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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: | |
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And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: | |
| There may be two ways to look at this verse, but
either way, 5/6ths of their military forces are utterly destroyed by God: 1) 1/6th of the forces will be left behind in Russia and the other nations and the 5/6ths that attack will be completely wiped out by God. 2) 1/6th of the forces that attack Israel will be left alive (by fleeing or retreating) and 5/6ths are destroyed. |
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And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. | |
| Do not let the language of swords, bows, and arrows
trip you up -- these are simply the old English words for the ideas conveyed by
the original Hebrew words. Sword ( Bow ( Arrows ( The modern equivalents of bows and arrows are launchers and missiles. God is telling the invaders that He will knock the weapons (whatever they are) from their hands and then destroy them. |
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Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that [is] with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and [to] the beasts of the field to be devoured. | |
| After the invaders are slaughtered by God's wrath (pestilence, hailstorms, etc.), they are left upon the mountains and are eaten by the vultures and such. Muslims today still fear not being buried, and the invaders' bodies are all desecrated by the birds and animals eating their flesh. | ||
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Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD. | |
| Magog and their hordes were renown for their horsemanship, and for them to fall upon the open fields was unheard of. They were known for quick, brutal attacks and would flee if the city or village had good defenses or if the attack was going badly for them. | ||
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And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I [am] the LORD. | |
| As an American or Westerner, this is one of the more
disturbing verses in this passage. Note that none of the invaders inhabit
any islands or isles -- all the invading forces are land-locked and most
of them are coming from the north, south, and east. This verse speaks of
a region to Israel's west, across the sea. The phrase "them that dwell carelessly in the isles" literally means "those that dwell securely (without care) or confidently in the distant coastlands or isles". In ancient times, this typically meant a very distant region across the Mediterranean. However, it can also be interpreted as any distant coastlands on the other side of the world. This could be either the British Isles or more likely America, since the British Isles would be referred to as Tarshish again. But this verse seems to be speaking about a land to the west of their known world, which would be the Americas. What could be happening here is that God is taking vengeance upon America for promising to protect and aid Israel, and then abandoning them in their greatest hour of need. God still says to the world, "Those who bless my people [Israel], I will bless. And those who curse my people I will curse. In Matthew 24-25, Jesus will judge the nations based upon how they treat Israel and His people. America often pressures Israel into false-peace treaties with their enemies who seek only their destruction, and has betrayed Israel in previous wars, like in 1967. One way this could happen is that a nuclear exchange could occur between Russia and the United States. If Russia did launch nuclear missiles at the United States, mainly the coastal regions would be targeted, due to the nation's capital and the major population centers being on the coasts (Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle to name only a few). If America implores Russia and her allies to stop the invasion and they do not, America may launch their missiles at Russia and it's forces as they are entering Israel, and Russia responds by launching their own against the United States. |
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So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not [let them] pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I [am] the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. | |
| Today, Israel is largely secular and atheistic --
they do not believe in the God who is regathering them to their land as He said
He would, and Who watches over them day-by-day, despite their ignorance, pride,
blasphemy, and ingratitude. After God has wiped out the invasion forces so dramatically, Israel as a nation turns back to God and returns to their old way of worshipping Him, clamoring for a new Temple and perhaps even having the Sanhedrin (re-established in 2004 after over 1900 years) rule over them instead of their current political system. Along with Israel once again being made aware of God, all the heathen (Gentile) nations of the world will know that God is the God of Israel, and that He is with them once again. With Israel then turning to God, they will once again be reading the Old Testament and studying it for themselves. However, there is a New Testament, based upon Grace instead of the Law, and the Old has been replaced by the New. Unfortunately, it will take the Tribulation and it's horrors before Israel turns to Jesus and asks Him to return and save them (Hosea 5:15). |
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Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this [is] the day whereof I have spoken. | |
| This is one of the days that God has been looking
forward to for many, many years. The day that He will revenge
Himself upon His enemies, save His people, and be once again worshipped and
honored by them. Why has He been so patient and long-suffering? So that many Gentile sons and daughters could be brought into His Family by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The time of the Church Age is drawing to a close, with every tribe, tongue, and nation hearing the Gospel and the message of Grace spreading over the world as never before. His incredible Love, Grace, and Mercy for us is the main reason He has delayed moving His hand against the evil rulers and nations of the world. God's love for us is surely greater than His anger and wrath against His enemies. |
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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: | |
| What kind of weapons could Israel burn for 7
years? Surely not swords, bows, and arrows! There is a kind of
weapon that could be converted ("burned") for at least 7 years: nuclear
weapons. There have also been recent research programs developed that can
efficiently convert nuclear weapons into domestic nuclear energy sources. The shelf-life of most of Russia's nuclear weapons is between 7-15 years, and they rotate them out every 6th year (depending on the type of weapon) to ensure they will still function properly if/when used. Why will Israel burn them for 7 years? Probably because that coincides with the period of the Tribulation. Not only is God supplying them with all the weapons they need during the Tribulation (as the whole world gathers against them), but their energy needs as well. |
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So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down [any] out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD. | |
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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 Hamongog. | |
