Dr. Bradford Reaves
CrossWay Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
We are living in a world that is growing ever more chaotic without any real solution or leadership to the problems we’re facing. Jesus said this would be the case, as he talked about the days immediately before his return as like the days of Noah and times when there would be wars and rumours of war. We are going to look at an important prophetic event that is found in the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 38. It is commonly referred to as the Gog-Magog war in Israel. What I want you to understand first, is that I believe this is an event that will happen sometime immediately around the rapture. I also believe the conflict we are currently witnessing in Israel is not the the war in Ezekiel 38. However, I do believe that the current conflict is a prelude to this war as we see the powers aligning to come against Israel. That should be an indication of how close we really are today.
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. 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. 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. (Ezekiel 38:1–18)
On October 7th of 2023, terrorists from Hamas in Gaza broke through the security fence and started a barbaric rampage against Israeli citizens on the morning of a shabot at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. They fired into a crowd of young Jews attending a concert for peace, they stormed villages (called Kibbutzes) throwing grenades into bedroom windows, setting fire to houses, beheading infants, putting live infants into ovens, torturing parents, raping women in the streets, and kidnapping woman, children, and the elderly. At the end of the massacre there were over 1200 people dead and more than 200 people kidnapped or missing.
Israel immediately declared war on Hamas and started a precision bombing campaign eliminating known terrorist leaders, before starting a ground invasion into Gaza stating they would not stop until every hostage was recovered and Hamas was eliminated.
The attack was spiritual; demonically driven. It is a continuation of a demonically-driven rage to eliminate the Jewish people because Satan believes if he can wipe the Jewish people off of the face of the planet, he can stop Messiah Yeshua from ascending the throne of David and he can stop the eternal wrath in the lake of fire awaiting him. There was a ceasefire prior to October 7, Israel has made it clear there will not be any negotiation.
The attack on Israel has been compared to their 9/11 or a second holocaust. Here’s the spiritual reality that every Christian should know. 9/11 happened as a wakeup call to the American Church. The bloodlust of Islam should’ve cause the American Church to repent and turn away from it’s slumber, instead, we fell deeper asleep with the Church Growth Movement and entertainment-based worship service. In 2020 COVID sifted the Church. Churches who were serious about the spiritual climate of he world woke up and realized the spiritual nature of world events while churches that were indifferent and spiritual dead did nothing. Now we have Hamas invasion Israel on October 7. This was much more than a terroristic attack. This was another spiritual unleashing and now God is asking the Church, who will stand with His people. The remnant must reject replacement theology and return to being a New Testament Church.
So, what does this have to to with a war we believe will happen around the time of the Rapture? Everything!
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. (Joel 2:1–2)
The first 48 hours after the terroristic attack on Israel, there was tremendous support for Israel. Now that the war is entering it’s [6th] week, the support for Israel’s efforts are waning and antisemitism is going up. In other words the world is turning it’s back on Israel for its right to defend itself and this plays directly into Satan’s hands.
Israel is no stranger to being hated and the Bible says that as the end draws near there will be increased hatred toward the Jews. Since Israel’s war against Hamas, [insert statistics here]
It seems to me that no other chapters in the Bible speak more prophetically to our time. Why is that? I believe that we are actually seeing events that will setup for this passage of Scripture to take take place immediately after the Rapture. Some may question about the book of Revelation? What will happen in Revelation will be the result of this war. We call this the Great Tribulation or the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. There are some who see the involvement of the Church differently.
I think the Bible is pretty plain that the Rapture of the Church will happen prior to the Tribulation. This is called a pre-tribulation view. In this position our Holy Master, King, Savior, and Lord – Jesus Christ – will take His church out of the world before all the Judgment begins.
A second theory is called Mid-Trib. Here the thinking is that our Holy God will allow Christians to stay here on earth for the first half of the Tribulation. Since the Tribulation will last seven years, our Holy Ruler will take His church out after 3 and ½ years after a peace treaty with the Anti-Christ is signed with the nation of Israel.
The third viewpoint is called Post-Trib. Here the church will go through the entire Tribulation. In my message on the Rapture I outline from Scripture why the only viewpoint that is consistent with the entirety of Scripture is that the rapture will occur before the outpouring of God’s wrath.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
In Ezekiel 38 and 39, we are given a glimpse of God's plan for the End Times. There are a number of nations that are listed by God as being involved in an international coalition against Israel. The nations mentioned in these chapters include Gog, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah. These nations, while they may not exist today in the form we know them, represent the nations of the world that will be involved in this great conflict.
