Revelation chapter number 20, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning there in verse 7 where the Bible reads, "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 quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."
Now what I want to preach about tonight is the subject of Gog and Magog, which is brought up in this passage here in verse number 8. It says he, "shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth," and then he puts these 3 words here, "Gog and Magog." Now as you're reading this, you may wonder what are Gog and Magog? These names, Gog and Magog, they're only talked about in 2 places in the Bible. One place is Ezekiel 38 and 39, and then the other place is here in Revelation 20. Magog is listed in the genealogy, just telling you, one of the sons of Japheth is named Magog, but that's just a long list of names. It just identifies who Magog is as coming from Japheth.
But really there are only 2 scriptures where you get any teaching whatsoever, where you could get any teaching on this battle of Gog and Magog. That's in Ezekiel 38 and 39, which are both all about Gog and Magog, the whole chapters, and Revelation 20. Obviously if we read this and God chooses to put these words, Gog and Magog, in this passage in Revelations 20, he's clearly pointing us back to the 2 whole chapters he gave us in Ezekiel on Gog and Magog. He's telling us, "Hey, this is that battle." Now we're going to go back to Ezekiel 38 and 39 and we're going to go through those scriptures.
Tonight's sermon is going to be a little more of the strong meat of the word. But one of the great things that you can get from this study on Gog and Magog are some principles on how to study the Bible in general. How often we're deceived by people who make really convincing arguments and say a lot of things that sound right but how when you study the Bible on your own and you actually look at things in context, you'll find that there's so much false teaching out there. We as God's people need to know how to go into the Bible and study it for ourselves and learn for ourselves.
I remember when I was a young, I'm still a young man, but when I was a younger man. I believe it was right around the time that I got married. I was around 19, 20 years old. I went over to a guy's house that I was going to be going [inaudible 00:02:58] with, he went to our church I walked into his house and all over the floor he had all these papers and all these books and he had all this stuff going on. I said, "What are you studying? What are you working on here?" He said, "I'm going into this study of Gog and Magog." He had all these books and all this study and it was all about how Israel is going to be attacked and all the [inaudible 00:03:23] we could see it happening, according to these books that he's looking at. We could see it happening, it's all getting set up for [inaudible 00:03:32]
I walked up to him and I said, "You know there's only one place in the whole Bible that mentions Gog and Magog besides Ezekiel 38 and 39, it's right here in Revelation 20. I showed him this and I said, "Do you notice that it's after the millennium?" Basically, all of these books are invalid, because they're all saying, "We can see it all happening right now?" He literally, when I showed him that, I showed him, I said, "Look this is the only mention of Gog and Magog in the whole Bible, except for Ezekiel 38 and 39, and then it's brought up here." Right there, clear as day, look at your Bible verse 7, "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 quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."
Now let me ask you something, that beloved city there, after the millennium, that's going to be attacked by Gog and Magog, who is ruling and reigning from that city? Who's been ruling there? Christ, so it's the camp of the saints. It's where Jesus Christ has been ruling and reigning from for a thousand years. I showed him that, and you know what his response was to me? "Oh, I guess that goes to show why you shouldn't read all these books. You should just read the Bible, to figure out ... " He saw it immediately because it's as plain as the nose on your face, there it is. He immediately was like, "Oh wow," he's like, "That makes it a lot simpler. I don't have to worry about any of this stuff."
I'm going to go through this verse by verse, but first of all stop and think how ridiculous it would be for God to give us these 2 chapters in Ezekiel 38 and 39 and to say, "This is what's going to happen in the end times with Gog and Magog." Then he never brings it up again, then all of a sudden in Revelations 20 he points us [inaudible 00:05:43] Gog and Magog. It's a different Gog and Magog. You know that's what 99% of prophecy teachers are teaching? Did you know that I grew up being taught that the battle of Gog and Magog happens at the beginning of the tribulation, based on no evidence. There's not a single stitch of scripture, no mention, just look it up, Magog. It's not mentioned anywhere else.
