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

So, we're still in end times prophecy, and if you go back, keep your finger in Ezekiel chapter 38 and go to Revelation 20. This is the battle of Gog and Magog, and what's mistakenly inserted here is that this battle that we just read about happens before the Antichrist even comes on the scene, that this is happening before Jesus comes back in the clouds and all this. And so it's foolishness, once you see what we're going to see here, that Ezekiel 38 and 39 are the only places that Gog and Magog are mentioned except for Revelation 20. And so Revelation 20 gives us perfectly where this event's going to happen, where's the timeline of this event. So Revelation 20, the only thing though, it doesn't give you too much information. There's literally only three verses that talk about this event in Revelation 20. But Revelation 20 and verse 7, 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. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, encompassed 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 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 if you don't count verse 10 as far as being part of this, there's only three verses that really talk about this battle and what's going on. But you can see that from verse 7, the thousand years have expired before this happens. So this happens after the thousand year reign of Christ. Now last week we talked about the thousand year reign of Christ and what's going on there. And so this is what happens after that thousand year reign. And so what this is doing here, though, is that when it says Gog and Magog, it's a marker to bring you back to Ezekiel 38 and 39. So instead of the Bible having another two chapters in Revelation to describe the same thing that was talked about in Ezekiel, it's basically telling you, okay, you need to go back where Gog and Magog is talking about. And what you'll find out is that Ezekiel 38 and 39 match up perfectly with the events that are in these three verses. And so 38 and 39 is really where you get a lot of information as far as exactly what's going on. Because in this chapter, all you really see is that, okay, Satan's deceiving the nations, he's bringing a bunch of people against the saints, and then God is raining fire down on them and devouring them. That's pretty much all it says there, right? But Ezekiel 38 and 39 gives us a lot more information as far as what's going on. And so this is a good tool when you're doing your Bible study as well, that when it puts in a marker, it's basically putting in a marker saying, you know, him that glories, let him glory in the Lord, you know, it says as it is written, him that glories, let him glory in the Lord, go back to where that's written and see more information about what it's talking about. Anytime it says as it is written, you should probably go back and see what the context is and what's being talked about. In light of the fact of what it's saying it's supposed to be about in the New Testament. And so the idea, if anybody comes to you about end times Bible prophecy and starts saying, we need to be looking at Russia because that's Gog, I mean, they are just blowing smoke. It has nothing to do with those events that are going to be happening in our time here. So Gog and Magog's not going to be dealing with anybody that's living right now. Because a thousand years have to go by. Now obviously we'll be there when this battle goes on, but we'll already be in a resurrected state at that point. Remember we're going to be a part of the first resurrection where we're going to be rolling and reigning with Christ for a thousand years. At the end of that thousand years, Satan's going to be, you know, loosed out of his prison, out of the bombless pit. And then that's when this battle's going on. But in Ezekiel 38 we see, when it talks about Gog, look at verse 2. So in verse 2 it's telling us, you know, basically who Gog and Magog is. Now in Revelation 20 and verse 8 it says, the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. So what's Gog and Magog? The nations in the four corners of the earth. So and you can even see this when you're looking at it in Ezekiel, how it's pretty much encompassing all of these nations that are around about Jerusalem or around about Israel. Because we already talked about how that Christ is going to be rolling and reigning from Jerusalem in that thousand year reign. Remember he's cleansing everything. Things are being, you know, basically back to before the flood kind of conditions. And so they're dwelling safely, all that stuff. We'll see that it's in here. So but in verse 2 it says, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog. So we see that Gog and Magog are pretty much one and the same. When it says Gog and Magog, it's Gog the land of Magog. And so it's kind of like a city within a land, so to speak. And then throughout this, it's pretty much saying Gog, Gog, Gog, Gog, okay. So Gog, the land of Magog, and we know from Revelation 20 that Gog and Magog represents the nations from the four corners of the earth that are coming against Jerusalem, or coming against that beloved city as it says in Revelation 20. It says the prince of Meshach and Tubal, and it says prophesy against him. Notice in verse 5, actually let's just read verse 3, it says, and say, Thus saith the Lord God, behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal, and I will turn thee back and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth in all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. So all this army has swords, they have weapons, and they're armed. And so, you know, it's a mighty force that's coming against the saints, and if you