And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
God strips the northern invader of his power to fight, striking the bow from one hand and spilling the arrows from the other so that his assault on God's people comes to nothing. The promise belonged to Israel's restoration from captivity, that if they forsook sin and yielded to God He would subdue their enemies, bring back the scattered to the mountains of Israel, and dwell among them in surpassing glory. Because they did not repent and meet the conditions only a feeble remnant returned, so it was never fulfilled as written and will never be literally fulfilled with the burning of wooden weapons. It will instead be fulfilled in broader and more glorious form, when the faithful of all nations as fellow heirs in Christ receive the immortal inheritance in the new heavens and new earth and the fires of the last day consume sin. Those who hold it for the last days see in it God's judgment disarming and destroying Satan-led wicked nations, identified as northern powers such as Russia, fulfilled partly before Christ comes in the clearer terms of Revelation 16-19 and finally as Gog and Magog at the end of the thousand years.
Wording and Ancient Setting
God strikes the bow out of the left hand and causes the arrows to fall out of the right hand, thereby disarming Gog and his invading army. With weapons taken from them in this way the attackers are left unable to fight. Every purpose formed against God's people is thus made futile, and the power of Gog is defeated. In the chapter's account the nations rush against Israel, their weapons are taken from them, and they are destroyed in God's judgment. That overthrow takes place on the mountains of Israel through judgments with national judgments and plagues upon divisions and aggregations of nations.
The bow and arrows are the literal wooden weapons of ancient warfare used in Israel's day, weapons that could be burned. The chapter's details about burning weapons, burying the dead, and cleansing the land belong to that historical setting and could have been fulfilled in Israel's past under conditions of faithfulness. They do not describe in literal detail modern weapons or the armies and warfare of the last great war. The weapon details belonged to the prophecy's first, conditional application to Israel's restoration, not to the final conflict in literal detail.
In its original setting the prophecy concerns a great horde from the north led by Magog sweeping down upon those the Lord calls My people Israel in the land of Palestine. Gog represented the northern Scythian nations and their allies who would attack Israel, with allies including Persia associated with the power ruling over the north. That mighty army is overthrown and destroyed in the Holy Land, on the mountains of Israel.
Conditional Promise to Israel
Ezekiel 39:3 belongs to the conditional promises of restoration in Ezekiel 36-48, first given to Israel in connection with restoration from Babylonian captivity. If the people had yielded to God and complied with the conditions, He would have given them victory over their enemies by smiting their weapons from their hands. That victory meant cutting off Israel's enemies, bringing the kings of the North and enemies far and near into subjection, and slaying the nations that threatened them, including Gog and Magog. If Israel had forsaken sin, put away wickedness, returned wholly to God and been ashamed of iniquities, God would also have brought back all His scattered people from the nations to the mountains of Israel. He would then have dwelt among them with glory never before seen, built a new and far greater sanctuary, and manifested His glory among His people in the sight of the nations.
Because Israel did not truly repent, yield to God, or meet God's requirements, the prophecy was never fulfilled as written and will never be literally fulfilled. Only a meager, feeble restoration from captivity took place, fulfilled only in small part and in part. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, so the promises in their fullness were not realized. The sanctuary described in Ezekiel 37-48 will never be built.
The promises to true Israel will instead be fulfilled in a general way under different, broader, stronger and more glorious conditions. The faithful will receive the full immortal inheritance in the new heavens and new earth when God restores all things by His mighty power. The Gentiles become fellow heirs and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, which is a fuller revelation than was made known before. This is understood far better through the unconditional prophecies given in Revelation and will be fulfilled in the clearer terms stated there, in part before the second coming of Christ and in part at the end of the thousand years. No weapons will be burned, but the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth.
Last-Day Prophecy and Application
Ezekiel 39:3 stands in a prophecy of judgment upon the wicked nations who, under Satan's control, seek to destroy God's people. In the chapter's account the nations rush against Israel, God takes their weapons from them and disarms those who attack His people, and they are destroyed in His judgment. That fulfillment brings national judgments with plagues upon divisions and aggregations of nations, judgments that take place before Christ comes and 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 national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. In this setting the prophecy concerns the last gathering of Satan's hosts against God's people for their final doom and defeat.
