Ezekiel 38:14-23 - I will make myself known in the sight of many nations

38:14-16

We often think that if people see the benefits of the Christian life they will want to become Christians. The truth is that some people will, but some won’t. That is the sort of situation, but on a much more serious scale, that we have here. The evil forces see God’s people living in peace. So they gather a great army to advance against God’s people. See in v18 what it says “I will bring you against ...” What will happen is simultaneously the work of God, the work of the devil, and the work of man. Now it is God’s purposes that will be fulfilled, but man and the devil are responsible for their actions. The evil forces think they will destroy and plunder the good land that God has given to His people, what will actually happen is that the nations will know the Lord, and He will be proved holy before them.

38:17-23

We now get an outline of what will happen, of what is really going on. Everything is happening according to the will of God. Gog will attack, but this will arouse the fierce anger of the Lord. On that day His wrath will be poured out. We should note that there are parallels with various parts of Revelation here.  The hordes of God will be utterly defeated. “Then they will know that I am the Lord.”