The first words of Jesus’ public ministry, according to Mark 1:15, were, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Now, it’s safe to assume that the people knew what he was talking about by saying, “the kingdom of God” and that it is good news. But perhaps we don’t. Perhaps we can’t describe really what we’re longing for. What is our hope? What are we eagerly anticipating? When we cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus,” what is it we’re hoping that will happen when he comes? Or perhaps, better, we might ask, “What are we praying, when we pray, ‘Let your kingdom come’”?
I think that the answer to these questions is found in large measure in the chapters we’re looking at this morning in Ezekiel 33-39. What takes place in these chapters is a shift in the book and in the message Ezekiel is delivering, as a prophet, to his people. The section starts off in chapter 33 by repeating some themes we’ve seen earlier in the book. The Lord tells Ezekiel again in 33:1-9 that he is a watchman, and his responsibility is to tell the people his word, regardless of what they end up doing, a theme we saw earlier in the book. Then, in 33:10-20, the Lord repeats again that his judgment is just, and if the Israelites will repent of their sins, the Lord will allow them to live and not die. In fact, he’d rather they repent and live than that they continue in sin and die. Again, this is a theme we’ve seen earlier in the book. It’s as if the Lord is showing that these categories of Ezekiel’s role and Israel’s conditions for life are the same.
But then something happens. You’ll remember back in chapter 24 that the Lord had said that a fugitive from the siege in Jerusalem would make his way to Ezekiel, and on that day, Ezekiel’s mouth would be opened. Well, here it is. We read in 33:21-22, “In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, ‘The city has been struck down.’ Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.”
Now, all of the sudden, Ezekiel is confirmed as a prophet to the people. He is no false prophet. The destruction has come. The fugitive’s message confirms it. So, now that God has opened Ezekiel’s mouth to speak regularly and vindicated him before the people as a prophet, what message will the Lord give him to speak? That answer is found in chapters 34-39, and the answer is that it is a message that tells the people all the good that God is going to do for them. It is a message of hope, promise, and redemption. Therefore, what I want to do this morning is show us some of these promises of good that God is going to do to his people, consider how this affects us as well, and then consider what this tells us about God. And the first promise that I want to highlight here is that:
We see this first in chapter 34. In this chapter the Lord begins by telling Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds, rebuking them for not caring for and leading the sheep well. However, before we dive into this too much, we need to explain the metaphor a bit. By “shepherds,” the Lord is referring to Israel’s kings. Somewhere along the way, the image of a shepherd became this commonly understood image for the king of God’s people. Perhaps this is because Israel’s greatest king, David, was a shepherd. Therefore, when the text addresses the shepherds and rebukes them, he is rebuking Israel’s wicked kings, which led them people to idolatry. And when he speaks of the sheep he is referring to the people.
In chapter 34, then, the Lord rebukes these wicked kings who did not care for the people. Because of their lack of proper leadership, the sheep followed in the wicked kings’ footsteps and came under God’s judgment, which fell as he scattered his people out from Jerusalem as exiles in foreign lands. So, we read, for example, in 34:6, “My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.”
Therefore, the Lord’s first promise is that he is going to gather his people, his sheep, that were driven all over the face of the earth as he himself will go get his sheep. We read, for example, in 34:11-13, “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.”
God is going to gather his people (his sheep) from all the nations of the earth. He himself will do it. That is the first part of the first promise.
The second part of this promise is that he will give them a king to rule over them. Again, this makes sense in light of all the wicked kings they’ve had who have led them into idolatry. He’ll now give them a good king.
But before we look at who will be their king, consider how terrible it is that Israel’s kings have been wicked. Israel as a people were supposed to represent the Lord before the nations. Therefore, they were called God’s son. Just as a son resembles and reflects his father, so Israel was to resemble, reflect, and represent their God among the nations. But Israel’s king even more so was to represent God in his wise rule over the Lord’s people. This is why the king is specifically referred to as God’s son in the Old Testament. One should have been able to look at the king and say, “He is a great reflection of who our God is and what he is like.” But that was a far cry from the wickedness of Israel’s kings.
So, when God promises to provide for them a king, it seems at first that he has forfeited the idea of any man reigning over his people. Instead, God himself will be their king. Thus, we read in 34:14-15, “I will feed them with good pasture. . . . I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.” God is going to be the shepherd of his people. God himself will be their king instead of all the wicked kings that have come along.
But does this mean that God is abandoning the idea of raising up another king from David’s line, as he promised? After all, he had promised David that he would raise up one from his own flesh, who would be David’s great son who would reign over the Lord’s kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7). Well, it seems like he’s not abandoning this idea. Thus, we read in 34:23, “And I will set up over them one shepherd [at this point, we expect him to say it is himself, but instead he says], my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”
This is repeated in 37:24 and 25, where God says, “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. . . . David my servant shall be their prince forever.”
