Now before we begin today, I got a couple questions to ask you. How many of you know God? You can raise your hand if you think you know God, all right? How many fully know God? So our hands should go up in some ways if you know God, and yet if I say, do you fully know God, you know, you kind of feel like, I don't really fully, completely comprehend who he is and what he does and whatever. How many would like to fully know God? Can you imagine how different your life would be? Could you imagine what it would mean on Monday morning if you ever came to the point of really, fully comprehending and knowing God? In fact, if you go through the Bible, you understand that those who did see God, like Isaiah and a bunch of others, they were never the same. They fell down, they worshiped, they were never the same. What a thing it would be just to get to know God, to know Him. Now I'm gonna ask you another question. How many of you here heed the warnings of God. Come on, raise your hand if you heed the warnings of God. There's gotta be somebody in this room. Thank you. All right, one person. You don't heed the warnings of God? It's not a trick question. To some extent, we say, yes, I do, I think. And yet probably all of us sit here and go, you know, I'm not raising my hand because I'm sure there's someplace he's going to pick up that I'm going to have to say, no, I didn't heed that warning. What would be like for be somebody who didn't heed the warnings of God? Can you get that? It wouldn't be good. How would that work? How does that turn out in your life? And so if you can keep those two thoughts in your mind, do I know God? Could I know him even more? Could I know him? more completely, more fully, and how great that would be. And keep on the other side of your mind this, do I heed his warnings? Do I do that completely and fully and accurately or not? If you can keep those two in mind, you got Ezekiel chapter 38 and chapter 39. You understand that it's a prophecy. It's against Gog from the land of Magog. And we're just gonna ask a couple questions and make our way through it. And as we make our way through that, you know, you're gonna understand it. It's not gonna be hard to understand. You can just read it. A 10 year old kid can read it and get it. And then you're gonna like, but, When did that happen? When will it happen? Why does it happen? All those kinds of things come to your mind because we, it's such a preposterous story. It is so beyond the realm of normal that you're going to say, I get it, but it can't happen. I mean, I understand what he said, but you know, it could never happen. And I don't therefore know what it means because I know it can't mean what it says, or can it? Let's just ask a couple questions today. Gog of Magog, who is he? Well, he's Gog, and we don't know if that's his name or it's just a title like Pharaoh, but we know he's the leader. We understand he's a political leader, we understand he's from Magog, from the land of Magog, and in a minute we'll have a map and I can show you where Magog is. You would find the word Gog of Magog is found in Genesis chapter 10, verse 2. It's found in 1st Chronicles, where in chapter 1 in verse 5, where he's starting at the creation, and the author of Chronicles starts at creation, and he goes to Gog and Magog, and it's found all the way back in Revelation chapter 20, Gog and Magog, and now it's found in Ezekiel. So it's not a word or a phrase that's unknown to people, Gog is a leader of a people and he's from Magog, we get that, even if we maybe don't know where that is, in a minute we'll find out. We understand as well as you read down in chapter 38 of the land of Magog, he's the prince of Roshar the chief, prince of Meshech and Tubal. That, of course, has been translated different ways. If you have an older King James, it's the chief, I'm sorry, if you have the ESV, it's the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. If the older King James or even the new King James, you understand, he's the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. So let's just think about that. Rosh is the word that's used 590 times in the Bible, and it always means head or chief or top. or best, that's what it means. So what it's really saying is this, he's this guy Gog, from the land of Magog, I can understand that. He's the chief prince, he's the greatest political leader of Meshech and Tubal, and those words are found in Genesis 10, they're found in 1 Chronicles 1-5, they're found in the New Testament as well. You understand those are two places, and we're gonna find out where they are, but they're two places. And so we have a man who's from the land of Magog and he's the big shot leader politically of Meshech and Tubal. You understand in later on in verse 15, I think it is, it will say again and again, he's from the far north. If you go from Israel and go north, where do you go? And if you go far north, where do you go? Well, you eventually get to the North Pole, but before you hit the North Pole, you're gonna go through a land called Russia. In fact, you go straight up from Jerusalem, you'll go right down the main street of Moscow, just about, not quite. So the far north, geographically, if that's what it means and what's what it says, it's a place we call