And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, [that] my fury shall come up in my face;
Ezekiel 38:18 fixes an exact moment: the day Gog's armies set foot on the land of Israel. It tells us less about the invader than about God, and about what happens when an enemy lays hands on His people.
The names in this prophecy are not vague. Commentators trace them to real peoples of the far north.
Gog is a symbolic name for the powerful and proud chief of the vast armies of Scythia and Tartary. Magog was the son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2). His descendants spread over the great plains of the north, and the land here is named after him... Gog is the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, which match Russia, Moscow (or Muscovy), and Tobolsk: all now in the Russian empire. These peoples come "out of the north" like "a cloud to cover the land." They will attack Israel in the land of Palestine, but God will strike them down.
The verse says the fury rises "on that day" — a day placed after other judgments have already run their course.
The invasion will happen some time after God has judged two other powers (Rev. 19:19-20). The first is the beastly empire with its beast-head: the revived Roman empire in its final ten-kingdom form, with the clay, and with the little horn as leader (Dan. 7; Rev. 13:1-10). The second is the false prophet, the personal Antichrist (Rev. 13:11, etc.)... But other nations gather now for an assault. It is a northern alliance that sweeps south to invade the land. Antiochus Epiphanes did the same in the past, and so did the Assyrian in the days of Isaiah.
The ESV says God's wrath "will be roused in my anger." Older translations read the line as "my fury shall come up in my face," and one writer points to the word behind "face."
Gog is a different kind of enemy, and he dies later. Blinded by his hunger for more land, he does not see the truth: in trying to plunder and destroy Israel, he is attacking Jehovah... But after all God alone governs, whatever the pride or greed or will of Gog: Jehovah brought him against Israel for his own destruction. Yet when he does come, "my fury," says the Lord Jehovah, "shall come up in my face" (literally, nose). No more fears for the land of Israel... at least until the gathering of the nations a thousand years later, which borrows its name from this invasion. One comes at the start of Messiah's reign, the other at its end.
The chapter keeps calling them "My people Israel" and the territory "My land." That little word "my" is why the anger is so personal.
In Ezekiel 38:14 and 16 God speaks of "my people Israel." Gog had to learn what Pharaoh learned in his own day: in attacking Israel he was challenging the God of Israel. Israel were the beloved of God... Gog meant to enrich himself at the cost of God's land and God's people. Instead, he would be the means of showing the nations the glory of the God of Israel.
Gog expects an easy target. He meets the Lord Himself.
Gog wrongly imagined he would meet a defenceless people. Instead, he will face the wrath of God... The Lord Himself is with His people. He comes now not as the meek and lowly Jesus, but as King of kings and Lord of lords. When His anger rises, not only Gog but the whole land shakes before Him.
The fury is not a loss of control. It is the closing act of a long story.
I think, then, that Gog is the end of all God's dealings with Israel. God brings up this proud power for a purpose. By this final judgment He shows on earth how He deals with Israel and with the nations. Then He plants His blessing, His sanctuary, and His glory among Israel — and from then on none of the people are left in exile far from their land.
- Provoked — Gog moves against Israel expecting a defenceless people, blind to one thing: in attacking them he is attacking their God.
- Owned — God calls it "My people" and "My land"; the invader's greed targets what already belongs to God.
- Roused — His fury "comes up in My face," literally "in My nose" — yet God Himself brought Gog there for his own destruction.
- Shaken — the Lord meets him not as the meek and lowly Jesus but as King of kings, and the whole land trembles.
- Known — the fury ends in glory: through Gog the nations see the God of Israel, and God plants His blessing, His sanctuary and His glory among His people, with none left in exile.
for in my jealousy, in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Verily in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
The scene is the far future: Israel is back in her own land, and Gog comes against her out of greed. God answers with jealousy, burning anger and a great earthquake, which raises two questions: why does He take this attack so personally, and is the shaking literal ground or a picture of political change?
The language here is physical. God speaks as one whose anger rises into His face. One writer draws out that wording, and shows that Gog was in God's hands the whole time.
In the end God alone rules, whatever the pride or greed or will of Gog: Jehovah brought him against Israel so that he would be destroyed. Yet when he does come, the Lord God says, "my fury shall come up in my face" (literally, nose).
That wording about God's fury comes from an older English translation of the previous verse. Gog marches for spoil, and walks straight into the place God appointed for his ruin.
The word "jealousy" sounds ugly to us today. But one writer, commenting on the same words of God elsewhere, shows what lies behind it.
These words reveal the reason God steps in for His people: it is His unchanging love for Zion. He says, I "am" jealous for Zion, not I "was." Her sad state now moved Him, so to speak, to compassion. It stirred up His jealousy for her, and made Him step in to restore her.
That same love explains why an attack on Israel provokes fire. Gog thought he was raiding a weak people. In fact he was taking on their God.
Gog had to learn what Pharaoh learned in his day: that in attacking Israel he was challenging the God of Israel, for Israel were the people God loved.
Some read the earthquake as a picture of governments falling. One writer rejects that, and points to what happens next in the passage.
To take the words as mere symbols of political revolution is completely uncalled for — worse, it goes against the context. There is no change of government at all in Israel, and they do not suffer any more. But these distant enemies, gathered on their hills, will perish for ever. The mighty shaking in Canaan adds to the solemnity of the scene. Land and sea, heaven and earth own the presence of Him who made all things, and who takes up the cause of Israel.
The shaking does not unsettle Israel; it falls on the invaders. Creation shakes because its Maker has come near, and He has taken a side.
The shaking begins a rescue in which the rescued do nothing. One writer compares it to an older rescue.
Israel will not need to fight. Jehovah will fight for them. As on the shores of the Red Sea, they only have to stand still and see His salvation. He will deal with their enemies in that coming day as easily as He dealt with Pharaoh's armies long ago. First He will throw their ranks into confusion and turn their swords against each other (Ezek. 38:21).
A second Gog appears in the last book of the Bible, and the two are often merged. One writer keeps them apart, arguing from the text.
There is no need to confuse the two. The invasion in Ezekiel comes before Christ's thousand-year reign, not after it, as the one in Revelation does. At that point Israel are only just back in their land (Ezek. 38:14), and from then on Israel know God's name and defile His holy name no more (Ezek. 39:7). The nations also come to know Him (Ezek. 38:16, 23).
One writer reads the same upheaval alongside Psalm 46, where it becomes a reason for confidence.
