(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Christians and in Jesus name we pray amen Okay, we're in Revelation chapter 20 this morning look down at your Bibles at verse number 7 It says here and when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loose 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 could pass 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 there shall be took and they excuse me It shall be tormented day and night forever and ever in this move. We're gonna conclude our series Entitled epic wars in the Bible, of course I've been going through just different wars that the Bible talks about extrapolating different principles from them But this morning we're actually gonna conclude it with the final war the final battle that the Bible records Which is the Battle of Gog and Magog now, let me just say this is them before I get into the actual content itself, I typically give you principles that are related to the battle and Principles that we can extrapolate from the from the story, but this morning. I'm just gonna teach you about Gog and Magog it's just gonna be a systematic sermon teaching systematic doctrine regarding Gog and Magog and You know if per chance I find some spiritual principle from it. I'll give that to you, but no promises Okay, and that's typically what I do when I preach if I I don't really put Anything in my notes in regards to like things that I really want to talk about just kind of comes as I'm preaching But this morning in particular I am gonna give you systematic doctrine regarding Gog and Magog And you say why is this important to learn? Well number one because it's in the Bible Okay, and so anything that's in the Bible should be taken serious Obviously there's portions of the Bible that are far more important than others For example, you know things in relation to salvation the deity of Christ of the doctrines of Christ But you know, there's other portions of the Bible that may not be as important But it's still important because God put it in the Word of God He wants us to know he wants us to study it and and learn the content And so let me let me just go by way of introduction. Let's talk about why is this called Gog and Magog? Let me just say that this battle in particular is probably one of the most misunderstood Battles in all the Bible. Okay, and not only is it misunderstood, you know A lot of false prophets will take this particular war and teach a lot of false doctrine Okay, and the reason they're able to do that per se is because of the fact that it's so far out there in the future okay, because we're talking about a war that takes place a Thousand years out into the future. Let's say for example if if you know Daniel 70th week took place within the next five to ten years Even those seven years thereafter you have the millennial reign and the millennial reigns a thousand years This doesn't take place until after that. And so this is way out there in the future You know, it's not anytime soon. And so very little detail is given regarding this battle even though there is some and so, you know people will often take advantage of that and They'll take obscure passages in order to pervert the scriptures and teach what they what they want the narrative to be in regards to end times prophecy So the reason it's called Gog and Magog because if you look at verse 8 it says and shall go out to deceive the nations Which are in the four quarters of the earth Gog and Magog So that's pretty interesting because it seems out of place just to kind of throw that in there Gog and Magog After he mentions the fact that Satan goes on to the all the nations and deceives those who are in the four quarters of the earth But the reason it's called Gog and Magog it's not because of where this particular battle is going to take place because a lot of people think that When in reality, we know where this battle takes place. It takes place in Jerusalem Okay, because it talks about them Compassing the camp of the Saints and the beloved city which we know to be Jerusalem Israel Which is where Jesus Christ is will be currently ruling and reigning from at this moment. Okay, it's called Gog and Magog Because it's pointing us to Old Testament passages that will divulge more prophetic details that Revelation doesn't okay So when it said when it tells us, you know that he deceives the nations that from the four quarters of the earth Gog and Magog that's simply there to kind of give us a call back to Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 where Gog and Magog are actually talked about more extensively Okay, so in order for us to understand this particular battle and the details and what's going on here We have to go back to Ezekiel 38 and 39 and compare both of those scriptures together in order to get a plenary Understanding what's taking place? Okay, so that's where we're gonna go to in just a bit We're gonna go to Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 Go with me if you would to Ezekiel 38 As I mentioned I'm gonna give you systematic teaching on Gog and Magog and just talk about what's taking place here now Let's talk about first and foremost the timing of this battle. When does this take place? Well, as I mentioned it takes place after the thousand year reign of Christ now you have people out there that will say well You know thousand year reign. It's not true. You know, Jesus Christ is ruining and reigning right now You know and this is what's known as preterism Okay The preterism the preterist view of the Bible is that all prophetic? statements in the Bible all prophetic events have already taken place and Many will even say we're in the millennial reign right now because Christ is ruling and reigning in our hearts You know, it sounds really, you know fluffy and nice and beautiful and all that but the truth of the matter is is that the government's not upon his shoulders and The Bible specifically says that when Jesus Christ comes through physically ruling reign on this earth 4,000 years that the government shall be upon his shoulders and the Bible tells us that he shall rule the nations with the rod of iron Well, let me just say this. He's not ruling the nations with the rod of iron Okay, I know Roe vs. Wade has been overturned You know and we're we're happy about that But that's not because Christ is ruling and you know He's ruling the nations with the rod of iron because if he was ruling the nations with the rod of iron More than that would take place. Okay, you know people would be put to death if that were the case But there's so many elements to the millennial reign that the Bible Talks about and defines for us that are not taking place today Okay, and so to say we're in the millennial reign of Christ or Others would say we're in the new heaven and new earth It's just completely ridiculous because none of those things have taken place as of yet And in fact during the millennial reign think about this during the millennial reign Satan is bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years Whereas the Bible tells us that the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believed not lest the light of the Glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine into them referred to this current time right now And so if Satan was bound for a thousand years Why do we have all these false religions all this false doctrine all this deception that is taking place currently in our world today? I'll tell you why because Satan is not bound yet. He will be bound for a thousand years in the millennial reign False religions any religion other than Christianity will no longer exist. Okay. It's no longer gonna be a thing You know, it's you know, the millennial reign is not some kumbaya time Well, we just get along with all false religions or something You know that that that particular era is known as a new world order Where Satan and the Antichrist brings all religions