Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Thou shalt fall upon the open field foretells the defeat and destruction of Gog's invading forces in the open country during their assault on the mountains of Israel. The fall is certain because the Lord has spoken it, coming by His own decree and hand that no human skill can overturn. It comes as God's judgment at His presence, poured out upon the invaders in plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone. The promise belongs to the restoration offered in Ezekiel 36 to 48 for fulfillment after the captivity, when God would gather His people, dwell among them in glory, and give them victory, on condition that Israel would yield to God, forsake sin and return with all the heart. Because Israel did not meet the requirements, the prophecy was fulfilled only in very small part and will never be fulfilled literally in its old form with wooden weapons and sacrifices, with its final meaning to be read in the light of Revelation for God's punishment of the wicked nations at Christ's coming and after the thousand years.
Words and Immediate Setting
Thou shalt fall upon the open field foretells the defeat of Gog's forces, their fall in destruction in the open country in the Holy Land during their assault on the mountains of Israel. It places that fall as part of the final scenes of their career and ruin, with the mighty army coming from the north destroyed as God has decreed and the nations gathered against them. The fall is certain because the Lord has spoken it.
It comes by God's decree and by God's own hand at work in fulfillment whether past or future, and the spoken prophecy cannot be overcome by diplomatic skill. Russia, identified with Gog going out to fulfill ambition for world dominion, meets its final defeat and grave in the open field at that decree. The destruction comes through God's judgment at His presence, amid fiery judgment, with plagues brought to view upon the invaders.
Pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone are poured out upon the wicked who come against God's own people. Those judgments are divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments taking place before Christ comes upon the great horde and confederacy from the north led by Magog attacking Israel dwelling in Palestine, whom the Lord calls My people Israel. In its original terms the prophecy demands a literal setting where the mountains of Israel are inhabited by a people God calls His own gathered from all nations, dwelling safely all of them in unwalled villages without walls, possessing cattle and goods and wealth whose plenty arouses cupidity to think an evil thought and sweep down to take great spoil.
Its attackers carry wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears and wooden munitions of war of the prophet's day that Israel can conquer and use for fuel, and the defeat would have been literally fulfilled in that form after the restoration from Babylon if Israel forsook sin and returned to the Lord with all the heart. That setting does not exist now, for Palestine is controlled by the Turk and inhabited by few Jews, is the poorest of lands with no such wealth to tempt invaders, its people do not dwell safely, and the armies of today are not equipped with wooden weapons.
Conditional Offer to Israel
Ezekiel 39:5 belongs to the restoration promises of Ezekiel 36 to 48, offered after the seventy years of captivity for fulfillment in the return from Babylon. In that restoration God would gather His scattered people to the mountains of Israel, dwell among them in glory, build a new and far greater sanctuary, manifest His glory before the nations, conquer their enemies, and give Israel victory with Gog falling in the open field. It was a promise of what God would have done when Israel returned from Babylon, that enemies coming from the north would have been destroyed, plagues would have fallen on them, the slain would have been left in the land, and the land would have been cleansed. That promise was offered for fulfillment in far larger measure if the Jews had complied with the conditions, and its general promise points to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at the second coming.
The promise depended on Israel yielding to God, forsaking sin, returning with all the heart, putting away wickedness, and being ashamed of iniquities as laid down in Ezekiel 43:9-11. It concerned Israel and the sanctuary from Ezekiel 37 to 48, and that sanctuary will never be built as then described. Because Israel did not meet the requirements, did not fully repent, and only about forty thousand returned, the prophecy was not fulfilled in all its details as written but only in a very small part or greatly reduced form. Only a mere shadow of the temple was built by Zerubbabel instead of the wonderful and glorious structure shown to the prophet.
The closing chapters of Ezekiel were never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled in their old sacrificial form, since Christ's death on the cross fulfilled all sacrifices. The future glory and immortal inheritance will instead be given to the faithful in the way described in later revelations, faintly typified by what God will do in the new heavens and new earth when He restores all things by His mighty power. The original details do not transfer literally to the final conflict, for its fulfillment then will be under different, broader, and more glorious conditions. There will be no literal burning of wooden munitions of war of the prophet's day, no cleansing of the land by human hands, and no local conditions of the prophet's day, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat.
Identity of Gog and Invaders
Gog is Russia, the land of Magog identified through Rosh, Meshech and Tubal as the land of the czar, the northern Scythian nations and their confederacy, and the great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in place of all others. Ezekiel 39:1-22 gives the final scenes of his career leading to his ruin and the end of the world, beginning prior to the events in Ezekiel 38:15-23 and ending farther down the stream of time, with Ezekiel 39:1 leaving no doubt who is the object of displeasure and Ezekiel 39:2 telling of restraints put upon him just before the final acts. The prophecy reveals Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny in connection with the crisis in the Far East, as history foretold by holy men moved by the Holy Ghost, part already fulfilled and much remaining to come to pass in the immediate and near future. Its grave in the open field is the end foretold by God when Russia goes out to fulfill ambition for world dominion, and no diplomatic skill can overcome the spoken prophecy.
