Hi steve,
I have two questions I would like your help on…the first one is about Ezekiel..chapter 38 verse 8 when it says you will come into the land that has been restored from the sword who habitants have bee gathered from many nations ect…does that not sound like Europe to you?europe was nearly destoyed by world war 2…my second question is about Ezekiel also…where it says in chapter 38 verse 18- when it says and it will come about on that day..when GoG comes comes against the land of Israel..declares the Lord God..that my fury will mount up in my anger…and you know the rest and God goes on the say that he will destoy them(GOG)…my question is when he says ON THAT DAY…does that mean right when GoG ect attacks his people he will start defending them? what gets me is I do not know if that means he will let the attack go on for awile are if that means..he will stop it almost when it begin?thanks for your time I would love to here what you think it means…again I know your busy and I greatly appreciate your time.
Scott
MYReply
Scott,
Thanks for your questions. I don’t think Ezekiel 38:8 applies primarily to Europe, but I do think it applies to that continent as well as North America. The reason is that Ezekiel 38 specifically prophecies that it is the ten tribes of “Israel” which are attacked by the Gog-Magog alliance and the ten tribes of Israel live in both North America and Europe. I do expect Europe to be attacked at the same time that the USA and Canada are attacked “from the north” (Ezekiel 38:15). Your second question is one I’ve also pondered as it could be taken either way. God could either intervene quickly or he could let the unrepentant tribes of Israel suffer until it gets so bad they realize they cannot win on their own and turn to God for help. Ezekiel 38:17 states that “older” prophecies in the Bible than Ezekiel’s prophecy also refer to the same Gog-Magog attack described in Ezekiel 38. Joel 2 is one such prophecy as it involves “Israel” (verse 27) being attacked by a “northern army” (verse 20) at the end of our age (verse 1). Verses 15-18 of Joel 2 prophesy that God isn’t going to intervene until after his people experience a general repentance and cry out to him for Divine rescue from the invaders from the north.
One final note. Ezekiel 39:1-6 foretell that God will slay 5/6ths of the Gog-Magog alliance. Does that include just the invading military forces of Gog-Magog’s armies or does that includes all their homelands as well? Ezekiel 39:6 argues the latter application is the right one as “the land of Magog” (Magog’s homeland) gets burned with fire. That could happen via (A) nuclear retaliation by the USA/NATO allies against the homelands of the Gog-Magog alliance (an entirely likely event in a world war), (B) God could do it himself with Divine fire, or (C) both options could occur.
Steve
