Picture: The revelation of Jesus coming to us, is first of all a spiritual insight and reality that we have even though we don’t see it with our physical eyes. This picture resembles what is said in Rev.19, about Jesus coming as the king of kings.

Introduction.

Ezekiel prophesied that Gog, the Grand Duke, would gather many people far north to go to war against Israel, he would come to steal and rob, but it was still because God drew him to it and it would end in his destruction. We meet this again in the book of Revelation, but first it is the Beast and the False Prophet who gather the people at Armageddon, then the Word of God and the angels of God come and counterattack and conquer them. The devil is bound for a thousand years, so the thousand-year kingdom of peace is established. Then the Devil is let loose and he goes away and gathers Gog and Magog and more people to oppose the camp of the saints and the city that was loved. But then fire came down from heaven and put an end to them. This world is coming to an end. Then the dead will rise and come before the judgment throne of God. Only those who are written in the book of life are saved from perdition (Rev.19-20). 

The New Jerusalem is the city that is loved and it is in God’s heaven and comes down to the new earth (Rev.21-22). The New Jerusalem is the bride of Jesus (Rev.18) and the gospel is to invite to the wedding. It is just accept the invitation and come. He went to heaven to prepare a place for us, so we shall be where he is. As we receive an invitation and come to Him, we notice that this has consequences for our lives here on earth, so we bear good fruit in this world. 

Jesus has already called me into the road to the New Jerusalem, that I walk that path will have significance both for this time and for eternity, for this world and the world to come.  In that way man will notice, realize and experience that he went away to provide a place for us, he comes to us to make it clear to us and we tune in to it until he will bring us home to himself, so we will be where he is.

I have written articles about this on the pages

and 

But on this side: https://faith-and-entropy.com/ny-tid/ I try to go a little further by the Holy Spirit revealing the prophecies to us. This is also the case in this document, and here will be more history writing.

2 Pet.1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

God has revealed His salvation to us in Christ, by His Word and His Spirit, that revelation also becomes important to understand the prophecies, it is prophesied that those who believe in Jesus are persecuted, so they risk being killed because of their faith, but nevertheless they are saved from the Final Judgment. Seduction had to come, but the gospel gives us the opportunity to turn from it and be saved from perdition and have eternal life. Nevertheless, there are many who continue to be seduced until it ends in perdition. Clearly, then, the prophecies serve as a warning against the deceptions and a guide to salvation from the Final Judgment.

The gospel is a liberating message in that it saves and frees us from judgment on the Day of Judgment. Through the purification in the blood of Jesus and the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we get to experience it and realize it.

2.Cor.3:4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we areadequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who made us adequate to be servants of a newcovenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life…….

17 For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 18 because we are notlooking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Col.2:6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your livesin him, 7 rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivateyou through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to humantraditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been filledin him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 In him you also were circumcised—not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ. 12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. 13 And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 14 He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken itaway by nailing it to the cross. 15 Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Heb.2,5 For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels. 6 Instead someone testified somewhere:

“What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him?

7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while. 

You crowned him with glory and honor.

8 You put all things under his control.”

For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of hiscontrol. At present we do not yet see all things under his control, 9 but we seeJesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crownedwith glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone. 10 For it was fitting for him, for whomand through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is notashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, “I will proclaim yourname to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” 13Again he says, “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, with the children God has given me.” 14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh andblood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 15 and set freethose who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. 16 For surelyhis concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 17Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so thathe could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, tomake atonement for the sins of the people. 18 For since he himself sufferedwhen he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

Our day is characterized by doomsday prophets of various kinds, in that they try to present themselves as wise with their ethics, moral philosophy and politics, but they are deceived as in the fall, so that they try to adore themselves with the knowledge they gained by eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Thus, there are many who appear with a message as if they have received the final revelation, but it is by the letter that kills (2.Cor.3,6), as opposed to the Spirit that makes alive, so that it puts an end to the spiritual revelation.

But Christ rose from the dead and lives for all eternity, and we will fix our eyes on him, so that we may see that the spiritual revelation never ends. For him is eternal life and gives us spirit and life from heaven.

Heb.12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run withendurance the race set out for us, 2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneerand perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up. 

Armageddon and the Gog War.

Armageddon.

There are clearly parallel lines in the book of Revelation and it may have to do with the fact that it speaks about different areas of the earth. The beast in John 13 is an emperor of the entire Roman Empire. But it also speaks of a policy that was continued far into the future.

