Transcription
All right, welcome to this installment of the wine press. Uh, in this episode, we're going to discuss a very interesting prophecy. I expect that this will be a pretty short session, but I want to take some time to look at the prophecy of Ezekiel 38, which is part of Ezekiel 38-39, often referred to as the battle of Gog and Magog. And I want to look at a particular a couple of particular points made in this prophecy which in my opinion genuinely do debunk not only predtoism but also some of the really popular anti-semitic tropes that are floating around right now in the podcasting world and on social media and so forth. So the title of this session is the one prophecy that debunks predism and the lies of the anti-semites.
So predtoism uh for those who are not familiar with this term predism is the idea that the majority of biblical prophecy has already been fulfilled in history. So for example, when you look at the various prophecies of the prophets throughout the Old Testament, uh Joel may be speaking of the day of the Lord or Zechariah may be speaking of the day of the Lord or Zephaniah or Isaiah may be speaking of the day of the Lord. Predtoists would say that all of these are different days of the Lord that all of these prophecies, all of these oracles are historically fulfilled. you know, they'll say, "Well, Isaiah was speaking of Edom that happened back, you know, in, let's say, the 8th century, and Zechariah is speaking of something else, and this, you know, they're all speaking of completely disconnected judgment events throughout history." And that's the end of it. Those are the end of the prophecies. That's all they're referring to. There is nothing uh beyond that that we should expect to be fulfilled. Therefore, the scriptures do not speak of what is popularly understood to be the end times. Okay. So, they'll say those who believe that there is a future great tribulation, a future antichrist, the mark of the beast, all of these things, they would say that's all nonsense. They would say because you guys that believe that, you've misinterpreted the Bible. You don't understand that all of these prophecies should be broken up and none of them are actually speaking of the same thing. There is not one ultimate future day of the Lord. or maybe there is a coming day of the Lord, but there's been many uh previous days of the Lord.
And then secondly, many of the anti-semites that you'll hear today, I mean, all you have to do is just put up the word Zion on Facebook or on Twitter and people just come out of the woodwork um and they're just like, "Well, the Israel today, that's not the Israel of the Bible." Um or those Jews in the land of Israel, they're not even Jews. They're Kazarian convert fakers. uh they're impostors and this type of thing, you know, it's you hear it every day. A very very it's just a repeated mantra, a cliche. And I don't think a lot of the people who even repeat it even know what they're talking about. They're just literally repeating something that they've seen a meme. And this is the nature of the way the human mind is changing in light of social media um and sort of Tik Tok education culture and this sort of thing. So, as I said, that'll that's a very common cliche that the Israel of today is not the Israel uh of the Bible or they'll just, you know, say something related to that that the people in the land today are not actually Jews. They're not actually uh Israel.
Now let me just explain something real briefly that the manner in which the biblical prophets function and this is so important for every student of the scriptures to understand is the biblical prophets were indeed oftent times prophesying judgment events that were in their near or nearistant future. There were often events that were relevant, let's say, 20, 30, or 100 years out, sometimes 200 years out. But despite the fact that they were prophesying concerning these historical judgments, they prophesy through these historical judgments as they look forward to the ultimate cataclysmic consumate day of the Lord at the end of the age, which still remains in our future. And this is such an important thing to understand. As I said, for every student of the scriptures, this is the way the prophets function. You could say they're prophesying through these historical events, or you could say that they project these events out to the escaton. And they all have one sort of common ultimate vision that they're talking about. Now, this is not just my theory. This is widely widely understood and recognized by biblical scholars across the boards. And this uh approach to prophecy, it's referred to in really several different ways. Everyone has sort of a different way of uh explaining it or different phrases that they use to describe it. Some people will say this is telescoping. You know, there they'll kind of use that analogy of the prophets were looking out and they see these different mountain peaks. They don't realize that they're uh quite a distance apart, but they're and it looks like it's one mountain peak. That's somehow sometimes how it's uh described. Others will say that it's what's called prophetic foreshortening. So that they're drawing from the ultimate end of the age and they're sort of pulling it into the temporal events as I said that were in their near or nearistant future. Um others will say this is just simply typological prophecy. So the events of history, the judgment events of history are types or shadows of the ultimate day of the Lord at the end of the age.
