All right, shall we bow before the Lord in a word of prayer? Father in heaven, what a joy it is to have your word. Now, Lord, you know that we're looking at a prophetic passage of scripture today that is subject to many, many interpretations by many, many people. And Lord, we want to find a message from it today that will challenge and warm our hearts and speak to us. We want to be faithful to your word. And so we pray that you would guide and bless us as we look at it together. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now, this morning we're going to be looking at Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39. You know there's some question as to whether or not the 38th chapter actually should precede chapter 36 or follow... perhaps be on up even further in the book of Ezekiel. I don't think it really matters too much just where we find it because it's obvious as you read these chapters that 38 and 39 go together as a unit and they are the story of a coming invasion of the land of Israel or the nation of Israel from the north. It's very clear that it's coming from the north, for in verse 15 it says, And thou shalt come down 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. Now I say a coming invasion, a coming invasion from the perspective of Ezekiel's day and Ezekiel's time. It hadn't taken place when Ezekiel was yet alive. Now, the first question that we would have concerning a chapter like this, if there is going to be or there was to be an invasion of the land of Israel, similar to what is described before us here, has it taken place yet? And I believe that as I look back in history that I can find no time in history when the things that Ezekiel described have taken place. And so therefore I must assume that this battle and this invasion of the land of Palestine is still somewhere out in the future. Now we want to take just a moment or two to look at what Ezekiel said about the time of this invasion. And we find that it's in verse 8 he gives to us a specific statement concerning the time. This is not the only place where he talks to us about time. He talks to us about time in verse 16. He tells us there that it'll be in the latter days. He talks about time again in verse 18. And he said it shall come to pass at the same time when God shall come against the nation of Israel. And then he talks to us about time in chapter 39, verse 8. Behold, it is come, it is done, saith the Lord. This is the day of which I have spoken. It seems there that perhaps we could tie it in to that time known as the day of the Lord. Certainly there would be some indication for doing so from that passage that I just read there in verse 8. Perhaps a time is mentioned again in verse 11 of chapter 39. It shall come to pass in that day, I believe. So we find time mentioned several places here. Now let's look back at verse 8 because this is one of the most specific places on time that is given to us concerning this invasion. And it is obvious that the invasion is not going to take place during the days, the time of Ezekiel. For he said, it will be after many days that thou shalt be visited. Now we find that this coming and this invasion is going to be a visitation from the Lord. God is going to visit the land of Israel during this time and during this invasion. You know, two weeks ago in chapter 37, we got right into the middle of Ezekiel's vision. Ezekiel saw the nation of Israel just coming back together before his very eyes. And we found that we were in the middle of that vision because we see the nation of Israel coming back together today before our very eyes. It was exciting to be right in the middle of that valley full of dry bones with Ezekiel. Now this morning, I believe we are going to see ourselves right here in the days when perhaps this invasion that Ezekiel saw is going to be coming to pass, or is beginning at least to come to the time when we can see it in the not too distant future. Notice what it says. It says it'll be in the latter years thou shalt come into the land. The latter years in the Word of God speak to us in other scriptures about that particular time when God is going to bring to a culmination the wonderings of Israel and bring them back into the land and prepare them for the glorious return of Messiah. The term latter times is often used in conjunction with messianic scriptures and prophecies. And so, therefore, there would be a hint to us that this invasion is going to take place very close to the time when the Lord returns in glory to set up and establish His kingdom here upon the earth. Now, of course, our church takes a premillennial position as a doctrinal position, so I'm not trying to prove premillennialism. I'm assuming that as we preach this morning. I will prove that in another message or why we take that view at another time and have in the past. In fact, a number of the things that I'm going to say this morning, I'm going to draw on the basis of other messages which we preached. I'm not going to try to take the time to establish definitely everything that we are going to make mention of here this morning. Now he tells us that it is going to be at a time when Israel has been brought back into the land. When they have been gathered back into the land. But it won't be during the time of Ezekiel's day, nor can it be a reference to the return of Israel to the land of Israel following the 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Some say, well maybe this was something that took place soon after the Israelites got back from Babylon. Or perhaps it's referring to a time around the days of Christ. Well, we find no such record of a battle of this nature taking place at that time. But notice what it says. It says, it is a time when they will be brought back out of many peoples. Against the mountains of Israel which have been always waste he said it'll be a time when Israel will have been gathered back into the land out of many of the nations and Many places in the