Rev 13:1 Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and sevenheads, and on its horns were ten diadem crowns, and on its heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feetwere like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority to rule.

The “devil” is the “accuser”, his complaints against humans are fundamental, so the human beings, as they are in themselves, do not have much to do against it, in practice nothing, so they do not have much to say, despite democracy. It seems that democracy does not work and acts as an argument for dictatorship. Here we see that the Beast founds his power on the throne of the dragon and thus on his fundamental complaints against humans.

In Revelation 16:12 we are talking about the Euphrates, the kings of the East. The dragon and the beast and the False Prophet send out devil spirits to gather the kings of all the earth for the war on God’s great day, it must then be a day of judgment.

Rev 16:12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates anddried up its water to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 Then I sawthree unclean spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful.

15 (Look ! I will come like a thief!

Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose his clothes so that he willnot have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.)

16 Now the spirits gathered the kings and their armies to the place that is calledArmageddon in Hebrew.

From the Creation story, we can count the Euphrates as a symbol of the fountain of living water, that the Euphrates dried up, then means a spiritual drought period, due to lack of gospel preaching.

Here we do not get to know anything about how this war went on the great day of God Almighty, but we get to know in Rev 19:19-21.

Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. 12 Hiseyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He hasa name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He is dressed in clothingdipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that are inheaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword so that with it he can strike thenations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. 16 He has a name written on hisclothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.” 

17 Then I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to allthe birds flying high in the sky:

“Come, gather around for the great banquet of God, 

18 to eat your fill of the flesh of kings, 

the flesh of generals,

the flesh of powerful people, 

the flesh of horses and those who ride them, 

and the flesh of all people, both free and slave,

and small and great!” 

19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 20 Now the beastwas seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signson his behalf—signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown aliveinto the lake of fire burning with sulfur. 21 The others were killed by the swordthat extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birdsgorged themselves with their flesh.

Mongol and Germanic migration resulted in the downfall of the Western Roman Empire. But the East-Roman Empire lasted much longer.

The Hunane were a Mongol nomadic people who expanded, in the 200s BC, it affected the Chinese, but later they migrated west, around 305 BC they reached Russia and in 375 BC they attacked the lands north of the Black Sea. But this was then north of Mesopotamia, so that these kings did not cross the Euphrates. But it started the Germanic migrations westwards, into the Roman Empire. The Germans were tough warriors and were recruited as mercenaries by the Romans. Odovaker was the chief of such a squad of mercenaries and in 476 AD he deposed the emperor of the Western Roman Empire and put an end to it. Instead he was chosen to be the king of Italy. 

The East-Roman Empire was stronger, both militarily and economically, and was able to defend its borders during the migrations. It was an empire that was also called the Byzantine Empire. It had Greek national language and Hellenistic culture with oriental intervention. It lasted for a thousand years, until the Turks took Constantinople in 1453 AD.

With Islam came an Arab migration that resulted in the Arab Empire.

The Eastern Roman Empire and Persia had long destroyed each other in long bloody wars, but with Islam came in the 600s AD an Arab migration that resulted in a great empire, from the Indus to the Atlantic, but they were unable to take Constantinople. 

At first, the Arabs were a few masters of the great empire, the people had to pay taxes, but were allowed to have their language and religion in peace. Those who converted to Islam got tax relief and it gradually became the case that Islam advanced and Christianity declined and gradually it became inadvisable to conduct Christian missions there. 

They did not destroy the culture of the countries they visited, but learned from it and passed it on. They irrigated and cultivated deserts, they traded and took over the trade routes from ancient times. In China, they got to know the compass and gunpowder, and in India they got the decimal system. From the Arab workshops came textile, carpets, clay and glassware, and weapons of hardened steel.

The Arabs translated books from Greek antiquity and studied them, erected schools, universities and libraries and conducted scientific research by empirical method and made  discoveries in nature and medical sciences. They tried to find natural causes of illness, while doctors in Western Europe believed witchcraft and evil spirits were common causes of illness. The Arabic book world was rich in heroic poems, love poems and fairy tales, the best known is now “A Thousand and One Nights”.

