So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
So the house of Israel would know that the LORD is their God from the day of His promised deliverance and defeat of their enemies onward. The promise belongs to the restoration given to Israel after the Babylonian captivity, to gather the scattered people to their land, cleanse them, give them victory over the northern host of Gog and Magog, dwell among them and build the new sanctuary. It was conditional on yielding, obeying and forsaking sin, and because those conditions were never met it was never fulfilled in its glorious literal form, with only about 40,000 returning from Babylon. What remains will be fulfilled in a broader and more glorious way for the true Israel, the Gentiles as fellow heirs with no Greek and Jew, culminating in redemption and the earth made new, and it gives no support for a literal return of the Jews in the Christian dispensation. Its setting is the closing events of world history before Christ comes, in national judgments and the gathering for Armageddon, while those who place the final doom of Gog and Magog at the close of the thousand years when Satan gathers the nations against the camp of the saints hold it for the other side of the thousand years, and others hold part on each side.
Promise and Its Conditions
Ezekiel 39:22 belongs to the restoration promises of the closing chapters of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36 to 48, including the sanctuary vision of Ezekiel 37 to 48 and Ezekiel 40 to 48, given to Israel after the Babylonian captivity and after the return from Babylon. It pictures what God would have done in Israel's past if His people had complied with the conditions, delivering them from all their enemies and cutting off all their enemies far and near and bringing the kings of the north into subjection. What remains of these prophecies must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions now existing, faintly typical of what God will restore in the new heavens and new earth, and never by a literal built sanctuary.
The verse means that from the day of God's promised deliverance and defeat of Israel's enemies and from the time of Gog's final defeat and of the events described onward, after the enemies of God perish at the mountains of Israel, the house of Israel would know that the LORD is their God and know Him as their God from that day and forward. It belongs to the book's promises of what God would do for His children and His people if they returned to Him and yielded to Him. Its broad outline concerns the gathering for Armageddon and is placed in the closing events of world history.
What God offered was to gather His scattered people and all His scattered people from the nations back to their land and to the mountains of Israel and to their own land, restore them to their land after Babylon, cleanse them from sin and make them great, raise them as in Ezekiel 37, make them a praise among the nations and the joy of the whole earth, give them victory over the northern nations and defeat the nations threatening them, manifest His glory among His people in the sight of the nations, dwell among them with glory never before seen and with overpowering glory, and build the marvelous new and far greater sanctuary of Ezekiel 40 to 48. Had Israel remained faithful and obedient and accepted His terms they would have occupied Palestine, and the promise would have been fulfilled in far larger measure than it was. Because they did not meet those requirements the victory was partial and the restoration promises were not fulfilled in their full scope and fullness.
The promise was conditional on Israel complying with God's terms and plan, yielding to Him, obeying, forsaking sins, returning to the Lord with all the heart, putting away wickedness and iniquity, accepting His terms, repenting, heeding the prophet, and being ashamed of iniquities as laid down in Ezekiel 43:9-11. Because those conditions were never met, because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away iniquity and did not accept God's plan and did not yield to Him, the prophecy was never fulfilled in its glorious literal form and never will be literally fulfilled, and the promised restoration did not occur.
The setting is God's people Israel in the land of Palestine attacked by a great horde from the north led by Gog and Magog and by Magog, involving divisions of nations and aggregation of nations in national judgments that take place before Christ comes, with the plagues brought to view. Persia is associated with the power from the north and with the events leading to Armageddon, while God gathers His people from among the nations and brings them to their own land and calls for the gospel to reach those nations. The prophecy is of a final great northern apostasy that comes with power and destruction over the Holy Land.
Failure and Future Fulfillment
Because fleshly Israel failed to meet the requirements, the victory and restoration were only partial and the promises were not fulfilled in their full scope. Only about 40,000 returned from Babylonian captivity, a meager restoration that left the full scope of victory and restoration unrealized. What came was only a very small part and a faint shadow of the promised prosperity after Babylon, never the glorious literal fulfillment. The promises of Ezekiel 36–48 could have been fulfilled then if the people had repented and yielded to God, but Israel according to the flesh did not do so and did not become ashamed of sins. In general the chapter points instead to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at Christ's second coming.
What remains will still be fulfilled for His own people, the true Israel, in a future way and in greater glory at the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected therewith. It will be fulfilled without the local conditions of the prophet's day and in harmony with conditions now existing on the earth, under different, broader and more glorious conditions. Part lies this side of the second coming of Christ and part at the end of the thousand years, including some events before the second coming and some in the last great battle on the other side of the thousand years. The faithful will receive the promised future glory and immortal inheritance, for true Israel will be redeemed and receive the earth made new. Like the rest of those promises it is faintly typical of what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth.
