In just a few moments, we’ll be looking at Ezekiel 38, so go ahead and turn to that chapter in your Bibles. But before we look at that passage, I’d like us to pause for a moment and remind ourselves of how this passage fits into the overall scope of this current sermon series. Since we began our look at the Old Testament prophets about 8 months ago, it’s easy for us to lose sight of the bigger picture and to fail to see how each week’s message fits into our overall study of God’s final word – the Book of Revelation.
That’s why I have periodically used the “Connections” Bible study time to review where we’ve been and to try to show how all the passages that we’ve been looking at fit together and how they provide the necessary background for our study of the Book of Revelation. But since we have new people coming into our body all the time and because I know that some of you can’t always be here every week, I’m convinced that there are some additional things that I can do to help all of us stay on the same page as we progress through our study.
One of those things is to prepare a monthly roadmap that will show where we’ve been and where we’re headed on our journey. The first attempt at such a summary is included in your bulletins this week and I will also be posting each month’s summary on the church website. As you can see I’ve also given you some links that you can use to go back and review any messages that you’ve missed. I hope that you’’ also feel free to contact me with your questions as we progress on our journey.
For the next two weeks we’ll be looking at Ezekiel 38 and 39, one of the most well-known, yet at the same time, one of the most mysterious prophecies that deals with the end times. In fact, this prophecy is so hard to understand, that I’ve found that most pastors just don’t deal with it in their preaching. For instance, the internet site, Sermoncentral.com, where I post the text version of all my sermons has tens or possibly even hundreds of thousands of sermons posted on the site. And if you go on that site and search by passage, you’ll find that there are 107 sermons on Daniel chapter 2, 171 on Daniel chapter 3, 56 on Daniel chapter 7, 22 on Daniel chapter 8 and 78 on Daniel chapter 9. These are all passages that we’ve looked at recently. There are even 142 sermons on Ezekiel 37, which we’ve looked at the past two weeks. But there are only a total of 3 sermons on Ezekiel 38 and 39 combined.
But I am going to deal with these two chapters over the next two weeks, not because I have some special insight into the passage or because I have it all figured out. In fact, as you’ll see, there is a lot here that we just can’t be dogmatic about. But since we know that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for us (2 Timothy 3:16, 17), I am convinced that we shouldn’t just ignore the passage.
This passage describes an alliance of nations that is going to gather together to wage war against Israel. We’ll examine the passage in sections, which will allow us to identify the most significant aspects of the prophecy and then we’ll see how we can apply this passage to our everyday life.
The nations identified (vv. 1-6)
God begins this prophecy by revealing to Ezekiel the nations that will be involved in this attempted attack on Israel:
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes - many peoples are with you.
As we attempt to identify these participants, we have to keep in mind that they are identified here by the territories that they occupied during the late 6th century BC when God revealed this prophecy to Ezekiel. With the exception of Persia, every single land identified in this passage can be traced back to the genealogies that we find in Genesis, which is a great help in helping us to identify the location of these peoples in Ezekiel’s time. We can then move on to the last step of identifying the countries that currently occupy those areas.
We know that all peoples on the face of the earth can trace their ancestry back to Noah and his three sons – Ham, Shem and Japheth.
• Magog, Meshech Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah are all offspring of Japheth (Genesis 10:3)
• Cush and Put are the offspring of Ham (Genesis 10:6)
Although we can’t be 100% certain, based on the best information we have available, we can identify the most likely locations of these territories and the nations that occupy those areas today:
• Magog = Southern portion of the former Soviet Union
• Meshech = Turkey
• Tubal = Turkey
• Persia = Iran
• Cush = Sudan, Ethiopia
• Put = Libya
• Gomer = central Turkey
• Togarmah = eastern Turkey
What all these nations have in common is that they are heavily Muslim countries, and in many cases Muslims are in control of their governments.
The timing (vv. 7-16)
There is little doubt that the most difficult aspect of interpreting this prophecy is determining the timing this attack. But there are some clues in the passage that will help us answer that question.
7 “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. 9 You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.10 “Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’ 14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
There are two major elements in our passage that can help us to identify the timing of these events:
• The text:
o After many days… (v.8) – God makes it clear that these events will take place sometime in the far future from Ezekiel’s perspective. But that really doesn’t narrow things down a whole lot.
o In the latter years… (v. 8) – Interestingly, this is the only place in the Bible where the phrase “latter years” is used. But fortunately, the passage itself helps us to define that term because it uses a third phrase that we have seen previously and which is common in many Old Testament prophecies concerning the end times…
o In the latter days… (v. 16) – We saw this phrase previously in Daniel 2 and there we discovered that it is used 12 different times in the Old Testament prophets to refer to the time period connected with the second coming of the Messiah, Jesus and the corresponding end of this present age.
