Ezekiel 38 - Introduction

Eze. 38 and 39. Concerning Gog and Magog. This prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, seems manifestly to have respect to two things foretold in the book of Revelations.

First. To that great company or multitude of the enemies of Christ and the church, that shall be gathered together to fight against them, after religion has begun wonderfully to revive and prevail in the world, just before the utter destruction of antichrist, and of the visible kingdom of Satan upon earth, that we read of Revelation 16:13, to the end, and Revelation 19:17, to the end.

Secondly. To that vast multitude that shall be gathered against the church after the millennium, a little before the end of the world, that we read of in the 20th chapter of Revelations, who are expressly called Gog and Magog.

That there is some respect to the former of these, though they are not expressly called Gog and Magog, is evident by the many things wherein there is an agreement. In Revelation 16:14, the kings of the earth and of the whole world are represented as gathered together to war against the church of God; so here the kings and nations of the world are represented as gathering together against God's Israel from the four quarters of the world, or the four winds of heaven: Magog, and Meshech, and Tubal, Gomer, and Togarmah of the north quarters, Ezekiel 38:2; Ezekiel 38:6. Persia from the east, verse 5. Ethiopia or Cush, and Libya or Phut, Sheba and Dedan from the south-east, south, and south-west, verse 5, 13, and the merchants and young lions (i.e. the princes) of Tarshish, and they that dwell in the isles from the west, Ezekiel 38:13, and chap. 39:6.

The great occasion of gathering that innumerable host, spoken of in Revelation 16 an 19, to war against the church, is evidently her late great prosperity in a great revival and restoration from her long-continued captivated, desolate state under antichrist. So here Gog and his multitude are represented as excited to come and war against Israel, on occasion of her being brought back from a long-continued, and as it were perpetual, captivity and desolation. Ezekiel 38:8; Ezekiel 38:12.

This long desolation and captivity of Israel in the latter days, which is expressed by her having been always waste, can agree to nothing but the lying waste either of Israel according to the flesh, or the Christian church, the spiritual Israel, which has been waste for many ages in these latter days, and both of them through the devastations of Rome, or the mystical Babylon.

Revelation 16:18-20. It is said there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great; and the cities of the nations fell, and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And in Ezekiel 38:19; Ezekiel 38:20, it is said, "Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of 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." There seems to be a reference to this very place, in the passage from Revelations.

Revelation 19:21, "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse;" and Ezekiel 38:21, "I will call for a sword against him, throughout all my mountains.

Revelation 16, "And there were thunders and lightnings;" and Revelation 16:21, "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great." And here, Ezekiel 38:22, it is said, "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." There seems to be reference to this in the passage from Revelations 18.

Revelation 19:17; Revelation 19:18, "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven," etc. verse 21, "And all the fowls were filled with their flesh;" and here, Ezekiel 39:4; Ezekiel 39:5, "Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee; I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured, thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God;" and verses 17-20, "And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord, Speak unto every feathered fowl," etc. very much in the same manner as there in the Revelation; so that there is a most plain reference in one place to the other.

In Revelation 16:14, the day of that battle there spoken of, is called, " the great day of God Almighty;" and in verse 17, it is said, "there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done; " so here, Ezekiel 39:8, it is said, "Behold, it is come; it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken." Here also seems to be a like reference.

Secondly. The prophecy has also respect to that innumerable multitude that should be gathered against the church after the millennium, a little before the end of the world, spoken of in the 20th chapter of Revelations; which is evident, not only because they are expressly called Gog and Magog in Revelations, but there are many other things that argue it.

The church of God is represented as being in a state of peace and quietness, and great visible prosperity, at the time that they are thus invaded, as Ezekiel 39:8; Ezekiel 39:11-13. This better agrees with that invasion of the church of Christ in the 20th of Revelations, than that in Rev. Chapter s 16 and 19.

The multitude of Gog is represented as being gathered from the four quarters of the earth; so it is said expressly in Revelation 20:8, "That the devil should go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog."

As it is said, Revelation 20, concerning the multitude there spoken of, that "fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them;" so here, Ezekiel 39:6, it is said, "I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles."

In Ezekiel 38:16, "Thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land." This agrees with Revelation 20:9, "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city."

