Cleansing the Land of blood - Satanic Rebellion Crushed

The following are some of my thoughts on the New Jerusalem after reading the Book of Revelation. These thoughts also consider that there may be two Gog and Magog battles on the earth. I lean towards there being only one Gog Magog battle--the one described in Revelation 20. If my theory is correct, and at this point it is only a theory based on my studies, then the Ezekiel 38-39 chapters are not describing Armageddon as many believe, but rather the Revelation 20 battle which occurs after the Millennial Kingdom.

In any event I am “putting it out there” for those who are interested in these things to prayerfully consider. Could Ezekiel 38 and 39 be describing the battle after the millennium? Ezekiel 38.8 could be describing the end of the millennium and this battle taking place at that time. Ref: Rev 20.7-10. Your comments and thoughts will be appreciated and prayerfully considered!

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Rev 20.7-9

This Gog and Magog battle is after the thousand year millennium. After this battle comes the Great White Throne judgment in vv 11-15.

In chapter 21 we see the New Heaven and New Earth with no more sea. Later John is carried away and shown the Holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven. Her walls are described and the twelve foundations with the names of the twelve apostles of the Lord. This is a type of Ezekiel’s temple in Ezekiel 40-48. The holy Jerusalem is on the New Earth. Then...

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Rev 21.22-27

Nations are walking in its light, kings of the earth bring their glory into it. Activity is taking place. The Lord becomes the temple in holy Jerusalem. He is ruling from there. What is he ruling? He is ruling the earth; and from Jerusalem the entire universe. The groaning creation, the universe is beginning to be restored. Man, those who believed, will rule and reign with God in the entire universe! All things will be restored to God’s original intent and we will be working with Him to accomplish the task!

In chapter 22 we see a river of life and trees of life for the healing of the nations. The millennium is over and in verse 3 it says: And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

We are most likely serving in a “universal” capacity. It is not the end of time as far as God reckons--He has eternity.


Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 - 39

It is not entirely clear if this is the Armageddon war of Rev 16 or the war in Rev 20. Ezek 38.18-23 describes action that could totally destroy the earth and make a new earth and heaven likely. In Ezek 39.1-7 it sounds like the Rev 19 Armageddon battle with the birds eating the flesh of the dead. The only thing certain is that Rev 20.7-8 says that a Gog and Magog battle takes place after the thousand year millennium. That alone is clear.

In Ezek 39.12-13 it says that it will take six months to bury the dead and cleanse the land. Before the new earth and new heavens come down the land would have to be cleansed. Revelation 20 speaks of the Great White Throne judgment and then Rev 21 talks about the new heaven and earth. It does not give a time table for how long after the battle it is before the new heaven and earth come down. Based on God’s blood laws in the Old Testament the earth would have to be cleansed before that could happen.

Just as in ancient Israel when the people sinned and turned away from the Lord the temple had to be cleansed. The new heaven and earth will house the new temple--the Lord will be the temple in the holy Jerusalem. So the cleansing of the earth prior to the new heaven and earth, which will be the new temple, would have to take place. Rev 22 is not the end of time but the beginning of the universe being restored and God’s people serving Him in that eternal task.


Blood Polluting the Land

Jewish study Bible: Job 16.18...
Earth do not cover my blood , and let my cry have no resting place!…Job does not want his suffering to be forgotten or unrequited. The idea behind this phrase is the belief that the blood of the innocent cries out from the ground, as in the case of Able (Gen 4.10, Ezek 24.7-8). In a ritual context, Lev 17.13 states that if an animal or bird is hunted down, its blood must be poured out and covered with earth in order for it to be permitted as food. More recently this has become associated with the Holocaust; it appears, for example, in an inscription in Warsaw marking the site where Jews were transported to Treblinka.

“Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust; Leviticus 17:13

And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. Genesis 4.10

For her blood is in her midst; she set it on top of a rock; she did not pour it on the ground,
To cover it with dust. That it may raise up fury and take vengeance, I have set her blood on top of a rock, That it may not be covered.” Ezekiel 24:7-8

…And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
and the land was polluted with blood. Psalm 106:38

So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.” Numbers 35.33-34

Jewish Study Bible: Num 35.33 - The notion that bloodshed and other transgressions pollute the land, thereby endangering its inhabitants with divine wrath, is common in the Bible. (Gen 4.10; Lev 18.28; 2 Sam 21.1-14; Ezek 36.17-19; Hosea 4.2-3)

Hosea 4:2-3
By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

Leviticus 18:28 "lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you."

Ezekiel 36:17-19
“Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.


GOG AND MAGOG
Gomer, Magog, Meshech, and Tubal are sons of Japheth (son of Noah, Gen 10.2) who is associated with Europe and Asia beyond the Middle East. Ezekiel draws on Isaiah 14 when referring to the downfall of a ruler (a king or Satan) and Jeremiah 2 and 3 when he mentions a “foe from the north in his prophecies in Ezek 38 and 39.

Gog has been considered a transnational symbol of evil (as in Isaiah 34, 63.1-6, Malachi 1.2-5, Ex 15) So Gog could symbolize the satanic power behind these armies.

Ezekiel 38.18 thru 39.16 is the haftarah for the intermediate days of Sukkot when Exodus 33.12 thru 34.26 are read as Torah portion. The Exodus portion relates to God’s revelation to Moses and the restoration of the two tablets of the ten commandments he destroyed when returning from the mountain top after the golden calf incident. This is a shadow and corresponds to the restoration of Israel in Ezek 38.1 thru 39.16.

If we view this Gog and Magog battle in Rev 20 as these nations rebelling for the second time after the millennium it also fits with Moses having to go up to the mountain the second time for the ten commandments due to Israel’s disobedience. This second rebellion takes place after the millennium and then forever after there is peace on earth.

Seven months of burial purify the land so that God’s glory or presence may appear. There would have to be a cleansing of the land before the New Jerusalem could come down from heaven and become the temple of the Lord. There are many examples of temple cleansing in the O.T. prior to worship being restored.

The seven years of victory fires and burning weapons in the land (Ezek 39.8-10) may correspond to the seven year rest or “Shemita” that is designated in Lev 25.1-7; exodus 23.10-11; Deut 15.1-18. The “Shemita” was an agricultural and economic cycle of restoration of property to the people every seven years.

Ezek 39.17-29...feasts of birds and animals recall covenant curses in Deut 28.16-44 which are now applied to Israel’s enemies. (Deut 28.26; Lev 26.22)

These are some of my thoughts on these end time issues after seeking and waiting on the Lord for answers. The Old Testament, which contains God’s Torah or Law, answers many of the questions most of us have asked and never received a satisfactory answer on. I merely present these things as an example of how little we actually know and as an encouragement for us to study and get answers from the Lord that make sense.

Why are these end time things important? At some point there is going to be a great awakening and out pouring of God’s spirit on mankind as we enter into the tribulation period. Many of those who repent and turn to Yeshua will have questions we have not previously considered. In many cases the answers we give will be the difference for them to move on in the faith or fall back. End time questions will be on their minds during the difficult times ahead as they look to Yeshua’s second coming. A solid understanding of these things will strengthen the faith of all who are facing difficulties prior to restoration of God’s Millennial Kingdom.