Here's the book by Tim Lahaye and Thomas Ice. These are 2 of the architects of the pre-tribulation rapture theory in our modern time. In this 2 by Tim Lahaye, co-author of Left Behind, and Thomas Ice who is the guy from I believe Dallas theological seminary, some baptist seminary in Texas. There's a chapter in here on Gog and Magog, in this book Charting the End Times. Let me says this, the original Left Behind movie that came out, I don't know what 15, 20 years ago, that movie starts out with the battle of Gog and Magog. Of course it doesn't resemble anything like what the Bible describes it as, but that's what they were actually trying to show in the beginning of the movie, as being at the beginning of the tribulation.
In this chapter, that's called Ezekiel 37 through 39, there's a whole bunch of stars of David, star of Remphan is what that really is, and all kind of coming unglued about the Jews and the 6 million and going back to the holy land. There's not one mention in this chapter of Revelation 20. How can we have a whole chapter on Gog and Magog, it's only mentioned in 2 place, Ezekiel and Revelation. They just don't even mention the Revelation argument. Here's what they say.
They say, "The timing of Gog and Magog, it's probably after the rapture but before the tribulation, maybe there's a gap of few days or something where we could fit this thing." But there were like, "We know for sure it's before the tribulation. It's either right before the rapture or right after the rapture." In the Left Behind movie it happens right before the rapture. Then they have this whole page on, "Why we know Gog and Magog's not Armageddon." They create this straw man of some other theory that we've never even heard of, but they don't even address what the Bible actually says, that it happens after the millennium. That's not even on the table.
Then they have the big highlighted quote here, "One of the major issues that any view of Gog and Magog must address is that 7 months are required to bury the dead from the battle." That basically is their little hint-hint, wink-wink, nod-nod, in case you were thinking it was Revelation 20, which we didn't even bring up because we're scared, because it's so obvious to any rational person that that's the battle of Gog and Magog because it says, "Gog and Magog." But just in case we want you to know, there's no way it could be that because it's going to take 7 months to bury the dead.
Let's go back to that scripture and let's the Bible actually teaches, shall we? Let's start in chapter 37 where Tim Lahaye wants to start. In chapter 37 we have this very famous story of the valley of the dry bones. You might have heard the song about it, "Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones." Who knows this song? "The leg bone's connected to the foot bone. The foot bone ... " Who knows what I'm talking about? Hands all over the building, God bless you I see a hand. Anyway, that's where this song comes from. In this story, the valley of the dry bones, it talks about basically the nation of Israel being brought back to their land. But here's what you have to understand, God brought back the nation of Israel to their land after the Babylonian captivity. When is Ezekiel writing? During the Babylonian captivity.
If you start out at the very beginning of the book of Ezekiel in chapter 1 he says, "I was with the captives by the river of Chebar in this year of Jehoiachin's captivity, in this year of Jehoiachin's captivity." Ezekiel is prophesying during that captivity and he's preaching a message of, you're going to be brought back to the holy land. But not only that, there's also a view inside of end times Bible prophecy when they would also come back to their land. Now there's often a dual fulfillment, is what it's often called, when you're reading Ezekiel, Daniel. There's an immediate application for the people that are hearing the sound of the literal man, Ezekiel's voice while he's preaching. It's applicable to them. That's the encouragement of them coming back. But then there's also a further out end times Bible prophecy fulfillment that's coming as well.
In this passage this is clearly talking about, and I'm going to prove it to you, this is talking about after the resurrection, after the rapture and after all the resurrected saints are there, and Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning for a thousand years in the millennium, this refers to that millennial kingdom and I'm going to show you that. There's what the Zionists and these pre-tribers and people like Tim Lahaye, here's what they always do. They'll take a scripture from the old testament that's either about one of two things. Either one about them coming back from the Babylonian captivity, or one about them coming into the land and ruling and reigning with Christ for the millennium, and then they'll try to apply it to 1948 or present day. That's the 2 things that you'll see over and over again, Babylonian captivity where they return to the land, or when they come back to the land out of the grave, after the resurrection, in the generation.
