In this second part, we will fill in that gap between the promises at the end of Ezekiel 37 and verses 24-28, showing the long journey in time to the fulfillment of those promises to the extent they have been made sure so far.

Ezekiel prophesied for about 22 years, between 593 to 571 B.C. He was making those prophecies about 565 years or so before Christ was born. (Historical calculations indicate that Jesus was born about the year 6 B.C.) It was when Babylon took them captive and they were a long time in bondage to them, going from Babylon to Roman control.

Ezekiel speaks in the past tense, but he is writing these things prior to their happening. It was in 70 A.D. that the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple, “not leaving one stone upon another,” as Jesus said in Matthew 24:1-2.

It took the Romans 65 years to empty the city of the Jewish people. Then, the land lay in desolation for 1,800 years until about 1870, when nomadic Jews began to drift back into the area. Thus, God saved the land for Israel’s restoration, which was finally legalized on May 14, 1948.

The destruction in 70 A.D., however, was not the beginning of the Millennium, as some are currently claiming. Hardly any mention of that destruction is in the Scriptures, and no possibility is there that the “abomination of desolation” Daniel spoke of happened.

No Roman soldier, or anyone else, stood in the temple as it was being torn down, declaring himself to be God and demanding everyone’s worship, as the claim is made. It was the fulfillment of God’s promise to scatter the Jewish people into all the nations of the world. And it did just that.

From 70 A.D. to 1870 A.D., about 1,800 years, the land was empty of any permanent habitation. The Turks, when the land was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, tried to homestead it for 300 years, then gave up and went home. Why? Very little annual rainfall.

When Mark Twain visited that area in 1853, he wrote that it was “the most desolate place on earth.” So God was saving that land for the return of the Jews, as He had promised centuries earlier.

Nomadic Jews began to drift back into the land in about 1870, and surprisingly—yes—the annual rainfall began to increase! During the First World War, when fighting was going on in the Middle East, Jews gave the British valuable assistance, and they, in turn, responded with the Balfour Declaration that set aside the land of Palestine as the homeland of the Jews. It had come under British control, away from the Ottoman Empire during the war.

From God’s viewpoint, as we can see now, there was to be a new nation with its own sovereignty among nations of the world in a future time. But how was He to get His chosen people out of the nations of the world where they had deeply embedded themselves over those centuries of being outcasts from their homeland?

It is hard to fathom such an undertaking with its awful results, but the Holocaust of the Nazi regime came to pass. It was not a new experience of the Israelites, for every time God wanted them to move in a new direction, drastic things had to happen in order that those people would be willing to follow the Lord.

Getting them to want to come out of those nations and cultures they had become embedded in was to prove to be a difficult task, even with the view of being returned to their ancient homeland. And many still have not returned there.

In this case, God knew that Israel was to get her own nation reinstalled with full legality in just a few years. Remember the situation when God was ready for them to leave Egypt, as reported in the Book of Exodus. God uniquely raised up a man named Moses to lead them, but they were not ready to follow his leadership.

So, it took forty more years for Moses and the people as well to be willing to leave Egypt after their 400 years there. A hard Pharoah came into power and imposed hard labor upon them, and they became willing then. But as Exodus reads, they often wanted to turn back to Egypt as hardships on the journey happened.

The background of the coming to fruition of May 14, 1948, has some interesting intrigue. One of my early mentors as a new Christian was a man from Missouri who related to me this story: President Harry Truman, as a resident of Missouri, was a neighbor to a Jewish family as he grew up.

He had learned of the Jewish situation, and when the United Nations Security Council met that day in May 1948, and Russia did not attend, Truman, as US president, brought the issue before the council to be ratified. And a new nation was born in a day.

There is not any mention of Israel’s struggles in Ezekiel’s prophecies of these 75 years to hold onto their national sovereignty. Constant threats of being wiped off the face of the earth are ongoing, like the 1967 war when they took hold of Jerusalem once again.

