tranquil
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You've failed to see both the Markan Sandwich and the metaphor in the passages you are quoting.
A "Markan Sandwich" is a style which scholars noticed employed by Mark in his gospel.
What very few realize is that the "Markan Sandwiches" employed by Mark in his gospel are nothing new: this same style found in the narrative in Mark's gospel is very often employed in biblical literature, and is especially prevalent in apocalyptic/prophetic literature, as well as in Psalms and Proverbs.
Failure to notice and recognize "Markan Sandwiches", together with failure to notice and recognize metaphor when it is metaphor in apocalyptic/prophetic literature, has led to an enormous amount of misinterpretation of apocalyptic/prophetic scripture, and has resulted in mountains of faulty eschatological nonsense being propagated by Christians.
An example of a "Markan Sandwich" in apocalyptic/prophetic literature is the closing sentence in Hosea 1, (which is a major part of the theme of the prophecies given in this post in order to give examples of the opening statements):
Hosea 1
4 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.
5 And it shall be, at that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
10 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.
11 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.
"For great shall be the day of Jezreel" is a repeat of what was said in verse 5, and closes the theme of the destruction of the house of Israel (i.e the Northern kingdom), and has nothing to do with the rest of the closing verses (verses 10 to 11a, which is talking about the restoration of the house of Israel and the gathering of the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel together).
Though not called a "Markan Sandwich" because Markan Sandwiches were only named thus when noticed and recognized by scholars in Mark's gospel, nevertheless what you just looked at is a "Markan Sandwich", which interrupts a subject that was introduced, with another subject, and then closes with the first subject. Mark's gospel is full of them, but biblical apocalyptic/prophetic literature, Psalms and Proverbs are also full of them, and you are about to see an important example below:-
Example of a "Markan Sandwich" in Ezekiel chapters 36-39
Ezekiel chapter 36 opens the theme of the restoration of the house of Israel to God and to their land, and Ezekiel 39:23-29 closes the same subject; and whereas Ezekiel 36:16-38 & Ezekiel 39:23-39 is one and the same prophecy and is referring to Israel, Ezekiel 38:1 to Ezekiel 39:22, which is placed in-between the two sections by Ezekiel, is referring to the Gog/Magog nations.
Take note: Ezekiel 39:23-29 is repeating what was said in Ezekiel 36:16-38.
Even though it has never been given that name when applied to literature outside of Mark's gospel, and was not recognized by scholars until it was seen in Mark's gospel, what you see above is nevertheless a "Markan Sandwich" being employed by Ezekiel.
Note: The subject which was introduced in-between Ezekiel 36, which opens the theme of the restoration of the house of Israel to God and to their land, and Ezekiel 39:23-29 (closing the same theme) is not part of the same subject: The two subjects are related to one another, but are not part of the same subject. This can be clearly seen by the fact that two completely different nations are being referred to:
Whereas Ezekiel 36:16-38/Ezekiel 39:23-39 is referring to Israel, Ezekiel 38:1 to Ezekiel 39:22 is referring to the Gog/Magog nations.
Now compare the two prophetic passages below, because the two passages below are talking about the same thing:
Hosea 1
11a 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.
Ezekiel 37
15 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
16 And you, son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for his companions, the sons of Israel. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions.
17 And join them to one another into one stick. And they shall become one in your hand.
18 And when the sons of your people shall speak to you, saying, Will you not declare to us what these mean to you?
19 Say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions, and I will put them with him, with the stick of Judah, and will make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand.
20 And the sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes.
21 And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and will bring them into their own land.
22 And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be king to them all. And they shall not still be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
23 Nor shall they be defiled with their idols, even with their filthy idols, nor with all of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in them where they sinned, and will cleanse them. And they shall be to Me for a people, and I will be to them for God.
24 And David My servant shall be King over them. And there shall be one Shepherd to all of them. And they shall walk in My judgments, and obey My laws, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, the land in which your fathers have lived. And they shall dwell in it, even they and their sons, and the sons of their sons for ever. And My servant David shall be their ruler forever.
26 And I will cut a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.
27 And My tabernacle shall be with them. Yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
28 And the nations shall know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forever.
Now compare the above two passages with what is written below:
Ezekiel 38 (God talking to Gog/Magog)
" 8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you shall come into the land turned back from the sword, gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste. (But he has been brought out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them.)"
Note: The "he" in the above sentence is referring to Jacob, to Israel.