remember in Jerusalem, remember they didn't learn war anymore. They beat their swords into plowshares, we're going to get into that. But notice verse 5, it says, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya with them, all of them with shield and helmet, Gomer and all his bands, the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands, and many people with thee. This isn't just one nation coming after the city and after the saints, this is, the nation's all round about. So it's basically covering all the points, the north quarters, all that stuff. And so we know that all the nations from the four quarters of the earth are coming against the saints. And so you've got to imagine this picture, you've got to picture this, that you have a city that has no walls, that doesn't have any weapons, that hasn't learned war for a thousand years, and now they have this massive army coming after them. And how intimidating that would be, but that's the picture you've got to understand, is that basically they're just helpless, and obviously God fights for them. So in Revelation 20, you kind of see that quick, you know, like they're coming against them, but you don't see all that information, right? You just see, okay, they're coming against the saints, and God destroys them. But you've got to understand that picture of the fact that they are pretty much helpless, and they can't fight this battle. There's no way they can fight this battle, and God obviously steps in. But notice it gives that information, and so verse 8, it talks about how, or in this next discourse here, about how they were basically dwelling safely at rest, unwalled cities. But notice in verse 8, it says, after many days, thou shall be visited in the latter years. Thou shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword. And notice, at the end of the latter years, so obviously this passage in Ezekiel was not talking about something that's coming in the near future. It's just like when you look at Daniel, it says, you know, this is in the latter days, the latter times, it's for the time appointed, it's for many days. And we knew that, we know that that meant way in the future. Some of it meant with Jesus, who is going to be coming, like, way in the future, but then there's going to be the second coming of Christ, which is even more in the future from where Jesus came the first time. And so, and it says in the land that is brought back from the sword, remember that the land was taken by Jesus at the battle of Armageddon, when he destroyed all the armies of the beast, cast them into the lake of fire, and there's actually a lot of similarities, we'll see, with the battle of Armageddon and this battle of Gog and Magog. There's a lot of similarities with this. So the thousand year reign is pretty much, it starts with this battle, and it ends with a battle. And so, in both cases, Jesus, you know, God is fighting this battle. And so it's interesting how these things parallel. And so, but, in verse 9, so they're dwelling, I'm sorry, I stopped in verse 8, it says the land that is brought back from the sword and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste, but it is brought forth out of nations and they shall dwell safely, all of them. So they're dwelling safely. So you gotta get the picture of what's going on here. Verse 9, thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands and many people with thee. So give this picture, remember it said there is the sand of the sea in Revelation 20, this host of people that's coming against that beloved city, against the saints. And so, it's saying it's like a cloud that covered the land. So it's giving that same picture as far as this army is just huge. It's just an army that no one could think they could take out. And verse 10 here, it 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 shalt think in evil thought. And so I think this is really kind of tying into how the devil's gonna deceive all the nations. He's coming around, deceiving the nations. How did Armageddon start? Remember the beast, the false prophet and the dragon went about deceiving the nations and putting it into their heart to be gathered to this battle. Isn't that exactly what the devil does? How did Armageddon end? The beast, the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. How does this end? The devil's cast into the lake of fire. So there's a lot of parallels with this and we probably won't get into all of them. But I think this evil thought that shall enter into them is being put there by the devil. And so in verse 11 it says, 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 their bars nor gates. And so this is something that we see very clearly from how we looked at the thousand year reign and what's going on for that thousand years, how they're at rest or dwelling safely. And so Satan obviously is loosed. He's deceiving all the nations as I believe giving them that evil thought to come against the saints. You've got to imagine that it would take the devil to deceive these people to think they could take out Christ. And so it's amazing the strong delusion that they would have to think that they could take out Christ, take out God. This is much a strong delusion that the devil thinks that he can be like the most high. But he's going to be brought down, him that didst weaken the nations, remember he's brought down to hell, now he's going to be cast into the lake of fire. But Micah 4, and I know we covered this when we were talking about, but I just want you to see this and just see this parallel, how it says they're at rest, they're dwelling safely, they don't have walls or gates. It's basically just this peaceful time where everybody's, remember