October 27, 2025 • 33 mins
A war so vast it’s pictured as a cloud over the land. A quake so great that every person on earth trembles. Ezekiel chapters 38–39 isn’t clickbait prophecy—it’s a tightly argued, context-rich vision that sits inside Ezekiel’s larger story of judgment, renewal, and God’s name defended among the nations. We start by setting the arc of the book—calling, judgment on Israel, judgment on the nations, and then restoration—so Gog of Magog lands where it belongs: in the phase where Israel is regathered, secure, and suddenly threatened by a northern coalition.
From there, we unpack who “Gog” is (a title, not a proper name), why “remote parts of the north” matters more than modern name-matching, and how the text itself resists purely symbolic readings. Horses, shields, and wooden weapons reflect Ezekiel’s vocabulary, not a denial of modern warfare. What cannot be dismissed are the specific markers: seven months of burial, seven years of fuel, an army like a storm, and a global recognition of God’s presence. We show why no known historical episode fits these details and why “last days” timing anchors the passage in the future.
Along the way, we lean into the theology most readers miss: God leads nations with “hooks,” yet without canceling human agency; he defends not only his people but his land; and he orchestrates judgment so that “many nations” know he is the Lord. If you’ve been told Gog equals a single modern capital, we’ll help you widen the lens. If you’ve been told it’s all allegory, we’ll walk you through the details that argue otherwise. The goal is humble, careful reading that keeps the main thing central: God will magnify and sanctify his name, Israel will dwell securely by His action, and the nations will see.
If this conversation helps you read Ezekiel with clearer eyes, share it with a friend, subscribe for more context-first Bible studies, and leave a review with your biggest question from the episode.
Thank you for listening!! Please give us a five-star rating to help your podcast provider's algorithm spread RTTB among their listeners.
You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible
Please prayerfully consider supporting RTTB to help us to continue providing content and free resources. You can do that at this link - Support RTTB - Reasoning Through the Bible
May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 are in the section of the
book where God is talking aboutthe restoration of the nation.
In these two chapters, 38 and39, he talks about Gog and
Magog.
There's a bit of an interest inthat over the years in Christian
circles.
My personal theory is a bit of asilly reason.
(00:41):
I think it's just because thenames rhyme and it's a little
unusual.
Because of that, there's allkinds of unusual theories about
who this is.
We're going to dive into thattoday as we reason through the
Bible.
If you have your copy of theWord of God open to Ezekiel 38,
I think, Steve, before we justdive into the specifics, I think
(01:02):
we ought to talk about thesechapters in general and go over
some of the ideas of what'sgoing on before we go through in
verse by verse, simply becausethe conclusion on how to
interpret this, we really needto take the entire couple of
chapters at once.
Before we even dive into that,just a reminder of where we are
(01:24):
in the book, I think that wouldhelp.
Remember, the very first chapterwas the calling of Ezekiel.
And then from chapters two to 24is the judgment on Israel and
specifically Jerusalem.
Then God spent several chapterstalking about judgment on the
nations.
(01:44):
Then starting in about chapter33, God has been talking about
the restoration and rebuildingof Israel.
In this section on therebuilding of Israel, God also
includes some cleaning out ofthings in order for Israel to be
restored to the land.
(02:04):
That's really the section of Gogof Magog, which is what it says.
But there's other things in herethat have to happen in order for
Israel to live securely in theland.
Chapter 33 talked about awatchman that needs to do his
duty and point out danger.
Chapter 34, God corrects theleaders of Israel, that they
(02:27):
were bad shepherds, that theyneeded to get their act
together.
Also in chapter 34, God beginstalking about restoring Israel
in earnest, bringing them backto the land.
Then in 35, there's some nationsthere that had to be removed so
that Israel could return somedayand live in peace.
(02:47):
The reason I mention all of thatis the section is talking
clearly about how God is goingto bring Israel back to the land
by himself.
That's when we bring up Gog ofMagog.
If we just turn to thesechapters out of the blue, we
(03:09):
don't get the flow of the book.
Steve, isn't it important toknow really what the, you know,
the overall flow is therestoration of Israel, is it
not?
SPEAKER_01 (03:17):
That's exactly one of the things that I wanted to
bring out, in that we hearpeople talk about Ezekiel 38 and
39 and this war, and they do itbecause it's obvious that this
is something that's still goingto happen in the future, but
they dive directly into Ezekiel38 and 39 and miss out on all
(03:37):
these previous chapters as towhat is taking place and what is
going on.
So I think while 38 and 39 isvery interesting, in order to
get a good picture of why it'sthere, I think it'd be good to
always look at the rest of thebook of Ezekiel.
So I'm glad that we've donethat.
(03:58):
Now we've gotten to 38 and 39.
And if there's people that arejust tuning in to our ministry
or to our lesson of Ezekiel,just for these two chapters, we
ask you, go back to thebeginning and listen to the
study through the rest of thebook of Ezekiel.
Don't just jump into these twochapters in your study.
(04:19):
Go with us from the verybeginning.
SPEAKER_00 (04:21):
It's like some wise Bible teachers have said never
read a Bible verse.
By that they mean don't justturn to a page and read one
verse, because that's how youcan get confused and off track
sometimes.
You have to read the passage,the chapter of the book, and
know where it fits into the flowof what the God is trying to say
through the author.
(04:42):
Before we even really get intowho is Gog and who is Magog, I
think it wise if we just took aquick minute and talked about
the flow of these two chapters.
What are the high points of whatthey're saying?
Then I think we can go back andtry to interpret what they mean.
In chapter 38, verse 2, Gog ofthe land of Magog.
(05:04):
We have here some sort of aruler of the land of Magog.
When we say Gog and Magog, it'sreally Gog of the land of Magog.
38.4.
The Lord says he's going to puthooks in their jaws and lead
this army and lead it down toIsrael.
Verse 8, this will happen,quote, in the latter years when
(05:28):
the land is restored from thesword.
There's going to be a time ofpeace when this happens.
It will happen when Israel hasbeen brought from the nations
back to Israel, and Israel isliving securely.
At that point, there's going tobe this great battle with this
people of the north.
38 15, Gog will come, it says,out of the remote parts of the
(05:53):
north.
Gog's army is going to attackIsrael.
Verse 18, the Lord is going toact out of his anger to deliver
Israel.
38 20, quote, all the men whoare on the face of the earth
will shake at my presence, andthe Lord is going to then defeat
Gog in a very dramatic fashion.
(06:14):
Then in chapter 39, the Lord'sgoing to take Gog and his army,
bring them to attack Israel.
The Lord is going to defeat Gogin Israel.