So, which is it? I mean, at this point in the Bible’s storyline, in the course of God’s many promises, we have a number of streams that are coming together that are hard to comprehend. God’s sheep have been scattered all over the earth, and he himself is going to gather these sheep from the ends of the earth. Then, he will gather them, and he himself will be their king, and yet he will set up a king from David’s line (i.e. a man – this promised “David”). But they’ll not have two shepherds (or kings) but one shepherd (or one king).
So, how does the Bible show this coming together? We find the answer in the text that was read earlier in our service – John 10:1-18. The answer to whether God will be king or a man in David’s line is “yes.” It is the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth. Moreover, he directly affirms in these verses that he is the great shepherd, and he is gathering his sheep. And not only that, but he declares that he has sheep that are not of this “fold,” meaning that the people God is gathering for himself from all over the face of the earth aren’t just made up of Jews but Jews and Gentiles.
And as our king, Jesus, declares that he has authority over all the world and tells us to go and make disciples for him from the end of the earth, he is calling us to be his ambassadors in gathering his sheep. This is the task of missions, and it is right here in Ezekiel 34 and 37.
So, God is gathering a people for himself so that he might reign over them through his exalted Son. This is the first promise we find in our text this morning concerning what God’s kingdom means. But there’s more. We also see that:
In Ezekiel 35-36 the Lord has Ezekiel prophesy to two mountains (or sets of mountains). In chapter 35, he prophesies against Mount Seir, which was located in Edom, saying, “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and waste” (35:3).
Mount Seir was located in Edom, one of the nations the Lord pronounced judgment against in chapters 25-32. Therefore, God is telling them again that he is going to judge them. But why? It’s because Edom saw the devastated land of Jerusalem, and thought that it could be theirs for the taking. We read in 35:12b, “I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given to us to devour.’” Therefore, Edom will be judged, as God’s enemies.
The Lord wants to make clear that this land is not to be given to the Edomites because he is giving the land to his people. This why Ezekiel prophesies in chapter 36 to the mountains of Israel, telling them that they’ll be inhabited again. He says in 36:8-11, “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. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 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. 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.”
God is going to bring his sheep (whom we know from the NT includes Jew and Gentile) into the land. And the land itself will be like Eden, a place of paradise. Thus, we read in Ezekiel 36:35-36, “And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.’” Do you see? The enemies are removed because God’s land that has been judged will be restored and redeemed until it is like Eden, a place of paradise.
But, we might say, “Good that the Edomites are removed, but there are always other enemies of God’s people that could attack them.” However, it seems that Ezekiel 38-39 is written to tell us that all of God’s enemies will be destroyed. In Ezekiel 38-39 the Lord speaks of one more enemy, Gog, of the land of Magog.
Now, the identity of Gog and his land, Magog, has been the subject of all kinds of speculation because these names simply don’t relate to any historical king or land. Some have suggested a number of kings basically simply because these kings have the letter “g” in their names. And, in my upbringing, I often heard preaching that this must refer to the Soviet Union because they were this great enemy. I honestly can’t tell you the number of nightmares I had as a kid involving nuclear holocaust, Russia, and God bringing the world to an end, which stemmed from all kinds of bad teaching in the church.
Before trying to figure out the identity of Gog and Magog, note what happens to this nation as they attack the Lord’s people. Basically, the chapters tell us that God will raise up Gog of Magog to bring this great attack against his people so that God can defend his people and crush his enemies. And he will. In fact, if you can picture it, the attack of Gog will be so great in number, that when the Lord intervenes, destroying them, Israel will be able to burn their weapons for firewood, and it will last seven years. The dead bodies will be so numerous, as they fill the city, that it will take the people seven months to bury them, during which time the birds of the air will have their fill. And why? Ezekiel 39:21 – “And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.”
So, let’s get back to this interesting question: who are Gog and Magog? Well, Revelation twenty speaks of the time when the nations that oppose the Lord will come out and attack the saints (i.e. the Lord’s people). And these nations are referred to as “Gog and Magog.” But the Lord will destroy them with fire, and the devil himself will be thrown into the lake of fire then as well. So, it seems that Gog and Magog are simply used as names to represent the enemies of the Lord, whose persecution of God’s people will finally be halted when God intervenes and destroys them, along with Satan himself.
Now, how does this reality take place? God is destroying the enemies of his people so that he can bring them back into their land, which will be like Eden. Well, we know that this wasn’t fulfilled when Cyrus issued a decree years after the destruction of Jerusalem, telling the Jews that they could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. Jerusalem was never mistaken for Eden after that time, and they always had enemies so that the Romans even destroyed the city again in 70 A.D. in much the same fashion that the Babylonians had years earlier.
But, I think there are a few things that can help us understand this. First, keep in mind that when God says he is gathering his people, his sheep, he means Jews and Gentiles. He is referring to everyone on the face of the earth who will place their faith in Jesus Christ. Again, this is why Jesus says that he has sheep that are not of this fold (i.e. of Israel). Second, the conquering of God’s enemies, especially Gog, seems to be symbolic of God destroying every enemy of his people. So, when we look forward to the time when the Lord will one day destroy Gog, I think we’re looking forward to the time when the Lord puts every single enemy under his feet so that God’s people no longer have to live in fear of their enemies – even the enemy of Satan, sin, or death. And, third, the holy city of Jerusalem, when it is talked about in terms of being restored, seems to spread throughout the whole earth.
