Today I want to provide an update on where I am in my study concerning Ezekiel 38, Ezekiel 39, and other related verses since it’s been awhile since I’ve discussed my progress.
I mentioned before that I believe it is essential to understand Ezekiel 38:8-12 in order to have a good understanding of the timing of the many events described in Ezekiel 38 and a good understanding of Ezekiel 38’s relationship with Ezekiel 39:
The key to understanding the context of the main invasion described in Ezekiel 38 is to come up with an understanding of when the conditions/details described in Ezekiel 38:8-12 will exist in Israel and an understanding of who will be responsible for creating the conditions that exists in Israel when Gog’s invasion transpires. Every explanation concerning the events described in Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39 must be able to account for the details described in Ezekiel 38:8-12 in a manner that is biblically possible.
I recently formulated a list of questions during my study of Ezekiel 38:8-12 which I think are relevant to gaining a solid understanding of Ezekiel 38:8-12. I now offer you these questions as something for you to consider if you are studying Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39 yourself and as something to give you a better idea of what details I see as particularly relevant from this important passage:
Ezekiel 38:8:
(38:8) After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
- The verse mentions that the land is "brought back from the sword". When is/was the land subject to the "sword"?
- Have the Lord’s people already been gathered out of the nations in a biblical sense, and if not, when will they be gathered?
- Are the Lord’s people dwelling in the mountains of Israel now, and if not, when will they dwell in the mountains of Israel?
- When will the Lord’s people dwell safely? Under what circumstances will the Lord’s people live safely?
- What time period constitutes the “latter years” and why does it say “after many days” Gog shall be visited?
Ezekiel 38:9-12:
(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. (38:10) 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: (38:11) 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, (38:12) 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.
- Is Israel currently a land of “unwalled villages” without walls, bars, or gates, and if not, when will Israel be? And under what circumstances will enable the land of Israel to be this way?
- Is the gathering of the Lord’s people out of from the nations a 100% gathering or is it a partial gathering?
- Has the level of wealth described in Ezekiel 38:12 been achieved yet, and if not, when will this level of wealth be achieved?
- What does Ezekiel mean by “the desolate places that are now inhabited”? Which location(s) is this referring to and when will these desolated places be inhabited?
A Few Other Questions Worth Considering
In addition, I have also formulated a few questions relating to Revelation 20:7-9, Ezekiel 39:9, and Ezekiel 38:16, 22-23 which I think are also worth considering:
Revelation 20:7-9:
(20:7) And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, (20:8) And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. (20:9) And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
What role does Revelation 20:7-9 play in the understanding of Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39?
- I do not believe this passage can be ignored or downplayed because it references Gog and Magog. There is probably some aspect of Ezekiel 38 and/or Ezekiel 39 which relates to the end of the millennium.
Ezekiel 39:9:
Eze 39:9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
When will people begin to burn the weapons from Gog’s defeated army for seven years?
Ezekiel 38:16, 22-23:
Ezekiel 38:16, 22-23 suggests that the Lord will be sanctified in the eyes of the heathen through the defeat of Gog and his army:
(38:16) And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes…(38:22) 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. (38:23) Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
However, several other Bible prophecy passages, including Ezekiel 39:25, which suggest that the Lord will be sanctified in the eyes of the nations through His people.
Eze 20:41 I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
Eze 20:42 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.
|
Eze 28:25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
Eze 28:26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
|
Eze 39:25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
Eze 39:26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
Eze 39:27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
Eze 39:28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
|
Eze 36:23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
Eze 36:24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Eze 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
|
How can we reconcile the fact that the Lord will be sanctified in eyes of the heathen through the defeat of Gog and his army and the fact that the Lord will be sanctified in the eyes of the heathen through His people?