After the battle, the Lord says,quote, I will not let my name be
profaned anymore.
Then there's this section in themiddle of chapter 39 about the
(06:35):
weapons are going to burn forseven years.
It's going to take seven monthsto bury the army.
All the Jews are going to knowthat Yahweh is God from that day
onward, and that they're goingto live securely in their own
land with no one to make themafraid.
All of that, Steve, is whypeople hold this to be yet
(06:58):
future.
Because if you add up all ofthat, there really was no time
in the past where we could evenfiguratively make say that that
happened in history.
SPEAKER_01 (07:07):
No, there's a lot of detail that are in these two
chapters as to what's going totake place.
You have these time frames,seven months, seven years,
things like that.
They don't fit any type ofhistorical activity with the
nation of Israel.
Therefore, it's got to besometime in the future yet.
SPEAKER_00 (07:28):
To be specific on why it can't have been in the
past, the land has never been,quote, restored from the sword,
38.8.
And neither has the Christian'slife ever been restored from
having war with the world, forthe Christian is in conflict
with the world on a constantbasis.
(07:48):
Israel has never lived securelyat any point in its history.
There's never been a time whenall men on the face of the earth
shake at God's presence, 3820.
God's name is still today beingprofaned on the earth, contrary
to 39.7.
And there was never a time whenthe weapons burned and the
(08:08):
massive numbers of people died.
There's no objective way to makethis either figurative of the
Christian's life or historicalevent that's already happened.
With that overview, let's go inand we'll dive into more of the
questions as we get goingthrough here.
Steve, can you read the firstthree verses of Ezekiel chapter
(08:29):
38?
SPEAKER_01 (08:30):
The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man,
set your face toward Gog of theland of Magog, the prince of
Rosh, Meshach, and Tubul, andprophesy against him, and say,
Thus says the Lord God, Behold,I am against you, O Gog, Prince
(08:50):
of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubul.
SPEAKER_00 (08:53):
With this, the first question arises is who is this
talking about?
It says Gog of Magog, Gog of theland of Magog.
I've already said what I think,Steve.
I think it's a pretty sillyreason.
I think it catches people'sattention just because they're a
little unusual to say, and it'sit rhymes and it's just an
(09:13):
unusual, funny name.
Who is Gog and Magog?
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Well, there's much debate as to who it actually is
and which land that it's talkingabout.
But Gog is a title, just likePharaoh, Caesar, Kaiser,
President, Emperor.
It's a title of a ruler.
It's not the proper name of theperson, but it's the title.
(09:40):
He is the emperor or Pharaohover this land of Magog.
SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
There's been much speculation over time on who is
Gog and where is the land ofMagog.
We know that it says clearlyhere in a verse coming up that
it's of the far north.
But if you just look on a map,the first nation that comes to
mind is Russia.
There's been a lot of Bibleteachers that have held it's
Russia.
(10:06):
If you look at verse 2, it saysRosh, Meshach, and Tubul sound a
lot like Russia, Moscow, andTobolsk.
There's a town over in Siberianamed Tobolsk.
So I'm not going to follow thatrabbit trail too far.
I think the clearest part thatjust for us is that it says it
(10:27):
is a land from the far north.
Now, if we just look atgeography and the history of the
nation Israel, there's neverreally been people that have
attacked from the east simplybecause there's a big desert
there and it's hard to cross adesert with a large army.
The West has the MediterraneanSea, and likewise it's hard to
(10:49):
move an army across the sea.
Egypt is the one country to thesouth.
And so the only real place formultiple countries to attack was
from the north.
Whenever any country was goingto attack, it's going to be from
the north.
But this says the far north, ifyou just look on a map, it's
Russia.
But I don't necessarily want togo down that rabbit trail.
(11:11):
And to me, reaching into a townway for Siberia that just
happens to start with the sameletter.
Not sure I want to go down thatpath.
I think that for us, it doesn'treally matter because, as you
said, Gog is a title.
And it's really just talkingabout a really, if you just read
(11:31):
the rest of the passage, it's acoalition.
There's going to be a king fromthe far north that's going to
build a coalition of manynations that are going to come
and attack Israel.
That's what really matters.
I think the exact person justisn't named in the text, but it
tells us there's going to be acoalition of nations that attack
(11:52):
from the north, and it's calledGog of the land of Magog.
If we look at verse 4 of Ezekiel38, it says this.
And again, this is God speaking.
I will turn you about and puthooks into your jaws, and I will
bring you out, all your army,horses and horsemen, all of them
(12:12):
splendidly attired, a greatcompany with buckler and shield,
all of them wielding swords.
The Lord says here that He isthe one who will lead the people
of Magog like hooks in theirjaws.
God says he's the one that'sgoing to bring them.
So, Steve, what can we draw fromthat conclusion?
(12:33):
That he's the one that's goingto bring them.
SPEAKER_01 (12:35):
That it is something that he is bringing about in
some form or fashion.
Some of these countries that wewill get to as we go through the
individual verses, they're knowncountries.
But as you just said, I thinkthe thing to take away from
these chapters is that theleader is going to be this Gog
(12:59):
of the land of Magog.
He's going to put this coalitiontogether, both countries that
are going to come from the southand countries that are going to
be from the east, albeit they'regoing to have to come through
the north to do it.
Now, you might have some ofthese other countries from the
south coming up that way too tobring like a pincer move, is how
the military strategists put theactivity.
(13:23):
But for sure, it's a coalitionof countries that are put
together by this Gog, thisleader of the nation of Magog.
SPEAKER_00 (13:32):
The sense here is that there's going to be this
vast king with these manycountries with this huge army.
And somebody like that wouldthink that they're very powerful
and have a lot of pride and befull of themselves.
But God says, I'm going to put ahook in your jaw and lead you
around where I want you to go.
(13:53):
So really, who is in chargehere?
SPEAKER_01 (13:55):
Yeah, as we mentioned, God is.
I also want to, before we moveon, Glenn, where it says in
verse 4, horses, horsemen,splendidly in their attire,
their buckler and shield.
I think this is a place wheresome of the people who push
against our reading of the plainmeaning of the text, they will
(14:16):
come in here and they'll say,uh-huh, how come in here, what
are you going to do with this?
Because in modern warfare,horses aren't used.
You don't have bucklers andshields.
And you and I would probablyagree that this is just
describing the usage ofmaterials of an army uses in the
(14:36):
day.
How is it that Ezekiel is goingto describe things that are
going to happen centuries andeven millennia in the future?
What would we do if we read hereof tanks and drones and F-16s
and F-35s and aircraft carriers,things like that?
We wouldn't expect thoseindividual names to be used.
