dead Sea. 11 “It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog.’ If you look at a map you realize that this location is down wind from the land of Israel. So, whatever fumes or possible atomic dust will blow away from Israel.
It will take 7 months just to bury the dead enemy soldiers, and please notice that it will take everyone in Israel to do this, wow! – “2 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying.” Look also at the weird situation that happens if anyone comes upon a skeleton after the 7 months, 14 “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.”’ If you research military guidelines for dealing with the after effects of nuclear war this is how you deal with dead bodies.
Please also note that our Lord is authorizing another holiday. ‘and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD.’ He shall be Glorified and His Name and What He did on this occasion will be remembered and celebrated.
17 “And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD.
These passages should send a clear message to the people who dared to mock the Great God, Immortal, Invisible, and the only Wise God. May Glory and Honor be His forever and ever. Amen!
21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. 23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.”’ 25 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— 26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
With the enemy destroyed and the people again witnessing their Mighty God’s Hand of Protection He shares His purposes, 21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. Notice that the Jews will know that Adoni Yahweh alone is their God from that day ‘forward’ All the rest of the phony idols are history. The world also shall know and understand that there is a real God and He is the God of Israel. Praise His Holy Name!
Our Precious Supreme Ruler will explain to His people again the reasons why they were punished, ‘23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.”
As an unfaithful wife the Lord had put the Israelites away. Now our Great Faithful Master in Loving Mercy brings them back, 25 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— 26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
The fulfillment of His plan will include the pouring out of His Holy Spirit on the house of Israel as we see prophesied in the book of Zachariah., 10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”