In the first part [of Psalm 46] they declare that God is their refuge and strength, a present help in trouble. So they will not fear, even if all nature is shaken. Ezekiel 38:19-20 tells us what upheavals will come before Israel enjoys full and settled peace… But this part of the Psalm speaks of upheavals in nature. Facing them, they will not fear, for the Psalm declares that God the Creator is their refuge and strength.
- Provocation. Gog comes for plunder, but God brought him there. His greed serves the very purpose that destroys him.
- Jealousy. The fire is love in action. God will not tolerate an attack on the people He loves.
- Shaking. The upheaval shakes real land, sea and sky. It is not a picture of political change. Creation owns its Maker, and He has taken a side.
- Stillness. Israel does not fight. As at the Red Sea, they stand and watch while the enemy's swords turn on each other.
- Timing. This is the invasion before Christ's reign, not the later gathering in Revelation — from then on the nations learn who the Lord is.
so that the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things which creep upon the earth, and all mankind 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.
Ezekiel 38 describes a vast army under Gog sweeping down on a restored and peaceful Israel. At verse 20 the prophecy turns from the invader to God Himself: what causes the shaking, how literally should we read it, and when does it come?
Gog thinks he is raiding a defenceless country. In fact he is taking on its God, who calls Israel His own people.
In Ezekiel 38:14 and 16 God speaks of "my people Israel." Gog was to learn what Pharaoh, in his day, had to learn. In attacking Israel he was challenging the God of Israel, for Israel were the beloved of God. ... Instead of enriching himself at the expense of God's land and God's people, Gog would be the means of displaying the glory of the God of Israel before the nations.
The verse names the cause of the shaking: His presence.
Instead of meeting a defenceless people, as he had wrongly imagined, Gog will meet the wrath of God... The Lord Himself is with His people, not now as the meek and lowly Jesus, but as King of kings and Lord of lords, and when His anger rises, not only Gog, but the whole land shakes before Him.
God's own people meet the same convulsions without fear.
In the first part of this Psalm they profess that God is their refuge and strength, a present help in trouble. So they will not fear, though all nature shakes. What are the convulsions that will come before Israel enjoys full and settled peace? Ezekiel 38:19-20 tells us.
Falling mountains and collapsing walls are sometimes read as pictures of governments toppling. One writer rejects that, and places the scene at the final overthrow of Israel's enemies.
This is none other than the last destruction of Israel's enemies before the thousand-year reign of Messiah. The words that follow make that plain, not to mention the next chapter and all the rest of the prophecy. To take the words as merely symbols of political revolution is quite uncalled for — indeed, contrary to the context. There is no change of government whatever in Israel, nor do they suffer more, but these distant enemies gathered on their hills are to perish for ever. The mighty upheaval in Canaan adds to the solemnity of the scene. Land and sea, heaven and earth acknowledge the presence of Him who made all things, taking up the cause of Israel. There is not only mutual slaughter in the ranks of the enemy, but pestilence and blood, overflowing rains and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.
Gog's pride does not set the agenda here, and his defeat settles Israel's future for a thousand years.
But after all, God alone governs, whatever the pride or greed or will of Gog: the Lord brought him against Israel for his own destruction... No more fears for the land of Israel. No need of fresh blows on the nations, at least until the mustering of the nations a thousand years afterwards. This invasion lends its name to that one — the one at the beginning, the other at the end, of Messiah's reign.
The shaking of every creature in sea, sky and land displays God's power. He aims it at an audience far wider than Israel.
It tells of the vastness of his army (vv. 4-9) and the evil motive that prompts his invasion of Palestine (vv. 10, 11). It tells of his decisive overthrow too, by the glorious display of God's power as the God of nature and God over and above all things (vv. 14-23). By this means God makes Himself known to the nations. He will magnify Himself and sanctify Himself. That is, He will make Himself respected and revered, no longer mocked or lightly spoken of (vv. 16-23).
- The provocation. Gog attacks what God calls "my people Israel." In doing so he challenges God Himself, as Pharaoh once learned.
- The presence. The land shakes because the Lord is there in person, no longer the meek and lowly Jesus but King of kings.
- The reality. The upheaval is not a picture of political revolution. Land and sea, heaven and earth acknowledge their Maker as He takes Israel's side.
- The refuge. The convulsions that shatter the invader leave God's people unafraid. The Creator is their refuge and strength.
- The result. God magnifies and sanctifies Himself in this overthrow. The nations come to know Him and revere Him, and mock Him no longer.
And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah every man's sword shall be against his brother.
Gog leads a last great invasion of the land of Israel, and God answers by summoning a sword against him. Two questions follow: who is this enemy, and why does God destroy him by turning his own army on itself?
Gog's invasion looks like his own free choice, driven by greed. One writer shows who is really in control.
Gog is a different kind of enemy, and he perishes later. He is blinded by the lust of grabbing territory. He does not see that he is attacking Jehovah when he seeks to plunder and destroy Israel... But after all God alone governs, whatever the pride or greed or will of Gog: Jehovah brought him against Israel for his own destruction.
The sword summoned here works first as confusion in Gog's own ranks. One writer sets this beside God's past rescues of Israel.
Israel will not need to fight. Jehovah will fight for them. As on the shores of the Red Sea, they have only to stand still and see His salvation. He will dispose of their enemies in the coming day as easily as He disposed of Pharaoh's armies in the distant past. He will first create confusion in their ranks and turn their swords against each other (Ezek. 38:21). This is no new method of warfare with God. He used the same means in Gideon's day. (Judges 7:22)
Another writer adds a second precedent, the rout of the Philistines in Saul's day, when the enemy camp also destroyed itself:
As it was in Judges 7:22 and 1 Samuel 14:20, when every man's sword was against his fellow, so it will be with the armies of Gog, and the destruction of these mighty forces will be completed with other divine instruments of judgment.
Why give this prophecy at all? One writer names two reasons.
This prophecy warns the people about this last great invasion, and so prepares them. It is also meant to give them confidence. It makes known that Jehovah will act for them — He who has so blessedly established them in the land under the True Shepherd. Further, they will not need to fight. Jehovah will rise in His fury. He will fight and win a glorious victory. Gog will find no spoil in Israel's fair land, but a grave.
The sword turned on a brother is only the first blow. Together the blows carry a lesson wider than one battle.
