Today's Scripture Reading (August 22, 2023): Ezekiel 39
I have constantly reminded Christian leaders in my
circle of influence that the standards God will use with us will be higher than
what is expected of someone just participating with us. And I think that the
reason is justified. As a leader, you can never lead anyone in your circle of
influence to a place you haven't gone to yourself. As Christians who seek to
lead those around us to Christ, we need to know the way to the destination
before we can ever lead people there.
But the Christian Church has a serious problem. We
have been infiltrated by counterfeits who are only in the game for the money they
can get from us. I have friends who believe that that is true of all of
Christianity, but that is also a lie. But counterfeits are walking among us. Usually,
they lead large ministries, and they beg us for money either to destroy some
imagined bogeyman that is corrupting our society or so that God will return his
blessing to us by healing our diseases. But they are lying. They have never
made the journey to Christ, so they don't know how to take us there.
Ezekiel prophesies of a war between Magog and Israel.
A lot of ink has been spilled trying to decipher who Gog and Magog might be.
And it usually ends up being the bad boys of the day, whatever flavor that might
be.
According to Ezekiel, the winner of the war between
Israel and Magog will be Israel. On that day, the dead will be many. But God
has shown Ezekiel a different ending from the one he just witnessed in his
vision of the dry bones and in Jerusalem at the city's fall. Babylon destroyed
the Holy City, and the dead were left where they had fallen. The animals had
eaten the flesh, and bugs, sand, and wind had cleaned the bones. The area
surrounding Jerusalem had become a horror scene, much like the Valley of Dry Bones.
Leaving the soldiers unburied and open to the effects of nature was one way of
dishonoring the bodies of opposing soldiers.
But with the war against Magog, Israel would win the
war and then spend seven months burying the bodies of the deceased Magog
soldiers. Yes, there was an element of needing to do this to cleanse the land,
but part of cleaning the land meant honoring the bodies of soldiers who had
fought against Israel. It was not the normal thing to do, but Israel was
leading the world to a place it had never been and teaching them how to honor our
enemies in a time of war and death.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Daniel 3
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