Ezekiel’s Prophecy of an Armed Invasion of Israel During the Millennium

There is a remarkable prophecy spanning two chapters of the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 38-39. These two chapters foretell Gog and Gog's allies coming down into the land of Israel with a vast invasion force. Now, what is remarkable about this prophecy is who Gog is and when this invasion occurs.

Now, for those of you who like to take notes, please write this down. This is the theme of the sermon today. Ezekiel's prophecy of the Holy Land's invasion occurs during the millennium. Ezekiel's prophecy of the Holy Land's invasion by a vast army who've got hatred in their heart and murder in their intentions in the millennium. Now, every time I give this sermon, I've given it a number of times over the years, people say, yeah, Mr. D, you must have fallen on a bed, hit your hip. You know, the millennium was a time where it's only good thoughts, it's only milk and honey, it's only beautiful things. These sorts of things are outlawed. Well, allow me to make the case. Let's take a look at these prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39. We're going to see what they entail, we're going to see what they don't entail, and there are, when I conclude, there are some four different spiritual lessons that you and I need to be learning, because the people in those days weren't learning them and they paid dearly for not learning them. So, the message is, Ezekiel's prophecy of the Holy Land of the invasion occurs during the millennium. Let's take a look at Ezekiel 38. And you'll want to put a mark up there, we will be going to other places, but always coming back to Ezekiel 38-39, when I made mention, this happens during the millennium. Let's nail that down. Let's nail this down. Ezekiel 38, well, first of all, let's nail down who we're talking about. Let's start here in Ezekiel 38.

Now, they're not handling swords because they want to roast marshmallows. They have evil intentions in their hearts. Verse 5, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya are with them, all of them with a shield and helmet, Gomer and all of his troops, the House of Digamora, from the far north and all of its troops, many people are with you. So, to consolidate and not spend a lot of time, you can spend a great deal of time on who all these people are that are mentioned in these first six verses. What we're talking about here are these people. Now, if you don't want to do a lot of writing today, let me simplify things for you. You can go to our website, ucg.org. When you go to ucg.org, you'll see a number of tabs. One of the tabs says Media. You click on that tab. When you click on Media, you will see what we used to call the Bible Reading Program. It's now called a UCG Bible Commentary. So, you go to Media, you click on that, and you go to the UCG Bible Commentary. Then you go to Ezekiel 38 and 39, and you will find an extensive discussion about who these people are. You will also find the background for today's sermon. Now, to shorten up the discussion, the people we're talking about here are the people of Russia, China, Mongolia, India, some of the Japanese, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and some of the Turkish people. Now, prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, there's a 200 million man army that's established out of this group. When you take a look at the names, Russia, China, India, Japan, Bangladesh, it's not hard to see how you're going to get a 200 million man army out of that group. But that's the group prior to the Second Coming of Christ. But I just want to give you the indication here who we're talking about, who Gog is. A very specific group of people, and the prophecy here in chapter 38 and 39 is to these people. That's going to be important as we discuss some other matters in a moment. Now, when did this happen? Verse 8, Ezekiel 38, 8. After many days, you'll be visited. In the latter years, you will come into the land. So here we have a date stamp. We're not talking about something that happened millennia ago. It's a prophecy for the latter years. It's an end-time prophecy. In the latter years, you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword. Again, this is talking about the Israel that God, our nations today, who go into national captivity, and then God brings our people out of national captivity at the end of the age, and says, in the latter years, you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword, gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which have long been desolate.

They were brought out of all the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.

Now, let me ask you a question. As you watch world news, is Israel dwelling safely? Or do they have to have a tremendous defense against Hamas and all the other peoples around them? Israel is not dwelling safely. So this can't be something that's happening in our day, in terms of prior to the return of Christ. We drop down to verse 16. You will come up against my people, Israel, like a cloud to cover the land. Now, brethren, I want you to understand something. We're not talking about a couple of dozen people who've got a bad attitude. We may be talking about millions of people inside of the millennium, millions of people after the return of Christ who aren't with the program.