The invaders are the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people, with God's own hand at work in the judgment whether past or future. They come as a mighty horde and confederacy from the north led by Magog against those the Lord calls My people Israel dwelling in Palestine, bringing divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments before Christ comes, with plagues poured out upon them. They form an evil confederacy invading the territory once occupied by Israel, and though God's people are now scattered throughout the world the evil plan still aims to secure that territory and destroy them. This is a final northern apostasy sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction. On this reckoning the prophecy cannot belong to the time at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised, because when all the dead of all ages come up together national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.
Persia is associated with the power from the north, whose gathering of God's people from among the nations into their own land is linked to the alignment of nations for the approaching battle of Armageddon and to the timely work of taking the gospel to them before the storm breaks. Russia stands as a chief power in the prophecy, and Japan is one means the Lord uses to turn Russia back. The chapter is also set forth as perhaps describing the mighty confederacy of the king of the north, which will reinstate the Papacy and attack the king of the south with combined armies and navies.
Prophetic Timing and Fulfillment
Ezekiel 39:1-22 gives the final scenes of Gog's career leading to his ruin and the end of the world. The line of events there begins prior to the events delineated in Ezekiel 38:15-23 and ends farther down the stream of time. Ezekiel 39:1 leaves no doubt who is the object of the Lord's displeasure, and Ezekiel 39:2 tells of restraints put upon him just before the final acts leading to his ruin.
The prophecy outlines the gathering of tribes and peoples and nations for Armageddon and the final conflict, to be fulfilled before the storm breaks. It reveals international policy and ultimate destiny in connection with the crisis in the Far East, given as history foretold to be studied and applied before fulfillment as a light amid present distress of nations with perplexity and men's hearts failing for fear. It is linked to the alignment of nations for the approaching battle and to the timely work of taking the gospel to them, and it points to a tremendous international conflict approaching amid the darkening political situation. It foretells Russia being turned back and brought forth in the present European war and present-day conditions.
Parts of Ezekiel 38-39 will be fulfilled before Christ's second coming, with divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments and plagues upon the invaders. The general promise points to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at the second coming in greater glory, without the local conditions of the prophet's day and without literal burning of wooden munitions or cleansing of the land by human hands, for the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth with fervent heat. On this view the prophecy cannot belong to the time at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised, because when all the dead of all ages come up together national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.
Other teaching divides the fulfillment so that some events apply to the last days before and when Christ comes and some to the final battle after the thousand years, made clearer by Revelation. The defeat of Israel's enemies could have taken place in Israel's past with the slain left in the open field, but depended in part on Israel's faithfulness and must now be understood in harmony with the conditions then existing on earth. The chapter's judgment on Gog and Magog represents punishment of the northern nations, partly in this world before and when Christ comes, and ultimately at the end of the thousand years. Because the conditions were not met the prophecy was not fulfilled then and will be fulfilled in the last days under different, broader, and more glorious conditions.
The verse pronounces the final doom of Gog and Magog applied to Satan's gathering of the wicked after the thousand years. They advance against the saints' camp and the beloved city, but their defeat is certain under God's declared judgment.
Doctrinal Use and Scriptural Links
The prophecy is history foretold by holy men moved by the Holy Ghost who knew the end from the beginning, revealing Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny in connection with the crisis in the Far East. It is given as a warning to be studied and applied before fulfillment and not after, for part has been fulfilled but much remains to come to pass in the immediate and near future. Its study is a light shining in a dark place amid the present distress of nations with perplexity and men's hearts failing them for fear, showing failure written on every human solution except God's Word and making men wise unto salvation.
Its fulfillment is not in the literal land and setting of Ezekiel 38 and 39, for it was a conditional prophecy about enemies coming against Israel and being destroyed which because Israel failed to meet God's requirements was not fulfilled in all its details in ancient Israel. The last part of Ezekiel must be read in the light of the fuller, clearer disclosures in Revelation, with its setting in Revelation 16-19, in terms made clearer by Revelation. Parts of Ezekiel 38-39 will be fulfilled before Christ's second coming, and others at the end of the thousand years, with plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against God's own people. Like combined armies may nevertheless appear in near-future revolutions and sweep down over lesser powers and destroy them apart from that prophetic setting.
The destruction in Ezekiel 39 will occur in a place other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, for it does not describe a punishment in Gehenna but a punishment appointed for a different place. The last nineteen chapters of Ezekiel, including this falling upon the open field, have been appealed to in support of the return of the Jews and the connected views of the reign of Christ and the inheritance of the saints.