Because remember, Jesus told the 12 disciples, he said, "In the regeneration," meaning the resurrection, he said, "You will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel." We know that in the millennium there's going to be a nation of Israel, but it's going to be made of people that are saved. It's going to be saved Israelites that have been resurrected. Because remember, when Christ comes in the clouds the dead in Christ shall rise first. That includes all the old testament saved as well, Daniel the prophet is going to rise at that time, he was told in Daniel chapter 12. That's going to be a resurrection of all the saved and then they're going to live and reign with Christ a thousand years.
The ancient Israelites are going to come back into the land in their new glorified bodies. We're going to be in our glorified bodies, we're going to rule and reign. I've done whole sermons on the millennium. I think most people here tonight are probably familiar with the Bible's teaching on the millennial reign of Christ. But they'll take those thing and they'll apply them to present day. Let's look at Ezekiel 37 quickly and get the evidence. Verse number 1, "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. And he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord."
"So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." Now stop, let me just point out one thing real quick. At the of verse 9, it says, "breathe upon these slain, that they may live." What does slain mean? Killed, they're dead. Everybody understand that? Let's keep going.
"So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts." Now stop and think about this, Ezekiel is getting this vision during the Babylonian captivity. That's very clear in the book of Ezekiel. He's in the captivity, during the Babylonian captivity Israel is present tense saying at that time in verse 11 there at the end, "Our bones are dried," so what is the dry bones valley vision referring to? Their condition during the Babylonian captivity, where they're saying, "Our bones are dried." Everybody got that?
"And our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves," notice that, "and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people." Did I mention? "and brought you up out of your graves." He said that what? 4 times in a row? "And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." Now stop and think about this. There's an immediate interpretation of this where he's in the Babylonian captivity telling them, "You think right now we're all dried up," but he's telling, "No I'm going to bring you back into the land."
Did that happen? Sure because they were only in the Babylonian captivity for 70 years and he brought them back into the land. But then there's a secondary end times fulfillment of when he's literally going to bring them out of their graves, how many times is that mentioned? 4 times the word grave, let alone that they're slain, that they're dead. When they're literally going to be brought out of the graves and brought back into the land to rule and reign with Christ during the thousand years along with the rest of us. It's pretty clear isn't it? Here's the proof, look at verse 24, "And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them."
Now let me ask you this, was that true when they came back from Babylon? Was David his servant [inaudible 00:16:58]? Yes he was, in the form of Zerubbabel, the son of David. He's often referred to as David my servant because he's the son of David. Yes, they did come back. Yes they did follow the word of God. Yes they were trusting in the Lord. Yes they did have David ruling over them in the sense of Zerubbabel the son of David. Is this true of the millennial reign? Absolutely they are of course going to be following God's word because they are going to be in a regenerate, redeemed condition, and Jesus the son of David, will be ruling and reigning over them. This fits perfectly for the 2 applications that I gave, which is basically a literal, physical, immediate fulfillment in their lifetime. In their lifetime they would see the nation of Israel reestablished.
And then a future, end times, fulfillment of 1948. No, because David the king wasn't ruling over them. No, because they're walking in the statutes. No, because it's not relevant to this passage at all. Everybody got that? Then if we're taking an end times fulfillment of this, what's the timeline? It's talking about when the bodies have been resurrected and were just about to go into the millennial reign of Christ. Everybody got that timeline? Now wouldn't it make sense then if chapter 37 is covering the subject of them being brought back into the land for the millennium after they've been brought out of the grave, that that would fit perfectly with the Revelation 20 timeline where the events of chapters 38 and 39 are happening after the millennium? See how logical this is?
