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Take the following for example.
Ezekiel 38:4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
There are some that apparently take this literally, thus an ancient battle is in view here, therefore this has already been fulfilled in the past.
These same ones ignore the following though, or if they don't ignore it, they apparently misunderstand it then.
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.
Ezekiel 38:16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
This clearly says that these things will happen in the latter years, the latter days, IOW the last days, the same last days mentioned in the NT. Apparently, there can't even be any latter years, last days, until there is a first coming of Christ first, therefore placing these events sometime post the first coming. Obviously, there has already been a first coming, but what since then up until now could possibly explain verses 4-6? Not only does that need to be explained, so does the following, not to mention, events recorded in ch 39 as well.
Ezekiel 38:17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
When has anything like this ever happened, in any sense, since the first coming up until now?
If nothing involves a literal ancient battle already fulfilled, but that what is recorded in Ezekiel 38-39 is future still, are we to seriously take Ezekiel 38:4-5 in the literal sense, that this will involve ancient weaponry? Does this mean we then need to spiritualize these events instead? Not necessarily. Ezekiel could have simply been describing 21th century warfare via imagery from his day and time.
Ezekiel 38:4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
There are some that apparently take this literally, thus an ancient battle is in view here, therefore this has already been fulfilled in the past.
These same ones ignore the following though, or if they don't ignore it, they apparently misunderstand it then.
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.
Ezekiel 38:16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
This clearly says that these things will happen in the latter years, the latter days, IOW the last days, the same last days mentioned in the NT. Apparently, there can't even be any latter years, last days, until there is a first coming of Christ first, therefore placing these events sometime post the first coming. Obviously, there has already been a first coming, but what since then up until now could possibly explain verses 4-6? Not only does that need to be explained, so does the following, not to mention, events recorded in ch 39 as well.
Ezekiel 38:17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
When has anything like this ever happened, in any sense, since the first coming up until now?
If nothing involves a literal ancient battle already fulfilled, but that what is recorded in Ezekiel 38-39 is future still, are we to seriously take Ezekiel 38:4-5 in the literal sense, that this will involve ancient weaponry? Does this mean we then need to spiritualize these events instead? Not necessarily. Ezekiel could have simply been describing 21th century warfare via imagery from his day and time.