As we begin this section of Scripture following the allied invasion of Israel by the Russians and Muslim nations it is convenient to link these passages to the invaders. The invaders have all been destroyed and in verse 39:4 God said, “I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.” Careful exegesis of these passages reveals that while appearing similar are not the same. This passage of Ezekiel 39:17-20 is more correctly linked to the end of the Great Tribulation and has parallel application to the same information found in Revelation chapter nineteen.
Revelation 19:17-18
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great (KJV).
JEHOVAH’S SACRIFICE AND ISRAEL’S LAND AFFIRMED
June 11, 2017 Daniel E. Woodhead
Ezekiel 39:17-29
17 And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Speak unto the birds of every sort, 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. 18Ye 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. 19And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord Jehovah. 21And 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 upon them. 22So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, from that day and forward. 23And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. 24According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I unto them; and I hid my face from them. 25Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26And they shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid; 27when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations. 28And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them unto their own land; and I will leave none of them any more there; 29neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah (ASV, 1901).
THE SACRIFICE TO GOD
Ezekiel 39:17-20 2 17And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Speak unto the birds of every sort, 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. 18Ye 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. 19And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord Jehovah. As we begin this section of Scripture following the allied invasion of Israel by the Russians and Muslim nations it is convenient to link these passages to the invaders. The invaders have all been destroyed and in verse 39:4 God said, “I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.” Careful exegesis of these passages reveals that while appearing similar are not the same. This passage of Ezekiel 39:17-20 is more correctly linked to the end of the Great Tribulation and has parallel application to the same information found in Revelation chapter nineteen. Revelation 19:17-18 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great (KJV). Several factors yield differences between Ezekiel 39:4 and Ezekiel 39:17-20 which is a parallel passage to Revelation 19:17-18.
First, the armies coming against Israel in the Gog and Magog war are surrounding Israel and specifically named. They are: Gomer – Germany Persia – Iran Magog – Russians Meshech – Russians Tubal – Russians Rosh – Russia Cush – Ethiopia Put – Somaliland Togarmah – Turkey/Armenia 3 Second, the armies listed in the Ezekiel 39:17-20 passage and the Revelation 19:17-18 are coming from the entire world (Zechariah 12:3) and are given general designations such as: The mighty, The princes of the earth, Mighty men, All men of war The flesh of kings The flesh of captains All men It is important to pay close attention to the details of Scripture passages. Third, the Israelis bring in professional grave diggers who bury the dead. There are two hermeneutical principles that shows this separation of sections of passage by a measure of time. They were first stated by Dr. David L. Cooper, the late founder of the Biblical Research Society.
The first is called the Golden Rule of Interpretation. When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning, unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise. The second is the Law of Double Reference. Often a passage or a block of Scripture is speaking of two different persons or two different events that are separated by a long period of time. In the passage itself they are blended into one picture, and the time gap between the two persons or two events is not clearly presented by the text itself.
The fact that a gap of time exists is known because of other Scriptures and carefully examining the details of the subject passages, but in that particular text itself the gap of time is not clearly seen. One example of this is Jesus beginning His ministry by entering a Galilean synagogue in Nazareth where He stood to read from the scroll of the book of Isaiah. Luke 4:16-21 16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written, 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the 4 poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 20And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears (ASV, 1901).
However the complete passage of Isaiah reads as follows: Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (ASV, 1901). Jesus clearly did not read the last part of this verse, the day of vengeance of our God in the Nazareth synagogue because when He was in the world the first time it was not to bring vengeance on the earth but to come as the suffering Servant. He came to offer the Kingdom to the Jews and provide salvation to the world through His death and resurrection. Therefore only the first section pertained to His first Advent, 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Starting in the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation Jesus is handed the title deed to the earth and in chapter six He begins to take vengeance on the earth as promised in verse two of Isaiah chapter sixty-one. So we can see that there is in Isaiah 61:1 and 61:2 there is a time period of at least 1987 years so far. This is the same hermeneutical principle employed in the Ezekiel passages in chapter 39:17-29. This passage seems contrary to the nature of God as He expressed Himself earlier to the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 18:23-24
23Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? saith the Lord Jehovah; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? 24But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live?