they're living prosperously, remember? They basically, what they work is going to come in, it's not like the earth is working against them, they have a lot of goods, it's just a time of prosperity. And so that's why these nations want to spoil them. They're wanting to spoil the saints because of their prosperity and basically they think it's going to be clean pickings, it's like taking candy from a baby when they don't have any walls, they don't have any armor, they don't have any swords, they don't have any weapons at all. But in Micah 4 and just verse 3 there it says, and he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into printing hooks, nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. So that's the state that you've got to imagine that the world is in until this happens, until there's basically this coup, so to speak, of the devil and all these nations are going to come around and basically come against the saints with all their weapons of war and they're going to try to take out the city of the saints. And so notice it doesn't say the city of the Jews. I just want to point that out, that it's just the saints, Jew or Gentile. So this whole idea of the thousand year reign being just for the Jews, show me where it says that. So that's just a side note. But Isaiah 11, you don't have to turn there, but it says in that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an inside of the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious. So I know we covered all this, but I just kind of wanted to recap that a little bit. The fact that in a thousand year reign it's a time of rest, it's a time of prosperity, it's a time of no war, it's a time of peace, and it's a time where basically they're not learning war and they're basically just working and it's just prosperous. They're living long lives if they keep the commandments of God and people are getting saved and people aren't saved as well, but it's a time of prosperity and a time of God's law of him ruling with a rod of iron. And so I believe a lot of these people that the Satan's going to deceive are people that did not like that rule, did not like that government of Jesus Christ ruling with a rod of iron and having a righteous government. And so basically they're like anarchists that want to step out and fight against Jesus. So usually I'm for fighting against the government, but when it's Jesus Christ that's the benevolent dictatorship? No. No, that's the perfect government. But the Lord is going to fight this battle. So we saw in Revelation, go back to Ezekiel chapter 38, but we saw in Revelation 20 how it says that the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. So we have this great multitude and in Ezekiel we'll see that that's coupled in there about being covered with a cloud and it says fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. So how did he destroy them? He sent fire down from heaven and destroyed them. Kind of reminds me of Sodom and Gomorrah or just other manners in which he did this in Egypt and other places, bringing fire down, hail and brimstone. So if Ezekiel 38 is paralleling what's going on after the thousand year reign, then it should talk about this and it does. So these parallels of Ezekiel 38 and 39 are perfect parallels of what's going on with just those three verses of information it gives you. And so in your time, you know, we're not going to go through every single verse of Ezekiel 38 and 39, but in your homework, you know, read through that and then you'll get a lot more information. Now obviously like we were talking about this stuff, it's like when we were talking about the wrath, well, you know, it's not really going to apply to us, you know, per se, and in this case we'll be in glorified bodies so we're not going to be worried about dying anyway, but we'll get to see it, we'll be there for it, and so, but it is interesting how all this fits together, how the Bible fits together. And so, but in Ezekiel 38 in verse 14 just gives that same information, it says, Therefore son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God, In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? So he's basically, you know, asking, you know, he's setting the stage that they're dwelling safely in verse 16, And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel as a cloud to cover the land, and it shall be in the latter days. So he's setting up this picture, they're dwelling safely, you're going to come up against my people and you're going to come against them in the latter days, so it's telling us this is way in the future in Ezekiel. And then in verse 18, in verse 18 of Ezekiel 38, it says, And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. So here's where God's stepping in. So we see that picture of that Israel's dwelling safely, all the saints are dwelling safely, they're in a city without walls, without gates, without bars, they don't know any war, they don't have any weapons, and this army's coming against them as a cloud that's covering the land, as the sea, you know, the sand of the sea for multitude, and now God's stepping in. And so in verse 19 it 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 it's actually giving us a lot more information. We know that fire's going to come down from heaven, and it does get into that at the end of this, but notice the other stuff that it mentions. It says, So there's 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 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 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, said the Lord God, every man's sword shall be against his brother. So there's a lot of stuff going on besides just the fire coming down from heaven. Now that's