together to worship the Antichrist? Whereas when Jesus Christ comes he's not like alright Buddhist. Alright Hindus. Alright Muslims, you know I know we all have our differences here, but you know, let's find common ground It's not gonna work that way. You know, Jesus Christ is gonna come and Subjugate this world Unto his laws and obviously people have the choice to believe on him for salvation But they don't have a choice to listen to his laws that he's gonna Institute in this world. Okay, because people get confused They're like, well, you know, I thought this was only spiritual well it is spiritual but God has also Instituted earthly laws that he wants people to abide by and those earthly laws are perfect laws It's a way a society can run and and function properly And appropriately under you know, so they're so that crime is not rampant. Rape is not rampant murders not rampant You know people are are essentially living like normal citizens without any crime taking place That's what's gonna happen during the millennial reign of Christ Okay now the the battle of Gog and Magog takes place after that and the reason it's even worth mentioning is Because the pre-trip crowd if you've if you've studied this will actually place the Battle of Gog and Magog before the tribulation Which is completely crazy. So this battle that we see in Revelation chapter 20 if you look at Pre-trip charts and you know the prophetic timetable that they put together They'll often place Gog and Magog the battle thereof before the tribulation takes place Okay, and you're like what in the world how do they do that how do they even excuse that what argument do they even have For that like why do people even believe that well at the end of the day? They're just playing on the ignorance of people because people are not gonna research it Because very little people actually study the Bible let alone the book of Revelation, you know, if people read the Bible They're gonna stick to the easy parts, you know, the Gospels the book of Proverbs Maybe Psalm 23 ever once in a while or something like that, but rarely will anybody go to the book of Revelation Number one and read it number two study it Okay, and so they'll take these false prophets at face value and say well He said that about Gog and Magog takes place before the tribulation I guess that's the case and that's why you have the Left Behind series if you've seen that corny movie You know, they had the Battle of Gog and Magog at the beginning of the movie and then who is it's Russia The king of the north coming in to take over Israel now, why do they do that? Why are they choosing to put Gog and Magog at the beginning or before the tribulation? Rather than where it's rightfully supposed to be which is at the end of the millennial reign. Why is that? well, this is why it's it's essentially a zionistic method or You know, they're trying to push Zionism is what they're trying to do It's a Judaizing type of a method in order to favor Israel. Okay, you say how is that? Well in Revelation chapter 20 Satan and his armies are compassing about the camp of the saints and the beloved city And the result of that is that God defends the beloved city. He defends the camp of the saints He sends fire down from heaven and defends Israel defends Jerusalem, which is a legitimate thing that takes place So the jews see this and they're like, oh perfect because what they're looking for is Stories in the bible that favor the jews Okay, not so they can teach prophetic, you know doctrinally sound teaching it's so they can You know change the narrative a little bit So that people can favor Israel if you put Gog and Magog at the beginning of the tribulation before the tribulation You know, it's like that's why we got to support Israel Because if you look at the prophetic timetable The next thing that's going to happen is Gog and Magog And the kings of the north and all these other surrounding nations are going to attack Israel because they're the apple of his eye And God's going to defend him. That's why we got to support them and it's just like read chapter 20 though You're too early it's not going to happen during this time and God is not interested in defending unsaved Christ rejecting jews You know reprobate jews who hate the Lord Jesus Christ who despise him and spit every time his name is mentioned in Israel You know, God's not interested in defending them. He's interested in defending regenerated Israelites In the millennial reign going into the battle of Gog and Magog because they're actually believers Okay, when I say regenerate I mean that they're saved, okay? and so, you know to put the battle of Gog and Magog before the tribulation is nonsensical because Literally after the battle of Gog and Magog, what do you have? The white throne judgment and both pre-tribbers and post-tribbers alike will agree That the white throne judgment takes place after the millennial reign So how are you going to put Gog and Magog before the tribulation? You know and and and not recognize that the white throne judgment is thereafter. It's completely stupid. Okay, but you know people believe it Now here's the interesting thing. Okay, because a big teaching with the pre-trib crowd is this matter of imminency right Which is that Jesus can come at any moment. There's no precursors Nothing to you know, let us know that something's going to happen But on the other side, they'll flip around and say oh Gog and Magog takes place before the rapture though So even the pre-tribbers don't even believe in imminency Because if they believed in imminency, they would say that nothing takes place prior to the to the rapture And there's no necessarily signs of his coming and nothing there's no precursors. Well, what are they saying? They're actually saying well Gog and Magog does take place. Okay You know this coalition of the iranians and the russians they're going to gather together and fight against israel That's why we got to send our money over there That's why we got to support them and all this nonsense, but the bible doesn't teach that at all. Okay And so to put the the battle of Gog and Magog prior to the tribulation is completely dumb And and i'm going to give you some more reasons later on in the sermon as to why Now when is it well as I mentioned it's after the the millennial reign look at ezekiel 38 and verse 8 It says in verse number eight after many days thou shall be visited listen to this in the latter years Thou shall come into the land listen to this that is brought back from the sword Now what does that mean well, he's referring to the fact that He's addressing Gog and Magog in this particular passage, okay And as he's addressing Gog and Magog he's telling them that they shall be visited in the latter years also known as the end times And it says that he shall come into a land that is brought back from the sword Now, what does that phrase particularly mean brought back from the sword? Well, think about it. How did israel? And namely the rest of the world. How did it become restored? Who is the one who took it over jesus christ during the millennial reign? How did he do it with the sword? Because prior to the millennial reign you have the battle of armageddon And the battle of armageddon is a war that takes place in the future Between jesus christ and his armies versus the anti-christ and his armies This is a battle that we see in revelation chapter 19 Okay, and I preached on that last week if you want to reference that sermon Well, jesus christ doesn't negotiate with the anti-christ He's not like well, let's make a deal You can have palestine or whatever and then i'm going to have this portion. He just takes it back with the sword You understand and so what we see here is that in the latter years Gog and Magog Shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword it says 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 Of them go to isaiah chapter