The Triumph of the People of God

Series on Ezekiel

II. The Foreign Nations

H. Final Battle, Text: 38:1-39:29

Title: The Triumph of the People of God

Introduction

These chapters consist of two oracles against Gog. The names Gog and Magog refer to the same entity. Gog is the ruler and Magog is the people. The two are mentioned together in Revelation 20:8. We must remember that this prophecy is apocalyptic like the book of Revelation itself. This means it is difficult to determine the exact location of the people referred to and the time of fulfillment which is “after many days,” an obscure reference to an indefinite time in 38:8. What we can say with assurance is that chapters 38 and 39 make the same essential point, and that is that a great power will one day threaten God’s people, but God will protect them and deliver them forever. The other thing we can observe is that the only difference between 38 and 39 is a matter of emphasis. While both chapters speak about the same battle, chapter 38 focuses on the threat and attack by the powers opposed to God’s people, and chapter 39 describes the massive slaughter of those powers and focuses more on the deliverance of God’s people.

I The People

Regarding the identification of the invaders, Gog and Magog, vain speculation has inundated the church like a mighty hurricane. In the preceding chapters all the nations mentioned were familiar to Israel. This one is not. Presumptuous modern day prophets determined to identify every little detail in Biblical prophecy lead many astray. In 38: 3 we read, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Although the Bible never names a modern nation many have fancifully suggested that this is talking about Russia. After all it’s in the North, and the Hebrew word “rosh” appears in the verse. To them Rosh sounds like the first syllable of Russia, but not in Hebrew or Russian, and further it is the standard Hebrew word for head or prince. Many have even carried this one ridiculous step further and identified Meshech as Moscow. There is no etymological justification for this. Efforts have also been made to identify an historical figure as the subject of this prophecy. The most likely candidate is Antiochus Epiphanes whose tetrarchy included Syria, and according to the Roman historian Pliny the Syrians also called their land Magog. Also in 38:5 and 6 Persia is mentioned and it was a tributary to Antiochus, and Ethiopia and Libya which were also auxiliaries of Antiochus. These are mentioned in Daniel 11:43 which is generally taken to be describing Antiochus. Antiochus attacked and destroyed Jerusalem and according to II Maccabees 5, “There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.” Josephus the Jewish historian reports, “To consolidate his empire and strengthen his hold over the region, Antiochus decided to side with the Hellenized Jews by outlawing Jewish religious rites and traditions observed by more orthodox Jews and by ordering the worship of Zeus as the supreme god. This was anathema to the Jews and when they refused, Antiochus sent an army to enforce his decree.” Ultimately Antiochus was defeated by the Maccabean revolt and the Jews celebrate that victory to this day in Hanukkah. More could be said, but I will refrain because, in truth, whether the supposition about Antiochus is correct or not, this prophecy like many Old Testament prophecies and apocalyptic passages goes beyond that period in history to the future and the undying opposition of the nations of the world to the people of God. The kings of the earth have set themselves against the Lord and against His anointed.

II The Place

In Revelation 20:7-9 in the final rebellion against God, Gog and Magog are identified as all the nations, When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth-Gog and Magog-to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. In Zechariah 12:3-5 that prophet describes the same events, On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness, declares the LORD. I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, “The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.” The so-called and much touted battle of Armageddon is not a real battle at all because God summarily ends it. And the battle of the end times is most likely not a battle with swords and guns, but a spiritual battle. When Christ is pictured in Revelation 19:11-16 riding in on a white horse to defeat His enemies, we read that His sword comes out of His mouth. He is called the Word of God. He conquers then as He conquers now, with the Gospel of salvation and judgment, the Word of His mouth. Armageddon means mountain or hill of Megiddo, a relatively obscure place in the Old Testament which Solomon fortified. Actually the only place Armageddon is mentioned is in Revelation 16 before the last bowl of wrath is poured out, and it is identified as the place where the kings of the nations are gathered as implied in Psalm 2:2-4, The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. This universal spiritual battle will be ended by God with the return of Jesus Christ. In fact Psalm 2 uses the same language of God’s king upon “His holy hill of Zion” as is found in Revelation 19 to describe the rider on the white horse who is the Word of God with a sword proceeding from His mouth. It says, He will rule them with an iron scepter. Ezekiel 38: 22 and 23 remind us of why God is scoffing at them. They will not be defeated by Israel or the Church but by the intervention of God in judgment who will prove once and for all that He is the living God, I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD. The people of God are hereby reminded, as in the words of Psalm 2, that their ascended Lord has been given the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.

III The Pouring Out

The next thing we see in these chapters is in 39: 21-29, I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God. And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them. Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.” The pouring out of the Spirit is set for the last days and they began with Christ’s death and Resurrection and Pentecost. The gathering of Israel is to Christ, their Messiah and ours. God’s glory is displayed in the victory of Christ over sin and death and the final restoration that proceeds from that. As Paul says in Romans 11:1-6, the elect of Israel are saved in Christ and Paul, himself, is an example of that regathering and restoration, I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah-how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. Therefore let us focus our attention, not on the Jerusalem below, but on the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all.

IV The Prospect

In conclusion I want to focus your attention on 39:17-20, Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls-all of them fattened animals from Bashan. At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,”” declares the Sovereign LORD. This great sacrificial meal to which God invites the carnivorous members of the animal kingdom is essentially carrion, the dead flesh which is an important food source for these creatures. It includes all the enemies who have been destroyed. This provides a contrast to another great sacrificial meal in Revelation 19:9, Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” Israel ate of the sacrifices of the altar. The author of Hebrews says to Christians in 13: 9 and 10, Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The altar at which we eat is the altar of Christ’s sacrifice and we eat of it regularly at our celebration of the Lord’s supper. The sacrificial meal in Ezekiel is a meal of death, but the wedding supper of the Lamb is a meal of life eternal. We are already eating at the table of he Lamb because in Christ all our enemies have been defeated.