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Yes, exactly. Let's look at Ezekiel chapters 36-39, bearing in mind that it's all one narrative (there were no chapter divisions in it until thousands of years after it was written):As to this land, apparently Amils don't take this to be meaning literal land in a specific region of the earth, such as in the middle east. What about anyone that takes this to be literal land? If one takes it to be meaning literal, what does one then do after 70 AD, the fact they are expelled out of this land? How does that square with the following?
Ezekiel 37:24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
If literal land is meant, how were they fulfilling verse 25 once the events of 70 AD occurred? That verse indicates they shall dwell in this land forever, and not temporarily instead. It seems to me then, if the land meant is literal, this can't be fulfilled prior to 70 AD, but has to be fulfilled post 70 AD. And if that is the case, we have to keep this in mind when we are trying to interpret Ezekiel 38-39. We also have to keep in mind that 70 AD caused Jews to once again be led away captive into all nations, and that a little before mid century last century, Jews began returning to their land, literal land.
Chapter 36:
1-15 God is talking to the mountains of Israel which had been bare and waste and taken by other nations as their possession because Israel (all Israel) had been exiled and scattered among the nations for a prolonged period.
16-38 God is talking to the house of Israel saying he will gather them back into the land and sprinle clean waters on them, take the stony heart of flesh out of them and give them a heart of flesh, put His Spirit in them, etc.
It's all New Testament language.
Chapter 37:
1-14 Dry bones living again. Verse 12: God opens their graves. Verse 14: God puts His Spirit in them.
15-28 The house of Israel's 10 tribes and the house of Judah's two tribes are united again into one nation in the land, under their King, David God's servant. (Paul says in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile). The tabernacle of God is in their midst from now, and forever more.
Chapters 38-39
God is now talking to Gog/Magog, telling them that after the people (the same people mentioned in chapters 36 & 37) have been living in the land for a long time in peace, safety and prosperity in unwalled villages, God is going to allow Gog to attack them.
In chapters 38-39 God is talking about both Gog/Magog and the people they have come to attack. There is no judgment mentioned for the people Gog/Magog have come to attack - the judgment is against Gog/Magog.
The overall picture of Israel and Judah being gathered out of the nations to which they had been scattered, back into the literal land in the Middle East, at the beginning of a prolonged period of peace, safety and prosperity ties up very well with the literal one thousand years and reign of Christ over the nations. The release of Satan at the close of this period and going out to deceive the nations ..
The overall picture is Premil IF taken literally - but Gog/Magog's destruction is not described in the same way in Ezekiel 38 &39 as it is in Revelation 20. You mentioned the birds being invited to eat the flesh of kings, etc, which ties in only with what Revelation 19 states regarding the close of this age and the armies of the beast (so this would agree with Amil).
All I know is that the souls in Revelation 20 had been beheaded for a reason - and the reason is given in the same part of the passage - and the reason also gives the time of their beheading (whether at the beginning or the end of the thousand years), and that's aside from all the other reasons I listed in that other thread for my belief that the millennium is literal.
The overall picture supplied in Ezekiel 36-39 is the same as a literal thousand years, IF both Ezekiel chapters 36-39 AND Revelation 20 are taken literally and chronologically, but even so, some (though not all) of the details between Ezekiel and Revelation clash, as you have pointed out, and as Amils have pointed out.
This is why when it comes to Ezekiel, I don't try to get to the bottom of it all.
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