The armies gathered against Jerusalem will experience something akin to a nuclear holocaust – whether actual nuclear weapons, or a supernatural flash, we don’t know. They will also panic and attack one another – something which has happened many times when enemies have come against Israel. Again, Israel also will fight and overcome them.
Revelation 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
The Lord gave Ezekiel a very similar picture of this. Once again the kings of the earth and their armies are described as food for the birds and wild animals.
Ezekiel 39:17 “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. 19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. 20 At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.
Earlier in the same chapter he says:
Ezekiel 39:1 “Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. 2 I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. 4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. 5 You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the LORD.
7 “‘I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel. 8 It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. This is the day I have spoken of.
9 “‘Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. 10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign LORD.
There will be so many discarded weapons, not required for war anymore, so they will be used as fuel – and will last for seven years!
11 “‘On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog. (the hordes of Gog) 12 “‘For seven months the Israelites will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I display my glory will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign LORD. 14 People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground. “‘After the seven months they will carry out a more detailed search. 15 As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will leave a marker beside it until the gravediggers bury it in the Valley of Hamon Gog, 16 near a town called Hamonah. And so they will cleanse the land.’
As we can see the practical clearing up operation after this battle will be a major undertaking. But what does it mean that the Messiah has returned to earth to reign? What will his kingdom be like?
The Return of the King
1 When, after his resurrection, Yeshua ascended into the clouds from the Mount of Olives, the angel promised that he would return in just the same way.
2 Daniel says he will come with the clouds of heaven and all nations will worship him. His kingdom will last forever.
3 Zechariah supports this by describing His feet touching the Mount of Olives, instigating a tremendous earthquake which will split the mountain in two, east-west. A river will flow out of the city in two different directions: east to the Dead Sea and west to the Mediterranean Sea.
4 According to The Revelation, this earthquake will have repercussions around the whole earth, causing the cities of the nations to collapse!
5 The Messiah will appear accompanied by his armies, including the righteous from all over the earth and those who have died, now resurrected.
6 He will go to battle against the Anti-Christ beast and all the rulers and armies of the earth – destroying them with “the brightness of his coming.”
7 The armies will be destroyed by a plague similar to a nuclear attack. In addition, they will turn in panic and attack one another, as well as being attacked by Israel and the armies of God.
8 Their bodies will be eaten by the birds and wild beasts upon the mountains of Israel and it will take at least seven months to bury all the remains.
9 The discarded weapons will be collected up by Israel and used as fuel for seven years – being no longer required for defence.
10 The thousand year reign of the Messiah has begun!
Back to Contents
16 The heart of stone removed
The Messiah will conquer and begin his reign. But where does this leave the people of Israel? After all, this is the Jewish Messiah we are talking about. The Messiah is of the tribe of Judah – he is NOT a Christian, but a Jew! Will the people of Israel recognise him as their own Messiah when he comes?
The answer is a resounding yes! But there is much more to it than just that. The real question is when will the people of Israel recognise him as Messiah? This is not a question which I intend to hand out a categorical answer to, but I can give some pointers.
Firstly, there are already perhaps as many as 350,000 Jewish people around the world who recognise Yeshua as their Messiah. These ‘Messianic Jews’ are the ‘firstfruits.’
Secondly, there are many who are of Israelite descent – but not specifically Jewish – who also recognise Yeshua. These may be from the Lemba (Zimbabwe/South Africa), Igbo and Yoruba (Nigeria), Beta Israel (Ethiopia) or Menashe (India/Burma), etc.
But the majority of the Jewish people are either not ‘religious’ at all, or opposed to acceptance of Yeshua as Messiah. Many of the Israelite tribes (eg. the Pashtuns, Kashmiris) are Moslem by religion and therefore very closed to acceptance of Yeshua as anything more than a prophet.
The Hebrew prophets call first of all for the people of Israel to return to the land of Israel (Eretz Israel) – THEN he will put a new heart and a new spirit into them and remove the heart that is “hard as stone.”
Ezekiel 36:8 “‘But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9 I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, 10 and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebu
ilt. 11 I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 12 I will cause people, my people Israel, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.
24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. 32 I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, people of Israel!
As we said in an earlier chapter, this in-gathering will be the greatest miracle the world has ever seen! That perhaps 90 million people, scattered to the four corners of the earth, should sense a prompting, a desire, to return to the land their ancestors left around 2,700 years ago, is simply staggering.
But, as we already stated, this is already happening! When the brief, but decisive, 6-hour war comes – perhaps quite soon, now – the opportunity will be there for a great ‘Second Exodus’.
From the Asian nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, NE India and Myanmar (Burma); and from the African nations of Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and South Africa; the Israelites will return – to a land no longer in dispute with its surrounding nations.
Could this be when the “change of heart” takes place?
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.
What could this mean? That the whole of Israel would mourn and grieve for “the one they have pierced?” Does it mean that all of a sudden they will recognise Yeshua as their Messiah? I believe it does. But what on earth could bring about such a transformation?
The Ark of the Covenant discovered?