| The area east of the sea (the Dead Sea) is downwind from the population centers of Israel. East of the Dead Sea is the wastelands and the northwestern edge of the Arabian Desert. Few people live there, and it currently useless land. Israel is cramped for space already, and the safest, largest place to bury this invasion force is in the wastelands east of the Dead Sea. | ||
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And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. | |
| Immediately after the destruction of the invaders, Israel as a whole will begin to bury the dead. The pestilence from all the rotting corpses and weapons would create a health crisis if they were left to rot. | ||
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Yea, all the people of the land shall bury [them]; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD. | |
| In making all the people of the land bury the corpses of the invaders, it will be a continual reminder to them of how dramatically God has saved them, and they will see His salvation first-hand, and not just on television. | ||
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And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. | |
| The huge hordes of soldiers and such will be the
first to be buried, but after 7 months, they will be finished burying them and
then will need to comb through the entire land and bury those enemies who were
scattered (from plane crashes and such). Not only will the "professionals" of Israel be searching and burying the dead, but there will be foreign professionals helping them also. |
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And the passengers [that] pass through the land, when [any] seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. | |
| These "passengers" will probably be tourists from all
over the world who have come to see the destruction firsthand for themselves. The marking of a discoverd bone implies that they may be radioactive or be tainted with biogical or chemical weapons residue. In a toxic cleanup, people mark the dangerous areas and then have the professionals safely come in and dispose of the material/remains. |
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And also the name of the city [shall be] Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. | |
| Hamonah will probably be an isolated city or the main base-of-operations for the search-and-burial effort, so the professional burying the dead do not mix in with the general population (so pestilence and diseases are not spread to them). | ||
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And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, [even] a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. | |
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Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. | |
| This is somewhat gruesome to consider, but it is what
will happen. The vultures and other scavenging birds will feast on and
desecrate the bodies of the invading forces.
God could simply vaporize all the invaders and save both Israel and the world a lot of trouble in not having to bury them all, but He doesn't. Why would that be? Having your corpse not buried, or worse yet, desecrated is a horrible thing to a Muslim, and it appears that God does just that: He desecrates all their bodies. Having your unburied body eaten by the birds is a curse to them. |
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And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. | |
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Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD. | |
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And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. | |
| Not only will Israel see God's judgement upon the
invaders, but "all the heathen" will also. How could all the nations of
the world see what God did in Israel?
Television and the Internet! |
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So the house of Israel shall know that I [am] the LORD their God from that day and forward. | |
| This event resolves a number of Biblical End Times
issues and questions:
1) How does Israel get a temple for during the Tribulation when only a small percentage of Israelis want it today? 2) How does Israel turn from their religion of secular humanism, atheism, and paganism back to Judaism? 3) Why are Russia, Iran, America, and many of the other current world superpowers not mentioned in the End Times/Tribulation passages? Because they will have been destroyed or greatly harmed by this judgement. |
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And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. | |
| The heathen (Gentiles) will realize that it wasn't
that Israel was no longer God's people or that they are now God's people (as
the Muslims teach), but that God cast them aside for their unbelief.
They will realize that God was the one who was punishing Israel and using the heathen as His instrument. |
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According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. | |
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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; | |
| The regathering of the Jewish people back to Israel
has been happening since 1948 (and somewhat before then), but after these
events, Jews from all over the world will migrate back to Israel. Jews in America have yet to begin to migrate back to Israel -- nearly half of all Jews in the world currently reside in America, which has long been one of the few safe-havens for them in the world. If America does have a nuclear exchange with Russia and some of her coastal cities are bombed, American Jews may see Israel as the only safe place left in the world to move to. Anti-semitism is rising all over Europe again, and there are very few Jews in Russia, Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East who have not migrated to Israel. A nuclear strike on American cities could drive the rest of the Jews to migrate to Israel. |
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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. | |
| God's time of punishment and judgement
upon Israel ended in 1948 and 1967, and after these events He will visibly
protect them from then on. So why does God allow them to go through the Tribulation? During the Tribulation, Satan and his forces will be ones attacking Israel, not God punishing them any longer. But it will take the Tribulation and the persecutions thereof to turn Israel from the Old Covenant (Judaism) to the New Covenant (Jesus). |
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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; | |
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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. | |
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After this Israel will KNOW exactly Who has been working in their
history: Who punished them AND Who restored and regathered them.
The phrase "and have left none of them any more there" further indicates that all the Jews in the Americas will migrate to Israel and then the whole nation will have been regathered to the land. |
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Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. | |
| And then after these events and all Israel has been regathered, God will pour out His Spirit upon them, beginning with the 144,000 Jewish Witnesses of Revelation. |
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King James Version (KJV)
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