Thou shalt fall upon the open field foretells the defeat and destruction of Gog's invading forces in the open country during their assault on the mountains of Israel. The fall is certain because the Lord has spoken it, coming by His own decree and hand that no human skill can overturn. It comes as God's judgment at His presence, poured out upon the invaders in plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone. The promise belongs to the restoration offered in Ezekiel 36 to 48 for fulfillment after the captivity, when God would gather His people, dwell among them in glory, and give them victory, on condition that Israel would yield to God, forsake sin and return with all the heart. Because Israel did not meet the requirements, the prophecy was fulfilled only in very small part and will never be fulfilled literally in its old form with wooden weapons and sacrifices, with its final meaning to be read in the light of Revelation for God's punishment of the wicked nations at Christ's coming and after the thousand years.
Words and Immediate Setting
Thou shalt fall upon the open field foretells the defeat of Gog's forces, their fall in destruction in the open country in the Holy Land during their assault on the mountains of Israel. It places that fall as part of the final scenes of their career and ruin, with the mighty army coming from the north destroyed as God has decreed and the nations gathered against them. The fall is certain because the Lord has spoken it.
It comes by God's decree and by God's own hand at work in fulfillment whether past or future, and the spoken prophecy cannot be overcome by diplomatic skill. Russia, identified with Gog going out to fulfill ambition for world dominion, meets its final defeat and grave in the open field at that decree. The destruction comes through God's judgment at His presence, amid fiery judgment, with plagues brought to view upon the invaders.
Pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone are poured out upon the wicked who come against God's own people. Those judgments are divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments taking place before Christ comes upon the great horde and confederacy from the north led by Magog attacking Israel dwelling in Palestine, whom the Lord calls My people Israel. In its original terms the prophecy demands a literal setting where the mountains of Israel are inhabited by a people God calls His own gathered from all nations, dwelling safely all of them in unwalled villages without walls, possessing cattle and goods and wealth whose plenty arouses cupidity to think an evil thought and sweep down to take great spoil.
Its attackers carry wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears and wooden munitions of war of the prophet's day that Israel can conquer and use for fuel, and the defeat would have been literally fulfilled in that form after the restoration from Babylon if Israel forsook sin and returned to the Lord with all the heart. That setting does not exist now, for Palestine is controlled by the Turk and inhabited by few Jews, is the poorest of lands with no such wealth to tempt invaders, its people do not dwell safely, and the armies of today are not equipped with wooden weapons.
Conditional Offer to Israel
Ezekiel 39:5 belongs to the restoration promises of Ezekiel 36 to 48, offered after the seventy years of captivity for fulfillment in the return from Babylon. In that restoration God would gather His scattered people to the mountains of Israel, dwell among them in glory, build a new and far greater sanctuary, manifest His glory before the nations, conquer their enemies, and give Israel victory with Gog falling in the open field. It was a promise of what God would have done when Israel returned from Babylon, that enemies coming from the north would have been destroyed, plagues would have fallen on them, the slain would have been left in the land, and the land would have been cleansed. That promise was offered for fulfillment in far larger measure if the Jews had complied with the conditions, and its general promise points to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at the second coming.
The promise depended on Israel yielding to God, forsaking sin, returning with all the heart, putting away wickedness, and being ashamed of iniquities as laid down in Ezekiel 43:9-11. It concerned Israel and the sanctuary from Ezekiel 37 to 48, and that sanctuary will never be built as then described. Because Israel did not meet the requirements, did not fully repent, and only about forty thousand returned, the prophecy was not fulfilled in all its details as written but only in a very small part or greatly reduced form. Only a mere shadow of the temple was built by Zerubbabel instead of the wonderful and glorious structure shown to the prophet.
The closing chapters of Ezekiel were never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled in their old sacrificial form, since Christ's death on the cross fulfilled all sacrifices. The future glory and immortal inheritance will instead be given to the faithful in the way described in later revelations, faintly typified by what God will do in the new heavens and new earth when He restores all things by His mighty power. The original details do not transfer literally to the final conflict, for its fulfillment then will be under different, broader, and more glorious conditions. There will be no literal burning of wooden munitions of war of the prophet's day, no cleansing of the land by human hands, and no local conditions of the prophet's day, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat.
Identity of Gog and Invaders
Gog is Russia, the land of Magog identified through Rosh, Meshech and Tubal as the land of the czar, the northern Scythian nations and their confederacy, and the great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in place of all others. Ezekiel 39:1-22 gives the final scenes of his career leading to his ruin and the end of the world, beginning prior to the events in Ezekiel 38:15-23 and ending farther down the stream of time, with Ezekiel 39:1 leaving no doubt who is the object of displeasure and Ezekiel 39:2 telling of restraints put upon him just before the final acts. The prophecy reveals Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny in connection with the crisis in the Far East, as history foretold by holy men moved by the Holy Ghost, part already fulfilled and much remaining to come to pass in the immediate and near future. Its grave in the open field is the end foretold by God when Russia goes out to fulfill ambition for world dominion, and no diplomatic skill can overcome the spoken prophecy.