The Arabs used Islam to gather large areas in an Arab/Muslim empire, the ruler of this kingdom was called caliph, so it was a Muslim caliphate, we can read about it here https://www.britannica.com/place/Caliphate/The-Abbasid-caliphatequotation:

Caliphate, the political-religious state comprising the Muslim community and the lands and peoples under its dominion in the centuries following the death (632 CE) of the Prophet Muhammad. Ruled by a caliph (Arabic khalīfah, “successor”), who held temporal and sometimes a degree of spiritual authority, the empire of the Caliphate grew rapidly through conquest during its first two centuries to include most of Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Spain. Dynastic struggles later brought about the Caliphate’s decline, and it ceased to exist as a functioning political institution with the Mongol destruction of Baghdad in 1258.

This article covers the history of the original caliphal state based in Arabia, the Levant, and Mesopotamia in the 7th–13th century. See caliph for a general discussion of the titular position that heads a caliphate; see also Fāṭimid dynasty and Caliphate of Córdoba for other historical examples of caliphates.

Leadership after Muhammad

The urgent need for a successor to Muhammad as political leader of the Muslim community was met by a group of Muslim elders in Medina who designated Abū Bakr, the Prophet’s father-in-law, as caliph. According to the majority of Muslims, the Prophet himself had left no instructions for the selection of a leader after him, although a small minority—the precursors of the group later known as the Shiʿah—advocated for ʿAlī’s claim to the Caliphate. It would be anachronistic to assume that this early group supported ʿAlī because he was a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet. Rather, the early literature indicates that the legitimate caliph was expected to have been an early convert to Islam (precedence in converting to Islam was termed sābiqah in Arabic) and to possess a constellation of moralexcellences (faḍāʾil in Arabic), such as truthfulness, generosity, courage, and, above all, knowledge. The caliph’s authority was largely epistemic—that is to say, based on his superior knowledge of both religious and worldly affairs.

Later, during the Umayyad period (661–750), there was a growing emphasis on kinship to the Prophet as a criterion of legitimate leadership, likely because the Umayyads wished to thereby compensate for their lack of sābiqah, having accepted Islam late during the Prophet’s lifetime. In response, supporters of the claim to leadership of ʿAlī and his descendents emphasized their lineal descent from the Prophet’s family as a marker of their legitimacy. By the 10th century the orthodox Sunni majority had also come to acknowledge kinship as a factor by understanding legitimate leadership to inhere in descent from the Quraysh, Muhammad’s natal tribe, to which the first four caliphs also belonged.

Although the reigns of the first four caliphs—Abū Bakr, ʿUmar I, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī—were marred by political upheaval, civil war, and assassination, the era was remembered by later generations of Muslims as a golden age of Islam, and the four caliphs were collectively known as the “rightly guided caliphs” because of their close personal associations with Muhammad. The rightly guided caliphs largely established the administrative and judicial organization of the Muslim community and directed the conquest of new lands. In the 630s Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Iraq were conquered, Egypt was taken from Byzantine control in 645, and frequent raids were launched into North Africa, Armenia, and Persia.

END OF QUOTE.

Is Rev 16:12-16 a prophecy about the Arab/Muslim Caliphat?

Does the rise of Islam and the Arab Caliphat fit with the prophecy in Rev 16:12-16.We can just try and see if we can make it fit and then evaluate the result afterwards. I have already justified it with some symbolic interpretation and may well come up with more of it. Remember that we must let the Holy Spirit reveal the prophecies to us, if the Christians agree to it, then we have at least made a good start. The Euphrates is the symbol of the fountain of living water and it is the Holy Spirit, so with the evangelical preaching there will be new fresh water in the Euphrates. Furthermore, other water sources also have the same symbolic interpretation, that they were poisoned can mean that harmful heresy came into play (John 8:10-11).

The Euphrates dried up, so the way was cleared for the kings from the East, the closest being Persia, what we now call Iran. So the result was an Arab empire in comparison with Persia at its largest.

But what was the Beast at this time? The Western Roman Empire had perished, the Eastern Roman Empire stood still and was an empire. Then it had to be this emperor who was the Roman Emperor and thus the Beast according to the tradition of the Roman Empire. But here Christianity had become the state religion, so then there should be an end to the emperor worship and thus an end to the seduction from the Beast!

Out of the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet came three devil spirits who went out to the kings of all the worlds, to gather them for the war on God’s great day.  At that time, it was not limited to the Arab Empire, nor to the Byzantine Empire. Still, it could not mean that everyone was gathered in one army, because who would they then oppose? Or should it perhaps be to oppose God’s army, which comes from heaven? Well, in Revelation 19 it actually looks like that, but then it is because God’s Word and his angels contradict them.