None of his righteous deeds that he hath done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die (ASV, 1901). 5 This section of Scripture under consideration in Ezekiel 39:17-29 is about the final battle, The Great Tribulation wherein the invaders of Jerusalem have all taken the mark of the Antichrist (666) and thus permanently condemned themselves to Hell with no possibility of any repentance. There minds have been permanently seared so that they cannot receive the truth (I Timothy 4:2). God will bring His wrath on those who hinder truth in unrighteousness. Romans 1:18 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness (ASV, 1901).
What some might mistakenly see vengeful joy in the Ezekiel passage is actually the eradication of evil finally from the world through the Great Tribulation. God is now going to allow all the birds and beasts of pray to feast upon the dead bodies of all the people who were responsible and carried out the final assault on Jerusalem in the last siege of the Campaign of Armageddon. The people who are getting the reaping are completely unrepentant from the sins they sowed earlier.
As Jehovah God is addressing the prophet Ezekiel He is instructing him to Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field. Clearly Ezekiel is either going to participate in the finale of the Campaign of Armageddon or the birds and beasts will know to carry out God’s commands regarding their feast on all the men of the nations who came against Jerusalem in the final siege of the Tribulation. This is what God calls His Sacrifice for His beasts of the earth and air.
This is a vivid display of vast carnage on those who deserve judgment and will suffer irrevocable doom.
Ezekiel 39:21-24
21And 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 upon them. 22So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, from that day and forward. 23And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. 24According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I unto them; and I hid my face from them (ASV, 1901). The one purpose of all creation and of all history is the sanctification of God’s Holy Name. Throughout this entire book and the whole Bible as well as creation this truth is well presented. God wants only to be acknowledged and loved above all things that consume our attention on earth. This is also the imperative that determines the destiny of the nation Israel. God’s name will be made holy because when He vanquished all of Israel’s enemies both internal and external Israel will bear the Glory of God as His 6 chosen people and the world will see how He used them to bring His truth and Messiah to this world. They will finally be vindicated from all their sins against Him.
GOD’S SPIRIT IS POURED OUT UPON ISRAEL
Ezekiel 39:25-29
25Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26And they shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid; 27when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations. 28And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them unto their own land; and I will leave none of them any more there; 29neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah (ASV, 1901). The ultimate result of the battle with Gog will be Israel’s national repentance and spiritual restoration. This will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom.
GOD NOW LISTS SEVEN PURPOSES THAT HE ACHIEVES BY ENDING THE EXILE.
1. God would initiate a new era in His relationship with Israel
2. He would show the compassion of love by restoring them.
3. God would be zealous for his holy name’s sake. He would reverse the profaning of his name that was reported and promote the sanctification of his name among the heathen.
4. Israel would forget their shame and unfaithfulness and their time of disgrace would be past.
5. God would demonstrate his holiness through the complete regathering of Israel from the countries of their enemies and reestablishing them in their land according to the Abrahamic Covenant.
6. Israel would know that Jehovah is their God, for he would leave none in exile but return everyone to the land.
7. God would pour out his spirit on the house of Israel as he promised (Joel 2:29), a promise that begins the Messianic Kingdom.
THE NATIONAL MOURNING BEGINS AS GOD POURS OUT HIS SPIRIT UPON ISRAEL
Zechariah 12:10 “
10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth 7 for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.” (ASV, 1901)
Then the Lord pours out His “spirit of grace and of supplication” which causes the Jews to realize that it was them who persecuted Jesus and had Him nailed to a cross at Calvary. The Lord in the first person (“me”) begins to describe the mourning process the Jews will go through when they finally realize that it was God Himself who died for them as Jesus, the Messiah. He uses the analogy of losing a child to express the degree of mourning that will be felt. This degree of mourning is unparalleled in the lives of humans because the loss of a child is one of the greatest pains one can experience. He says not only is it the loss of a child, but it is as if it is the parent’s only male child, and further defines the situation as losing a son who is their first-born child. Our first-born children are the ones with whom we learn parenting and spend the most time and effort attending to their care. We usually invest more of ourselves into the first-born child than any other child. A loss of this child will give us an immense amount of pain that will never leave us while we are still on this earth. This is the extent of pain the Nation Israel will experience when they finally realize what they have done to their Messiah Jesus.
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