the finale, you know, but this gives us a lot more information about this shaking in the land, you know, about the fishes and the sea and the fowls in heaven and all this commotion that's going on, and then it gets into in verse 22, and notice the sword against his brother. Basically he's going to, you see this in the Old Testament, right, where they're so afraid and trembling that they're actually killing each other on accident. It's like friendly fire, so to speak, and so he sends that to them to where they're basically killing each other within there, and then in verse 22 it says, And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood. So there's another bit there. He's throwing pestilence at them. So we don't know exactly how long this battle takes place, but I don't think it's just in one day. Okay, I think this may be dragging me out for a little bit, because this, what people mistake also is the fact, and we'll get into that in chapter 39, that this battle of Gog and Magog happens like this, and then we go straight to the Great White Throne judgment. It's not the case. There's actually time that takes place before you get to the Great White Throne judgment and you get to the new heaven and new earth, and we'll see that in chapter 39. So you've got to understand that this battle, I don't know how long it takes. It could be a month. It could be a year of God doing all this stuff to them, and then he's going to send pestilence to them, and so that's slowly killing them, and then to end it off here we see this. It says, And I will reign upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him, and overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. So he's just raining down the wrath of God upon him. And so, and it says, Thus will I magnify myself and sanctify myself. I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. So he's making himself known for sure, and so if there's any question with these nations that Christ is the Lord, it's answered here at this battle. And so, in Ezekiel 39 and verse 6, it says, 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. So notice this fire that keeps being brought up. That's the finality that we see here in chapter 38. It brings it up again in chapter 39, and so this fire of God coming down, it fits perfectly with Revelation 20. So I wanted to also show you a place, and we'll get into chapter 39, as far as what's going on there, because really 38 is really where the battle happens, you know, it kind of sets that stage. 39 is really talking about what's going on after the battle, and it gives us more information about that. But go to Ezekiel chapter 14. Ezekiel chapter 14 actually gives us some more information on this battle. And again, when you go to Ezekiel, or I'm sorry, did I say Ezekiel, I meant Zechariah. I'm sorry, Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 14, again, when you go to Zechariah, it jumps around so much, so don't, like, the reason that I can say that this makes sense is because it fits with all the other scriptures, okay? And so when you go to Zechariah, you got to be really careful that it fits with all the other scriptures and doesn't contradict, okay? And so when you get to the end of the chapter, it's talking about keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, so you got to be careful in that, and that's where you get that, the Hebrew roots, like, oh, we're going to be doing the Feasts of the Lord, and the thousand year reign, or whatever, you know, so the Feast of the Lord represents something, too, so it could be talking about, you know, what it actually represented. And if you look at the end of the chapter, this is just a side note, but there's only one place in the New Testament where it talks about the Tabernacle pretty much, and it basically says, at the new heaven and new earth, the Tabernacle of the Lord is with men. So if you want to talk about when the Feast of Tabernacles is probably taking place, it's probably when the Lord God himself, the Father, comes down and we see his face. And remember, there is no Tabernacle. So that's another sermon for another day, but we'll get into that when we get into the new heaven and new earth, but what I'm saying with that is that you got to be careful when you go through here, and this is where all the false talk, I tell you there's a lot of false talk that comes out of Zechariah where they're just going to that and just ignoring the rest of the Bible. What you should be doing is taking the whole Bible, figuring out your doctrine, and then going to Zechariah and see if you can find some more information. But don't go the other way around. So Zechariah 14, and start there in verse 8. So Zechariah 14 and verse 8, it says, And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinders sea, in summer and in winter shall it be, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. So we can see how this is setting up to the thousand year reign, I believe that's what this is talking about. Verse 10, All the land shall be turned as a plain from Gibeah to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananiel unto the king's wine presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. Sound familiar? Dwelling safely? There's not going to be any more destruction, no more war. Verse 12, And in this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth, and it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them, and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold and silver and peril, and great abundance, and so shall be the plague of the horse, and of the mule, and of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents as this plague. Remember the pestilence, the pestilence