The land meant is currently desolate first. Currently, in this day and time we live in, this doesn't match reality, unless I'm missing something. The land is not desolate over there any more, yet at the same time, it doesn't appear to have become like the garden of Eden either, at least not yet anyway. With this in mind, let's look at the following.
Ezekiel 38:8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
This verse says---thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword.
Ezekiel 39:23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
Yes. It's talking about the fact that both the house of Israel and the house of Judah had been exiled from their land and scattered among the nations, during which time the land was desolate.
In the Bible there have been three periods of exile:
1. Isaiah 7:8 "For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken so that it shall not be a people."
The above in Isaiah 7:8 is referring to
the Northern kingdom, Israel, or "the house of Israel", a.k.a "Ephraim" in Biblical prophecy
(the 10 Northern tribes are very often collectively called "Ephraim", and very often called
"the house of Israel"), whereas the Southern kingdom, Judah, which consisted of two tribes was called "the house of Judah".
It's very important when we read the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament that we understand the history
and distinguish between which prophetic utterance is talking to which kingdom. For example, when God told the house of Israel/Ephraim (the Northern kingdom) that He was done with them,
He mentioned that He would still have mercy on the house of Judah (the Southern kingdom):
Hosea 1:6-7
"And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to him, Call her name No-mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel. But I will utterly take them away.
But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen."
Isiah prophesied about the coming exile and scattering among the nations of
the house of Israel, and he also prophesied about the exile to Babylon of the house of Judah, but Jeremiah only prophesied about the exile
of the house of Judah in Babylon.
Both prophets prophesied an eventual return for all the tribes.
The house of Israel's ten tribes
have never returned. The vast majority of them were scattered among the nations
and their descendants intermarried with Gentiles to the point where the original ten tribes are untraceable today.
A small minority of the house of Israel (a tiny handful) escaped
to the Southern kingdom (Judah) when the king of Assyria invaded Israel (the Northern Kingdom), and those few who escaped became amalgamated with the Jews over time. All the tribes of Israel are later listed
as returning from the Babylonian captivity, which took place long after Israel (the Northern kingdom) had gone into exile and had been scattered among the nations.
It's very important that we understand that
the Old Testament prophets make a distinction between the house of Judah and the house of Israel, and the context of the passage always tells us which kingdom/people is being spoken of, and it's also important to understand the history, in order to understand the passage by its context. Unfortunately whenever they read anything in the Old Testament prophetic books about Israel, far too many Christians today
think that "Israel" = "the Jews" (the house of Judah) - but this is not the case. "Israel" =
"the house of Israel" + "the house of Judah" (the Jews).
Ezekiel prophesies regarding both. First the house of Israel, then the unification of the two nations into one nation again.
2. The second exile in the Bible is the exile of the Jews ("the house of Judah")
to Babylon, from which they returned.
3. The following exile:
Luke 21:24
"And they shall fall by the sword's edge. And shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations until the times of the nations is fulfilled."
That was after 70 A.D, and it was "the Jews".
This verse says---therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. The more I think about it, this verse does indicate that when he hid His face from them, this is meaning because they trespassed against Him, so because of that He then gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
Yes.
I'm not entirely sure yet, but maybe I am wrong to conclude He is still hiding His face from them when they are attacked by Gog. And let's assume I am wrong to conclude He is still hiding His face when Gog attacks, the land still has to be desolate first, which doesn't seem to match it's current state, and then when it is no longer desolate, it is because it is being brought back from the sword. And then it becomes like the garden of Eden, which also doesn't appear to match this land's current state.
If some, not meaning you though, perhaps propose that it became like the garden of Eden after it was rebuilt, and that Christ dwelt there, how would it still be like the garden of Eden come 70 AD? If anyone proposes something like that, I don't see that working, not to mention, there was still animal sacrificing going on while Christ was dwelling there, and after He ascended. I don't see any of that being like the garden of Eden. And that brings us back right where I started. That the condition of the land is that it has to be desolate first, which doesn't appear to match it's current state, and that it has to be brought back from the sword before it becomes like the garden of Eden.
We need to understand three things about this:
Firstly we need to understand that
a great portion of the land is desert, and there are other prophecies which speak about the desert blooming when the people have been restored to the land, for example:
Isaiah 34:14
"The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the crocus."
Isiaiah 35:6
"Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing;
for in the wilderness waters shall break out, and streams in the desert."
The above
has never happened - the desert that lies inside the state we today call "Israel",
is still desert. However, there are still other things we need to understand:
Secondly we should understand that
a great portion of the land was indeed lying desolate and waste until the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when Jews began to migrate back into Palestine from Europe, and began their kibbutz farming.
Most of the land outside the two main populated areas (Jerusalem and Bethlehem) was lying desolate and waste, and no one inhabited it until then. It is the state we know today as "Israel" that has changed all that -
but a great portion of the land is still desert, and t
he greatest portion of Judah (called Judea by the Romans) lies inside the West Bank.
Most of the territory the Jews of today's "Israel" now call
theirs, lies inside what was once the Northern kingdom of Israel, a.k.a "Ephraim", a.k.a "the house of Israel".
The Jews are not members of "the house of Israel". They never have been, and never will be, and ALL Jews know that they are members of "the house of Judah" and are not "the house of Israel" .
