And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
I will plead against him. A forensic term; because God in His inflictions acts on the principles of His own immutable justice, not by arbitrary impulse (Isaiah 66:16; Jeremiah 25:31).
With blood ... hailstones, fire - (Revelation 8:7,16,21). The imagery is taken from the destruction of Sodom and the plagues of Egypt (cf. Psalms 11:6). Antiochus died by "pestilence" (2Ma 9:5).
Remarks:
(1) In many passages of Scripture God forewarns the Church of a great conspiracy, headed by one person, about to be made against God and His Christ, as also against both the literal and the spiritual Israel, in the last days. As Antiochus fearfully desolated Judea, and blasphemously defiled the temple of God, toward the close of the Old Testament times, so Antichrist, here described under the ideal name Gog, and his godless hosts under the name Magog, shall terribly oppress Israel and the Church of Christ, and arrogate to himself divine honours, toward the close of the times of the Gentiles, in the New Testament dispensation. Haughty and blasphemous self-confidence shall be his prominent characteristic. His immense hordes of formidable warriors in his train, seduced by Satan to their destruction, shall add to his innate presumption. In an evil moment for himself, an "evil thought shall come into his mind" (Ezekiel 38:10), prompting him to assail the ancient people of God, who shall have only begun to recover from their protracted calamities (Ezekiel 38:8; Ezekiel 38:12), and who at the time shall be dwelling without fear in their "unwalled villages" (Ezekiel 38:11).
(2) But God even already forewarns the invader, "Behold, I am against thee, O Gog" (Ezekiel 38:3). Of what avail, then, can all the countless hosts be on which the foe of the Church relies? "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished" (Proverbs 11:21). God will "visit" in wrath him who is to visit Israel as a cruel scourge (Ezekiel 38:8); and when the enemy shall come up and "cover the land like a cloud" (Ezekiel 38:9), the breath of the Lord's "fury," which "shall come up in His nostrils" (note, Ezekiel 38:18) shall scatter the hosts of Gog, so that he and they shall fall by their own swords, and by the "pestilence, hailstones, fire, and brimstone" which the Lord shall send (Ezekiel 38:21-22). What a comfort to the people of God it is to know that no trial is before them which is not foreseen by God ages before (Ezekiel 38:17); and "when the enemy," as it has been foretold, "shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him"!
(3) Sheba, Dedan, and Tarshish, all mercantile peoples, are represented (Ezekiel 38:13) as secretly sympathizing with the godless and haughty invader of Israel, though not openly joining in the invasion. It is the tendency of a gain-seeking spirit to look to no other considerations but its own selfish and worldly interests. Gain is the godliness of the carnal mind. Whatever promotes directly or indirectly the acquisition of "silver, gold, cattle, and goods," is the uppermost thought: and while perhaps the more quietly-disposed of the worldly shrink from an active participation in unjust and ungodly invasions, yet they are well pleased at such wars when seeming to be conducive to their own gains, and will not scruple to traffic in the unhallowed "spoils," at the sacrifice of conscience and the will of God.
(4) It might seem strange at first sight that God should permit the impious enemy to try His people so sorely. But it is a necessary part of the present economy of good and evil intermixed that God should allow the wickedness of the wicked fully to develop itself, in order to show in their case His Almighty power, and that His name may be sanctified before the eyes of the nations throughout all the earth (Ezekiel 38:16; Exodus 9:16). God at one and the same time hereby vindicates the honour of His holy name, exercises the faith of His people, and turns back the foe (Ezekiel 38:4) as a refractory wild beast, which, when it thinks to take its own way, is bent by a superior power to take the course which its master pleases, and which ends in its own destruction.
(5) True believers dwell safely under the protecting shadow of the Almighty. The honour of His holy name is involved in their preservation. God Himself has a controversy, with all who try to injure them, and will "plead" against their enemy (Ezekiel 38:22). His justice, His greatness, and His holiness are engaged for their defense; and in the final vindication of their cause all "nations shall know that Yahweh is the Lord" (Ezekiel 38:23). Let us, then, see that we are indeed of the true spiritual Israel of God: and if we have a well-grounded assurance that we are so, let us, having the Lord on our side, not fear what man can do unto us.