Continuing with God's words to Gog/Magog:
" 10 So says the Lord Jehovah: And it shall be in that day that things shall come into your heart, and you shall devise an evil plan.
11 And you shall say, I will go up to the land of open spaces. I will go to those at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and there are no bars nor gates to them,
12 in order to take a spoil, and to steal a prize; to turn your hand on the inhabited waste places, and on the people gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land."
In other words, (and keeping with the context of what is being said in the passage and not attempting to interpret it) Gog and Magog's war against the people who had already been gathered back into their own land is not part of the theme of the restoration of the house of Israel (seen in Ezekiel 36:16-18 and Ezekiel 39:23-29).
The "Markan Sandwich" employed in Ezekiel chapters 36-39 separates (a) the Gog-Magog war against the above people after they have been restored, from (b) the time of their restoration.
THE SAME METAPHOR BEING USED IN DIFFERENT PASSAGES
Note: It's only metaphor. Whether or not we place the two passages below in the same point in time in human history will depend on whether or not we are Preterists or Partial-Preterists or Amillennialists or Premillenialists. But the metaphor itself is only metaphor, and the metaphor does not ever of necessity mean that two passages that use the same metaphor are referring to the same things at the same point in time in human history:
Ezekiel 39
17 And you, son of man, So says the Lord Jehovah. Speak to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field: Gather yourselves and come; gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood.
18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, of rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And you shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 And you shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, all the men of war, says the Lord Jehovah.
21 And I will set My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgments which I have done, and My hand that I have laid on them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
Revelation 19
17 And I saw one angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come and gather together to the supper of the great God,
18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of strong ones, and the flesh of horses, and those sitting on them, and the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, being gathered to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the rest were slain by the sword of Him who sat on the horse, it proceeding out of His mouth. And all the birds were filled from their flesh.
IN CLOSING
The final sentence in Revelation 19:21, "And all the birds were filled from their flesh" is closing the prophecy with a repeat of what had been said earlier. It's a Markan Sandwich.
I like this quite a bit, the Ezek 36 connection to Ezek 39 especially - which then includes Edom in the Gog coalition (which Edom is mentioned in the Psalm 83 war also and in Joel 3).
As to whether it 'Is' or 'Isn't' the 'Real' Gog war, the upshot remains the same IMO. The 5th Trumpet is 5 months. If the start is the 1st Trumpet, then this 'looks' like the Gog war - the 7 months of cleanup in Ezek 39:12 correlates to the 5 months - 5 months + 7 months = 1 year/ 'Day of the Lord's wrath.
Thus the 6th Trumpet would represent the joining of the 2 sticks (the Lord is in the sanctuary a la Psalm 68:15-24). Apostate 'Israel' (10 tribes) is joined to faithful Judah (2 tribes).
But, Hosea 1 seems to be describing both the beast from the sea & earth and the real 2 sticks joining.
10 (horns)/ 'tribe' 'Israel' commits the abomination
'Israel' is punished (by 'Gog' or real Gog's Locusts) and 'scattered' ("Jezreel" means 'God sows/ scatters [seed]').
After being 'scattered', then they are 'gathered' to 1 head a la Matthew 24:29-31. This is the 'real' rapture - not being 'whisked away', but being gathered to 1 head (Jesus).
For the unfaithful tares, there is the joining of the 10 apostate 'horns' to 2 apostate (previously 'faithful') 'Judah' 'tribes'. The False Prophet is the one who joins the 10 horns to the 2 horns. (I imagine it the politician who will join the 'populists' with the 'progressives' (right & left). The 'Israel' in Hosea 1 doesn't really fit best as historical 10 tribe Israel. It fits better as a metaphor for unfaithful/ faithful Christians whereby nation-state Israel is on the same unfaithful track as apostate Catholicism.
To be able to deceive the elect (Matthew 24:24), there has to be an abomination (sometime during the Seals), then the scattering of 'Israel' (the unfaithful) (Trumpets 1-4, 5), then gathering to 1 head (6th Trumpet) and this head would be the antichrist &/ or false prophet. After the beast is disposed of then the remaining survivors would be joined to the faithful.
The 6th Bowl war ('Armageddon') seems to be the 'real' Gog war whereby the people who survived the beast are the people in Ezekiel 38
10“ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.
It's probably the case that it means literally Gog attacks the surviving people who were gathered at the 6th Trumpet, and also after the 1000 years as in Rev 19.
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