You will come up against my people, Israel, like a cloud to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I'll bring you up against my land, so that the nations may know me when I'm hallowed in you, O God, before their eyes. Now, at the tail end of verse 16, you see why God is doing this. Brethren, our God is not a God of mind control. Right now, you have the power of free moral agency. Right now, you can choose to do good, you can choose to do evil. That's your choice. God is working with the people in the millennium. They have to have a choice to choose between good and evil. God's spirit leads us. It doesn't force us. But here you see where God says, okay, you guys are going to make the wrong decision. We'll get into that a little bit later. You're going to make the wrong decision, and I've got to show the rest of the world what happens when you make the wrong decision of this magnitude. It's one thing if you think some bad thoughts privately in your own home. It's another thing when you get together and you organize an army and you go down to my land of Israel with the thought of killing and raping and all those sorts of things. It's one thing when you've got your own evil thoughts, but it's another thing when you're going to start taking skin off somebody else's nose. God says that's not going to happen. Now, let's go through and point by point. I'm sure there are probably some questions in your mind at this point. Let's take a look at what this prophecy isn't referring to. I think that's very important. What this prophecy isn't referring to. Number one, it is not talking about the Jews who've returned to the Holy Land during this past century. We're not talking about the nation-state of Israel over in the Middle East right now. It was established back in 1947-48. We're not talking about this era. Chapter 38 of Ezekiel, verse 11. Chapter 38, verse 11. You will say, I will go up against a land of unwalled villages. God is talking to God. You will say, I will go up against a land of unwalled villages. I will go to a peaceful people who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates. Once again, brethren, does that describe the modern state of Israel today? You know, this language about a land of unwalled villages, that's talking about a land that doesn't need national defenses. Does Israel today need national defenses? Are you keeping up with world news? I'm sure that you are. How many hundreds of missiles does Hamas launch against Israel all the time? All the time. So here's a section of Scripture that shows this can't be the modern state of Israel. What this prophecy is not referring to is the gathering of all the world's forces at Armageddon. That's the second thing it's not referring to. We know that the various nations, including God, want to come to fight Christ at Christ's second coming. It's not referring to that. Again, that's prior to the second coming. Chapter 38, Ezekiel, verse 12.

God says, To Gog, you're coming to take plunder, and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land. Verse 12 talks about an Israel that is recovered so well from the cataclysm at the end of the age. We talk about on the Feast of Trumpets all that the world will go through. Nuclear war, chemical war, all these horrible things. To the place where, I think it's Isaiah says, that the world's going to totter like a top off its axis.

You're going to have, you know, 90% of the world's population dead. You're going to have a situation where people can hardly get a breath of fresh air. You can hardly grow things. Most of the things in the sea, in the land are dead. But here you see where Israel, in verse 12, has recovered so nicely, so well, that Gog says, you know, I want that. That's a rich plumb. They've got no defenses. We're going to go down and we're going to take it. We're going to take it.

Now, Israel's not rich like that today. I don't think that the Russia and China are lusting after all the plunder they can get out of Israel today. So this is not talking about a time prior to the Second Coming of Christ at Armageddon. It's talking about a land where people are dwelling safely in a land that has really recovered nicely. Now, what's kind of said between the lines here in verse 12, we're talking about what's the timeframe. I don't think, brethren, by looking at verse 12, when you've got a nation-state that can barely support its people, and that will be true for every nation under the sun, we may be looking at a couple of generations or more inside of the millennium. We're not talking about three months after Christ comes. We're not talking about a year after Christ comes. We're talking about a significant time where they have an opportunity to rebuild, where they've got crops, where things are like a garden leading there. It's one of the world's great plums. Now, I want you to remember something. Jesus Christ and you are ruling as the saints, as you are ruling as spirit beings.

And yet, here you see people who aren't getting the point.

Satan is locked away. The demons are locked away. If we understand the number of prophecies, it appears that God doesn't even let false prophets alive into the millennium.

But, brethren, this shows us something. It's interesting as this prophecy is. There's ramifications here. It shows you just how powerful Satan's fingerprints are on us, that even when he's removed, people won't want Christ. They won't want the millennium. They won't want all the beauty that their eyes are going to behold. They're still going to be thinking the way that Satan is imprinted on their minds.

And a question for us, for me, for you, is, how much are we with the program? How much are we with the program? Are we just with the program because people expect to see us here in the Sabbath? Because people expect us to go to the feast? People are keeping the Sabbath. They're going to the feast here. These people know God doesn't care about it.

These people saw what God did and Christ did when he came at his Second Coming. He doesn't faze them. Art art it. Human nature. We'll talk more about this at the very conclusion of the sermon today. Powerful lessons for you and I to think about. Now, the question was brought to me, and I was thinking about this, and I got into my notes.

People say, well, I know that in Revelation chapter 20, it talks about God rebelling. Surely, Revelation chapter 20 and Ezekiel 38 and 39, same thing. No, they're not. No, they're not the same thing. Two different time eras altogether.

