ezekiel battle

The facts of the terrible tragedy of the downed Malaysian flight #17, a civilian airliner allegedly destroyed by a Ukrainian/Russian missile, are still coming public. But the cleanup and the investigation has quickly begun. And just as quickly, the Ukrainian rebels have disallowed entry to the area, and are doing all they can to stall and impede.

Nonetheless, here is an ABC photo by Kirit Radia. I saw it on Twitter. He wrote: “Every white flag represents a body part”

Source

It reminds me of a time when, unbelievably, there will be worse tragedies. Ezekiel 39 records it. An alliance of nations will form, including Russia and the Baltics, to come against Israel. Israel will be dwelling peacefully in the land at that future time, and this attack will be a total surprise. (Ezekiel 38:14). Without the LORD’S direct, supernatural intervention, Israel would be obliterated. God does this for the singular purpose of letting the world know He is the LORD. (Ezekiel 38:16 & 23). He will vindicate His holiness before the eyes of those who dwell on the earth.

Ezekiel 39 spends time giving the specifics of the battle and its outcome. All who come against Israel in that day, Russia, Turkey, the Baltics, Armenia, and the rest, like a cloud covering the land, hordes of them, five-sixths of them will be smote.

Fire will be sent, earthquakes will happen, missiles will be duds, and every plane will fall out of the sky. (Ezekiel 39:1-6).

Two hundred and ninety-eight people fell from the sly when Malaysia flight 17 went down. What will it be like when hundreds of planes fall? There will be so many! Like clouds covering the land! It will take seven months of constant cleansing to bury these hordes. And they will start with flags.

Normandy being supplied, Wikipedia historic photo

“On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory, declares the Lord God. They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make their search. And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. (Hamonahe is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land. (Ezekiel 39:11-16).

There will be so many they have to mass bury them in a place whose name translates to “Multitude”. Imagine how many flags. Each one represents a soul gone down to Hades. On that day, Hades will swell with souls flooding in.

Normandy invasion aftermath, Wikipedia historic photo

I try to bring the specificity into it regarding the flags so people will KNOW what the Tribulation will be like. Soft and Easy Christians following their Jesus and talking of love refuse to gain biblical knowledge about God’s other attributes: His vindication, His wrath, His judgment. It isn’t pretty- for those who rebel. It is bloody and awful and destructive. The soft and easy Christians think they will go through the Tribulation (which they will but not because it is a post-tribulation event, but because many of them aren’t saved. Matthew 7:21). They think their love for Jesus will float them through. They haven’t a clue.

Other Christians, sad to say, are saved but don’t spend time looking ahead. They don’t study prophecy, for whatever reason. Many pastors weren’t taught it in seminary so they don’t preach it in church. Other Christians think they are superfluous doctrines, not for edification or practical application to today.

The fact is, the Tribulation will be gross and horrific and bloody and terrifying. The Holy Spirit will not be restraining sin any more! (2 Thessalonians 2:6). Jesus said it will be the worst time there shall ever be, from the beginning of the world to the end, and will ever be again. (Mt 24:21).

Knowing these things in such detail helps us

–be grateful for His grace in rapturing His Bride before these things happen
–be urgent about pursuing holiness as a result of our gratitude
–witness in word and in deed to the lost, who, unless they repent first, WILL go through it.

In the ABC News photo by Kirit Radia I counted three flags. In the Valley of Hamon Gog, there will be untold thousands, perhaps millions.

I long for the Day when God vindicates His holiness before the world. I mourn that day too, for many will perish. Living with the joy of anticipation and the heartache of certain death for many is bittersweet. It is joy mixed with pain and regret; regret that they didn’t do the one thing required: repent of their sins and make Jesus Lord.

Yes it is that simple. Difficult, but simple.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Repent while there is time, Jesus is the way.

photo credit: a l-ust for all things pointless via photopin cc

God is setting the stage to bring Himself glory.

Hallelujah!

Here is the story:

In Ezekiel 38 and 39 a battle occurs. It is the most lengthy and detailed prophetic battle in the entire bible, even more than Armageddon. This future battle is a coalition which has never formed before in quite the configuration described. For this reason, bible scholars believe the battle to be yet future. I use the term battle and not war deliberately, because this seems to be a very short military foray. As a matter of fact, hardly any weapons are loosed, it is over so quick. It is a battle, and God wins it decisively.
In addition, the battle is not between nations. It is between this coalition of nations and God Himself. The coalition of nations doesn’t know it, because they think they are marching against Israel. But it is God who intervenes and protects Israel by smiting the advancing army.

He does this in demonstrable and vivid ways. He wins the battle for Israel so clearly that the nations know it is God who is doing the fighting. More on those details below.

photo credit: MoudBarthez
via photopin cc

The coalition which is prophesied to come against Israel includes Iran, Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan (i.e. northern tier of North Africa). Also Sheba and Dedan (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen? most likely). The merchants of Tarshish (no one quite knows who those people are) and all its leaders stand by. They don’t participate in the evil coalition, but they don’t help Israel either. They are interested sidelines quarterbacks. (Ezekiel 38:13).