earth not just coming back from Assyria and Babylon but coming back from all over now in 1947 the nation of Israel was get was granted possession of that land again we are familiar with that and since that time they have been coming back there from all over the world and Wherever you go today, throughout the world, there are colonies of Jews to be found. In South America, there are Jewish synagogues. In the continent of Africa, there are Jewish temples and Jewish synagogues. In Asia and in the Orient, there are Jewish temples and Jewish synagogues. A few years ago, I traveled in the Soviet Union, and way down there in the Black Sea, in the city of Georgia, I visited a synagogue. And I talked to the rabbi, and I found that there was a thriving colony of Jews there in the city of Tbilisi. Not Russian Jews, Georgian Jews. Wherever you go, there are colonies of Jewish people. And so today, they are being gathered back into the land from all of the nations. In fact, pressure is even being put today on Soviet Russia to release the Jews from behind the Iron Curtain to allow them to go back to the land of Israel. All right. And so we find then that it is going to be a time when they are brought back out of the nations. not just from Babylon, but it's going to be a time when Israel comes back into the land from all of these places, all of the nations of the earth. And certainly, that is a situation which we find in process at this very moment. Now, let's just take a look at the prophetic picture that God gives us of the world in the end time. If you read the book, The Late Great Planet Earth, you perhaps are familiar with the, quite familiar with Hal Lindsey's portrayal of the Antichrist and the beast that is pictured in Revelation chapter 13 and that is also spoken of as a little horn in Daniel chapter 7. This great coming world leader who was also pictured in that image that Daniel saw. And there we read in Revelation and in Daniel that there will come upon the scene in the end time a confederacy of ten nations. Speculating prophecies such as how Lindsay speculates that possibly the common market today is that coalition. That's only speculation. That can't be proved. That could be right. It could be wrong. I'm not banking on it one way or the other. I do not have the right or the authority this morning to say the common market is the revived Roman Empire over which the Antichrist is going to assume leadership and authority. It looks interesting. But I do know this, that Revelation says that there will be a confederacy of nations in the western world who will be under the leadership of a powerful military dictator, who is known as the beast and the antichrist, a man who is a servant of sin, who is sold out completely to Satan, who will be totally in league with Satan's program, and who will be leading the world in rebellion against God and in the servitude of Satan. This I know. He will be a powerful leader over the western world. But that's not the only military force that we see in the world just before the Lord returns. We look to the east and in the book of Revelation we read of a vast army of millions of people and a strength that will come out of the east. And so we see a great military force from the east that will also be in existence prior to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we look to the north. And we find that north of the revived Roman Empire, north of that ten-nation confederacy over which the beast and the Antichrist rules and reigns, we see another great military force. He is spoken of in Daniel chapter 8 as the king of fierce countenance. He is spoken of as the one who comes from the north by the prophet Joel. And this is a great military force which exists there in the north. And so we have a world in which there is a confederacy of nations in the west of Europe. We have a world in which there is a strong military force that has marshaled itself with its headquarters in the north of the land of Israel. And then we have a strong military force to the east of the nation of Israel, with some military might also seen in the southern parts, but primarily that might under the control of either the 10-nation confederacy or under the control of of this great leader and military power of the North. Okay, so that's the scene that we see. Now again, we've preached on this and laid the background for this in other sermons. I can't go into all of the ramifications of how I arrive at these three major military powers in the end time. But I do feel that I can support them with the word of God. Now, we notice then the time of the invasion. Israel is back in the land. There's a powerful military force in the north that is going to come down against them here. And we find that they are going to come down upon them when they dwell in the land, as verse 8 says, in safety. We look again at verse 11. It says, I will go The King of the North says, I will go up to the land of the unwalled villages. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates. Now you say, wait a minute, Pastor Graves. There isn't a nation in the world today that is more on the alert than Israel. I mean, listen, they live in those kibitzes and they live in those communes and they live in those little villages on the borders over there and they go out in the field and they have a tractor in one hand and a machine gun in the other. Isn't that right? And they've captured the Golan Heights and there's no group of people in the world today that are more feisty and are more militarily armed and more set for defense than Israel. You agree? I don't know of a nation that's more intent upon defense than Israel. And you're saying, now wait a minute, Pastor Graves, that doesn't fit the picture. It certainly doesn't, but things can change, can't they? Do you believe that? I know they can. We've seen things change in our lifetimes drastically, haven't we? Where does the military might and strength of Israel come from today? Certainly