Chapter 37 we get them out of the graves and into the land and everything's going great, peace on Earth for a thousand years, the devil is bound. There's a thousand years of millennium where the wolf lays down with the lamb, where the nations don't learn war anymore, where they beat the swords into the plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks. When they have peace and prosperity and Christ ruling and reigning for a thousand years. Then he brings up the fact that after that there's going to be the battle of Gog and Magog, just like Revelation 20 teaches. Of course Tim Lahaye and his ilk, Revelation 20 just doesn't even exist to these people, even though it's the only new testament mention of Gog and Magog and the only mention of Gog and Magog outside Ezekiel 38 and 39.
Now let's read Ezekiel 38 and 39, the key chapters, and see if it jives with Revelation 20, which of course it will because it would be ridiculous for it not to. I'm just here to tell you, when I grew up my whole life I've heard it taught the wrong way. When I grew up, man I heard a lot of sermons on Ezekiel 38 and 39, because during the cold war, Russia is Magog. That's all you hear. Who heard those kind of sermons back then? You're dating yourself. Back in the '80s it was all about Magog is Russia and explaining how it's all going to play out and everything. Totally going over their head that it's happening a thousand years later. Look, that's a big mistake to make when you're off by a thousand years.
Let's read it, shall we? I want you to put your thinking cap on tonight and read this with me. Read it with me, and I want you to think, you understand hopefully the introduction that I've given you. You understand what Tim Lahaye and Thomas Ice are trying to tell you. You understand what Revelation 20 is clearly telling. Let's just read it and see if it jives. Verse number 1 of chapter 38, "And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee."
Let me stop right there and point out how this matches what it says in Revelation 20, because it says, "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 quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." Is that what we see here? Oh yeah, we see people from other corners of the Earth, don't we? We see Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, Togarmah, and many people with them. It is a great company of nations, just as it said in Revelation 20.
Verse 7, "Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited," now watch this, "in the latter years." That sounds like a Revelation 20 application. "In the latter years, thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee." What does it say in Revelation 20? "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Again, compatible.
"Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil." Now let me ask you this, does this sound like it would be applicable at the very beginning of the tribulation, or in present day times? That basically when they attack Israel they're going to be sitting there with no bars, no gates, sitting safely. Is that how they sit right now? Hello, they have this giant wall between the Palestinian side and the Israeli side. They have all this dome of defense and all these weapons. They're not leaving the door unlocked at night in Israel tonight. No gates, no bars, sitting safely, no walls, sitting at rest, taking it easy.
No, but let me ask you this, is that how they're going to be after a thousand years of peace? When the nations don't learn war anymore? When Christ is ruling and reigning for a thousand years? When all of the swords have been turned into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks? There you go, right there. Let's keep going. So far it's pretty clear isn't it? He says, "To take a spoil and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil?" If I had a nickel for every time I heard growing up, the young lions of Tarshish is the United States. Because they're trying to force this into a present day application.
They say, "Well Tarshish was were modern day Spain is. Which is kind of close to England, sort of. And we're like the young lions of England because we ..." You know, just trying to put that square peg into that round hole. "It's going to fit." Let's keep reading here, "Art thou come to take a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes."
"Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face." Now notice, what did it say there in verse 17? "Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my prophets, the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?" This is an attack that they know is coming. It's already been prophesied that it would happen. Would that be relevant of the Revelation 20 scenario? Of course, because when the thousand years are expired it's something that we know is going to happen.
Verse 19, "For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone." What's it say in Revelation 20? They, "compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
Now look, last verse, "Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." Now let me ask you this, did I skip anything in that chapter? What am I hiding here? There's nothing up the sleeve here. We just read the whole chapter, the whole thing. Is there anything in this chapter that would tell you, "That's going to happen at the beginning of the tribulation with the current apostate fake Israel. Is there anything where you'd say, "That can't be after the millennium," so far? No it all fits perfectly like a hand into a glove. Correct? I would love ... Speak now or forever hold your peace on chapter 38. Does somebody have something? Did I miss something? Seriously. Have I missed ... Where's Thomas Ice getting this from? Where is Tim Lahaye getting it? Where's the Left Behind movie getting this from? That it's before the tribulation. Can somebody help me out? I'm not seeing it, it's not there.