number two, if you would isaiah chapter number two Now this is an important point because of the fact that We need to understand What the world is like during this time? I don't I don't mean this time as in 2022. I'm talking about this time right here that we're looking at in in in the bible Because the millennial reign going into Gog and Magog and white throne judgment It's a complete different world Okay It's a world that we know nothing of all right and I would even say that you know the battle of armageddon When when the antichrist and his false prophet are fighting against jesus christ, they're using modern technology to fight against them Obviously, it's complete futile and it's not going to work You know, jesus christ is just going to blow them away and destroy them easily But they're going to use tanks and missiles and all this whereas the battle of Gog and Magog. They don't have that primitive Or excuse me. They don't have that modern technology. They're actually using primitive tools swords spears You know things of that nature because of the fact that during the millennial reign there is no war So there's no need and in fact the bible tells us That god commands his people during the millennial reign to beat the swords and spears into plowshares and pruning hooks so he says take your swords take your spears and and and make pruning hooks and plowshares because it's going to be a time Of work, it's going to be a time of prospering You don't have to put fences or walls because it's not no one's going to be breaking into your house No one's going to be trying to rob you You know, no one's going to try to steal from your crops. No one's going to seek to You know commit any crimes because this is just a different world, you know, you don't need a security system No one's going to bomb your church No one's going to be protesting outside of it or whatever out of your outside of your congregation You don't have to worry about man. I got to wake up. Are they taking my car or something like that? It's not going to exist because you're not even going to have a car first of all Okay But it's a different world Look at isaiah 2 verse 1. It says the word that isaiah the son of amos saw concerning judah and jerusalem And it shall come to pass in the last days That the mountain of the lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains And should be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it And many people shall go and say come ye Let us go up to the mountain of the lord to the house of god of jacob and he will teach us of his ways And we will walk in his paths for out of zion shall go forth the law and the word of the lord from jerusalem So picture this this is beautiful because during the millennial reign, you know, jerusalem is not the only place that's that's inhabited by believers jerusalem is inhabited by Believing israelites because that's what god promised unto the israelites is to is to possess that land referring to Regenerated israelites, but the entire world is being inhabited. Okay minus babylon Because if you study in times prophecy babylon shall never be inhabited And it actually becomes that habitation of devils and creeping things and I preached on that before but believers are inhabiting Are are essentially inhabiting the entire world during that time Saints who were you know gentiles they're living on the earth and the bible is telling us here That we're going to come one to another and say let us go up to the mountain of god and go learn of the lord You know He's he's going to teach us his laws We're going to make a pilgrimage to jerusalem so we can hear the greatest preacher of all time preach to us Which is jesus christ himself? right You know teaches of his ways and we will walk in his path for out of zion shall go forth the law and the word of the lord from jerusalem now, this is a side note here is that this is one of the reasons I believe that We go into the millennial reign or we go into eternity with the bible knowledge we currently have right now So it's not like when we become perfect. It's like we know the bible perfectly Okay, because maybe some people are banking on that Like why not? I gotta study the bible. I study the bible in my regenerated body I'm, just gonna know the bible perfectly. You guys are wasting your time down here, you know Studying the bible. We're gonna we don't need to study the bible. Well according to this verse We're still learning Right because we're going into the mountain of god. He's going to teach us his law He's going to teach us his ways insinuating that there's still a deficiency of bible knowledge You understand and obviously that should come as no surprise because of the fact that the bible is inexhaustible You know, you can never learn too much of the bible. Okay, there's a lot of information in the bible We're constantly learning the bible, but this shows us that you know, or should I say this should motivate you To study the bible as much as possible now because look folks I want to go into the millennial reign already knowing the laws of god already knowing doctrine because who knows maybe he'll give some jobs To those who know the most, okay And so here we see that we're going to come to each other and say what are you going to do this weekend? Well, i'm going to go to the mountain of the lord And i'm going to go hear a sermon by jesus christ himself, okay Something to that extent Look at verse four and he shall judge among the nations And shall rebuke many people So those who are making the pilgrimage from different nations in different countries he's going to rebuke them and we're talking about unsafe people because The millennial reign is not just filled with believing or regenerated people. It's also filled with unsafe people as well Now there's people out there that just don't like that for some reason they think it's a stupid doctrine They think well, how are you going to say the millennial reign is filled with unsafe people? It's all safe people but folks the battle of gog and magog Is proof that there's unsafe people In the millennial you think just unsafe people just pop out of nowhere during the battle of gog and magog Because you got to think about it The Essentially everything changes during the millennial reign, okay, and it goes back to an antediluvian type of era Where people live longer and in fact, we see that according to the book of isaiah that you know people live Way longer during the millennial reign because the conditions change And we don't know all the details as to why but god sets it forth that way that It's going to be back into the antediluvian era where people are living longer. Obviously, there's no crime And so people are a lot healthier, you know, people aren't being murdered. You know what I mean? So it's like people are living longer And you got to understand that because people are living longer. That means they have more years to make babies right So just babies are just popping out left and right during the millennial reign, okay That's where this population comes from because if you think about it, you know The battle of gog magog talks about this army that fights against god that is the sand of the sea These are all unsafe people So if you have regenerated believers Who are going to be in the millennial reign? Just living for forever But then you also have Not unregenerate, but you know mortal safe people who are getting saved in the millennial reign or even prior to that during the wrath of god You know, they still live long And then they die, but they have children But then you also have unsafe people who are not getting saved under the rule of jesus christ, but they're also having children I mean, this is a the population is just getting really large. Okay, that's why there's so many people during this time And so during this time jesus christ is rebuking the nations teaching them what are the right ways of living