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The series on the Lord’s Deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem continues with Scripture detailing the threat from Gog and Israel’s neighboring nations, occurring in the End Times.

Threat from Gog

All Israel’s surrounding anti-semitic nations plan to invade and destroy Judah and Jerusalem once and for all, as the Beast (Gog) gathers his other armies at Armageddon.

‘A Prophecy about Gog and Future Invasion of Israel’

Gog is another name for the Beast.

Ezekiel 38:1-16 – “And the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Son of man, set your face toward God of the land of Magog… and prophesy against him and say, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.  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 splendidly attired…Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them…Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north…many peoples with you.  Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.  After many days you will be summoned (note that the Lord always controls the events); in the latter years (at the end of the seven year tribulation) you will come into the land (into Israel) that is restored from the sword whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely (‘living securely’ – under God’s protection), all of them.  You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.’  Thus says the Lord God, ‘It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, and you will say, “I will go up against the land of unwalled villages.  I will go against those who are rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations…who live at the centre of the world.”…Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, “Thus says the Lord God, “On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it?  You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you…a great assembly and a mighty army; and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land.  It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.” ” God is proclaiming his supreme sovereignty.

Ezekiel 38:17-23 – “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?  It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,’ declares the Lord God, ‘that My fury will mount up in My anger.  In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake (compare God’s wrath with Revelation 16:18) in the land of Israel.  The fish of the sea…the birds…the beasts of the field, all the creeping things…all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down (compare with Revelation 16:20), the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground (compare with Revelation 16:19).  I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains,’ declares the Lord God.‘  Every man’s sword will be against his brother (there’s confusion within the armies, like in Joshua 10:10 – “The Lord threw them into confusion…”).  With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone (compare with Revelation 11:19; 16:21; 8:5).  I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.’ “

Click here for Scripture summarizing the events that will occur at the Seventh Trumpet – Wrath of God – 7th Trumpet

‘God’s people asking for His help’ / ‘Plea for God to Destroy Enemies’

Psalm 83:1-8 – “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.  For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.  They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.  They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance’.  For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot.”

Here the remnant, or as verse 3 reads, “thy hidden ones” pleads for God to destroy their enemies.  ‘Thy hidden ones’ refers to the Israelites hiding out in the wilderness where they fled during the second half of the Tribulation.  The wilderness will be the mountainous region east of the Jordan River.  All the immediately surrounding nations of Israel will band together – all Israel’s ancient foes – intent on annihilating Israel.

Israel is told to repent and seek the Lord

‘Call to Repentance’

Zephaniah 2:1-3 – “Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you.  Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what He commands.  Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.”
‘That day’, ‘the day of the Lord’ – refers to the Lord’s Day of Judgment – at the seventh trumpet.

God’s continual message in the Old Testament to rebellious Israel was for them to rebuke their national sin, and to repent

‘Judah is called from backsliding’/‘God Invites Repentance’

Jeremiah 3:11-13 – “And the Lord said to me, ‘Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.  Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, “Return, faithless Israel,” declares the Lord; “I will not look upon you in anger.  For I am gracious,” declares the Lord; “I will not be angry forever.  Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God and have scattered your favours to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,” declares the Lord.”
They are told to repent from worshipping false gods and idols.

‘Rend your heart’

Joel 2:12-13 – “ ‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments.’  Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.”

‘Deliverance Promised’

Joel 2:18-20 – “Then the Lord will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people.  The Lord will answer and say to His people, ‘Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied in full with them; and I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.  But I will remove the northern army far from you, and I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, and its vanguard into the eastern sea, and its rear guard into the western sea.  And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up, for it has done great things.”

The Response

Hosea 6:1-3 – “Come, let us return to the Lord.  For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.  He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.  So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.  His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.”

The final step in Israel’s reconciliation will be when they put their faith in the true Messiah – Jesus Christ

‘Mourning for the One They Pierced’

Zechariah 12:10-11 – “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.  In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.”

The believing Israelite nation will “look upon” Jesus and realize that the same Jesus who was “pierced” on the cross 2,000 years ago, who was scorned and rejected by Israel – is their true Messiah.

‘The Day of the Lord’

Joel 2:30-32: “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth; blood, fire and columns of smoke.  The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes (compare with Revelation 6:12).  And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

Isaiah 59:20 – “ ‘A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ declares the Lord.”

Isaiah 29:5-8 – “But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.  Suddenly, in an instant, the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire (compare with Revelation 8:5).  Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel (one of the names for Jerusalem), that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream…so will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.”
The Lord delivers Jerusalem.

Isaiah 54:10 – “ ‘For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,’ says the Lord who has compassion on you.”

The Lord is not done with Israel.  He always has a remnant.

And in the New Millennium:
Jeremiah 50:4-5 – “ ‘In those days and at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God they will seek. They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’ “

‘The Promise of the Spirit’

Joel 2:28-29 – “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prohesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”

‘Prayer and Praise’

Micah 7:14-20 – “Shepherd Your people with Your sceptre, the flock of Your possession which dwells by itself in the woodland, in the midst of a fruitful field.  Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.‘  As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles.’  (The Lord is saying that similar events – similar miracles – will be repeated.)  Nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.  They will put their hand on their mouth, their ears will be deaf.  They will lick the dust like a serpent, like reptiles of the earth.  They will come trembling out of their fortresses; to the Lord our God they will come in dread and they will be afraid before You.  Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?  He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love.  He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot.  Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.  You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which You swore to our forefathers from the days of old.”

Part Three details the Lord’s wrath against Israel’s enemies.

Click here for Part One: The Lord’s Deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem First – Part One

Click here for Part Three: The Lord’s Deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem First – Part Three