Israel is not standing against the world alone. Israel stands strong today because she has the support of Western nations like ours. Take away the support of the United States of America today, and Israel would soon be flattened by the nations around her. You believe that? I do. In fact, I know that to be a fact. All right? Supposing, why is Israel so armed? Why are they so tense? Why are they constantly over here watching our Congress, listening to what we're saying? Because we are vacillating as a nation today. And there are times when it almost seems like we're willing to let them go and put them on their own. And Israel today is somewhat tense as they look at America. Supposing this morning that the United States of America would suddenly sign a treaty with the nation of Israel and say to the nation of Israel, don't worry anymore, we will protect you. And we will announce to the world that Israel is now a protectorate of the United States of America. And if you attack Israel, you are attacking us. Don't you think the Israelites would relax? Well, some would say, well, if they would listen to the Vietnamese, they might not. Somebody might say, I don't know. But I mean, if they believed us, would they not relax then? You see, I was just kind of joking when I said that because there's a lot of ramifications to that problem over there. A lot of ins and outs. I won't take that up here this morning. There was a lot of things going on there that Let's get anybody on in. Now listen. The Bible tells us in Daniel chapter 9 that one of the things that this great political leader of the Western world is going to do when he comes into his program is that he is going to require and he's going to, one of the great things that he's going to do is that he's going to approach the nation of Israel. Daniel said 70 weeks are determined to my people. And he said 69, he tells us when they're going to be fulfilled. The 69th week was fulfilled when Christ was presented as Messiah. And then the 70th week, that's seven years, is still out ahead of us. And Daniel says when that seventh year, that last seven years of prophecy for the nation of Israel begins to unfold, he said that one of the things that's going to take place is that the leader of the Western world is going to make a covenant with the nation of Israel. And he's going to come to them with all of his military might and he's going to be strong. He's going to be such a strong leader that he's going to require that everybody in his realm has to have a mark. And you aren't going to be able to buy or sell or do any business if you don't have his mark upon you. Now that's the kind of power he's going to have. He's going to be a powerful military man. And he's going to make a covenant with the nation of Israel for seven years. a treaty, and he's going to promise them our might, our protection, and he's going to announce to the world, if you touch Israel, you're at war with us. And so therefore, I believe that when that takes place, the Israelites will begin to relax, they will lay down their, they will begin to trust in this, the false prophet from among the Jews will be in league with this man, and he will solidify this relationship of Israel to this man, so that the nation of Israel will say, we have our savior, we have our protection, let's now relax and really develop the land. And so they're going to stop the military guard, and they're going to give themselves totally to the building up of the nation of Israel. And so I see how it could very easily take place according to the prophetic word that Israel could arrive at a time when they would be in their land and living in safety under the promised protection of this political leader. Now you might like to look that up. It's in Daniel chapter 9 where it talks about this coming prince. And it says, he, in verse 27, he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. Now in the middle of that week, he's going to renege a little bit, but he's going to make a covenant with them. And so I believe here is where Israel is going to find the false safety and the false security that we find them in as this thing is about to unfold. We know about the time. I believe that it's going to take place sometime out ahead of us. I believe it'll probably take place during the 70th week of Daniel. I don't see the language of Israel relaxing their guard until they have a treaty of this kind. I believe it'll probably take place sometime during the end of Daniel's 70th week. I believe it'll probably take place sometime after this world leader has reneged, as the Bible says he will, in the middle of the week, and has gone against the nation of Israel. I believe this, in a sense, will give this other nation perhaps the courage to say, well, now we can come down. After all, they're not keeping the covenant that they made with that nation in the first place. And they're not living up to the letter of their promise. I believe all of these things indicate to me that this thing is probably going to take place sometime during the latter part of Daniel's 70th week. So it's out in the future for us this morning, as far as I can see. Although I can't dogmatically prove that. There's a possibility that it might take place tomorrow. Who knows? But this is what I see as the possibility, prophetically speaking. Now, who is this group that's going to come? Well, you know, we have a list of names here. It says, Thus saith the Lord. You know, I like this passage of scripture because seven times in these two chapters, Ezekiel says, Thus saith the Lord. In other words, Ezekiel makes it absolutely clear that this prophecy that he's giving is of God totally and completely. It's not of his own manufacture or of invention. So this is God's word that we are looking at here from the mouth of Ezekiel, his great prophet. And so he said, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Gog. Now, who is Gog? History does not tell us who Gog is. Oh, there are some