Russia, where there's a Meshech, Moscow, and Tubal, Tobolsk. And we understand that I'm getting who he is. He's a man who's from a country, and we understand he's the chief prince and he's from the far north I got it besides that you go to verse 5 he says he's allied with Persia which we know is Iran No hints there, no difficulty there. I know where Persia is. He's from, he's allied with Ethiopia, which is Kush, which is really not the Ethiopia we have, although it's part of it, but it's really from the part of Sudan that we call the northern part of Sudan. I said it when I read it, the southern, but it's really the northern part of Sudan. So we know where that is. He's an ally with Iran, North Sudan. Libya, I think we all know where Libya is. We looked at a map, so we got that one down. That's not hard to understand. With all of them, all their shields and helmet, Gomer, that would be a place that's found in Genesis and First Chronicles and other places, and we understand it to be a part of what we call Turkey today, Anatolia, and you can read that in history books and whatever. You also understand the house of Togemar, Those would probably be in part of Turkey or what we call the Stan countries. You know, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and all the Stan, Stan, Stan countries, all those kinds of things. So you recognize he's got some allies. So you know who he is? Well, that's what we know about him. I don't know how tall he is. I don't know what color eyes he has, but I do know who he is. He's Gog. And this is a prophecy from God to him. And you can't forget that. It's to Gog, it's not to Israel. It's not to Russia, it's not to whatever, it's the leader of a group of confederated nations. He comes from the far north and his country's up there, but he's got all these other nations. By the way, if you look at Persia, Ethiopia, North Sudan, Libya, Gomar, and Togomar, what is true about them today is every one of them is an Islamic state. And every one of them has tremendous military might or potential or wants to have it, right? Some of the things that are missing, by the way, you don't have Jordan, you don't have Egypt, you don't have Lebanon, you don't have a lot of places that you would expect to be here, but they're not listed. So, well, that's another story where they would come in. You would also understand, and I read later on in verse, what is it, 13, Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarsus, you know where those are, and those are some of the countries along the coast, and then out towards Spain, actually, Tarsus is towards Spain, and when this event is gonna happen, those countries are gonna kinda raise a weak little thing, like, you're not gonna plunder them, are you? You're not gonna go plunder them, are you? You're not gonna plunder them, are you? And it's this weak, resistance that doesn't amount to hill of beans. And so we have a powerful person. Now we ask the next question, by the way, let's put the map up there and you can understand Magog would be North and Tubal and Meshech and Togomar and Gomer and Libya and Ethiopia. You can get this whole thing. And what's right in the middle. There's a little country called Israel. Okay. So we got who it is. Let's ask another question. What's gonna happen? What will this God do? Well, you kind of get it in verse four. God said, I'll turn you around with hooks. You're gonna have armies and horses and all that kind of stuff. And as you read verse seven down, prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you and be a guard for them. If you read that, and we did read that, he puts together a massive army. of all those countries, he conglomerates them all, puts them all together, and they're well equipped. I think it's six times in this particular thing, it says something about a mighty army, a massive army, a spectacular army, and you understand that it's a military force put together under the leadership of a person called Gog of Magog and all that, and he puts together this great military force. What do you do with a military force? I've often thought what it'd be like to be trained as a military person and never do anything. You know, you kind of like being a fireman and never fight a fire. You know, when you put together a military force like that of all these allied nations, you probably are going to use it. and indeed you would find that he does, for example as you read down in this particular section in verse 8 it says this, after many days you will be visited in the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel which had long been desolate You could read in chapter 38 and verse 14 he says, And there's several places in there, you understand he will put together an army and the intent of the army is to invade Israel. And he's going to take on Israel. He's going to go get them. In fact, you had read, we read in there, they're going to come like a cloud, you know, you ever see clouds come across the plains and, and all the dust is flying. And this, this huge army is going to be coming against Israel, the land that has been regathered and put together in a land that we call Israel. And that's what he's going to do. You say, um, maybe I have another question is something like this. Why would you do