Instead of exterminating the idols and "Canaanites in the house of the Lord of hosts," the "shepherds of Israel" have catered to their unholy lusts. They have so long truckled to the world in the church, so long fawned and pampered sin under the cloak of religion, that a terrible conflict ensues whenever it is attacked by the sword of the Spirit. This crisis is described in the two following chapters, namely, Ezekiel 38, 39.
"Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog" (38:2,3). The Bible dictionary applies Gog and Magog to the Caucasian mountains, a chain that extends from the Black Sea to the Caspian. The Scythians of those regions were a fierce and warlike people. For many years they had made their name a terror to the whole Eastern world. They were finally conquered and driven out, B. C. 596, a few years before the time of Ezekiel's prophesy. These events being fresh in the mind of the ancient seer, the prophetic spirit employs Gog and Magog to represent the acrid and intolerable spirit of sectarianism and its final overthrow.
Meshech and Tubal, allies of Gog, are noticed in history as "the remotest and rudest nations of the world." David, it is probable, spoke prophetically of the same contentious, unsanctified zeal: "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech.... My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war" (Psa. 120:5-7).
In applying the army of Gog and Magog to the false, deceived, and sectarian forces, the enemies of the Lord's true and holy church, I am clearly sustained in Revelation 20:8-10, where they are declared to have been deceived by the devil, therefore have a spurious religion—are professors. "They compass the saints on the breadth of the earth;" hence are diffused throughout all nations and everywhere arrayed against the holy; but shall be finally destroyed by fire from heaven. This vast army Ezekiel represents as 'coming from their place out of the north parts' (38:6,15; 39:2), indicative of a cold and heartless religion. The attack upon the "land" by Gog, shall be in the "latter years," "the latter days," (38:8,11). This language all through the prophets points to the last, or present, dispensation.
"In the latter years thou shall come into the land [the sanctified] that is brought back from the sword [saved from the carnal, sectarian "strife of tongues">[, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste;" i. e., more or less destitute of the apostolic faith and power.
God sets the testimony of his anointed against the worldly churches. Gog in return makes war upon them. But being dead to sin, and having a resurrected life, they are an invulnerable army. "They shall dwell safely all of them" (v. 8).
"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. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel" (vs. 18, 19). When the sword of the Almighty is unsheathed against self-righteous orthodox sinners, there is soon war in the camp, and a general commotion in the heavens and the earth. The two-edged sword of definite testimony is now wielded in every church, which has never been the case in any of the past holiness reforms.... Amen! Let the battle rage, though the heavens and the earth be moved. Send down the fire, O Lord, send fire from heaven, and burn every Gog-schism out of the church! Yea, saith the Lord, "I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord."
The burning of the weapons and burying of Gog is described as the cleansing of the land—the church. Therefore it is the special work of sanctification, and the heavens and the earth are now shaken by the tread of God's holy army, who are 'severed out to continual employment, passing through the land to cleanse it.'
Let us now begin with 1 Pet. 4:17,18. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Here is a trying ordeal, a judgmental shaking of the church parallel with that described in Hebrews. It is the execution of Christ's verdict of death to sin in the flesh. "The time is come." Scriptures thus introduced almost invariably refer to some previous prediction. In the prophecies of Isaiah we find what is doubtless the antecedent of Peter's words: "I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: ... afterwards thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness" (Isa. 1:25-27).
The judgment of Zion, the house of God, is her full redemption. It is the hand of the Almighty 'purely purging away the dross and all the tin' from his church, that it might be called the "city of righteousness." This experience is not for the sinner, nor is it confined to the aged and dying; but the "converts" in Zion, saith the Lord, shall be redeemed from sin, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. This purging is parallel with the removing of those things that are shaken.