I have a theory – based on some facts – but still only a theory. It involves an amateur archaeologist called Ron Wyatt, from Kentucky, USA, who made several important biblical discoveries back in the 1980s.
Among these discoveries were Noah’s Ark, in the mountains of Ararat, Turkey; the route of the Red Sea crossing, along with remains of chariots, horses and humans; the site of the Mount Sinai/Mount Horeb – in the land of Midian (in Saudi Arabia); and the remains of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, in Israel.
One final discovery is, I believe, the most significant. Ron claimed to have located the sacred Ark of the Covenant in a deep cave within the City of Jerusalem – quite close to the area of the Garden Tomb. Well, you might ask, why is that not common knowledge, then – and announced all over the world?
Ron had permission from the Israeli Antiquities authority to excavate in the area. He could only operate there, with the help of his two sons, while on vacation from his job as a hospital anaesthetist back home in the USA.
He made some significant early discoveries, which could well be the actual site of the crucifixion. He discovered a large stone which could be the one from the Garden Tomb; sockets in a rock platform where crosses may have been erected, with recesses in the cliff behind for the Latin, Greek and Hebrew inscriptions.1
The reason he gave for excavating in this location was simply that he believed that the Lord had told him to, prophetically – that this was where the Ark of the Covenant was buried. His early finds kept him going at first, but many times he was tempted to give up, but was then encouraged by the Lord to continue.
Eventually, he discovered a cave system in the limestone rock that had no evidence of any previous human habitation. One day he asked his young Arab helper to investigate a small side cave which was too small for Ron to enter. The boy entered the cave, shone a light in and then hurriedly scrambled out again looking terrified and left, vowing never to return there.
From: http://www.wyattarchaeology.com
Excitedly, Ron extended the entrance to this chamber and crawled in. He found himself crawling across rocks that were piled up almost to the roof. Growing more and more tired, Ron began to move the rocks aside, in order to reveal what was underneath.
He uncovered some dry rotted wooden boards which when he moved aside revealed animal skins. Something shiny was under the animal skins. Moving them aside, Ron uncovered the Table of Shewbread, from the first temple.
Continuing to shift aside more rocks and wood, he then found a stone casing. The lid had cracked and had been moved aside. Ron shone his flashlight down through the crack and saw a chest of beaten gold. He knew he was looking at the Ark of the Covenant.
Overwhelmed with emotion and suffering from pneumonia Ron passed out for 45 minutes in that chamber. It was January 6th 1982, when Ron made this amazing discovery. He tried to photograph it with a Polaroid, but the photos turned out foggy. He returned with a colonascope, but again the photos turned out foggy.
Whilst in the chamber, Ron noticed a dried, black substance in an earthquake crack in the roof, above the Ark of the Covenant. He noticed that this black substance was also on the lid of the cracked stone casing. Obviously, this substance had dripped from the crack in the roof, and provision had been made for it to land on the Ark of the Covenant, as the stone lid had been cracked and moved aside.
Ron wondered what substance could be so sacred, that God made provision for it to land on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. He remembered the earthquake crack at the foot of the cross hole, and suddenly an awesome realization as to what had happened, came over him.
Ron traced the earthquake crack, and indeed it was the same crack as the one at the cross hole. The dried black substance in the crack was tested and proved to be blood, apparently the blood of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that when Jesus died there was an earthquake and the rocks were rent (Matt. 27:51). A Roman soldier speared Christ in His side in order to make sure He was dead, and blood and water poured out (John 19:34). Ron discovered that this same blood and water poured down through the earthquake crack and fell upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.
This cave appears to be at the end of a tunnel down which the priests removed the Ark from the Temple, during the siege by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar. After placing it and other items there, they then filled the whole length of the tunnel with large rocks, sealing up the entrance, which was in an underground quarry, or cave, under the city.
Ron died in August, 1999, and his knowledge of how to enter the cave system is known only to a few people. Ron believed that the Ark would be revealed when the time was right, and not before.
You may choose, like many others, to believe that Ron was deluded, or mistaken – but his other discoveries have been investigated by others and bac
ked up by further evidence.1
If what he states is true, and, at some future date, the evidence of the Ark’s discovery is made public by the authorities – and particularly the evidence of the Messiah’s blood trickling down from the cross, twenty feet above, onto the Mercy Seat – this could be a major factor in convincing the people of Israel that Yeshua is indeed their Messiah!
God may have some other means of accomplishing this, therefore it is not essential that you accept this possibility. But, for sure, He is going to bring about this miraculous change of heart – so serious, that the whole land will mourn at the same time.
When could this take place? The passage from Zechariah 12 follows the previous one we quoted in our Chapter 14 – about all the nations coming to move the immovable rock that is Jerusalem. But there are many examples in prophecy of a time leap between different sections – e.g. many of the prophecies of the Messiah’s first coming.
It would seem, therefore, to be placed after the in-gathering of the Israelites from all the nations. In turn this will mostly happen after the soon coming, very short, Middle East war. The complete fulfilment may not actually take place until the fall of Mega-Babylon.
The Whore and her Mother: 9/11, Babylon and the Return of the King Page 17
