Man, 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 three words here, Gog and Magog.
Now as you're reading this, you may wonder, what are Gog and Magog?
Now these names, Gog and Magog, they're only talked about in two places in the Bible.
One place is Ezekiel 38 and 39, and then the other place is here in Revelation 20.
Now Magog is listed in a genealogy just telling you one of the sons of Japheth is named Magog,
but that's just a long list of names.
It just kind of identifies who Magog is as coming from Japheth.
But really there are only two scriptures where you get any teaching whatsoever, where you
could get any teaching on this battle of Gog and Magog, and that's in Ezekiel 38 and 39,
which are both just all about Gog and Magog, the whole chapters, and Revelation 20.
So obviously, if we read this, and God chooses to put these words, Gog and Magog, in this
passage in Revelation 20, he's clearly pointing us back to the two whole chapters he gave
us in Ezekiel on Gog and Magog, and he's telling us, hey, this is that battle.
Now we're going to go back to Ezekiel 38 and 39, we're going to go through those scriptures,
and tonight's sermon is going to be a little bit 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 just
some principles on how to study the Bible in general, and 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, and
I believe it was right around the time that I got married.
So I was around 19, 20 years old, and I went over to a guy's house that I was going to
be going soul wedding with, he went to our church, and 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.
And I said, you know, what are you studying, what are you working on here?
And he said, oh, you know, I'm going into this study of Gog and Magog.
And he had all these books and all this study, and it was all about how, you know, Israel
is going to be attacked, and we can see it happening, you know, according to these books
that he's looking at.
We can see it happening.
It's all getting set up for God.
And I walked up to him and I said, well, you know, there's only one place in the whole
Bible that mentions Gog and Magog besides Ezekiel 38 and 39, and it's right here in
Revelation 20.
And I showed him this and I said, do you notice that it's after the millennium?
So basically, like, all of these books are invalid because they're all saying, oh, we
can see it all happening right now.
And so 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.
And 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 compass the camp of the saints about in 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, well, I guess that goes to show why you shouldn't read all these books.
You should just read the Bible to figure out.
And he immediately, I mean, he saw it immediately because it's as plain as the notes on your
face.
I mean, there it is.
He immediately was like, oh, wow.
He's like, well, that makes it a lot simpler not to worry about it.
Now, just to show, and I'm going to go through this verse by verse, but first of all, just
stop and think how ridiculous it would be, how ridiculous it would be for God to give
us these two 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 just never brings it up again.
Then all of a sudden in Revelation 20, he points us to that and says, huh, 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 is the book by Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, and these are two of the architects of
the pre-tribulation rapture theory in our modern time.
And in this book by Tim LaHaye, co-author of Left Behind, and Thomas Ice, who is a guy
from, I believe, Dallas Theological Seminary or some Baptist seminary in Texas, there's
a chapter in here on Gog and Magog in this book charting end times.
And let me say 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're actually trying to show in the beginning of the movie as being at the beginning
of the tribulation.
So in this chapter that's called Ezekiel 37 through 39, there's a whole bunch of stars
of David, a whole bunch, you know, star of Remphan is what that really is, and all kinds
of just coming unglued about the Jews and the six 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 two places, Ezekiel and Revelation.
They just don't even mention the Revelation argument.
So here's what they say.
They say, well, the timing of Gog and Magog is, you know, it's probably like after the
rapture but before the tribulation, maybe there's like a gap of a few days or something
where we could fit this thing.
But they're like, we know for sure it's before the tribulation.
It's either like right before the rapture or right after the rapture.
In the Left Behind movie, it happens like right before the rapture, okay.
And then they have this whole page on why we know Gog and Magog is not Armageddon.
So they create this straw man of some other theory that, you know, 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 just not even on the table.
And then they have the big highlighted quote here, one of the major issues that any view
of Gog and Magog must address is that seven months are required to bury the dead from
the battle.
So 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, you know, we just want you to know there's no way it could be that because
it's going to take seven months to bury the dead.
Let's go back to that scripture and let's see what the Bible actually teaches, shall
we?
Let's start in chapter 37 where Tim LaHaye wants to start.
Now in chapter 37, we have this very famous story of the Valley of the Dry Bones.
You might have heard the song about it, damn bones, damn bones, damn dry bones.
Who knows the song?
The leg bones connected to the foot bone, the foot bone, who knows what I'm talking
about?
Hands all over the building.
God bless you.
But anyway, so that's where this song comes from.
But in the story of 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.
Now when is Ezekiel writing during the Babylonian captivity?
If you just 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 Kibar.
You know, in this year of Jehoiakim's captivity, in this year of Jehoiakim's captivity.
So 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 in sight of end times Bible prophecy when they
would also come back to their land.
Now, there's often a dual fulfillment, you know, 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.