that he was going to put on the land, on the horses? Remember that he's going to have a lift up sword against that brother, what's it say here? And it says, And they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. So we see all this stuff working together, but notice it says that the flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet. So think about the detail it's giving you here. When fire's coming down from heaven, they're going to be incinerated by this fire and this brimstone that's happening. So there's just a lot more detail that it's giving us here. And so I just wanted to see those parallels, because in Ezekiel 38 it talks about every man's sword shall be against his brother, and it says, And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood. So we see this stuff in here in Zechariah, I keep saying Ezekiel. Zechariah chapter 14. And so a lot more detail that it's giving us here as far as what's going on at this battle. Now, go to Ezekiel chapter 39. So we see this battle, right? We saw the picture where Israel, all the saints, and remember Israel, what is Israel? Israel are the believers. In the New Testament, ever since Jesus died on the cross, that old covenant was done away. Israel is encompassed by all believers at that point. When it talks about Israel in Ezekiel, it's talking about the saints. Because in Revelation 20, what's it talking about? The camp of the saints. It's talking about the beloved city and the camp of the saints. Because Israel are the saints. But in Ezekiel 39, this is after the battle, so 38 paints the picture of how Jerusalem and all the saints are being encompassed by this great multitude that no man can number pretty much. And they're coming against an unwalled city, an unarmed people, and God takes them out. God delivers them out of the hands. And it really shows you the promise of God, too, of how safety is of the Lord. Some men trust in horses, some in chariots, you know, but it says, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. So all these promises that God gives as far as how He's the safety, He's the man of war. And so we basically just have to stand back and just see what the Lord is going to do for us. And so, but Ezekiel 39, we did some interesting stuff, and this is where people try to fit in, like this happens right before the 70th week. And so Ezekiel 39 verse 8, it says, 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, or the bows and the arrows and the handstays and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years. So this is where they get this, like this is happening right before that 70th week because there's only seven years left, okay? And so that's where they're kind of getting that from. But here's the thing, did it ever say in Revelation 20 that immediately after the battle of Gog and Magog, the White Throne happens? Did it ever say that? And so we can't insert timelines in there. We just assume off the top of our head that, you know, that battle happens as soon as it's over, boom, great White Throne judgment. Well, obviously it's not. There's seven years of them burning these instruments, these weapons of war. And so that's the misconception is that you already have it in your mind that it's happening instantly. But the Bible's teaching us here that it's actually a space of time between the battle of Gog and Magog and when that great White Throne judgment happens. I don't know when exactly, but I'd say it's after seven years at least. And so, but as we keep reading here, it says, 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, and it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, and it shall stop the noses of the passengers, and there shall they bury Gog in all his multitude, and they shall call it the valley of Amengog. In seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. And we see immediately after this battle, they're basically getting these dead bodies and putting them into graves for seven months. So seven months they're doing this, and then they're burning their weapons of war for seven years. So that's where people get caught up in this and say, well, this has to be before that. Even though the only other place in the Bible that Gog and Magog is mentioned is in Revelation 20, which says it's after the thousand year reign. So they're just going to throw that out and just make up something. And so any time I ever hear somebody talk about Gog and Magog and events that are coming up today, I don't even acknowledge it. I mean, it's just, there's nothing in the Bible that would suggest that. And that's where you get this whole idea of Russia coming down and canvassing Jerusalem. And that's why we need to protect Jerusalem, because God's going to fight their battle for them. And you get all this false doctrine about how God's fighting for the Antichrist Jews over in Israel. Or actually, a lot of them are Muslim, too. So Jerusalem or Israel is one of the most wicked nations in the world today, and God is not going to fight their battles. That's not the beloved city. That's Sodom and Egypt, according to Revelation. According to Revelation 11, that Jerusalem, where our Lord was crucified, is the spiritual Sodom and Egypt. It's not going to be the beloved city until all his saints are indwelling it for that thousand year period. And so, just a lot of false doctrine is brought up, so that's why I'm really honing in on this, to kind of show you, because they're going to come at you with this. You may come up to somebody and be like, well, what about the fact that they're burning their weapons for seven years? What about the fact that they're burying the dead for seven months? Why are they doing that if they have a new earth coming? Well, that's