Ezekiel 39:29, commentary and pictures

After Israel had borne the shame of its wrongdoing and been gathered out of the scattered lands, God would no longer hide His face from them but would pour out His Spirit upon the house of Israel. This belonged to the conditional restoration held out in Ezekiel 36-48 after the Babylonian captivity, in which God called Israel to forsake sin and return with the whole heart, promising cleansing, return to the mountains of Israel, defeat of northern enemies, the outpouring of Spirit and life, a far grander temple, and His dwelling among them. Because Israel did not truly repent and meet the conditions, the vision was fulfilled only in very small part, in partial victory and faint prosperity reaching to Zerubbabel's smaller temple. What remains is to be fulfilled in harmony with conditions on earth, in part in the national judgments and gathering for Armageddon before Christ comes when a northern horde comes against those God calls My people Israel, and in part on the other side of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are gathered for the last great battle against the camp of the saints. After Christ, Israel is God's people by faith, so the gathering is of the true Israel of God from all nations of the earth, who will be redeemed to receive the more glorious inheritance of the earth made new.

Promise and Its Conditions

The promise comes after Israel has borne the shame of its iniquity and has been gathered out of the lands where it was scattered, when God will hide His face from them no more but will pour out His Spirit upon the house of Israel. It is a promised blessing for literal Israel in the first dispensation, conditional on putting away iniquities and obeying God and returning to Him. It concerns the restoration of the whole house of Israel, fulfilled at the resurrection when Israel is raised from the dead and brought into its own land, and not as a restoration before Christ's second coming.

It belongs to the conditional restoration prophecies of Ezekiel 36-48 offered after the seventy years of captivity in Babylon, in which God pleaded for Israel to forsake sin, return with all the heart, put away wickedness and be ashamed of iniquities. He promised to bring them to the mountains of Israel, cleanse them from sins, do better to them than at their beginnings, raise them in the resurrection of Ezekiel 37, defeat the northern enemies and the kings of the North and enemies far and near by plagues and bring them into subjection, pour out His Spirit and life and healing power upon Palestine and the earth as never before, enable them to build the marvelous sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 far greater and grander than Zerubbabel built, make His children the joy of the whole earth, and dwell among them in overpowering glory in the city called Jehovah Is There. Their fulfillment depended on Israel yielding wholly to God and truly repenting, and because Israel did not meet that condition the promised restoration was not fulfilled for them as described. Because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away iniquities, the glorious fulfillment did not take place literally, and Ezekiel 39 will not be fulfilled in detail, though its general promise points to God's final victory over those who destroy His people at the second coming and the faithful receiving future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance.

What God would have done if His people had yielded to Him included restoration and victory over enemies sweeping down from the north, deliverance from all enemies, defeating their enemies and restoring His people, and building the wonderful sanctuary described afterward. The chapter's general outline could have applied to Israel if the people had met the Lord's conditions and allowed Him to establish them in their land. Because Israel did not truly repent, return wholly, comply in that day, or meet the Lord's conditions, the full vision was not fulfilled for them as described but only in very small part, in partial victory, in a shadow of the glorious restoration, dwindling to Zerubbabel's smaller temple and faint prosperity after Babylon. The restoration promises in Ezekiel 36-48 would have been fulfilled in far greater measure if the people had met the conditions God set, but because they failed they received only a limited fulfillment and God could not fulfill to her what was foretold.

Details suited only to ancient Israel will never be fulfilled literally and will not be fulfilled at all. The thousands of sheep and oxen and renewed sacrifices of chapters 40-48 will not return, for no such city or sanctuary stands today, and renewing them would build again what was destroyed and make Christ's once-for-all offering of none effect, turning from sunlight to shadow. Nor will there be literal burning of wooden bows, arrows, shields, bucklers, hand staves and spears for fuel and cleansing of the land by human hands, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat.

Future Prophetic Fulfillment

Chapters 38 and 39 depict judgments against wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people. Enemies advance from the north against the mountains of Israel like a storm and then perish in fire and brimstone at God's presence, with birds feeding on their bodies. This is a picture of bloody conflict and divine judgment among the nations in the last days. It belongs with God's direct promise of great blessings bestowed by himself in the salvation of Israel and in the glory of the land, the city and the sanctuary.