And teaching them what the what the bible says and his laws, etc He says and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation Nation So there's no, you know Oh, man, we're thinking about taking over and invading this country or you know We're going to set up garrisons and these nations here And take over their oil and all this stuff and just murder a bunch of people No nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more That's great, isn't it? Now, what does it mean when it says that they shall learn war they shall not learn war anymore In other words, it's removed from the textbooks Because god doesn't want war Why because the the greatest king? On the face of the planet is ruling and reigning now. Here's the crazy thing about this is that In spite of having jesus christ there physically there ruling with the perfect law There's still gonna be people who reject them This is why this whole, you know teaching that well if I just saw god Then I believe Or if you just show me, you know something or you know Just like the jews show us a sign that we may believe it's nonsense. It's not it's not it's a fallacy Because people saw him two thousand years ago and they still rejected him People every eye shall see him when he comes for the second coming and they're still going to reject him And he's going to be here for a thousand years ruling and reigning as the king of the world And people are still going to not only are they're going to reject him. They're going to fight against him I mean think about that. It's one thing to reject jesus christ It's another thing to reject him hate him in one and join forces with satan to fight against him. I mean think about that And so neither shall they learn war anymore. So think about this. This is a thousand years Of a world that does not know anything about war Okay Now the regenerated believers know of war because they partook in the battle of armageddon a thousand years prior And we're out there whooping butt Taking names taking heads You know taking crowns and all that and so we're probably sharing war stories of what happened a thousand years prior to that But as far as the people who are born into the millennial reign They don't know anything about that. You understand so you got to put yourself in their shoes that When the battle of gog and magog takes place, this is probably a terrifying sight for them As mortal beings whether saved or unsaved You know as mortal beings viewing this because of the fact that they don't know the concept of war I mean folks we know of war we see it on the news. We hear it in the history books We're reading the history books. We've seen it in videos and it's still terrifying Right war is a terrifying thing. Imagine if you just never know anything about it, though Imagine you're just in a land of peace for a thousand years And all the generations prior to you they've only known peace And all of a sudden this great war breaks out. I mean, that's a terrifying sight, okay And so what i'm trying to paint the picture here is what type of world this is at this time It's a it's a world where there's no war you know a child can reach into uh, you know, uh To reach after a serpent an adder. It's not going to bite him. I mean everything is just peaceful. It's paradise Okay, you work you labor you get your grapes you get your fruits you get your vines you get you know You don't have to worry about uh, necessarily, uh people robbing you or stealing. There's no taxes No gas prices because there's probably no cars You know, especially for us. We have our white horses during this time and you know They probably don't even require to eat. It's like they just they're just there Millennial rain sounding really good right now Right, it's just like man You know, we're not looking at the gas prices and like man I don't think I don't think i'm gonna go to uh, jerusalem this year guys, you know Probably have to make that pilgrimage another year, you know, it's kind of expensive Go back to ezekiel 38 if you would Ezekiel chapter 38 So we see here that it takes place after the millennial reign And here's another thing I want to mention is that From the expiration of the millennial reign to the battle of gog and may god We actually don't know how much time is in between that Okay And the bible doesn't make it clear. It doesn't say if there's a whole lot of time. It doesn't say if it's 10 years Seven years 20 years. We don't really know But I will say this is there there's probably a good amount of time in between the expiration of the millennial reign And the battle of gog and may god now you say why do you make that statement? Well, because satan is released at the expiration of the millennial reign To deceive the nations and you got to think about it. It probably takes time Right for the deception to spread To rally everyone and to recruit everyone to fight against god. And so there's probably some A lapse of time during between the expiration of the millennial reign and the battle of gog and may god Okay, because it only says that satan is released at the expiration of the battle of gog and may god It doesn't say gog and may god is happens right at that moment Because he's released he goes out to deceive the nations. We don't know how long that takes. I mean think about this It's it's been 2 000 years since since christ ascended And you know, there's plenty of people satan has been at work deceiving the nations, you know through false religion through false doctrine Through you know ungodly ideologies and you know what the whole world's still not against jesus christ So people out there who want the lord jesus christ, so we don't necessarily know how long this is going to take for this to happen But there is some sort of lapse of time in between the expiration and the actual battle itself now who's involved Well, you're in ezekah 38 I'm going to read to you from revelation 20 verse 8 It says and shall go on to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth gog and may god To gather them together to battle the number of whom is as the sand of the sea Well, look at verse one of ezekah 38 says the word of the lord came unto me saying son of man Set thy face against gog the land of may god the chief prince of misha and tubal and prophesy against him And say thus saith the lord god behold. I am against the ogog the chief prince of misha 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 and all of them with shield and helmet gomer and all his bands and the house of Tagarma of the north corners and all his bands and many people with thee Be thou prepared and prepare thyself thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee and be thou a garden to them So we see that it's not just gog and magog gog and magog has recruited all these surrounding nations as well Okay And the way we apply that with the end times is that when it says gog and magog it's not really referring to gog and magog What it's referring to is the recruiting factor of the fact that everyone is going to be against God his people the beloved city because he's simply just naming off all of these nations. They're going to fight against god and and Jesus christ, okay Now look at uh verse nine It says in verse nine thou shall ascend and come like a storm Thou shall be like a cloud to cover the land Thou and all thy bands and many people with thee This is very similar to what we see when it says the number of whom is as the sand of the sea Verse 10 says thus saith the lord god It shall also come to pass that at the same time shall things come into thy mind and thou shall think an evil thought Now what I believe this is referring to is the deception Okay, when it says that he goes out to deceive the nations, I don't think he's going out there and saying hey Let's fight against god You know, he has to come with some sort of deceptive tactic some sort of you know offer Uh in regards to deception he's giving