Ezekiel 39:7, commentary and pictures

God promises to make his holy name deeply known among Israel so they will no longer profane it, and to make the nations know him as the LORD, the Holy One in Israel, by delivering his people from their northern enemies and restoring them with glory, sanctuary, city and land. That promise belonged to what he would have done for Israel at the restoration from Babylonian captivity if they had forsaken sin, returned to him with all their hearts, repented and been cleansed. Had they met those conditions he would have brought back all the scattered to the mountains of Israel, dwelt among them in glory, built the far greater sanctuary, raised the faithful dead, cut off their enemies and made Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Because they did not repent and meet the requirements, the victory was only partial and the promise was fulfilled only in very small part, with only about forty thousand returning. What remains will not be fulfilled literally in all its Old Testament details in Palestine, but in harmony with present conditions toward the true Israel gathered from all nations, in the greater glory of the second coming of Christ, the plagues of Revelation 16 to 19, Armageddon, and God's final punishment of those who would destroy his people at the end of the thousand years.

Words and Setting

Ezekiel 39:7 stands in Ezekiel 38 to 40 and in chapters 33 to 48, the part of the book dealing with restoration, consolation and promise, and it shows God's love for His house. It calls the people dwelling in the land of Palestine My people Israel when a great horde from the north led by Magog sweeps down upon them. It belongs to the prophecy of a mighty northern army coming to be destroyed on the mountains of the Holy Land in a last great northern apostasy of great power and destruction.

The question is raised whether Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be fulfilled now before the Lord comes by the children of Israel peopling Palestine and the Jews returning to build up the Holy Land, or at the end of the one thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised from the dead. The verse belongs to divisions and aggregations of nations in national judgments that take place before Christ comes with plagues falling on the invaders, and it is not fulfilled at the end of the one thousand years when all the dead of all ages come up, because then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. Its defeat on the mountains of the Holy Land is followed by the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire and the gathering of heathen nations for a wider conflict.

Making God's holy name known does not necessarily mean introducing it for the first time. Israel already knew God's name but had profaned it, and He would make it more deeply known to them so they would no longer profane it, so making known does not mean giving for the first time. This is as God making known the Sabbath at Sinai does not mean the Sabbath was first given then, but was made known after the exodus even though known before, just as Moses gave circumcision though it was already of the fathers from Abraham. The phrase make known here can denote recalling attention to what was formerly known, yet even then it keeps its primary sense of making known in a new form and new character. The Lord is known by the judgments He executes, making pre-existent principles known in a legal or new form, as when He was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty but not by His new name Jehovah in His new character as the Lord their God who takes Israel for His people, so that the heathen will know Him as the Holy One in Israel and His name will no longer be polluted.

The verse uses make known in a sense distinct from is known in Psalm 9:16, and it does not make known a new name of God as Exodus 6:3-7 does. The destruction described in Ezekiel 39 will occur in a place other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom.

Conditional Promise to Israel

God would make his holy name known in the midst of Israel and suffer it to be polluted no more, giving forgiveness, new hearts, and renewed life as his people, so that the heathen should know him as the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. That knowing would come through deliverance of his people from their enemies, victory over the northern enemies that swept down upon them, and restoration with glory, sanctuary, city, and land. In its first setting this belonged to Israel's restoration and was conditional upon Israel accepting God's terms.

The promise was what God would have done at the restoration from Babylonian captivity if the people had met his terms and complied with the conditions. Those conditions were forsaking sin, returning to the Lord with all their hearts, yielding wholly to him, repenting, being ashamed and confounded for their ways, being cleansed from sin, and putting away wickedness. If they had yielded to him they could have received the good things promised through the prophets.

Had they met those conditions of faith and obedience, God would have restored all his people and brought back those scattered through all nations to the mountains of Israel, and would have done better to them than at their beginnings. He would have dwelt among them with glory such as they had never seen in the city called Jehovah Is There, and would have built the new and far greater marvelous sanctuary of Ezekiel 40 to 48. He would have brought the faithful who slept back from the dead, conquered their enemies with plagues, defeated the ambitious northern powers with the spirit of Satan, cut off all the enemies of Israel, made Jerusalem a praise in the earth and his children the joy of the whole earth, so that Israel would become a light indeed to the world.

