The way those verses (21-29) are written, KJV, it is talking "about" the house of Israel. It is not talking "to" the house of Israel. It is Jesus speaking, but to Christians of what is going to happen.
Ezekiel 39:17-20 Armageddon. Corresponding to Revelation 19:17-18.
So...
Ezekiel 39 is the infallible timeline "framework" for the end times timeline.
Gog/Magog. Then 7 years. Then Armageddon.
The first verse:
Ezekiel 39:1 (KJV) Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal
Magog, Meshech and Tubal were all grandsons of Noah
.
Genesis 10:2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
These men settled in the north of what is known as "the east". Per The Histories of Herodotus by George Rawlinson, page 530:
"The Moschi and Tibareni, always coupled together by Herodotus, and constantly associated under the names of Muskai and Tuplai in the Assyrian inscriptions (just as Meshech and Tubal are in scriptures), can scarely fail to belong to one and the same ethnic family; so that if we can succeed in distinctly referring either of them to a particular branch, we may assume the same of the other. Now the Muskai are regarded on very sufficient grounds as the ancestors of the Muscovites, who built Moscow, and who still give name to Russia throughout the East."
Meshech -> Muscovites -> Moscow, Russia
Tubal -> Tobolsk
Magog -> Scythia -> Serbia
The chief prince referred to in verse 1 is the prince of Rosh. Russia.
Ezekiel 39:1 (NKJV) “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I
am against you, O Gog,
[a]the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal;
a: Tg., Vg., Aquila the chief prince of Meshech
Bible Gateway
commentary:
That “the Prince of Rosh” is Asiatic Russia receives confirmation from the Imperial Dictionary. “Evidence exists of an ancient people called Rosh, or Rhos, supposed to be the original stem from which the Russia or modern Russians have derived their race and name.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary (1960), page 1074:
"The critical expositors have enough to do here to enquire about Gog and Magog. Some think they find them afar off, in Scythia, Tartary and Russia. Others think they find them nearer the land of Israel, in Syria and Asia the Less. Ezekiel is appointed to prophesy against Gog and to tell him that God is against him (verses 2, 3). The confusion which God designed to put this enemy to. It is remarkable that this is put first in the prophecy; before it is foretold that God will bring him forth against Israel. it is foretold that God will put hooks into his [Gog/Magog] jaws and turn him back (verse 4)."
This would point to Russia rising up against Israel, but failing. A precursor event to the second coming.
Speaking of the second coming...
I believe that Ezekiel 39:17-20 and Revelation 19:17-18 are indeed talking about the same event; a battle at the end of time, when they see Jesus coming in the clouds (i.e. this isn't limited to Israel). It will be a world-wide event at the second coming, where the powers of the earth try to wage a futile battle against Jesus who arrives in the clouds. They die by the sword (word of God; a shout; the voice of the archangel, the trump of God) and become a feast for the birds of the earth. Verses 18-19 gives us world-wide context:
Revelation 19:17-19 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
This last-ditch effort to defy God shows the how irredeemable the wicked of the end time are. They would rather fight against God to protect their world of sin than accept His free gift of eternal life in paradise.
Revelation 20 goes on to describe the events after the thousand year reign of Christ, where judgment takes place after yet another battle that Satan tries to bring against the New Jerusalem.