-Jonathan Edwards' Notes on the Scriptures

Ezekiel 46:15. Here is mention made of a morning sacrifice, but no evening sacrifice; because in that glorious time here spoken of there will be a continual and unceasing day, but no evening: intimated by that in Isaiah, "Thy sun shall no more go down," etc.; and that in Zechariah, "It shall be one day; not day and night: but at evening-time it shall be light;" and typified by the sun's standing still in Joshua's time.

-Jonathan Edwards' Notes on the Scriptures

Daniel 3:25. "And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Christ redeems from the furnace, by coming into it himself; so he redeems from wrath by enduring it himself."

-Jonathan Edwards' Notes on the Scriptures

Daniel 7:5. "Three ribs in the mouth of it," etc. These ribs seem to be the bones of his prey. The ribs rather than other bones were represented perhaps, because the ribs are those bones which are next the vitals, and the sight of them did naturally excite the idea of his tearing and devouring the vitals of his prey; not one rib, three at once are seen in his mouth, the better to represent his extraordinary voraciousness.

-Jonathan Edwards' Notes on the Scriptures

Daniel 7:13. "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days; and they brought him near before him." Here both Christ's humanity and divinity are signified: his humanity, in that it is said, "One like the Son of man; and his divinity, in that he came with the clouds of heaven. Appearing with bright clouds, or with the Shechinah, is a token of divinity, for this is often in Scripture called the glory of the Lord, and sometimes the cloud of glory.

Another thing that may be observed of these words is, that it is not said that he descended with the clouds of heaven, or that he ascended, but he came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days; which is equally applicable both to his ascension into heaven, when he went to receive his kingdom, and to be invested with his royal dominion and glory; and to his last coming at the day of judgment, which is called his coming in his kingdom; and doubtless includes both, for one is like the other, and both might very well be spoken of under one; for as the angel told the disciples at Christ's ascension, "This same Jesus shall come in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven;" he shall descend in the same manner as he ascended; in both he comes with the clouds of heaven; Acts 1:9, in both he comes attended with hosts of angels, and probably in both with the whole multitude of the heavenly hosts; in both he is attended with risen saints, for it is probable that those saints that came out of their graves with him, also ascended with him. In both he comes to the Ancient of days, and is brought near before him. He is so in his ascension, for he ascended to his Father, to appear before him; and when he comes at the last day he will come to the Ancient of days in a more mystical sense, for all the glory that he will be invested with on that day will be by his Father, and all that he will do in the day of judgment will be as acting from his Father and in his name; he shall then in the most glorious manner of all receive a kingdom from his Father; he shall then be brought near to the Father, and sit down on the Father's throne in the most eminent manner of all; he shall then most fully receive his church, the kingdom of his grace, that is made up of all peoples, nations, and languages, as in the next verse.

Both these are remarkable periods or epochs of the commencement of the kingdom of heaven, of which the Messiah is the King, and are so spoken of in the New Testament.

This prophecy doubtless has respect to Christ's ascent into heaven, for to that it is much the most obviously and directly applicable. That is most plainly spoke of in the New Testament, as the time when he went to God, the Ancient of days, to receive his kingdom. It also doubtless has respect to his coming to judgment, for that coming to judgment seems often in the New Testament spoken of with reference to this very prophecy. With reference to this it is called his coming in his kingdom. The Jews seem to have taken that phrase of the Messiah's coming in his kingdom from this prophecy; and with reference to that it seems often to be spoken of in the New Testament, as the Son of man's coming in the clouds of heaven.

-Jonathan Edwards' Notes on the Scriptures

Daniel 9:7. "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces as at this day." By confusion of faces, he does not mean so much shame and repentance, as punishment. It is an acknowledgment that they were justly punished, and brought to such sorrow and ruin, as they were then the subjects of; that is often represented by being ashamed and confounded; therefore he says, "As it is this day:" he did not mean that they then were ashamed with the shame of repentance, but that they then were in a ruined condition.

