8-20-2023 Sunday Sermon Message

Text: Ezekiel 38:1-23

Devotional of the Week: Psalm 91:1-16

Title:  When will the final battle of Armageddon that is Gog and Magog come to pass?

        When Jesus spoke of the end times, He spoke of the need for the Lord’s servants to preach the word according to the times, and He rebuked those who did not preach such words:

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

⁴⁵ Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

⁴⁷ Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

⁴⁸ But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

⁴⁹ And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

⁵⁰ The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

⁵¹ And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:44-51)

        God spoke through the prophet Isaiah about the Israelite watchmen in the past who ignored God’s word of warning and lived in complacency without warning the people of the judgment that was to come:

” All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

¹⁰ His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

¹¹ Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

¹² Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. “(Isaiah 56:9-12)

       Neither the Israelites then nor the Christians who are now living in the time of the end want to hear about the judgment that is to come. The apostle Paul said that in the time of the end, people will want to have many teachers who will delight their itchy ears, and they will also want to hear stories that have been turned away from the Word of Truth with sound doctrine. (Timothy 4:3-4)

       In order for living, people eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, the food eaten at each time is different. In the morning, they eat milk or light food, at lunch they eat something suitable for lunch, and at night they eat something tough such as stake. The same is true of spiritual food. Now that the Age of Grace is nearing its end, and the day of Christ(Lapture), the Great Tribulation, the judgment of God, and the kingdom of Christ are near, it is time for spiritual evening. Now is the time to be armed with solid doctrine to discern Satan’s deceptions and to be spiritually awake.

       The end time means the end of the world. In fact, the end of the world was already begun when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross shedding blood and resurrected to remove the sin, curse, and death that the enemy the Devil had brought to the world. Therefore, we must realize that this is the end of the world. After the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit rebuked the world for judgment.

” Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”(John 16:11)

       For this reason, two thousand years ago, Jesus and His apostles testified about the time of the end. The Apostle Paul rebuked the Christians of his day for not realizing this fact for them to the only words like milk not eating the spiritual food according to the season::

” I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able…. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

¹³ For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

¹⁴ But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (1 Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12-14)

        Today’s sermon of the book of  Ezekiel is for those who need to hear it, even though it is a very solid meal. This is not the time to spend time with those who are only suckling, so for the past few weeks I have been preaching only the words that need to be understood for the end times.

       Today’s text, Ezekiel 38, is a prophecy about the battle of  Gog and Magog. This is a very solid spiritual word, so it is difficult to understand it, and even the servants of God who teach it can see that the interpretation of it is different. However, if you look closely into the Bible, it is not difficult at all.

        God told Ezekiel to prophesy at that time:

“ And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.

³ And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.

⁴ For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.

⁵ And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

⁶ And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.” (Ezekiel 38:2-6)

       With this passage, we are so concerned with who Gog is, where the land of Magog is, who is the supreme ruler of Meshech and Tumal, and what kind of nations are now in Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, and Togalma, so that we lose sight of the point by interpreting this prophecy with only our own ideas.

        But if we lose sight of the timing of this prophecy, we are to mistakenly assume that these nations are about to break the war.

      But the Bible gives us understanding clearly when this will come to pass:

” And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,…. Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

¹⁵ And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

¹⁶ And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. (Ezekiel 38:11,14-16)

       It says that this war will take place when the Israelites will live in peace and security, without bars or doors in their houses. Then we  have to see when they shall be living in peace without any more terrors and sufferings. Of course, everyone knows that this has not happened nowadays. But after the rapture, when the Antichrist appears in the Great Tribulation? At that time, the Antichrist will persecute the people severely, and they will be forced to flee to the mountains as Jesus said. If so, we will have to find if it may be after the Second Coming of Christ after the Great Tribulation.

        The Bible tells us more about what will happen when the war of Gog and Magog breaks out:

“ And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.

¹⁹ For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

²⁰ So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

²¹ And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

²² And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.²³ Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord..(Ezekiel 38:18-23)

       At the time of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the battle of Armageddon will happen. Then all nations will make war against the Israelites, but it was not the war of Gog and Magog. God gave the Apostle John testified to the time of the battle of Gog and Magog. It is said that when God has temporarily freed the devil who has been trapped in the abyss during the millennial kingdom, it will happen when He deceives all the nations of Gog and Magog once again for the last time. At this time, Gog and Magog are said to be attacking not only the Israelites but also the bride of Christ living in the city of New Jerusalem:

” And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

⁸ And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

⁹ And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

¹⁰ And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10)

         God has been patient for seven thousand years as seven days, and at last He will fulfill His will and bring about a new heaven and a new earth without the devil by judging all the nations that have been tempted by the devil even though they have been blessed in the millennial kingdom.

Amen! Hallelujah!