This year at the feast, I've got three sermons. Two regular, and then I've got an alternate if somebody gets sick. This is going to be one of my sermons during the feast. Let's take a look at Revelation chapter 20, verses 7 through 9. Revelation chapter 20, verses 7 through 9. Now, when a thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. Now, let's stop there for a moment.

Brethren, I want you to think about this and think about it deeply. After one thousand years of Christ's rule, war is only something people read about in a history book.

After one thousand years, by this time, the planet is one big garden of Eden. Why? Because we've got to get this planet ready for what we call the last great day, or the eighth day of the feast. And one day, billions of people all at one time are going to be resurrected. They're going to be fed, clothed, and housed. We need the whole world to be a big breadbasket. So after one thousand years, you're teaching, Christ is teaching, things are great, they're beautiful, they're spiritual, everything seems to be going so well. Satan is let loose. Verse 8, and he's going to go out to deceive the nations which are under four corners of the earth.

Now right here, we see where this is not the same thing as Ezekiel 38 and 39. Ezekiel 38 and 39 is talking specifically about a certain group of people, the Russians, the Chinese, the Indians, and a very specific geography of the world. Here, it talks about the nations which are under four corners of the earth.

So here we're seeing that this rebellion deals with people from all over the world.

Not just someplace north of Israel. So we can already see by the geography that this is a prophecy dealing with different circumstances.

And again, brethren, you think about that. In the millennium, what's going to take place? It's all not milk and honey. Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, after the millennium, to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. We're not talking about a couple dozen guerrilla fighters here. We're talking about a vast number of people who don't get the program.

Do I get it? Do you get it? Are you sure? Am I sure? They didn't get it. These same people went to Sabbath services. These same people went to feast at Tabernacles, probably.

But their heart wasn't in it. They didn't understand.

When Satan comes let loose, they go the wrong way. Verse 9, They went upon the breath of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Brethren, this may well be, and this is a speculation on our part, but this may well be, verse 9, their lake of fire experience.

These people knew the truth.

They knew the truth because the Bible talks about how the truth of God will cover the earth as the waters cover up the sea.

The Bible talks about in the book of Jeremiah how people won't have to ask, do you know the Lord? At the end of the millennium, everyone's going to know the Lord. There's no excuse.

So there are a number of reasons why Revelation chapter 20 is not the same thing as Ezekiel 38 and 39.

As I said, number one, Revelation 20 talks about people from the four corners of the earth.

Whereas Ezekiel talks about just a very specific group of people with very specific geography.

Number two, let's take a look at Ezekiel chapter 39 and verse 7.

Ezekiel 39 and verse 7. So I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let them profane my holy name any more, then a nation shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

Now, does it make sense for this verse to fall at the very end of the millennium?

At the end of the millennium, the people have to know about God's holy name? Did it be introduced to that? No, they've known that for a thousand years.

So this verse makes no sense at all. Ezekiel 37 verse 9, if we're talking about the end of the millennium, makes no sense at all.

God's name is already well known by the end of the millennium.

Verse 22 of the same chapter. Ezekiel 39 verse 22.

So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.

Does it make sense that this happens at the end of the millennium?

Or, like I said earlier, we've got Jeremiah 31, 34. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother say, Know the Lord, for they shall all know him, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

Isaiah 11 verse 9, where it says, The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the water is covering the sea.

So here we see in Ezekiel 39 and 22, this has to be toward the beginning of the millennium.

And fourthly, brethren, when you just take a look at the context, in Ezekiel 36 and 37, it shows God giving his spirit to the people after the return of Christ.

Ezekiel 37 has a portion of it that talks, it's kind of like an inset chapter, we see those in Revelation.

It does speed ahead past the millennium into what we call the Great White Throne Judgment period.

But by and large, those chapters are talking about God giving a spirit to the people. That's the bottom line there. Then you've got chapters 38 and 39, toward the beginning of the millennium, where God has got to deal with rebellion.

And that rebellion, as God deals with it, is a teaching tool for all those between the beginning of the millennium and to the end of the millennium. It's a teaching tool for all those. Then the very last part of Ezekiel, chapter 40-48, talking about the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the temple, the reorganization of the Promised Land, and all those things that would be likely to take place at the beginning of the millennium.

One other scripture that I want to turn to before we actually go through the two chapters here, idea by idea. Let's take a look at Revelation 16.

I think that we've proven, from what we've gone through, that Ezekiel 38-39 had to take place after the Second Coming of Christ.

Here's a prophecy, though, that includes May God, and this takes place prior to the Second Coming of Christ.

Revelation 16, verses 14-16.