While this gives a general time frame, we need some more information to be more specific:
• The conditions
This passage describes several conditions that will be present in Israel at the time of this attack:
o Israel will dwell in its land
This is an appropriate time to point out that the prophecies in Ezekiel are not chronological or sequential. As will become more obvious in a moment, this attack has to occur prior to the events in Ezekiel 37 where we find the people completely returned to their land with their fruitfulness restored and their relationship with God restored as a result of them recognizing Jesus as the Messiah.
Although that has not yet occurred at the time the events in Ezekiel 38 and 39 take place, there will be a substantial number of people from the commonwealth of Israel who have been gathered back into the land. And we also know that the land will have been restored from the effects of previous wars. Although it’s hard to be certain, it seems possible that this condition may exist today.
o The people will have a false sense of security
This passage describes how the people of Israel will be living in security. They are living without walls, bars or gates. But obviously this is a false sense of security since they are about to be attacked by the coalition of Muslim nations.
This false sense of security arises because they are not trusting in God, but rather on human endeavors. It seems most likely that the primary source of their security is their military might. And from a human perspective, Israel’s military might has certainly been the main factor in protecting Israel from a constant barrage of attacks since the time they became a nation again in 1948. But, as we’ll see in a moment, there is another reason for their sense of security.
o The people will not know God
We’ll see this even clearer in the last section of this chapter, but it’s alluded to here in verse 16. One of the results of this attack is that the nations, including Israel, will come to know God and recognize Him as Lord. Although many Israelites have returned to the land since 1948, today Israel is largely a secular nation. Recent polls indicate that around half of the people in Israel consider themselves to be “secular Jews”. And the number of people who recognize Jesus as the Messiah is only around 2% of the population.
Although there is much disagreement about the exact timing of these events, given the information we find here, we can draw some conclusions about the most likely time frame in which they will occur.
• Conclusion – the most likely time frame for these events is during the first half of Daniel’s 70th week
This time would seem to meet all the conditions that we’ve looked at. In particular, this would explain why Israel was living in the land under a sense of false security. Although there is a certain degree of security based on their military strength right now, what we see here in Ezekiel seems to go beyond that. At the beginning of the 70th week, the Antichrist will make a covenant with Israel, which would certainly provide that added sense of security. But when the covenant is broken by the Antichrist in the middle of that seven year period, those conditions would no longer exist.
Although Gog and Magog are mentioned in Revelation 20 in connection with the last hurrah of Satan after the Millennial reign of Jesus here on earth, the conditions which are described here in Ezekiel are not present at that time, so it seems unlikely that that passage is referring to the same events described here in Ezekiel.
Some commentators have also made the case that the events described here in Ezekiel 38 and 39 are describing the battle of Armageddon which is detailed in Revelation 16. But it would be hard to make the case that Israel was living with any sense of security whatsoever at that time.
In any case, although the first half of the 70th week of Daniel seems to be the most likely timeframe for these events, there is certainly still a large degree of mystery surrounding these events and so we can’t be 100% sure that that is indeed the exact time when these events will take place.
There is no doubt, however about…
The outcome (vv. 17-23)
17 “Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? 18 But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. 19 For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. 23 So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Although I haven’t really focused on it yet, we’ve seen that this entire sequence of events is orchestrated by God. God is the one who actually brings this coalition of troops against Israel. Although some commentators have made the case that Gog is a reference to the person of the Antichrist, there is a distinct difference between Gog, the leader of the coalition of nations described here in Ezekiel 38 and 39 and who is clearly controlled by God Himself, and the Antichrist, who as, we have seen, is controlled by Satan.
But once God gathers this vast army to attack Israel…
• God will intervene supernaturally to protect Israel
Ezekiel describes four different means that God will use to utterly destroy the army that He has gathered to attack Israel:
o A great earthquake
The recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile will be quite tame compared to the earthquake that is described here.
