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The Bible Breakdown
Ezekiel 38: Live Confidently
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, ezekiel, chapter 38, and today's title is Live Confidently, live Confidently. I'm excited to get into this, and also I wonder how many people who've ever read the book of Revelation are going to be shocked to hear the names of two cities that you thought maybe showed up in Revelation. But oh, no, no, no, no. They showed up way back in Ezekiel. So we'll get into that in just a second.
Speaker 1:But if you have your Bibles, want to get your coffee ready, get all the things ready. Make sure you get your Bibles open to Ezekiel 38. And while you're doing that, take a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and, as always, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion. They're doing a great job over there, and it's so much fun to read these chapters every day together and just digging in.
Speaker 1:So many people just pass right on through Ezekiel and, as you can tell, there's some difficult parts in here. But we understand, though, this is happening over Ezekiel's lifetime, and so we dig in understanding these different seasons and man, the more we dig, the more we find. Once again the idea of Ezekiel is God's promise of renewal. We've been looking at that, and yesterday was a wonderful chapter about dead bones coming to life again. Well, today God's going to speak to two cities that many of us did not know was in the Old Testament and some of us if you don't read the book of Revelation, then this is kind of lost on you. But I thought it was so cool because in the book of Revelation we read about toward the end of the book. It's about these two cities called Gog and Magog which rise up to try to challenge God, that the devil works with these two cities. They rise up and of course they're completely destroyed, and so we wondered many of us have been like where'd that come from? What's going on? Well, one of the reasons why many people who read the book of Revelation say we have to be so very careful not to read it as though it's a how-to book to understand the end of the world, but more it is a metaphor, much like these, to understand what God is doing through time, because Gog and Magog didn't start way in the future, it started way back here in the book of Ezekiel. So let's read what this is and let's see what God's word has to say. You ready?
Speaker 1:Ezekiel 38, verse 1 says this this is another message that came to me from the Lord, son of man. Turn and face Gog of the land of Magog, the prince over rulers or over rules, over the nations of Meshach and Tubal, and prophesy against him. Give him this message from the sovereign Lord Gog I am your enemy. I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws to lead you out with your whole army, your horses and charioteers, in full armor, the great horde armed with shields and swords. That sounds painful, verse 5. Persia, ethiopia and Libya will join you too, with all their weapons, will join you too, with all their weapons. Gomer and all its armies will also join you, along with the armies of Beth-tok-rachamah from the distant north and many others. Be ready, be prepared. Keep all the armies around you mobilized and take command of them.
Speaker 1:A long time from now, you will be called into action. In the distant future, you will swoop down on the land of Israel, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war and after its people have returned from the mighty lands to the mountain of Israel. You and all your allies, a vast and awesome army will roll down on them like a storm and cover the land with a cloud. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. I will destroy these people who live in such confidence. I will go to those formerly desolate cities that are now filled with people who have returned from exile in many nations. I will capture vast amounts of plunder, for the people are rich with livestock and other possessions now. They think the whole world revolves around them. But Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish will ask you really think the armies you have gathered can rob them of silver and gold? You think you can drive away their livestock and seize their goods and carry off their plunder?
Speaker 1:Therefore, son of man, prophesy against Gog Give him this message from the sovereign Lord when my people are living in peace in the land, then you will rouse yourself. My people are living in peace in the land, then you will rouse yourself. You will come from your homeland in the distant north with your vast cavalry and your mighty army and you will attack my people, israel, covering their land with a cloud. And that time, in the distant future, I will bring against you my land as everyone watches, and my holiness will be displayed by what happens to you, gog. Then all the nations will know that I am the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says. Are you the one I was talking about long ago when I announced through Israel's prophets that in the future I would bring you against my people? This is what the sovereign Lord says.
Speaker 1:When Gog invades the land of Israel, my fury will boil over In my jealousy and blazing anger. I promise a mighty shaking in the land of Israel on that day. All living things fish in the sea, birds of the sky and animals of the field and small animals that scurry around on the ground and the people on earth will quake in terror at my presence. Mountains will be thrown down, cliffs will crumble, walls will fall to the earth. I will summon the sword on you, on all the hills of Israel, says the sovereign Lord. Your men will turn their swords against each other. I will punish you and your armies with disease and bloodshed, and I will send torrential rain, hell, stones, fire and burning sulfur. In this way, I will show my greatness and holiness and I will make myself known to all the nations of the world, and then they will know that I am the Lord. Wow. Well, there you have it. Gog and Magog, you's gone.
