Ezekiel 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and 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.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
In these last verses of chapter 38, God continued to reveal His response to the aggressive nature of the ungodly alliance that will be in place in the future. God warned the world in the days of Abraham to be very careful how they respond to the nation of Israel. God never condones sin. He never protects sin. God sent the Assyrians into the northern tribes to capture them and to plunder the cities of the north. God sent the Babylonians into Judah and into Jerusalem to strip the gold from the Temple and to take the vessels and to destroy the Temple. Many Jews lost their lives in those invasions and many were taken captive.
Daniel 5 shows us that even though God brought Babylon into Jerusalem to plunder the Temple, He did not give them permission to mock the true God. Belshazzar found out that was a wrong move from which he would not recover. Babylon fell to the Medo/Persian alliance after that sin. Babylon had failed to turn to the true God and continued to live in defiance to the true God even though they had men like Daniel and his three friends who clearly showed the kings of Babylon that there is only one true God and that God was not the pagan gods of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar learned some important lessons, but Belshazzar did not.
In our text in Ezekiel, we see that God was going to protect His people, Israel, from this invading army. God has not forsaken Israel. He never will because He made a promise to Abraham and God does not break His promises. Israel has broken their end of the agreement but that does not stop God from keeping His Word. He has chastened Israel over the years and they are still under His chastening today. Many Jews have died and gone to hell. Many more will end up there as well. However, God is still working in that nation and one day that nation will exalt Him as the true God.
Today, God has chosen to establish true churches through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many who have attended churches and who have been baptized and who had been members of local churches who are in hell and many more who will end up in hell. Going to church does not save a person. Being a Jew does not save a person. Repenting toward God and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation is the only way to be saved.
The Tribulation time which is still ahead, will be a time of severe testing and chastening for Israel. God does not walk away from His chosen people. He works with them to bring them to see the importance of following Him. His purpose for Israel was to show the world that He is the only true God.
This alliance that will come against Israel will know that they are not just attacking a human nation. They will know they are attacking the true God.
God tells us in verse 21 that He will create such a confusion among the people of this alliance that they will turn against one another. We have seen that before in Bible history. We know that in the days of Gideon, God instructed Gideon how to go after the Midianites. Gideon obeyed the Lord and the result was that the Midianites were startled out of their sleep and they started to attack one another.
We read in our text that God will do this in this attack as well. In verse 22 God also said that He would “plead with him with pestilence and with blood”. The word translated as “plead” has the meaning of “judging, or sentencing”. God will pronounce His judgment upon this ungodly alliance by sending pestilence against them.
We have witnessed the plan of the devil over the past two years in managing to cause a state of panic among the majority of the people of the world with a lie. This man-made virus is not nearly as deadly as they have tried to make it. The shots that people are foolishly taking are much more deadly than the virus. This does not matter to the governments and the medical officials. They are achieving their goal.
This pestilence that God will send will not be a fake pestilence. He will send a plague of some sort that will affect the people and destroy them. There will be bloodshed as well. We read that God will send overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. This will not be “man-made” climate change. There is no such thing. This will be God directed disaster for this army.
In parts of Manitoba we have witnessed heavy rains and flooding over the past few days. Apparently we have not reached the peak of it yet. Several municipalities have declared local states of emergency. There is no human defence against these things. People can put up some sand bags to try to limit the extent of flooding into basements. Some places they have ripped open the roads to allow the water to flow. Man has to stand back and wait for the waters to subside. Man cannot build a defence against massive hailstones. God will enact His fury against this army in such a way that they will know this is not just some “bad luck” or that “mother nature” is not happy with them. They will know this is coming from the Lord GOD.
We still hear insurance companies trying to keep money that has been paid through premiums, by claiming certain situations are “an act of God” and thus they try to get out of paying on the claims. This army will discover that God can and does act with precision and with fierceness against those who reject Him.
Notice in verse 23 that the LORD says He will magnify Himself.
Psalm 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
Those who are saved are called upon to magnify the LORD. We do not always do that as we should. God steps in and does so Himself when necessary. In the New Testament we read that the people cried out with praise to Jesus Christ as He entered into Jerusalem a few days prior to His arrest and crucifixion. The religious elite did not like what they were hearing and they wanted Jesus to stop the people. Jesus responded by telling those religiously lost people that if the common people did not cry out, the rocks would cry out. God deserves all the glory. He is worthy. This ungodly alliance will find out the hard way that they were wrong. They will find themselves in a place where they will not have any defences.
God says that He will be known in the eyes of many nations and they shall know that He is the LORD. God is giving people the opportunity to consider their need to know Him today. He is the LORD. He needs to be set apart for exaltation and praise. Not as the Charismatics and other false religions do. Rather, He needs to be set apart according to His holiness and His righteousness. As we mentioned before, that is why true Christians have no place in these massive protests that go on. It is not that our government is doing a good job and should not be exposed for their wickedness.
God is already exposing the wickedness of the government. Those who are saved should be able to see that. When we align ourselves with these wicked governments we diminish God’s holiness. We muddy the waters. God’s people need to choose to follow the true God and give God His rightful place in their lives.
We see that in the book of Acts. The apostles boldly proclaimed the truth and people were being saved. True churches were being established and wickedness was being turned on its head. In Acts 19:19 we read that the newly saved people burned their wicked books. They had a massive bonfire and no one could ignore what was happening. The faithful and bold preaching of God’s Word convicted lost sinners and the were saved and they acted like saved people. The opposition was strong, but the Lord was stronger.
In our text, Israel will be in a weakened state, but the Lord will be strong and He will take care of the enemy. The nations will know that He is the LORD. That is what will be needed then, and that is what is needed now. Let us exalt the name of the LORD today and every day. Let us examine our walk and see if we are in a compromised place or whether we are walking in humility with the God we claim to know and love.
Pastor Bartel
