the world is a ?…

(by Pastor Joe)

The Word for today: Ezekiel 39

What in the world is the world?
The band War declared that "the world is a ghetto"
The Smashing Pumpkins said "the world is a vampire"
Shakespeare said "the world is a stage," then he wrote
"the world's mine oyster." (1)

But after reading today's passage, the phrase "the world is a graveyard" comes to mind.
Seven months of burial (v. 14). Even more time to clean up what they missed. That's a lot of undertaking. Despite all their numbers and weaponry, despite all their plans, the hordes of Gog end up as carrion (v. 4) or as ashes (v. 6). Their armaments end up as firewood (v. 9) and they end up in the ground (v. 11)

But come to think of it, that is how the world operates, apart from God. Without God, isn't this true. If there is life after death, no eternity, then we share the same fate as all these nations.
Without Him, it's as the Apostle Paul cries:
"If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'" (2)

But thank God it does NOT end here. Compare today's passage with what we read a few days ago in Ezekiel 37. In that vision, the prophet Ezekiel certainly thought that it was over for that mass of dry bones, but God showed him that it was just the beginning.

Your world may be full of old dry bones, loss and brokenness, but the message of Jesus Christ is that because of what He has done, we can live again! Jesus came to make dead people live! To his people, He promises restoration and compassion, and even more, His Holy Spirit.

But conversely, your life may have all the bearings of life -- all the comforts and luxuries and apparent meaning -- but without God, you face the same ultimate end as the hordes of Gog.

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(1) from "As You Like It" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor" respectively
(2) 1 Corinthians 15:32