them an evil thought to provoke them to basically side with him Now what this looks like we don't necessarily know okay i'm i'm certain that he's just going to play on the sinful nature of man though Okay, because it says in verse 11 and now shall 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 Okay And to take a prey To turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited upon the people that are gathered out of the nations Which have gone cattle and goods that dwell in the midst of the land So what could be a potential motive that he uses is like well, look at all these goods that these people have They're living it up These so-called god's people Are living it up. I mean you have these people who live for hundreds of years They must have access to some sort of technology that we don't because they're not dying right And so he's probably presenting his side of the argument by saying so what we could do, you know, you guys can overcome them take their you know, uh, their cattle take their Their resources, you know, take their spoil take their prey because you deserve that this is communism, right? Because all this belongs to god's people We've labored for that Like this is our spoiler. This is our reward for the labor that we've done here Right So the thousand year reign is essentially us reaping the benefits of our labor for christ here And today you understand you said why do you guys go soul-winning? Why do you guys go to church? Why do you guys you know live like christians and you know? Follow the lord and take up your cross because I want a good millennial reign. That's why Because I want to be rich in the millennial reign I want to have you know, all of these things. I want to this is my retirement plan here. That's why I don't have a retirement plan here in this world. My retirement plan is the millennial reign He says it bad to have a retirement plan. I look what my father-in-law used to say i'm not looking to retire i'm looking to refire You know and I want to I want to I want to serve god to the very very end. Yay Sometimes even the bitter end Especially in the kind of world that we live in and you know why because of the fact that this is what we're going to have We're gonna we're gonna reap the benefits of our labor be not weary and well-doing for a due season We shall reap if we think not right and so god promises us a reward he promises a recompense He says my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be Well at the end of millennial reign all these lames They're coming they're just like well we want what you have Well, your descendants rejected jesus christ, so Sorry, you're not part of the first resurrection I mean doesn't the bible tell us blessed are they who took part in the first resurrection? The reason it says they're blessed because they get to rule and reign with christ for a thousand years This is the privilege that we get as believers Is that we get to rule and reign with christ during the millennial reign now not every christian is going to be able to do that Because it's dependent upon Your labor and in fact, not just your labor it actually is dependent also upon your suffering Because the bible says that we are Co-laborers of christ if so be that we suffer with him joint heirs with christ if so be that we suffer with him You understand so part of receiving that eternal reward that privilege to rule and reign the nations with the rod of iron Is that we not only keep the works into the end but also that we suffer for his name's sake as well And that's basically the promotion that we get when we get to the millennial reign so think about this, you know We're living it up for a thousand years We're just like check this out nothing Look at this, you know, nothing. I mean i'm joking but it's just like we're immortal You know like i'm gonna i'll be back i'm gonna go take a nap psych I don't need a nap because I don't even sleep You know and by the way, I'm gonna be back in a couple of days You know and by the way we get to eat too there's the bible talks about even regenerating people eating And you know, we're enjoying ourselves in the millennial reign and then you have these people who we're ruling over by the way Because when it says we rule over the nations, it's not just like land that we're ruling over. It's people We're judging the nations. Okay, because there is a system that god sets up God sets up That you know, it's not just like oh i'm the boss because I have a name tag that i'm the boss now It's just like we're there to establish the laws of god You understand that's what we're there for And so you have generation after generation of unregendered people Who are living under this law and i'm sure stories go down throughout the generations that say You know bruce mohia. This guy's just a dictator and look he's living all lavishly ruling over us and everything And you know, i'm sure those thoughts are going to come into the minds of people At the battle gog and magog or prior to that because satan's going to deceive them into thinking that You deserve this You should be ruling and reigning. You should take that spoil. I can help you to live forever You know, just the same deceptions that he brings today You really think he's going to deceive people folks. He's to see people into thinking and believing reincarnation He's to see people into thinking that they came from like a rock To believing in evolution He's deceived people into believing I mean folks just go to the comment section of my of my shorts It'll blow your mind Sometimes i'm like i'm not even going to answer because I this is too stupid for me to answer I can't I can't what i'm what do I do with this? I can't even give a dumb answer It's like this is not But you know what that's called deception And so if satan is deceiving the world today into believing the most nonsensical thing out there It's not far-fetched to think that he's going to deceive the nations in this time to fight against jesus christ, even though Generation after generation knows that we can't die So think about this is like fight against them. It's just like but they can't die. No, they can die We'll be able to defeat them Even though for generations on end i'm sure they've told the stories that this elite group of people Known as god's people Are incapable of death They can't die. They've lived forever. They don't sleep They just rule and you know, they must have access to technology or they're demonic or something like that It's just like there must be they must have this by the power of satan You just never know any kind of deception in order to get him to you know, um fight against the lord here. So it says That at the same time verse 10 at the same time shall things come into thy mind and thou shall think an evil thought Which by the way, you know, I think that even today, you know satan can also put intrusive thoughts into our mind in the form of temptation Right temptation, you know Oh, you don't have enough in order to provoke you to to covetousness to provoke you to lust to provoke you to greed To provoke you to to to wrath or whatever it may be And so he's going to be working full time to do it here So these people are definitely deceived go to chapter 39 if you would chapter 39 Now where is the location of the battle? Well, i'm going to read to you from revelation 20 verse 9 It says and they went up on the breadth of the earth and could pass the camp of the saints about And the beloved city, so let me make a comment here Here And this is what I personally believe if you don't believe this makes it doesn't change the price in tea in china This is my conjecture is that um In general people agree that this battle is taking place in the beloved city Right because we see that which is jerusalem israel But I believe that It is taking place there, but it's taking place everywhere else as well Because uh regenerated believers who were former gentiles