A lot of confusion stems from the fact that when the Jews declared their independence in 1948, they did not call their new state Judah, nor Judea (as the Romans did), but instead, they called it "Israel".
IMO this state called "Israel"
is man-made, brought about through the goals of non-Christian, unbelieving, mostly secular Zionist Jews, and it it did not come about as a result of "God fulfilling the prophecies".
The real fulfillment of the prophecies either (a) still lies ahead; or (b) all had a spiritual meaning.
Thirdly we need to understand that
in Ezekiel 36:16-38 God is talking to the house of Israel (the Northern kingdom's tribes) not the house of Judah.
In
Ezekiel 37:15-28 God says that
both the house of Israel and the house of Judah will become united into one nation in the land. Before this, the prophecy talks about bringing the whole house of Israel out of their graves etc. Most people say this is symbolic, but I believe (in the possibility, at least) that it's
literally going to happen with the resurrection from the dead at the time of the return of Christ.
Fourthly we need to understand that when we read the Old testament prophecies about Israel being gathered into the land again,
this is described using many figures of speech, for example "brought back from the sword to a land that had become desolate and waste", which is only one figure of speech that is used in prophecy when talking about the same thing.
This regathering of both the house of Israel AND the house of Judah back into the land of their fathers is mentioned
over and over and over again in the prophetic books of the Bible, for example:
Hosea 1:4-5
"And the LORD said to him, Call his name God Will Sow.
For still in a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
And it shall be, at that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."
Hosea 1:10-11
Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God.
Then the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall set over themselves one head,
and they shall come up out of the land. For great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Can you see how the above verse (Hosea 1:11) is talking
in one and the same breath about the house of Israel being exiled from the land and scattered
"when the bow of Israel is broken in the day of Jezreel", and being gathered back again, and
Israel and Judah becoming united into one nation in the land again?
This is just as Ezekiel does in chapter 38-39 of Ezekiel, using different words and different figures of speech.
Ezekiel starts off by prophesying about the regathering of the house of Israel (in chapter 36),
then he prophesies of a time when the dry bones will come out of their graves and live again, and that when the dry bones live again, the house of Israel and the house of Judah will become reunited in the land and become one nation under one king (in chapter 37),
then he prophesies that after this (after they had been brought back from the sword and had been living in the land in peace, safety & prosperity for a long time), Gog/Magog will come against them -
but in one and the same breath God keeps mentioning the fact that Gog/Magog is coming against a people who had been brought back from the sword, gathered into the land, and blessed in the land with peace, safety & prosperity.
100% for sure God is no longer hiding His face from them
when Gog/Magog's army comes against them - Gog/Magog's armies are coming against a people living in peace, safety & prosperity,
who had been brought back from the sword, and Gog/Magog decides he's going to attack
and take a spoil.
When God destroys Gog/Magog,
His name is sanctified once and for all time in that the heathen will all know once and for all, that He is God.
And then it becomes like the garden of Eden, which also doesn't appear to match this land's current state.
Exactly. So it's either still future
OR it's all fulfilled in a spiritual way (the way Amils say it is).
PS: Who is "the house of Israel"?
They are the ten tribes
who were exiled from the Northern kingdom, scattered among the nations, and never returned. They are the people:-
1. To whom God said:
Hosea 1:4-11
"And the LORD said to him, Call his name God Will Sow. For still in a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
And it shall be, at that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to him,
Call her name No-mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel. But I will utterly take them away.
But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
And when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
And He said,
Call his name Not-my-people. For you are not My people, and I will not be for you.
Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered.
And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God.
Then the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall set over themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land. For great shall be the day of Jezreel."
At the time, God had mercy on the house of Judah. Later Judah, too, was exiled from Judah, and went into captivity in Babylon, but they were brought back.
But the house of Israel has never been brought back.
Then
Judah was exiled
again in 70 A.D and scattered among the nations.
But, since the latter part of the 18th century and during the 19th century, many
Jews have returned.
But the house of Israel has never gone back. They were scattered among the nations and their descendants intermarried with Gentiles to the point where the original 10 tribes are untraceable today.
So who are they?
How can they be brought back into God's flock and into God's land?
They are the people of whom Paul said,
Romans 9:22-27
"What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction;
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared to glory;
whom He also called, not only us, of Jews, but also of the nations?
As He also says in Hosea, "I will call those not My people, My people; and those not beloved, Beloved."
And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them. "You are not My people; there they shall be called sons of the living God."
Isaiah also cries concerning Israel, "Though the number of the sons of Israel is as the sands of the sea, a remnant shall be saved."
They are the people of whom Jacob (Israel) said:
Genesis 48:19
"And his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He (Manasseh) also shall become a people, and he also shall be great,
but truly his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he is, and his seed shall become (Hebrew: mlo' goy: the fullness of the Gentiles)", translated correctly into English as "a multitude of nations."
In Ezekiel 37, the two "sticks" of Israel and Judah become one again.
How?
This is how:
Galatians 3:28
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is no male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Colossians 3:11
"where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave or freeman, but Christ is all things in all."
Conclusion:
So the prophecy in Ezekiel (and all the prophecies talking about the regathering of Israel and Judah into the land of their fathers where they will be united into one nation again is either literal and still coming, OR it's fulfillment is spiritual, as the Amils have it.