The chapter's general outline concerns the gathering for Armageddon and national judgments that take place before Christ comes. At that time God's people Israel dwell in the land of Palestine and a great horde and confederacy from the north led by Magog sweeps down upon those whom the Lord calls My people Israel, with plagues falling upon their enemies. Such divisions of nations and aggregation of nations with distinct national boundaries cannot exist when all the dead of all ages come up at the end of the thousand years, when national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. For that reason this national judgment before Christ comes is not the rising of Gog and Magog after the thousand years.

What remains to be fulfilled must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions existing on earth, in part before Christ's second coming and in part in the last great battle on the other side of the thousand years as shown more clearly in Revelation. The doom pronounced against Gog and Magog, past oppressors of God's people, is fulfilled after the thousand years are expired when Satan is loosed from his prison and the wicked are brought back to life, and he gathers them, including Gog and Magog, to battle in hope of taking the camp of the saints and the city of God. Details suited only to ancient Israel will not be fulfilled at all. The plagues of pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against God's people find their setting not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19. All the prophecies in the last part of Ezekiel are to be understood in the light of the fuller, clearer disclosures in Revelation. Armies like those set forth in Ezekiel 38 may appear in near-future revolutions and sweep down over lesser powers and destroy them, but not in the setting found in the prophecy.

The prophecy will be fulfilled in the last days under entirely different conditions, much more broadly and strongly and gloriously and without the local conditions of the prophet's day. Its general promise points to God's final victory over those who destroy His people at the second coming. The faithful will receive the promised future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance in the new heavens and new earth. The restoration of the whole house of Israel, in which He will no longer hide His face from them, is fulfilled at the resurrection when Israel is raised from the dead and brought into its own land, not as a restoration before Christ's second coming.

The prophecy about Russia's destiny is partly fulfilled, with much still to come in the near future. It foretells present-day European affairs and conditions, specifically Russia being turned back by Japan and brought forth in the present war, joining Daniel, Joel and Revelation in foretelling present-day conditions. Its Gog-and-Magog conflict is a tremendous war close at hand identifying the present position in relation to past and future events. The prophecy is given as a warning and is to be studied before its fulfillment.

People and Present Application

After Christ the promise is not to be read apart from the New Testament, for Israel means God's people by faith and the pouring out of the Spirit belongs within the gospel offered to all nations. What is described is the gathering of the true Israel of God from all nations of the earth. God's purpose for true Israel remains the same despite changes in time and circumstances, that true Israel will be redeemed and receive the more glorious inheritance of the earth made new.

God himself gathers Israel from among the nations and brings them into their own land, for Israel does not gather itself or rebuild Jerusalem. In the verse He promises to hide His face from Israel no more and to pour out His Spirit upon them.

The gathering is applied to the gospel mission, so that while earthly powers align for Armageddon, missionaries are to gather God's children in Persia and nearby regions. Persia is associated with the power from the north that comes against God's people. Had Israel remained faithful God's people would have occupied Palestine, and in that intended setting the evil confederacy would have plotted against them and invaded their territory, but because Israel was scattered the same plan targets both the land once occupied by Israel and God's people scattered throughout the world.

The promises will be fulfilled toward the true Israel of God but not in a literal last-days setting in Palestine. A literal fulfillment there is impossible because the prophecy requires the mountains of Israel to be inhabited by a people gathered by God out of all nations, dwelling safely all of them in villages without walls, possessing cattle and goods and wealth that tempts the northern powers to think an evil thought and sweep down for great spoil, and leaving wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that Israel can use for fuel. None of those conditions exists with modern Palestine, its few Jews under Turkish control, its poverty, its lack of safety, and modern armies without wooden weapons. To appeal to the chapter to teach the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ on earth, and the inheritance of the saints on earth is erroneous, because at the second coming of Christ the saints are taken to heaven and the earth is left desolate, which overthrows the return of the Jews and the other theories connected with it.