The overthrow comes through internal strife, every man's sword against his brother. It comes through pestilence and blood, that is, violent death. It comes through the downpour of destruction from heaven. So man in proud self-will and boasted sufficiency has his own weapons turned against him... Those who are against God must find that the forces of earth and heaven, combined with their own devices, carry them down to destruction. Self-will and pride must always reap according to the sowing. It is an unchanging principle of the divine government.
When does this happen, and what is it not? One writer answers both.
The words that follow make it plain: this is none other than the last destruction of Israel's foes before the thousand years of Christ's reign. To take the words as mere symbols of political revolution is uncalled for, and even contrary to the context. There is no change of government at all in Israel, and they do not suffer any more. These distant enemies gathered on their hills are to perish for ever. The mighty shaking in Canaan adds to the solemnity of the scene. Land and sea, heaven and earth own the presence of Him who made all things, taking up the cause of Israel. There is not only mutual slaughter in the ranks of the foe, but pestilence and blood, overflowing rains and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.
The judgment is not an end in itself. It is how God becomes visible to nations that never knew Him.
Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, falls on the mountains of Israel. There Jehovah makes Himself known in the eyes of many nations (Ezek. 38:21-23)... In a word, Israel would fully know Jehovah and His government. Through this people the world would know them too. From that time God would no more hide His face from them.
- Summoned. God calls for the sword; Gog marches by his own greed, but Jehovah brings him against Israel for his own destruction.
- Scattered. The first blow is panic — swords turned on each other, the method God used in Gideon's day.
- Still. Israel will not need to fight; the prophecy gives them confidence, not a battle plan.
- Sown. Proud self-will has its own weapons turned against it — an unchanging principle of God's government, not a one-off event.
- Seen. The aim of the whole scene is that many nations come to know Jehovah, and that He hides His face from His people no more.
And I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many peoples that are with him, overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.
Ezekiel 38 describes a huge northern army sweeping down on a restored Israel at peace. The blows that meet it are not human, so commentators ask who sends them, what they picture, and when they fall.
The chapter piles up disasters. First a great shaking in the land. Then the enemy soldiers turn their swords on each other. Then come the blows named in this verse. One writer sees God's hand behind the whole event, with the created order taking Israel's side.
God alone governs, after all, whatever the pride or greed or will of Gog. The Lord brought him against Israel for his own destruction… The mighty shock in Canaan adds to the solemnity of the scene. Land and sea, heaven and earth all acknowledge the presence of Him who made all things, taking up the cause of Israel. There is not only mutual slaughter in the ranks of the enemy, but pestilence and blood, flooding rains and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.
Every blow here falls from above. So Israel has nothing to do but watch — and then bury the dead for months.
Read chapters thirty-eight and thirty-nine of Ezekiel, and you will see how vast this army is that comes from the far north. You will also see how terrible its destruction is — by mutual slaughter and pestilence, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone. Israel will not need to fight. God will do this. He will magnify and sanctify Himself in the eyes of all nations by what happens to them. For seven months after their destruction Israel will be burying the dead.
Rain, hail and fire falling on an army is not a new method. Earlier battles in Israel's history show the same hand at work.
In the days of Joshua the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon the enemy. In Deborah's time the very stars in their courses fought against Sisera. So it will be in the day to come. His thunderbolts will do terrible damage among the enemies of His people (Joshua 10:11; Judges 5:20). God will open the very windows of heaven, as it were, to pour down destruction upon them.
Three of these terms carry a settled meaning through Scripture. One writer sets out what each one stands for.
"Hail" is often found in Scripture as the expression of violent and destructive judgment (see Joshua 10:11; Isaiah 28, 30; Ezekiel 38:22). "Fire" signifies the holiness of God at work when He judges people, with the thought of something that penetrates everything and consumes. "Blood" will show death, but death under the judgment of God.
Brimstone is sulphur, still found in its raw state in the land itself. Scripture ties it to judgment falling out of the sky.
In God's judgment it was rained from heaven. Genesis 19:24; Psalm 11:6; Ezekiel 38:22; Luke 17:29. It is symbolical of that which will add to the torment and anguish of the wicked. Revelation 14:10; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10; Revelation 21:8.
Commentators differ over Gog's identity. Some link the names in this prophecy with Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk. Kelly rejects the view that Gog is the great western power of Daniel's prophecies. He sees him instead as a northern invader who does not realise whom he is attacking.
Gog is an enemy of a different sort. He perishes later. Blinded by the craving for more territory, he fails to see that he is attacking the Lord when he tries to plunder and destroy Israel… After that there are no more fears for the land of Israel, and no need of fresh blows on the nations. That holds at least until the gathering of the nations a thousand years afterwards, which takes its name from this invasion — the one at the beginning, the other at the end, of Messiah's reign.
Some read these blows as pictures of political upheaval. Kelly answers that the context rules that out.
This is nothing other than the last destruction of Israel's enemies before Messiah's thousand-year reign. The words that follow make it plain, and so do the next chapter and the rest of the prophecy. To take the words as mere symbols of political revolution is uncalled for, and against the context. Israel's government does not change at all, and they suffer no more; but these distant enemies, gathered on their hills, will perish for ever.
- Provocation. Gog attacks a resettled Israel to plunder it. He does not see that he is attacking God Himself.
- Verdict. God Himself enters into judgment with Gog. These disasters are not accident or politics. They are a sentence carried out.
- Weapons. Disease, bloodshed, downpour, hailstones, fire and brimstone. God turns nature itself against an army, as He did in Joshua's day.
- Spectators. Israel does not fight; their part is burying the dead for seven months afterwards.
- Witness. Each word is chosen: hail for violent destruction, fire for holiness that consumes, blood for death under judgment, brimstone for the anguish of the wicked. The end of it all is that many nations learn who the Lord is.
And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
Gog's armies fall, and God says what their ruin will achieve: it will show His greatness and His holiness before many nations. A military defeat becomes a revelation, and the question is how the world finally comes to know God.
The ESV says "show my greatness and my holiness." Older translations read "magnify Myself and sanctify Myself," and use the name "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD." The two verbs do not mean God becomes greater. They mean a change in how people see Him.
In this way God makes Himself known to the nations. He will magnify Himself and sanctify Himself. That is, He will make people respect and revere Him, and stop mocking Him or speaking of Him lightly.
Gog came for plunder. Writers point out that his chosen target put him against God Himself.
