LECTURE ON THE BATTLE OF GOG

39:1, 11

Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses (or mouths) of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog, and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog.MWV1 67.1

A FEW things, in this prophecy, may to us be dark and intricate, not because God designed in his revelation to make it so, to deceive, puzzle or perplex his children, in the study of his holy word;-far be it from me to impute such motives to my heavenly Father;-but on account of the translators’ retaining certain words, or names of places, or things, in the original language, which might have been used intelligently when Ezekiel prophesied of them in their common tongue, but which, as it respects us, have become obsolete. Yet I think when I read this passage, which at first view may appear dark, with other prophecies of like import, and compare scripture with scripture, I find not only much instruction, but comfort and consolation in believing that in God’s light I can see light. And even in the history of modern times, I can behold the prophet’s eye calmly surveying scenes, (on which we are looking, or may look,) with a keen vision and clear perception, which on the score of human reason can never be accounted for, only by supposing something more than mortal had given to the prophet’s eye powers of perceiving the end from the beginning; which fixes upon our minds a solemn conviction, that the ken of the prophet once looked on scenes, which he has described in the common language of his day; which he saw far in the distance of the future; and describes them unto us in the typical language of his time. Much of it now has become a matter of history unto us, and the very last part is now being fulfilled before our faces. This consideration ought to lead us to humble prayer, for the same Spirit’s piercing rays of light to discern the truth, and for the same child-like, teachable disposition of soul to receive, as our fathers the prophets evidently possessed. May God, therefore, by his Holy Spirit direct us while we shall attempt to understand, -MWV1 67.2