Ezekiel goes right to chapters 38-39 that reveal the coming Gog-Magog war when Russia of the far north joins with Iran (called Persia until 1935), Turkey, and others and will see that Israel is defenseless, “like a city without walls” and available for plundering.

After that, Ezekiel begins a 10-chapter account of the new temple and its mysteries. The Gog-Magog war appears to come into reality just after the Rapture of the church, thus opening the seven years of tribulation reported in Revelation 6-19.

Where does the Gog-Magog war fit into the end times timeline, you are asking? In Paul’s prophetic account in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, he writes, “But as to the times and seasons, I have no need to write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”

Who will be saying, “Peace and safety” but Israel, which has been without peace now for 75 years? And after the Rapture—which happens like a thief at night—and the Antichrist confirms that covenant of peace for Israel, they will think he is their friend.

Of great interest is the report that tells of who will be among those who will see these things come to pass. In Luke 21, Jesus tells a parable of the blossoming of the fig tree, that when it begins to bud new leaves, summer is near. The fig tree represents Israel, and its blossoming represents the return of Israel to its land and its national sovereignty.

(At this point, an interesting coincidence, or is it, that the original King James Version, which came before most current paraphrases and translations, uses these words in the foretelling of the Rapture, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and other passages, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the trump of the Lord shall sound….”

Then, in these last days, a man named Trump appears on the scene and upsets the whole world, which is following America’s “falling away” from faith, lawfulness, and justice for all. Is this really just a coincidence, or…? This man is not deity, but then, neither was Samson and others of their time. It would take a man like Trump, who sees them on their level of deeply embedded opposition to truth and could shake them loose—perhaps some to God’s redemption and many others to His judgment. It appears unlikely that any other Republican nominee will be able to threaten the leftist Democrats to any extent in the coming election. Leftists fear and hate Trump too much.)

Jesus said the generation that sees these things happening will not pass away until it is all finished (Mark 13:30). Of course, the Rapture will remove all believers of this generation at its occurrence.

Why, then, doesn’t Jesus address it as “that generation” if it was future when He was informing the disciples? It is because Jesus saw all prophecy in the present tense, for time was not a factor in His foreknowledge capacity. Remember His revelation of Himself in John 8:58: “Before Abraham was, I AM!”

Now we who were alive before May 14, 1948, are that generation. For 75 years, we have been following the Luke 21:28 directive, “When these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption is drawing near.”

There is a decreasing number who are now age 75 and older, but this generation continues until there are none remaining who lived before “the fig tree blossomed.” The time is short, either in translation “in the twinkling of an eye,” or resurrection and meeting Him in the air for believers who have died!

In Psalm 90:10, it is written, “The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years. Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” It brings to mind the gospel song titled “I’ll Fly Away.”

Another favorite gospel song for many of us in this generation is “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” Putting two together, it goes like this: “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,” then “I’ll Fly Away!”

“Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20b).

Contact email: andwegetmercy@gmail.com

 

 

This coming May 14, 2023, marks the 75^th anniversary of Israel’s beginning as a nation among nations and having sole sovereignty. It has been a continual threat from her surrounding neighbors to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth.

Psalm 83:1-4 tells the story of centuries-old plans to rid the earth of God’s chosen people, the Jews:

“Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult, and those who hate You have lifted up their head.

“They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’”

Currently, Iran has voiced that intention for some time while pushing forward to obtain nuclear capability and wipe them out. Diplomatic negotiations have not stopped Iran’s push for that nuclear power, and it appears that the approaching Gog-Magog war told in Ezekiel 38-39 may be Iran’s final demise.

In Psalm 2, God laughs at their attempts to eliminate the Jewish people, just as Psalm 83 relates it. He says, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision.”

And we see now that God has never forsaken the Israeli people, even though their rejection of their Messiah has brought them great hardship and heartache. Let’s review some of their history.

In Daniel 9, the prophet is deeply drawn to prayer and fasting for his nation Israel, and the angel Gabriel brings him this message:

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.

“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. “

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate” (Daniel 9:24-27).

It is a long quote, but much of the future from that time forward beyond today, even, is found in those prophecies. Briefly, the highlights identify a seven-year period of tribulation is yet in store for Israel. In the first part of the quote is Gabriel’s word from God that seventy weeks of judgment would be required of Israel for their disobediences.

It turns out that it is seventy weeks of years—one week is seven years—and only sixty-nine are accounted for when Christ is crucified. This is the prophecy of the coming seven years of the tribulation, that missing “seventh week.” It is known as “the seventh week of Daniel’s prophecy, which is mysteriously identified when the Antichrist confirms with many a seven-year covenant, as reviewed below. Such a period of time, as in this context, has never happened yet.

Then, a person with a heritage from the Romans who destroyed the city and temple in 70 A.D. appears as a friend of Israel and arranges a seven-year peace treaty for them. Contrary to current thinking, my understanding is that this person of Roman heritage does not have to be a Roman nor an obscure person hardly known in world leadership circles. He will be one readily accepted as having the ability to take charge of world events, just as Daniel’s prophecy indicates.

He will have authority to allow them to rebuild their temple, also. (Surely, he must be their Messiah, right? No, for he abruptly cancels their temple activities and declares himself God, demanding the worship of himself as God.) This is the “abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet” that Jesus foretells will happen in the last days.

While the United States is not mentioned in the Scriptures—after all, America was not discovered until the year 1492, and such names were unknown—so it is possible that Revelation 18’s details of a city called Babylon really foretells what the end will be for the greatest nation of all time. America, with its Declaration of Independence and its Constitutional Republic foundation, is the citadel of freedom.

When “liberty and justice for all,” as its pledge of allegiance to its flag and country proclaims, are turned away and ungodly principles of moral degradation and evilness permeate the culture, that nation’s time left is short.

The focus of events of the last days has always been on Israel and the Middle East, just as Daniel’s prophecies above indicate. 

Beginning with the prophecies of Ezekiel, we get a view of how Israel comes into this period known as “the last days.” As was Daniel, Ezekiel was taken to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar’s armies conquered Jerusalem. His prophecies seem to be focused on Israel, while Daniel’s brought in the secular happenings of the world with their effect on the Jewish people.

Ezekiel 36 brings together God’s promises to scatter Israel into all the nations of the world and then to bring them back to their homeland at a future time. Their disobedience with extreme intentions brought God’s judgment upon them, and He said,

“So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they [of the nations] said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went” (Ezekiel 36:19-21).

The Lord displays His glory as He promises to restore Israel to her land, saying, “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went…, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,’ says the Lord God, ‘when I am hallowed in you before their eyes” (Ezekiel 36:22-23).

It is interesting how Ezekiel clearly follows Israel’s journey. In Ezekiel 37, he tells of the awakening of the valley of dry bones—Israel’s rebirth illustration. In verses 24-28, he brings again God’s promises of restoration to His favor with an everlasting covenant of peace, not just the seven-year covenant that the Antichrist will provide, according to Daniel 9:27. God’s everlasting covenant seems to be timed to counteract the seven-year one, as Ezekiel’s prophecy matches Daniel’s in their timelines.

Then no more is written there until the prophet writes of the coming Gog-Magog war told of in Ezekiel 38-39. After Israel is reborn, as Ezekiel 37 pictures it, God’s promise is fulfilled, and that 70^th week of Gabriel’s announcement—the seven-year tribulation period—must happen. But Ezekiel goes from that war directly to details of the temple in chapter 40 and following.

Unfortunately, their journey, as reported in the account in Old Testament records, tells a sordid story of rebellion, then mercy and restoration, over and over again. As we continue in Part 2, we will learn how this has turned out for the Jewish people. God has never made a promise He did not intend to keep, and He keeps them even though hardship occurs in order to do so.

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@g.mail.com