We concluded Prophecy Update Number 30 with an exposition of Ezekiel 38:8, which had been continuous from Ezekiel 37:1.  We will now continue our exposition, beginning with 38:9 -- “Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.” This describes the suddenness of the blitzkrieg attack of Gog the antichrist against Israel from the north.  It compares the attack with the rapid development of a cumulonimbus cloud when it first comes quickly toward the observer as a rumbling thunderstorm, and then rapidly covers the land where he or she stands from horizon to horizon.  This will be the manner the bands and many people supporting Gog will abruptly spread southward across Israel.

Ezekiel 38:10-12 -- “Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: [11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, [12] To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.”  Take a look back at Prophecy Update Number 30 in the prophecy archives, and the exposition of the last phrase in Ezekiel 38:8, which is: “And they shall dwell safely all of them.”  This phrase is directly tied to the “evil thought” that comes into the mind of the antichrist concerning the purpose of the false peace he has led them into by deceit.  Verse 11, in the terminology of the people of Ezekiel’s day, painted a picture of people at peace with the other peoples around them.  Believe it or not, in spite of what is currently going on around, and in, Israel, I believe that before 2005 you will see Israel lulled into a false sense of security by agreements with the Palestinians, Lebanon, and Syria.  The arrangements, whether by voluntary free will choice, or by force, or by a combination of both, will cause Israel to have peace security agreements with all the nations that touch her borders, and the one that exists within her.  But they will be agreements of deceit by Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians.  The Islamic leaders, and the leaders of the terrorist groups they support, are now becoming aware they can never defeat Israel by their present tactics, and that what is going on now, and what has been going on since 1948, can never accomplish their objective of driving Israel out of the choice northern part of her domain.  In order for Israel to believe they have what every leader of Israel since 1967 has said they must have, that is, “A PEACE WITH SECURITY, PEACE WITH SAFETY,” the terrorist groups must temporarily cease their activities for a reasonable period of time, and a well coordinated plan of blitzkrieg attack must be formulated between Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Iraq behind closed doors.  Verse eleven describes his evil plan to attack a nation he has deceived with a false peace agreement.  Verse 12 tells us he will break or betray the agreement (“turn thine hand”), and that he will take the spoils of war from the nation of Israel.  The “spoils” are identified in terms that the readers of Ezekiel’s day would understand (“cattle and goods”), but to us they are to mean the national wealth and high tech resources of modern Israel.  I firmly believe that in spite of what appears to be a state of never ending conflict between Israel and the other descendants of Abraham in and around her, soon a false peace will come to exist between them.  And it will be followed by an attack against Israel, a nation in unbelief, as a sudden blitzkrieg from the north.  When Israel is driven into the Negev, God will finally get her attention drawn to her true Messiah. Romans 11:25,32 + I Thessalonians 5:3,4: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. [32] For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. [3] For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”