Gog is the ruler or czar of Magog, identified with Russia and the surrounding territory associated with Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. Ezekiel 38-39 continues the record of Noah's descendants by name and by country by whom the nations were divided in the earth after the Flood, and gives the origin of the Russian Empire. Rosh, Meshech and Tubal are taken as Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk, referring to the land of the czar. The prophecy thus reveals Russia with her international policy and her ultimate destiny, and belongs to the closing work and closing years of world history. Prophecy is history foretold given as warning before fulfillment, and this verse is to be carefully studied now because God warns of what He will do concerning distress of nations with perplexity and the things coming on the earth, meaning eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others. Part has been fulfilled, but much including this verse is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future.
The prophecy is applied to the developing Eastern question with its American complications and to the nations' alignment for the approaching Armageddon. It associates Persia with the power ruling over the north, and its setting gives urgency to taking the gospel to Persia and neighboring regions. Its disarming of bow and arrows belongs to the overthrow of Gog's army on the mountains of Israel through God's last-day judgments, foretold as Russia's mighty army destroyed in the Holy Land. It foretells present-day European affairs and the present war, with Russia brought forth and turned back, Japan being one of the means God uses to turn Russia back. The same expectation is expressed as a final northern apostasy sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction, and as an evil confederacy invading the territory once occupied by Israel.
The prophecy is mixed and must not in all its details be made a prophecy of that time or of later times in Ezekiel's terms. Because Israel failed to meet God's requirements only a meager restoration from Babylonian captivity took place, yet all God's promises of a glorious future will still be fulfilled for His own people, with the Gentiles as fellow heirs and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, which is a fuller revelation than was made known before. Part of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ but in the clearer terms stated in Revelation, and part at the end of the thousand years, and it is understood far better through the unconditional prophecies given in Revelation. The judgments of God upon the wicked who come against His own people — plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone — find their setting not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19. Gog and Magog, representing northern nations, will be punished partly in this world before and at Christ's coming, and finally at the end of the thousand years. Combined armies such as are set forth in Ezekiel may appear in near-future revolutions and sweep down over lesser powers and utterly destroy them, but not in the setting found in this prophecy.
The destruction in the chapter occurs in a place other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, showing that divine destructions occur in other places as well. Appealing to Ezekiel 39 for an earthly return of the Jews with connected ideas about Christ's reign and the saints' inheritance is false. The saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated, and admitting heaven and the desolation of the earth overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory built on Ezekiel 39. Addressed to Israel, the prophecy calls the people to return to God and give themselves wholly to Him so they can receive the promised blessings.
God strips the northern invader of his power to fight, striking the bow from one hand and spilling the arrows from the other so that his assault on God's people comes to nothing. The promise belonged to Israel's restoration from captivity, that if they forsook sin and yielded to God He would subdue their enemies, bring back the scattered to the mountains of Israel, and dwell among them in surpassing glory. Because they did not repent and meet the conditions only a feeble remnant returned, so it was never fulfilled as written and will never be literally fulfilled with the burning of wooden weapons. It will instead be fulfilled in broader and more glorious form, when the faithful of all nations as fellow heirs in Christ receive the immortal inheritance in the new heavens and new earth and the fires of the last day consume sin. Those who hold it for the last days see in it God's judgment disarming and destroying Satan-led wicked nations, identified as northern powers such as Russia, fulfilled partly before Christ comes in the clearer terms of Revelation 16-19 and finally as Gog and Magog at the end of the thousand years.
Wording and Ancient Setting
God strikes the bow out of the left hand and causes the arrows to fall out of the right hand, thereby disarming Gog and his invading army. With weapons taken from them in this way the attackers are left unable to fight. Every purpose formed against God's people is thus made futile, and the power of Gog is defeated. In the chapter's account the nations rush against Israel, their weapons are taken from them, and they are destroyed in God's judgment. That overthrow takes place on the mountains of Israel through judgments with national judgments and plagues upon divisions and aggregations of nations.
The bow and arrows are the literal wooden weapons of ancient warfare used in Israel's day, weapons that could be burned. The chapter's details about burning weapons, burying the dead, and cleansing the land belong to that historical setting and could have been fulfilled in Israel's past under conditions of faithfulness. They do not describe in literal detail modern weapons or the armies and warfare of the last great war. The weapon details belonged to the prophecy's first, conditional application to Israel's restoration, not to the final conflict in literal detail.
In its original setting the prophecy concerns a great horde from the north led by Magog sweeping down upon those the Lord calls My people Israel in the land of Palestine. Gog represented the northern Scythian nations and their allies who would attack Israel, with allies including Persia associated with the power ruling over the north. That mighty army is overthrown and destroyed in the Holy Land, on the mountains of Israel.