For they are the spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. That last battle is not called the Battle of Armageddon. That's what the world likes to call it. The true name for the battle is the Battle of that Great Day of God Almighty. That's the name of the battle. Behold, I am coming as a thief, blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

Brethren, let's keep an eye in verse 15.

Where are you? Where am I with our walk with God?

If you've got people who, at the end of the millennium, as we see in chapter 20 of Revelation, if they don't get it by then, an eighth had people like Abraham to teach them and Noah to teach them and Peter and Paul and obviously Jesus Christ, if they don't get it with those teachers, well, how about us with art? With, you know, me!

So, again, I give this sermon. One of the main reasons I give this is to wake up and call to me, to you, to all of us.

Verse 16, and they gather them together in a place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon. So this cannot be, this 200 million man force described here, described in chapter 9 and so forth. This takes place prior to the second coming of Christ.

Now, I need a point today over in Ann Arbor. I want to make the same point here.

I don't know, maybe to all of you here, you are very familiar with what I'm going through and there's nothing in your mind that is kind of rebelling at what I'm saying. I just happened to mention this in passing last week over in Windsor. And as I mentioned this in passing last week in Windsor, I can tell by at least one of the people there, the person got their face all screnched up and like as though, you know, good old Mr. D fell out of his bed and hurt himself. You know, he's spouting heresy here. Obviously, this person had not heard this subject before. It's on our literature, it's on our website. I took the liberty of going to Living Church of God's website. It's there, too. I've got a book in my briefcase from the Worldwide Church of God we published back in the 60s. It has been our teaching for a long time. But you know, brethren, it's interesting. When Jesus Christ came to earth in His first coming, what was one of the problems the Jews had with Jesus Christ? They kept on overlooking the prophecies about His first coming to the prophecies of His second coming. And that's what they were looking for. They wanted that liberation. Now, you and I can appreciate that. We pray for God's kingdom every day. We want to be liberated, too. But we must be careful not to make the same mistake the Jews did. The Jews overlooked the prophecies about Christ's first coming. We can't overlook the prophecies that talk about all that happens in the millennium. Yeah, there's going to be healings, there are going to be wonderful things. But there is maybe millions of people who want to go to war with a sword in their hand to kill and plunder. Let's not overlook all the Scriptures, which you know well. Let's give you a couple of examples. Isaiah 2. Let's go over there. You know this as much as you know anything. But we tend to kind of overlook this. Isaiah 2. Verse 2.

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, here you've got that time stamp, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above all the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. So here in verse 2 you see that at the latter days the kingdom of God will be established, and you see that some people in the world tomorrow get it. They want it. They want to flow to Jerusalem. They want to learn of the things of God. Some get it. Hopefully the majority get it. Verse 3. Many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and then we shall walk in His paths. So people don't just want to hear, they want to do. This is all really positive. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. But now notice verse 4. And we've read this, and you've read this time and again. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. This is not just talking about prior to the second coming of Christ, or at the second coming of Christ. This is talking about inside of the millennium, where nations have to be rebuked. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. Then there's going to come a point where they shall beat their swords in the plowshares, their spears in the pruning hooks. We're going to see where that fits in in Ezekiel in just a few minutes. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Again, we're going to see how that fits in in just a couple of moments. Go over to the book of Zechariah. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. The book just before that is Zechariah. Zechariah 14. Zechariah 14. Zechariah 14.6. Again, here's the second scripture that we have read and expounded so many times in the past. Let's not overlook this because we're so eager to see all the goodness of the Millennium. Zechariah 14.16. It shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations, which came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King. Rebellion there in the Millennium. People don't want to go up to the Feast. They don't want to worship the true God. You see, brethren, God has got to give these people free moral choice. He's got to give them the right to say, I don't want it, or yes, I do want it. And some people will make the wrong choice. Again, the group of Satan, very evident here, even though Satan in the Millennium is bound.

And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain. They shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Again, this is something we've read for generations. But I think sometimes we tend to overlook this and think the Millennium is nothing but sweetness and kindness.

Well, that's not the case. Let's take a look now. Let's go back to Ezekiel 38. Let's kind of marshal this. We're not going to spend a long time on all this and a lot of time with each individual verse. Because I do want to get to something that I think is very important. That's the spiritual lessons learned for you and I today.

Okay, we've already gone through verses 1-6 talking about who these people are, who God is. We've taken a look at verse 8 here, showing a date stamp. This is a prophecy for the end of the age. Let's go back to verses 10 through 13. Thus says the Lord, on the day that you shall come to pass, that thoughts will arise in your mind and you will make an evil plan.