Gog had to learn what Pharaoh learned in his day. In attacking Israel he was challenging the God of Israel, for Israel were the beloved of God... Instead of getting rich from God's land and God's people, Gog would end up displaying the glory of the God of Israel before the nations.
Kelly draws the same line, and adds who was in control of the campaign:
Gog is a different kind of enemy, and he perishes later. He is blinded by his hunger for land. He does not see that in trying to plunder and destroy Israel he is attacking Jehovah... Yet in the end God alone governs, whatever the pride or greed or will of Gog: Jehovah brought him against Israel for his own destruction.
"Sanctify Myself" points to something specific in Israel's history. When God punished His own people, the nations He used drew the wrong conclusion about Him.
Jehovah had humbled and struck Israel in judgment, using the nations as the rod of His anger. But those He used had not taken it in. They mocked and boasted, and they blasphemed Jehovah's name. Surely He was of less account than their own idol-gods. He could not defend or save His professed people! ... So the judgments His holiness had to bring on His sinful people ended in His dishonour before the nations. The crushing judgment of Gog will take that reproach away, for it will show His power over the mightiest on earth.
The verse says the nations will know Him. Darby weighs what that knowing is. He compares the same words repeated through Ezekiel: "they will know that I am the LORD."
So the nations know Jehovah through the judgment itself, and not through any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows... All the nations will come to know that Jehovah is God through judgment.
One writer gathers many passages like this one. The effect, he says, reaches far past the battlefield.
Many more testimonies like these could be given. But these put it beyond question. The great moral effect of Israel's restoration on all nations will be this: Jehovah, the one true God, will become known everywhere.
Commentators differ over who Gog is. Kelly rejects one common view, and places the invasion in time:
Many authors think Gog must be the great western enemy of the Jews, as in Daniel. But this mistakes the scope of our prophet, who never takes up the four empires that were to tread down Jerusalem until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled... This invasion lends its name to the gathering of the nations a thousand years later — the one at the beginning of Messiah's reign, the other at the end.
One writer turns this into a question for today. God's people carry His name now.
There is a voice in this for us. We, too, individually or collectively, stand identified with the holy name of Christ. Is that name sullied because of our failure? Do we commend Him before the eyes of the world? ... He is not visible; we are to be His living representatives.
- Brought — Gog marches for plunder, but God says He brought him. The invader's greed serves a purpose he cannot see.
- Magnified — to magnify and sanctify Himself means to make people respect and revere Him, and stop mocking Him.
- Cleared — when God judged His own people, the nations called Him weak. Gog's overthrow removes that reproach for good.
- Known — the nations come to this knowledge through the judgment itself, not through a work of grace in them.
- Universal — the result reaches far past one battlefield: the one true God becomes known worldwide. Until then, His people carry His name and represent Him while He is unseen.
And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal;
Ezekiel 38 opened with a charge against a northern invader named Gog. Chapter 39 takes up that charge again, and this time God names the enemy face to face. Two questions follow: who is this ruler, and what does it mean that the Lord says He is against him?
The verse calls Gog "chief prince of Meshech and Tubal." One commentator argued that the margin reading is the better one, and asked whether the words in the text make sense at all:
The right reading of these passages seems to be the one in the margin of our excellent authorised Bible, not the one in the text... What clear sense does "prince of the chief, of Meshech and Tubal" make? "Prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal," on the other hand, gives a plain and consistent sense. This is the view taken by the elder Lowth and other English scholars. Gesenius states the same opinion without hesitation.
Gog is the name of the prince; Magog is the land he comes from. The other names are family names from the list of nations in Genesis:
The leader is the prince of Rosh — not "the chief prince," as the authorised version puts it — of Meshech and Tubal... Since the Prince of Rosh is addressed in verse 3 as Gog, we take it that Gog is the name given to this prince and leader of these nations. His dwelling place is in the land of Magog. We know from Genesis 10:2 that Magog was the second son of Japheth. Gomer, Tubal and Meshech were also sons of Japheth... Magog's land lay in what we call today the Caucasus and the plains next to it. The ancient writers called all three — Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal — Scythians. They wandered as nomads in the country around and north of the Black and the Caspian Seas.
Verse 1 is not idle repetition. The charge comes again, and it puts the enemy's size in its proper light:
This chapter takes up again God's condemnation of the great northern enemy. It hides nothing of his huge numbers and resources. Yet whatever they may be, they will only make the victory greater that Jehovah wins for His people by destroying him completely.
What follows from this opening verse forms a unit of its own:
In the second section, Ezekiel 39:1-16, we get further details. God's judgment does not stop with the defeat of Gog's vast army. He will send a fiery judgment through all his land and the nations allied with him (vv. 5, 6). Then comes the result: they will know that He is the Lord (v. 7).
The one who speaks is not Israel but the Lord, and that decides the outcome before a battle is fought:
Jehovah will show Himself holy before the eyes of the whole Gentile world by His terrible dealings with Gog and his army... Israel will not need to fight. Jehovah will fight for them. As on the shores of the Red Sea, they only have to stand still and see His salvation. He will deal with their enemies in the coming day as easily as He dealt with Pharaoh's armies long ago.
A word spoken against an enemy is a word spoken for a people:
This prophecy warns the people, and so prepares them, for this last great invasion. It is also meant to give them confidence, because it makes known that Jehovah will act for them — the same One who has so graciously established them in the land under the True Shepherd. More than that, they will not need to fight... and Gog will find no plunder in Israel's fair land, but a grave.
Gog is named again in Revelation, which raises the question of whether the two passages describe one event. One writer keeps them apart by the state of Israel at the time:
The Gog of the land of Magog, whose invasion of Israel the book of Ezekiel describes (38, 39), is the pattern for these last invaders. But there need be no confusion between them. The invasion in Ezekiel comes before the thousand years, not after them, as the one in Revelation does. In Ezekiel, Israel have only just returned to their land (Ezek. 38:14), and from that time Israel knows God's name and no longer defiles His holy name (Ezek. 39:7).
- Named. "Chief prince" is better read as prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal — God addresses this enemy by name, not by vague title.
- Northern. The names trace back to the sons of Japheth in Genesis 10, in lands north of the Black and Caspian Seas.
- Opposed. The renewed charge hides nothing of Gog's strength. His size only makes the Lord's victory greater.
- Defended. Israel will not need to fight. As at the Red Sea, they stand still and watch God act for them.
