Ezekiel wrote
his prophesies when the Jews were under Nebuchadnezzar’s Captivities. It
was God’s purpose that the wayward Jews might be reformed by their strait
circumstances of the Captivities. Had they reformed, the favourable
promises of Ezekiel 37, 38 and 39 would have been fulfilled to them. The
purpose of those chapters for us is as an object lesson. I have seen many
professing Seventh-day Adventists misapply favourable promises found in
Ezekiel 37, 38 and 39, to apostate Adventists today, and that demonstrates
much blindness as to God’s real purpose for recording those chapters.
The SDA Bible Commentary got is right when they commented thusly on Ezekiel 37:
“The whole
symbolism is intended to describe how events would have evolved in that
period [of The Captivities under Nebuchadnezzar] and subsequently if the
Jews has cooperated with God for the working out of His design for them.
But unbelief and disobedience thwarted the divine purpose. NT writers must
be consulted as to how these events, which should have met a literal
fulfillment in the postexilic period, will be achieved in the Christian Era
with spiritual Israel (see pp. 35, 36). SDA
Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, p. 700.
Major considerations to remember when
reading Ezekiel chapters 37, 38 and 39, are:
·
Those chapters were written
for us as well as the ancient Jews.
·
The positive promises and/or
negative threats of those chapters applied to the Jews on the condition of
obedience, and they apply to modern-day Jerusalem on the same condition.
·
What happened to apostate
Israel is a prefigure of what will happen to modern-day Israel for her
disobedience.
"The Bible for Our
Time.--Never are we absent from the mind of God. God is our joy and our
salvation. Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than
for ours, so that their prophesying is in force for us. 'Now all these
things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come' (1 Cor. 10:11). 'Not unto
themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now
reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look
into' (1 Peter 1:12).'" E.G. White, Selected Messages, Bk. 3, p. 338.
Many have been
misled by a misunderstanding of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. The prime
culprit for the widespread misapprehension of those chapters is the employment
of “either/or thinking” regarding one’s interpretation of some of the
elements. The most commonly misunderstood part is that the parts addressing
Gog and Magog have an application both pre and post millennial.
As a
demonstration of this paradox, I am presenting a treatise of Gog and Magog
that appears on the Internet. I will comment further after this reading:
Gog and Magog
Gog and Magog are those that invade Israel in
the last days along with Islam. Gog signifies Russia, the chief prince of Rosh.
Therefore son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog,
Thus saith the Lord God, In that day when my people of Israel dwells
safely, shalt you not know it? And you shall come from your place out of the
north parts, you, and many people with you... Son of man, set your face
against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Tubal, and prophesy
against him.
Gog and Magog are usually spoken together in
scripture.
And when the thousand years are expired, satan
shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them
together to battle: Therefore, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say,
Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against you, O Gog, the chief prince
of Meshech (Moscow) and Tubal. And I will turn you back, and leave but the
sixth part of you, and I will cause you to come up from the north parts,
and will bring you upon the mountains of Israel... And I will send fire on
Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall
know that I am the Lord. So I will make my holy name known in the midst of
my people.
Meshech is the sixth son of Japheth, son of
Noah, located near Tubal at the north east corner of Asia minor in Iberia,
and supposed by many to have been the father of the Muscovites. Meshech
traded with Tyre in the persons of men, and in vessels of brass. Magog was
also the son of Japheth and grandson of Noah. Josephus noted that the
Greeks called them Scythians and also settled in Russia. Meshech, brother
to Magog is from the Hebrew mashak - to draw out. Their descendants were a
barbarous people inhabiting the Moshian Mts. between Iberia, Armenia and
Colchis.
Rosh, as seen in early Greek writings, is a name
which was then used for all the nations of the north. Meshech and Tubal,
now believed to be Phrygia and Cappadocia were located at that time in the
vicinity of Magog, clearly the area of Russia. Thus if Rosh is Russia,
Magog would be the land of Russia. The suggestion has been made that
Meshech and Tubal constitute the old names for the former western and
eastern capitals of Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk.