(15:01):
I think here we can say that thehorseman-horseman, buckler, and
shield is just talking about themodern warfare that was used at
the time, and that it's going tobe whatever modern warfare items
are used at the time of whenthis is going to take place.
But this is an area where someof the people push back and say,
(15:23):
you read everything literally,but yet when you come to an area
like this, then it's okay tosay, well, this is a type or
this is speaking of somethingelse.
What do you say about that,Glenn?
SPEAKER_00 (15:36):
Here's what I say, because you run into the same
issue in the next chapter aswell.
Here it talked about horses andbucklers.
In chapter 39, it speaks atlength about wooden war tools,
shields, and things like thatbeing burned for firewood.
If we look at modern warfare, wejust can't imagine going to war
(15:59):
with wooden implements of war.
We have to look at what are theoptions.
Well, one of the options is thatwe take this to be a figurative
application, in which case, ifthe entire story is some sort of
a figurative application, youend up with a larger problem
than what you described, Steve.
(16:20):
We would have a bit of an issuewith saying, okay, modern war
tools versus ancient war tools,and we have to make some
accommodation for that.
If we were to take the entirestory as figurative, then as
we've pointed out, we just havetoo many places where it is
obviously very specific.
And we're going to see some evenin these two chapters where it
(16:43):
gets incredibly obvious that theallegorizing the entire section
really ends up with a very,very, very poor hermeneutic, not
the least of which is we havetwo dozen chapters where it very
specifically talks about thingsthat happened literally to
literal Israel and literalJerusalem.
(17:03):
And we can't, with a consistenthermeneutic, suddenly,
two-thirds of the way throughthe book, suddenly change our
hermeneutic because we bring ina theology from outside the
book.
That's just not a proper way todo hermeneutics.
Another way of doing it would beto say that this was somehow
fulfilled in the ancient daysbefore Christ.
(17:24):
But again, none of this could bepointed to as a historical fact.
There was no place where theyspent seven months burying dead
and seven years burning wartools.
We're left with taking the 95%of the book the way it's said,
we have to take passages likethis and just apply it.
(17:45):
How are you going to explainmodern war tools to ancient
peoples?
He then mentions in verses fiveand six some of the nations that
are going to be in thiscoalition.
Then starting in verse eight,this is again God speaking
through Ezekiel says this aftermany days you will be summoned.
In the latter years you willcome into the land that is
(18:06):
restored from the sword, whoseinhabitants have been gathered
from many nations to themountains of Israel, which had
been a continual waste.
But its people were brought outfrom the nations, and they are
living securely, all of them.
You will go up, you will comelike a storm, you will be like a
cloud covering the land, you andall your troops and many peoples
(18:29):
with you.
Once again, who is in control ofnations?
SPEAKER_01 (18:44):
God is in control.
One of the things that isbrought out here is if God is
going to bring these othernations to the land of Israel,
that says the mountains ofIsrael here, then what has to
exist in order for that to takeplace?
Well, the nation of Israelitself needs to exist.
Once again, the fulfillment ofprophecy that we talked about in
(19:08):
the earlier chapters of thenation of Israel being brought
back in a state of unbelief issomething that has happened at
this point in time.
The muscle, sinew, and skin hasbeen put on the bones, but yet
there's a second part of beliefthat has to take place whenever
God breathes life into him.
(19:29):
But you can't have a war orbattles against the nation of
Israel without the nation itselfbeing in place.
SPEAKER_00 (19:35):
In this book of Ezekiel, starting about chapter
25, we saw God clearlycontrolling a long list of
nations.
He controlled, again, it was along list.
Then now we have God controllinga coalition of many nations and
leading them around like theyhad hooks in their mouth.
(19:57):
Steve, why is it, do you think,that this idea of God
controlling nations is nottalked about enough in our
churches today?
We rightly and justifiably dotalk about salvation and all the
wonderful concepts in the NewTestament, but God hasn't
changed since the Old Testament.
He's still as powerful as he wasback then.
(20:20):
Why do churches today not talkenough about God raising up and
taking down kings and nations?
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
It possibly can be put on the shoulders of a period
of time whenever kings in theEuropean area they ruled with a
term that they called the divineright of God.
They said that God raised up andtook down nations, and so
(20:48):
therefore the fact that I amhere, I'm here divinely put in
place.
But they took it too far, wherethey were sometimes burdensome
to the people that they ruledover.
They didn't rule over themjustly all the time.
Just like we saw with the kingsof the nation of the northern
tribe of Israel, they would leadthem astray and they would lead
(21:10):
them away from God.
Whenever we got into the 18thcentury, we had a series of
revolts to overthrow kings.
Then we had a series of timeperiod when people ruled
themselves, so to speak, andthey elected other people.
I think that's possibly wherethey got away from this talking
(21:32):
about God raising up nations andtaking nations down.
This concept that the ruler of anation is there at the pleasure
of God and has a responsibilityto rule the people in a just way
is left out because the peoplesay, Well, we elected them,
(21:53):
therefore God's not involved inthis at all.
I think that's possibly onething.
The churches don't talk aboutthis anymore, and they don't
talk about that rulers have aresponsibility to God.
SPEAKER_00 (22:06):
I would agree.
And I think if our rulers needto take very seriously the fact
that God raises up rulers and hetakes them down again, and
sometimes he puts them in placefor judgment.
So this is a very sobering ifyou're in any position of
leadership.
In verse 9, notice that this isno normal-sized army.
(22:26):
There's going to be so manypeople that it's like a cloud
that covers the entire land.
Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39clearly speak of an army so
large that it's bigger than anythat has been in the land in any
war previously.
We have just an absolutelymassive number of people.
(22:48):
Next in the chapter, we find themotivation that Gog will have to
invade Israel.
Starting in verse 10 says thisThus says the Lord God, it will
come about on that day thatthoughts will come into your
mind, and you will devise anevil plan, and you will say, I
will go up against the land ofunwalled villages, I will go
(23:11):
against those who are at restthat live securely, all of them
living without walls and havingno bars or gates, to capture
spoil and to seize plunder, toturn your hand against the waste
places which are now inhabited,and against the people who are
gathered from the nations, whohave acquired cattle and goods,
(23:31):
who live at the center of theworld.
Steve, it says here in verse 10,he's predicting future thoughts
that this man and these peopleare going to have.
Does God know future thoughts offree creatures?
He does.
SPEAKER_01 (23:45):
We see that over and over again in Scripture, where
we are given that God knows ourthoughts and what we're
thinking.
And I'd like to point out thatthis is God giving a prediction
of what's going to happen.