- Known. Gog finds a grave instead of plunder, and the outcome is that the nations know that He is the Lord.
and I will turn thee back, and lead thee, and will cause thee to come up from the uttermost north, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel.
God speaks against Gog a second time. The invader marches, but every verb here is God's: He turns him, drives him, and sets him down on Israel's mountains. Two questions sit inside the verse. Who is this northern power? And why does God Himself bring an enemy to the land he means to plunder?
The names in the verse are peoples, not titles. Commentators trace them back to Genesis.
GOG is a symbolic name for the powerful and proud chief of the vast hordes of Scythia and Tartary. MAGOG, the son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), whose descendants spread over the vast steppes in the north, after whom the land is here called... Gog is the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, answering to Russia, Moscow or Muscovy, and Tobolsk: all now in the Russian empire.
Gog is not the only northern enemy in prophecy. One writer marks him off from the King of the North by sheer distance.
Russia is not the King of the North: the Assyrian is. In Ezekiel 38:15 and Ezekiel 39:2 "the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" comes from "the far north," or "the uttermost north." That must be Russia. The King of the North, though, is close to Israel, as a map of the time of the Assyrian Empire will show.
Gog marches for his own reasons. God has a reason of His own.
In self-will this powerful ruler would seek to crush the people of God, and to enrich himself with the spoils of war. But God will intervene in His government. He will draw him and his armies onward to the judgment He has prepared for them... Gog is doing his own will, yet God is still drawing him to the place of slaughter, just as an animal is led with hooks in its jaws to the place of slaughter.
Translations render the first verb "turn you about" or "turn you back." One writer presses the second sense.
First note the words, "I will turn you back" (38:4; 39:2). The force of this expression is to cause a return to a place occupied before. Said of the invasion of the land at the time this vision describes, it seems to suggest that Jehovah is bringing these nations back again to a place they had visited before.
Translations differ on the second verb. Where the ESV has "drive you forward," older ones read "leave but the sixth part of you." On that reading, five parts of the army fall and one part lives — and the survivors have work to do.
Gog, his allies and armies fall in disgrace on the mountains of Israel. Greed enticed these hosts to plunder and spoil Israel, then the centre and storehouse of the world's wealth. Only a sixth part are spared. They are sent through the various lands of the east to proclaim the vengeance of the Lord on the enemies of His people, and to make known Jehovah's presence among His own, saved Israel.
God leads him "against the mountains of Israel." What he gains there is not what he came for.
Did Gog think to take the land for a possession? Jehovah will give him there a grave; and this in no obscure spot but in the direct pathway of many passers by... the mounds of so many buried men would stop all who pass that way and lead them to think of the vengeance poured out on them... No calculation of doubting believers who would explain the prediction away need trouble the Christian. Jehovah has spoken, and will He not perform it!
God settles the outcome before the march begins.
But God permits no success whatever to this last assailant. The fury of Jehovah comes up in His face, and He overthrows the hosts of Gog in the northern mountains of Palestine.
- God names him. Gog is the proud chief of vast hordes from the north. His people spread over the steppes, descended from Japheth — a power from "the uttermost parts of the north."
- God moves him. Gog advances by his own self-will. Yet God turns him and brings him up, drawing him to the place of slaughter like an animal led by hooks in its jaws.
- God measures him. Five parts of the host fall and one sixth lives — survivors sent through the lands of the east to tell what Jehovah has done.
- God grounds him. He came to take the land as a possession; God gives him a grave in it instead, in plain view of everyone who passes by.
- God is known. God allows this last assailant no success at all. His overthrow on the mountains of Israel tells the nations who Jehovah is.
And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
God strikes the bow from the invader's hand at the very moment he draws it. Two questions follow: who is this enemy, and why does God disarm him instead of letting Israel fight?
One writer names the leader of this northern alliance and traces the peoples with him back to Genesis.
The leader is the prince of Rosh (not "the chief prince," as the King James Version has it) of Meshech and Tubal. This prince is the head of the confederacy and with him allied are Persia, Cush, Phut, Gomer and Togormah. They come out of the north, or, as it is in Hebrew, "out of the uttermost north"... We know from Genesis 10:2, that Magog was the second son of Japheth. Gomer, Tubal and Meshech were also sons of Japheth... Magog's land was located in what is called today the Caucasus and the adjoining steppes.
Commentators differ over how far to tie this to one modern nation. Another writer leaves the ruling power open and links Gog with a second enemy named in prophecy.
This helps to identify Gog with whatever power holds Russian territory at that time. Many prophecies give such similar detail that we also link him with the Assyrian, or King of the North.
Gog marches out of self-will and greed. One writer shows how that fits with God's own hand in the march.
In self-will this powerful ruler would seek to crush the people of God and to enrich himself with the spoils of war. But God will act in His government to draw him and his armies on to the judgment He has prepared for them... Gog is doing his own will, yet God is drawing him to the place of slaughter, just as hooks in the jaws drag an animal to be killed.
The detail of left hand and right hand fixes the instant. It also carries a lesson far beyond Gog.
Gog is only a creature, and empty at that. God strikes the bow and arrows from his hands. At the very moment they are drawn ready for the attack — bow in left hand, arrows in right — the blow falls. How often some cherished aim or wilful plan seems within reach, and then sudden ruin comes. Instead of conquering, we are conquered. The way or plan we chose for ourselves turns to our destruction. Why? We left God out of our careful planning.
The same writer notes what the disarming costs Gog. He gets what he wanted — the mountains — and nothing else.
Gog then is permitted to reach the mountains he has lusted after, only for God to hand him over as prey to the ravenous bird and beast... Instead of taking spoil, proud Gog falls as prey... he falls in disgrace without striking a blow to advance his selfish interests, and finds a grave in the valley.
If God strikes the bow from Gog's hand, no Israelite archer has to. One writer sees a lasting warning to the nations in it, and points back to an earlier rescue.
Jehovah will make Gog and his multitudes a lasting warning to the nations of the earth not to meddle with His chosen people... Israel will not need to fight: Jehovah will fight for them. As on the shores of the Red Sea, they have only to stand still and see His salvation. He will dispose of their enemies in the coming day with the same ease as He disposed of Pharaoh's legions in the distant past.
The bows and arrows of this verse turn up again later in the chapter. Their sheer number shows the size of the army.
