Bj – In Future Years You Will Invade the Land, Advancing Like a Storm Ezeki’el 38: 7-9

In Future Years You Will Invade the Land,
Advancing Like a Storm
Ezeki’el 38: 7-9

In future years you will invade the Land, advancing like a storm DIG:  Who will be the guardian of the invading force? Where will the invasion of Gog occur? What has to happen before it could take place?

Next Ezeki’el answers the question as to where the invasion takes place.

With perfect irony, Ezeki’el urges Gog, saying: Prepare yourself and be ready, you, even you, and all your companies that are gathered about you. In the Hebrew text there is a play upon words in this verse. The Hebrew word companies is cha-ha-lim, and the word for gathered is ha-nit-ha-lim. The root chahal is the same for both gathering and companies. So there is a play on words in the Hebrew text. In addition, the Holy Spirit orders Gog to be a guard for them (Ezeki’el 38:7 NKJ). The Hebrew here is mishmar, which means a guard, a protector or security. It means to take command. Gog is told to be a protector, to take the responsibility for the whole invading force, and for the well-being of his soldiers.

After many days you will be called to arms. These many days are equivalent to the after many days in Ezeki’el 38:8. No student of prophecy can overlook this phrase because it has reference to Messianic times, that is, the era in which Isra’el’s natural history will find it’s fulfillment and climax.¹³² In future years Gog will invade the land of Isra’el that has recovered from war, whose people were regathered from many nations to the mountains of Isra’el, which had long been desolate. The point here is that this invasion had to come some time after the first world wide regathering in unbelief, in preparation for the Great Tribulation. Since there was no Jewish state before 1948, this prophecy could not have been fulfilled before then. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety, without fear of invasion or deportation (Ezeki’el 38:8).

You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up. Because Jerusalem sits on a high plane within the mountains of Isra’el, it doesn’t matter what direction you are coming from, you have to go up to get there. Thus the Bible constantly makes reference to going up to Jerusalem, or going down from Jerusalem. The invaders will suddenly swoop in like an unexpected storm. Gog’s invading forces will cover the land, just like a cloud blankets the ground below (Ezeki’el 38:9).

This prophecy assumes that Isra’el has been re-gathered back in the Land in a state of unbelief. Ezeki’el 36:24-27 and 37:1-14 provides the background for what is happening in Ezeki’el 38:1 to 39:16. This restoration in unbelief is described in four specific ways. First, this Land had recovered from war. It means the Jews had to fight a war to regain it. This would not be true of the second world wide gathering before the Second Coming because Christ will turn the Land over to Isra’el at that time. Secondly, it will be a Land that is re-gathered from many nations. When the Jews returned to Isra’el in 1948 they came from ninety different countries. Thirdly, it will be a Land with mountains that had long been desolate. This has been the case for two thousand years. And lastly, now all of them live safely. Today the desolate places have been rebuilt and restored and the people live safely from invasion. All of these statements are true of present day Isra’el.

Gog and his many nations will have enough power to carry out their satanic scheme. But so far the goal of the invading horde has not been revealed. That is what we discover next.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for You are Awesome!  ADONAI is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in Him I take refuge, my shield, my horn of salvation, my stronghold. (Psalms 18:1). He alone is my rock and my salvation, my strong tower – I will not be moved. (Psalms 62:7). Praise You that You are so mighty and powerful. Your children can always run to you and know that You are there to protect them, like running to a high rock that the enemy cannot reach. In Your Holy Son’s name and power of resurrection. Amen