this? But there's two things, answers to that, and you gotta get them both, all right? You understand in all of history, there's what we would call maybe a natural explanation, and then there's a divine or supernatural explanation for things. So, why did you get up in this morning? Well, my alarm clock went off and I got out of bed and whatever, but there might be something behind that that God is doing, all right? and you have that in life and you have that here, here's why he will do this, verse 10, on the day that it shall come to pass that thoughts will rise in your mind and you will make an evil plan. So he's sitting there going, you know, I'm gonna have a plan. Israel, hmm, like them. You will say, I will go up against the land of unwalled villages, I will go to a peaceful people who will dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gate. I can understand that. Here's a powerful military figure who wants to conquer something. He's got all of his allies, the Islamic states, the powerful Islamic states of our day. He says, you know what? There's a people down there and they don't even have their defenses up. They don't even have walls. They're just sitting there in peace. They really think they're in peace. You know a good time to attack somebody? When they got their walls down. when they think they're at peace. A bad time to attack them is when they're ready for you and they see you coming. And so we understand why we do it. He sees a land of unwalled villages living at peace. Notice as well, verse 12, to take plunder, to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited. He sees a land that suddenly is just ripe for plunder. It's like this country is too good to let go. And it doesn't tell us specifically what it is. But there's all kinds of booty there. There's all kinds of plunder there. There's all kinds of good things there. I mean, this is something we really would like. And since they're living in peace, we're gonna come real fast, real quick with like a cloud across the sky before they really can get their forces all together and really try to do something. And we're gonna take them so that we could take them and we can take everything that we want. And that's God's perspective. And that's why he's doing it. But as you read this prophecy, you understand there's not only the natural Gog explanation, there's a behind the scenes explanation, which is God's explanation. Why in the world would he do this? Notice what it said in verse four of chapter 38. I will turn you around and put hooks into your jaws and lead you out with all your army. Who's the I? Well, all the way through this section, again and again, it's I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, and you know that's God. Who's the you? It's God. God says, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna put a hook in your mouth, and I'm gonna pull you out. Later on, he's gonna say in verse 16, you will come against my people, Israel, like a cloud to cover the land. It'll be in the latter days. Verse 17, thus says the Lord God, are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by my servants, the prophets of Israel who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them? Why does he do it? Well, from his perspective, peaceful, loving people have all their guards down, lots of plunder. God says, I want you to know, in fact, that's why you have to understand, this is a prophecy to Gog. God is saying, God, here's what's gonna happen. Prepare yourself. I'm gonna hook you and I'm gonna bring you in the land and I'm gonna push you against my people Israel. You say, why would God do that? Well, you understand later on we will catch why God is the one. God takes full responsibility for doing this and hooking them and leading him out. You understand that God is not ashamed or afraid to do that or take credit for it. Now, the way he has to do it is kind of the way he has to let you sin, you know, just let you go in the way you go, but God takes full credit for it. When I was a kid raised up, the picture that comes to my mind as a kid raised up on a farm, my dad had a big bull in the back pen on the farm, on the barn, and I was never allowed to go back there, and I never did go back there. I was scared to death, my dad, whatever, but my dad would go back there. And he would put a ring, he had a ring in the bull's nose, and he'd hook a rope on it, and he would come walking out with the bull. And who was moving the bull? My dad was. He could move him anywhere he wanted, anytime he wanted, no matter how powerful that bull was, it was my dad leading him. This country thinks They're in charge, they're powerful. We're gonna take Israel, because it's full of plunder. God said, I just want to warn you in advance, I'm the one who put the hook in your nose. And I'm the one bringing you out, and I'm leading you out. And that's why he's doing it. You say, when is this gonna happen? I don't know if that's ever happened in history. Have you ever seen anything like this happen to history? Why would he do this? I think we gotta win, will he do it? He sees the land, I think I'm back to the same one. Let's see if I can grab to the next one. And when will he do this? As you read through this, you understand there's a couple