When these three devil spirits managed to gather them to battle on God’s great day, then it must have imagined that they would be judge, but then it was they themselves who were judged.

Ezekiel’s prophecy about the war of Gog.

Ezekiel prophesied that Gog would bring many people to oppose Israel, to steal and rob.

Ezekiel.38:1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward Gog, of the landof Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against you, Gog, chiefprince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of them fullyarmed, a great company with shields of different types, all of them armed with swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Put are with them, all of them with shields and helmets. 6 They are joined by Gomer with all its troops and by Beth Togarmahfrom the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples are withyou.

7 “‘Be ready and stay ready, you and all your companies assembled around you, and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latteryears you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, from manypeoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely. 9 You will advance; you will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud coveringthe earth, you, all your troops, and the many other peoples with you. 

10 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come intoyour mind, and you will devise an evil plan. 11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against those living quietly in security—all of them living without walls and barred gates— 12 to loot and plunder, to attack the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiringcattle and goods, who live at the center of the earth.” 13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?”’ 

14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the SovereignLord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice 15 and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vastarmy. 16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In future days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself through you, O Gog. 

Here it is prophesied that God is drawing him to it, but in John 20:7-10 it was prophesied that it was the Devil who deceived them and then the fire would fall from heaven and put an end to them. 

Rev 20:7  Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from hisprison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous asthe grains of sand in the sea. 9 They went up on the broad plain of the earth andencircled the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down fromheaven and devoured them completely. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet aretoo, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever. 

The Great White Throne

11 Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earthand the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then bookswere opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 The seagave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. 14 Then Death andHades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.

2 Pet.3:3 Above all, understand this: In the last daysblatant scoffers will come, being propelled by their own evil urges 4 and saying,“Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberatelysuppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earthwas formed out of water and by means of water. 6 Through these things the world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. 7 Butby the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single dayis like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. 9The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodieswill melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. 11 Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort ofpeople must you be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness, 12 while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze! 13 But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.

Notice that here Peter speaks of the Day of Judgment when the world will end and the day of Jesus’ return as one and the same day. But for God, a day is like a thousand years, so then on that day there is room for the Thousand Year Kingdom as well. Yet, when he comes to get his, it happens unexpectedly and quickly, as when lightning goes out from the east and shines all the way to the west (Matthew 24:27).

But Ezekiel prophesied that God would oppose Gog in more ways than with fire and brimstone from heaven.

Ezekiel.38: 17 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those daysthat I would bring you against them? 18 On that day, when Gog invades the landof Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. 19 In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, I declare that on that day there will be a greatearthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffswill fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will call for a sword to attackGog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will beagainst his brother. 22 I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops, and the many peoples who are with him a torrentialdownpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 I will exalt and magnify myself; I will reveal myself before many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Ezekiel.39:1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! 2 I will turn you around and drag you along; I will lead you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 I will knock your bow out of your left hand and make your arrows fall from your righthand. 4 You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are with you. I give you as food to every kind of bird and every wild beast. 5 You will fall dead in the open field; for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. 6 I will send fire on Magog and those who live securely in the coastlands; then they will know that I am the Lord. 

7 “‘I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 8 Realize that it is coming and it will be done, declares the Sovereign Lord. It is the day I have spoken about.

9 “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and use the weapons for kindling—the shields, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears—they will burnthem for seven years. 10 They will not need to take wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, declares the Sovereign Lord. 

11 “‘On that day I will assign Gog a grave in Israel. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea; it will block the way of the travelers. There they will buryGog and all his horde; they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog. 12 For sevenmonths Israel will bury them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and it will be a memorial for them on the day I magnifymyself, declares the Sovereign Lord. 14 They will designate men to scoutcontinually through the land, burying those who remain on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. They will search for seven full months. 15 When the scouts survey the land and see a human bone, they will place a sign by it, untilthose assigned to burial duty have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog. 16 (A cityby the name of Hamonah will also be there.) They will cleanse the land.’ 

17 “As for you, son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter that I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, allof them fattened animals of Bashan. 19 You will eat fat until you are full and drink blood until you are drunk at my slaughter that I have made for you. 20 You will fill up at my table with horses and charioteers, with warriors and all the soldiers,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. 