do not inhabit the beloved city right The only ones who inhabit the beloved city Are are israelites regenerated israelites Which is something that god promised them that they would have and in fact who's ruling over That particular area aside from jesus christ is the 12 disciples Because he promised them that they would sit on the 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of israel This isn't happening in the fiji islands or something like that. He's dude. They're doing it there. Okay, so, you know if you Wanted to rule and reign in jerusalem. Sorry that positions already been taken But there's there's other positions that you can you know, uh, try to get in the millennial reign, but that's already been taken Okay, and who cares who you know, the only reason I want to go to jerusalem anyways is just to go see jesus, right? And i'm sure there's going to be plenty of other beautiful places in the world that we can see but The reason I believe this is because in revelation 20 verse 9 it says that they can pass the camp of the saints and the beloved city And so that would make sense if he's if the bible saying that he compasses the camp of the saints The camp of the saints is all around the world Because we're ruling all around the world. We're ruling the nations with rod of iron all around the world. Okay So this is a global battle that's taken place. Well, look at ezekiel 39 verse 6 Because at the end of gog and magog how does How does god win? By sending down fire right upon gog and magog Well, look at verse 6 of chapter 39 says I will send fire on magog We see that fulfilled in revelation 20 and then it says and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles And they shall know that I am the lord isles referring to islands And I think this is simply a reference to say that he's going to send fire upon gog and magog And revelation 20, but just everywhere else where they're compassing the camps of the saints as well Okay, it's just simply telling us that god's going to destroy the enemy not just those who are compassing jerusalem and israel But also everywhere else as well So this battle the climax of the battle or the the the primary focus of this war. Yes is in jerusalem Yes, it is in israel because of the fact that jesus christ is there Okay But it's also taking place all over the world as well. Okay, in my opinion I believe that this proves that go to go back to chapter 38 Now from here now a lot of what i'm going to give you is conjecture but people love conjecture though People love speculation and conjecture because it's sometimes very interesting, right? And I'm not saying dogmatically that this is what's taking place But i'm just giving you what I think based upon these scriptures and again the battle of gog and magog is an obscure story There's not a whole lot of information. So we have to kind of conjecture but you know, that's fun to do anyways, okay Now, how is this war waged now from what we know? We think well They can pass the cities and boom god drops down fire barbecues them all That's it But that might be the end of the war though Okay That might be the very ending of that war. And the reason I say that is because look at verse 19 of ezekiel 38 If you're hoping to get a sermon on, you know, encouragement how to make it through the week how to overcome anxiety Come back. Oh, by the way next week. We start a series on the family see So, you know, you got something to look forward to if this sermon is boring to you next week, right? And so, um, look at verse 19 says 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 heaven the beast of the field 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 mountain shall be thrown down And the steep places shall fall and every wall shall fall to the ground Look what it says in verse 21 And I will call for a sword against him Throughout all my mountains say the lord god every man's sword shall be against his brother So this is prior to the fire coming down Now there's two ways we can interpret this, okay Interpretation number one, and I partly agree with both is that prior to the fire coming down God's people and I would say primarily those who are regenerated are fighting in this battle Because he says in verse number 21 and I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountain So essentially he's deputizing his people saying go out and fight and slay them That could be one interpretation that it's us going out to fight against him The other interpretation could be that all believers whether you know, they are mortal saved people or regenerated Saved people are all fighting in this and it says because it says there say it the lord god every man's sword shall be against his brother So if you think about it, this could mean that A person a family who grows up throughout the generations in the millennial reign Throughout the generations in the millennial reign you have one that's saved and one that's not And it comes to a head where the one that is saved god commands him to slay his brother who's against jesus christ right So, I don't know that's kind of you know, well, I mean doesn't god command us today not to slay our brothers But doesn't god command us today? To bring the the bible says that he brings division He sits at variance You know a man a son against his father, uh, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law Which is you know, you don't really need a sword for that. I mean you know A son-in-law against his mother-in-law, you know, uh That's that's just normal that's from the spiritual perspective but here he commands every brother He commands every man's sword that shall be against his brother Okay Now i've heard the interpretation that this means that god's going to send some sort of strong delusion in the camp of Gog and magog and they're just going to slay each other but I would more readily You know say that this is probably the case here That what's probably taking place is that you know This is basically getting to a point where you have to make a choice. Are you on god's side? Are you on satan's side? and you know You can't you know, the you know, the bible talks about that our love for god essentially is almost like a hatred for our family Okay You know and so Part of the battle that we see taking place here is that believers saints are partaking in this battle. They're slain with the sword Etc. Look at verse 22 But that's not all But wait, there's more And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood So this potentially means that there's pestilence being sent during this war as well by god And I will reign upon him and upon his bands and upon many people that are with him and overflowing rain and great hailstones Fire and brimstone, okay So what potentially is taking place here is that this war this battle of gog and magog is taking place over a span of time where Saints are fighting against You know these these these adversaries God is miraculously supernaturally also fighting against them by sending pestilence with blood Overflowing with rain great hailstones fire and brimstone now go to chapter 39 and verse 1 This is therefore thou son of man Prophesy against gog and say thus saith the lord god behold. I am against thee. Oh gog the chief prince of meshech and tubal Now i'll bring 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 I will smite the bow thy bow out of thy left hand and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand Thou shall 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 sword and to the beast of the field to be devoured Thou shall fall upon the open field for i've spoken and saith the lord and I will send fire on Magog and among them to dwell carelessly in the isles and they shall know that I am the lord So the culmination of this battle is when god sends down the fire and essentially destroys them now if you if you read the story here It's you know, you can see that the