of things that are said. It's after many days. Now in prophecy, when Ezekiel's talking, that's not like 10 days from now or 20 days from now, but after many days makes you think it's gonna be after a long, long period of time. You remember, Jerusalem has already fallen in 586. This is about 592, or 582. So it's been four or five years since this has happened. So it's not the fall of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, but it's after many days. You would find as well, after Israel is restored in the land, because that's Ezekiel 36 and 37, And they're gathered together, he said that again. So Israel has been restarted in the land. It's after Israel has feel secure. And that's the key to it. Does Israel today feel secure? Is Israel today this unarmed village with no military might and nobody on the defense and nobody ready to go at any time? You go, not really. They got everything up and ready to go at a moment's notice. So it's going to be some time in history when Israel has been brought back to the land where they're going to feel so safe they shut down all their military defenses. They shut down all of their strategies and all their abilities to react. You and I could take time today to figure that out because in the New Testament as well as in the book of Daniel it tells about a day when in There will be a period of peace, a covenant of peace signed, and Israel will sign it. They'll think, we got it, we're safe. So that has never happened in history. So we have a sense that it's after many days. We understand it's after Israel was restored in the land and regenerated in the land, that has not happened. It's after Israel feels secure, that's not happened. And you would also find, it says it several times as we read, in the latter days, and you understand in prophecy what that means, in the last days. So in the last days, Somebody by the name of Gog from the land of Magog, which is in the far north, who's the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal, is gonna gather together a whole bunch of allies, mainly Islamic states, not close to Israel, not the Sunnis, but the Shias, and all the Islamic fundamentalist Shia states, and develop an army that's well-equipped, ready to go, and they're gonna say, you know, now's the time. Israel feels safe. They take down their defenses. They got a lot of plunder to take, and they're going to attack. Can you understand that? That's not hard to understand. A 10-year-old kid reading this could tell you that's what it says. You say, well, how does that work? How's that going to work for him? Why would God do this? And as you read the rest of chapter 38 all the way through chapter 39, which we will not read, I'll just throw out a couple things. God, remember, is prophesying to Gog and saying, listen, buddy, here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna put a ring in your nose. I'm gonna pull you out. You're gonna think you're this powerful country. You're gonna put together all these Islamic Shia states. You're gonna go for Israel. You're gonna take them on because they're living at peace sometime in the future. But I'm warning you in advance I'm telling you before it ever happens how this one's going to turn out. Here's what he says in verse 18. It will come to pass at that time when God comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord, that my fury will show. Verse 19, at the last of it, a great earthquake in the land of Israel. In verse 21, I will call for a sword against God throughout all my mountains. Every man's sword will be against his brother. They'll just be infighting. There'll be earthquake going on. You realize in verse 22, and I will bring against him judgment with pestilence and bloodshed. I'll rain down on him and on his troops, and on many people who are with him, flooding rains, great hailstorms, fire, brimstone, I'll magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I'll be known in the eyes of many nations. You could read down through it, chapter 39. I wish we had time to read it. This fall, by the way, we're gonna do a Bible study for anybody who's interested, just for six weeks, on the details of Ezekiel. All right, so all the things that I jumped over, we're gonna do that. But if you could read it, you know what's gonna happen? How does that work for him? He's going to be totally annihilated. Israel won't have to fire a shot. And God is warning Gog in advance and says, now, I'm just telling you, when you do that, I'm going to annihilate you. In fact, the description is so preposterous, you say it cannot be true. For seven months, they're going to have to bury the dead. You say, boy, they really stink. But you know what it says? The dead will be eaten by the birds of prey. So there's a whole bunch of bones laying around. So many men will come and take war with Israel, and they will be destroyed, and then the bones, they will have to go around for seven months, they'll be picking up bones. There'll be so many weapons of war and fuel left that for seven years, Israel will not have to go and cut down any trees. They can just run off all the destruction that has taken place. It's just so preposterous, so great that you say it can happen, but it's there. And God says, Gog, I'm telling you in advance, I'm