August 25 - Evening
"Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say:
‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord."
- Ezekiel 39:1-6
‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord."
- Ezekiel 39:1-6
The Destruction of Gog and His Forces
God makes it clear that he is the one who brought the enemy down from the North and into the land of Israel, but he did this in order to destroy them there.
“Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel.” - Ezekiel 39:1, 2
Gog and his men will not have time to retreat. After entering Israel, their weapons will be knocked out of their control. Whatever the modern counterpart of an ancient bow and arrow may be—it will be rendered useless against Israel on that day. Hordes of soldiers will die in the mountains of Israel and on the battlefield. Birds and wild animals will immediately begin to devour their carcasses.
“Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.” - Ezekiel 39:3-5
As the army is dying in the mountains of Israel, a fire will break out back in the army’s homeland of Magog. Magog isn’t the only place struck by the fire of God. Other nations will watch as fire breaks out in their cities and along their coastlands.
“I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord.” - Ezekiel 39:6
Finally, the people of the world will recognize that God is who he’s always said he is. Even the current secular attitude of the Jewish people will change. Their deliverance from Gog will remind modern Jews that they are still God’s chosen people. They will recognize that their existence as a nation is possible only because the Lord willed it.
“I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel. It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord. This is the day I have spoken of.” - Ezekiel 39:7-8
After Gog’s destruction, the people of Israel will gather up Gog’s weapons to burn them. We learn that Israel will not need to produce energy for seven years because the burning of these weapons will supply their energy needs. The weapons will be disassembled to remove some element of power that can be converted into a usable energy source.
“Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel.” - Ezekiel 39:9-10
Gog’s army had intended to loot Israel and “carry off silver and gold and take away livestock and goods and seize much plunder.” Yet ironically, the dead army of Gog’s coalition will instead be looted by the people of Israel.
“And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign Lord.” - Ezekiel 39:10
There will be an enormous number of dead soldiers to deal with. The location of the mass burial for these soldiers will be a huge ravine in the mountains on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. It will be a grave so massive that the road system in that area will have to be altered in order to logistically accommodate it. Ezekiel tells us this place will be called “Hamon Gog” which means “hordes of Gog.”
“On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east toward the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.” - Ezekiel 39:11
The number of dead will be so great that it will require many Israelites to be employed full-time for seven months just to bury them. Life in Israel will stop until the remains of the hordes of Gog have all been carted away.
“For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign Lord. Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land. Some will go throughout the land and, in addition to them, others will bury those that remain on the ground.” - Ezekiel 39:12-14
After seven months, workers will do a thorough search of the land, looking for human body parts leftover from the slaughter. This search team will place a marker by each bone they find so the transportation department can take the last remains to Hamon Gog to be buried. There will be so many people working at the Hamon Gog burial site that a temporary city will be constructed there. It will be called “Hamonah” which simply means “horde” or “multitude.”
“At the end of the seven months they will begin their search. As they go through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set upa marker beside it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. Also a town called Hamonah will be there. And so they will cleanse the land.” - Ezekiel 39:14-16
The date that God overthrew the armies of Gog will become a national holiday in Israel alongside other Jewish holidays like Passover and Hanukkah. This great and final war may be God’s way of dealing with terrorism once and for all. In the end, the terrorist states will fall just like the Assyrians and the Babylonians did.
Katabrabeuo (Gr) – rob (Eng) – the Greek word katabrabeuo is a compound word formed by placing kata, meaning “against”, in front of brabeus, meaning “an umpire.” Together kata-brabeus means “against-umpire” or “against-judgment.” This refers to a “judgment against” or a “ruling by an umpire that is against” someone. Katabrabeuo is found in Colossians 2:18 as a warning to believers to know the Truth and apply the Truth correctly, instead of letting the religious opinions and false theological concepts of men “rule against” you. By allowing confused religious men to katabrabeuo (“umpire against”) you there will be a loss of eternal rewards. The influence of poor judgment and decision making will steal the prizes the Lord is able to award to those who know and practice the Truth.
Forms of brabeus, or “umpire”, without the prefix kata are found in these verses: 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Philippians 3:14 where brabeion refers to a prize in the games Colossians 3:15 where brabeuo means “to act as an umpire” or “to arbitrate.”
Forms of brabeus, or “umpire”, without the prefix kata are found in these verses: 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Philippians 3:14 where brabeion refers to a prize in the games Colossians 3:15 where brabeuo means “to act as an umpire” or “to arbitrate.”
Have I placed faith in Jesus Christ for my eternal salvation?
Do I trust Christ in my daily life and turn to Him in current situations?
I will trust Jesus Christ today and for my future.
Do I trust Christ in my daily life and turn to Him in current situations?