men that have names similar to this, but we can't really be sure of who he is. All that we know is this, that he is just a name that the Bible gives to the leader of this great northern military power that is going to emerge in the north. Now, what lands are north of Israel? Well, there's Syria and Lebanon, Turkey, and then you arrive at the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, and you're right in the middle of the Soviet Union. I know because I was there. I stood on the shores of the Black Sea. I went out and swam in the Black Sea a few years ago. I looked across and saw the shores of Turkey and Armenia. I stood right in that place and I thought, this is very interesting, this is very thrilling. I'm standing right where Ezekiel says the armies are going to come from. I almost preached my jacket off. I'm standing right where Ezekiel says the armies of Ezekiel are going to come from. And it was kind of thrilling to stand there and to think about it and to imagine what's going to take place one of these days when all of this begins to unfold. And so we find that Gog is simply the name that God gives as a designation of this coming world leader. Now who is he? Well, there's a poor reading here in your King James. The revised version has corrected it. And the name Rosh is used as a proper name here. And he's referred to as the Prince of Rosh, the Prince of Meshach, and the Prince of Tubal. What is this name Rosh or Rosh? Well, it's just a name that was generally given to those areas that were north of the land of Palestine and that were generally bordered around the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and parts northward. Now, you know, I thought, well, I'd like to be absolutely sure just what each of these words refers to. I'll look it up in Bible encyclopedias. I'll look at all of the commentaries that I have. I'll go to the public library and see what reference material there is there. And you know what I found? I found that when you consult 10 scholars, you get 10 different answers. I found that when it comes to antiquity, that we depend on sketchy archaeological material. at best for some of these. And so there are some who say the word Rosh means the ancient area of Russia. There are some who say, well, no, it means the area of Phrygia and Cappadocia. What I would recommend that you do If you like to be specific on these, is to go to the library, and go to the church library here, and look in the Bible dictionaries, the Bible encyclopedia, and the commentaries that we have, and you come to your own conclusion as to just which place and parcel of ground each one of these names symbolizes. I'm not going to spend a lot of time developing that this morning. I think the main thing to see is that the area north of Russia north of Palestine, comprising the area of the Caspian and Black Seas and parts north of that, that's the general area that was inhabited by the people of Rosh, Meshach, Tubal, and Magog. We find that some other nations are also going to join with them. The ancient nation of Persia, which is called Iran. Now as we look at our world today, can we see the possibility of some of the Arabic nations joining in with Russia in an attack against Israel? Can we see that possibility? We certainly can. Do we see a strong military force in the north today? I'll say we do. We find that it mentions also the area of Cush, which could refer to the countries on the Arabian Peninsula as well as the area of Ethiopia. All right? And then Put, which could refer to Libya, but it also could refer, scholars tell us, to some of the other areas that are northeast of the land of Palestine. And so we find that these nations are going to join with them. And then along with that comes Gomer and all of its hordes, together with the house of Togarmah. of the north quarters. Gomer, scholars tell us, possibly indicates that area of the Rhine and Danube, that eastern part of Europe that already today is behind the Iron Curtain and under the control of Russia. Then Togarmah, we're pretty certain that that is an ancient reference to the land of Armenia and that area which is occupied today by Armenia and Turkey. And so we have this dominating force, God, God's particular domain is Rosh, Magog, Meshach, and Tubal, right up there in the north. We find today that as we look at the Soviet Union, that the dominating force in the Soviet Union today and of the communist bloc, the dominating nation there is Russia. There's no doubt about it. It didn't take me very long in traveling through to find out that Russia is a dominating force in the Soviet bloc states and countries. Now I think that some of the other countries are beginning to emerge a little more than perhaps they thought they were. I don't think they're quite so pleased with all the athletes of the East Germans, do you? And I just wonder what Russia thought when Poland won the volleyball game the other night. And when the Yugoslavs beat their basketball team, I think there might be some reorganization of the Soviet bloc states when the whole thing gets over. Because Russia wants to be supreme, strong in all of these things. When I was in the Soviet Union four years ago, I picked up in the airport an English book. telling about the Soviet states. And it said, any Soviet state can secede from the Soviet Union anytime it wants to, by a simple vote of its people. It was very wonderful. But try to tell it to the Hungarians in the Czechs. who in recent years have found that to try to step out of the Soviet bloc or the Iron Curtain countries is to bring the armies and tanks of Russia upon you immediately, as witnessed Budapest and Prague and the things that took place there. And so Gog is the dominant force here. And Gog is the prince of Rosh and Magog and Tubal. And so this dominant force is going to come. Ezekiel said, imagine this, 2500 years ago or 600 years ago, Ezekiel says there's going to come a great military force from this area. And in our