-Jonathan Edwards' Notes on the Scriptures

Daniel 9:27. "And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate." It ought to have been translated, " by or with, the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate;" so the [Hebrew] particle sometimes is used. (See Buxtorf.) It is manifest that the abomination here mentioned, is spoken of as the efficient or instrument of the desolation, from other scriptures that have a manifest references to this, as Daniel 11:31, "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. " Daniel 12:11, "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

And the expression is very much like those concerning that which is spoken of, Daniel 8:11-13, "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under-foot?" And Matthew 24:15; Matthew 24:16, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand), then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains." And the same words in Mark 13:14. The great difficulty of understanding these places seems to lie in these two things:

I. That the abomination of desolation spoken of in all those places seems to be the same. There are these following things that argue them to be the same:

1. The manner of speaking of the abomination that maketh desolate in Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11 seems to imply a reference to some such thing of which there had been a revelation made to Daniel, and which Daniel had already in his mind. And the passage in Daniel 9:27 seems to have a reference to that transgression of desolation in chap. 8:11, 12. It seems evidently to be the same thing spoken of several times: here is something spoken of over and over, called by the same or a like name, called by way of eminency the abomination, or the transgression described by the like property, that that maketh desolate.

All are spoken of with a special reference to the holy city and sanctuary; as appears by comparing the several places and contexts; all are spoken of, in each place in Daniel, as attended with the ceasing of the sacrifice.

2. Christ, when he refers to the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, seems to suppose but one abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

3. Some things that Christ says of this abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, seem to be especially taken from one place, others from another. He speaks of it as the abomination that makes desolate, that accompanies the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and this seems to be taken from Daniel 9:27. He speaks of it as standing, or set up, in the holy place. This seems rather to be taken from Daniel 11:31, where it is said they shall pollute the sanctuary, or holy place, and place the abomination that maketh desolate. And Daniel 12:11, "And the abomination that maketh desolate shall be set up." And that manner of expression - of desolation - seems to be taken from Daniel 8:13. And yet,

II. The prophecies of the abomination that maketh desolate, in different places in Daniel, seems evidently to have respect to different seasons and events; as those in Daniel 8:11-13; Daniel 11:31, have an evident reference to what came to pass in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes; and what is spoken of, Daniel 9:27, has an evident reference to what came to pass at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; and that in Danial 12 has a reference to what comes to pass in the days of antichrist, as is manifest from the preceding part of the chapter.

But the reconciliation of the difficulty is in this, that they are all, mystically, one and the same; for they are lively types one of another. What is ultimately respected, is that spoken of in the 12th of Daniel, which is accomplished in the days of antichrist, of which the preceding are lively images. That setting up of the abomination that makes desolate in the sanctuary, by Antiochus Epiphanes, is typical of what was done by antichrist; for he was a great type of antichrist. And so was that which came to pass at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, spoken of Daniel 9:27, and spoken of by Christ, Matthew 24:15. Luke explains "the abomination of desolation, standing in the holy place," by Jerusalem being compassed with the Roman armies, Luke 21:20; Luke 21:21. Jerusalem was the holy city, and so many furlongs about it were accounted holy. Now when the Roman army approached within the limits of the holy ground, then the abomination of desolation might be said to stand in the holy place. But the word abomination seems particularly to refer to the Roman ensigns, upon which were the images of their emperors, which the Romans worshipped, as Suetonius expressly tells us, and Tacitus calls them their " Bellorum Dei " their gods of war. Now it was an abomination to the Jews, to see those idols set up within the limits of the holy city; to which may be added what Josephus tells us afterwards, that the Romans, after they had conquered the city, set up these ensigns in the ruins of the temple and sacrificed to them." (Thus, Abp. Tillotson, vol. 2 of his Works, Serm. 185, p. 533.) This setting up the image of the emperor within the limits of the holy city, and afterwards in the ruins of the temple, and there sacrificing to it, is a lively representation of setting up the pope in the church of God, the spiritual Jerusalem, who is the emperor of the antichristian Roman empire, and the image of the beast, an image of the heathen Roman emperors, who is set up as a god in the temple of God, where he exalts himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped, although it be in the temple in ruins. He first in effect destroys the temple of God, and then sets himself up there as God, to be worshipped and sacrificed to. Here see Bp. Kidder's Dem. part 2, p. 11, 12, 13.