The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapter 38 (Part 1 of 2)

Introduction to Ezekiel 38-39

We enter a portion of Ezekiel that eschatology enthusiasts may find disappointing from here onward. From chapters 38 to 48, there are interpretive difficulties and eschatological parallels, but the main points relate to sanctification, how believers respond to sin, and how they respond to God. God had an original intention for the Jews in exile that remains valuable today. We will focus on the primary purposes of these texts for our sanctification, dealing with eschatological issues only if necessary.

God's Prophecy Against Gog

The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of Man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you."

Immediately, parallels to Revelation 20-21 emerge, with Gog and Magog attacking God's people. Similarities exist with the new city and temple vision in chapter 40 and Revelation, though differences appear. These hordes come from the four corners of the earth—north (Turkey), east (Iran, Iraq), south (Saudi Arabia, Egypt)—the known world arrayed against restored Israel.

The Purpose: Vindicating God's Name

The hearers are Jews in exile, now restored, yet attacked by nations. Previously, such attacks defamed God's name due to Israel's sin and God's righteous judgment, even using Nebuchadnezzar as an instrument. Now, in restoration, God brings the largest army in Old Testament history—nation upon nation—to vindicate His name before the nations. Judgment is removed; this displays God's protection and righteousness, making His glory famous through His people.

Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from the sword, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

This massive storm-like army advances against unwalled villages, quiet people dwelling securely without walls, bars, or gates. God decrees this attack, planting thoughts in Gog's mind. For restored Israel, fresh from exile, this demonstrates their security in God alone, not material defenses—like Israel watching David defeat Goliath.

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."

God proves His mightier-than-the-mightiest protection, encouraging believers in their war against sin. Past chapters showed defeat through self-reliance and idolatry—like meat safe in a pot. Now, even without walls, God boasts of secure dwelling, freeing His people to see His sufficiency.

God's Wrath and Judgment

You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them?

God arouses His wrath:

But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. ... On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel ... I will summon a sword against Gog ... every man's sword will be against his brother. With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with Gog, and I will rain upon him and his hordes ... torrential rains, hailstones, fire and sulfur. ... So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

God exalts Himself, proving infinite value and worthiness. Ezekiel 38-39 shows God supremely praiseworthy, freeing His people to dwell securely, speaking and thinking highly of Him.

Judgment on Gog and Provision for Israel (Ezekiel 39)

And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and drive you forward and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. ... I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord. My holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

God provides: Israel burns enemy weapons for seven years' firewood—no need for wood from fields or forests. They plunder those who plundered them. God supplies sufficiency from the attack itself, counter to reason—war brings provision for simple needs like cooking and warmth, allowing forests to regrow.

Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them ... for seven years, so that they will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any of the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons. They will seize the spoil of those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.

On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.

Seven months of burial cleanses the land. Chapter 37's valley of dry bones reverses: enemies now lie in the Valley of Hamon-gog, a mass graveyard. God restores the land by removing iniquity.

And you shall eat fat till you are filled and drink blood till you are drunk at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you ... I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed ... The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.

Nations' misperception corrects: Israel went into captivity for iniquity, but God restores, has mercy, vindicates His holiness. Previously, people remembered sins (Ezekiel 16:22 to 36:31); now, they forget shame, dwell securely.

Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid ... then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore and I will not hide my face anymore from them when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.

Vindicating holiness satisfies His people with it, demonstrating its value through God's actions.

Dwelling Securely and Forgetting Shame

Now dwelling securely within their land, verse 26, they shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid.

God has said that in the restoration of his people, in the gathering of his people from every nation—taking his people out from these nations to which he has scattered them—while they were in a specific timeframe they should remember their sins. But in this specific context, when they are dwelling securely within the land, when they're seeing God's holiness, when God's holiness becomes most satisfiable to the people of God, they need to forget their shame and the treachery that they practiced against God. They're in a position where those things are no longer on their minds. They've been freed up to be in this position of dwelling with God.

In verse 29,

I will not hide my face anymore, I will pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel.

God dwelling with his people is an opportunity for people to forget those shameful and treacherous acts that they had committed against God. To no longer be thinking about those things and to be completely freed up to simply enjoy and be satisfied with the holiness of God. It's the blessing of security.

The point of the passage is to forget shame, to forget treachery, and to enjoy the greatness and the holiness of God. We've had constant reminders of our sin throughout Ezekiel, and now we have the ability and indeed the privilege to forget those concepts and to enjoy eternal security with God. He has done what is necessary. And in fact, looking back on these things with the cross, with his servant David as he prophesied and promised that we would have, looking back on these things is the opportunity to rest securely in the grace of God. As he protects us and keeps us secure, there's no ability to be overtaken, there's no ability to fall away in this specific sense. There is nothing but eternal security with God whereby we can simply enjoy him and not be concerned.

The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Now in a lot of ways, verse 29 is one of the specific reasons why I don't necessarily focus on an eschatological context because he's using language here that instructs us of when this is supposed to happen. It's that context in which the Holy Spirit is poured out upon his people. This is ultimately fulfilled by becoming a Christian. This isn't something that would take place yet future. This is something that takes place within our lives from the day of Pentecost even till now.

Peter, when he rises up and gives one of the most fantastic sermons—second maybe only to the Sermon on the Mount—Peter begins to preach the Old Testament concept that happens in several different places that even comes across in

Joel, chapter 2, verses 28 and 29.

And Peter in

Acts 2:16 through 21

says that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is fulfilled as those individuals at that day were hearing it. Calling that the great and magnificent day of the Lord, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit taking place at Pentecost, that then everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. That is the subject matter that is at hand.

Key Takeaways for Christians

Here are a couple of concepts that we could begin to take away from this.

Number one: Christians who call upon the name of the Lord enter into security and into rest. The whole point of

Hebrews 3:12 through 4:8

is the idea that we who believe enter rest. We enter that promised land. We enter that paradise lost. We enter the restoration of God's people by calling upon the name of the Lord, by confessing Him, by believing in Him, by simply being a Christian. If I have the Holy Spirit, I have security.

Another example would be

Ephesians chapter 1

. After recognizing an entire chapter of nothing but the sovereignty of God—you've been predestined to adoption as sons, you have been called out to be a part of this faith, to be a part of this fellowship—then after believing you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. You were given the security that is necessary, you were given the down payment, that is the promise of future payment in full of bringing you into a total fulfillment of this concept of being with God and enjoying Him forever.

Secondly, as Christians who call upon the name of the Lord who enter into security, there is a special privilege and a special blessing and opportunity to forget about sin. One of the main reasons of the beginning portions of Ezekiel is to show you the terror of sin, the ruin and the misery of sin, and as that's on your mind so much it should weigh heavy. That former life should weigh heavy on the mind, should cause us to be convicted, should think about it and be ashamed and be brought to a point whereby Godly sorrow can lead us to repentance. But also recognizing that being given the Holy Spirit, believing in these things is the opportunity to forget.

I think that a Christian that has the holiness of God vindicated in their sight—whereby which holiness is so valuable to them, so infinitely valuable to them—that the one thing that pricks our conscience and bothers us so much is that which is contrary to his holiness. I think as a Christian there's so many ways in which we should begin to think about sin as that which bothers us so much, but yet there is that reassurance that dwelling securely with God is the opportunity to forget that shame. We love it. Have you gotten to a point where you need to forget those sins that formed your life, where you need to have that off of your mind, where it's almost like since you have bothered so much by sin, you would cry out to God, erase that from my memory. Here it is.

Lastly, as a Christian receives the Holy Spirit, enters into this dwelling, the security with God, as a Christian then is able to forget their shame and be freed up for a specific purpose that they can become satisfied with the holiness of God. It seems to be something that is intrinsically programmed into individuals. It is a design of the creation of us creatures known as humans that we seek something to be satisfied with.

The problem of sin is like

Ephesians 4

that don't walk as the Gentiles walk as the unbelievers walk. Don't walk as they walk in the futility of their minds and the pointless thinking and the pointless living that results in sin. Don't walk in that way because they become greedy, it says in Ephesians 4, they become greedy, they become unsatisfiable with sin. They're clawing after it, they're grabbing after it, they're acting like the men of Sodom were when they were struck blind, they were still groping for their sin.

So recognize that you as a Christian have the opportunity to be thoroughly satisfied. It's one of the reasons why Jesus, in the context of a desert, kept talking about the fact that what he offers is water, what he offers is something that satisfies the thirsting of the soul. Because he brings to us that which is satisfying and it's the holiness of God.

And of course, lastly, verse 28,

they shall know that I am the Lord, their God.

In many ways this is something that we can call assurance of salvation. Knowing that the Lord is your God is knowing the security that exists within your life, the assurance of salvation. So if you've ever doubted, if you've ever struggled, if you've ever been in a point where you're saying, I don't know necessarily if I'm saved or not, I'm really struggling. It's because that sin can weigh heavy on your mind. The problem of the fallen nature of humanity can weigh heavily on your mind. There's a ministry that exists in Ezekiel 38 and 39 to know that the Lord is your God. Beloved, know that the Lord is your God.