world today, we can see it emerging. Now, He said it's going to be joined with other Arab states and countries. And certainly today, we can see that if Russia would lift its hand against the nation of Palestine, that the Arab states would, many of them, just be overjoyed to step in and have a part with it. It's kind of exciting, isn't it, to see the possibility that we are living in the days when these things are about to unfold. I better take a look. Oh, we've got lots of time. Another half hour. All right. I want you to realize that when this invasion takes place, it is not going to come at man's appointment, but at God's time. Notice what it says in verse 4. God says to Gog, He said, By the way, Gog, I'm going to bring you down there. I'm going to put hooks in your jaws, and I'm going to bring you forth, and all your army, and your horses, and your horsemen, all of them clothed with sorts of armors, And I'm going to bring you down there, those that handle swords, I'm going to bring you down to the nation of Israel. Now in chapter 39, God makes an interesting statement. He refers to this nation of Israel as my land. I don't think we realize how much God is associated with that nation and with that land. We say this land is our land. But God says, that land, that city, that nation, He says, it's my land that you're coming against. And God says, you will not prevail this time. God said, I have let the nations overrun it. And he said, through the words of Jesus Christ, he said, Jerusalem is going to be trodden down of the Gentiles until Messiah comes. But God says, I'm about to send my son back. I'm about to send my king. And God says, I'm going to take my land back for myself. It's God's land, the nation of Israel. And it's an interesting thing. And let the nations of the world be aware of that. Let the Arabs know this morning that it's God's land. It's not man's, all right? Now notice what he says. He said, you're going to come down at my appointment. And what is the purpose of the invasion? Oh, he said Gog is going to come down to plunder. In verse 10, he said, you think you're coming down to plunder, but he said, really, you're coming down because I have appointed you to come down so that I can get you there in the land and spring the trap. Spring the trap. In other words, he's going to come down like a little mouse for a piece of cheese. And oh, that little mouse, he's walking around and he's so hungry, isn't he? And he looks in your kitchen and suddenly he sees, wow, look what those silly people did. They left a beautiful piece of cheese out here. And so he rushes up and he grabs the cheese. And as soon as he grabs the cheese, what's happened? And you hear the noise in your bedroom and you say to your wife, we got him. And she says, go out and get rid of him. Is that right? Okay. And that's what God is going to do. God has made this land blossom. The Red Sea has been filling up with minerals and wealth for thousands of years now. And it's a place that is being unfolded to the world as a veritable fortune to be had. The land of Israel is going to be one of the brightest plums that has ever existed. And the wealth and the beauty Is going to attract this man and this king and these people and so he's going to come down in verse 10 It says you're going to think an evil thought you're going to say I'll go up to the land of unwalled villages I will go to those who at rest who will dwell safely all of them dwelling without walls having neither bars nor gate I'll go down to take a spoil and to take a prey This has been the program of communist russia whether you know it or not Communist Russia preaches and teaches equality, but all of the nations that they possessed and conquered and held sway and control of after World War II, they stripped them, they spoiled them. When I was in Skautobel, I met with some people from East Germany. She could speak English. I said, how are things going? She said, we're finally fighting our way back. But she said, you wouldn't believe it. They came into our city and they took everything. She said, they even dismantled our factory and all the machinery and took it piece by piece back to Russia. They took our toilet seats. They took our light fixtures. They took everything they could get their hands on. And they took it back to Russia. Many people in our society today, we don't know about that. But that's what happened. Talk to Alex Putkari about it. Talk to some of the people who've lived through it. taken a prey. Take a spoil, take a prey, turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, upon the people that are gathered out of the nations who have got thee. He said, you're going to come down. And he says now, he said, some of these western nations, when they see you coming, they're going to ask a question. They're going to say, what are you doing here? Sheba and Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all the young lions. Doesn't that remind you of the United Nations? That's how decisive the United Nations usually is when there's trouble somewhere, isn't it? Oh my, maybe you're really enthused about the United Nations. What I find, what the United Nations usually says is, why are you doing this? And then they argue for days about why you're doing it while it's always being done. And I see the United Nations' response here. And so these Western nations, which are represented here by Tarsus, which is the area of eastern Spain, possibly Great Britain, and all the young lions, and Sheba and Dedan, they're going to look at this nation when it comes down and they're going to say, what are you doing? As if they didn't know. As if they didn't know. And then it says, you're going to come. Ah, you're going to come. You come from out of the place of the north parts, all the peoples with you. You shall come over my people like a cloud to cover the land. And it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring my land against the nations that they may know