It's straight out of Revelation 20 perfectly. What's the problem people? Okay, can you explain to me why all these hundreds and hundreds of prophecy teachers are all over the TV and all over YouTube, all through the '80s, teaching this stuff when it's not Biblical. Okay, you say, "You haven't gone to chapter 39 yet." Okay but I just want to make sure that we can put chapter 38 to bed here. Everybody, I want you don't be shy. All right, let's move on. We're halfway through this thing. Look, this is how you study your Bible. You read all of it. You don't just get the sound bite, you don't just get the little clip here. No, no, no. You get in and you read the chapters. You read the whole book of Revelation, you read that Matthew 24. You've got to read the whole thing, and read it in the context of what book you're reading, and it makes perfect sense.
Now let's get into chapter 39, this is the other half of the equation here. "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: 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: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 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. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 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."
What does Revelation 20 say? "Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." We see it again right there in verse number 6. Verse 7, "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. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. 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: 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."
Ah ah! Now we've got you Pastor Anderson. How could this be after the millennium if they're burying the bodies for 7 years? I'm sorry, 7 months to bury the bodies. But if they're burning the weapons for 7 years ... If they're burning the weapons for 7 years so that they don't need any other fire wood, they just burn the weapons. How could this be after the millennium then? Because of course we know that right after the millennium we go straight to the great white throne in judgement and straight to the new heaven and the new earth. Bam! That's what the dispentionalists will be thinking right now, the pre-triber, the Zionist. But hold on a second.
Let's stop and think about this for a moment. What's their theory? The 99% that are teaching this stuff that makes no sense, that doesn't jive with Revelation? Okay, here's what they're saying. It's a the beginning of tribulation. Let me ask you this, why would you burn weapons at the beginning of the tribulation when the thing that happens at the beginning of the tribulation is a world war? Think about it. With the tribulation, you open the second seal ... Well you open the first seal and the guy is going out to conquer. You open the second seal and it says that, "there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword." But let's burn all our weapons for the next 7 years.
Hold on a minute. At the end of the 7 years is the battle of Armageddon. Oh [stink 00:33:24] we just burned the last weapon and now we have a major battle. Think about how ridiculous this is. Like, "Oh yeah let's burn all the weapons just as we're going to war." Because there's a major war at the beginning of the tribulation. Second seal. First seal, second seal, then the third seal there went out a black horse and it says, "he that sat thereon him had a pair of balances in his hand." He's talking about famine. Then the fourth horse is the pale horse and it talks about how he's going to have power over, "the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
Seals one, two and four are all about people getting killed, and seal five is people getting killed also by the way. We have warfare, peace taken from the earth, world at war. But we're just going to keep on burning these weapons and it's going to take us 7 years, or would it make more sense that when you've had nothing but peace for a thousand years, then you have this one rebellion that God crushes with fire from heaven. Okay, let's get rid of all these weapons again because we still don't need them, just like we didn't need them for the last thousand years. They've already beat the swords into ... I always get this mixed. Swords into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks. All right, let's do it again. That makes sense.
Yeah, but Pastor Anderson we know that right after the millennium, it's a white throne and the eternal ... Because we've all seen the charts. Hello? God's plan for the ages? Charting the end ... It's right there on the chart folks. But hold on, let's see if the Bible says that. Go back to Revelation 20. Did we miss something? Let's read it again, chapter 20 verse 7, "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 quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city." Remember, this is the battle of Gog and Magog. "And fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
What happens immediately is God burns them all up and then send the devil to the lake of fire. That's what happens immediately. The rebellion's defeated and the devil is sent forever to the lake of fire. Look at the next verse, "And I saw a great white throne," does that say, and then there's no time that passes by, immediately the whole world comes to and end right after the devil is put away? That's just a speculation. That's just somebody who decided, that's what I think, just because that's the next thing he talks about. Yeah, that's because the next thing that's relevant to talk about, but that doesn't mean that there's not a period of time that goes by between those 2 things. Why in the world not? You say, "How do you know there's a period of time there?" Because Ezekiel 39 said that there's a period of time there.