In the Millennium, in the wonderful world tomorrow, you will make an evil plan. God has got to give people opportunity for free moral agency, the right to be able to choose. And some people are going to choose wrongly. You will say, I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go to peaceful people who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having either bars nor gates, to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against the people gathered from the nations who have acquired livestock and goods who dwell in the midst of the land.

So here we see that God does not practice mind control. God's Spirit leads people. It doesn't force people. And here you're going to see where some people choose the wrong thing. Verse 14, drop down to verse 14 here. Therefore some of the man prophesy and say to God, Thus says the Lord God, on that day when my people, his will dwell safely, will you not know it?

Of course they know it. Their eyes of lust are looking upon it. Then you will come down from your place out of the far north, again, noticing where the direction... In the Scriptures when we're talking about the Holy Land, directions are always from the Holy Land. So north of the Holy Land. Talking about God. You and many people with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company, a mighty army. Again, we're not talking about a couple of dozen people here.

You shall come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you up against my land so the nations may know me when I'm howled in you, O God, before their eyes. So here we see God's purpose, we see an end time happening, we see people who are bent on destruction. You know, brethren, as I take a look at the Scriptures, I see various prophecies of the Millennium that says that people won't be able to hurt one another.

And I take that seriously. I take that literally. I personally do not believe that God is going to allow murders and rapes and things like that in the Millennium. I don't believe that God is going to allow that. God will give people free moral agency. But that doesn't mean God is going to allow all the actions of people.

He's not going to allow people to just take whatever action they want to take. It's one thing if they want to think negative thoughts, evil thoughts, and the skin is off of their nose. But when they come up against people who are trying to live righteously and properly, God is going to protect them. And we're going to see that here as we go through these two chapters. Now, verse 18, through the balance of the chapters, shows what God is going to do.

And it will come to pass, verse 18, at that time when God comes against the land of Israel, it says, the Lord God, that my fury will show in His face. Now here we've got to appreciate the fact that the armies are now surrounding Jerusalem. They're now surrounding Israel. They're in the environs of the Holy Land. Okay? Notice what God does. For in my jealousy and in my wrath, I have spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

Why? Because of the righteous people? No. God is going to shake up the unrighteous people. So the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all of them who are on the face of the earth in that area, shall shake at my presence.

Excuse me. God is getting their attention. The mountain shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, every wall shall fall to the ground. So here we're seeing where God is going to be a mighty earthquake. God is going to give everybody's attention. And remember, brethren, something about Israel. Is all Israel here just totally on board with God? Were they totally on board with God when they wanted to leave Egypt? Remember back when they were crying to God for deliverance? They had been slaves from Egypt for 400 years, and they just desperately wanted to leave. Well, how desperate were some of them? Some of them weren't too desperate. Because when you take a look at the ten plagues that God brought upon Egypt, God brought three of those first three plagues, one to build Egypt and Israel. God basically had to pry Israel's hands off of Egypt. They said, I want to go, but I kind of want to stay. I want to be free, but not too free. Are we not the same way at times? We want God's kingdom, but in every area of our life, are we rooting out everything that we need to root out, your life, my life? Are we really with the program, or do we have our own program? Do we have our own program? One of the things I see in the churches of God culture these days is it's very easy for people now to have their own program. I'm going to stay in my house. I'm going to get my tape. I'm going to make sure I'm fed for myself. I don't care about the rest of the world. Let the floods come. I've got my tapes.

I can listen to a tape with my PJs on. How selfish. If that were the case back in the 1960s, a lot of us wouldn't be here today. I'm glad that I was able to tune into a radio station coming out of Canada and hear the World Tomorrow broadcast. CHYR, Leamington, Ontario, Canada. Because people cared enough to give of their tithes and offerings for worldwide work.

Verse 21, I will call for a sword against God throughout all my mountains as a Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother. Now we're starting to see here a glimmer of what God's going to do. You've got this massive army coming down against Israel.

Is God telling the people of Israel, hey, you better get an army together. Better get an army. You better start getting your weapons ready. No. When the people of God rely upon God, God does the fighting for them. That has always been what God wants. Now, one of the things that concerns me as a minister today in a church is I'm seeing more and more members saying, boy, we're living in a dangerous age. And I've got to have that .357 Magnum. I've got to have a cannon in my house. I'm going to put it under my pillow. I've got to have one of those knives that Crocodile Dundee had. Give me one of those knives. A real knife.

And more and more people are saying, you know, I was getting some information together for our security in Ann Arbor, Detroit. And I put on our elders' form and said, guys, do you have some guidelines you use for security in your local congregation? And in one, I came to understand in one area, he says, we don't worry about the security. And so I wrote the guy back. I said, why don't you worry about security?