Let me show you one example of this from Isaiah 27. You’ll notice in your ESV bibles that the heading is “The Redemption of Israel.” So, it’s talking about this same theme we’re seeing in Ezekiel 34-39. Now, Isaiah 27 starts, as we see in Ezekiel, with the destruction of God’s great enemy – the serpent. We read in 27:1, “In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
Next, we would expect the Lord to take about Israel becoming a blessed land, full of fruit, like Eden. And that’s exactly what we find. We read in verse 6, “In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.” So now, all of the sudden, Jerusalem is not only becoming like Eden, but it seems to be infecting the whole world so that the whole world becomes this blessed Eden-like, fruit-filled city of Jerusalem. And that fits with the vision in Revelation 21-22 where the city of Jerusalem, the holy city, comes down from heaven and encompasses the whole world, so that all the nations can come into this city.
You see, I think what God is ultimately promising here to his people is that when his kingdom is fully consummated, we (as his people) will dwell in a new creation, a holy city, a place of paradise, forever. Every enemy will be removed. We won’t have to worry about Satan, sin, death, Gog, Magog, persecution, anything. This is what he’s doing for his people. He’s bringing us into a place of paradise without any enemy.
But there is one more thing:
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s promises of restoration for his people always seem to carry two elements: giving them land as their inheritance and redeeming them from their sins. Therefore, it should be no surprise that in these chapters we find these elements together again and again.
The symbol of God restoring his people becomes that of resurrection from the dead. That is what we see in Ezekiel 37. The Lord takes Ezekiel in a vision to a valley of dry bones, and he asks him if these bones can live. Now, the answer is of course, ‘No.’ But Ezekiel rightly answers, “O Lord God, you know” (37:3). That is, if you want them to.
So, the Lord has Ezekiel prophesy to these bones, telling them to live, and then three is suddenly the rattling of bones until they come together, and they’re covers with sinews, muscles, and skin, and then they live so that there is standing before Ezekiel an exceedingly great army.
Then, the Lord tells Ezekiel that his people see themselves as these dry bones. It’s as if any work of restoration is hopeless. It’s like they’re dead. But, God says, he will raise them from their graves. And he will save them from their sins. We read in 37:23, “They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
Having judged his people so that as they walked through the nations as prisoners of war on their way to Babylon, they were profaning God’s name, now God would vindicate his name by restoring them and cleansing them of their sins. Again, we read of this promise in a powerful way in 36:22-28,
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
Now, that last phrase, “You shall be my people, and I will be your God” is the language of the covenant. God is saying to his people, I’m going to redeem you from your sins, and I’m going to enter into a covenant with you whereby you will always be my people. In fact, this is confirmed, when the Lord says in 37:26, “I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them.”
So, how does God bring about this covenant, whereby he makes a people his own and forgives them of their sins? That question is answered when Jesus takes a cup the night of his betrayal, holds it up with his disciples and says, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28).
You see, those who are God’s covenant people are those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who lived, died for our sins, and was raised on the third day. This is how God fulfills his promise of gathering his sheep from the ends of the earth and forgiving them of their sins. It is through faith in the crucified and risen Lord.
But what are this raising from the dead language? Well, we see this fulfilled two ways. One, because we are in bondage to our sin in such a way that we are dead in our sin, it takes Jesus speaking a word of life to us in order to make us alive. Remember Jesus’ words in John 5:25, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
Let’s skip to the second part first. The day is coming and is now here. So, people are being raised to life right now? Yes. Every time someone hears the gospel and believes, what is happening is that they are hearing the shepherd call them through the gospel preaching of his saints so that they who are dead in their sins are given life. This is why we baptize, proclaiming that one has been raised to life with Christ.
Now, back to the first, the day is coming. The life we experience now in salvation is not the end. We wait for a day when Jesus will once more come and command us to live in such a way that even our bodies will be raised from the dead, and it will be made clear to all that our sins are forgiven and death no longer has a hold on us in any way. This is our hope.
So, what did Jesus mean when he announced the invasion of God’s kingdom? What does God’s kingdom look like? What are we hoping for? What are we praying for when we pray, “Let your kingdom come”?
We are praying for the day when all of God’s people will be gathered from the ends of the earth as they profess faith in their Lord, Savior, and King – Jesus the Christ. We are praying for the day when every enemy, including death, will be defeated and the earth itself will be made new so that we might dwell with the Lord in paradise. We are longing and praying for the day when the forgiveness of our sins and triumph over death will be manifest for all to see as we are raised from the dead. This is what we are praying for. This is why we cry out with the saints, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.”
Therefore, set your eyes on this hope as you persevere. Rest in the fact that this is what our God has promised us who bear his name. Delight in the fact that when vindicates his name, the greatest blessings come to his children, those who bear his name. And let us love the one who shows his kindness and love for us in this great promises of blessing and salvation. Indeed, may the Lord’s kingdom come. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Amen.