Ezekiel #18
C. Paul Willis
The Coming War with God
In Ezekiel Chapter 38 we learn that Gog and Magog and all its bands, Russia, Iran, and an Islamic confederacy will attack Israel. I was just recently in Europe and the newspapers were filled with articles on Russia’s expanding again the “Cold War” by building new bombers capable of carrying nuclear missiles to the United States or Israel, concern that the United States building anti-missile bases in Europe were being created against Russia, and fears of a preempted strike by Israel against the nuclear projects of Iran. One headline reads, “Putin of Russia heads alliance to defend Iran.”Turkey was threatening war against groups in northern Iraq, the headline read, “Turkey prepares for Iraq Invasion.” . It looked like a line up for the Ezekiel prophecies. Iranian president Mahmound Ahmadinejad is calling for the complete destruction of the Jewish state and Russia is sending them the nuclear capabilities to accomplish that desire. But according to the prophet it will be God they will have to fight against!
Ezekiel 38:18 - 23 18“And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face. 19For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, 20so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’ 21I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”’
God will send an earthquake. The epicenter will be Jerusalem but it will affect the entire world. Stock markets will tumble, oil prices will sour, and fear will grip the hearts of men. In the Middle East, mountains will be leveled, buildings will crumble, highways will collapse, and missile launching pads will topple. The earthquake will open a water path from the Meditation Sea to the Dead Sea.
Zechariah 14:8 (KJV) 8And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
The nations that come against Israel will begin fighting against themselves.
The forces coming against Israel will be struck with burning diseases and bodies erupting.
Hailstones will fall from the heavens disrupting the control for missiles.
Torrential rains.
Fire from heaven.
This will be an attack from heaven reminiscent of God’s judgments upon Egypt in the book of Exodus. And the apocalyptic first storms will be like God’s judgments upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
Ezekiel 39:1 - 8 1“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, £the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; 2and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD. 6“And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. 7So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day of which I have spoken.
The firestorm will fall on all of Russia and upon all nations that are standing will her. Nuclear missile silos will blow up without sending their missiles upon Israel. Military bases, radar installations, defense ministries, intelligence offices and all government offices will burn. Included in the destruction could be all religious centers that have been preaching against the Jews and Christians
Ezekiel 39:9 - 10 9“Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. 10They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord GOD.
Remember that Ezekiel has no way of describing modern weapons but he is saying that the energy left in the weapons will supply Israel all the energy needed for the nation for a period of seven years. Since Ezekiel states that it will be the weapons themselves that supply the fire, i.e. energy for seven years I believe he is writing about nuclear energy. Another reason for believing that this is nuclear is found in the following verses.
Ezekiel 39:11 - 16 (NKJV) 11“It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of £Hamon Gog. 12For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD. 14“They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of £a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.”’
Why would a search party move through the devastation of death and mark the bones setting up a marker and wait for experts to come and burry it? So that those prepared to deal with radiation contamination can handle the situation? It will take seven months to dispose of the dead who were not totally consumed in the fire storm.
Ezekiel 39:17 - 20 17“And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat till you are full, And drink blood till you are drunk, At My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table With horses and riders, With mighty men And with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD.
The word of Ezekiel is to be spoken to the birds and beasts to come to a sacrificial meal. Perhaps that word will be spoken by someone who reads his word or a commentary on the book of Ezekiel but what a grossest picture it presents. A pandemic resulting from disease affected birds is projected that could kill 142 million people world wide.
Ezekiel 39:21 - 29 21“I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. 23The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.”’ 25“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— 26after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
Ezekiel never saw the Church! He is telling us the future of Israel. Some commentators of the Scripture see Ezekiel 38-39 as the battle of Armageddon that is foretold in Revelation Chapter 20:8 but John’s revelation places that event after the 1,000 year million and Ezekiel places this war of God with Gog and Magog before that event. Is this the begging of the time of “Jacobs’ Trouble,” the beginning of the seven year period of tribulation, it seems to fit that scenario? How then do we reconcile Ezekiel 30:21-29? This is a revival of the Spiritual Israel God pouring His Spirit out on the dry bones! After this event Iraq has to arise again to become a world power. God’s judgment only destroys one-sixth of the peoples coming against Israel (Ezek 39:2) so there is a surge of new growth where the devastation has occurred. It is during this time that Israel can reconstruct the temple and begin again the sacrificial ritual. The message of God’s love and forgiveness will once more be heard, two prophets will preach in the streets of Jerusalem even in the time of great distress.
The major question asked by the Church is when will the rapture occur before, at the beginning, during or after God’s war with Gog and Magog?
The pre-tribulation view is that the rapture occurs right at the beginning of Ezekiel 38/39. As one Bible commentator stated, “The bombs come down as the Church goes up!”
The mid-tribulation view is that the rapture occurs three and one half years into the tribulation.
The post-tribulation view is that the rapture occurs at the end of the seven year period.
Then there is the view that the rapture is not a physical event at all and that the Church will remain to bring in the Kingdom of God.
As I see the events leading to Ezekiel Chapter 38 occurring I certainly hope the pre-tribulation view is correct.
Genesis 18:22 - 33 (NKJV) 22Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” 27Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” 29And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” 30Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” 32Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
If God would have spared Sodom for ten righteous people in the city would He not spare Gog and Magog and its associated nations for the sake of the Church? Of course He would! Therefore the Church is not here in Ezekiel chapter 38 but has returned to earth with Christ by Ezekiel chapter 40. I cannot be explicit in this belief but one can hope!