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 of the
passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they
shall call it the valley of Hamon-gog. And seven months shall the house of
Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.. And you shall
come up against my people, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the
latter days, and I will bring you against my land, that the nations may
know me, when I shall be honored in you, O Gog, before their eyes.
On the mountains of Israel will Gog will all his
hosts and nations succumb to the judgment of God. Russia and the northern
powers have been persecutors of dispersed Israel, and it is in accord with
the covenants and promises of Israel which are yet to be fulfilled. The
prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, whom Ezekiel said would invade the
restored land of Israel from the far distant northern land by the
appointment of God in the last times, and with a powerful army of numerous
nations, with the intention of plundering Israel, now dwelling in security,
that the Lord may sanctify himself upon him before the whole world. When Gog shall fall upon Israel, he
is to be destroyed by a wrathful judgment from the Lord, that the nations
may know that God is the Lord.
There is a prophecy of Mohammed that is very
significant considering so many Muslim nations from North Africa and the
Middle East will be involved in the conflict. The Koran: "But there is
a ban on any population which we have destroyed: that they shall not
return, until the Gog and Magog are let through their barrier and they
swiftly swarm from every hill."
These entire prophecies belong to the day of the
Lord, and evidently precedes the actual battle of Armageddon by a few
years. The prophetic
perspective concerning Gog, however includes the final revolt of the
nations at the close of the mediatorial Messianic kingdom. This for me, consists of a dilemma
that I have yet to work out.
I
realize that this is what the scriptures teach so I also believe in it that
they Gog and Magog will be consumed at the end of the thousand year period.
What I do not understand is that this is at
the end of the millennial reign of peace. There will
be no more tears, the lion has laid down with the lamb, we have turned our
swords into plowshares. And then the nations
will be deceived by Gog and Magog and gathered together to battle?
This is supposed to be a time of a new earth and a new heaven, the sea is no
more and nations will not rise up against nation any more. Now the last
days are really not the last days in that the end of the millennial period
is the last days but what does that do to our understanding of the last
days?
This is the prophecy in Micah 4:1-4.
But in the last days
it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the
hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say,
Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the
God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations
afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under
his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the
mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
Either this is for the last days that we are
looking toward in these last days or it is not. Most bible teachers would suggest
that this is the millennial kingdom that Micah is prophesying here. Only to
take back the prophecy and assemble the nations to war once more and then
from Gog and Magog? It does not make sense unless we re-evaluate our
thinking. This is the best argument for an a-millennial or post millennial
positions that I have seen but it has yet to persuade me against
pre-millennialism.
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I believe that these things will
happen also but it just does not make sense to me is all. The Bible says
it, I believe it and that settles it. Satan will be bound for a thousand
years and then be allowed to return and bring this about at the end of
the thousand years. We can understand this but if the finality of our
understanding of the millennium as to war no more is not given to the
letter of scripture, then our understanding must be faulty, not the
Bible. [35, 202, 380, Ezekiel 38, Micah, Revelations, BD]
Ron’s
Commentary: Let us consider the following prophecy of Micah that
perplexes the above writer:
Micah 4:1-4.
But in the last
days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted
above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall
come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to
the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we
will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word
of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and
rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up
a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they
shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall
make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
If the writer
of the above article understood that the prophesies of Micah 4:1-4, Ezekiel 37, 38 and 39, like some
other prophesies of Scripture, constitute conditional prophesies to
ancient Israel upon the condition of her obedience, he would not be
confused. The writer of the above article does not seem to be able to
comprehend that fact. If Israel as a nation, a theocracy, had received
and followed Christ, Micah 4:1-4 is precisely what they would have
experienced. That is God’s “Plan A” for Israel—and not only Israel! The
other nations would have had to cede to God’s blessing of the nation of
Israel and be taught by God’s chosen people. Had Israel obeyed God, the object
lesson is that their example would have been so compelling, that other
nations would have fallen in line! But that did not materialize because of
Israel’s disobedience and it need not be a source of dilemma for us.