It's a description of what'sgoing to happen.
It's not a prescribed thing.
I don't think we can take awayfrom this that God Himself is
(24:08):
putting these thoughts into thisleader.
He is describing the thoughtsthat are going to come to the
leader and what's going tohappen.
So he's given a descriptionhere, I think, Glenn, not a
prescription of what's going tohappen.
SPEAKER_00 (24:24):
I would agree.
He's saying what's going tohappen in the future.
God knows all things.
God knows what free creaturesare going to think and do in the
future, but he doesn't causethose things.
He is describing what's going tohappen, but he is not the cause
of that.
It's the free creature that hehas given agency to.
The creature thinks the evilthoughts.
(24:45):
And God knows what they're goingto think with certainty in the
future, but it's still thecreature that thinks the
thoughts.
If we look then at verse 11, Godis giving a reason why he is
against Gog of the land ofMagog.
It's because they plan to takespoils from Israel.
God is always concerned aboutthe land of Israel.
(25:08):
That's a primary motivation, iswhat are the nations going to do
with the land?
In the next section, God isgoing to describe how Magog is
going to come against Israel.
I'm reading, starting in verse15, you will come from your
place out of the remote parts ofthe north, you and many peoples
with you, all of them riding onhorses, a great assembly and a
(25:32):
mighty army, and you will comeup against my people, Israel,
like a cloud to cover the land.
It shall come about in the lastdays that I will bring you
against my land, so that thenations may know me when I am
sanctified through you beforetheir eyes, O God.
Steve, what's going to bringthese nations against Israel and
(25:54):
when will it happen?
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
He says that it's going to happen in the last
days, whenever this is going tohappen.
It's going to go against my landbeing God's land, and that the
nations are going to know whoGod is.
So it gives a reason why thatthis is all happening whenever
God comes to protect his people.
But it's going to take place inthe last days.
SPEAKER_00 (26:17):
In the last days, and I think that's key.
He also says in there that thesepeoples are from the remote
parts of the north.
It's a group of people.
The directions given inScriptures are always in
relation to the land of Israel.
So it's the remote parts of thenorth of Israel.
And they're going to bring, itsays, many peoples with you.
(26:37):
It's not merely one nation.
Again, coalition of peoplegroups that are going to put
together an absolutely massivearmy and they're going to invade
Israel from the north.
But God says, I will do this.
I'm going to bring these nationsagainst Israel.
He's doing it for a reason.
The question, when it says thelast days, is when are the last
(27:00):
days?
The last days were not in theintertestamental period before
Christ, because we clearly hadChrist come after that major
event.
And these armies did not comeand do all the things that we
find in 38 and 39.
So at the end of verse 16, Godgives a reason for why the vast
(27:21):
armies are going to attackIsrael.
What does he say at the end of16?
Of why?
SPEAKER_01 (27:29):
He says, so that the nations would know who he is and
that he is separate.
He says, sanctified, there isthe word.
That means separate through youbefore their eyes, oh God.
Once again, we have this themeof the nations, God working with
the nations to show them who heis.
(27:51):
We have this depiction here thatit's not just Israel itself, but
it's also God dealing with theother nations.
SPEAKER_00 (28:00):
Exactly.
At the end of 16, he's saying,so that the nations will know
me.
God does things so that peoplewill realize who he is and
realize that he is the just one.
He is the worthy one.
God's name will be glorifiedbefore all nations.
Why?
Because he is worthy and justand he deserves it.
(28:23):
Starting in verse 18 says thisit will come about on that day
when God comes against the landof Israel, declares the Lord
God, that my fury will mount upin my anger, in my zeal and in
my blazing wrath, I declare thaton that day there will surely be
a great earthquake in the landof Israel.
(28:44):
The fish of the sea, the birdsof the heavens, the beasts of
the fields, all the creepingthings that creep on the earth,
and all the men who are on theface of the earth will shake at
my presence.
The mountains also will bethrown down, the steep pathways
will collapse, and every wallwill fall to the ground.
(29:05):
The Lord will pour out his wrathon this battle.
One thing he's going to do, hesays here, is cause an
earthquake.
Steve, the middle of verse 20,what does God say is going to
happen in this earthquake?
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
It says that the beasts of the field, all the
creeping things that are creepon the earth, all the men who
are on the face of the earthwill shake in God's presence.
This earthquake is going to be acatastrophic event that's not
only going to be recognized bymankind, but it's also going to
be recognized by creationitself.
SPEAKER_00 (29:40):
What I find really interesting is not only this
earthquake, this naturaldisaster that God is going to
cause, that causes tremendousupheaval, but he says in the
middle of verse 20 All the menwho are on the face of the earth
will shake at my presence,unquote.
Thus, God is going to show.
Up in this battle.
(30:01):
Since it means all men on theface of the earth, it can't mean
anytime so far in the churchage, simply because no country
during the church age had allmen fearing God.
We have every saved person,everybody in the church that
would shake it as presence thatwould fear God.
(30:23):
But it's not true that all menon the face of the earth, all
men in all country, all thenon-believers around the
Christians aren't recognizingGod.
It can't even mean all thepeople that were in that battle
simply because it specificallysays all on the face of the
earth.
But even if it was just thepeople in that battle in that
(30:43):
land, if he was using some sortof a literary device, there's
never been a time when this wastrue.
There's never been a time wherean invading army all suddenly
said, wow, the real God, youknow, Yahweh is the real God.
That's never happened.
Therefore, verse 20 is clearlyspeaking of a future time that's
yet to be fulfilled.
It also says in there, themountains will be thrown down.
(31:05):
Other prophetic passages in theOld Testament speak of major
geographic changes in the landof Israel in the last days.
The last part of chapter 38 hasGod intent on his enemies,
knowing him and his power.
Verses 22 and 23 say this (31:23):
With pestilence and with blood, I
will enter into judgment withhim, and I will reign on him and
on his troops, and on the manypeoples who are with him,
torrential rain with hailstones,fire, and brimstone.
I will magnify myself, sanctifymyself, and make myself known in
(31:45):
the sight of many nations, andthey will know that I am the
Lord.
Steve, does God have the rightand the worthiness to magnify
his name?
SPEAKER_01 (31:54):
Yeah, and it's also his land that he's defending.
Not just the nation of Israel,but it's his land that he has
given to the nation.
It's up to him to give and up tohim to take away.
I just love that last verse 23,the way it's described.
He says, I will magnify myself,sanctify myself, and make myself
(32:17):
known to all the nations.
To me, that's just a depictionof a majestic God that is
showing up to defend his peopleand to defend his land.
It's going to be done in such away that all the nations are
going to be clear as to who heis.