I will trust Jesus Christ today and for my future.
Bible Reading Descriptions Here
Personal
Eyes to see needs that you can meet
Church
Humility among leaders
Nation
Economy
World
Mali
Recent excavation on the Ophel has revealed Old Testament walls and gates. Included in one of the gates was a store room with pithos (singular pithoi), or large storage jars for shipping of storing bulk oil or grain.
(Details)
(Details)
Someone to Quote
“Believers have the hope of the coming Kingdom but also the responsibility to serve our nation today.”
- Galyn Wiemers
Something to Ponder
In Isaiah 14:12, the phrase “morning star” is the translation of the Hebrew word helel which is translated into the Septuagint (Greek version from 200 BC) as eosphorus or “dawn-bearer”. The Vulgate (Latin version from 400 AD) uses lucis ferre (lucis means “light” and ferre means “to bring”). In 1611, the English King James (Isaiah 14:12 in KJ) translators brought the Latin phrase lucis ferre into English as “Lucifer.” Thus, Helel, “Lucifer,” or “Morning Star” is an angelic personality from the angelic class of the cherubim.
Here’s a Fact
The Nuzi tablets were discovered in Nuzi in 1931. Nuzi was a city from the days of Abraham that shared the same culture as Abraham. These tablets record the following similarities or identical practices that are recorded in Genesis as occurring in Abraham’s culture in Abraham’s time. (It is logically impossible that people coming out of Babylonian captivity in 539 BC would have been able to accurately forge documents that precisely matched a culture that had been lost for 1,400 years. Thus, the Nuzi tablets testify to the authenticity that Genesis was based on authentic documents recorded at the time the events occurred.) Some similarities include:
(1) Property transfers done at city gates as in Gen. 23:10-18
(2) A wife’s handmaid bearing children for her as in Gen. 16:3
(3) A childless couple adopting a man to be their heir, but if a natural son was born that son would replace the adopted son as in Gen. 15:2-4
(4) Exchanging a small gift for an inheritance as in Gen. 25:30-34
(5) a dying father’s blessing was a legal transfer of property as in Gen. 27:30-33
(6) Possession of the household gods or the ancestral images was evidence of ownership of property as in Gen. 31:30-35.
(1) Property transfers done at city gates as in Gen. 23:10-18
(2) A wife’s handmaid bearing children for her as in Gen. 16:3
(3) A childless couple adopting a man to be their heir, but if a natural son was born that son would replace the adopted son as in Gen. 15:2-4
(4) Exchanging a small gift for an inheritance as in Gen. 25:30-34
(5) a dying father’s blessing was a legal transfer of property as in Gen. 27:30-33
(6) Possession of the household gods or the ancestral images was evidence of ownership of property as in Gen. 31:30-35.
Proverb
"Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day,
or like vinegar poured on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart."
- Proverbs 25:20
or like vinegar poured on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart."
- Proverbs 25:20
Coach’s Corner
The greatest miracle is salvation. The godliest spiritual manifestation is the transformed soul.
The Greatness of Mordecai
10 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2 And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
10 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2 And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Lamentations 2-3:36New International Version (NIV)
2
How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
2
Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.
3
In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.
4
Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5
The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah.
6
He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.
7
The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy; they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival.
8
The Lord determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.
9
Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord.
10
The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
11
My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
12
They say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms.
13
What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
14
The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.
15
All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?”
16
All your enemies open their mouths wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it.”
17
The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.
18
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.
19
Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.
20
“Look, Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21
“Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.
22
“As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.”
3
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
2
He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
3
indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
4
He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
5
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6
He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
7
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
8
Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9
He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
10
Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
11
he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
12
He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
13
He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
14
I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15
He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.
16
He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
17
I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18
So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
19
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
25
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
27
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
28
Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him.
29
Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope.
30
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
31
For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
32
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
33
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
34
To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
35
to deny people their rights before the Most High,
36
to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
2
How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
2
Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.
3
In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.
4
Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5
The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah.
6
He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.
7
The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy; they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival.
8
The Lord determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away.
9
Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord.
10
The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
11
My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
12
They say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms.
13
What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
14
The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.
15
All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?”
16
All your enemies open their mouths wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it.”
17
The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.
18
The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.
19
Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.
20
“Look, Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21
“Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.
22
“As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.”
3
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
2
He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
3
indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
4
He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
5
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6
He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
7
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
8
Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9
He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
10
Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
11
he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
12
He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
13
He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
14
I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15
He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.
16
He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
17
I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18
So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
19
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
25
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
27
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
28
Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him.
29
Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope.
30
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
31
For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
32
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
33
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
34
To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
35
to deny people their rights before the Most High,
36
to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.