Now go back to Ezekiel 39, because in Ezekiel 39 we saw this thing about them burning the weapons for 7 years. Which make perfect sense to do that after the millennium, makes zero sense to do that as you're going in to one of the most turbulent war ridden times known to men. The most turbulent period of time, the tribulation, so let's burn all the weapons. By the way, I don't remember that in Left Behind, all the weapons burnings. Yeah because it wouldn't have made any sense where they're trying to put it. Let's keep reading.
Verse 11, "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," why? There's all these dead bodies everywhere, it's going to stink up the joint. "And there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land." Now it talks about them burying the bodies for 7 months and it talks about them burning the weapons for 7 years. If they really wanted to disprove what the Bible says in Revelation 20, which they don't even bring up. They don't even present that as an option, the true theory. It's not even a theory, it's fact. This is not a theory, it's not a maybe, it's what the Bible says. Revelation 20 says Gog and Magog is after the millennium, case closed. Deal with it.
But it's just funny how they pull out this one headline, because they have all the text of the chapter, but they pull out as the key statement, one of the major issues that any view of Gog and Magog, hint-hint, the one we're not bringing up, any view, like the one we're not talking about because it's real. "One of the major issues that any view of Gog and Magog must address is that 7 months are required to bury the dead from the battle." Again that's their little trump card that they pull out, but here's the thing, if they're going to bring out the 7 months to bury the dead, wouldn't it have been more of a clincher to say, "7 years to burn the weapons," because that's even longer? But you know why they don't bring that up? Because of the ridiculousness of burning weapons at the beginning of the tribulation. People would be like, "Uh? What? That doesn't make sense." Anyway, this book is a piece of junk, needless to say. Burn it. Burn it, burn copies of that book for 7 months, or whatever, 7 years.
Come to pass in that day, they shall burning the left behind DVDs for 7 months. No I'm just kidding. And it shall cause a great stink of melted plastic throughout the land and it shall stop the noses thereof. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place of burying," valley of Hamongog. We already read that. Verse 12, "And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. 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. 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. 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."
There are going to be full time people who are just cleaning up the mess from this horrible battle. If they see a bone or something, they'll put a marker there so that the clean up crew will now, "Hey there's something to clean up over here." Sort of like on a construction site they'll put a little piece of blue tape whenever there's something wrong that needs to be fixed. They're labeling stuff, so that somebody else will come back through and clean it up. "And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. 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."
He's talking to birds, he says, "Hey feathered fowl, I'm going to make a great sacrifice for you". Meaning, "I'm going to slaughter all these people and you're going to eat their flesh and drink their blood." He's talking to the birds that will come and eat off the corpses. "Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty," verse 18, "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. 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. 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."
"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. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. 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. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them." Keep in my mind the present day audience that he's preaching this story to, people that are in captivity for their sins in Ezekiel's day.
"Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob." Now notice, what was he saying before? This is going to be in the latter times, this is in the latter days. He said that a few times, right? What he's going to do to Gog and Magog in the latter times. Then he starts talking about Israel saying, "Look, when that happens in the future. Then people will understand the whole story of why Israel went into captivity, why they were brought into the land, et cetera, et cetera. But then he changes gears because he's talking about why they're in captivity even now. That's why, look at the word there, in verse 25 where it says, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now." Now. He's talking about the latter time, the latter day, then he's like, "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." Because we're in the book of Ezekiel, they're in captivity and he's talking about bringing them back, now. Meaning at that time.
"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. 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; Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity in the heathen," which is where they're at right now while he's talking. "But I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. 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."
