We’re in the middle of the “marathon” battle of “God and Magog.” Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, actually the “Battle that was not!” Because God defeated Israel’s confederate enemies before they ever did the least bit of damage to her unique Land! Or should I say, “God’s Unique Land?”
Today Ezekiel 38:17-23 is our focus, our Text.
Watch how it begins. “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou (Gog) he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them (the Jews)?” Verse 17, where the clear (though implied) answer to the question is YES! Gog is the one!
“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken ….” Verse 18 and most of 19 … perhaps one of the “angriest” paragraphs ever written about our great God, in all the Bible anyway! God’s “Fury,” translated “rage” 2 times elsewhere (King James Version) and “poison” 6 times! God’s “jealousy,” also translated “zeal” 9 times and “envy” 8 times and “for My Sake” 1 time! Plus God says, “the fire of my Wrath,” a phrase used only 4 times in Scripture, each of which was employed by Ezekiel!
God is very upset at these Jew-haters!
Now God begins His Plan of Destruction against this invading army with an “earthquake!” Read: “Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel (the earthquake); so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.” The remainder of verse 19 and all of verse 20, catastrophic! The earth’s topography is rearranged, seems like! Not a wall left standing!
The look! “And I (the Lord) will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.” Verse 21, such confusion (perhaps initiated by such a “great” earthquake) that the Russian Confederation’s soldiers will begin to fight and kill each other! Sheer panic, God induced!
Wow!
But the Lord is not through yet! It’s a whole list! “And I will plead (“shaphat,” judge) against him with pestilence (plague, disease) and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands (hordes, armies), and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain (flood), and great hailstones (literally, stones or gems of God), fire (lightning), and brimstone (molten sulfur).” Verse 22, which will be written in the annals of warfare, for sure! (Sounds like Sodom and Gomorrah’s demise!)
So devastating that no one (not even the so-called atheists) will say “merely another war!” This can only be attributed to God Almighty! Such a “perfect storm” of destruction!
Which apparently was God’s ultimate goal, all along! Read the last verse of the chapter: “Thus will I (God) magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” God’s Glory made known!
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, DEAD!
Ezekiel 38, concluded.
Ezekiel 39, coming next, beginning tomorrow, the Lord willing.
But now, in the narrative, the battle is over!
The rest is “clean-up,” the aftermath.
And good news for Israel!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Praise the Lord!