There have been tremendous judgments in connection with God’s government upon the earth but nothing to equal the Day of the Lord when this present world system shall be crushed in the winepress, every grape.
This shall be a day when only Jehovah can deliver.
“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.
If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment;
I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me” (Deut. 32:39-41).
Gog will have gathered all the earth while Zion will stand alone. Because of the enormity of operations there will be men and equipment as well as weapons of war from Megiddo to Edom. The King of Assyria, for one brief moment king of kings, will have gathered all of the earth, and “there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.”
This will be the time of Psalm 91: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty... He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust... A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.”
All human calculations bid for an overwhelming victory by the Assyrian; such is blind flesh.
“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy” (Zeph. 3:8)
What could cause this jealousy? The whole earth will be worshipping idols except those who have been saved! The communistic forces under Gog will be atheistic.
The enemy will shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion. What can such a small remnant do in the face of the King of Assyria?
But their answer was foretold in Isaiah, “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel” (Isa. 37:22-24).
Therefore saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, he shall not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there.
The prophet Micah says, “And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land” (Mic. 5:5).
The prophet Isaiah says, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Isa. 59:19).
Again in Ezekiel we read, “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” (Ezek. 38:18).
Isaiah says again, “Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror” (Isa. 10:33).
“For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion” (Isa. 34:8).
The prophet Joel tells us that “The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:16).
The ensuing battle, which shall be appalling in its terror and destruction of life, will subdue the entire world to Christ and Israel. The proud Assyrian, Gog, the leader of the Eastern Confederacy of the last days, shall find his grave rather than his palace on the mountains of Israel. The threshing-floor will be Edom at the last, though Zion shall be the target of Esau and the King of Assyria. This last battle shall begin at Jerusalem and shall extend to Edom nearly two hundred miles through the land of Israel. At the close of this great conflict it shall be said, “Who is this that cometh from Edom” (Isa. 63:1)?
“God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah” (Hab. 3:3).
Each of these indicates that the battle which shall make all wars cease will be over.
“His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise” (Hab. 3:3).