Because we've got two deacons who come to church and they're packing.

Now, you laugh. But what have we come to when we've got people coming to church who are ordained people and they've got under their suit coat, you know, they're hugging you and stuff, and they've got a weapon.

Brethren, we've got some real issues. We've got some real issues. You know, we can look at Ezekiel 38, 39. We can look at Revelation 20. We can say, how can those people be like that? But brethren, how about us? How about us?

Verse 22, And I will bring him into judgment with the pestilence, with bloodshed I will rain down upon him and his troops, and on many peoples who are with him flooding rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone. So God says, Israel, don't worry. You're my beloved people. You're a faith-based people. And I will reward you. I will take care of this invading army. And God does. They don't have to fire one bullet. They don't have to look for one gun. They don't have to grab one sword.

Verse 23, Thus I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. And then they shall know that I am the LORD.

So God's basically saying, you know, I've got to use these people as a teaching tool. I wish it doesn't have to be done, but it has to be done. Let's make the best of it. Okay, we get into chapter 39.

Verse 1, And you, Son of Man, prophecy against God, and thus say, Thus is the LORD God, behold, I am against you, O God, the Prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal.

I'll turn you around and lead you, and bring you up from the north country, and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

Now here, this to me is similar. It's not the same thing. We talked about this being different time errors altogether. But just as God dried up the Euphrates prior to the return of Christ, the second coming of Christ, God dries up the Euphrates to allow the armies to get over to Armageddon, and so they go from Armageddon down to the environs of Jerusalem. God says, okay, army, you want to rebel against me? You want to fight me? Okay, I will make it easy for you. I will pave the road for you. So God says, I'm going to allow you to come up against me easily.

Verse 3, Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. This is the power of God. We don't need to have guns to protect ourselves. We've got God. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and your troops, and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the birds of prey of every sort, and the beasts of the field, to be devoured.

Now what follows, brethren, is a little ghastly. God takes his vast army and snuffs out their lives. Let's keep on reading. You shall fall on the open field, as I have spoken, and say, the Lord. And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands, then they shall know that I am the Lord. And so I will make my holy name known in the midst of the people of Israel. And I will not let them profane my holy name any more. Then the nation shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. So here we're seeing in these verses from verses 3 through 7, that God is fighting for his people. He's fighting for his people. We don't need to fight. God's going to do that for us. Verse 8, Surely it is coming, and it shall be undone, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken. Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel shall go out and set on fire, and burn the weapons, both the shields, the bucklers, the bows, the arrows, the javelins, the spears, but make fires for them for seven years.

So what you're seeing here, verses 8, 9, and 10, is a tremendous recycling program. Now, they're using the weapons of war of the day in their discussions, but certainly we would be talking about, well, they're going to take those tanks, they're going to take those armored carriers, they're going to take those weapons, they're going to use the wood for what you can use wood for. They're going to melt down the metal. We're going to see about in a moment why. But notice, verse 10, They will not take wood from the field or cut down from any forest, because they will make fires with the weapons, and they will plunder those who plundered them and pillage those who pillaged them, says the Lord. Take the gun stocks. I know that a lot of modern weapons are all various polymers and so forth, but I'm sure with some of the other countries that probably they'll have their share of wooden stock weaponry and so forth. So that's going to be used for fires for seven years.

That's how large the army was. That's how many weapons they had. But put a marker here. Let's go over to Micah. Micah 4.

Micah 4. To a scripture we think about all the time, and we're going to tie this prophecy in now with Ezekiel. Micah 4. And verse 3.

He shall judge between many peoples, rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. So what we see happening there in verses 8 through 10 of Ezekiel 39 is the same thing we see here in Micah 4 and verse 3. Take those implements of war. Take those tanks. Take those armored personnel carriers. We're going to melt those things down. We're going to make plows out of those. Let's take those gun butts. We're going to take the wood off of those things. We're going to use them for household fires. We're going to recycle everything that we can recycle. Going back now to Ezekiel 39.

Verse 12. Ezekiel 39 verse 12. For seven months the house of Israel will be buying them, burying them. I'm talking about the dead now. Seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. Indeed, all the people of the land will be bearing, and they will gain renown for it. And the day that I am glorified says the Lord. They will set apart men regularly employed. So, I don't know how many people want this as a job. Talk about working on an unemployment problem. There are going to be people who are specially employed to go bury these dead. They will set apart men regularly employed with the help of a search party to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they shall make a search. The search party will pass through the land. When anyone sees a man's bone, he shall set a marker upon it, till the barriers are buried in the valley of Ham and Gog.