battle of armageddon is kind of like a microcosm of gog and magog Right because in the battle of armageddon you have jesus christ versus the antichrist In the battle of armageddon in the battle of gog and magog. It's like god versus satan Okay And they both have people who are saints who are fighting in the battle and then you know Thereafter you have the judgment seat of christ after the battle of armageddon and then you have the great white throne judgment After the battle of gog and magog, okay, and so we see here that it's not just fire coming down There's some things that precede that the sword pestilence blood all that good stuff. Okay Now let's talk about what happens thereafter So where we at right now? Well millennial reign expires satan is released He deceives the nations takes place over a period of time They gather together to fight against the beloved city and the camp of the saints You have this war that's taken place with the sword pestilence blood and then god's just like all right Let me finish this off here and just like rains fire upon them destroys them they die. Okay Now you got to think about this. Okay again use your imagination God gave us an imagination and it's to be used so we can picture what's going on here in the bible If this is a worldwide battle there's dead bodies everywhere burnt to a crisp This is very gory, okay, you know You you have to think about this, okay Think about this with me Because people you know you it takes place in revelation 20 over a period of four verses We just kind of read over it But we don't stop to think that this is very very gory, okay dead bodies everywhere Burnt to a crisp Everywhere Now let me give you two potential theories of what takes place here after okay Theory number one is that the white throne judgment takes place immediately after the battle of gog and magog Now why would we say that well because We see it in revelation 20 verse 11 that he sees a great white throne And then it takes place now. I would say that that's very a strong possibility because of the fact that The lake of fire proceeds from the presence of god Right. And so if he's burning All the world or the adversaries with this it would make sense that he just rolls right into the great white throne judgment Because as soon as they die they get judged and bada bing bada boom that that's what you have now proof of this or something that can that can kind of Back this up is because it would be that because armageddon is a microcosm of gog and magog That's exactly what happens after the battle of armageddon is that jesus christ sets up the millennial reign And at the inauguration of the millennial reign you have the judgment seat of christ So it's not like a whole lot of time passes between those events you have the battle of armageddon You know satan or excuse me The antichrist and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire Then you have the inauguration of the judgment seat of christ will re-receive our rewards He distributes the rewards for the for that which we have done. Okay Well, if armageddon is a microcosm of gog and magog that would mean that after the battle of gog and magog immediately You have the great white throne judgment which by the way Whether it's after or before that I would say before that There's another resurrection of the just and i'm explaining what I mean in just a bit. Okay So one of the theories is that the white throne judgment takes place immediately after Which would make sense because you know, it seems to be the pattern of both wars that we see in the end times Here's the second theory, okay There is a seven-year gap between the end of the battle of the gog and magog and the great white throne judgment There might be seven years By the end of gog and magog where everyone's burnt to a crisp dead bodies everywhere And the great white throne judgment you say well, where do you get that from? Well look at ezekiel 39 In verse 8 He said which one do you hold to you know, i'm not really sold on either one i'm good i'm good with either You know what I mean and I can see why people would believe one over the other But i'll make more comments in just a bit look at verse 8 it says behold it It is come and it is done saith the lord. This is the day whereof I have spoken So this is after the fire burns them Verse 9 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 hand staves and the spears and they shall burn them with fire seven years That's pretty interesting Now you say why do they have spears and bows because it's a they're fighting with the primitive form now because war hasn't been a thing over the last thousand years So now the plowshares and the pruning hooks are turned into swords and spears to fight here And he said why is it for a total of seven years? Well, let's read on here. It says verse number 10 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 spoil them and Rob those that rob them saith the lord god So it's not that it takes seven years to burn all these weapons It's just that for a total of seven years. They're just using this as a resource like oh man, we need more fire We need it's getting kind of cold during the winter. We'll just get all those weapons that we you know Those people that died man that we don't need to cut down the trees anymore. We can save the trees We can save the trees and you know Because we have all these weapons or whatever and we don't need them We're about to go into the new heaven and new earth in a couple years or whatever, you know, let's just use these But it says that it takes place for seven years Which is interesting Now look at verse 11 Here's even something that's even crazier. Okay, because seven years of burning weapons But look at this in verse 11 and it shall come to pass in that day That I will give unto gog a place there of graves in israel and the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea and it shall stop the noses of the passengers and there Shall they bury gog in all his multitude and they shall call it the valley of hamangog and seven months Shall the house of israel be bearing of them that they may cleanse the land So it takes seven months to bury all these dead people so Now this would be considered a full-time job Right And you know what god rewards his people for working Because it's on labor there is profit and in fact look at verse 13 Yeah All the people of the land shall bury them and it shall be to them a renown that day that I shall be glorified Save the lord god and they shall sever out men of continual employment So they're hiring people whose full-time job is to bury dead bodies 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, they shall search and the passengers that pass through the land when any see at the man's bone Then shall he set up a sign by it till the barriers have buried it in the valley of hamangog And also the name of the city shall be hamanoa thus shall they cleanse the land. So this is what's taking place here. Okay? They sever a bunch of people that say you guys full-time job is to bury dead bodies So you go out throughout the land you see dead bodies. You got to bury you got to give it its proper burial. Okay? Then there's other people who when they walk by and they're like are those teeth. Oh, that's a skull They grab a marker and they put the marker there So that when the passengers those who full-time job is to bury dead bodies when they walk by and they're like, okay I got to bury this so their job for seven months is to essentially Bury all the bodies that they found But then their job also is to go about and look at those markers and bury those, you know, whatever remains are there I know this is gross, but it's This is what happens. Okay You say is it really like this? Well, my wife was telling me that when she went to southeast asia, cambodia They have the killing fields there Okay And you know, this is something that took place like a really