Speaker 1:And if you're reading the book of Revelation which, by the way, kind of a thing is when we get to the book of Revelation, I'm going to refer back to verse 38. And so, if you are listening to this, because you just are, some of the nations that are thinking that, because Israel is now safe and because Israel has now been redeemed by God, that they are vulnerable and so they are going to try to come and take over. But God is saying oh no, no, I am going to rise up and take care of you, I'm going to deal with you. And everybody's going to be shocked and was like oh, my goodness, that's horrible. You know, it's like watching a bully get beat up. You're like man, I mean, he deserves it and all. But that's pretty rough, you know. And that's kind of what it's going to be like. And if you look at the end of Revelation, that is what it is referring to. It is saying do you remember a long time ago, when Israel is finally safe, or God's people are finally safe, and bullies decide they're going to try to uproot God's people? It's not going to go well for them. And so Revelation is pointing back to this, where God is saying I myself will take care of these enemies.
Speaker 1:And no matter how you read the book of Revelation whether you read it as historical, you read it as allegorical, metaphorical, all the olds you want to the bottom line is we can live confidently, and the reason why is because God sees what's going on and that God is working in more ways than we realize. Here's a thought I'd love to give you, something maybe to think on today, and that is I think that there are a million little blessings that God does every day. I used to say miracles, but I got lovingly corrected by one of my professors who say a miracle is something that can't happen without God's divine intervention. One of my professors who say a miracle is something that can't happen without God's divine intervention. And so, therefore, sometimes God does miracles and sometimes he does blessings, and I was like dude, that's confusing. So, just for the sake of him, this one time I won't say miracles, I'll say blessings. But God does a million little miracles, slash blessings every day that we don't know about.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you how many times I remember when I was a kid. Here's one of them just started to learn to drive. I remember one night I was driving home from work and it was super late. I had no business being on the road that tired, and I remember that I woke up. I had fallen asleep. And as I had fallen asleep, what woke me up was that my steering wheel had jerked back onto the road. I was asleep and I woke up because something not me jerked my steering wheel back on the road to keep me safe.
Speaker 1:One of a million miracles, that one I knew about. How many happened that day that I didn't know about? How about you? How many times today, if you were driving today, or maybe yesterday, how many times was someone going to run that red light that you were passing through? But at the last minute, god calls them to take their eyes off their phone. God help us. And they hit their brakes. What about someone who had plans to do something terrible and they didn't? God kept them safe, kept you safe? What about if you've been on the interstate? Any number of things could happen. What if it would have been super easy today? Maybe there's something going on with your body and it could have went in a negative direction. It could have ended your life. But God said no, it's not time.
Speaker 1:A million little miracles, every single time your heart beats, is a gift from the Lord. Every time your brain works properly, it's a gift from the Lord. Everything is a gift, and so, instead of worrying about the next thing, you know what Jesus said. He said this don't worry about tomorrow. You know it's okay to plan, it's okay to make preparations, but don't worry about tomorrow because it's already in God's hands. He said sufficient is the trouble for today. We don't worry about it because God's in charge. We live confidently because, even though we don't know what tomorrow holds, we know who holds tomorrow and that God is working. And God is telling this Gog and Magog.
Speaker 1:What you think is you think that you're watching my people and you're waiting for a vulnerable moment where you can kind of get them. What you don't understand is I'm also watching them and I'm taking care of them and I'm going to stop you in such a way that they ain't ever even going to know you were there, and I wonder how many times God has done that for us. So what would it look like today if you thanked God for the million little miracles that you have no idea about? Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for just that. Thank you for the million little miracles that we have no idea, that you have done Ways, you've kept us safe, things that should have happened that didn't, things that did happen that shouldn't, and everything in between.
Speaker 1:God, we're thankful for you. We're thankful, god, that one thing can happen to us outside of your view. You see us and you know us. Therefore, no matter what we go through, no matter what we deal with, we do it with a level of confidence, because we know that wherever you guide, you will also lead and guide. We celebrate you now In Jesus' name. We pray amen. Anyway, what God's Word says in Ezekiel 34, verse 14, he says I will put my spirit in you and you will live again. I love you, I'll see you tomorrow for Ezek.
