Reformational Commentary on Ezekiel 38:18
"And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face." (Ezekiel 38:18)
Here in Ezekiel 38:18 the Lord reveals that the arrival of Gog and his vast forces in the land of Israel will instantaneously provoke the Lord to
great fury, surely a terrifying thing to find oneself the object of!
And as the ensuing verses and the grander context show, the timing this will be such that God's defensive intervention on behalf of Israel will occur
when it shall be made known to the world beyond that the Jews had suddenly, en masse, repented and turned to Christ as their Messiah
(as per Isaiah 66's "nation born at once" prophecy, Ezekiel 37’s “valley of dry bones”, Hosea 3:4-5 (which reiterates the Jewish conversion as a latter days event) and Zechariah 12’s
“cup of trembling” prophecies1).
The Lord's fury therefore is against a final Satanic attempt at annihilating Israel, bringing a travail upon Zion (Isaiah 66:8), the "time of Jacob's
Trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7) that must befall that nation in the aftermath of its return to Palestine following centuries of exile (Jeremiah 30:3), a fury
that in Jeremiah 30:23-24 is depicted in terms of a "continuing whirlwind"; and be sure to note that, "in the latter days ye shall consider it":
"Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he hath done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it." (Jeremiah 30:23-24)
"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king2; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." (Hosea 3:4-5)
FOOTNOTES
1. As Gill reminds us, Zechariah 12 was, in a prototype form, fulfilled with the believing Jews at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, but shall be superlatively fulfilled when the Jews as a nation, in the time of the terror brought upon by the Russian-led assault, turn to Christ. That is, the Jews will become Reformed Protestants around the close of this very decade and the world will be astonished and amazed by that development.
2. This is the spiritual "David", i.e., Jesus Christ, Who is God the Son; see also Ezekiel 34:23.