Because Israel did not repent, yield, heed, and meet the requirements, the victory was only partial and the promise was fulfilled only in very small part or not fulfilled in its original details. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity and the promises in their fullness were not realized, the destruction of enemies and the full restoration not taking place. What was promised to Israel after the return from Babylon — restoration to the land, defeat of threatening nations, and the making known of his name among his people and the nations — was therefore not fulfilled in detail.

The prophecies of judgments against the wicked nations controlled by Satan that seek to destroy God's people, and the direct and explicit promises of great blessings in the salvation of Israel with the glory with which he would invest the land, the city, and the sanctuary, have not been fulfilled literally and will not be fulfilled literally in all their Old Testament details. Many details describe what might have happened if Israel had met the Lord's conditions and been established in its land. The promised sanctuary depended on Israel's acceptance or rejection and will never be built, though God's purposes for wicked nations and for true Israel remain the same and will be carried out in different times and circumstances.

Future Fulfillment and Application

What remains to be fulfilled must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions existing upon the earth and not in all its literal Old Testament details, because Ezekiel 38 and 39 is a conditional mixed prophecy. Part will be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ in the clearer unconditional terms given in Revelation, and part at the end of the thousand years in the last great battle on the other side of the thousand years. The promise of making the holy name known among Israel and to the nations is to be understood in the fuller gospel light that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

The full fulfillment comes in the greater glory of the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected therewith, when God makes His name known and vindicates His holiness without the local conditions of the prophet's day. There will be no literal burning of weapons and no cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. In general the prophecy points to God's final punishment of those who would destroy His people, whose ultimate fulfillment is connected with the events of Revelation 20 and 21.

The plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone that God will pour out upon the wicked who come against His people find their setting not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16 to 19. The prophecies in the last part of Ezekiel are to be understood in the light of the fuller, clearer disclosures in Revelation.

The promise will be fulfilled toward the true Israel of God gathered out from all nations, but not in the literal Palestinian setting. The chapter cannot be fulfilled literally in the last days because Palestine is not inhabited by such a gathered people whom God calls His own gathered out from all nations. That people are to dwell safely all of them in villages without walls, yet no such safe dwelling exists. They are to have property and cattle and goods in a land of peace and plenty whose wealth arouses the cupidity of the northern powers to think an evil thought of sweeping down to take great spoil, yet Palestine is the poorest of lands with no such wealth to tempt them. The invading powers carry wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that Israel burns for fuel, while present-day armies are not equipped with weapons of that kind.

National boundaries and distinctions belong to national judgments before Christ comes with plagues falling on the invaders and are completely eliminated when all the dead of all ages come up at the end of the thousand years. What would have been fulfilled in Israel's time if the people had met the conditions will be fulfilled in the last days under different, broader, and more glorious conditions, with God making His holy name known among His people, preventing its further profanation, and being recognized by the nations as the Holy One in Israel, and the faithful receiving future glory and the full immortal inheritance through later revelations.

The chapter's general outline concerns the gathering for Armageddon, and the Gog and Magog conflict points to a tremendous international war close at hand. Many of its details describe what might have happened if Israel had met the Lord's conditions and been established in its land. Had Israel remained faithful, God's people would have occupied Palestine, and the evil world confederacy would have been directed against them and invaded their territory.

The prophecy associates Persia with the power from the north and foretells God gathering His people from among the nations back to their land, applied to the gathering of God's people through the gospel among Persia and nearby regions while the nations' movement toward Armageddon signals that this missionary work is urgently needed. It identifies Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal with Russia, Moscow, and Tobolsk and thus connects the prophecy to the land of the czar. It foretells present-day conditions in European affairs, specifically Russia in the present war, its being turned back, possibly by Japan, and its being brought forth in this war, joined with Daniel, Joel, and Revelation about the same present time. Its defeat of the mighty army coming from the north destroyed on the mountains of the Holy Land is followed by the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire and the gathering of heathen nations for a wider conflict.

The last days are days of bloody strife, distress and carnage among the nations, with the enemies of God rushing from the north quarters like a storm against the mountains of Israel, then perishing amid fire and brimstone at the presence of God while the fowls are called to feast on their carcasses, so God's holy name is made known and the heathen know He is the Lord. This proves there will be no converted world before the last day when Christ raises His people and sits in judgment on the human race. The coming time of peace and glory comes only when the Prince of peace comes himself to bring it.

The literal Jewish application of the last nineteen chapters of Ezekiel for the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ, and the inheritance of the saints is denied. The Lord has no special work to do among the Jews in the Christian dispensation, because the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated, and admitting that desolation overthrows the theory of the return of the Jews.