That means the multitude of Gog, the multitude of the army. The name of the city will also be Hammona. Thus they shall cleanse the land. Talking about a multitude again. So over and over here is this discussion about these people being used as an example. This is what you don't use. This is the way you don't live in the millennium. Because if you do, you're going to really pay dearly for that kind of living. Dropping down to verse 21. I will send my glory among the nations, all the nations shall see my judgment, which I have executed, and my hand which I have laid on them. So the bottom line, brethren, is God says, you know, when Christ, when I first came at my second coming, I had to fight the nations. And there is a little speculation, and I'll give it to you with speculation, that when Christ comes at his second coming, that he's predominantly taking care of the European superpower. Now, all nations are included. But it may well be that a lot of these people of God flee back to their homeland. They were part of that original assault that didn't want Christ to come and rule. They may go back to their homeland. They and their kids and their grandkids, over the course of time, all of them have bad attitudes. All of them wanted their chance, that worldly riches and plunder. You know, they're fuming, they're staving. They don't want Christ. They never did want Christ. And all this is percolating their hearts and minds. And then we see what we saw in these two chapters here. And God says, I'm going to allow those people to do what they're going to do, because then when they come and they want war and they've got hatred in their hearts, I'm going to deal with them, and the people in the millennium will see how I deal with the rebellion. Speculation.

Verse 22, so the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to me, therefore I hid my face from them, I gave them to the land of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. See, God here is saying, look, I don't have favorites. I had a nation, I wanted this nation, Israel, to be a light to the world. I would have blessed them tremendously if they did what they were supposed to do, but since they didn't, they went into national captivity. Verse 24, according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, I have dealt with them and hid my face from them. Therefore, though says the Lord God, now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous of my name. Therefore they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness, in which they were unfaithful to me, when they dwell safely in their own land, and no one makes them afraid. So there comes a point where people see the error of their ways. As Wayne brought out in his sermonette, they come to the place where they finally surrender to God. They finally surrender to Jesus Christ. And when they do that, God says, great, I'll protect you. Verse 27, when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of the enemy's lands, and am howled in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, and brought them back. So here you see God talking to the peoples here. I'll deal with God, may God, just as I dealt with Israel. Fair is fair. Okay, four major spiritual lessons. I'm not going to take a long time with this. I would like you to think about it, though. As I was going through the two chapters, four lessons really jump out at me that are lessons for us to learn today. Letter A, I'll letter these. Letter A is what I call the Satan Effect. The Satan Effect. That even in the millennium, Satan is bound, demons are bound, no false prophets, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the family of God is ruling, teaching, building up a beautiful world, but you still have the Satan Effect. Those people who lived from before the Second Coming of Christ to after the Second Coming of Christ, even though Satan is gone, their minds have been tainted. Satan's fingerprints is all over their hearts. Satan's fingerprints are all over their minds, all over their activities. Satan is the great deceiver. They were deceived. Satan was the one who blinded their minds. But brethren, brethren, is it possible for you to be deceived? Is it possible for me? Is it possible for you and I to have our minds blinded? I'm not talking about as a way of life. You and I know this is the way of life. But when you and I take a look at various portions of our life, are there portions of your life where you just don't, or I, just don't see ourselves like we should?

Are we self-deceived? Are we still Satan deceived? Are we blinded?

These are things we had, you know, Satan is, in our age, he's alive and well. We see how powerful he is when he's not even on the scene. Well, he is alive and well and on the scene with us right now. Are you falling victim to the Satan effect? Letter B. And that is that human nature is extremely resistant to God. Human nature is extremely resistant to God. At your baptism, did the minister say, your sins are now forgiven you and your human nature is now gone? I don't remember the minister saying that to me. If he said it to me, it wasn't true. Because I still have my human nature fully. It is fully engaged. When I take a look at what takes place at the end of the age, it's amazing. But before we go there, let's look at Romans 8. Romans 8.

Romans 8 and verse 7.

Romans 8 and verse 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity. Enmity means hatred. The carnal mind hates God, hates the things of God, bears ill will toward God, bears ill will toward the things of God. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Is there a part of you or me that is still a carnal? Well, you can ask my wife if there is a part of me that is still a carnal.

In what really takes the cake, let's take a look at Revelation 16. Revelation 16. And remember where we're at in this chapter, in this book. We are deep into the end-time prophecies of Revelation. We're to the place where it's almost impossible to live as a human being. Because of how the atmosphere has been polluted, how many people have died, so on and so forth. The world is going down fast. The only thing that's going to save the world is the second coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the kingdom.