Look at the beginning of chapter 40, "In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the ..." He starts a whole new prophecy, where he gives the timing of a new message [inaudible 00:43:58] It's the end, that's it. It's, 36 leads into 37 leads into 38 leads into 39. It's chronological because if you think about it 37's talking about them being brought back immediately in Ezekiel's day, also a dual fulfillment in the end times where they're actually going to come out of the graves and be in their land for the millennial reign. Then we get into Ezekiel 38 and 39, which is stuff that happens after the millennium according to Revelation 20.
Anything about 39 that I failed to address? Please speak now or forever hold your peace. If any knows any reason why these 2 should not be joined together in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace. Revelation 20, do you take Ezekiel 38 and 39 to be your prophetic partner for life? Will you support her and actually say the same thing and actually be compatible? Does anybody ... Help me. Come on people. Look there's, what are there, 150 people here tonight? You know why? Because there's nothing there. Because there's nothing. Did anybody see any evidence that would point this to something that's going to happen any day now? Any day now it's about to happen, right? That's what all the prophecy teachers are saying. That's what the Zionists are all saying. That's what the pre-tribers are saying. It's what Thomas Ice is saying.
That's what the Left Behind movie showed, all these planes coming against Israel and they're all exploding and falling out of the sky. Anybody see that in this passage? There's a lot of deception out there my friend. A couple of morals of the story, number 1, read the whole book, read the whole chapter. Don't let someone cherry pick for you. What cherry picking took place tonight? None, we read every word of it. We read every word of 38, every word of 39 and every pertinent word of Revelation 20. Don't let somebody pull the wool over your eyes. The way that you will be able to go through life not being tricked like this is when you do the reading and you read the whole context. If somebody starts talking about Gog and Magog, you sit down and you look up every time it's mentioned in the Bible, and you compare notes and it's crystal clear.
I figured this out about Gog and Magog as a child. As a child. Why? Because it's not really that complicated. You know when I figured it out? The first time I read Revelation 20. It's not complicated folks but there are liars out there who intentionally try and deceive you. These guys know what they're doing, that's why they don't even mention Revelation 20. See, I'm showing you everything, they're hiding things from you. Yeah, Revelation what? They hide it from you. I'm showing you everything tonight. I showed you both sides. I explained to you their argument and why it doesn't make any sense. Here, here's the book. There you go, come check it out after the service and gain the wisdom of Tim Lahaye and Thomas Ice. I'm not trying to withhold anything from you. I'd like to see them drop in after the tribulation DVD on the piano after the service and say, "Here check it out." Not happening.
But another major moral of the story is this, and this is a key when you're studying the Bible, always let the new testament define the old testament. Look, in the old testament they saw through a glass darkly, there are a lot of parables and dark things. What's clearer, the old testament or the new testament? The book of Revelation, what does revelation mean? Does it mean you're hiding stuff, it's cryptic, it's dark? No, it's revealed. Here's Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39, then we go to chapter 20 or Revelation to get, Gog and Magog revealed. If you're going to talk to me about Genesis 12 and Genesis 22, be sure to read Galatians 3 first, why? Because Galatians 3 will explain Genesis 12, Genesis 15 and Genesis 22.
You better read Galatians 3 and 4 and let the new testament explain the old testament to you. Don't just go to the old testament, make up stuff, and disregard where the new testament defined it for you. That's what's happening today, that's where all this error is coming from. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we pray that your people would study to show themselves approved onto you Lord. I pray that people would not be sucked in by all of the cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive Lord. Help us to be watchful, help us to be awake, help us to be paying attention and above all, help us to know the scriptures that we might not be carried about with every wind of doctrine Lord.
I pray that every single person in this church that's under the sound of my voice Lord would read their Bible every day this week, would memorize scripture, would read the Bible cover to cover this year, or even twice this year, or more this year Lord. Help every single person in this building tonight to be a person of the book, and not just one who is carried about with every wind of doctrine. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
