JESUS IS COMING JoLynn Gower 493-6151 [email protected] g VERSE FOR THE q 9:27-28JOURNEY And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. q was a priest, the son of Buzi q He was taken into exile in Babylon in 597 BC, in the second raid that Nebuchadnezzar made into Israel q :1-3 And the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of , the prince of Rosh, and , and prophesy against him and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.’” WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? • Gog, Rosh, Meshech, Tubal • Russia/former Soviet reps • Persia • Iran • or Ethiopia • Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea? • • Lybia, Algeria, Tunisia • • Turkey, Germany? Austria? • Beth- • E. Turkey, , Asia? • Countries/mountain borders • Syria, Lebanon, N Jordan? • Many people • Islamic allies? • Sheba • Saudia Arabia • Dedan • Yemen, Oman, Gulf states A COMING INVASION q Ezekiel 38, 1-6 predicts a future invasion of Israel q Leader’s name: Gog of the land of Magog q and identify the land of Magog as near the Black and Caspian Seas north of the Mountains, in the southern part of 21st-century Russia. q Leader’s position: prince of Rosh, Meshech, Tubal q Greek writers called the people of Meshech the “Moschoi,” and Assyrian records referred to them as the “ Muski. ” This group settled in the area of Armenia, “where the borders of Russia, Iran and Turkey converge.” (now would include and Azerbaijan) q The people of Tubal were located in the central part of Turkey immediately west of Togarmah. q Leader’s location: “from remote parts of the north” ONE SCHOLAR’S TAKE TIMING q Ezekiel 38:8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. q Ezekiel 38:10-11 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gate” q The gathering has taken place, but are they living securely? q Securely: betach: securely, unsuspecting, unaware MILLENNIAL WAR? q Micah 4:3 And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war. q Revelation 20:7-9 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, , to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. q Ezekiel’s war doesn’t seem to end that way MID TRIB WAR? q Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." q Firm: gabar: strong, mighty q The maker of the Daniel covenant is the Antichrist q Is Gog the Antichrist? He appears at the end of the millennium! q Invading army from the east at the 6th trumpet (Rev 9:13) q Also an earthquake followed (Rev. 11:13) q Pre-trib war? The seven years of burning weapons would support the seven years Ezekiel mentions – but a war isn’t mentioned there in Revelation ARMAGEDDON? q Revelation 19:11-13 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. q Revelation 19:15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations q 2 Thessalonians 2:8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; q Revelation 19:19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. No earthquake; no hail; no fire, brimstone; no pestilence ARROGANCE OF GOG q Ezekiel 38:12-13 …to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.’ "Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, 'Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?’” q Ezekiel 38:17-18 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "that My fury will mount up in My anger.” VICTORIOUS LORD q Ezekiel 38:19 "In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.” q At the mid-point of the tribulation, when the Antichrist breaks the seven year covenant, there is an earthquake q Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm. q Also Rev. 11:13 when the two witnesses are resurrected q Ezekiel 38:22 "With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.” POST- WAR q :9-10 “Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them. They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them," declares the Lord GOD.” q Ezekiel 39:12 “For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.” q Ezekiel 39:15 At the end of seven months they will make a search. As those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man's bone, then he will set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.

EZEKIEL’S TEMPLE q :1-4 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was taken, on that same day the hand of the LORD was upon me and He brought me there. In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, and on it to the south there was a structure like a city. So He brought me there; and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. The man said to me, "Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been brought here in order to show it to you. Declare to the house of Israel all that you see." WHAT AND WHEN? q We know where: Jerusalem q It isn’t the right dimensions for Solomon’s temple or the post-exilic temple built by Zerubbabel q It doesn’t match the dimensions of Herod’s expansion of the temple q Why would there be sacrifices during the millennium? q And why would Jesus build a literal temple? q How can we take this vision spiritually when it is presented in such a literal way q Some people feel that the prince who ministers there is Jesus … but this can’t be right! q :21-22 "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.”