This is a classical
example of how some of the promises and threatening of Ezekiel 38, 39
cannot be applied to modern-day Israel.
Gog and
Magog
Because of
Israel’s apostasy and the ensuing following after of other nations, Gog
and Magog [generally the heathen nations]will attack Israel
pre-millennially, because of her rejection of Christ. The post millennial
attack of Gog and Magog will fail utterly because Satan’s forces will be
marshalled in an attempt to overtake the New Jerusalem and Zion—God’s
redeemed people.
The imagery of
Ezekiel 38 is God bringing Gog and Magog against Israel as a taunt and an
instruction (Ezekiel 5). This applies to literal Israel and professing
modern-day “spiritual” Jerusalem, Seventh-day Adventists. They will be
made an example of as to how God deals with a “chosen” people who forsake
Him by the treachery of apostasy. The Ezekiel 5 fulfillment against
modern-day professing apostate Adventism will occur at the time of great
martyrdom, which will be between day 1290 and 1335 of Daniel 12.
Destruction of the apostates BEGINS AT HIS SANCTUARY, “Jerusalem,” not
Babylon, for Babylon executes the destruction. At this time there will
also be many faithful martyrs per Ellen White’s prophecy.
Seventh-day
Adventist leaders have faulted in their interpretations of these chapters
because any correct interpretation would implicate the church in a very
unfavourable light! So they have played the role of a “dumb-dog” that
would not bark (Isaiah 56:10-12 and Testimonies,
Vol. 5, 211), to show the House of Jacob its sins. Just as Ellen White
prophesied, they would NEVER AGAIN show God’s people their sins, and
what’s far worse, they have been the ringleaders in apostasy. So they
thus disqualify themselves to give any reasonable and true interpretation
of the prophets lest they expose themselves to the sheep they miss-serve.
Ezekiel 38 should be studied in close connection with Ezekiel 5.
Rosh,
Meshech Tubal, Gomer, Persia, Ethiopia (Cush), and Togarmah
The exact
identity of most of the above named peoples is quite easily arrived at,
but is not as important as looking around at Israel’s enemies and the
enemies of Christians today! This is a more circumspect manner of
referring to the peoples mentioned. The above named peoples, including
the Assyrians, Aryans, and apostate Zionist Semitics will be foremost in
persecuting:
·
God’s people (True Spiritual
Israel).
·
Apostate modern-day professing
“Israel.”
·
Literal Israel.
·
Christians in general.
·
Anyone who rejects Satan’s
attempt at a New World Order, the modern-day Tower of Babel.
The Great
Shaking in the Land of Israel (Ezk. 18:19)
This refers to the fearful convulsions of
nature that will precede the coming of the Son of man—“the sea and the
waves roaring” and “men’s hearts failing them for fear.” All nature will
seem to be out of its course. (Luke 21:25; 26; GC 636; Rev. 16:18-20).
Men have forgotten God and have relied on
science, the god of this world. They have chosen the “prince of the power
of the air” (Eph. 2:2), and their god (Satan) will have no power over the
elements to still them. Yet he claimed a position and power equal to that
of the Son of God (see on Eze. 28:13) and asserted that, if given an
opportunity, he would exercise a more equitable control over the world
than Christ. Most men will see too late the falseness and arrogance of
Satan’s claims.
Ezekiel Chapter
39
God permits Israel’s enemies to destroy her,
and then He destroys Gog and Magog, the destroyers. But chapter 39 is still
primarily a prophecy that was conditional to Israel’s obedience. It was
God’s plan that the captivities under Nebuchadnezzar would have reformed
His people, but that did not happen, thus the destruction of Jerusalem
and the Temple in A.D. 70. Chapter 39 is what would have transpired if
Israel had reformed. Now the chapter is an example of what happens to a
“chosen” people when they disregard the commandments of God.
—rwb
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