Storm Clouds Rising, Part 7

Storm Clouds Rising

Setting the Stage for the Rise of Antichrist and the End of the Age

A new look at Ezekiel 38-39

The Battle Belongs to the Lord
               
First will be an earthquake as God shakes the entire planet. Ezekiel says the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, every beast of the field, and all people on the face of the planet will shake at His presence. It has been a long time since God actually showed up in person on this planet, but when He finally does show up, everyone will know it. Mountains will be thrown down, high places leveled, cities destroyed, and God will call for His own sword against Gog in the mountains of Israel.

As happened so many times in the past with Israel’s enemies, the soldiers of Gog’s Horde will turn on each other in their terror. You know that if one Russian kills one Iranian, then the Iranians and the Russians are going to turn on each other. Add a Turk or an Ethiopian to the death toll, and everyone will be fighting against everyone else. In this way many will fall.

Then God will break out against His enemies with pestilence and bloodshed, which would seem to indicate that while men are dying at the hands of other men, they will also be dropping dead by the power of God. As with many great cosmic battles, there will be flooding torrents of rain, and great hailstones will fall from the sky, mixed with fire and brimstone which could be Divine in origin or the result of volcanic eruptions that accompany the great earthquake.

Finally, in Ezekiel 39:3-4, God says, I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to the birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Realizing that they very hand of God has been brought down against them, the soldiers of Gog’s Horde will drop their weapons and begin to retreat, but they will not escape the furious judgment of God.

And as they are falling on the mountains of Israel in a massacre unrivaled in human history, fire will begin to fall on their homelands. Ezekiel 39:7 says, “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands.” While Magog is the only nation specifically named, the inclusion of the coastlands and the fact that God’s anger is against all these nations for their attack on Israel are good indication that all of these allied nations will suffer judgment in their own countries. Cities will be consumed, populations incinerated. There is an interesting translation of Ezekiel 39:2 that is only found in the King James Version of the Bible: “I will turn the back, and leave but the sixth part of thee…” This has long caused prophecy scholars to believe that either five-sixths of the total military strength will be deployed against Israel and destroyed, or that five-sixths of the people—soldiers and civilians—will be annihilated by the wrath of God. I think there is uncertainty enough not to be dogmatic about a specific number, but suffice it to say that millions will definitely die in the war of Gog and Magog, and the sole victor will be God the Lord.

There will be no doubt as to the source of the victory. This is not God employing the nuclear arsenals of Israel or her allies to destroy their enemies—God doesn’t need the arsenals of man. This is God simply speaking it done. When the smoke clears and the dust settles and wide-spread carnage is witnessed by the horrified world, there will be no conjecture about who has done this thing. It can only have been God. In this way, he says, “I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of the nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” God’s name will be greatly known in that day, not necessarily worshiped or honored, but at least known. And He will demonstrate His holiness again, especially by upholding His covenant to Israel. He will have preserved and defended them again as He did in the days of the Old Testament, drawing attention to Himself and turning the eyes of the world heavenward, if only for a brief moment in time. The revival within Israel will turn a nation back to their God, though not quite all the way to Jesus as their Messiah. That will take a few more years to accomplish, seven to be exact. But God’s name will be made holy in the midst of His people, and they will not profane Him anymore.