Title: “They shall know that I am the LORD.”
Specific purpose: to draw attention to a miracle the world will see
Scriptures: Ezekiel 36&37, followed by Ezekiel 38&39
In my years in the pulpit, never a month went by that someone in my flock did not ask a question concerning some Biblical prophecy. “Pastor, are we in the end-times?” “What is the meaning of the seals, the trumpets, the bowls and the Four Horsemen?” I am no prophet. I am simply an old country preacher; answering these questions is well beyond my religious education and personal study. However, there are prophesies that are rather plan save for the names of some countries listed. They are in the Book of Ezekiel. In today’s world, one cannot watch the news without seeing the continuing effort to rid the world of Israel. Ezekiel’s prophecies say that God will put a stop to this.
Anti-Semitism, "the longest hatred1" in history, has plagued Jews since Haman was an official in the Court of Persia. Even today, people chant “Death to Israel” against God’s “chosen people.2” God Almighty will react to that hatred with a power greater than ever witnessed by humankind. Ezekiel’s prophecies shine a “marvelous light3” on the actions that God will use to rid Israel of its evil enemies. Illuminating those prophecies is the objective of this sermon. I start with what Ezekiel prophesied in chapters 36-37 of his book, the return of the Jews to Israel. Then I will turn to chapters 38-39, the prophecies detailing the destruction of Israel’s enemies.
Ezekiel 36 begins with “And you, O mortal, prophesy.” Ezekiel 37 begins with “The hand of the LORD came upon me.” God spoke these words along with prophecies to Ezekiel who then transmitted exactly what he received for all to read and hear. God did not design Ezekiel’s prophecies to be parts of a dark puzzle for bright scholars to interpret but to be a bright light for common travelers through a dark world. Ezekiel’s words are plain and easy to understand.
When you read Ezekiel 36-37, note the words in Ezekiel 37:11-14 for they speak of the total recovery of Palestine by all of the tribes of Israel. “Then He said to me, ‘O Mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is gone; we are doomed.” Prophesy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel. You shall know, O My people, that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and lifted you out of your graves. I will put my breath into you, and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I the LORD have spoken and have acted”—declares the LORD.’”
Ezekiel 37:21 speaks of God causing the physical resurrection of the Israelite nation, “Thus said the LORD: I am going to take the Israelite people from among the nations they have gone to, and gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land.” God did not do this all at once. The movement began in Europe in the 1700’s and 1800’s when European Jews began to believe that the dream of return to their ancestral home Palestine would happen. For many centuries, Jews from all over the Diaspora had been “going up” to Jerusalem to visit their Land. A few came to live and die there. However, beginning in 1881, the return did not resemble any in more than two thousand years for it was organized repatriation. Inspired Jews began an essentially modern national movement and began to believe in "the act of going up” to Jerusalem as a possible rebirth of a Hebrew speaking Jewish society. Jewish immigration to pre-state Israel occurred in successive waves of immigration shaping Jewish life there from 1881-1939. Theodor Herzi became a leader of the return to Israel movement in 1897. Herzi, an Ausrtro-Hungarian Jewish journalist, lawyer, writer, playwright and political activist, became the father of modern political Zionism. His organization promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine with the intent to form a Jewish state. Soon after the end of WWII, the Zionist goal became a reality.
God fulfilled the prophecy foretold in Ezekiel 36-37 on May 15, 1948, when Israel became a nation. Today, Israel is in a thriving country and yet it is still facing many that want to annihilate it and all the Jewish people of the world. God will use the enemies of Israel to show that He is God. Just as the as waters fill the ocean, it is God’s will that all the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Him.
Ezekiel 36-37 is but the preparation for the events foretold in Ezekiel 38. Here, Ezekiel does not speak in the difficult to understand apocalyptic language of Daniel and Revelation. No. Ezekiel’s uses plain language. The thing that confuses people, keeps them from understanding this powerful chapter, is that Ezekiel uses the names of nations at his time, a time that still often referred to the table of nations found in Genesis chapter 10. Therefore, to help your understanding, I printed chapter 38 with those nations by the names used today.