Now 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.
And here's what these Zionists and these pre-Tribbers and people like Tim LaHaye and them, here's
what they'll 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 like 1948 or present day.
But that's the two 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.
You know, after the resurrection, in the regeneration because remember, Jesus told the twelve disciples,
he said in the regeneration, meaning the resurrection, he said, you will sit on twelve thrones judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.
Okay, so we know that in the millennium, there's going to be a nation of Israel but it's going
to be made up 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 and that includes all the Old Testament
saints as well.
Daniel the prophet's going to rise at that time, he was told in Daniel chapter 12.
So 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 and the ancient Israelites are going to come back
into the land in their new glorified body.
We're going to be in our glorified bodies, we're going to rule and reign.
I've done whole sermons on the millennium and I think most people here tonight are probably
familiar with the Bible's teaching on the millennial reign of Christ, okay?
But they'll take those things and they'll apply them to present day.
Let's look at Ezekiel 37 quickly and just get the evidence.
Verse number one, 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 prophesied I 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 end of verse 9 it says, Breathe upon these slain that they may live.
Now 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.
So 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're 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 you shall know that I am the Lord.
And I've opened your graves, O my people, and did I mention, and brought you up out
of your graves.
I mean, he just said that what, four times in a row?
And shall put my spirit in you and you shall live and I shall place you in your own land.
Then shall you 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 you, 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 they 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?
Four times the word grave, let alone that they're slain, that they're dead.
And 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.
So 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 shall all 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 their servant, his servant ruling over them?
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.
So yes they did come back.
Yes they did follow the word of God.
Yes they were trusting in the Lord.
And 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, that they're 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.
So this fits perfectly for the two 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 re-established and then a future
and time fulfillment of 1948.
Well no because David the king wasn't ruling over them.
Well no because they're not walking in the statutes.
Well no because it's not relevant to this passage at all.
Okay, so everybody got that?
So 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 we're 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 and 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 plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks when they have just
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, you know, 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 just 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.
And 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 out of Ezekiel 38 and 39 because during the
Cold War, Russia is Magog!
I mean, that's all you hear.
Who heard those kinds of sermons back then?
You're dating yourself.
But anyway, yeah, back in the 80s, man, it was all about Magog is Russia and just explaining
how it's all going to play out and everything.
Just totally going over their head that it's happening a thousand years later.
I mean, look, that's a big mistake to make when you're off by like a thousand years.
So let's read it, shall we?
And I want you to put your thinking cap on tonight and read this with me, right?
Just read it with me and I want you to think, you understand hopefully the introduction
that I've kind of given you?
You understand what Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice are trying to tell you?
You understand what Revelation 20 is clearly telling you?
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 armor, 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 Tagarma of the north quarters and all his bands and many people with thee.
Now 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, Tagarma and many people with them.
So 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.
Now that sounds like a Revelation 20 application.
In the latter years, thou shalt come back, thou shalt come, excuse me, 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 is brought forth out of all 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 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 compass the camp of the saints about in
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 spot.
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 rolling and reigning for a thousand years?
When all 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 and 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 that the young lions of Tarshish is the
United States.
You know because they're trying to force this into a present day application.
And they said well Tarshish was where like modern day Spain is, which is kind of close
to England, sort of.
And we're like the young lions of England because we can't, you know, just trying to
just put that square peg into that round hole.
It's going to fit, you know, but 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 God, 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
have come up against my land of Israel, or 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 God 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?
So 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 you know 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 in the beloved city and fire came down from
God out of heaven and devoured them.
And the devil that deceived them was cast in the lake of fire and brimstone where the
beast and false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever 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, oh, that's going to happen at the
beginning of the tribulation with the current apostate, fake Israel.
Is there anything where you'd say, well, that can't be after the millennium so far?
No, it all fits perfectly like a hand into a glove, correct?
I mean, 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, what is, where's Thomas Ice getting this from?
Where's Tim LaHaye getting this?
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.
We just read, 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, well, 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 mean, if there, and I want you, don't be shy.
All right, let's move on.
We're halfway through this thing.
And look, you know, 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 know, 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.
So now let's get into chapter 39.
Okay, 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 Meshach 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 and sayeth 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 anymore.
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 forest,
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 ha!
Now we've got you, Pastor Anderson.
How could this be after the millennium if they're burying the bodies for seven years,
huh?
Or I'm sorry, seven months to bury the bodies, but if they're burning the weapons for seven
years.
I mean, if they're burning the weapons for seven years so that they don't need any other
firewood, they'll just burn the weapons, huh?
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 judgment and straight to the new heaven and the new earth, bam!
That's what the dispensationalists would be thinking right now, the pre-Tribber, 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 at the beginning of the 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 a guy's
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 there on 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 seven years.