what the Bible teaches. And so, we've got to get the preconceived ideas of what we see automatically, and don't insert things that aren't there. Like in Revelation 20, don't insert the fact that that happens immediately. We see that from the Bible, that there's a lot of time going on with just in three verses. There's a thousand years going on in those three verses that's just very quickly going through that, and then you go to the end of it, and then you go to the heaven, new earth. And so just because you're reading it really quick doesn't mean it actually goes that quick. And so sometimes you can read whole chapters and you haven't even gone a day. You know that Deuteronomy was written in one day? It was spoken in one day. But when you read it, you're like, man, this has been going on forever. This must have been 40 years they were writing this thing. No, it was one day that that Deuteronomy was spoken to the children of Israel. Obviously throughout Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, there's time going on. But even with Leviticus, that was stuff that was spoken to the Levites, and there's not much time going on between there. So don't get caught up in that. It's easy to get caught up in that when you're reading something and you read through Zechariah or something like that, and you're like, this is all together. There could be thousands of years between that. So you've got to be careful with that, and even in Revelation, there's a lot of time going on between those verses. I don't know how long it's going to be. I'm not saying it's going to be like 1,000 years between 1,000-year reign and when the new heaven, new earth happened. I just don't know. I know that it's probably more than seven years, or it's around seven years, and it sounds like there's this seven-year time of just cleansing the land. That's what it keeps talking about here is about cleansing the land, that they're going to bury them in the valley of Amengod. You say, well, why are they going to bury them? Well, the fact that the dead are going to come out of the graves, that there's going to be a second resurrection, and it's a picture that's been foretold from the foundation of the world that the dead, that the resurrection of the unjust are going to happen, and it's going to happen. Everybody that's in the dust of the earth are going to be raised, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt. Maybe there's something to do with that, but the fact that the land is being cleansed and that God wants it to be like that for seven years after this great battle that takes place. There's obviously a picture to it, I'm sure, and there's a reason. God doesn't do anything just by coincidence. I don't think he's just like, oh, we're just going to take seven years to do this. There's no real reason for it. I think there is a reason, and just because we don't know the reason doesn't mean that it's not true. I'm not saying I have all the answers for all the different ins and outs of what's going on, but I just take it for what it says. Like I said, there's a lot of parallels to the fact of what's going on with what happens before the thousand year reign and what happens after the thousand year reign. This is battle. Gog and Magog and the Armageddon are very similar, and I want to show you that. So put a finger, if you're in Ezekiel still, put a finger in chapter 39, but now go to Revelation 19. In my excitement for preaching on the battle of Armageddon, I can't remember if I really honed in on the point that the marriage supper to the lamb is the fowls feasting on the flesh of kings and princes. It's not eating rolls and gravy and all that stuff. It is literally the feast that's going on is the animals eating the flesh of people. That is the marriage supper to the lamb. What we'll see is that it's very similar to what happens in the battle of Gog and Magog. Just look at Revelation 19 just to refresh ourselves. In verse 17 it says, And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God. What's the supper of the great God? That's the marriage supper to the lamb. He's calling all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. Notice what it says in verse 18, That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. Down to verse 21, And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. There's your marriage supper of the lamb, my friends. But what's interesting is this same exact thing is going to happen with the battle of Gog and Magog. Go back to Ezekiel 39. Ezekiel 39. And verse 17. It's interesting that it starts in the same verse. I'm sure that's completely coincidence because verses weren't added until later. But in verse 17 of Ezekiel 39, it says, And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord God, speak unto every feathered fowl, unto every beast of the field, assemble yourselves, and come, gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice, that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, and of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. Ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God. Very similar. Notice the fowls of the heaven are being filled with the flesh of all these mighty men, and it is obviously very graphic of what's being talked about here, but it's interesting how it starts, his thousand year reign starts with him fighting this battle to reign for a thousand years, and then it's like they try to challenge him again, and the same thing goes down. The same thing happens where he takes him out. In Revelation 19, it talks about how, and I just want to turn it over because I don't have that in my notes, but in the same spot where we have this feasting of these fowls. Let me get to it. In verse 20, we kind of skipped over, but in verse 20 it says, and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. Go back to Revelation 16, I just want to remind you of how they deceived the nations. Verse 13, so in Revelation 16 verse 13, it says in verse 13, and I saw their unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, for they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Verse 16 there it says, and he gathered them together into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. So we see the same thing happens in Revelation 20 when the devil, so we are coming full circle here in verse 7, 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. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, encompassed the camp of the saints, and about them in the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. So we see the same exact thing happen, only the devil, so that dragon that was only cast into hell, but noticed his end. And it's always interesting that it couples this with, it goes back to the beast and the false prophet, and it says, and the devil, in verse 10, 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. He eventually gets that same end that the beast and the false prophet got, and it's just, you know, it's the finale here. Remember, even in Ezekiel 38, it says it is done and it is finished. You know, this is the finale, this is when the new heaven, new earth. This is where all enemies are being put under Jesus' feet. The last enemy is death. When does that happen? The great white throne, when death and hell is cast into the lake of fire. And that comes up next with the great white throne, where it talks about in verse, so like I said, you know, you say, well why are they burying everybody? Well maybe because the next event that's going to happen is all these people coming out of the graves to be judged according to their works, and cleansing the land before that happens. Because in verse 11 it says, and I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. So remember, we can't insert the fact that this is happening immediately after that battle is just taking place. So in verse 12 it says, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the finale. At the end of he must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy to be put under his feet or to be destroyed is death, and this is exactly what happens. All his enemies are destroyed at the battle of Gog and Magog, Satan is cast into the lake of fire, and now all the dead that are in hell, their souls that are in hell, and all their bodies, wherever they're at, are going to come back to them, and the dead are going to be brought back, and they're going to stand before the judgment, and they're going to be judged every man according to their works, and then they're going to be cast in the lake of fire because their names are not found in the book of life. And so that's the finale. When we get into chapter 21, that's where we get into the new heaven, new earth, that's the eternity, that's new Jerusalem, which we haven't got to yet, but this is the finale of Jesus Christ's kingdom here on earth, and basically setting all things right. This is where there's going to be no more death after that. That's where there's going to be no more pain, no more sorrow, and so even if Christ comes back in our time, say he comes back in here in like three years or something like that, you know, we still have a thousand years before all this is finalized, over a thousand years, and so there's still time, there's still stuff that has to go on until we get to that finale, and so it's a lot of interesting stuff that's going on here with this and with the judgments. Now this is where we have, remember we were talking about the resurrections, we were talking about the first resurrection, and then we have what I would call the second resurrection or what it calls the end. This is the end, and so this is where, when Jesus says, you know, that you're going to hear my voice, all that are in the dust are going to hear my voice, and then they're going to come up, some to eternal damnation, and some to everlasting life. That's what it's talking about here, because this resurrection, go to 1 Peter actually, I want to make a point here, and this isn't really my note, I'm kind of just going forward here, because I probably just want to go straight into the new heaven, new earth in our next sermon, but in 1 Peter, you may say in this where the saved talked about, well it doesn't mention really their resurrection here, but we know that is what the Bible talks about in many other places, on how they're going to be resurrected, that's the gleaning so to speak, we were talking about how the first resurrection is really like the harvest, Christ was the first fruits, the first resurrection is the harvest, and then the second resurrection would be more like the gleanings of the saved. But I will say this, I do believe that they have their judgment seat before the great white throne judgment, and this is why, and so in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17, it says for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first began at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God, and if the righteous seriously be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? I believe that judgment must begin first at the house of God, that's why in the first resurrection you have the judgment seat of Christ, well the judgment of the dead hasn't happened yet, but I believe even with the second resurrection, according to this verse I believe that that has to happen, the second resurrection of the saved, their judgment seat has to happen before this great white throne