14 “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it?
15 “You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army;
16 and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.”
17 ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?
With America no longer able to defend Israel, the coalition of Islamic nations begins to move against Israel. We are again reminded that this invasion is like a cloud over the land. We are reminded of the scope and the breadth of this great army. But there is one feature here that we need to allude to. This attack is being used by God. This attack will be the trigger that allows the world to finally get to the place of acceptance of the antichrist. Through the rule of the antichrist during the tribulation, God is able to bring about His final kingdom of peace and love. Therefore, all the things about to occur in the world are necessary to sanctify God, to bring about His final kingdom.
18 “It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord God, “that My fury will mount up in My anger.
19 “In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.
20 “The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.
21 “I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains,” declares the Lord God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
22 “With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.
23 “I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.” ’
The climax of Chapter 38 finally appears and the plan is revealed. First, God’s fury at those who would so heinously attack Israel is revealed. As a result of God’s love for Israel and God’s perfect judgment, we have the event that will shake the world to its knees.
The first judgment will be an earthquake. This earthquake will be in Israel. Why is this significant? When I was in Israel in 2010, we were driving along one of the streets near the wall around the Temple Mount. Our tour guide said, “Enjoy this while you can. Our scientists say that there is coming an earthquake that will destroy all of what you see here.” This area is part of the African Rift and an earthquake could quite literally come at anytime. When she said this, I thought of Ezekiel 38, “there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel” (19).
The fact that Israeli scientists know that the old city is going to be destroyed by earthquake reveals God’s perfect timing. There is one thing in Jerusalem that stands in the way of the construction of the third temple. That is the dome of the rock that sits on the temple mount. This is the one obstacle that has prevented the prophecies from coming forth but on this day, the dome of the rock will be destroyed and the armies of the Islamic coalition will take such a beating that they will not be able to hinder the Jewish people from reconstructing the new temple.
This earthquake will shake everything down. In fact, it will be a global disaster “The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.” (20)
Notice the language here. The animal kingdom is affected. Then we see some very descriptive and definitive words being used here. “All” the men (sorry, women too!) are shaken. There is not a person who will be immune to feeling this earthquake. The mountains will collapse at this earthquake and we see another definitive word, “every.” Every wall will fall to the ground. The wall around the dome of the rock and every other wall in the world. This signifies a complete collapse of the world’s infrastructure. Obviously, this will lead to total chaos and anarchy. Communications will be down. The electrical grid will no longer operate. Some of these things may actually collapse long before this earthquake but one thing is for sure, the earthquake will be the one event that breaks all societies down to their barest form. It is possible that the rapture could occur during this earthquake. Mind you that it is a possibility. I don’t know for certain but think about it. Instead of making all these movies about people leaving their clothes behind and some mystery as to why so many have disappeared, wouldn’t it be more plausible to say that millions died as a result of the earthquake? This would allow for the rapture and it would allow the world to seek refuge in the government of the antichrist. It would also give the world an explanation as to why so many have perished and are gone. God is not finished yet. In fact, He is a long way from it.
As we turn our attention back to the the war between Israel and Islam we find that God personally will fight for Israel. Israel won’t have to lift a finger in this part of the struggle. First, there will be confusion. “I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains,” declares the Lord God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.” (21). This is not the first time that God has confused an army into attacking itself. King Jehoshaphat once faced an attack from three armies. He knew that he could not defeat them so he sent out the praise team (The choir is usually the first to get it). But, when the singers got there, the enemy was destroyed through internal fighting. (2 Chronicles 20:1-29). One thing is for certain. Islamic nations not only hate Israel and America, but they typically hate one another as well. Many atrocities have been inflicted on Muslims by Muslims. It isn’t a far stretch of faith to see that there will be internal conflict within the coalition. They have a hatred for Israel as their one and only common denominator. They can’t agree on much else.
Just as in the days of Joshua and the many times that God defended Israel, there comes a time when God will supernaturally perform wonders to defeat the enemies of Israel, ““With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.”” (22)
This is almost reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorra. God has used the weather and other pestilences many times. Armies have been bogged down through rain, Titanic ships have been destroyed by ice and the list goes on and on. These things are usually the result of the individual or group’s defiance of God. This will be the case also at the battle of Gog and Magog.
This battle, like many other things have a reason for their existence. “I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.” (23). There will not be any way to miss this. All of this is in order to magnify God and defy reason. No doubt many will try to explain away the defeat of the army but no one will be able to really explain it away as a natural occurrence. The one thing that will likely happen as a result of all of this is that the antichrist will be able to rise up. He will be the one who will convince the nations that we must become unified and that all nations need to put aside their differences and begin to rebuild. He will no doubt say things like, “We will rebuild bigger, better and stronger!” His charismatic personality will draw the world to him. He will seem to have all the answers. This is only a ruse. The truth is that his rule will lead to much bloodshed and war as well as hunger and suffering. It is better to pray to Christ for salvation today and receive a kingdom without end.
So, we come to the end of chapter 38. Chapter 39 gives us more detail into what happens and so I encourage you to check back by this blog to get the rest of the story. I wish you much shalom and my prayer is that God will reveal His heart to you. We need to prepare ourselves for the storm that is coming upon the land.
No comments:
Post a Comment