The invaders are the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people, with God's own hand at work in the judgment whether past or future. They come as a mighty horde and confederacy from the north led by Magog against those the Lord calls My people Israel dwelling in Palestine, bringing divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments before Christ comes, with plagues poured out upon them. They form an evil confederacy invading the territory once occupied by Israel, and though God's people are now scattered throughout the world the evil plan still aims to secure that territory and destroy them. This is a final northern apostasy sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction. On this reckoning the prophecy cannot belong to the time at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised, because when all the dead of all ages come up together national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.
Persia is associated with the power from the north, whose gathering of God's people from among the nations into their own land is linked to the alignment of nations for the approaching battle of Armageddon and to the timely work of taking the gospel to them before the storm breaks. Russia stands as a chief power in the prophecy, and Japan is one means the Lord uses to turn Russia back. The chapter is also set forth as perhaps describing the mighty confederacy of the king of the north, which will reinstate the Papacy and attack the king of the south with combined armies and navies.
Prophetic Timing and Fulfillment
Ezekiel 39:1-22 gives the final scenes of Gog's career leading to his ruin and the end of the world. The line of events there begins prior to the events delineated in Ezekiel 38:15-23 and ends farther down the stream of time. Ezekiel 39:1 leaves no doubt who is the object of the Lord's displeasure, and Ezekiel 39:2 tells of restraints put upon him just before the final acts leading to his ruin.
The prophecy outlines the gathering of tribes and peoples and nations for Armageddon and the final conflict, to be fulfilled before the storm breaks. It reveals international policy and ultimate destiny in connection with the crisis in the Far East, given as history foretold to be studied and applied before fulfillment as a light amid present distress of nations with perplexity and men's hearts failing for fear. It is linked to the alignment of nations for the approaching battle and to the timely work of taking the gospel to them, and it points to a tremendous international conflict approaching amid the darkening political situation. It foretells Russia being turned back and brought forth in the present European war and present-day conditions.
Parts of Ezekiel 38-39 will be fulfilled before Christ's second coming, with divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments and plagues upon the invaders. The general promise points to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at the second coming in greater glory, without the local conditions of the prophet's day and without literal burning of wooden munitions or cleansing of the land by human hands, for the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth with fervent heat. On this view the prophecy cannot belong to the time at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised, because when all the dead of all ages come up together national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.
Other teaching divides the fulfillment so that some events apply to the last days before and when Christ comes and some to the final battle after the thousand years, made clearer by Revelation. The defeat of Israel's enemies could have taken place in Israel's past with the slain left in the open field, but depended in part on Israel's faithfulness and must now be understood in harmony with the conditions then existing on earth. The chapter's judgment on Gog and Magog represents punishment of the northern nations, partly in this world before and when Christ comes, and ultimately at the end of the thousand years. Because the conditions were not met the prophecy was not fulfilled then and will be fulfilled in the last days under different, broader, and more glorious conditions.
The verse pronounces the final doom of Gog and Magog applied to Satan's gathering of the wicked after the thousand years. They advance against the saints' camp and the beloved city, but their defeat is certain under God's declared judgment.
Doctrinal Use and Scriptural Links
The prophecy is history foretold by holy men moved by the Holy Ghost who knew the end from the beginning, revealing Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny in connection with the crisis in the Far East. It is given as a warning to be studied and applied before fulfillment and not after, for part has been fulfilled but much remains to come to pass in the immediate and near future. Its study is a light shining in a dark place amid the present distress of nations with perplexity and men's hearts failing them for fear, showing failure written on every human solution except God's Word and making men wise unto salvation.
Its fulfillment is not in the literal land and setting of Ezekiel 38 and 39, for it was a conditional prophecy about enemies coming against Israel and being destroyed which because Israel failed to meet God's requirements was not fulfilled in all its details in ancient Israel. The last part of Ezekiel must be read in the light of the fuller, clearer disclosures in Revelation, with its setting in Revelation 16-19, in terms made clearer by Revelation. Parts of Ezekiel 38-39 will be fulfilled before Christ's second coming, and others at the end of the thousand years, with plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against God's own people. Like combined armies may nevertheless appear in near-future revolutions and sweep down over lesser powers and destroy them apart from that prophetic setting.
The destruction in Ezekiel 39 will occur in a place other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, for it does not describe a punishment in Gehenna but a punishment appointed for a different place. The last nineteen chapters of Ezekiel, including this falling upon the open field, have been appealed to in support of the return of the Jews and the connected views of the reign of Christ and the inheritance of the saints.