So mighty is the multitude, with bows and arrows, that the people living in the cities of Israel will go out and burn the enemy's weapons — the shields, the bows and the arrows, the clubs and the spears. They will keep burning them for seven years. Tremendous indeed must be the number of warriors that come against them, since Scripture says they will not need to cut firewood in all that time.
The precision of the wording is itself an argument about how to read the chapter.
It is no vague warning about a foe wherever and whenever he may appear; it is no general principle reproducing itself often in divine providence. The Holy Spirit takes pains here to make it precise and specific. This is the judgment of one distinct enemy, long delayed. It falls as the last of Jehovah's blows on the most overwhelming force that will ever have gathered against Israel.
- Drawn. Gog moves by his own will, yet God draws him to the place of slaughter like an animal led by hooks in its jaws.
- Disarmed. God strikes the weapon away at the very moment Gog draws the bow.
- Defeated. He reaches the mountains he craved, and instead of taking spoil, becomes prey.
- Delivered. Israel does not lift a hand; as at the Red Sea, they stand still and watch God fight.
- Declared. The detail is exact on purpose: one named enemy, one future day — not a general lesson about how God runs the world.
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the peoples that are with thee I have given thee to be meat for the birds of prey of every wing, and to the beasts of the field.
Ezekiel 39 returns to the invader called Gog and fixes both where he ends and how. Two questions follow: who is this enemy, and why does God call the defeat something He Himself hands over?
The chapter repeats a threat already made. The enemy's size only makes the outcome more striking.
This chapter takes up again God's sentence against the great northern enemy. Nothing is hidden about his huge numbers and resources. But whatever they are, they will only make the victory greater that Jehovah wins for His people by destroying him completely.
His name tells us less than the direction he comes from:
Jehovah's unalterable "I will" assures that His word will be fully carried out. Added to the repetition of His purpose, we now have the place named — "from the uttermost (or farthest) north." This helps to identify Gog with whatever power may occupy Russian territory at this time. Many prophecies share the same details, so we also link him with the Assyrian, or King of the North.
The fall in this verse follows the striking of the bow and arrows a verse earlier. The timing is the point.
Jehovah has told of Gog's coming and his purpose, and has revealed His own relation to it and His own purpose. Now He shows that Gog cannot carry out his plan. He is only a creature, vanity. God strikes the bow and arrows from his hands. The blow falls at the very moment they are drawn ready for the attack — bow in the left hand, arrows in the right. How often some self-chosen object or wilful plan seems within reach, and then sudden ruin comes. Instead of conquering, we are conquered. The self-chosen way or plan suddenly turns and destroys us. Why? We left God out of the plans we devised with such care.
The verse gives Israel no part in the battle.
Israel will not need to fight. Jehovah will fight for them. As on the shores of the Red Sea, they have only to stand still and see His salvation. He will deal with their enemies in the coming day as easily as He dealt with Pharaoh's armies long ago. First He will throw their ranks into confusion and turn their swords against each other.
God lets Gog arrive. Reaching the land he wanted is part of the judgment, not an escape from it.
God then lets Gog reach the mountains he has longed for — only to hand him over as prey to the hungry bird and beast… How often the grave is the answer to the heart's folly! Instead of taking a spoil, proud Gog falls as prey. He did not find "extension," nor "the topmost" place, which he strove for in pride and self-sufficiency. Instead he falls in disgrace without striking a blow for his own interests, and finds a grave in the valley.
The place where the feast is spread carries the meaning.
The sacrifice of judgment provides a feast for bird and beast. It is spread on the mountains of Israel. Those mountains were laid waste when the nations gorged themselves with the spoil of Jehovah's people. Now on that same ground the rich and mighty of the nations fall to utter destruction. Where once they plundered, they are now taken as plunder. Such is the sowing and the reaping.
A similar call to the birds appears in Revelation 19. One writer places the two scenes close together, with different armies:
Only a little while before this grim summons, a similar call will go out to the birds of the heavens. They will feast on the bodies of the Western armies, led by the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19:17-21). Here the call invites them to gorge themselves with the Russian hosts.
The destruction carries a message far beyond the battlefield.
In this Jehovah lets the nations know that His judgment can reach the furthest limits, and so "they shall know that I am the Lord." They must find their security in knowing Him. That at once destroys every other imagined safety, and opens to them the only true refuge.
- Pride — Gog comes from the farthest north to take spoil. His huge numbers only make God's victory greater.
- Powerless — God strikes the bow from his hand the instant it is drawn. The plan collapses because it left God out.
- Passive — Israel does not fight; as at the Red Sea, they stand still and watch God act.
- Prey — he reaches the mountains he wanted, then becomes plunder on the ground he came to plunder. Sowing and reaping.
- Proclaimed — the judgment reaches the furthest limits. The nations learn that no safety exists anywhere except in knowing the Lord.
Thou shalt fall on the open field; for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord Jehovah.
God's sentence on Gog ends with a picture and a reason. The invader lies dead in the open country, and the only reason given is that God has spoken. So who is this enemy? Why does he fall so easily? And how much weight do the words "for I have spoken" carry?
Before any battle, the prophecy names its target — the man, his land, and the peoples he leads.
Here the case is clearly defined in all but the name, which is probably symbolic. It is the last enemy of Israel who confronts us. He dwells in the land of Magog... So we have the man himself, his land, and his people. But the Lord Jehovah is against him. Good is coming at last to a people long in trouble, and instead of seeing that, he would rather make himself great. So he sets himself against not merely the Israel of God but the God of Israel.
In verse 3 God strikes the bow from his left hand and the arrows from his right. Verse 5 is where the disarmed man lands. One writer draws the lesson from the timing of that blow.
The bow and arrows are struck from his hands — at the very moment they are drawn ready for the attack, bow in left hand, arrows in right, the blow falls. How often the attainment of some self-chosen object or wilful plan seems within our grasp, and sudden blight comes. Instead of conquering, we are conquered. The self-chosen way or plan is suddenly turned to our destruction. Why? God has been left out of the carefully devised arrangements.
He came for spoil. The ground he wanted to own becomes the ground where he falls.
Gog is then allowed to reach the mountains he has desired, only to be given as prey to the ravenous bird and beast. "Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death" (James 1:15). How often the grave is the answer to the heart's folly! Instead of taking a spoil, proud Gog falls as prey. He did not find "extension", nor "the topmost" place he strove for in pride and self-sufficiency. Instead he falls in shame, without striking a blow to advance his selfish interests, and he finds a grave in the valley.