Details suited only to ancient warfare will not be fulfilled at all. There will be no burning of weapons and no cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. A literal last-days fulfillment in Palestine is impossible because the land is not inhabited by a people God calls His gathered out from all nations, the people there do not all dwell safely in villages without walls, they do not possess the described property and cattle and goods and wealth to arouse cupidity to think an evil thought and sweep down to take great spoil, and the armies of today are not equipped with wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that could be used for fuel. The ancient prophecies must be read in the light of the clearer unconditional revelation in the New Testament and Revelation. The gospel reveals that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, in which there is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian. The plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against His own people find their setting in Revelation 16–19, though combined armies like those set forth in Ezekiel 38 may appear in revolutions in the near future and sweep down over lesser powers and utterly destroy them, but not in the setting found in Ezekiel's prophecy.
The verse gives no support for a theory of a literal return of the Jews and a special work of God among the Jews in the Christian dispensation. At the second coming the saints are caught up to meet Christ in the air and are taken to heaven, while the earth is left desolated, which overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory built on this verse. Forecasts of Russia's destiny depending on a literal return of the Jews to Palestine have been refuted, so that differing interpretations call for waiting for more light before declaring Russia's fate.
Prophetic Timing and Identity
The verse belongs to the account of Gog's final defeat placed in the closing events of world history. Its broad outline concerns the gathering for Armageddon amid the present distress of nations with perplexity. Part of that prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39 has been fulfilled, but much is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future. It is given as a warning and as a sure light in a dark place, because God warns His people beforehand unto salvation and to show eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others.
The prophecy names Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, identified with Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk and applied to the czar's land and ruler. Russia is presented as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and in Russia's conflict with Japan, Japan is a means the Lord uses to turn Russia back. Persia is associated with the power from the north and the events leading to Armageddon, while God gathers His people from among the nations to their own land and the gospel is called to reach those nations.
The fulfillment is placed before Christ comes, in divisions and aggregations of nations in national judgments and plagues before the second coming. It points in general to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at Christ's second coming and to greater glory at the second coming and events connected with it. It is not at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised from the dead, because when all the dead of all ages come up then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. Those who so held taught instead that the final doom of Gog and Magog, who in past days oppressed God's people, falls at the close of the thousand years when Satan is loosed from his prison and calls them back into service with the wicked nations from the four quarters of the earth to gather them to battle against the camp of the saints and the city of God.
What remains must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions now existing on the earth, with some events occurring before the second coming of Christ and some in the last great battle on the other side of the thousand years. The promise that the house of Israel shall know Him as their God from that day forward will still be fulfilled for His own people in clearer unconditional terms, part this side of the second coming and part at the end of the thousand years. The destruction it relates to will occur in another place, distinct from Gehenna in the valley of Hinnom and distinct from the valley of Jehoshaphat.
So the house of Israel would know that the LORD is their God from the day of His promised deliverance and defeat of their enemies onward. The promise belongs to the restoration given to Israel after the Babylonian captivity, to gather the scattered people to their land, cleanse them, give them victory over the northern host of Gog and Magog, dwell among them and build the new sanctuary. It was conditional on yielding, obeying and forsaking sin, and because those conditions were never met it was never fulfilled in its glorious literal form, with only about 40,000 returning from Babylon. What remains will be fulfilled in a broader and more glorious way for the true Israel, the Gentiles as fellow heirs with no Greek and Jew, culminating in redemption and the earth made new, and it gives no support for a literal return of the Jews in the Christian dispensation. Its setting is the closing events of world history before Christ comes, in national judgments and the gathering for Armageddon, while those who place the final doom of Gog and Magog at the close of the thousand years when Satan gathers the nations against the camp of the saints hold it for the other side of the thousand years, and others hold part on each side.
Promise and Its Conditions
Ezekiel 39:22 belongs to the restoration promises of the closing chapters of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36 to 48, including the sanctuary vision of Ezekiel 37 to 48 and Ezekiel 40 to 48, given to Israel after the Babylonian captivity and after the return from Babylon. It pictures what God would have done in Israel's past if His people had complied with the conditions, delivering them from all their enemies and cutting off all their enemies far and near and bringing the kings of the north into subjection. What remains of these prophecies must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions now existing, faintly typical of what God will restore in the new heavens and new earth, and never by a literal built sanctuary.
The verse means that from the day of God's promised deliverance and defeat of Israel's enemies and from the time of Gog's final defeat and of the events described onward, after the enemies of God perish at the mountains of Israel, the house of Israel would know that the LORD is their God and know Him as their God from that day and forward. It belongs to the book's promises of what God would do for His children and His people if they returned to Him and yielded to Him. Its broad outline concerns the gathering for Armageddon and is placed in the closing events of world history.
What God offered was to gather His scattered people and all His scattered people from the nations back to their land and to the mountains of Israel and to their own land, restore them to their land after Babylon, cleanse them from sin and make them great, raise them as in Ezekiel 37, make them a praise among the nations and the joy of the whole earth, give them victory over the northern nations and defeat the nations threatening them, manifest His glory among His people in the sight of the nations, dwell among them with glory never before seen and with overpowering glory, and build the marvelous new and far greater sanctuary of Ezekiel 40 to 48. Had Israel remained faithful and obedient and accepted His terms they would have occupied Palestine, and the promise would have been fulfilled in far larger measure than it was. Because they did not meet those requirements the victory was partial and the restoration promises were not fulfilled in their full scope and fullness.