prophesying to you, someday I'm gonna use you to attack Israel. with a whole bunch of states that surround Israel, and then I'm gonna annihilate you. And you say, but why does God give us this prophecy? And more importantly, why does he say it to Gog? And I'm sure you have the answer. Because it's obvious throughout the text. You know what we often miss in every text is the obvious, right? How many times hasn't God said in the book of Ezekiel, and we just kind of after a while read over it, read over it, oh there it is again, there it is again, there it is again, there it is again, there it is again. So after a while I don't read it. I mean he said it like 62 times, like how many times do you have to say it before I get it? But I'd like you to go to chapter 39 verse 21 and 22 and we'll pick this up and we'll get it. And we could find it several times in chapter 38, several times in chapter 39, and 62 or some number of times in the book of Ezekiel. He's been saying it again and again and again. Why the prophecy? Why do they need to hear this, whether it's Gog or Israel or me or you or whoever? Verse 31, I will set my glory among the nations. All the nations shall see my judgment, which I have executed in my hand, which I have laid on them. If you go back to chapter 39 and verse six, then they will know that I am the Lord. Verse seven, then the nation shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Do you know why God in advance tells Gog, and Israel is listening and you and I can read, that this event is coming in history? Because it is this event in history that'll be part of what God does to finally get the nations to realize he's God. They will know that I am Lord. They will know that there's no God like me. They will know that there's no master like me. They will understand. For the first time in history, these pagan nations will come to realize that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. They'll finally get it. And you and I understand that the purpose of God here is not just to glorify his name in like a selfish way, like he's some kind of eagle trip kind of person. But He wants people to glorify His name and magnify His name because He is great. And as we glorify Him, and as we magnify Him, and as we worship Him, and as we serve Him, then our lives and our hearts rejoice, and our hearts and our lives are filled. The chief event of man is for us to glorify God, right? And so when we finally get to that point, it's for our good in some ways. It's not just God on an eagle trip wants everybody to worship him. And we understand that what he is saying here is, why did I give you this prophecy? Well, I wanted you to know that I'm Lord. And you have to ask this question, why would God want them to know that? Why did he want Gog to know it before it actually happens? I wonder if this Gog, if he lives today, is reading this, he should. Because it's a warning. You remember I studied the sermon by saying this, how many heed the warnings of God? And God, in his mercy and grace, before he does it, says to Gog, I'm just telling you what's gonna happen. I'm telling you before it happens what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna annihilate you. I probably told you the story about my young guy who's not so young anymore named Jeff Powell when he played tennis. Some of you tennis players will like this. He was playing in some tournament. I was there with Lynette and he's playing against some kid over there and he goes, you should step back. The kid goes, I'm not stepping back. He goes, no, no, really, you should step back. I'm gonna serve. Why don't you move to the right and step back about five steps? And the kid says, no, I don't, I'm all right, I'm gonna sit here. He goes, no, really, you should step back five steps and go to the right. I'm gonna serve it right in the corner, and that's your only hope of hitting it back. The kid says, no, I'm standing right here. He says, okay. Boom, ace. Next time the kid was five steps back and to the right. When somebody warns you, You probably ought to listen. Because he's probably going to do it if he's God. If God says to you and to me or to anybody else, I'm just warning you. This is what's going to happen if you do it. He's doing that because he wants you to say, I'm going to step back five steps and get to the right. It's my only hope. Do you heed the warnings of God? In the last days, there's somebody named God who won't. And he will be annihilated. He will be annihilated. One of the warnings you have to deal with is this. You have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, and if you don't. You will perish. There will be everlasting punishment in a real place called hell. God warned you about that. He says, believe on my son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. I'm just telling you in advance what's going to happen. That's just one of the many warnings that you and I ought to listen to, and maybe today you need to listen to that one. Do you heed the warnings of God? But there's another reason that's found in verse 22 of chapter 39. It's not only so all the nations, especially Gog and everybody else, would go, wow, he is Lord. Look at what he did. He took them all out without Israel firing a shot. Verse 