long time ago Where there's a there's like a lot of dead bodies there and skulls and bone fragments or whatnot and they bury them But sometimes when you go to the killing fields, you'll see like a skull pop up And then they have to go and they bury it again or when it rains They come back up and then they have to go back and bury them again So, I don't know what to say about this but it's just like that's just that's just what's happening, okay You know, it kind of helps you to realize how many people died in this war Where for seven months straight, they're just burying bodies burying bodies, okay Now why is there a seven-year gap? Okay. Well, I don't know I don't know. I just know this is that In leviticus 25 when talking about You know this matter of seven years You know you have basically the seventh year will be a year of rest for the land Right, you know, they would sow they would do all these things they would sow, you know, they bury Seeds and on the seventh year was the year of rest And then at the end of 49 years the 50th year would be to consider the year of jubilee Okay, and at the year of jubilee is when everyone would be released Now this is purely conjecture because we don't know 100 Because the numbers aren't given to us other than these seven years What could be possibly happening? Is that the reason it's seven years is because the seventh year is a year of rest And who knows maybe even after that is when? You have the second resurrection taking place Because there is a second resurrection In revelation 20 even though we don't see it I say what? well The reason we know there's a second resurrection because the bible talks about a first resurrection Okay I know what i'm talking about. I don't need you to give me information Women i'm just kidding There's a first resurrection And it says that they're blessed that we're blessed because we're part of that first resurrection But you got to keep in mind that there's people who have died who were believers during the wrath of god and during the millennial reign Now, where do they go? They go to heaven? Well, when did they come back at the second resurrection Now the reason I believe it's not explicitly talked about in revelation 20 is because the main emphasis of revelation 20 is the great white throne judgment Okay, but let me read you from john chapter 5 verse 28 says marvel not at this for the hours come in the which are In the which all that are in the grave shall hear my voice and shall come forth They that have done good until the resurrection of life and they that have done evil until the resurrection of damnation Now this doesn't take place at the rapture Because at the rapture only safe people are resurrected Everyone who has died without christ remains in hell Until the great white throne judgment, okay And so this obviously has to be referring to Right before the great white throne judgment because if you have both happening simultaneously those who have done good until the resurrection of life And they that have done evil until the resurrection of damnation what is the resurrection of damnation the great white throne judgment Because at the great white throne judgment the bible says that the sea gives up their dead You know and you know the physical bodies of those who who have died have come out of the graves They're reunited with their souls and then they're both cast into the lake of fire Does that make sense to everyone? I know it's like I know it's a lot And if you don't get that just just ask me after the service. I'll try to explain it better Essentially what i'm saying here is that? John 5 28 talk about two types of resurrection one is to eternal life those who have died during the wrath of god and the millennial rain Okay to get the resurrected bodies and then the resurrection of damnation Those who are resurrecting to be reunited with their souls to be judged at the great white throne judgment and cast into the lake of fire Okay This is what matthew 25 talks about separating the sheep from the goats Because that doesn't happen at the rapture God doesn't separate the sheep from the goats at the rapture Where does he separate the sheep from the goats at the great white throne judgment, okay? And that's it And that's how it ends so then you then then you have the great one I ran out of notes So then you have the the the great white throne judgment People are judged out of the things written in the books and out of the book of life They're cast into the lake of fire, but so is death and hell Okay, and then you have revelation 21 22, which is the new heaven new earth and then you know, we just we go into eternity With god forever and there's no more unsafe people no more death. No more sin. No more satan He's cast into the lake of fire And then we're there forever. Okay, then the meek shall inherit the earth essentially forever at that point, okay But there's a cleansing that needs to take place So for those thousand years god is essentially cleansing the land, right Because jesus christ is is essentially subjugating The the unsaved under his rule And it's a picture of us Because folks when we get saved the new man comes to live within us And you know what we go through throughout this life the process of sanctification Where we're just being cleansed and god is cleaning us through the word of god and through the preaching where we're you know We're repenting of drinking. We're repenting of you know, lying or stealing and just getting Right with god and and adding virtue to our lives and just becoming better christians. We go through a process of sanctification And then when we die death is swallowed up in victory And We essentially get a new body at the at the rapture which is the new heaven the new earth The mind the the mega cosm of that would be the new heaven and new earth understand And so that's why it's important to note that and I think you know The the the the the great white throne judgment and the battle that we see here and ezekiel 39 is essentially the picture of like the old man dying getting buried Permanently and never happening again now, let me make this one last comment is that All this might have already taken place as far as what we see in ezekiel 38 and 39 Okay, there's a possibility that everything we just read in ezekiel 38 and 39 could just be something that's only subject to what happened in those days Or it could be that it happened in those days, but it's going to happen again in the future This is what's known as dual fulfillment Which I believe that's probably what it is. Okay, because you said well, how do you know that for sure? Well because Revelation 20 says gog and magog So why would he cause us to go back to ezekiel 38 and 39 if this is well, this is irrelevant to you guys I just want to throw that name out there because it sounds cool or something. There's obviously relevance to chapter 38 and 39 Because it has to do with that war. Amen Pretty cool series. I kind of liked it, you know, pretty cool, right? Let's pray father Thank you so much for your word lord and thank you for the future we're so thankful that As dark as this world is becoming Day by day year by year. We have so much to look forward to and all of this will be a drop in the bucket not even a drop in the bucket in comparison to The millennial reign in comparison to the new heaven the new earth And there are times that we have to endure this life there's so many hardships and difficulties and pains and sorrows and sufferings but The bible tells us that it's a light affliction In comparison to what we're going to receive the glory that shall be revealed in us And lord help us to be reminded of these things help us to to think upon them To hope for them to set our affections upon them Uh that we may live a life that's honoring and pleasing to you Now because we know that it'll affect our future. We love you. We thank you pray these things in jesus name. Amen So Amen