SPEAKER_00 (32:36):
We have a wonderful God.
Our God is powerful, he is holy,he is majestic, and he is
worthy.
If we were making these types ofclaims, it would be sinful
simply because we are weak,fallible human beings.
But if we have a being as Godthat truly is holy and just and
worthy, then he is deserving ofeverything he says here.
(32:59):
So therefore, God is the one whois worthy.
He takes these people who thinkthey're militarily superior,
probably the largest army that'sbeen amassed in the history of
the world.
He leads them around with hooksin their mouth and leads them
where he wants them and destroysthem to show that his name will
(33:21):
be glorified.
And we will glorify him on thisministry.
And Steve, we're at the end ofchapter 38, but we're not at the
end of Gog of the Land of Magogbecause next time we're going to
reason through the rest of it inchapter 39.
SPEAKER_01 (33:36):
As always, we want to thank you so much for
watching and listening.
And we always want to wish thatGod may bless you and keep you.
Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 are in the section of the
book where God is talking aboutthe restoration of the nation.
In these two chapters, 38 and39, he talks about Gog and
Magog.
There's a bit of an interest inthat over the years in Christian
circles.
My personal theory is a bit of asilly reason.
(00:41):
I think it's just because thenames rhyme and it's a little
unusual.
Because of that, there's allkinds of unusual theories about
who this is.
We're going to dive into thattoday as we reason through the
Bible.
If you have your copy of theWord of God open to Ezekiel 38,
I think, Steve, before we justdive into the specifics, I think
(01:02):
we ought to talk about thesechapters in general and go over
some of the ideas of what'sgoing on before we go through in
verse by verse, simply becausethe conclusion on how to
interpret this, we really needto take the entire couple of
chapters at once.
Before we even dive into that,just a reminder of where we are
(01:24):
in the book, I think that wouldhelp.
Remember, the very first chapterwas the calling of Ezekiel.
And then from chapters two to 24is the judgment on Israel and
specifically Jerusalem.
Then God spent several chapterstalking about judgment on the
nations.
(01:44):
Then starting in about chapter33, God has been talking about
the restoration and rebuildingof Israel.
In this section on therebuilding of Israel, God also
includes some cleaning out ofthings in order for Israel to be
restored to the land.
(02:04):
That's really the section of Gogof Magog, which is what it says.
But there's other things in herethat have to happen in order for
Israel to live securely in theland.
Chapter 33 talked about awatchman that needs to do his
duty and point out danger.
Chapter 34, God corrects theleaders of Israel, that they
(02:27):
were bad shepherds, that theyneeded to get their act
together.
Also in chapter 34, God beginstalking about restoring Israel
in earnest, bringing them backto the land.
Then in 35, there's some nationsthere that had to be removed so
that Israel could return somedayand live in peace.
(02:47):
The reason I mention all of thatis the section is talking
clearly about how God is goingto bring Israel back to the land
by himself.
That's when we bring up Gog ofMagog.
If we just turn to thesechapters out of the blue, we
(03:09):
don't get the flow of the book.
Steve, isn't it important toknow really what the, you know,
the overall flow is therestoration of Israel, is it
not?
SPEAKER_01 (03:17):
That's exactly one of the things that I wanted to
bring out, in that we hearpeople talk about Ezekiel 38 and
39 and this war, and they do itbecause it's obvious that this
is something that's still goingto happen in the future, but
they dive directly into Ezekiel38 and 39 and miss out on all
(03:37):
these previous chapters as towhat is taking place and what is
going on.
So I think while 38 and 39 isvery interesting, in order to
get a good picture of why it'sthere, I think it'd be good to
always look at the rest of thebook of Ezekiel.
So I'm glad that we've donethat.
(03:58):
Now we've gotten to 38 and 39.
And if there's people that arejust tuning in to our ministry
or to our lesson of Ezekiel,just for these two chapters, we
ask you, go back to thebeginning and listen to the
study through the rest of thebook of Ezekiel.
Don't just jump into these twochapters in your study.
(04:19):
Go with us from the verybeginning.
SPEAKER_00 (04:21):
It's like some wise Bible teachers have said never
read a Bible verse.
By that they mean don't justturn to a page and read one
verse, because that's how youcan get confused and off track
sometimes.
You have to read the passage,the chapter of the book, and
know where it fits into the flowof what the God is trying to say
through the author.
(04:42):
Before we even really get intowho is Gog and who is Magog, I
think it wise if we just took aquick minute and talked about
the flow of these two chapters.
What are the high points of whatthey're saying?
Then I think we can go back andtry to interpret what they mean.
In chapter 38, verse 2, Gog ofthe land of Magog.
(05:04):
We have here some sort of aruler of the land of Magog.
When we say Gog and Magog, it'sreally Gog of the land of Magog.
38.4.
The Lord says he's going to puthooks in their jaws and lead
this army and lead it down toIsrael.
Verse 8, this will happen,quote, in the latter years when
(05:28):
the land is restored from thesword.
There's going to be a time ofpeace when this happens.
It will happen when Israel hasbeen brought from the nations
back to Israel, and Israel isliving securely.
At that point, there's going tobe this great battle with this
people of the north.
38 15, Gog will come, it says,out of the remote parts of the
(05:53):
north.
Gog's army is going to attackIsrael.
Verse 18, the Lord is going toact out of his anger to deliver
Israel.
38 20, quote, all the men whoare on the face of the earth
will shake at my presence, andthe Lord is going to then defeat
Gog in a very dramatic fashion.
(06:14):
Then in chapter 39, the Lord'sgoing to take Gog and his army,
bring them to attack Israel.
The Lord is going to defeat Gogin Israel.
After the battle, the Lord says,quote, I will not let my name be
profaned anymore.
Then there's this section in themiddle of chapter 39 about the
(06:35):
weapons are going to burn forseven years.
It's going to take seven monthsto bury the army.
All the Jews are going to knowthat Yahweh is God from that day
onward, and that they're goingto live securely in their own
land with no one to make themafraid.
All of that, Steve, is whypeople hold this to be yet
(06:58):
future.
Because if you add up all ofthat, there really was no time
in the past where we could evenfiguratively make say that that
happened in history.
SPEAKER_01 (07:07):
No, there's a lot of detail that are in these two
chapters as to what's going totake place.
You have these time frames,seven months, seven years,
things like that.
They don't fit any type ofhistorical activity with the
nation of Israel.
Therefore, it's got to besometime in the future yet.
SPEAKER_00 (07:28):
To be specific on why it can't have been in the
past, the land has never been,quote, restored from the sword,
38.8.