judgment. I don't personally believe that there's any saved at the great white throne judgment, because when you read about the great white throne judgment, it says the dead, it doesn't say the living, and remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they're alive, and so it calls them the dead, it doesn't call them the living, and so the great white throne I believe is just for the damned, just for those that are going to be, it's basically, they're coming up out of hell that's in the center of the earth, they're going to be judged according to their works, and then they're going to be cast to the lake of fire for all eternity. And that book of life is there just to show, to prove that hey, if you would have been written in this you wouldn't have gone in there, but now you've got to be judged according to your works. See, we're not going to be judged according to our works on the case of heaven and hell because our names are written in the book of the light of the lambs, slain from the foundation of the world, and so, but all these people that we go out soul winning and they say you know, I'm going to heaven because of my good works, they won't believe on Christ, they won't humble themselves, they will be judged according to their works. But they're not going to make it. You know, there's not just men upon earth that do good and sitteth not. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, so this great white throne judgment is just going to be a bunch of people that are trying to throw their filthy rags as their righteousness as far as being their way into heaven and it's never going to make it. And so that's the finality, my friends, and it's amazing to see how the Bible fits together. And when you read Ezekiel 38 and 39, nothing contradicts, it's not like there's anything really out of place. We're like, well, this is kind of happening back then. There's obviously places that are more so, you know, back then that we would think about as far as like Tubal and all these other places, but really everything that's being talked about is just lock and step with what you would see in Revelation 20, even though it's only three verses and all this stuff that's going on. And so it just fits perfectly. And so the battle of Gog and Magog, that's really the finality battle. We think of Armageddon, and that's the finality, and I do agree with that is the finality before we get into the thousand year reign, but really the battle of Gog and Magog is really the finality battle before all eternity. And so it's really interesting to just see all these parallels with the battle of Armageddon and the battle of Gog and Magog to see all the stuff that lines up and to see the extra information, so to speak. And so I love seeing that where you see that parallel in a passage and you just get more information. It's kind of like when you're reading it, you're like, man, I wish you would have talked about that more. I wish I would have known more about what's going on in that event. In some cases, we just have to deal with that, you know, we don't know. But in this case, when you're reading Revelation 20, there's actually two whole chapters that you can read to get all the information, to get so much more information about what's going on. And so that's the battle of Gog and Magog. I think we'll probably just have one more sermon with our end time stuff where we're dealing with the new heaven, new earth. And we'll couple that with New Jerusalem because that's really what it is. And so, you know, we'll probably have one more sermon with that. And then we'll get into some other topics on our Sunday night. But I've really enjoyed the end times prophecy and going through all this stuff. It all fits together, hand in glove. And so I don't think any of this was really that confusing. You know, I don't think so anyway. But obviously, there's things that we don't know for sure and things that we're speculating when we look at all this stuff. But really, the whole timeline of things, you know, the fact that we're going to have the tribulation, then we're going to have great tribulation with the Antichrist and all that stuff. Jesus is going to come in the clouds. God's going to be caught up together with him in the clouds. God's going to pour out his wrath. Then there's going to be this great battle of Armageddon where we're going to come down on white horses with Christ. He's going to take out the beast and the false prophet. He's going to bind Satan for a thousand years. We're going to rule and reign with him for a thousand years. And then at the end of that, Satan's going to come out and bring another army against the saints. And then he's going to take them out. And then we have the great white throne judgment, new heaven, new earth. It's really not that complicated. And it really is just black and white progressing down in Revelation. And so when someone says they don't understand Revelation, you know, it's because you're probably going into it with a preconceived idea. And so it really is just simple, you know, progressions on what's going on. And so, anyway, that's Gog and Magog. We'll end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this evening. And Lord, thank you for your word. We thank you that it just fits together so nicely. And Lord, of course your word is perfect and beautiful, and Lord, we just thank you for your word. But Lord, we just thank you for helping us to understand it, and Lord, to look forward to it. And Lord, we just love you and just pray that you be with us as we go home, give us safety on the roads, and Lord, just pray that you be with those that haven't been feeling well. And Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.