In this verse God is the one who acts. The people He defends do nothing.
Israel will not need to fight. Jehovah will fight for them. As on the shores of the Red Sea, they have only to stand still and see His salvation. In that coming day He will deal with their enemies as easily as He dealt with Pharaoh's armies long ago. He will first create confusion in their ranks and turn their swords against each other (Ezek. 38:21). This is no new method of warfare with God. He used the same means in Gideon's day. (Judges 7:22)
Commentators differ on how Gog relates to the other end-time powers. Many identify him with the king of the North. One writer keeps the two apart.
This enemy appears to come up against the land after the appearing of the Lord. The prophet paints a vivid picture of his overthrow and the complete destruction of his armies. This is not the same enemy as the king of the North, though many students of prophecy appear to think so. Their policy is the same, and both come against Jerusalem and the glorious land from the North. Still, they are distinct powers.
No army wins this fall, and no strategy explains it. One writer points instead to God's repeated "I will".
We return to the announcement we began with, and the repetition adds emphasis to what Jehovah declares. His unalterable "I will" assures complete accomplishment.
The size of the invading force, far from being a problem, only makes the outcome more striking.
This chapter resumes the divine denunciation of the great northern enemy. There is no concealment of his formidable numbers and resources; but, whatever these may be, they will only increase the victory Jehovah gains for His people by his utter destruction.
- Named. God defines the enemy — the man, his land, his peoples — before a single blow lands.
- Disarmed. God strikes the bow away with the arrow already drawn. Plans that leave Him out collapse just when they look certain.
- Reversed. He came to take a spoil and becomes one; he wanted the land and gets a grave in it.
- Unaided. Israel does not fight, as at the Red Sea and in Gideon's day; the whole victory is God's.
- Spoken. The reason he falls is not Israel's strength but God's unalterable "I will."
And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell at ease in the isles and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
Ezekiel 39 ends the account of Gog's invasion, and this verse turns from the battlefield to what comes next. The armies have fallen in Israel, and now the fire reaches the invaders' homelands and the far-off coastlands that felt safe.
The blow does not stop with the invading force. The fire has two targets: the land Gog came from, and the distant coastlands that supplied his army.
God will deal with the land Gog came from, as well as with the isles that sent troops to his army... No distance or isolation will shield anyone from consuming judgment in that day. The Lord is waking to call the living to account, like a man roused out of sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. Then at last the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. No believer needs proof of this. These solemn dealings end in such a blessed result, and they have never yet happened.
What the fire actually looks like is left undescribed, and one writer is careful not to fill the gap.
We cannot tell exactly what form this will take; it is enough to know that God will not only overthrow Gog's hosts, but devastate his land in retributive judgement.
"Magog" is a name with a family history and a geography behind it.
GOG is a symbolic name for the powerful and proud chief of the vast hordes of Scythia and Tartary. MAGOG, the son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), whose descendants spread over the vast plains in the north, after whom the land is here called... Gog is the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. These names answer to Russia, Moscow (or Muscovy), and Tobolsk, all now in the Russian empire. They will come out of the north like a cloud covering the land. They will attack Israel in the land of Palestine, but God will strike them down.
One writer refuses to read the name loosely, or to treat the prophecy as a general pattern.
Magog is not Rome, or spiritual Edom, or anything other than the Scythia of the ancients... This is no vague warning about an enemy who may appear anywhere at any time. It is no general principle that repeats itself in God's providence. The Holy Spirit makes it precise and specific: the judgment of one distinct enemy, long delayed, falling as the last of Jehovah's blows on the most overwhelming force ever gathered against Israel.
The word behind "coastlands" (older versions: "isles") covers more than islands.
The word usually translated "isles" can also apply to coast-lands, such as the Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Scandinavian peninsulas. It can reach further still, to settlements or places where people live.
These are the onlookers of the crisis. Their fault is moral, not military.
The people of the isles have no doubt stayed neutral in all the final conflicts. But in their sheltered lands they have not sought the will of God. They have lived for themselves in ease and comfort. They too must receive their judgment from the hand of God.
The verse overturns the words "dwell securely." Their own defences fail them.
Their walled cities, their fortifications, their powerful navies, will be a useless defence. For it is the day when the risen Lord will judge the inhabited earth, and they shall know that He is Jehovah... The strength and shield of man must fall in that day, and the defenceless who trust in Him will triumph.
Yet the aim is not just to strip them. God takes away the false refuge to open the true one.
This overthrow will fall like a fire on Magog. It will reach the distant isles, where they had thought to live in safety. They felt safe, perhaps, from the disastrous judgments that had fallen one after another in the land when the Lord appeared in glory. By this, Jehovah lets the nations know that His judgment can reach the furthest limits. So "they shall know that I am the LORD." They must find their security in knowing Him. This at once destroys every other imagined safety, and opens the only true sanctuary to them.
The verse ends with knowledge, not destruction. One writer contrasts it with the way God makes Himself known today.
This is the way in which Jehovah reveals Himself. The Father reveals Himself to our souls by the gospel, by the spirit of adoption. But Jehovah makes Himself known by His judgments — by the exercise of His power on the earth. I said that the Father reveals Himself by the gospel, because the gospel is a system of pure grace. It teaches us to act towards others on the principle of pure grace, just as the Father has acted towards us.
- Fire follows. The defeat of Gog's army is not the end; God sends fire back on the land the invasion came from.
- Reach. Distance and isolation give no cover — the judgment runs to the furthest coastlands.
- Exposure. Those who "dwell securely" are the comfortable bystanders. Walls, forts and navies fail them.
- Knowledge. God destroys every imagined safety to open one real safety: knowing Him.
- Contrast. Today God makes Himself known through the gospel of pure grace. In that day He will make Himself known by His judgments — a day writers say has not yet come.
And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not suffer my holy name to be profaned any more and the nations shall know that I [am] Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel.
God's answer to Gog's invasion ends with a name, not with a battlefield. He destroys the invading army so that His holy name is known inside Israel and among the nations. That raises two questions. How does God make His name known through judgment? And how had His own people been staining it until now?
The verse ties knowing God to an act of power on the earth, not to a message of grace. One writer sets the two ways side by side.
This is how Jehovah reveals Himself. The Father reveals Himself to our souls by the gospel, by the spirit of adoption. But Jehovah makes Himself known by His judgments — by the use of His power on the earth. I said that the Father reveals Himself by the gospel, because the gospel is a system of pure grace. It is a system that teaches us to act towards others on the principle of pure grace, just as the Father has acted towards us.
