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Gog, Magog and
Jacob's Trouble
Lord Shall Fight for Them
As in Day of Battle
Part II
In the midst of the trouble God
will reveal himself as Israel’s defender as in ancient times,
when his favor was with them nationally. Their extremity will be
his opportunity; and there their blindness will be removed. We
read,
"For I will gather all
nations [as represented in the hosts of Gog and Magog] against
Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses
rifled, and the women ravished; and half the city shall go forth
into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut
off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight
against those nations as when he fought in the day of
battle." (Zech. 14:2,3)
Isaiah (28:21), referring to the
same thing, instances the Lord’s deliverance of Israel from the
Philistines at Perazim, and from the Amorites at Gibeon, saying,
"For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he
shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon." See 2 Sam.
5:19-25; 1 Chron. 14:10-17; Josh. 10:10-15-how God was not
dependent upon human skill or generalship, but fought his battles
in his own way. So in this great battle God will bring deliverance
in his own time and way.
Gog, Magog, Meshech, Tubal
In Ezekiel’s prophecy
(38:1-13) the Lord names the chief actors in the struggle in
Palestine; but we may not be too positive in our identifications.
Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomar,
Togomar, Javan and Tarshish were names of children of Noah’s son
Japheth–supposed to be the original settlers of Europe.
Sheba and Dedan were descendants
of Noah’s son Ham–supposed to be the original settlers
of northern Africa. Abraham and his posterity (Israel) were
descendants of Noah’s son Shem, and are supposed to have
settled Armenia – Western Asia. (See Gen. 10:2-7.) This would
seem to indicate in a general way that the attack will come from
Europe – the "north quarters" – with allied mixed
peoples.
The overwhelming destruction of
these enemies of Israel (bringing the end of the time of trouble
and the time for the establishment of God’s Kingdom) is
graphically described by the Prophet Ezekiel. (38:18 to 39:20) It
can be compared only to the terrible overthrow of Pharaoh and his
hosts, when essaying to repossess themselves of Israel, whom God
was delivering. In this particular also Israel’s deliverance is
to be "according to [like] the days of thy coming out of the
land of Egypt" – "marvelous things." Micah 7:15
After describing that the coming
of this army from the north quarters against Israel (regathered to
Israel "in the latter day," "having much
goods" and "dwelling peaceably") will be suddenly,
and "as a cloud to cover the land" (Ezek. 38:1-17), the
message is,
"Thus saith the Lord God,
Art thou he of whom I have spoken in olden time by my servants,
the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many
years, that I would bring thee against them?"
The Lord then declares his
purposed destruction of the wicked host; and the description seems
to indicate that it will be accomplished by an outbreak of
jealousy, revolution and anarchy amongst the various elements
composing the great mixed army: a revolution and strife which will
involve whatever may still remain of the home governments of the
various peoples, and complete the universal insurrection and
anarchy – the great earthquake of Revelation 16:18-21
The testimony of all the
prophets is to the effect that the power of God will be so
marvelously manifested in Israel’s deliverance, by his fighting
for them (incidentally for all), with weapons which no human power
can control – including pestilence and various calamities-poured
upon the wicked (Israel’s enemies and God’s opponents) until
speedily all the world will know that the Lord has accepted Israel
again to his favor, and become their King, as in olden times; and
soon they as well as Israel will learn to appreciate God’s
Kingdom, which shall speedily become the desire of all nations.
The Prophet Ezekiel (39:21-29),
as the Lord’s mouthpiece tells of the glorious outcome of this
victory, and the results to Israel and to all the world, saying:
"And I will display my
glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my
judgments that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid
upon them. And the house of Israel shall acknowledge that I am
the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the nations
shall know that for their iniquity did the house of Israel go
into exile: because they trespassed against me [in rejecting
Christ – Rom. 9:29-33]: therefore hid I my face from them, and
gave them into the hand of their enemies [for all the centuries
of the Christian dispensation; and] so fell they all by the
sword. According to their uncleanness, and according to their
transgressions, have I done unto them, and hid my face from
them.
"Therefore [now that this
punishment is completed], thus saith the Lord God, Now will I
bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the
whole house of Israel [living and dead, the "times of
restitution" having come – Acts 3:19-21], and will be
jealous for my holy name; after that they have [thus] borne
their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have
trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land and
none made them afraid.
"When I have brought them
again from the Gentiles, and gathered them out of their enemies’
lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations.
Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused
them to be exiled among the nations, but gather them now unto
their own land, and leave none of them any more there. Neither
will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my
spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God."
"So shall they fear the
name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the sunrising.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the
Lord [throughout the Gospel age-at the hands of Spiritual
Israel] shall lift up a standard against him. And the Deliverer
shall come to Zion [the Church, "the body of Christ"]
and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,
saith the Lord." Isa. 59:19,20. Compare Rom. 11:25-32.
"The Lord is good, a
stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust
in him." But "who can stand before his indignation,
and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?...He will make
an utter end [of iniquity]: oppression shall not rise up the
second time." Nahum 1:7,6,9
Thus, by the battle of the great
day of God Almighty the whole world will be prepared for the new
day and its great work of restitution. Though the waking hour be
one of clouds and thick darkness, thanks be to God for his blessed
assurance that the work of destruction will be "a short
work," (Matt. 24:22), and that immediately after it the
glorious Sun of Righteousness will begin to shine forth.
"The earth [the present
old social structure] shall [thus]... be removed like a
cottage" (Isa. 24:19,20), to clear the way for the new
building of God, the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. 2 Pet. 3:13; Isa. 65:17
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