QT 9/7/2023 Ezek 36:8-15, Watching the final days play out

Ezekiel 36:8–15 (ESV) —

8 “But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9 For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 10 And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. 11 And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 12 I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children. 13 Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ 14 therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God. 15 And I will not let you hear anymore the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.”

 

NOTE: God is giving the mountains and lands of Israel anthropomorphic characteristics, but the message is really to the nations and to Israel. While Israel appears destroyed and lost, it is not. The land is still theirs and they will come back to possess it. They will multiply and be fruitful in it, even more so than before. And God will judge the nations who think otherwise.

 

The question is whether the passage refers to the end days or to the days after Babylon's destruction, or even to both. The statement "for they will soon come home" would seem to be in reference to the time 70 years later. But there could be a double meaning. Later in the chapter, the second half seems to reference the end times return. So certainly, the time could be collapsed, because there will be still another dispersion.

 

It is interesting how Israel is always in the news. And in these last days, Arab nations are rich because of oil, although not all. Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria have no oil. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran all have oil and has made them players in the current world structure. The current age is coming to a close, and the final fireworks will be in the middle east. As believers, our future is assured, but we must be sharing the good news as much as we can in these days for soon it will be too late.

 

PONDER:

1. Am I always prepared to give a defense to anyone who asks me to give an account for the hope within me (1 Peter 3:15)?

 

PRAYER: Father, help me today, to always be looking for those opportunities to share my believe in Jesus to all around me. Even the plumbers today, I pray they would think about my faith and my life, and would turn to Jesus.