May 22, Ezekiel 38
“Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages, I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth.” Ezekiel 38:10-12
On my first mission trip to Ukraine in the early 1990’s, I noticed that the maps on classroom walls in the schools were not like the maps from my school days. On our maps, the United States of America was at the center of those flat maps of the round globe. The giant land mass of the Soviet Union was split in two pieces, the western end of the USSR on the extreme right of the map, and the eastern end of our Cold War adversary on the far left edge. But in the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, the school maps showed a different world. The USA was the marginalized nation, split in the middle and pushed to the edges of the map. The USSR was dead center of the world. The maps’ not so subtle message was that one’s home is the center of the world.
The LORD described Israel's dwelling as "the center of the world." I read that the Hebrew is literally, "the navel." God said the people were leading quiet lives in unwalled villages, with no bars of gates to protect them. Was he describing their careless indifference about their faith? Was their guard down? Had their affluence numbed them and distracted them from the threat and danger around them? Does that sound anything like the church in our day and time to you? Are we self-centered and self-satisfied? Are we causal about our faith, or careless about putting on the armor of God to defend ourselves against the malevolent forces of evil?
Some passages in Ezekiel have an apocalyptic feel and flavor, like the New Testament book of Revelation. The meaning of the message is in code-like signs and symbols. Numbers and images have symbolic significance. We should remember that as we try to understand this chapter about Gog and Magog’s mission to destroy the people of God at the center of the earth.
There are only a few references to Gog in the Bible. The name appears in a list of the descendants of Reuben in 1 Chronicles. Other than that, all other references are in this chapter and in Revelation 20.
It seems to me that the Gog passages here and in Revelation have the same significance. They both point to an assault on God's people from the combined forces of evil. In both places, God intervenes with miraculous force to stop the enemy from destroying his people. The fire and brimstone are symbols of God's outpoured wrath in both Ezekiel and Revelation, as well as other Bible passages about God's judgment against wicked people and places. The vast horde led by Gog (probably a figure for Satan, like the king of Persia was back in Chapter 28) threatens, but cannot accomplish their objective of destroying God's people. God’s wrath destroys Gog and Magog instead. God consistently told his people through the prophets that he would judge and destroy evil, whether it was in their lives or in their neighbors.
Remember that the regathering of Israel looks beyond the time of the return from captivity to the "latter years." I do not believe this picture of Gog and Magog refers to a historical event in the past. It’s the same picture in the same language about the final terrible outpouring of wrath by Satan and his forces against the people of God. It will happen just before he and they are destroyed and thrown into the lake of fire.
There's more about this threat of God and Magog in the next chapter. But let's remember that we need not cower in fear before passages that show us the massive scale of evil at war with the people of God. The real message is that God will not allow them to prevail. We do not have to cower in fear about the threatening details. Trust the outcome. God will use that gathering of all the evil enemies of righteousness to destroy them and protect us.
In the end, there's no battle. What kind of weapon would they bring against God? God will consume the mass of his enemies intent on destroying his people with blood, pestilence and death. Be faithful to God, put on his armor. Be vigilant, but don't be afraid.
Remember the prophesied regathering of Israel was not about the earthly monarchy, but about God's ultimate promise to gather Jews and Gentiles in the new Israel of God, his people in Christ. Ezekiel's prophecy looks far beyond the return from captivity to the latter years when this final assault of evil against the people of God would take place. And God would prevail. Evil would not and could not win.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—May 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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