The answers you come up to these questions will have a strong influence on when you see the fulfillment of the many events described in Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39…
I’ve actually begun to work on writing articles which will help to answer these questions. My plan is to finish a bunch of articles in advance before I publish them because I want to be careful how I present my answers to you as the interpretation of Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39 that I’m working on conveying is not what people are accustomed to reading about…
I don’t know how long it will take to finish these articles, but I’m trying my best to complete them as circumstances allow me to. In the meantime, I will still write articles on a variety of subjects. In fact, one topic that I’m thinking about writing about soon is the Parable of the Fig Tree…
8 comments: (+add yours?)
dear Wayne;
I have not studied this fully, to see if this fits in all the places in scripture that Israel is mentioned in the end times, or, let's say, after Jesus was physically on the earth,..but I believe I can confidentally say that Israel becomes the Israel of God that Paul talked about, after Jesus,...(I am not an anti-semite as some accuse those who talk this way, no I am not anti-semite at all, but a Semite-lover for sure) however scripture seems clear, even if we only look at what Paul called us, that we are Israel. This Israel would include all of Israel, this means all of the household of faith, before Jesus, those of faith, and after Jesus, those of faith in Him. Abraham's seed are those by faith before Jesus, and after Jesus, the seed of Abraham become those of faith in Christ.
This is the only way scripture can be interpreted, therefore, Israel, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, after Jesus, must mean us, therefore not to be confused with a physical country named Israel, and the bloodline of Abraham people.
This can be the only clear interpretation of the above that I can presently see.
I say this not to discount or reject the physical Jewish people, - God still has plans for them, however, after Jesus, I see everywhere in the new testament it is supported that 'Israel' becomes those of the covenant of faith only, who entered into the commonwealth of Israel through faith in Jesus Christ. The bloodline Jewish people are not in this group at all, unless they have become born again, however, before Jesus, the Jerusalem above, (who Paul calls our mother) includes all the Jewish and other people who accepted the faith and God of Abraham, they are Abraham's seed. In the new testament, after JEsus, Abraham's seed become those entering the covenant through JEsus only.
to keep following this, then,...all the times Israel is mentioned, it must mean Israel of God, not the nation on earth named Israeo, and Jerusalem must refer to spiritual Jerusalem, - us, and Mt Zion, - us, so it is we who may be going to be surrounded by nations, and airlifted into a place, either physically or it refers again to a spiritual occurence, we may have to leave the 'legal' church and go out into the wilderness and meet together as the family of God, meaning leave organized religion.
The First Amendment applies to this blog, so you are free to
comment. Since you don’t know me that
well I should inform you that I tend to rely on comparing scripture with
scripture when I analyze Bible prophecy topics. I rarely analyze verses at a symbolic level because I think deriving
symbolic meaning from verses can sometimes open up the possibility for someone to view something subjectively. For instance, Harold Camping’s false prophecy
teachings were built on assigning symbolic meaning to specific passages. People are free to try to interpret verses
symbolically, but I prefer to stick with comparing scripture with
scripture and taking the Bible at face value.
Also, I believe that the references to Israel in Bible prophecy
refer to the nation of Israel specifically.
My thoughts on Replacement Theology are available at the following link: http://bit.ly/b8NNoj
Please excuse me if I do not make much sense at the
moment or if I misunderstood you. I am extremely tired and plan to
head to bed very shortly.
Thank you for spending so much time and effort to express
your viewpoints.
I'm sure you are aware of this, but some replacement theology proponents are now going beyond the belief that the church replaced Israel. Many are now teaching a bizarre belief that the Jews are not really Jews at all, but are the Seed of Cain, as they call them. They say that any real Jew is only one who has accepted Christ (thereby becoming a member of the Church and a spiritual Jew as the spiritual offspring of Abraham) and that all other people who call themselves Jews are really the seed of Cain (Satan). Now that does not just mean that they are from a line that rejected God. This theology is teaching that when the Satan gave Eve the fruit, it was a metaphor for him having sex with Eve and impregnating her. Thus Cain was the giant offspring of Eve and Satan. Satan robbed her of her virginity. Then she immediately lay with Adam (gave to the man and he also ate) and conceived by Adam thereby producing twins Cain and Abel. The fact that all of Cain's descendants were killed off in the Flood does not seem to bother their theology. They just refer to the passage that says there were giants on the earth after the Flood as proof that Cain's line continued in some way. I'm not sure, maybe they don't believe in a global flood. This is not just thinking that Jews are irrelevant to prophecy. This is an anti-Semitism which seems to rival Hitler's in its hatred of the Jewish race. And these people say they are born-again Christians. Frightening.
This is actually the first time I heard about this particular teaching. It is bizarre teaching and it is disturbing that this is being taught to people.
What is puzzling is how they can't see the lack of logic in their theology. Christ was a Jew. Wouldn't that make him the offspring of Cain in their eyes? Nonsensical at best. Really makes you question their reasoning skills.
You make an excellent point. I agree
Post a Comment