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The Overview of the Plan of God – Part 11

“And I Will Turn Thee Back, and Put Hooks Into Thy Jaws”

Eze 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.
Eze 38:3  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
Eze 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:

Introduction

Here is how we concluded our last study o the overview of the plan of God:

“It is those in whom Christ dwells while yet in this age, who are “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, and who therefore alone possess “the double portion… right of the firstborn”.

Deu 21:17  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

I hope this has demonstrated from the scriptures that the judging of this world is not the right of any but the firstborn, firstfruits unto God and the Lamb (Rev 14:4)

We will stop at this point for today, and, Lord willing, in our next study, we will demonstrate with the Old Testament types what is the rebellious spiritual condition of those who inhabit this earth during the millennium and the “little season” which follows the millennium.”

Continuing with our overview of the plan of God, I want to remind you that we have demonstrated that the destruction of Gog and Magog of Revelation 20 verses 7-9 is the destruction of all the nations of this world. Contrary to what is widely taught in the churches of this world, the destruction of ‘Gog and Magog’ is not the destruction of a minority of mankind. Rather it is the destruction of all of “the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth”. What that means is that after the “little season” of rebellion that follows the millennium, God will  destroy all flesh, and thereby He will “destroy… death”:

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

How is it possible for “the nations in the four quarters of the earth” to attempt to revolt against “the camp of the saints” after being converted by, and ruled by God’s elect for over a thousand years? If indeed it were the purpose of God to convert the nations during the thousand year reign of God’s elect over the nations of this world, then Christ and His elect failed miserably. But if, on the other hand the very purpose of the thousand-year reign was to gradually build up resentment against the rule of God’s elect, for the very purpose of turning them over to Satan, so Satan could convince mankind to revolt against the elect of God, thereby giving God the “occasion” He is seeking to destroy all flesh, then verses 7-9 of Revelation 20 reveal to us that Christ and His elect were very successful at what they were given to do.

What these three verses tell us is that at the end of the millennium there will not be even one converted person. The millennium will have the same end product of the leading of Israel out of Egypt, and the forty years of rebelling against Christ’s leadership as “the cloud” that led them during that entire time. Not one soul was converted, and they all had to die in the wilderness. In type it was only the “new man”, the young, who entered into the promised land. The millennium will produce the same thing Christ’s calling and leading his disciples for three and one half years produced. Not one soul was converted, but it did give Christ the occasion He was seeking against the old man within His disciples. That old man was dethroned on the day of Pentecost, where Christ did, at His own predestined time, convert the hearts and minds of His disciples, through His Father’s omnipresent spirit, coming to dwell within those who were predestined to be judged in this age. What Revelation 20:7-9 reveals is that there will be no converted people during the time of the millennium simply because bringing men to salvation is the very opposite of the purpose for the millennium and the last great day.

Here is the Old Testament type of this little season that follows the last great day. It was a terrifying day for Joseph’s brothers, and out of this terrifying experience came the peace they had been seeking all along. That peace could not come until the ‘old man’, typified by the death of Jacob, renamed Israel, had died:

Gen 50:15  And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
Gen 50:16  And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
Gen 50:17  So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
Gen 50:18  And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

Joseph’s brothers were being ruled by him from the time they came down into Egypt to live in the land of Goshen, but they were not at one with him. Rather they spent the next 17 years fearing for their lives. That torment did not end until their “old man”, typified by their father Israel, died, and only then were they delivered from that life of torment and fear for their lives. Contrary to the false doctrines we have all been taught, God’s elect are no more interested in converting the people who live through the time of the millennium, then Christ was attempting to convert Israel while He led them about in the wilderness for forty years after bringing them out of Egypt. Instead of converting that generation God Himself caused them all to die in the wilderness:

Num 26:65  For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Instead of bringing the holy spirit to all men during the thousand-year reign of God’s elect, the very purpose for these last two steps in God’s work with “the first man Adam” is to give mankind a thousand years to progressively build up great resentment to being ruled by a rod of iron, and then to turn Satan loose upon such a willingly rebellious populace. It is all done for the very purpose of providing God with the “occasion” He is seeking to destroy all flesh, and through that destruction of all flesh He will destroy death. God always gives Himself a good reason, what the scriptures call an “occasion”, to do what He has predestined to be done. This principle is found throughout the scriptures. “The sins of the Amorites [being] fulfilled” is one example, but it is best stated in the story of Samson where we read:

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

“The Philistines” typify our flesh, which has dominion over us all until Christ comes into our hearts. The time of the millennium was never intended to be a time of repentance and conversion. Rather the millennium is designed to be a time when Satan is imprisoned and is not permitted to deceive the nations. The elect of God rule the entire earth during this time with the very same “rod of iron” with which God ruled Israel for forty years in the wilderness. This no-nonsense time of being ruled with a rod of iron is immediately followed by the “little season”, a short period which is predestined to be a time when the nations are given over to Satan to the point that they will rebel against the elect of God, and will “compass the camp of the saints”, convinced by the adversary that they can destroy their immortal rulers. It is at that very moment that “the iniquity of [mankind will be] full” and “fire [will come] down from God out of heaven” and will devour them, bringing all flesh, and therefore all death, to its merciful end.

Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

This cataclysmic event is immediately followed by the second resurrection which is also called the “great white throne… judgment”

There are only two resurrections mentioned in all scripture, and all men of all time are in one of those two resurrections. The first resurrection is that of the “firstborn” (Heb 12:23), and the second resurrection is for all others. [I want to thank our brother, Larry Groenewald, for pointing out in our discussions of his (Genesis Study #75 – 12/11/14) that the double portion goes only to the firstborn, and that the spiritual application of that double portion is to both rule this earth in this physical realm with Christ during the millennium, and then to judge angels in the lake of fire, in the spiritual realm, following the destruction of all flesh.] The apostle Paul was referring to the right of the double portion which is given only to the firstborn when he told the Corinthians this:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels?  how much more things that pertain to this life?

Deu 21:17  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Now there are indeed many degrees of glory within both of these resurrections (1Co 15:35-44), but rulership with Christ over this physical world and the judging of angels in the spiritual realm are promised only to those who are part of that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. That is the double portion of the Lord’s firstborn, firstfruits, and it is theirs only:

Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The “second death” is the lake of fire, so no one who is cast into the lake of fire is in the purview of the promise given here in Revelation 20:6 and in Revelation 2:11.

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Those who are “hurt of the second death” will not be given to rule the nations during the millennium. Only those who are overcomers before the millennium, symbolized by the 144,000, will be given the honor of being in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” to rule the nations with Christ:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

“It is appointed unto [all] men once to die”, followed by judgment.

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

The fact that we are told “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” proves that the death being spoken of in Hebrews 9:27 is death to sin, and the process of “dying daily” is now taking place only within those who “first trusted in Christ” and who now, in this age, have Christ living within them.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

That is a legitimate question, and it deserves a Biblical answer, and we have given that Biblical answer by showing that the lake of fire and the work accomplished therein is the answer to that question.

What Hebrews 9:27 and 1 Peter 4:17 tell us is that the death with which the scriptures concern themselves is with our “dying daily” to the sins of our old man. Those who die first to sin are the first to be judged as “the house of God”. “The second death” has to do with those who are not the first to die daily to the sins of their old man in this life. The second death is given that name because it is speaking of those who are the second group to die to sin, and the second judgment, the “great white throne… judgment”, will follow that “second death”. ‘The second death’ has nothing to do with anyone dying twice. “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27). It has only to do with the order in which one dies to the sins of his old man. The first resurrection is the resurrection of those in this age who are the ‘first to trust in Christ, and ‘die daily… as a living sacrifice… crucified with Christ, nevertheless [a]live’. (Eph 1:12, 1Co 15:31, Rom 12:1, Gal 2:20)

What is the spiritual purpose for the millennium?

Now it certainly is not reading into the scriptures to say that being given “power over the nations” is speaking outwardly of the period of the millennium, when the firstfruits, also called the firstborn, are given “to rule the nations with a rod of iron”. Yes, “power over the nations” has an inward and present application, which must always be primary to us. But in this Biblical overview of the plan of God, we are focused on the dispensational application of the power given to “Him that overcometh”. Those who overcome the wicked one in this age will rule over the nations of this world, and we are also focusing upon what we are told of the spiritual condition of those who are populating this earth during the millennium. Are we anywhere told that the spirit will be dragging them to God? Where are we ever told that “All those who are born during the Millennium… will still have to freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord“? The answer is that we are not told anything of the kind.

The fact is that even the sacrifices which are commanded to be offered during the feast of tabernacles point to the diminishing appreciation of the rule of God’s elect during the thousand years of their rule with a rod of iron. Notice what are the offerings that are commanded to be offered during the feast of tabernacles:

Num 29:12  And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days:
Num 29:13  And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:
Num 29:14  And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams,
Num 29:15  And a several tenth deal to each lamb of the fourteen lambs:
Num 29:16  And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
Num 29:17  And on the second day ye shall offer twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot:
Num 29:18  And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
Num 29:19  And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering thereof, and their drink offerings.
Num 29:20  And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish;
Num 29:21  And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
Num 29:22  And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
Num 29:23  And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:
Num 29:24  Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
Num 29:25  And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
Num 29:26  And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without spot:
Num 29:27  And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
Num 29:28  And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
Num 29:29  And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:
Num 29:30  And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
Num 29:31  And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
Num 29:32  And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:
Num 29:33  And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
Num 29:34  And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.

