No Weapon Formed
God has promised to preserve Israel forever. Here is how the Almighty will deal with Gog and Magog.
The threat to Israel’s survival has existed for millennia. Jewish people often stand before their history in sober silence, so stunned by the unmitigated brutality against them that their minds find it difficult to believe what their eyes have seen.
The horrific Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 led Israeli leaders to say they haven’t seen such barbaric destruction of Jewish life since the Holocaust of World War II. Hamas is determined to annihilate the Jewish state and bury it in the Mediterranean Sea.
Closer to home, hundreds of thousands of Hamas supporters have been rallying across America, crying out for the State of Israel’s destruction. Universities are hotbeds of Jew hatred, and pop-culture icons freely spew their antisemitic poison.
Antisemitism is nothing new. It has permeated the planet seemingly forever and is well documented over the centuries of Israel’s history. But now it is becoming brazenly overt and mainstream.
Yet, today’s persecution foreshadows an even greater hostility that will confront Israel in the future. Ezekiel and other Jewish prophets have forewarned us of the ungodly hatred that awaits the Jewish people in what is called the Great Tribulation. Scripture calls the period “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7).
But God has a plan—a wonderful future for Israel. Ezekiel foretold that one day, God will restore Israel in its own land in everlasting peace. No more wars. No more hostilities. No more kowtowing to other countries. Israel will experience the fulfillment and joy of all of God’s irrevocable covenant promises made to the nation thousands of years ago (Ezek. 36—37; 40—48).
But until that day, Israel has no reason to feel secure no matter what intermediate peace agreements it might sign. A major, upcoming threat to the nation’s survival will be the Gog and Magog invasion recorded in Ezekiel 38—39. Yet, God promises to preserve His people, bring them through the fire of affliction, and plant them in their own land forever (37:14).
God’s Disposition
Ezekiel wrote, “‘And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,’ says the Lord God, ‘that My fury will show in My face’” (38:18).
God is pictured here as full of anger and wrath, like someone burning with outrage over injustice. When Gog invades Israel, the Jewish people will be living there in safety (v. 8). God will be jealous over their security, especially when they are attacked by a vast confederacy of nations. (See “The Invaders“)
Gog’s Destruction
In the past, God has used armies to judge Israel’s enemies. But here He uses nature, mental confusion, and a special plague to eliminate Gog and Magog (38:19—39:5). Scripture says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Prov. 21:1). God will influence Gog and his hordes to invade Israel, and He will destroy them by the following methods:
1. A massive earthquake. “Surely,” the Lord says, “in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel” (Ezek. 38:19). The convulsion will be so severe and vast it will affect all of creation. Fish, birds, beasts, and all other creatures on Earth will tremble; cliffs will crumble; “and every wall shall fall to the ground” (v. 20).
2. Confusion. “I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains. . . . Every man’s sword will be against his brother” (v. 21). In the midst of this massive earthquake, Gog’s army will receive a spirit of confusion and attack itself in what is commonly called friendly fire. This immense force will destroy itself before ever striking a blow against Israel.
3. Pestilence. “I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed” (v. 22). God often brought or allowed plagues to sweep the world, killing masses of people for His purposes.
4. Nature. “I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many people who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone” (v. 22). In the midst of the bloodshed and plague sweeping through the army, torrential rains will cause massive landslides. Large hailstones will pummel the earth, killing Gog’s followers; and fire and brimstone, with its suffocating odor of burning sulfur, will asphyxiate the army.
God’s Description
God alone will annihilate Gog’s forces. God also will magnify His greatness and sanctify His holiness in the eyes of the world. Many nations will know that the God of Israel is the only true and living God (v. 23).
In Ezekiel 39, the Lord describes three major events that will take place immediately after He destroys Israel’s invaders:
1. Weapons are burned. The people who dwell in Israel’s cities will gather their enemies’ weapons and burn them for fuel. There will be so many weapons to burn that Israel will not need to cut down trees for seven years “because they will make fires with the weapons” (v. 10).
2. Dead are buried. There will be so many dead bodies from this war that it will take seven months to bury them east of the Dead Sea in a valley called Hamon Gog in the city of Hamonah in Jordan. Squads of men will be assigned to search the land and mark the location of bodies and bones so the buriers can inter them (vv. 11–16).
3. Birds and beasts are summoned. God will cleanse the land of decaying corpses that could cause disease if left to rot (vv. 17–20). The birds and beasts, He says, will be told, “You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth . . . till you are full. . . . You shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war” (vv. 18–20).
God’s Declaration
In vanquishing Israel’s enemies and preserving the little Jewish nation, God will display His greatness, glory, and almighty power to the Gentile world in hopes the Gentiles will awaken spiritually, call on His name, and be saved: “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them” (v. 21).
Unfortunately, multitudes still will die as unbelievers in the Great Tribulation, which later will sweep the earth.
To Israel, God declares His grace, greatness, and glory. In the remaining verses of Ezekiel 39, God announces that He will preserve Israel and restore it completely, as predicted in so many passages through the Old Testament.
More than 2,500 years ago, God told Israel through the prophet Isaiah, “‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,’ says the LORD” (Isa. 54:17).
This is a great prophecy in which Israel can take hope, especially in the last days. God will certainly keep His promise to preserve Israel forever.