I am not saying that the events of chapter 38 are eminent, or that the names I use are the names of that the nations will bear when it this does happen. No. I am simply using the current names of the nations that are geographically correct to help make understanding Ezekiel prophecies relevant in today’s world. It is my hope that this exercise will help you see how a leader could get together this group of nations that hate Israel and convince them attack her in force. Similar things have happened to nations in the past: Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler. Bear with me, and this experiment. I will give you a minute to get a pen or pencil and paper to make notes. Yes, I know some of you use the King James version, others the New International version and others the New Revised Standard vision or something else. It makes no difference; the names of the nations are, for this exercise, the same in each version. Let us see together if this experiment does help you understand what will eventually happen. Listen as I read aloud.
Ezekiel 38, “The word of the LORD came to me: 2 O Mortal, turn your face toward [the] Chief of the land of Russia, the chief prince of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey. Prophesy against him 3 and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Lo, I am coming to deal with you, O Chief, chief prince of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey! 4 I will turn you around and put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in splendor, a vast assembly, all of them with bucklers and shields, wielding swords. 5 Among them shall be Iran and Iraq, Sudan, and Libya, everyone with shield and helmet; 6 Georgia, and Azerbaijan and all its cohorts, Armenia the remotest parts of the north and all its cohorts—the many peoples with you. 7 Be ready, prepare yourselves, you and all the battalions mustered about you, and hold yourself in reserve for them. 8 After a long time you shall be summoned; in the distant future you shall march against the land [of a people, Israel] restored from the sword, gathered from the midst on many people—against the mountains of Israel, which have long lain desolate—[a people] liberated from the nations, and now all dwelling secure. 9 You shall advance, coming on like a storm; you shall be like a cloud covering the earth, you and all your cohorts, and the many peoples with you.
10 Thus said the Lord GOD: On that day, a thought will occur you, and you will conceive a wicked design. 11 You will say, ‘I will invade a land of open towns, I will fall upon the tranquil people living secure, all of them living in unwalled towns and lacking bars or gates, 12 in order to take spoil and seize plunder’—to turn your hand against repopulated wastes, and against a people gathered from among nations, acquiring livestock and possessions, living at the center of the earth.” 13 Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and the merchants and all the magnates of England and its national affiliates will say to you, ‘Have you come to take spoil? Is it to seize plunder that you assemble your hordes—to carry off silver and gold, to make off with livestock and goods, to gather an immense booty?’
14 Therefore prophesy, O mortal, and say to [the] Chief: Thus said the Lord GOD: Surely, on that day, when My people Israel are living securely, you will take note, 15 and you will come from your home in the farthest north, you and many peoples with you—all of them mounted on horses, a vast horde, a mighty army—16 you will advance upon My people Israel, like a cloud covering the earth. This shall happen on that distant day: I will bring you against My land, that the nations may know Me when, before their eyes, I will manifest My holiness through you, O Chief.
17 Thus said the Lord GOD: Why, you are the one I spoke of in ancient days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them!
18 On that day, when [the] Chief sets foot on the soil of Israel—declares the Lord GOD—My raging anger shall flare up. 19 For I have decreed in My indignation and My blazing wrath: On that day, a terrible earthquake shall befall the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and the beasts of the field, all creeping things that move on the ground, and every human being on the earth shall quake before Me. Mountains shall be overthrown, cliffs shall topple, and every wall shall crumble to the ground. 21 I will summon the sword against him throughout My mountains—declares the Lord GOD—and every man’s sword shall be turned against his brother. 22 I will punish him with pestilence and with bloodshed; and I will pour torrential rain, hailstones, and sulfurous fire upon him and his hordes and the many peoples with him. 23 Thus will I manifest My greatness, and Myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”
The opening words of this chapter show that the coming invasion is not simply the enemy’s plan; it is the Lord plan that will bring the armies of Gog against Israel for the Father’s own purposes. “On that day, when Gog sets foot on the soil of Israel—declares the Lord GOD—My raging anger shall flare up.” A divine purpose overrules, while it makes use of, the base human motive of Gog for Gog is the personification of the forces of evil. God undertakes the direct defense of helpless Israel. God uses all kinds of natural disasters—earthquakes, torrential rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone—“and every man’s sword shall be turned against his brother.” This battle ends in the total destruction of this vast army.