"I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore" implies a long history of it. One commentator explains how it happened, and Israel was not the only one at fault.
This had happened in the past. Jehovah had humbled and struck Israel in judgment, using the nations as the rod of His anger. But the nations He used did not take it in. They mocked and boasted, and they blasphemed Jehovah's name. Surely He counted for less than their own idol-gods. He could not defend or save His professed people! Israel had made Jehovah serve with their sins, so that His name was dishonoured among the nations. The very judgments His holiness had to bring on His sinful people ended in His dishonour in the eyes of the nations.
The judgment of Gog wipes that reproach away. God also purges out everyone inside Israel who profaned His name.
Verse 7 follows fire sent on Magog and on the far-off coastlands. Distance offers no protection.
No distance or isolation will shield anyone from consuming judgment in that day. The Lord is waking up to call the living to account, like a man roused out of sleep, like a strong man who shouts because of wine. Then at last the people of the world will learn righteousness. These solemn dealings end in such a blessed result. Does any believer need proof that they have never yet happened?
The closing title is not abstract. It shows God coming among His people as the Holy One. One writer draws out the principle in it for any reader.
The blessing cannot fail. God reveals Himself as the redeemer, and comes into the midst of His people, as the Holy One, to bless them... You will say that in those verses it is still the people of Israel who are in view. That is true. But God is showing the principle on which He acts in His grace — the way He blesses according to His holy nature — and for us the only way of receiving blessing from Him.
Gog and Magog appear again in Revelation, after the thousand years. Commentators keep the two invasions apart, and this verse is one reason why.
There need be no confusion between them. The invasion in Ezekiel comes before the thousand years; the one in Revelation comes after. Ezekiel's invasion happens when Israel are just back in their land. From that time God's name is known in Israel, and they profane His holy name no more. The nations too learn to know Him. We need no further inquiry to be sure that this is not after a thousand years of such knowledge.
The same danger reaches everyone who carries God's name today.
There is a voice in this for us. We too, individually or together, stand identified with the holy name of Christ. Is that name stained because of our failure? Do we commend Him before the eyes of the world? Or does our carelessness, our indifference, make Him serve with our sins in the world's eyes, because His name is named on us?
- The name dishonoured. Israel's sins dishonoured God's name among the nations. The nations that punished her mocked Him as well: He looked unable to save His own people.
- The name made known. God clears His name by judgment. The gospel reveals the Father in pure grace; here the Lord makes Himself known by acting in power on the earth.
- The name none escape. Fire falls on Magog and on the far-off coastlands. No distance shields anyone. In the end the people of the world learn righteousness.
- The name never profaned again. God purges out everyone in Israel who profaned it. Then He takes His place among His people as the Holy One, to bless them.
- The name on us. Anyone who bears the name of Christ faces the same test before a watching world. Does our life commend Him, or stain Him?
Behold, it cometh, and shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah. This is the day whereof I have spoken.
God names the fall of Gog as the day He had already announced, and speaks of it as good as done. Commentators read this short verse as the seal on the whole prophecy: one definite event, fixed in God's plan, and settled before it happens.
Chapter 39 restates the threat God has been describing, and the numbers do not trouble Him.
This chapter takes up again God's sentence against the great northern enemy. The prophecy hides nothing about his huge numbers and resources. But whatever they are, they will only make the victory greater that Jehovah wins for His people by destroying him completely.
Some read prophecies like this as a picture of how God deals with enemies in every age. Kelly refuses that reading of verse 8 and what follows.
This is no vague warning about the enemy, wherever and whenever he may appear. It is no general principle that keeps repeating in the way God governs the world. The Holy Spirit takes care here to make it exact and specific. This is the judgment of one distinct enemy, long held back. It falls as the last of Jehovah's blows on the most overwhelming force that will ever have gathered against Israel. It comes just before His glory returns, in fresh splendour and peace, to dwell among His people in their land.
Darby calls this wording remarkable. Older translations put the still-future fall in past tense: "it is come and it is done." The ESV keeps it future: "it is coming and it will be brought about."
Gog falls on the mountains of Israel. God makes His holy name known among Israel, and He allows them to pollute His name no more. The nations will know that He, Jehovah, is the Holy One in Israel. The prophecy then adds this remarkable language: "Behold, it is come and it is done, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken."
Darby points out that the announcement covered more than a date.
And this is the day of which the Lord has spoken, as Gog and Magog were the party of whom the Lord has spoken.
The whole passage drives at one purpose: that people should know who God is. Darby draws a sharp line between how God makes Himself known now and how He will do it then.
This is the way in which Jehovah reveals Himself. The Father reveals Himself to our souls by the gospel, by the spirit of adoption. But Jehovah makes Himself known by His judgments — by the exercise of His power on the earth. I say the Father reveals Himself by the gospel because the gospel is a system of pure grace. It teaches us to act toward others on the principle of pure grace, just as the Father has acted toward us.
Revelation also names Gog and Magog. Baines keeps the two events apart.
Gog and Magog are used here in a wider sense than in Ezekiel. Their invasion differs in time and in details, though it agrees in character and aim with the one he foretells. Ezekiel predicts an attack by a great northern power called Gog. Certain geographical details make it easy to identify this power with Russia. In Revelation, however, Gog and Magog stand for the nations, not only from the north, but from every part, "the four quarters of the earth." Again, Ezekiel's invasion comes at the beginning of Christ's reign; the one in Revelation at the end. In Ezekiel the armies fall on the mountains and their bodies are buried. In Revelation fire from heaven devours the gathered forces.
Kelly places this judgment just before God's glory returns to His people. Baines places it at the beginning of Christ's reign. Neither puts it at the close of the thousand years.
- Spoken. The day is no surprise. God had already named both the day and the enemy who comes on it.
- Done. He speaks of a still-future defeat as already over. Commentators call the wording remarkable: God's word settles the outcome before the armies move.
- Specific. This is one named enemy at one named time, not a rule that repeats through history. It is the last of God's blows before His glory returns.
- Known. God makes Himself known to the nations by His judgments on earth. He makes Himself known to us now by the gospel of grace.
- Distinct. Ezekiel's Gog comes from the north at the start of Christ's reign. Revelation's Gog and Magog gather from all four quarters at its close. Same character, different day.