I have heard Christians speculate that the bodies of the dead could have been poisoned, since it became such a laborious process of cleansing the land, that it could be because of radioactive radiation after a nuclear war. Then it could also be of the remains from chemical or biological warfare.

But if the priests came close to corpses, they became unclean and had to cleanse themselves to get back into the test. And in Ezekiel’s book it is told that since the kings of Judah set the king’s castel close to the temple, they defiled the temple with the dead bodies of their kings.

Ezekiel.43:6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man was standingbeside me. 7 He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die. 8 When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpostby my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holyname by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger. 9 Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.

When the people of Israel had returned to their land and had begun to build up the temple, Haggai made a prophecy from the Lord, which began with him asking the priests in their lesson. If someone wore holy meat in the collar and it came close to other food, did it become holy? No. But if anyone had defiled himself with corpses and came near food, did it become unclean? Yes. So it was with this people and everything they sacrificed, it was unclean. So therefore they were not blessed, that is, it was because they did not come to Him.

Haggai 2: 10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of Darius’ second year, the Lord’s message came to the prophet Haggai: 11 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said, ‘Ask the priests about the law. 12 If someone carries holy meatin a fold of his garment and that fold touches bread, a boiled dish, wine, olive oil, or any other food, will that item become holy?’” The priests answered, “It will not.” 13 Then Haggai asked, “If a person who is ritually unclean because of touching a dead body comes in contact with one of these items, will it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.” 

14 Then Haggai responded, “‘The people of this nation are unclean in my sight,’decrees the Lord. ‘And so is all their effort; everything they offer is also unclean.15 Now therefore reflect carefully on the recent past, before one stone was laidon another in the Lord’s temple. 16 From that time when one came expecting a heap of 20 measures, there were only 10; when one came to the wine vat to draw out 50 measures from it, there were only 20. 17 I struck all the products of your labor with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ says the Lord. 18 ‘Think carefully about the past: from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, think about it. 19 The seed is still in the storehouse, isn’t it? And the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have not produced.Nevertheless, from today on I will bless you.’”

But now they had laid the foundation stone of God’s house, on that basis they came to him and experienced that he blessed them.

To understand this, we can consider that God laid a foundation stone in Zion, that is Christ, as he died instead of us.

1 Peter 2:1 So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, 3 if you have experienced the Lord’s kindness.

A Living Stone, a Chosen People

4 So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and preciousin God’s sight, 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual houseto be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to Godthrough Jesus Christ. 6 For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will neverbe put to shame.” 7 So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, 8and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royalpriesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtuesof the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 You oncewere not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy,but now you have received mercy.

The Lord’s day was a dark day, so it was when Jesus died on the cross, it was a day of judgment where Jesus was sentenced to death instead of us. This is how he judged the sin in the flesh. Since He died instead of us, it becomes our salvation, if we will only agree to it and receive in faith. Then it is as if we are crucified and died with him, and in baptism we are buried with him.

Joel.2,28 (3:1) “After all of this

I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Your elderly will have prophetic dreams;

your young men will see visions. 

29 Even on male and female servants

I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 

30 I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth—

blood, fire, and columns of smoke. 

31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness

and the moon to the color of blood,

before the day of the Lord comes—

that great and terrible day! 

32 It will so happen that 

everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive,

just as the Lord has promised;

the remnant will be those whom the Lord will call.

Mark 15: 33 Now when it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 Around three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsakenme?” 35 When some of the bystanders heard it they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah!” 36 Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick,and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will cometo take him down!” 37 But Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. 38 And the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 Now when the centurion, who stood in front of him, saw how he died, he said, “Truly this manwas God’s Son!”

Rom.8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfulflesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostileto God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. 11Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alivethrough his Spirit who lives in you.

Then the gospel would save us from being deceived into joining Gog’s campaign against the land of Israel. For Gog evidently musters people to join in this expedition, by the old evil nature rebelling against the Spirit, by the flesh opposing the Spirit. But through the belief that Christ died instead of us, this nature is crucified and dead, while we are to see it this way, that in baptism it is buried with him.

True Jew are those who are circumcised in the Holy Spirit. Through faith in Christ, we have been circumcised in the Holy Spirit and joined God´s Israel. But with the opposition of the flesh to the Spirit, the Beast gathered people to oppose the Gods Israel, and so did Gog.