Who are the nations whose forces are to die, Ezekiel lists them. Understand that in the 2,600 years since Ezekiel wrote this, the borders and the names of these nations have changed. Further, some of the ancient nations occupied smaller geographical areas then and others larger. Below are some educated guesses at the nations that best fit the ancient nations. Do not be afraid to disagree. However, even assuming somewhat different list, one has to agree, led by the Russia Federation in which Islam is a major religion and many nations that are currently Moslem attack Israel. However, one should not believe that this prophecy is anti-Moslem for Saudi Arabia, Yemen are Moslem and will not attack. The scripture does not mention Egypt and it is likely not to attack; it is also Moslem. No. This is not about religion; it is about not recognizing All Mighty God as Supreme. GOD’s actions shall show the nations that He is real, alive and active.
God will use Gog just as He used Pharaoh during the ten plagues in the time of the Moses and the Exodus for God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart one last time causing him to send his best chariots and riders to bring the Israelites back to slavery. God reacted then by parting waters saving the Israelites and then rolled the waters back killing the Egyptians. God then gave His reasoning: “And I will stiffen the hearts of the Egyptians so that they go in after them; and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his warriors, his chariots and his horsemen. Let the Egyptians know that I am the LORD, when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” In like manner, in Ezekiel God said, I “will manifest My greatness, and [make] Myself known in sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.” God does not destroy the Russian Federation and its allies so that only the Egyptians know Almighty God—No—this time it will be “in the sight of many nations.” God uses Gog and all of his allies as an international stage to show that He is real, alive and active.
The key to the names:
Gog: Chief, in Hebrew, Gog is an adjective modifying Magog meaning the Chief of Magog
Magog: Russia, and former Soviet nations of Central Asia plus Afghanistan
Meshech: Georgia, Azerbaijan
Tubal: Turkey, Cappadocia
Persia: Iran and Iraq
Cush: Sudan
Put: Libya
Gomer: the Cimmerians that includes Georgia, and Azerbaijan
Beth-togarmah: Armenia “the remotest parts of the north”
Sheba: southern Arabia, Yemen
Dedan: Saudi Arabia
The magnates of Tarshish: England and its national affiliates
Next, Ezekiel 39, Gog and his forces die only to suffer the ultimate indignity for GOD will leave the unburied for wild beast and every winged bird to devour. Ezekiel 39:4, addressing the Chief and all of his armies, “You shall fall on the mountains of Israel … I will give you as food to carrion birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field.” 39:17-18, adds detail, “And you, O mortal, say to every winged bird and to all the beasts: Thus said the Lord God: Assemble, come and gather from all around for the sacrificial feats that I am preparing for you—a great feast—upon the mountains of Israel, eat the flesh and drink the blood. You shall eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of princes of the earth.” How many will die? Ezekiel 39:12-13, “The House of Israel shall spend seven months burying them in order to cleanse the land; all the people of the land shall bury them.”
In presenting this bleakness, this horror, God tells us to what end He will do this, Ezekiel 39:22, “From that time on, the House of Israel shall know that I the Lord am their God.” Ezekiel 39:29, “I will never again hide My face from them, for I will pour out My spirit upon the House of Israel—declares the Lord God.” Through Ezekiel, God shows all that will read or listen: “And they shall know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 38:2b)
Footnotes:
1 The Longest Hatred by Robert S. Wistrich, Thames Methuen, 1991
2 See Romans chapter 9
3 1 Peter 2:9-10