But things are looking awfully, awfully bad here. But notice here, Revelation 16, verse 9. And the men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who had to power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give Him glory. You talk about tough human nature. Had they repented, God would have shielded them from these plagues. But you know what? They weren't about to repent.

You talk about hard-hearted. You talk about stiff-necked. That's what these people are. And brethren, remember, we've got that same spirit in us. We've got that same human nature in us. Verse 21, same chapter, verse 21. And great hail fell from heaven upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent, men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail, since the plague was so exceedingly great.

So exceedingly great. That's human nature. We've got it. I've talked to you on a number of occasions about the end of the age and the two different kinds of snapshots we see in our family album. Some snapshots show a people, a church close to God, doing the work of God, growing in grace and knowledge, a church that when Christ comes will say, well done, good and faithful servant. And then you've got the other section of the family album that shows people betraying one another, their love waxing cold, Christ saying, when I come, will I find faith in the earth?

Now, you and I will be in one or the other set of those pictures. The question is, what are we doing with the nature God has given us? As Wayne said, are we surrendering to God? Do we have a personal relationship with God? Just coming to church doesn't get it. Yes, God wants us to be at church. He wants us to go to the feast. He wants us to tithe. But we can do all those things mechanically. Do you? Do I? Do we have a personal relationship with God? We see what's happening on the world scene. We see where people now are being... The ISIS people in the Middle East are crucifying people.

The other day they took one poor newsman, as you well know, and they cut off his head. Christians in that area, what the world would call Christians, are running for their lives and some are being crucified. We are seeing untold suffering on this planet. But brethren, again, I ask you, where am I spiritually and where are you spiritually?

In Revelation 20, one of the things I want to bring out at the feast is, how can people who are living at the end of the millennium... How can they, when Satan is let loose, how can they just turn on a dime and go Satan's way? Well, I'll tell you. It's because they never established a relationship with God. They never laid a proper foundation. They went to the feast. They tithed. They went to Sabbath services. They probably worked hard on church socials.

They had their while you. They had their youth lessons. They taught their kids at their knee. But that can all be mechanical. If we're not careful, that can all be mechanical. Where are you? Where am I in our individual relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ? Letter C, another lesson to be learned. Letter C is that discipline is necessary at times for understanding. Discipline is necessary at times for understanding. Today, over in Ann Arbor, I was talking to some of the members. My heart goes out to so many people that I pastor.

It just seems that no one gets in the kingdom of God on a free pass. We all have our trials. But some families, it's kind of like they get up in the morning, they walk out to the mailbox, they open a mailbox, and say, hey, another trial just for you! And a big one! An awful one! A one that would be awful all by itself. But that's just, you almost begin to lose count as they're coming at you.

No, am I saying that people are going through all those? God is punishing? Of course not. In a lot of cases, I think what God is doing is taking the strong among us and making us stronger. Let's not always think that because you're going through a trial there's something wrong with you. It might be because there's something right with you. And that God wants to use you as an example. Say, look, if this person can take care of all this, all the time, here's plate or her plate, why can't you? Obviously, God gives us these tests, these trials, because He loves us.

Because He says, you know, I want to give you... I'm going to push the envelope here, God says. You signed up for it. You were baptized. And you're either going to be corrected because you're not up to snuff, or you're really up to snuff, and I want to even take you further.

Either way, for us, the trial is still hard. Discipline is necessary at times for understanding. So let me see that in those two chapters. And last but not least, letter D, God, Jesus Christ the saints. In the final analysis, we've got the right... If we're looking at things right, if we're with the program, as God has outlined the program, we are victorious.

Mr. Armstrong used to say, I looked, I peeked at the end of the book, and we win. But brethren, not all people win. There is a lake of fire. I could be in it, you can be in it. None of us can takeeth anything for granted. I think that was the problem there for the people there in Ezekiel 38 and 39, the problem for the people in Revelation 20.

They took too much for granted. They thought, well, since I'm in the church, you know, since I'm coming to church, and I was baptized, that's all it means. And it's like old Len Martin said, just because you come to church, just because you go to McDonald's doesn't mean you're a hamburger.

Just because you come to church doesn't mean you're a Christian. So, hopefully, you know, as I went through these two chapters, it caused me to think an awful lot as to where I'm at. And I'm hoping that it would cause you to think a lot about where you're at. Because there could be nothing greater, nothing greater for me as your pastor to see you all in the kingdom of God.

So, let's make it a point to all be there, to give one another hugs when we're there. There's things for each of us to do in our own lives. Let's be about our Father's business. Let's make it to the kingdom of God.