In the Old Testament, physical wealth symbolizes spiritual wealth as this description of Abraham reveals:

Gen 13:1  And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.
Gen 13:2  And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

Not just everyone in Israel was wealthy enough or capable of offering a bullock to God. Those who could do so were usually the leaders of the people. What the diminishing numbers of the offering of the bullocks tells us is that the leaders of the people who are alive during the symbolic one thousand years of the rule of the nations of this world by the elect saints of God, are becoming progressively less appreciative of that rule with a rod of iron. This time of being ruled by God’s elect will be carried out in a no-nonsense manner, just as God used Moses and Aaron to rule over Israel for forty years. That forty years symbolized the time of trials which Israel endured as they demonstrated how little they appreciated the rule of God over that nation with a rod of iron.

Here are just two examples of how God dealt with the rebellions of Israel during this forty years of being ruled with a rod of iron under God, through Moses and Aaron, as types of God’s elect rulers of this world:

Exo 32:4  And he [Aaron] received them [golden ear rings] at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
Exo 32:6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
Exo 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt [typifying the ways of man versus the ways of God].
Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: [typifying all people “in the four quarters of the earth”]
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. [This is what God will do after the “little season” of rebellion which follows the millennium]

Those were trying times for Israel, and they grew progressively more rebellious as this time of trial continued. Our next example makes clear that it was the whole “camp of Israel”, symbolizing “the nations in the four quarters of the earth” who rose up against Moses and Aaron, who were the symbols of “the camp of the saints” at the end of the millennium.

Num 16:1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2  And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Num 16:4  And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:
Num 16:5  And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.

“All the congregation” is repeated lest we think there was even one exception:

Num 16:19  And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.
Num 16:20  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Num 16:21  Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
Num 16:22  And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
Num 16:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 16:24  Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Num 16:25  And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.
Num 16:26  And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
Num 16:27  So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.
Num 16:28  And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.
Num 16:29  If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.
Num 16:30  But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
Num 16:31  And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
Num 16:32  And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
Num 16:33  They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
Num 16:34  And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.
Num 16:35  And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

Then it is repeated for the third time that “all the congregation of the children of Israel” were in rebellion against the leaders of God. And this is after the earth opened up and swallowed Korah and company:

Num 16:41  But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.
Num 16:42  And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
Num 16:43  And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.
Num 16:44  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 16:45  Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.
Num 16:46  And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.
Num 16:47  And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.
Num 16:48  And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
Num 16:49  Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
Num 16:50  And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

These two examples serve to tell us the meaning of:

Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Mic 4:3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

In the Old Testament these promises are made to Christ, but in the New Testament we discover that they are also extended to the overcomers who are the Christ of Christ:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

That time of being ruled with “a rod of iron” becomes less and less appreciated, as the diminishing number of bullocks offered during the seven days of the feast of tabernacles indicates. The physical leaders of those days, just like the “two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown”, became weary of the rulers who God had placed over them in the person of Moses and Aaron.

It is also instructive to take note that the number of bullocks offered over those seven days are 70 in total, indicating the completion of what God is doing in the flesh of mankind at that time.

We will stop at this point for this week, but it should now be crystal clear that “the nations in the four quarters of the earth” is not a symbol for a minority of mankind, but it is rather symbolic of “all the congregation” of “the nations in the four quarters of the earth”, and that the millennium is not intended to be a time of great revival, but is rather a time in which the rebellion of mankind against the rulership of God will come to its zenith and will thereby furnish God with the “occasion” which He will be seeking at that time to destroy all flesh so as to “destroy… death” (1Co 15:26). Mankind has no choice in the matter of the destruction of all flesh because God tells us:

Eze 38:2  Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
Eze 38:3  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
Eze 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:

This is what inspired John to write this and to add the explanation of the symbolism of Gog and Magog:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

There is yet one more step to be taken in the overview of the plan of God for all mankind, and there is yet one more commandment of God which Israel was to observe which reveals the all-in-all goal which God has as the outcome of His dealings with the flesh of all of mankind.

In our next study we will show that many of the prophecies which the churches of Babylon apply to the millennium have been misapplied to that period of time, and are in reality to be applied to the kingdom of God which is even now within God’s elect, and to the time that follows the millennium. This is the time when God will be all in all.

1Co 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

In our next study we will show that many of the prophecies which we have misapplied to the millennium are in reality to be applied to God’s elect and to the time that follows their time of rulership over the nations of this earth, the goal of God’s plan, the “all in all”.

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