Conditional Promise to Israel
Ezekiel 39:3 belongs to the conditional promises of restoration in Ezekiel 36-48, first given to Israel in connection with restoration from Babylonian captivity. If the people had yielded to God and complied with the conditions, He would have given them victory over their enemies by smiting their weapons from their hands. That victory meant cutting off Israel's enemies, bringing the kings of the North and enemies far and near into subjection, and slaying the nations that threatened them, including Gog and Magog. If Israel had forsaken sin, put away wickedness, returned wholly to God and been ashamed of iniquities, God would also have brought back all His scattered people from the nations to the mountains of Israel. He would then have dwelt among them with glory never before seen, built a new and far greater sanctuary, and manifested His glory among His people in the sight of the nations.
Because Israel did not truly repent, yield to God, or meet God's requirements, the prophecy was never fulfilled as written and will never be literally fulfilled. Only a meager, feeble restoration from captivity took place, fulfilled only in small part and in part. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, so the promises in their fullness were not realized. The sanctuary described in Ezekiel 37-48 will never be built.
The promises to true Israel will instead be fulfilled in a general way under different, broader, stronger and more glorious conditions. The faithful will receive the full immortal inheritance in the new heavens and new earth when God restores all things by His mighty power. The Gentiles become fellow heirs and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, which is a fuller revelation than was made known before. This is understood far better through the unconditional prophecies given in Revelation and will be fulfilled in the clearer terms stated there, in part before the second coming of Christ and in part at the end of the thousand years. No weapons will be burned, but the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth.
Last-Day Prophecy and Application
Ezekiel 39:3 stands in a prophecy of judgment upon the wicked nations who, under Satan's control, seek to destroy God's people. In the chapter's account the nations rush against Israel, God takes their weapons from them and disarms those who attack His people, and they are destroyed in His judgment. That fulfillment brings national judgments with plagues upon divisions and aggregations of nations, judgments that take place before Christ comes and 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 national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. In this setting the prophecy concerns the last gathering of Satan's hosts against God's people for their final doom and defeat.
Gog is the ruler or czar of Magog, identified with Russia and the surrounding territory associated with Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. Ezekiel 38-39 continues the record of Noah's descendants by name and by country by whom the nations were divided in the earth after the Flood, and gives the origin of the Russian Empire. Rosh, Meshech and Tubal are taken as Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk, referring to the land of the czar. The prophecy thus reveals Russia with her international policy and her ultimate destiny, and belongs to the closing work and closing years of world history. Prophecy is history foretold given as warning before fulfillment, and this verse is to be carefully studied now because God warns of what He will do concerning distress of nations with perplexity and the things coming on the earth, meaning eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others. Part has been fulfilled, but much including this verse is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future.
The prophecy is applied to the developing Eastern question with its American complications and to the nations' alignment for the approaching Armageddon. It associates Persia with the power ruling over the north, and its setting gives urgency to taking the gospel to Persia and neighboring regions. Its disarming of bow and arrows belongs to the overthrow of Gog's army on the mountains of Israel through God's last-day judgments, foretold as Russia's mighty army destroyed in the Holy Land. It foretells present-day European affairs and the present war, with Russia brought forth and turned back, Japan being one of the means God uses to turn Russia back. The same expectation is expressed as a final northern apostasy sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction, and as an evil confederacy invading the territory once occupied by Israel.
The prophecy is mixed and must not in all its details be made a prophecy of that time or of later times in Ezekiel's terms. Because Israel failed to meet God's requirements only a meager restoration from Babylonian captivity took place, yet all God's promises of a glorious future will still be fulfilled for His own people, with the Gentiles as fellow heirs and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, which is a fuller revelation than was made known before. Part of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ but in the clearer terms stated in Revelation, and part at the end of the thousand years, and it is understood far better through the unconditional prophecies given in Revelation. The judgments of God upon the wicked who come against His own people — plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone — find their setting not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19. Gog and Magog, representing northern nations, will be punished partly in this world before and at Christ's coming, and finally at the end of the thousand years. Combined armies such as are set forth in Ezekiel may appear in near-future revolutions and sweep down over lesser powers and utterly destroy them, but not in the setting found in this prophecy.
The destruction in the chapter occurs in a place other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, showing that divine destructions occur in other places as well. Appealing to Ezekiel 39 for an earthly return of the Jews with connected ideas about Christ's reign and the saints' inheritance is false. The saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated, and admitting heaven and the desolation of the earth overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory built on Ezekiel 39. Addressed to Israel, the prophecy calls the people to return to God and give themselves wholly to Him so they can receive the promised blessings.