Month: November 2017

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I was listening to a podcast by Michael Heiser on Ezekiel 38 and 39.  You can find it here.  Heiser asserts that the Gog Magog war takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  He puts this war in Rev. 20:7. 

I disagree. 

I will make the case that the Gog Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39 is the final battle when Jesus returns as prophesied in Revelation 19 (which is the same battle mentioned in Rev. 16:14,16).  It is not my intention to try and determine who Gog and Magog are.  They are from the north, that’s all we can say conclusively.

I agree with many things that Heiser teaches.  His knowledge and understanding of ancient Hebrew and other ancient languages is fantastic.  But I think this issue is pretty simple and I believe Heiser, respectfully, kind of gets lost in his own vast amount of knowledge.

Let’s start in Ezekiel 36. 

Here God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to Israel that God is going to bring Israel back into His land that He gave to them and cleanse them, and give them a new heart, and remove the heart of stone from them.  This ‘cleansing’ is key because I don’t believe this is talking about the regathering that has taken place now.  It is the 2nd regathering as prophesied in Is. 11:11 and Matthew 24:31, that occurs after Jesus physically returns to earth. 

Read Ezekiel 36:22-38.  This describes a time that does not exist now:  ALL of the Jews will be back in the promised land and they will be cleansed, holy and following the Lord with a new heart, being careful to observe all of God’s statutes and ordinances. 

Does this describe Israel today?  No.  Israel is a secular nation with a heart of stone as described in Ezekiel 36:26.

Why is this important?  Because if the battle takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, as Heiser asserts, Israel would not be described as having been profaning God’s name among the nations (Ezek. 36:22-23).

Moreover, the passage mentioned above describes how all the other nations will know that the Lord is with Israel.  If the Gog Magog war takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, as Heiser believes, then the new earth and eternal state would follow it.

Does the passage in Ezekiel 36 describe the new eternal state, after the Lord has created a new earth as written in Rev. 21?  No it does not.  There will be no nations in the eternal state, and there will be no state of Israel.  There will only be the kingdom of God on a new earth.

Ezekiel 37 continues to prophesy about the future of Israel in the Millennial Kingdom.  Again, it is not about the 1st regathering of Israel which occurred in the last century and ongoing up until now.  The way to know this is in the passages. 

Ezekiel 37:21-28 once again clearly describes a scenario that is not present today:  Israel will no longer follow any other gods, they will live in ALL the land that was promised to Abraham and Jacob.  The Son of David will be ruling and His sanctuary will be permanent. 

This has not happened yet.  It will happen when Jesus returns to earth after the 7 year tribulation and it will be an immediate and complete regathering (Matt. 24:31).  And again, it does not describe the Eternal State of Rev. 21.

Ezekiel 38-39 is a recapitulation.  It is a way of explaining things by reversing and going back over what has been said already but with greater or different details.  Here God tells Ezekiel to prophecy about the Gog Magog war which happens right before what has been prophesied in Ezek. 36 and 37.

At the time of this war, there is a regathered nation of Israel that exists.  God is going to bring Gog up against Israel.  But it is not the Israel that God describes in Ezek. 39:22-29 – the Israel of the Millennial Kingdom.  It is the Israel with a heart of stone that exists today.  This is the conclusion of the war:

‘And the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward.  And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword.  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them”.  Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Now I shall restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I shall be jealous for My holy name.  And they shall forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid.  When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the many nations.  Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again into their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.  And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel’, declares the Lord God.”   Ezek 39:22-29

Clearly, this describes a regathered Israel that does not exist today.  The Israel of today is the rejected Israel that does not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  The Israel described above is the purged and cleansed Israel that will enter the Millennial Kingdom. 

The 2nd re-gathering of Israel is that of the angels (Matt. 24:31) when Jesus returns to save the elect – the righteous Jews who survive the tribulation and recognize Jesus as Messiah.  The nations will see and know that the King of Kings is in Zion.

Also, notice in this passage in the second to the last verse above that God says He will bring all of the Jews into the land again and none will be outside of Israel after the regathering. 

This confirms that it is talking about a 2nd re-gathering which immediately precedes the Millennial Kingdom and it happens after the war, not before.  The first regathering does not include all of the Jews which is the situation now.  

Another reason we can know that this battle is right before the return of the Lord and not at the end of the Millennial Kingdom is Ezekiel 38:16.  It says that this will take place in the last days.  That does not refer to the last days of the Millennial Kingdom.  “Last days”  or “latter days” always refers to the end of time before the Lord returns to earth and restores His kingdom.

Also, the ‘Great Supper’ of God in Rev. 19, and the ‘Great Sacrifice’ of God are the same.  In Ezekiel 39:17-20, God tells Ezekiel to declare something.

“And as for you , son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.  So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.  And you will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war, declares the Lord God.”

Now read Revelations 19:17-21.  Remember, Ezekiel said this was the last days and it is in connection with the complete restoration of Israel and rule by the Lord Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom.

“And I saw one standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, ‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God; in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great’. 

The similarities in these passages cannot be dismissed.

I believe that the ‘one’ referred to in Rev. 19:17 is Ezekiel and not an angel.  Yes, the word is ‘aggelos’ or angel but it literally just means messenger or one sent.  Every translation makes this word angel, but I believe the messenger in this case will be Ezekiel because the commandment to speak this herald to the birds and beasts in Ezekiel 39 was given to him.

I agree with Heiser that this battle will be on Mt. Zion.  You’ll have to listen to his podcast or even read his book “The Unseen Realm”.  It’s a great read and gives fantastic insight into the spiritual realm of the Bible.  He explains why Armageddon is Har Magedon which is Mount of Assembly and not the Valley of Meggido.  I won’t go into it here.  He also summarizes it in the podcast which I provided the link for above.

During this battle, there will be a great earthquake.  It will be the mother of all earthquakes.  This earthquake, according to Ezekiel 38:19, will be so massive it will literally cause the mountains to collapse.  Revelation concurs saying that it will be the largest earthquake since man was created (Rev. 16:18).  According to this verse, Jerusalem will be split into 3 parts.  Every nation will feel it and all the mountains on earth will topple.   Isaiah 2:2 says that, “in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills”.   

This does not occur at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, but in the ‘last days’.  The passage goes on to say that “all the nations will stream” to the mountain of the house of the Lord be taught. This is not the eternal new earth, as Dr. Heiser’s position would dictate.  There will be no nations in the eternal kingdom.

Then, all the nations will know that God has won this battle (Ezek. 38:16,20,23; 39:7,21) because they will see Jesus coming in the clouds to earth with His army to save Jerusalem (Rev. 1:7). 

After the victory, the House of Israel will be cleaning up the litter of the battle and disposing of the bodies for seven months (Ezek. 39:12).  It is another proof that this takes place at the end of the age before Jesus returns, not the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  The ‘clean up’ at the end of the Millennial Kingdom is performed by the Lord Himself when He burns up everything and creates a new heaven and earth (2Peter 3:10). 

Finally, Revelation 20:7-9 says Satan will be released from prison briefly at the end of the 1000-year kingdom and he will deceive the nations and gather them with Gog and Magog.  This is undoubtedly the primary passage that Heiser is considering for his belief that Armageddon takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  But this is not a battle. 

This is a crucial point.  Armageddon is a battle, but Revelation 20:7-9 is not.  It is just a gathering and a surrounding of Jerusalem.  This uprising is ended in one fell swoop by God sending down fire and devouring the entire army that Satan has gathered.  There is absolutely nothing left of them.  The verse says they are “devoured”, totally consumed!  There is nothing to bury or clean up.