me, when I shall be sanctified in the Eogog before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God, art thou of he of whom I have spoken? by the prophets of old. In other words, Ezekiel said, and by the way, I'm not the first one that God told this to. He said he told the other prophets. He did. Jeremiah chapter 4, Jeremiah chapter 6, Joel chapter 2 verse 20, where Joel talks about this king who came from the north and was totally destroyed. Daniel chapter 8, he talks about this king coming from the north. And so we find here that other prophets have spoken about this. And it says, it shall come to pass at the same time when God shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord, that my fury shall come up in my face. In Psalm 18, we have an anthropomorphism of this presented to us, where God gives to us this same picture. I don't have time to read it for you because our time is gone, but be sure to read Psalm 18, beginning at verse 7, in conjunction with verse 18 of Ezekiel chapter 38. And there we have an anthropomorphism of God as a man who is filled with anger and his breath is snorting out of his nostrils. All right. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken. And so God says, I'm going to deal with you. And God says, the first thing that I'm going to do, I'm going to shake the earth. And that army is going to get down there and suddenly the hills are going to start to fall down on top of them. You know, we in Santa Rosa know what earthquakes are, don't we? Yes, we do. There is nothing more terrifying and nothing against which you are more helpless than an earthquake that I know of, unless it would be to be at the bottom of a dam when the dam breaks. That can be bad, too. But I remember, whenever we had that last one, I can't remember just when it was, but I remember sitting in my house and when that second shot came. And you know that feeling, I wonder if the house is going to go down this time. It certainly sounds like it is. And you're helpless. You're just standing there. And I read that in some places, when the earthquakes come, that the ground opens up. And so God says, I'm going to shake the mountains. And down they're going to come. The fish of the sea, the fowls of the heaven, the beasts of the field, and the creeping things that creep on the earth. And all men upon the face of the earth will shake. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And God says, I will call for a sword throughout the land. There will be anarchy. He said there will be such confusion that the soldiers will begin to bolt and run. I wonder how that can be. That's the easiest thing in the world to understand right there. Anarchy is something that could happen very easily in the armies of the Soviet Union today. Listen to me. Thousands of those people would take any chance they could to get out. Why, even at the Olympic Games, a number of their athletes are defecting right at this very moment. Alex Putkar, he's a member of our church. He was a soldier in the Russian army in World War II. He delighted in being captured by the Germans, and when he was set free and turned back to the Russians, he escaped. We don't build walls to keep our soldiers and our people in. But they do. You give these soldiers a chance in a moment that's unguarded, and they're going to vote for their life and for freedom. Believe me, they will. They would today. All right? Notice what else it says that will happen. Every man's sword shall be against his brother. I will enter into judgment against him. God says, I'm going to send pestilence, blood. I'm going to rain upon him, upon his hordes. And many people are with him, overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone. I will magnify myself and sanctify myself. I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I'm Lord. God is saying, you say there is no God. God says, I'm going to bring you down to Israel, and I'm going to teach you that there is a God. God said, I'm going to do this before all the nations of the world, so that the world may know that I am God. Well, what is the result of all of this? Chapter 39, we won't look into it this morning, except just to mention one or two things, and then we close. Verse 2, he tells us that only one in six of those soldiers will survive. Five, six of that huge army from the north will be lost. It's a terrible slaughter. He said, I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand. You will be totally disarmed. Your arrows will fall out of your right hand. You will fall upon the mountains of Israel and the peoples that are with thee. And I will give thee unto the birds of every sort into the beasts of the fields to be devoured. In verse 9 it says, And they that dwell in the city shall go forth, and they shall set on fire, and they shall burn the weapons, and use them for firewood, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, the hand spikes and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire for seven years. They won't have to take wood out of the field, neither cut down any of the forests. For they shall burn up the weapons, and use them for fuel, and spoil those that rob God, that rob them. And they shall rob those that rob God, rob them, saith the Lord God. Verse 12 it says, And they shall spend seven months burying the dead, that they may cleanse the land. It's a total victory. It's the total end of a nation. God said it's coming. The thing that I find thrilling is this, that even though Ezekiel wrote it 2,600 years ago, and we're reading it here this morning in 1976, we can see much clearer than Ezekiel what God was talking about, can't we? This message has been brought to you by the Santa Rosa Bible Church. Our mission is to see the lost reached and believers transformed by Jesus. You can find out more information about us at our website at srbible.org. Or you can visit us in person at 4575 Badger Road in Santa Rosa, California. You can also reach us by phone at 707-538-2385.