The promise was conditional on Israel complying with God's terms and plan, yielding to Him, obeying, forsaking sins, returning to the Lord with all the heart, putting away wickedness and iniquity, accepting His terms, repenting, heeding the prophet, and being ashamed of iniquities as laid down in Ezekiel 43:9-11. Because those conditions were never met, because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away iniquity and did not accept God's plan and did not yield to Him, the prophecy was never fulfilled in its glorious literal form and never will be literally fulfilled, and the promised restoration did not occur.
The setting is God's people Israel in the land of Palestine attacked by a great horde from the north led by Gog and Magog and by Magog, involving divisions of nations and aggregation of nations in national judgments that take place before Christ comes, with the plagues brought to view. Persia is associated with the power from the north and with the events leading to Armageddon, while God gathers His people from among the nations and brings them to their own land and calls for the gospel to reach those nations. The prophecy is of a final great northern apostasy that comes with power and destruction over the Holy Land.
Failure and Future Fulfillment
Because fleshly Israel failed to meet the requirements, the victory and restoration were only partial and the promises were not fulfilled in their full scope. Only about 40,000 returned from Babylonian captivity, a meager restoration that left the full scope of victory and restoration unrealized. What came was only a very small part and a faint shadow of the promised prosperity after Babylon, never the glorious literal fulfillment. The promises of Ezekiel 36–48 could have been fulfilled then if the people had repented and yielded to God, but Israel according to the flesh did not do so and did not become ashamed of sins. In general the chapter points instead to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at Christ's second coming.
What remains will still be fulfilled for His own people, the true Israel, in a future way and in greater glory at the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected therewith. It will be fulfilled without the local conditions of the prophet's day and in harmony with conditions now existing on the earth, under different, broader and more glorious conditions. Part lies this side of the second coming of Christ and part at the end of the thousand years, including some events before the second coming and some in the last great battle on the other side of the thousand years. The faithful will receive the promised future glory and immortal inheritance, for true Israel will be redeemed and receive the earth made new. Like the rest of those promises it is faintly typical of what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth.
Details suited only to ancient warfare will not be fulfilled at all. There will be no burning of weapons and no cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. A literal last-days fulfillment in Palestine is impossible because the land is not inhabited by a people God calls His gathered out from all nations, the people there do not all dwell safely in villages without walls, they do not possess the described property and cattle and goods and wealth to arouse cupidity to think an evil thought and sweep down to take great spoil, and the armies of today are not equipped with wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that could be used for fuel. The ancient prophecies must be read in the light of the clearer unconditional revelation in the New Testament and Revelation. The gospel reveals that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, in which there is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian. The plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against His own people find their setting in Revelation 16–19, though combined armies like those set forth in Ezekiel 38 may appear in revolutions in the near future and sweep down over lesser powers and utterly destroy them, but not in the setting found in Ezekiel's prophecy.
The verse gives no support for a theory of a literal return of the Jews and a special work of God among the Jews in the Christian dispensation. At the second coming the saints are caught up to meet Christ in the air and are taken to heaven, while the earth is left desolated, which overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory built on this verse. Forecasts of Russia's destiny depending on a literal return of the Jews to Palestine have been refuted, so that differing interpretations call for waiting for more light before declaring Russia's fate.
Prophetic Timing and Identity
The verse belongs to the account of Gog's final defeat placed in the closing events of world history. Its broad outline concerns the gathering for Armageddon amid the present distress of nations with perplexity. Part of that prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39 has been fulfilled, but much is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future. It is given as a warning and as a sure light in a dark place, because God warns His people beforehand unto salvation and to show eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others.
The prophecy names Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, identified with Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk and applied to the czar's land and ruler. Russia is presented as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and in Russia's conflict with Japan, Japan is a means the Lord uses to turn Russia back. Persia is associated with the power from the north and the events leading to Armageddon, while God gathers His people from among the nations to their own land and the gospel is called to reach those nations.
The fulfillment is placed before Christ comes, in divisions and aggregations of nations in national judgments and plagues before the second coming. It points in general to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at Christ's second coming and to greater glory at the second coming and events connected with it. It is not at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised from the dead, because when all the dead of all ages come up then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. Those who so held taught instead that the final doom of Gog and Magog, who in past days oppressed God's people, falls at the close of the thousand years when Satan is loosed from his prison and calls them back into service with the wicked nations from the four quarters of the earth to gather them to battle against the camp of the saints and the city of God.
What remains must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions now existing on the earth, with some events occurring before the second coming of Christ and some in the last great battle on the other side of the thousand years. The promise that the house of Israel shall know Him as their God from that day forward will still be fulfilled for His own people in clearer unconditional terms, part this side of the second coming and part at the end of the thousand years. The destruction it relates to will occur in another place, distinct from Gehenna in the valley of Hinnom and distinct from the valley of Jehoshaphat.