Hold on a minute.
At the end of the seven years is the Battle of Armageddon.
Oh stink, 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 that he that sat there on
had a pair of balances in his hand and he's talking about his famine and 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.
So seals one, two and four are all about people getting killed and seal five is people getting
killed also by the way.
So 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 seven 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 just crushes with fire from heaven.
Okay, well 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.
I mean they've already beat the swords into, you know, I always get this, swords into plowshares
and the spears into pruning hooks.
All right, let's do it again.
That makes sense.
But Pastor Anderson, we know that right after the millennium, you know, it's a white throne
and the eternals, because we've all seen the charts.
Hello?
God's plan for the ages?
I mean, 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, right?
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 forever and ever.
So what happens immediately is God burns them all up and then sends the devil to the lake
of fire.
That's what happens immediately.
The rebellion's defeated and the devil's sent forever to the lake of fire.
Look at the next verse.
And I saw a great white throne.
Does that say, and then just, there's no time that passes by, immediately the whole world
comes to an end, right after the devil is put away.
There's no such, that's just a speculation.
That's just somebody who just decided, well, 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 two things.
Why in the world not?
You say, well, 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 seven years, which makes perfect sense to do that after the millennium.
Makes zero sense to do that as you're going into one of the most turbulent, war-ridden
times known to man, 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 Haman Gog, and seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse
the land.
Now, it talks about them burying the bodies for seven months, and it talks about them
burning the weapons for seven years.
Now, 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, okay?
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.
You know, 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 views that any view of Gog and Magog must address is that seven months
are required to bury the dead from the battle.
So again, that's kind of their little trump card that they pull out.
But here's the thing.
If they're going to bring out the seven months to bury the dead, wouldn't it have been more
of a clincher to say, well, seven years to burn the weapons, because that's even longer.
But you know why they don't bring that out?
Because of the ridiculousness of burning weapons at the beginning of the tribulation.
People would be like, huh, what, that doesn't make sense.
So anyway, this book is a piece of junk, needless to say.
But anyway, burn it, burn copies of that book for seven months or whatever, seven years.
But anyway, it shall come to pass in that day, they shall be burning the Left Behind
DVDs for seven months, and it shall cause a great stink of melted plastic throughout
the land, and they shall stop the noses thereof.
It shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog a place of burying, a valley
of Haman, Gog, we already read that, verse 12, and seven months shall the house of Israel
be burying of them that they may cleanse the land, yet 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 man seeth a man's bone, then shall
he set a sign by it till the barriers have buried it in the valley of Haman, Gog.
So they're going to be full-time people who are just cleaning up the mess from this horrible
battle, and if they see a bone or something, they'll put a marker there so that the cleanup
crew will know, 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, so they're just kind of labeling stuff, you know,
so that somebody else will come back through and clean it up.
And also the name of the city shall be Haman, thus shall they cleanse the land.
And now, 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 you 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 of the corpses.
You 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 you shall eat fat till you be full and drink blood till you 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 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.
And 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 back into the land, etc., etc.
But then he changes gears because he's talking about why they're in captivity even now.
And that's why, look at the word there in verse 25 where it says, therefore thus saith
the Lord, now.
Now, right?
So he's talking about the latter times, the latter, then he's like, now will I bring again
the captivity of Jacob and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel and we'll 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 brought
them again from the people and gathered them out of their enemies' lands and have 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 anymore there, neither will I hide
my face anymore from them for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith
the Lord God.
And then look at the beginning of chapter 40, in the 5th and 20th year of our captivity
in the beginning of the month, he starts a whole new prophecy where he gives the timing
of a new message.
So it's the end, that's it.
You know, 36 leads into 37, leads into 38, leads into 39.
It's chronological because if you think about it, 37 is 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 two should not be joined together in holy matrimony,
you know, speak now or forever hold your peace.
And I, you know, 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?
I mean, 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.
It's what the Zionists are all saying.
It's what the pre-trippers are saying.
It's what Thomas Ice is saying.
I mean, 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.
Couple morals of the story.
Number one, 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 and 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.
Look, 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 are intentionally trying
to deceive you.
These guys know what they're doing.
That's why they don't even mention Revelation 20.
See they're not, see I'm showing you everything.
They're hiding things from you.
Oh, well, you know, I mean, yeah, what, Revelation what?
And 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.
Here 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 an 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.
Let the New, look, in the Old Testament they saw through a glass darkly.
There are a lot of parables and dark sayings.
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.
So here's Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39, then we go to chapter 20 of Revelation
to get Gog and Magog revealed.
Revealed.
So 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.
So 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 and 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 unto you, Lord,
and I pray that people would not be sucked in by all of the cunning craftiness whereby
they lie in 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.