And neither has the Christian'slife ever been restored from
having war with the world, forthe Christian is in conflict
with the world on a constantbasis.
(07:48):
Israel has never lived securelyat any point in its history.
There's never been a time whenall men on the face of the earth
shake at God's presence, 3820.
God's name is still today beingprofaned on the earth, contrary
to 39.7.
And there was never a time whenthe weapons burned and the
(08:08):
massive numbers of people died.
There's no objective way to makethis either figurative of the
Christian's life or historicalevent that's already happened.
With that overview, let's go inand we'll dive into more of the
questions as we get goingthrough here.
Steve, can you read the firstthree verses of Ezekiel chapter
(08:29):
38?
SPEAKER_01 (08:30):
The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man,
set your face toward Gog of theland of Magog, the prince of
Rosh, Meshach, and Tubul, andprophesy against him, and say,
Thus says the Lord God, Behold,I am against you, O Gog, Prince
(08:50):
of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubul.
SPEAKER_00 (08:53):
With this, the first question arises is who is this
talking about?
It says Gog of Magog, Gog of theland of Magog.
I've already said what I think,Steve.
I think it's a pretty sillyreason.
I think it catches people'sattention just because they're a
little unusual to say, and it'sit rhymes and it's just an
(09:13):
unusual, funny name.
Who is Gog and Magog?
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Well, there's much debate as to who it actually is
and which land that it's talkingabout.
But Gog is a title, just likePharaoh, Caesar, Kaiser,
President, Emperor.
It's a title of a ruler.
It's not the proper name of theperson, but it's the title.
(09:40):
He is the emperor or Pharaohover this land of Magog.
SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
There's been much speculation over time on who is
Gog and where is the land ofMagog.
We know that it says clearlyhere in a verse coming up that
it's of the far north.
But if you just look on a map,the first nation that comes to
mind is Russia.
There's been a lot of Bibleteachers that have held it's
Russia.
(10:06):
If you look at verse 2, it saysRosh, Meshach, and Tubul sound a
lot like Russia, Moscow, andTobolsk.
There's a town over in Siberianamed Tobolsk.
So I'm not going to follow thatrabbit trail too far.
I think the clearest part thatjust for us is that it says it
(10:27):
is a land from the far north.
Now, if we just look atgeography and the history of the
nation Israel, there's neverreally been people that have
attacked from the east simplybecause there's a big desert
there and it's hard to cross adesert with a large army.
The West has the MediterraneanSea, and likewise it's hard to
(10:49):
move an army across the sea.
Egypt is the one country to thesouth.
And so the only real place formultiple countries to attack was
from the north.
Whenever any country was goingto attack, it's going to be from
the north.
But this says the far north, ifyou just look on a map, it's
Russia.
But I don't necessarily want togo down that rabbit trail.
(11:11):
And to me, reaching into a townway for Siberia that just
happens to start with the sameletter.
Not sure I want to go down thatpath.
I think that for us, it doesn'treally matter because, as you
said, Gog is a title.
And it's really just talkingabout a really, if you just read
(11:31):
the rest of the passage, it's acoalition.
There's going to be a king fromthe far north that's going to
build a coalition of manynations that are going to come
and attack Israel.
That's what really matters.
I think the exact person justisn't named in the text, but it
tells us there's going to be acoalition of nations that attack
(11:52):
from the north, and it's calledGog of the land of Magog.
If we look at verse 4 of Ezekiel38, it says this.
And again, this is God speaking.
I will turn you about and puthooks into your jaws, and I will
bring you out, all your army,horses and horsemen, all of them
(12:12):
splendidly attired, a greatcompany with buckler and shield,
all of them wielding swords.
The Lord says here that He isthe one who will lead the people
of Magog like hooks in theirjaws.
God says he's the one that'sgoing to bring them.
So, Steve, what can we draw fromthat conclusion?
(12:33):
That he's the one that's goingto bring them.
SPEAKER_01 (12:35):
That it is something that he is bringing about in
some form or fashion.
Some of these countries that wewill get to as we go through the
individual verses, they're knowncountries.
But as you just said, I thinkthe thing to take away from
these chapters is that theleader is going to be this Gog
(12:59):
of the land of Magog.
He's going to put this coalitiontogether, both countries that
are going to come from the southand countries that are going to
be from the east, albeit they'regoing to have to come through
the north to do it.
Now, you might have some ofthese other countries from the
south coming up that way too tobring like a pincer move, is how
the military strategists put theactivity.
(13:23):
But for sure, it's a coalitionof countries that are put
together by this Gog, thisleader of the nation of Magog.
SPEAKER_00 (13:32):
The sense here is that there's going to be this
vast king with these manycountries with this huge army.
And somebody like that wouldthink that they're very powerful
and have a lot of pride and befull of themselves.
But God says, I'm going to put ahook in your jaw and lead you
around where I want you to go.
(13:53):
So really, who is in chargehere?
SPEAKER_01 (13:55):
Yeah, as we mentioned, God is.
I also want to, before we moveon, Glenn, where it says in
verse 4, horses, horsemen,splendidly in their attire,
their buckler and shield.
I think this is a place wheresome of the people who push
against our reading of the plainmeaning of the text, they will
(14:16):
come in here and they'll say,uh-huh, how come in here, what
are you going to do with this?
Because in modern warfare,horses aren't used.
You don't have bucklers andshields.
And you and I would probablyagree that this is just
describing the usage ofmaterials of an army uses in the
(14:36):
day.
How is it that Ezekiel is goingto describe things that are
going to happen centuries andeven millennia in the future?
What would we do if we read hereof tanks and drones and F-16s
and F-35s and aircraft carriers,things like that?
We wouldn't expect thoseindividual names to be used.
(15:01):
I think here we can say that thehorseman-horseman, buckler, and
shield is just talking about themodern warfare that was used at
the time, and that it's going tobe whatever modern warfare items
are used at the time of whenthis is going to take place.
But this is an area where someof the people push back and say,
(15:23):
you read everything literally,but yet when you come to an area
like this, then it's okay tosay, well, this is a type or
this is speaking of somethingelse.
What do you say about that,Glenn?
SPEAKER_00 (15:36):
Here's what I say, because you run into the same
issue in the next chapter aswell.
Here it talked about horses andbucklers.
In chapter 39, it speaks atlength about wooden war tools,
shields, and things like thatbeing burned for firewood.
If we look at modern warfare, wejust can't imagine going to war
(15:59):
with wooden implements of war.
We have to look at what are theoptions.
Well, one of the options is thatwe take this to be a figurative
application, in which case, ifthe entire story is some sort of
a figurative application, youend up with a larger problem
than what you described, Steve.
