Ezekiel leaves no doubt that the Russian leader will come into Israel for his own nefarious reasons; however, Ezekiel doesn’t want the human element to overshadow the sovereign plan of God. Ezekiel graphically depicts the Russian invasion as the result of God putting hooks in the jaws of the Russian leader and drawing him out. Ezekiel wants us to know above all else that God is in control of all that’s happening. He is sovereign—even over evil. Nothing occurs outside his prophetic plan.
Over the years there’s been speculation about what event God will use to hook the Russians and draw them into the land of Israel. The hooks could be Russia’s alliances with Islamic nations like Iran that want to wipe Israel off the map. Randall Price says, “Russia could easily fulfill the role of Gog, for its current economic hardships and political instability have led Russia to forge military alliances with Islamic powers that continually call for Israel’s destruction.”[3]
Another possible scenario is that the Antichrist’s move to forge or enforce a peace treaty with Israel and her neighbors will be interpreted as a threat to Russia’s power and will precipitate a disastrous countermove by Russia and its Islamic allies.
Thomas Ice presents another possibility:
For over fifteen years I have speculated that the “hook in the jaw” of Gog that God could use to bring a reluctant Russia down upon the land of Israel could be some thing like the following scenario that I articulated to Hal Lindsey on a National television show in 1991 on the day the first Gulf War ended: I could see the Muslims approaching the Russians and telling them that America has set a precedent for an outside power coming into the Middle East to right a perceived wrong. (America has done it again in recent years by going into Afghanistan and Iraq.) On that basis, Russia should help her Muslim friends by leading them in an overwhelming invasion of Israel in order to solve the Middle East Conflict in favor of the Islamic nations. Will this be the “hook in the Jaw” of Gog? Only time will tell. But something is up in the Middle East and Russia appears to have her fingerprints all over things.[4]
There will be many twists and turns in the days ahead, but Russia’s increased involvement in the Middle East will certainly play a key role in pulling them into invading Israel. Whatever the hooks in the jaws may be, Russia will fulfill this prophecy according to God’s sovereign will and on his timetable.
When the Russian-led horde descends on Israel, it will look like Israel is finished. Surprised and surrounded, the Israelites will be seized by unimaginable panic. Nothing in Israel’s modern history will compare. Not the Six-Day War in 1967. Not the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Yet in a stunning reversal of fortunes, the invincible invaders who come to possess the mountains of Israel will perish on those same mountains. God will come down to rescue his people. Almighty God will intervene to win the battle. Those who come to loot Israel will themselves be looted by Israel.
Ezekiel 38–39 describes an overwhelming, sudden destruction when the forces of Gog meet God. What looks like a massive mismatch between Russia and Israel now becomes an infinitely greater mismatch as Gog faces the living God. Here’s how Ezekiel graphically describes the bloodbath:
This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When Gog invades the land of Israel, my fury will boil over! In my jealousy and blazing anger, I promise a mighty shaking in the land of Israel on that day. All living things—the fish in the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people on earth—will quake in terror at my presence. Mountains will be thrown down; cliffs will crumble; walls will fall to the earth. I will summon the sword against you on all the hills of Israel, says the Sovereign LORD. Your men will turn their swords against each other. I will punish you and your armies with disease and bloodshed; I will send torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur!
God will rise up in his fury to annihilate the invaders, employing four catastrophes to totally destroy Russia and its Islamic allies:
• Shaking—a great earthquake (verses 19-20). God will use a massive tremor with its epicenter in Israel to spread fear and confusion throughout the ranks of the Russian military machine. God will defeat and disorient the invading forces.
• Slaughter—infighting among the troops of the various nations (verse 21). In the chaos of the battle and the shaking of the earth under their feet, the Russian forces and their allies will turn against each other, resulting in a massive body count by friendly fire. Charles Dyer pictures the scene: “In the pandemonium, communication between the invading armies will break down and they will begin attacking each other. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. Fear and panic will sweep through the forces so each army will shoot indiscriminately at the others.”[5] God will repeat what he did on previous occasions in the Old Testament to deliver his people, turning the enemies upon themselves (see Judges 7:22; 1 Samuel 14:20; 2 Chronicles 20:22-25).
• Sickness—disease and plagues (verse 22a). The ruin of the invaders will be accelerated by additional supernatural disasters. God will unleash a lethal epidemic, adding to the misery and devastation already inflicted.
• Storms—torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur/brimstone (verse 22b). Reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah, God will rain fiery destruction from on high on the invading army. There will be no place to hide. “The rain will combine with dirt and debris from the earthquake to produce massive mud slides and floods. Large hailstones will pelt the survivors, killing many. The ‘burning sulphur’ might be volcanic ash.”[6]
Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser summarizes the results of this war:
Things will not end well for the nations that press their attack against Israel, for in the end, what they are doing is nothing less than an attack on God and his plan for time and eternity. In one great push, an axis of nations from that part of the world will make one huge incursion into the land of Israel, but that will call for the response of God himself. The carnage, bloodshed, and loss of life and power will be unrivaled up to that point in history. This will be at once one of the darkest, and yet also one of the brightest, days of all history, as God settles the issue in a startling way. Such is the predicted fortunes of the War of Gog and Magog against Israel in the end of the days of history’s ongoing time line.[7]
The King James Version of Ezekiel 39:2 says, “I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee,” which indicates one-sixth of the invading army will be left alive. There’s uncertainty about the meaning of the second Hebrew verb in Ezekiel 39:2. This is the only time this verb is found in the Hebrew Bible. Some believe it was derived from the Hebrew shisha, which means “to leave a sixth part.”[8] According to this understanding, only one in six (or around 17 percent) of the invading army will remain alive. But I prefer the reading that the entire invading army will be destroyed.[9] Most modern translations, including the New King James Version, omit any reference to the sixth part surviving and translate the verb as “to lead” or “to drive” (as in the New Living Translation: “I will turn you around and drive you toward the mountains of Israel”).
Ezekiel 39:4 reveals the utter destruction of the invading army: “You and your army and your allies will all die on the mountains. I will feed you to the vultures and wild animals.” If the destruction of the armies in the land of Israel were not bad enough, according to verse 6, there’s another devastating dimension to the Russian invasion: “I will rain down fire on Magog and on all your allies who live safely on the coasts. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” As we’ve seen, Magog includes territory in Russia as well as the nations of Central Asia, so not only will the invading forces be wiped out in Israel, but the Russian homeland will also suffer catastrophic collateral damage. God will wreak havoc by unleashing fire. The “fire” probably refers to devastation and military destruction (see Ezekiel 30:8, 14, 16). The “coasts” refers to “the farthest reaches of the known world,” which certainly fits a description of the Russian motherland.[10] The raining of brimstone will inflict heavy casualties in the nation itself. The devastation will be so widespread, it “will cause Russia to cease being a political force in world affairs.”[11]
4
Thomas Ice, “Ezekiel 38 & 39 (part 6),” Pre-Trib Research Center, accessed June 10, 2017, http://www.pre-trib.org/articles/view/ezekiel-38-39-part-6.
5
Charles H. Dyer, “Ezekiel,” in
7
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.,
9
See Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum,