EZEKIEL 39--VERSES 1-4! ET #34 3/85 DO 2152
1. (SINGS:)
"'COME & DINE,' THE MASTER CALLETH,
'COME & DINE!'
YOU MAY FEAST AT JESUS' TABLE ALL THE TIME!
He Who fed the multitudes,
Turned the water into wine,
To the hungry calleth now,
'Come & dine!'"
PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen! (Sings:)
"All things are ready,
Come to the feast!
Come for the table now is spread.
Ye famishing, ye perishing
Thou shalt be surely fed.
Hear the invitation,
Come whosoever will!
Praise God for full Salvation,
Come whosoever will!"
PTL! Hallelujah! You guys thought those songs were all for dinner, didn't you? Well, they are!--Including this dinner that the Lord gives you from the Word! Praise God!
2. CAN ANYBODY REMEMBER WHAT WE'RE STUDYING? (FAM: EZEKIEL!) I'm not even going to review you this morning, because I think I've been over it enough that you guys should know this pretty well already. I think I even reviewed you again on Chapter 38 last time. So you had your review, plus a few other sermons & a few other lessons. We study everything in this Class, from Biology to Eschatology!
3. I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU EACH ONE READ A VERSE SEPARATELY, BUT I'D BETTER READ THEM SINCE I'M THE CLOSEST TO THE MIKE. In the old days we didn't have to worry about recording, of course we didn't have to worry about transcribing then either, & we didn't have to worry about printing, & we didn't have to worry about preaching the Gospel to the whole World or passing out millions of pages of lit! But we're accomplishing a lot more now than we did then! Just think of those hundreds of hours of lessons I taught in those days, they just were so much hot air! If they didn't remember them, a lot of them went in one ear & out the other, & some of them were sitting there staring at me wondering which one of my jaws was working. Well, I can tell you now since I've been to the dentist which one is working, it's this one, because it's been sprained for about a month!
4. SO IN ORDER FOR THE WORLD TO HEAR ABOUT THIS I HAVE TO USE A MICROPHONE, & you don't all have mikes. Otherwise in my old classes I used to have each one read a verse & go around, that way I'd make sure they stayed awake too! But I think I can usually yell loud enough to keep you awake. Even the kids sit here & stay awake. Isn't that something?
VERSE 1: GOD TALKS TO GOG & MAGOG!
5. (VERSE 1:) "THEREFORE, THOU SON OF MAN, PROPHESY AGAINST GOG, & SAY, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech & Tubal." Now He's going back & saying it again. He started off the 38th Chapter that way & He wants to let you know it's God speaking, so it's gotta be true! And when that happens, it's direct prophecy. You'll notice a lot of the Bible is not direct prophecy, but here the Prophet is getting a direct prophecy & he's simply quoting the Words of God, in fact he's not even quoting, they're coming right through his mouth. That's the way direct prophecy is, also speaking in tongues, also interpretation. It's the Word of God coming right through your mouth!
6. I'M NOT A VERY GOOD INTERPRETER, BUT I DO GET THE GIST OF THINGS! I have gotten direct prophecies many times in the past, often in my sleep, & that's pure Word of God just coming when I didn't even know it; other times you speak in tongues. I usually know when I'm speaking in tongues, I sometimes burst out in tongues when I'm talking to you, & right away I get the meaning.
7. THERE ARE ALL DIFFERENT KINDS OF THE SAME GIFT, THE WAY IT'S DISPENSED & THE WAY IT OPERATES, ETC. For example, my gift of interpretation is not as beautiful as my Mother's was & as some are. My gift of prophecy is pure, beautiful, but usually only when I'm unconscious or asleep or something. But my gift of interpretation, I usually get the ideas, sometimes I just get the ideas even without the words. God can speak to you without words, did you know that? He can give you the idea in your head even without any words. Words are just tools, vehicles to convey ideas, to communicate something.
8. WHAT DOES THAT BIG WORD "COMMUNICATE" MEAN? (Children: Talk.) Well, that's about the simplest way of expressing it, to talk! Most communication in the whole World is talk, whether it's written down on paper or dot-dot-dot morse code or radio voice or telephone or tell-a-woman, it's all the same! It's talk! Yes! And that little one over there (Mary Dear) has the cutest talk I think I ever heard from a little one, she really talks cute! She knows she's a star too! Just give her a chance to know she has an audience & she'll really ham it up! God bless you, Mary Dear! All right, you've had your bow, now it's my show!
9. SO ALL THAT TO EXPLAIN WHY I HAVE TO USE A MICROPHONE! See? I always have to explain it all so you'll understand, in case you miss anything. So nowadays we're bound by microphones & electronic equipment, but it's a great boon, as well as a bind. It means not only you will hear it & then forget it, but the whole World will finally get it & not forget it, because they'll get it in black-&-white in print on paper so they can't forget it. If they do forget it, they can go back & read it again!
10. SO HE'S PROPHESYING AGAINST GOG & MAGOG--& WHO ARE THEY? (TECHI: THE ANTICHRIST & RUSSIA.)--Right! The littlest one here got it exactly right!--Well, almost the littlest one. I'm sure Mary Dear is going to be about as smart as the rest of them. She's getting to be a big girl, she's sitting up here in Class now too! So he's the chief prince of Meshech & Tubal, & what are those? (Fam: Moscow & Tobolsk.)--Yes, two of the most important cities of all Russia. Moscow is the center of Russia, the heart of Russia, & Tobolsk was once considered the principal part of the Eastern Soviet Union, what they call Siberia etc. or out in that direction.
FROM THE NORTH PARTS!
11. (VERSE 2:) "AND I WILL TURN THEE BACK & LEAVE BUT THE SIXTH PART OF THEE, & WILL CAUSE THEE TO COME UP FROM THE NORTH PARTS, & WILL BRING THEE UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL." Now sometimes the Lord speaks in funny ways!--Sometimes because it's very poetic, & sometimes because He wants to cheer you up by telling you the end before the beginning! First of all, what is the actual chronological order of this verse? Does He destroy Gog & Magog first before they come down for their invasion? (Fam: No.) "I will cause thee to come up from the North parts & will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel", that's the actual first event in this verse. But then He says, "I will turn thee back & leave but the sixth part of thee."
12. AFTER ALL, WHO WAS THIS PROPHET? (Fam: Ezekiel.) And what was his nationality? (Fam: Jewish?)--Jewish, of course. Does anybody have any idea where he did most of his prophesying? (Fam: Israel?)--No. At the time of most of his prophesying he tells several times that he was one of the captives, like Daniel, & it was in some of the places where they were a captive people. (Eze.1:1) He also spent time in Israel too, but we won't go into that or that will be another lesson!
13. BUT ANYHOW, GOD SAYS THAT HE'S BRINGING GOG & MAGOG & ALL THAT FROM WHAT DIRECTION? (FAM: NORTH.)--FROM THE NORTH PARTS. What direction is Russia from Israel? (Fam: North.) There are actually only three countries directly North of Israel. Can we point them out on the map there? See if you can find what three countries are directly North of Israel. If you draw a line due North of Israel, the first country you run into is either Lebanon or Syria, depending on which way you go, then the next one is Turkey & the next one is Russia! So there are really only two countries between Israel & Russia depending on which way you go, whether you take the Lebanese route or the Syrian route.
14. RUSSIA IS NOW THE MAJOR POWER NORTH OF SYRIA, SO GOG DOESN'T HAVE VERY FAR TO GO FROM HIS HOMELAND OF MAGOG TO GET DOWN INTO ISRAEL! Maybe some of you have maps in the back of your Bible that you can see better. On this map that shows you the whole ancient World, the Near East, you see half of the Mediterranean & you see Turkey up here, which they used to call Asia & we now call Asia Minor. I don't think they even call it Asia Minor any more, but they used to call it Asia Minor when I was in school. And down here is the beginning of the Arabian Peninsula & all this desert here. Israel is over here, here's the Sinaitic Peninsula, & over this way is the Valley of the Tigris & Euphrates.--And what country used to be called the country between the rivers? (Fam: Mesopotamia.)--Which today is what? (Fam: Iraq.)
15. IF YOU GO STRAIGHT NORTH FROM ISRAEL, THE MOST DIRECT ROUTE THROUGH LEBANON INTO TURKEY, THEN YOU BUMP INTO WHAT GREAT BIG SEA? (FAM: THE BLACK SEA.) So Gog couldn't very well come from that direction unless he has an awful lot of boats, although that would be the shortest route. Well, he's got a lot of boats, but he's got'm spread out pretty thin all over the World. The easiest way to come, of course, is by land, especially if you come with tanks or horses or afoot or whatever way you come, if you're going to bring hundreds of thousands of soldiers, maybe even millions! One place in Revelation we read, "The number of them was two hundred thousand thousand" riding on horses that came from the East! (Rev.9:16) So it's easier to come across the land.
16. IF YOU'll LOOK AT THE MAP, THERE IS A RIVER THAT RUNS INTO THE CASPIAN SEA, BUT ITS SOURCE IS ACTUALLY NEAR THE BLACK SEA, THE RIVER ARAKS. And if you just draw a crooked line between the end of the Black Sea on the left, West, & the Caspian Sea on the right, East, that right there is the border of Russia! So even though there are only two countries between Israel & Russia--either Lebanon or Syria, plus Turkey--then you bump into the Black Sea, so that's not an easy route to come.
17. YOU'VE SEEN & READ "ISRAEL INVADED" (ML #281), & WE PUT ON THE COVER OF THAT LETTER A MAP SHOWING THE MOST LIKELY ROUTE ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE THAT HE'S GOING TO COME. Instead of the short route which runs into the sea, he would have to come down here first of all. And what nation is over here just the other side of Iraq?--In fact, Iraq is having a big war with them right now. (Fam: Iran.) This big area here is all Iran, & just the valley of these two rivers here is Iraq. So the shortest route for them to come is from the border of Russia through a corner of Iran & across Iraq, the way that most of the famous old trade routes of the East & camel routes used to come. They'd come right down through here like this & through Syria, which is already pro-Russian, & Iraq which is also leaning pretty much toward Russia, & Turkey which is getting more anti-U.S. almost every day.
18. THE U.S. HAS PRETTY WELL ALIENATED TURKEY'S FRIENDSHIP OVER CYPRUS, BECAUSE THE U.S. BACKS THE GREEK JEWS OF CYPRUS AGAINST THE TURKS. Therefore, it's not going to be long before Turkey turns from the U.S. to Russia. After all, the U.S. is clear across the ocean & Russia's right there on her border, & so is Iran. Turkey borders on Russia, Iran borders on Russia, & what other country borders right on Russia that Russia has already taken over? (Fam: Afghanistan.)--Right. And if you wonder why Russia's building huge air bases right over here in southwest Afghanistan almost right next to Iran, those will undoubtedly be the major air bases supporting the troops that are going to be pouring down from the North that are going to fly in from the East to give it support. Russia has a very good reason for wanting Afghanistan.
19. RIGHT NOW IT'S LETTING IRAN & IRAQ FIGHT IT OUT & NOT BACKING EITHER ONE, & ACTUALLY HAS BEEN SELLING ARMAMENTS TO BOTH SIDES! The Jews are backing Iran, believe it or not, & supplying Iran with arms, armaments, spare parts, etc., because they hate Iraq, their nextdoor neighbour, & Iraq hates them! So they're backing Iran to fight Iraq. The U.S. tried to stay neutral for a long time but is leaning more & more toward Iraq now, believe it or not, & boy, the [EDITED: "Jewish journalists"] sure hate it! They know the U.S. is already against Iran because of all the things that have happened, but they want to keep it also against Iraq, their enemy neighbour. So that's a problem.
20. BUT THE RUSSIANS CAN COME FROM THE NORTH & THEY CAN EVEN COME FROM THE EAST. If they come from the other side of the Caspian Sea they come right around through Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq & Syria to the heart of Israel. That's the route, that's the direction. You need to get this picture in your mind of the geography to get a little idea of why these things are going on over there right now, the wars etc., & who's fighting who! It looks like Russia is just deliberately waiting until Iran & Iraq just wear themselves down & wear themselves out.--And the U.S. & the rest of the World are just letting them, in fact they're making money off of it. They say Turkey is booming because of the war. They're doing a booming trade with both sides, because they're the major land route from Europe for supplies. Turkish trucks are rolling continuously into both Iraq & Iran supplying both sides with food & all kinds of equipment that they need. So Turkey's arms-makers & arms-sellers are booming because of the war!
BACK TO THE ARENA!
21. LET ME TELL YOU, WARS DON'T GO ON JUST BECAUSE THE COUNTRIES WANT'M TO GO ON, THEY'RE OFTEN DELIBERATELY AGGRAVATED & PROVOKED & STIRRED TO FIGHT WITH EACH OTHER SO THE ARMS COMPANIES CAN SELL BOTH SIDES ARMS! It's like when I was a kid & the bad bully boys used to try to sic dogs on each other & deliberately precipitate a dog fight, or fights between little boys. They'd provoke'm & tease'm & aggravate'm. They'd set two dogs against each other & "sic'm on each other" they used to call it, to provoke a dog fight or a little boy fight, then the big boys stand back & laugh. They like cruelty!
22. THOSE AMERICANS LOVE CRUELTY, THEY LOVE VIOLENCE, THEY LOVE DESTRUCTION! They love to see those beautiful new cars torn up by the millions of Dollars' worth every year in movies. They love to see houses blown up, explosions & people cruelly treated & murdered & tortured & destroyed. They love it! That's what most of these movies are about most of the time. You can hardly find something peaceful, something beautiful, something natural, something human about human relations, about people without all this shoot'm up, blow'm up, tear'm up junk! Most American television is nothing but violence & destruction, & they love it! The Bible speaks of them that love death! (Pro.8:36) They love to defy death, they love to tempt death, they love the races, they love the stunt men, guys that have to defy death all the time & risk their lives just to amuse people & entertain people.
23. THEY'RE GETTING RIGHT BACK TO THE ARENA, RIGHT BACK TO THE ROMAN GAMES! Nowadays they almost kill each other & sometimes they do in these racing accidents, prize fights & football, they have all kinds of injuries, often death. They've already got the arena, they've already got the gladiators! They even sometimes call the footballers gladiators, almost killing each other, & sometimes they do. They're just one little legal step from allowing those sports & those games to go entirely openly to the point of death being the goal, to kill your enemy, to kill the other team, to kill the other side! They're doing it even with skating. Roller skating used to be a legitimate sport where people were really trying to win a race, but now with roller derby it's just a brawl, a free-for-all! If they don't have fights on the rink it's not a good show.
24. WE SAW A MOVIE RECENTLY WHERE THE FELLOW WAS COUNSELLING THE SKATERS & SAYING, "NOW REMEMBER, THE AUDIENCE IS COMING FOR A GOOD SHOW! The main thing is not the skating, the main thing is not the race, the main thing is the fights & the blows & the knockdown, drag-outs, drag-offs, that's the show!" It's gotten to where that's what people really want mostly in football. People don't go to auto races to watch the race, they're hoping for an accident! They want to see a car tumble end over end & the driver get killed, that's what they want to see! It's not a good race unless they have some bad accidents.
25. PEOPLE ARE GLUTTONOUS FOR VIOLENCE & DEATH & DESTRUCTION! They love it, they want it & they'll get it too! God's going to come along one of these days & laugh at His destruction of these people who want to be destroyed. The Devil gets into people, Satan wants to destroy people, so he makes them desire destruction. Think of it! "Them that love death!" They love to watch it, they tempt it themselves, & if a sport isn't a real death sport they don't like it! That was the name of the movie, "Death Sport." But you don't even have to have that kind of thing, nearly every sport is a death sport!--Death-defying leaps, death-defying trapeze artists, death-defying motorcyclists, death-defying car races, death-defying football, death-defying pugilistic boxing bouts! It's all death-defying. They can be thankful they don't get killed! But then they go back for more, gluttons for punishment!
26. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE PAYING FOR, THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE! They want to see somebody get beat up to a bloody pulp in the ring until he's flat on the floor & half-dead! It's not a good fight unless they see something like that. Just a couple of guys dancing around each other giving a few punches, that's nothing, they want to see somebody get knocked out!--And they get a real rush & a real high of excitement when they hear the guy finally died & got killed. That's what they want to see, they want to see death, they want to see destruction, they want to see absolute annihilation!--And that's what they're going to get! That's what they love & that's what God's going to give'm! Boy, how could I get so much out of the second verse? Well, it's there!
INVASIONS OF ISRAEL!
27. THEY COME DOWN TO INVADE & CONQUER ISRAEL, & SO EARLY IN THIS THE LORD PROPHESIES HOW MUCH OF THEM ARE GOING TO BE DESTROYED! This is a very strange verse. We know this has got to be Armageddon by what follows, but it says here how much of the armies of the Antichrist are going to be destroyed? (Fam: Five-sixths.)--Right! See that? That's how many fingers? (Children: Six.)--Right, including two thumbs. So if five-sixths is destroyed, how many does that leave? (Children: One.)--One whole hand gone just leaves one thumb. Just think, he's going to destroy that many, five out of six, & that'll mean tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, depending on how large a force is in that last great invasion of Israel!
28. BELOVED, I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON BEGINS WITH AN INVASION OF ISRAEL!--THE FINAL INVASION OF ISRAEL. By this time Israel's been invaded by Gog & Magog Antichrist forces how many times? Well, look back in Daniel at those first four wars of the Antichrist that we studied. Of course, he has more before that, it's kind of indefinite but understood, but how many of them are actual invasions of Israel? In the fourth one he's already occupied Israel & he's fighting whom? (Fam: The East.)--Yes, & probably the West too. In other words, he's still fighting the friends of Israel.--Well, somewhat the enemies of Israel, the Kings of the East. But in that fourth war they apparently must be on his side & are helping him by that time. The Arabs, the Iranians, the Afghanis & all those Kings of the East, maybe even China, will be fighting on his side & helping him. In fact, they get so helpful that according to the Bible they eventually turn on him, because they want Israel for themselves.
29. SO ALL THE FIRST FOUR WARS OF THE ANTICHRIST ARE WITH ISRAEL & HER FRIENDS! So the fifth war, which is Armageddon, is also with whom? (Fam: Israel.)--Israel & her friends all over again! Almost every single one of them are invasions of Israel. Now you can go back & study it if you want to, we've studied it before in Daniel & here in Ezekiel, every single one is with Israel & her friends!--Why? Why does the Antichrist, Communist Russia, have to fight Israel & her friends? (David: Because they're so powerful.)--Right! And what does Communist Russia want to do? (Fam: Control them.)--Dominate the World!
30. LET'S FACE IT, ISRAEL & HER FRIENDS ARE NOW DOMINATING THE WORLD. They are the World champs right now & Russia is the challenger. Israel & her friends have been ruling the World particularly ever since World War 2, & Russia is the young, up-&-coming challenger who wants to rule the World. So what does the challenger do? Whether it's a chess match or a prize fight, they challenge the champ to a fight!--In fact, in this case, five fights! You don't work your way up to the championship in just one fight, did you know that? You don't usually get up that high until you've licked everybody else that has fought with the same guy & all the ones that he's licked, & then finally they give you a bout with the champ himself. You've got to fight your way all the way to the top, & every country that's ever gotten to the top has had to fight its way all the way, one nation after the other, until they conquered that part of the World.
31. RUSSIA IS NOW FIGHTING ITS WAY TO THE TOP, & WE KNOW THAT IT'S GOING TO GET THERE BECAUSE GOD'S WORD SAYS SO! But it's not easy, the Antichrist fights five wars! I mean it's almost unbelievable how much they have to fight Israel & her friends! The Antichrist as the World dictator, the World power, the ruler of the World, although he is ruler of the World he still has plenty of trouble with it & lots of it. Like every great dictator or great Czar or great Caesar or great tyrant, all is not always peace, sweetness, roses, light & honey in their empires. Their history is almost one row of continuous wars with this power & that power. That country rebels, another nation challenges & they have to keep fighting to stay at the top. So that's what the Antichrist & Russia do, they have to keep fighting war after war, & virtually all of them, in fact every one of them, with Israel & her friends!
32. SO THIS IS THE FINAL INVASION & THIS IS GOING TO BE THE LAST ONE! Well, really there's one more, & what is that one? Here Russia's coming down to invade Israel, they hope for the last time, & squelch that country once & for all & forever, probably planning to wipe out the Jews about like the Romans did, just slaughter'm & wipe'm out! But then what happens? Russia invades from the North, but there's another invasion. Well, there's something about an invasion from the East where some of his Eastern friends apparently give him trouble, but that's not clear. But the main invasion that occurs at the Battle of Armageddon is not the invasion of the Antichrist forces from the North.
OUR INVASION & "THE SIXTH PART"!
33. THE WORLD IS ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT ARMAGEDDON! Every World War they've called another Armageddon, every threat to World peace they say, "Ah, here's the Apocalypse, here's the Battle of Armageddon! Here it comes, the End of the World!"--And they're always thinking about the Superpowers or the Atomic War or battling each other. But the greatest, most significant, climactic, Apocalyptic invasion that this World has ever known is going to come not by the hundreds of thousands of horsemen, not even by 250,000 men & horsemen as was in one of the greatest battles the World has ever known as far as the number of participants & antagonists on any one side. That was the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C., the Medes & the Persians against Alexander the Great when the Medes and the Persians put 250,000 men in the field against Alexander the Great & he licked'm with an army of only a little over 60,000! They just tumbled like dominoes.
34. THIS BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON IS NOT GOING TO END WITH AN INVASION OF THOUSANDS, NOT EVEN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS. Two million horsemen are going to come from the East as apparently part of the battle, & I think the Antichrist is a little worried about whether they're going to come to help him or to take over. He's kind of caught between these Arabs & Muslims from the East.
35. BUT THE GREATEST FORCE & THE GREATEST INVASION IN THIS GREATEST BATTLE THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN AT THIS TIME IS GOING TO COME FROM HEAVEN!--With not thousands, not hundreds of thousands, not even millions, but literally billions of people! Do you realise there are already billions of saved people in Heaven?--There's gotta be, must be! There are going to be enough people in Heaven to just about fill things up with still plenty of room. Can you imagine an army charging out of Heaven? Some of our little Posters & pictures have pictured a few horses & Jesus & a handful of riders, but that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface! There are going to be billions of us coming back to Earth!
36. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT A SHOCK THAT IS GOING TO BE TO THESE ARMIES FIGHTING EACH OTHER ON EARTH WHEN SUDDENLY WE APPEAR OUT OF THE SKY BY THE BILLIONS?--The largest invasion force the Earth has ever known, enough to wipe'm all out! But actually, the Lord is not sending us down to wipe them all out, He's actually sending us down to save the forces that are fighting the Antichrist forces. And this may be difficult to understand, but it sounds here like He's not going to actually wipe them all out, but He's going to leave a sixth part of them!
37. NOW THAT IS STRANGE, BECAUSE OUR USUAL PICTURE FROM REVELATION SAYS "THE REST WERE SLAIN BY THE SWORD." Revelation the 19th Chapter pictures the Battle of Armageddon & it says "the remnant were slain with the sword" (Rev.19:21), & He invites the beasts of the field & the fowls of the air to come for a great feast upon the dead.--In other words, to help God & to help the World get rid of all the dead corpses that stink up the Earth & are stacked like dung upon the Earth! Did you know the beasts of the field & the fowls of the air help to get rid of all those dead bodies that otherwise create disease & contamination & stench & rot & filth? The beasts of the field & the fowls of the air are the first ones to descend & start cleaning up the battlefield if the people can't get'm hauled away & buried fast enough. They pick the flesh off the bones & leave the bones.
38. SO GOD IN THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON LITERALLY INVITES THE BIRDS OF THE AIR & THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD TO COME & HAVE A FEAST! This feast is described in both this Chapter, Verse 4, & also in the 19th Chapter of Revelation, Verses 17 & 18, in which He invites them again: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun; & he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come & gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God!" We've just had a nice big Feast up in Heaven, now God's going to give a big feast to the fowls of the air & the beasts of the field! "That ye may eat the flesh of kings, & the flesh of captains, & the flesh of mighty men, & the flesh of horses, & of them that sit on them, & the flesh of all men, both free & bond, both small & great." When He says all men, does that mean they're going to eat up everybody on Earth?--No!--Of course not! But it means all these men that are going to be killed & die.
39. ALSO THE 20TH VERSE SAYS THAT AT THE END OF THIS BATTLE "THE BEAST WAS TAKEN, & WITH HIM THE FALSE PROPHET THAT WROUGHT MIRACLES BEFORE HIM, with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast, & them that worshipped his Image. These both were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth." Now that is a strange picture, but that is a word picture trying to describe the power of God. Where is God's greatest power? You don't think Jesus is really going to come down out of the Heavens with a sword sticking out of His mouth, do you? What does it symbolise? (Fam: The Word.)--The Word! God can slaughter'm with just a single Word!--The power of God just to speak the Word, the Sword of His Word, & slaughter them.
40. "AND THE REMNANT WERE SLAIN WITH THE SWORD ... & ALL THE FOWLS WERE FILLED WITH THEIR FLESH."--WHO'S THE REMNANT? The Beast & the False Prophet are the heads of the Antichrist forces, so who's left after they're cast into Hell? (Fam: All their followers.)--Their followers! Those with the Mark of the Beast are slaughtered by the sword, they're slain, they're killed! The Antichrist & the False Prophet are cast immediately into Hell, but the followers are simply killed. Probably lots of them go to Hell too, or places like Hell. And how long do they stay dead? (Fam: Till the Great White Throne Judgement.)--The Great White Throne Judgement & Second Resurrection. So they're simply killed, & of course their spirits go to whatever they deserve for the time being, probably Gehenna, Hell, Lake of Fire or whatever.
41. SO IN REVELATION IT SAYS THE REST OF THEM ARE KILLED, & THE 39TH CHAPTER OF EZEKIEL SAYS HE IS GOING TO SAVE OR SPARE OR LEAVE "BUT THE SIXTH PART OF THEE." Now what do you think that means? In one Chapter it sounds like they're all going to be killed, & sometimes we've said that, but apparently not all of them are going to be killed immediately, a few are going to be left. We're inclined to believe that of course all of these forces who are following the Beast & fighting in his army must all have the Mark of the Beast.--Not necessarily! There may be some allies who join for this reason or that: "We refuse the Mark but we'll fight with you, we'll help you!"--Probably enemies of Israel who want to fight Israel anyhow, but maybe some of the people who've even refused the Mark of the Beast! Does that shock you? Well, that's my theory. Just because it says the rest are slain with the sword doesn't necessarily mean all of the rest. Just because it says "all men small & great" are going to be devoured by the birds & the beasts etc., doesn't mean all the people on Earth! But God says right here, one-sixth! One out of every six of the army of the Antichrist is going to be left, obviously it means alive.
42. WELL, THINK THAT OVER A LITTLE WHILE & SEE WHO YOU THINK THEY MIGHT BE! Well, I have a kind of a theory, maybe a little bit of a guess. I think from other Scriptures, obviously the people couldn't have the Mark of the Beast, because those who knowingly take the Mark & worship the Beast & have rejected Christ are all going to be destroyed. But don't you think it's possible the Antichrist might have a few allies who don't like the Jews & are willing to fight the Jews on his side, even if they're not willing to take his Mark? Isn't that logical or reasonable or sensible, at least guessable? You can do with that what you may, but there's a possibility.
"THY BOW & THINE ARROWS!"
43. (VERSE 3:) "AND I WILL SMITE THY BOW OUT OF THY LEFT HAND, & WILL CAUSE THINE ARROWS TO FALL OUT OF THY RIGHT HAND. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou & all thy bands." Now bow & arrow doesn't necessarily mean they're going back to bows & arrows, that's just all they had in the days when this was written. How could He possibly say guns & bullets? They never heard of guns & bullets, they'd never seen guns & bullets. I think in some of those descriptions in Revelation where it says "their tails will sting with fire & they belch out smoke & fire out of their mouths" etc., how could the Prophet describe guns any other way than mouths belching smoke & fire?--Tails like small guns that sting! He'd never seen guns before, & even if he saw them in a picture he wouldn't know what to call them. The word "gun" hadn't been invented yet, because the gun hadn't been invented yet. Gun powder had never been invented yet except perhaps by the Chinese at that time who used it for firecrackers & fireworks & celebration. So the Prophet, if he was seeing this scene, couldn't possibly have known what it was even if he saw it, so he just describes it the best he knows how. Maybe that'll explain some of those things & monsters in Revelation. Maybe they're tanks! Maybe they're planes dropping bombs!
44. AND ONE THEORY I'VE GIVEN YOU IS THAT THE PARTICIPANTS, ESPECIALLY RUSSIA, REALISE THAT A LOT OF THE GUNS ARE OPERATED ELECTRONICALLY, most of them now except hand guns, etc. Planes, tanks, ships, big guns & bombs all have electronic circuitry which must operate in order for them to explode & shoot & operate. If they drop a sky-high bomb over the U.S. itself they say that it would knock out everything electronic in the whole country without even killing a single person or destroying a single building! What they call the Electromagnetic Pulse, the EMP, will knock out all the telephones, radios & all electronic circuits. That's why the military in the U.S. is now working like mad trying to build shields to go around the circuitry of the bombs & the guns & the tanks & the planes, because one good atom bomb exploded sky-high above the United States would knock out every electronic circuit in the country & the whole thing would be dead without destroying a building or a person or anything! They couldn't fight!
45. MAYBE WHAT THE LORD IS TALKING ABOUT HERE IS THAT THEY'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO REVIVE SOME OF THOSE ANCIENT WOODEN WEAPONS! What were bows & arrows made of in the old days? (Fam: Wood.) Shields were even made of wood in many cases. And horses are made of flesh. Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) will not affect horses & horsemen or spears, bows, arrows & shields if they're all made of wood. So that's something to think about! I'm not saying that that's it, but that is a theory advanced by some as to why there are so many horses in this last battle & so much is spoken of as using bows, arrows, shields, spears, swords, etc. Steel swords are not affected by Electromagnetic Pulse either, they don't have electronic circuits. They could still use swords, shields, bows & arrows even if every tank, every gun, every plane, every bomb & every missile is completely knocked out of operation.
46. MAYBE THE ANTICHRIST IS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN, SO HE PREPARES AN ARMY THAT CAN'T BE AFFECTED BY THAT. Then when the enemy, totally dependent upon electronic circuitry, has all of its weapons completely knocked out, the hordes of the Antichrist can ride in triumphant with nothing but bows & arrows & swords & shields! I'm not saying that that is definitely the answer, but that is one answer that some theoreticians have given, that that's why the Bible speaks so much about horsemen, swords, shields, bows, arrows, spears etc. being used in this last battle. And that would explain, then, why it takes them seven years to burn all that trash & all those armaments. It's not too easy to burn a tank or a big gun or a metal plane & a few other things like that--although they can be burned & they do catch fire & explode & burn sometimes--but boy, you can sure burn wooden weapons! They can burn them up, that's for sure. So that is one of the explanations.
SLAUGHTER ON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL!
47. (VERSE 4:) "THOU SHALT FALL UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL, THOU, & ALL THY BANDS." It's pretty specific where this battle is going to occur! It is so specific it names the country, it names the valley, it names the main mountain. Who knows? Maybe they're going to have some kind of observation post set up there or something to control the battle. It even says that it's fought to the walls of Jerusalem, it names the city! It couldn't be more specific where this is going to be fought!
48. AND WHERE ARE THE ANTICHRIST FORCES GOING TO BE SLAUGHTERED? Where does Verse 4 say? Where, Folks? Wake up! I know it's late, but for God's sake let's get this done with here! (Fam: Upon the mountains of Israel.)--On the mountains of Israel! "Thou & all thy bands, & the people that is with thee." You've got to moderate some of these terms & you've got to compare Scripture with Scripture. One verse He says "all", another verse He says "five parts out of six". The Prophet & the Lord are speaking a little bit like I do sometimes, in generalities. You sometimes speak in general terms & you may say "all" when you don't really mean every single person!--Got it?
49. WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHETHER WE OUGHT TO GET INTO ALL THESE LITTLE DETAILS, BUT ANYWAY, FOR SOME REASON NOT ACTUALLY ALL OF THE ANTICHRIST'S ARMY IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED. I could say, well, maybe those people are just fighting with him & the Lord didn't destroy them because they didn't receive the Mark of the Beast. Maybe the Lord didn't destroy them to give them their chance to yet hear the Gospel & be saved like some of the other people. Maybe He will even allow them to live on into the Millennium so they'll have a chance. It's possible. He must spare them & leave them out of the destruction for some reason, right?
50. HERE'S ANOTHER THOUGHT: COULD IT BE THAT FIVE-SIXTHS OF RUSSIA IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED?--NOT JUST THE ARMY BUT THE WHOLE COUNTRY? They've already used atomic weapons in the destruction of Babylon with Russia & Europe firing them at Babylon & destroying the Whore, why shouldn't they be using some even in this final war that could really destroy a lot of people & a lot of countries that hadn't been destroyed before? Well, we don't know some of those details, I'm just throwing out suggestions, guesses & theories that you can think about. One of these days you may say, "Oh there, that's it, that's the answer! That's what the Lord was talking about!"
51. IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE QUESTIONS IN MIND, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIND OUT THE ANSWERS? So I'm giving you the questions about some of these things & events so that even if we don't have the answers now, when it happens you'll recognise the answer. Savvy? That's a lot of what the study of Bible Prophecy is. You don't understand everything that's said, but why do you think God said it when you don't even understand it? God said a lot of things to the Prophets of old, most of which they didn't understand.--Why?--Because now we understand! There's a lot He's still saying that we don't understand, but why is He saying it now?--So that when it does happen we'll recognise, "Oh, that's it! That's what He meant! That's what He was talking about!" See how important it is to know it even if you don't know the answer yet?
A REMNANT SHALL BE SAVED!
52. (VERSE 4:) "THOU SHALT FALL ... ALL THY BANDS & THE PEOPLE THAT IS WITH THEE: AND I WILL GIVE THEE UNTO THE RAVENOUS BIRDS OF EVERY SORT & TO THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD TO BE DEVOURED." This would have sounded in the ears of the Israelites as very encouraging words. Here God is predicting a mighty invasion by this king of this Northern power that sounds like he's about to destroy Israel, but at the same time God is saying He's going to destroy the destroyer. So don't worry, you Jews, don't worry, you true Israelites, don't worry, you real believers!
53. EVEN AMONGST THE JEWS THERE ARE A FEW REAL BELIEVERS IN GOD WHO ARE STILL LOOKING FOR THE MESSIAH, BELIEVE IT OR NOT. And I'm going to show you some shocking verses about how God is going to help them to believe then at the very last minute after some of these things happen. A few, a remnant, just a small number will wake up when they see these things happen & realise that they were wrong to reject Jesus & that God has come to rescue them & to save just a little remnant & to help them believe, & they will believe & they will receive at that time.
54. THINK OF THE MERCY OF GOD! GOD'S MERCY IS FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING, AMEN? If He can save some of those Jews at the very End, God certainly has more mercy than I have! Although if I knew those Jews like God does, I probably would love them & want to save them too. Amen? There are many sincere Jews & I have met a few, & though they had a hard time trying to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, still they did really want to know. God promises He'll fill the hungry soul. "He that hungereth & thirsteth after righteousness shall be filled." (Mat.5:6) So that's the shocking news you're going to get in Zechariah, that God is still going to save some of the Jews. Paul says time & again, "And a remnant shall be saved!" (Rom.9:27, 11:5) "And so," he says, "all Israel shall be saved." (Rom.11:26) Well, that doesn't mean all the Jews, that just means all those who are genuine Israelites at heart. Amen?
55. SO IT'S DEFINITELY IN HIS WORD THAT HE'S GOING TO HAVE MERCY ON SOME JEWS AT THE VERY END WHEN THEY FINALLY SEE & BELIEVE! To them, seeing is believing, they've gotta see it to believe it, & then He's going to save them. Well, we have to end on a kind of a good point at least! PTL? Oh boy, this has got lots of good points here! ILY! All you girls have very nice points!--Especially two good points! TYL! Shall we pray? Do you want to hold hands with us, Mary Dear? That's a good girl! We're going to pray the King's Prayer, the Lord's Prayer together. Are we ready? (Prays the Lord's Prayer) Amen! Hallelujah! TYL! And so we take over the Kingdom, that's the happy end of the story! PTL! That was a heavy subject & I get into a lot of detail, but I guess the Lord allows it because you guys are going to have to live it! God bless you all! ILY!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family