Although it is not possible to know for certain whether it refers to the same event, the description of what occurs at the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation bears a number of striking similarities to the earthquake described here by Ezekiel:
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
Revelation 6:12-17 (ESV)
In addition to the earthquake itself, both passages refer to God’s wrath. And the reaction of the people who call on the mountains and the rocks to fall on them certainly is consistent with Ezekiel’s description of mankind quaking at God’s presence.
o Infighting
The attackers will be confused and turn on each other, reminiscent of what occurred when Gideon defeated Midian with only 300 men when the men of Midian turned against each other.
o Disease
The judgment pictured here against Israel’s enemies is very swift and not prolonged, so whatever pestilence that God brings upon the armies must be very swift-acting.
o Rain, hailstones, fire and sulfur
God will supernaturally rain down hail, fire and sulfur upon these armies in much the same way that he did when judged the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The final result of all of God’s actions is that…
• Many nations will know that God is the Lord
As a result of these events, people both within and outside Israel are going to see God’s greatness and His holiness made manifest and they will know that He is indeed the Lord.
Although it is difficult to know exactly how this will play out, it seems that this is the beginning of the process by which Israel will come to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and place their faith in Him. We’ll explore that more fully in the next several weeks in the book of Zechariah.
I’m also of the opinion, even though I can’t prove it from Scripture, that this might be an event that would also cause many Muslims to recognize that the god they serve is not the Lord and many of them might come to faith in Jesus as a result.
Although there is certainly still a great deal of mystery surrounding this passage, there are some clear principles that we find here that we can apply in our day-to-day lives.
APPLICATIONS
1. We do not need to fear the future because God is sovereign
Remember that this entire section of Ezekiel is given by God for the purpose of giving hope to the people of Judah who are in exile and who have seen their holy city of Jerusalem and their Temple destroyed by the Babylonians. It is a reminder that God is sovereign. He is not only in control of these future events, but He is also in control of everything that is occurring in the present.
We live in a world today where it is very easy to be fearful. I know that many of you in this room this morning have been impacted by the financial crisis in our country and around the world. Some of you have lost jobs or seen the value of your retirement savings dwindle. Some of you may have lost your home to foreclosure, or at least seen its value plummet. Governments at all levels are amassing never before seen levels of debt that are clearly unsustainable.
Immoral behavior is on the rise. Just this week, the Tucson police had to go on a major offensive in a midtown area where the level of crime in just one week surpassed that of all last year. And those immoral acts which were once done in secret are now committed in public and even shouted from the mountaintops.
But the fact is that none of this has caught God off guard. He’s not surprised by any of these events. In fact, they are all part of His sovereign plan. So, although we should be concerned, we don’t need to fear or to worry about these things.
I love the words of the prophet Isaiah that remind us that God’s sovereignty is to be the antidote to our fear.
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any.
Isaiah 44:6-8 (ESV)
2. We can either know God now on our own, or we will be forced to know Him one day as a result of His judgment.
From creation, God has been revealing Himself to those who He has created. Here are some of the major ways that God has done that:
• Creation
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…
Romans 1:20 (ESV)
• Our conscience
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness…
Romans 2:14, 15 (ESV)
• God’s Word
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals God to us as it describes His attributes and His actions throughout history
• Jesus
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…
Hebrews 1:1, 2 (ESV)
The ultimate revelation of God is found in His Son, Jesus, as confirmed by Jesus’ own words:
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him…Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
John 14:7, 9 (ESV)
As a result of these and other means of revelation, we have the ability to know God and to enter into a personal relationship with Him through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. But God has given man volition and therefore each person has the ability to either respond to the revelation that God has already given to us or to reject the God who has revealed Himself to us. That has been the case all throughout history, beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden.
But if we fail to accept the revelation that God has already given and place our faith in Jesus, the Bible is clear that one day all will be forced to acknowledge Him as Lord through the judgment that he is going to bring. We certainly see that in this passage. Both Israel and its attackers are going to know that God is Lord as a result of these events.
The Bible is clear that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. But the consequences for those who fail to do that in this lifetime based on the revelation that God has already given us are horrific. They are going to face an eternity separated from God in a place of eternal torment and punishment. So the obvious admonition for all of us this morning is to make sure that we acknowledge God as Lord today. If you’ve never done that then I want to encourage you to talk to Dana or I after the service or fill out the flap of the bulletin and check the box that reads “I would like to learn how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus” and then place that in the offering plate in a few moments.
3. True security is found in God alone.
We’ve addressed this issue several times recently, so I’m not going to dwell here. But let me remind all of us that if we’re trying to find security in any person, institution or thing other than God, we will find, just like Israel will experience one day, that those things provide nothing but a false sense of security.
The only sure and lasting source of security is God alone – not God and something or someone else. And since that is the case, we need to devote our lives to developing a lifestyle that makes Him the Lord of our lives.