22 of chapter 39 says, and so the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. Verse 23, the Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity, et cetera, et cetera. It's not just so God and the nations can know that he's Lord, but then Israel will know. You say, what's that all about? Didn't Israel know he's God? I mean, obviously Israel knows he's God, right? As you read down through that, you recognize that he says it's not just for Gog, it's for Israel. And you read this section, you realize this hasn't happened yet in history. Israel as a nation has not been regenerated. They haven't been given a new heart. They're not living in peace and taking down all their defenses. That's not happening. They've been regathered to the land, you can see that. But you surely can't see the rest of it happening And do you know what many of you have been to Israel? I know Lynette and I have been there several times. I still remember our guide, Yuval, and the guide before it was named David, David. David hated God, told you that right from the start. I don't believe there is a God. I don't love anybody who loves God, but I get paid money to guide you, so I'll do that, you know? And so we talked to David, David, and like, how come you don't love God? How come you don't know God? How come you don't even believe there is a God? And he had a machine gun. In those days, the guides had machine guns, you know? He went, this is my God. This is my God. And nobody will touch Israel, he said, because this is my God. Let him come on. We will take them out. He truly believed Israel was invincible, not because God was behind them, but because he had a Uzi machine gun, and they had tanks, and they had air force. David needs to know that God is God. He needs to know that the whole future of their land is not dependent on their Air Force and their Uzis and their other stuff, which are great. And they've been very successful. But they can go down. They need to know that God is God. And the truth is they do know about Jehovah, but they don't know enough about Jehovah to know what they need to know about Jehovah. And in that day and it says, and forevermore, they will know Him. And remember I said, do you heed the warnings of God? You ought to. I also ask you this, do you know God? And our answer is yes. Do you know God fully? And your answer is no. And you and I need to know more and more and more about God so that we trust him more and more and more for life and living and trust ourself less and less and less and we don't pat our Uzi machine gun and say this is my God. Because it isn't your God. And the whole chapter, both of these chapters, is designed to show us there's something coming in the future that's designed to let the nations know God is God and to let Israel know him even more fully and then correctly and appropriately. And I trust that's already true in our life. You understand it when you read it and then you read the news. Did you read the news the last couple weeks? Iran ever in the news? I didn't see it, did you see it? Northern Sudan in the news ever? Libya in the news ever? And then one day I'm watching the news, and we just signed an Iran deal, and I'm watching the news, and it says in the news that a leader from the north said to Iran, we will supply all the defenses. So that when the other people come in to take out your nuclear facilities, they won't get to them. And I don't know if he can do that or not, but that's what he promised. I'm watching the news and I'm reading Ezekiel 38 and 39 and going like, I don't know. You know, I don't really know when it's gonna go off, but I'm smart enough to know that when the beeps get closer, I'm getting closer. And Jesus is coming again. And you ought to heed his warnings before it's too late. And you ought to get to know him more fully before it's too late. In the last days, perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves, proud, boastful, blasphemers, itching to themselves because they have itching ears, teachers telling them whatever they want. You don't need that. You need God's truth. Jesus is coming again. I trust you're ready. I trust you're excited. And I trust that you see, although we don't know when, the beeps are getting closer and closer together. And you're smart enough to know it's closer today than it was yesterday. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this passage. Thank you for the message that Ezekiel has given to us and in a decaying nation to realize that you're in control and you will and you will and you will. And Father, I pray that we would see what a great God we have. How wonderful it is for us to come to the grips with that, and to ever seek to know you better, and to come to grips with the fact that you are powerful, we should heed all your warnings, and therefore you don't have to punish us, and you don't have to destroy us, you don't have to annihilate us. How wonderful to know that you've told us about your son, the Lord Jesus. And today I pray that our hearts have been warmed, and in our hearts we're singing, Jesus is coming again. In our hearts we're singing, Lord, haste the day. We want it to be today. What a day that will be. When our Jesus we will see. Well, thank you for it all in Jesus name, Amen.