The driving force of this coalition will be Islam as is happening right now. We are seeing a rising tide of Islamic influence in the West and in Europe. The primary influencer of these nations is is Russia. Here is why it is will be this way. First, you and I both know that Islam is blood-thirsty. They delight in a culture of death, especially against the Jews. In the end we know that it is a battle for the souls of men and women, a battle for the kingdom of God.
The timing of the event is seen in verse 8: “After many days” God is making it clear to Ezekiel that this is something far into the future. “In the latter day” is a common OId Testament reference to the end times, particularly with the second coming of Messiah.
What is going to happen, according to Ezekiel 38 are these nations are going to form a coalition to send their armies down to Israel to try to overtake Israel. However, God will strike them down and the armies will turn against each other.
What we also see in Ezekiel 38 are some specific conditions surrounding this attack. First, Israel will dwell in its land. That hasn’t been able to happen until 1948 when Isreal became a nation again. 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. I spoke with a Major in the IDF who described how all IDF soldiers on the line would wake up every morning before dawn and stand outside looking for signs of possible attack. That stopped being a practice just prior to October 7th.
So, who will these attackers be? Gog isn’t a place, it is a name of a ruler; likely Putin, who is the ruler of Magog, which is largely modern day southern Russia. Mechech and Tubal make up modern day Turkey, Persia is modern day Iran, Put is Libya, and Sudan is listed. All of these are Muslim nations
Ezekiel's prophecy shows us that Russia will be attempting to grab Israel’s land through invasion. We have seen how Putin has invaded former soviet states like Krimea, Georgia, and recently The Ukraine. The governments of Russia and some of the former Soviet states are predominately atheistic. However, you will notice that the other countries that join Russia are all Muslim nations. This alliance is interesting because Russia cannot gain global dominance without the land of Israel. Thus verse 4 of Ezekiel 38 tells us that God will put hooks in Gog’s mouth to draw him down and invade Israel.
Some of these hooks that God may be using are Israel’s land, which is a strategic land mass connecting Europe, Africa, and the Middle East Together. Secondly, Israel’s energy supply as it recently has been found that Israel is sitting on a huge deposit of Natural Gas and Oil. And Third, Israel’s mineral supply recently found beneath the Dead Sea. So we see two things happening. First, we see that nations are being spiritually drawn to come up against Israel, but even more importantly, it is God who is putting the hooks in them. In other words, God is in control.
God is directing these events. He says, "I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army." God has control over the events of the world. He's not just watching from the sidelines. He's in the game, directing the players, guiding the action. When we look at the world and see chaos and confusion, we can take comfort in knowing that God is in control. He's not surprised by the events of our time. He's not caught off guard. He's working out His plans and purposes, even when we can't see it.
What I want you to understand is that what is happening in the spiritual realm will always influence what is going on in the physical realm, especially when it comes to political alignments and activities. The battles happening in the spiritual world are fierce conflicts between demonic and angelic armies. It is very evident, from recent events, that their ultimate goal is the absolute destruction of everything associated with God. They have said that they intend to wipe Israel from the earth. In the physical sense, these Arab states see the land called Israel and believe that land belongs to them. In the spiritual sense this is an ongoing battle between the armies of Satan and the angelic armies of God. Satan believes that if he can destroy Israel, he can stop Christ from coming and taking his throne.
The war that is currently happening in Israel is bringing the coalition of Russia, Iran, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, and the other key players in Ezekiel 38 together. What we are going to continue to see play out is that Israel will stand alone. There will be no allies around her, including the United States. Already there are divided loyalties among our top leaders, including President Biden. While a march for support for Israel numbering 250,000 people was happening in mid-November, President Biden was sending another 10 billion dollars to Iran.
Now, they will never destroy Israel but they will try. Israel’s salvation will come in the form of judgments against this great enemy. God will send fire upon them. Hail of fire and brimstone and mass slaughter will stop Israel’s enemies sending them home in utter defeat. Except for the direct intervention of God, the enemy of Israel would have succeeded for Israel has no power to stop them.
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. (Ezekiel 38:21–23)
What I want you to notice is first how clearly this prophecy is coming to pass. Never before in all of history have these global alliances formed in such away that the war in Ezekiel 38 & 39 will come to pass. These events are on the cusp of happening and if they are on the cusp of happening, then the return of Christ is imminent.
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. (Revelation 22:12)
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. Our job is to be READY!
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. 7 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. 8 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)
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.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1–2)
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7)
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9)
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.
Jesus the Christ is returning very soon. The events of this world warn us that time is short. Are you ready?