(16:20):
We would have a bit of an issuewith saying, okay, modern war
tools versus ancient war tools,and we have to make some
accommodation for that.
If we were to take the entirestory as figurative, then as
we've pointed out, we just havetoo many places where it is
obviously very specific.
And we're going to see some evenin these two chapters where it
(16:43):
gets incredibly obvious that theallegorizing the entire section
really ends up with a very,very, very poor hermeneutic, not
the least of which is we havetwo dozen chapters where it very
specifically talks about thingsthat happened literally to
literal Israel and literalJerusalem.
(17:03):
And we can't, with a consistenthermeneutic, suddenly,
two-thirds of the way throughthe book, suddenly change our
hermeneutic because we bring ina theology from outside the
book.
That's just not a proper way todo hermeneutics.
Another way of doing it would beto say that this was somehow
fulfilled in the ancient daysbefore Christ.
(17:24):
But again, none of this could bepointed to as a historical fact.
There was no place where theyspent seven months burying dead
and seven years burning wartools.
We're left with taking the 95%of the book the way it's said,
we have to take passages likethis and just apply it.
(17:45):
How are you going to explainmodern war tools to ancient
peoples?
He then mentions in verses fiveand six some of the nations that
are going to be in thiscoalition.
Then starting in verse eight,this is again God speaking
through Ezekiel says this aftermany days you will be summoned.
In the latter years you willcome into the land that is
(18:06):
restored from the sword, whoseinhabitants have been gathered
from many nations to themountains of Israel, which had
been a continual waste.
But its people were brought outfrom the nations, and they are
living securely, all of them.
You will go up, you will comelike a storm, you will be like a
cloud covering the land, you andall your troops and many peoples
(18:29):
with you.
Once again, who is in control ofnations?
SPEAKER_01 (18:44):
God is in control.
One of the things that isbrought out here is if God is
going to bring these othernations to the land of Israel,
that says the mountains ofIsrael here, then what has to
exist in order for that to takeplace?
Well, the nation of Israelitself needs to exist.
Once again, the fulfillment ofprophecy that we talked about in
(19:08):
the earlier chapters of thenation of Israel being brought
back in a state of unbelief issomething that has happened at
this point in time.
The muscle, sinew, and skin hasbeen put on the bones, but yet
there's a second part of beliefthat has to take place whenever
God breathes life into him.
(19:29):
But you can't have a war orbattles against the nation of
Israel without the nation itselfbeing in place.
SPEAKER_00 (19:35):
In this book of Ezekiel, starting about chapter
25, we saw God clearlycontrolling a long list of
nations.
He controlled, again, it was along list.
Then now we have God controllinga coalition of many nations and
leading them around like theyhad hooks in their mouth.
(19:57):
Steve, why is it, do you think,that this idea of God
controlling nations is nottalked about enough in our
churches today?
We rightly and justifiably dotalk about salvation and all the
wonderful concepts in the NewTestament, but God hasn't
changed since the Old Testament.
He's still as powerful as he wasback then.
(20:20):
Why do churches today not talkenough about God raising up and
taking down kings and nations?
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
It possibly can be put on the shoulders of a period
of time whenever kings in theEuropean area they ruled with a
term that they called the divineright of God.
They said that God raised up andtook down nations, and so
(20:48):
therefore the fact that I amhere, I'm here divinely put in
place.
But they took it too far, wherethey were sometimes burdensome
to the people that they ruledover.
They didn't rule over themjustly all the time.
Just like we saw with the kingsof the nation of the northern
tribe of Israel, they would leadthem astray and they would lead
(21:10):
them away from God.
Whenever we got into the 18thcentury, we had a series of
revolts to overthrow kings.
Then we had a series of timeperiod when people ruled
themselves, so to speak, andthey elected other people.
I think that's possibly wherethey got away from this talking
(21:32):
about God raising up nations andtaking nations down.
This concept that the ruler of anation is there at the pleasure
of God and has a responsibilityto rule the people in a just way
is left out because the peoplesay, Well, we elected them,
(21:53):
therefore God's not involved inthis at all.
I think that's possibly onething.
The churches don't talk aboutthis anymore, and they don't
talk about that rulers have aresponsibility to God.
SPEAKER_00 (22:06):
I would agree.
And I think if our rulers needto take very seriously the fact
that God raises up rulers and hetakes them down again, and
sometimes he puts them in placefor judgment.
So this is a very sobering ifyou're in any position of
leadership.
In verse 9, notice that this isno normal-sized army.
(22:26):
There's going to be so manypeople that it's like a cloud
that covers the entire land.
Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39clearly speak of an army so
large that it's bigger than anythat has been in the land in any
war previously.
We have just an absolutelymassive number of people.
(22:48):
Next in the chapter, we find themotivation that Gog will have to
invade Israel.
Starting in verse 10 says thisThus says the Lord God, it will
come about on that day thatthoughts will come into your
mind, and you will devise anevil plan, and you will say, I
will go up against the land ofunwalled villages, I will go
(23:11):
against those who are at restthat live securely, all of them
living without walls and havingno bars or gates, to capture
spoil and to seize plunder, toturn your hand against the waste
places which are now inhabited,and against the people who are
gathered from the nations, whohave acquired cattle and goods,
(23:31):
who live at the center of theworld.
Steve, it says here in verse 10,he's predicting future thoughts
that this man and these peopleare going to have.
Does God know future thoughts offree creatures?
He does.
SPEAKER_01 (23:45):
We see that over and over again in Scripture, where
we are given that God knows ourthoughts and what we're
thinking.
And I'd like to point out thatthis is God giving a prediction
of what's going to happen.
It's a description of what'sgoing to happen.
It's not a prescribed thing.
I don't think we can take awayfrom this that God Himself is
(24:08):
putting these thoughts into thisleader.
He is describing the thoughtsthat are going to come to the
leader and what's going tohappen.
So he's given a descriptionhere, I think, Glenn, not a
prescription of what's going tohappen.
SPEAKER_00 (24:24):
I would agree.
He's saying what's going tohappen in the future.
God knows all things.
God knows what free creaturesare going to think and do in the
future, but he doesn't causethose things.
He is describing what's going tohappen, but he is not the cause
of that.
It's the free creature that hehas given agency to.
The creature thinks the evilthoughts.
(24:45):
And God knows what they're goingto think with certainty in the
future, but it's still thecreature that thinks the
thoughts.
If we look then at verse 11, Godis giving a reason why he is
against Gog of the land ofMagog.
It's because they plan to takespoils from Israel.
God is always concerned aboutthe land of Israel.