The LORD said that He will plan this and execute it. He said in Ezekiel 38:4- “And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords”.

He will do this to show the world that HE IS ISRAEL’S PROTECTOR! And to bring himself glory!!

“And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.” (Ezekiel 39:22-24)

He shows His protection of Israel and His glory by doing things that only God does:

“In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 38:19-22)

All the people on the face of the earth tremble at His presence??!?! Even the birds?! He rains brimstone down! Turns over mountains! He sends plague! Some estimate the number of dead invaders at three quarters of a million up to a billion dead. All the earth will know God is on the scene. It will be a momentous day. His wrath is a fearful thing.

Remember when the Japan 9.0 quake happened in March 2011? It was a powerful enough quake that it jolted the earth off its axis 8 feet. The quake in Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog battle will be ten times worse. A hundred times worse. I can’t quantify it because my brain can’t comprehend all the mountains on earth turning over and every cliff and every wall falling down.

photo credit: chany14 via photopin cc

I am so thrilled when the LORD receives Glory and He magnifies Himself. He has been doing that in the Church Age the last 2000 years by redeeming lost sinners, cleansing them with His Son’s blood. In the future Gog-Magog battle Ezekiel describes, He will give Himself glory by demonstrating both His raw power and His seriousness about keeping His covenant promise with Israel.

When does this Gog-Magog battle happen? No one is sure where it falls on the schedule of prophesied events, and there are a lot of opinions on this topic. The only collective thought is that it happens at or after the tribulation. All the stances have some biblical credibility, but some stances are weaker than others and some are stronger. Personally, I used to think it will happen at or just after the rapture. But in reading the verse about every mountain falling down, I am not so sure. In Revelation 6:14 we read that:

“The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”

So the Ezekiel earthquake removes every mountain by overturning them but then the Revelation earthquake crumbles them … again?

If the Ezekiel battle happens at the outset of the Tribulation, then the verse where God says in Ezekiel 39:7 that “I will not let my Holy name be profaned any more” would not be true, since His holy name is continually profaned throughout the Tribulation. The antichrist is especially blasphemous. The verse mentions blasphemy three times in succession:

“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,a that is, those who dwell in heaven.” (Revelation 13:5-6).

Many have said that since the Ezekiel battle mentions in chapter 39 a special crew of buriers burying the dead over the course of 7 months, marking bones with a flag to identify another part of another body from the army God vanquished. And the people of Israel shall use the weapons for fuel for 7 years, so people believe the 7 years means the battle occurs at the outset of the Tribulation and Israel burns fuel for the duration of it, which is 7 years. However, there is no reason the 7 years could not refer to a battle toward the end of the Tribulation, and the fuel burning overlapping into the Millennium. Or it could occur at the end of the Millennium, a more likely prospect since during that 1000 years God’s name is not profaned, AND Israel is dwelling peacefully and securely without walls (Ezekiel 38:11, Ezekiel 39:25).

In other words, the timing of this prophesied battle cannot be clearly and dogmatically stated.

In any case, it seems that the world stage is active and lively right now with prophetic implications of these battles to come. We see a potential Gog in Putin, and Russia rising. We see an isolated Israel, bemoaning they only have God and their military to rely on. God is stripping Israel of all, and when Israel finally says, ‘we have ONLY God’, He will bring them back to His bosom.

photo credit: Wessex Archaeology
via photopin cc

Since the chapters of Ezekiel 38-39 show the LORD bringing His people back into personal dealing again, the Gog-Magog battle cannot occur while the church is on earth. Since His program for the church and the nation Israel are separate, it seems the church will be gone when He resumes dealing with the nation of Jews.

During this Church Age, God is dealing with people via His Spirit and through Resurrected Jesus who is in heaven. It is an age of grace, not of wrath. During the Tribulation He parts the veil and personally intervenes on earth again- in wrath and not in grace.

Here are several progressive essays which examine the timing of the Gog-Magog battle. They are from Nathan Jones of Lamb and Lion Ministries, and one is from John MacArthur, who believes the Ezekiel battle will occur at the Millennium’s close. As always, check out these things for yourself, pray, and think.

1. The Gog-Magog Battle – Search For Timing

2. The Gog-Magog Battle – Before the Tribulation?

3. The Gog-Magog Battle – During the Tribulation?

4. The Gog-Magog Battle – During the Millennium?

5. The Gog-Magog Battle – Unfolding; (their stance on the timing)

6. Twelve attributes of God the study of the Ezekiel Battle yields

John MacArthur: The Gog Magog battle timing- at the end of the Millennium

I hope that when you read those essays and especially when you read the bible, do so with a notion that God is great, and His purpose for all of it is to bring glory to Himself, and to bring people to holiness. End time studies are meant to revive our hearts in love and awe for a great and holy God, to make us aware of the temporal and fleeting time and body in which we live, and the eternal importance of souls.

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Category: ezekiel battle

"Every white flag represents a body part"

Is the Ezekiel 38-39 Gog-Magog battle imminent?