Ezekiel 36
(v.19) This is exciting to point out to our kids...prophecy that was fulfilled in recent history! On May 17, 1948, Israel became a nation again...the only nation in history to established, be destroyed, then formed again! I don't think that is a coincidence...God was at work!
God prophesied that He would scatter the remnant of Jews throughout the world, to live amongst the Gentiles. He said they would be persecuted for a time. But one day, He would bring them back to His land...Israel.
(v.22) God didn't do this because the Jews were any more special than anyone else, but God had made a promise to work through them. They are His people, and He had them return to Jerusalem for His honor, His name's sake.
(v.24) In WW2, Jews were hated throughout all of the Middle East, all of Europe, and the USA refused to take refugees who wanted to escape Hitler's persecutions in the 1930's. God set it all up to have the world give them back their land.
Ezekiel 37
(v.11) Often, God gives us a prophecy in the form of a metaphor, but He explains His prophecy in this verse...the bones are the house of Israel. This is the prediction that Israel would become a nation again! In May of 1948, that became a reality!
(vv.21-22) God did this in 1948, but we must be careful when currently we are trying to divide Jerusalem. Not only is Jerusalem the true capital of Israel, but it's the Jew's land, not the Palestinians. As I noted before, the Palestinians have been nomads, and never had a true homeland. Most of them are what we would call Jordanians now, and history proves that the land was always Israel's.
Ezekiel 38
Here we read of a group of nations that conspire to attack Israel in order to wipe it off the face of the earth. Some of the names are foreign to us, but if we look at all the names and their current locations, then we see that they all have one thing in common...they are all Muslim.
Magog is an ancient name for the people of the north (in modern day Russia) and Gog is their leader. We see in Jeremiah 50 that Gog appears 1,000 years apart in history. This is a sign that Satan is behind all this, and Gog is either Satan himself, or one of his puppets.
If we look at modern history, we know that the whole southern parts of Russia are Muslim. They will be drawn to attack Israel, and other Muslim countries like Iran, Turkey and Libya will join these Muslim Russian armies.
Scholars believe this is the final battle before Jesus returns to save Israel. But what about the nations of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia? Have they decided that Israel is their friend? Hardly. It is believed that in Psalm 83 it speaks of a battle that could happen very soon, that Israel conquers these armies and gains immense land mass. It is because of this, that these outer Muslim countries feel compelled to fight Israel to wipe them out as described in Eze 38 & 39.
(v.20) Jesus will cause a great earthquake to "shake up" Israel's enemies in the Magog invasion, and He will save Israel at the end of the Great Tribulation.
Ezekiel 39
(v.6) After Jesus makes the earthquake rattle the enemy troops, and they turn on each other, the survivors will have fire rain down on them.
(v.9) Scholars believe that this might be an illusion to the use of nuclear weapons, that are used for fuel for seven years.
So to summarize, we see the immediate neighbors of Israel (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan) not in this final battle. If we read Psalm 83 this may give us a clue as to why they aren't in the fight...they may already have been defeated by Israel. If we look at current events today, with Iran seeking nuclear weapons, then Israel may have to strike, then these other countries will undoubtedly strike back. Israel will ultimately win, and gain immense land with lots of oil. They will be secure and wealthy.
Then, sometime later, the outer Muslim countries (Russia, Turkey, Libya) will join to fight Israel. This is when God Himself will physically come back and save Israel, as we read all over the Bible.
There is so much to learn here, but this should be a start for you and your kids to study more.
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