(25:08):
That's a primary motivation, iswhat are the nations going to do
with the land?
In the next section, God isgoing to describe how Magog is
going to come against Israel.
I'm reading, starting in verse15, you will come from your
place out of the remote parts ofthe north, you and many peoples
with you, all of them riding onhorses, a great assembly and a
(25:32):
mighty army, and you will comeup against my people, Israel,
like a cloud to cover the land.
It shall come about in the lastdays that I will bring you
against my land, so that thenations may know me when I am
sanctified through you beforetheir eyes, O God.
Steve, what's going to bringthese nations against Israel and
(25:54):
when will it happen?
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
He says that it's going to happen in the last
days, whenever this is going tohappen.
It's going to go against my landbeing God's land, and that the
nations are going to know whoGod is.
So it gives a reason why thatthis is all happening whenever
God comes to protect his people.
But it's going to take place inthe last days.
SPEAKER_00 (26:17):
In the last days, and I think that's key.
He also says in there that thesepeoples are from the remote
parts of the north.
It's a group of people.
The directions given inScriptures are always in
relation to the land of Israel.
So it's the remote parts of thenorth of Israel.
And they're going to bring, itsays, many peoples with you.
(26:37):
It's not merely one nation.
Again, coalition of peoplegroups that are going to put
together an absolutely massivearmy and they're going to invade
Israel from the north.
But God says, I will do this.
I'm going to bring these nationsagainst Israel.
He's doing it for a reason.
The question, when it says thelast days, is when are the last
(27:00):
days?
The last days were not in theintertestamental period before
Christ, because we clearly hadChrist come after that major
event.
And these armies did not comeand do all the things that we
find in 38 and 39.
So at the end of verse 16, Godgives a reason for why the vast
(27:21):
armies are going to attackIsrael.
What does he say at the end of16?
Of why?
SPEAKER_01 (27:29):
He says, so that the nations would know who he is and
that he is separate.
He says, sanctified, there isthe word.
That means separate through youbefore their eyes, oh God.
Once again, we have this themeof the nations, God working with
the nations to show them who heis.
(27:51):
We have this depiction here thatit's not just Israel itself, but
it's also God dealing with theother nations.
SPEAKER_00 (28:00):
Exactly.
At the end of 16, he's saying,so that the nations will know
me.
God does things so that peoplewill realize who he is and
realize that he is the just one.
He is the worthy one.
God's name will be glorifiedbefore all nations.
Why?
Because he is worthy and justand he deserves it.
(28:23):
Starting in verse 18 says thisit will come about on that day
when God comes against the landof Israel, declares the Lord
God, that my fury will mount upin my anger, in my zeal and in
my blazing wrath, I declare thaton that day there will surely be
a great earthquake in the landof Israel.
(28:44):
The fish of the sea, the birdsof the heavens, the beasts of
the fields, all the creepingthings that creep on the earth,
and all the men who are on theface of the earth will shake at
my presence.
The mountains also will bethrown down, the steep pathways
will collapse, and every wallwill fall to the ground.
(29:05):
The Lord will pour out his wrathon this battle.
One thing he's going to do, hesays here, is cause an
earthquake.
Steve, the middle of verse 20,what does God say is going to
happen in this earthquake?
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
It says that the beasts of the field, all the
creeping things that are creepon the earth, all the men who
are on the face of the earthwill shake in God's presence.
This earthquake is going to be acatastrophic event that's not
only going to be recognized bymankind, but it's also going to
be recognized by creationitself.
SPEAKER_00 (29:40):
What I find really interesting is not only this
earthquake, this naturaldisaster that God is going to
cause, that causes tremendousupheaval, but he says in the
middle of verse 20 All the menwho are on the face of the earth
will shake at my presence,unquote.
Thus, God is going to show.
Up in this battle.
(30:01):
Since it means all men on theface of the earth, it can't mean
anytime so far in the churchage, simply because no country
during the church age had allmen fearing God.
We have every saved person,everybody in the church that
would shake it as presence thatwould fear God.
(30:23):
But it's not true that all menon the face of the earth, all
men in all country, all thenon-believers around the
Christians aren't recognizingGod.
It can't even mean all thepeople that were in that battle
simply because it specificallysays all on the face of the
earth.
But even if it was just thepeople in that battle in that
(30:43):
land, if he was using some sortof a literary device, there's
never been a time when this wastrue.
There's never been a time wherean invading army all suddenly
said, wow, the real God, youknow, Yahweh is the real God.
That's never happened.
Therefore, verse 20 is clearlyspeaking of a future time that's
yet to be fulfilled.
It also says in there, themountains will be thrown down.
(31:05):
Other prophetic passages in theOld Testament speak of major
geographic changes in the landof Israel in the last days.
The last part of chapter 38 hasGod intent on his enemies,
knowing him and his power.
Verses 22 and 23 say this (31:23):
With pestilence and with blood, I
will enter into judgment withhim, and I will reign on him and
on his troops, and on the manypeoples who are with him,
torrential rain with hailstones,fire, and brimstone.
I will magnify myself, sanctifymyself, and make myself known in
(31:45):
the sight of many nations, andthey will know that I am the
Lord.
Steve, does God have the rightand the worthiness to magnify
his name?
SPEAKER_01 (31:54):
Yeah, and it's also his land that he's defending.
Not just the nation of Israel,but it's his land that he has
given to the nation.
It's up to him to give and up tohim to take away.
I just love that last verse 23,the way it's described.
He says, I will magnify myself,sanctify myself, and make myself
(32:17):
known to all the nations.
To me, that's just a depictionof a majestic God that is
showing up to defend his peopleand to defend his land.
It's going to be done in such away that all the nations are
going to be clear as to who heis.
SPEAKER_00 (32:36):
We have a wonderful God.
Our God is powerful, he is holy,he is majestic, and he is
worthy.
If we were making these types ofclaims, it would be sinful
simply because we are weak,fallible human beings.
But if we have a being as Godthat truly is holy and just and
worthy, then he is deserving ofeverything he says here.
(32:59):
So therefore, God is the one whois worthy.
He takes these people who thinkthey're militarily superior,
probably the largest army that'sbeen amassed in the history of
the world.
He leads them around with hooksin their mouth and leads them
where he wants them and destroysthem to show that his name will
(33:21):
be glorified.
And we will glorify him on thisministry.
And Steve, we're at the end ofchapter 38, but we're not at the
end of Gog of the Land of Magogbecause next time we're going to
reason through the rest of it inchapter 39.
SPEAKER_01 (33:36):
As always, we want to thank you so much for
watching and listening.
And we always want to wish thatGod may bless you and keep you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.