Now, what's important to recognize is that this is how the New Testament interprets and understands the day of the Lord. This is so important. This is the interpretive key. If anyone disagrees with wants to argue with what I'm saying, it is unarguable that the New Testament interprets the day of the Lord as one consumate singular future day of the Lord. The New Testament never once refers to days of the Lord. You'll never see day of the Lord plural in the New Testament. Nor will you ever see the coming of the Lord or the revealing of the Lord or the appearing of the Lord plural. It is always the singular coming of the son of man, the appearing of the Lord, the revealing of the Lord. and the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord, the coming of Jesus and the day of the Lord are always combined together into one event. In fact, the New Testament refers to it as the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the New Testament takes the Old Testament day of Yahweh, the day of the Lord, and the New Testament multiple times actually calls it the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'll challenge any predator. Show me a single verse anywhere in the New Testament that speaks of the day of the Lord or the coming of the Lord in the plural tense. It I mean in the plural. It simply does not exist.
So I want to show how the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 debunks predism and as I said the false claims that the Israel of today is not the Israel of the Bible. So I want to read Ezekiel 38 uh 38 14-18. We're not going to read all of the prophecy, but this is a very important and relevant uh portion. The Lord says, "Therefore prophesy to Ezekiel, son of man, and say to Gog." Now in this oracle, Gog is the leader of this massive coalition of nations that's invading the land of Israel. And if you've been following with the Gospel of the Skullcrusher Bible study, we've discussed the fact that in the prophecy of Balum, Numbers 24, there is a textual variant. Whereas most of our Bibles will say that the seed in the king of Israel, this is a messianic prophecy. Most often our all of our modern translations will say that the seed in the king of Israel will be exalted above Aag. Well, AAG was a historical king of the Amalachites that was defeated by Saul. But there are six much more ancient manuscripts, all of which, as I said, there are textual variants here, but they all do not have a gag. They all have Gog. So in the unfolding story of the battle between the two seed lines, the seed line of the serpent and the seed line of Eve or the righteous, the Messiah is the one who will crush the head of the snake. And the first time that the ultimate seed of the serpent is named in scripture, he's called Gog. And so when you get to Ezekiel 38 and you see the word Gog, you go, "Oh, that's the seed of the serpent. That's the human sock puppet of the serpent at the end of the age that will be defeated by the seed and the king of Israel, the Messiah. Again, the biblical backstory is very important.
So prophesy and say to Gog, "Thus sayaeth the Lord God, on that day when my people Israel are living securely, will you not know it? When my people Israel are living securely, you will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many people with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly, a mighty army. And you'll come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. So like a flood, like a cloud. And it shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, oh Gog." So he says, all of the Gentiles of the earth will come to know me when I sanctify my name through you, this invading enemy of Israel who invades the land of Israel. Now ready? Thus sayeth the Lord God, are you the one of whom I spoke of in former days through my servants, the prophets of Israel. It's a rhetorical question. The Lord says, are you not the one? He's saying basically, you are the guy. You're the one that I've prophesied I would bring you against my people Israel. He says, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them. He's saying all of the previous prophets that came before Ezekiel, it's been a unified message that the previous prophets have been saying that in the last days I would bring you against my people Israel and against their land. It will come about on that day when God comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord, that my fury will mount up in my anger.
So again, predtoists who most often look at all of these Old Testament prophecies and they say, "Well, that was relating to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar and this was related to Senakarab and the Assyrians and this was related to this other historical event." They have a super super hard time uh finding some historical reference to explain Ezekiel 38:39. It's really interesting to see them try. I only know of two treatments where I've seen predtoists try to say that Ezekiel 38 and39 is a historical event. Uh one is a treatment by predtoist Gary Demar um who argues that this is actually speaking of the Assyrians. It was speaking of the Assyrian invasion of the land of Israel. Uh I've also heard Steve Greg who I recently debated um speculate. He doesn't take a dogmatic position but speculate that it could be referring to Antiochus Epiphanies. Now again what we need to remember is that Ezekiel was after the Assyrians, right? Ezekiel was way way way after the Assyrians. So why would he be prophesying of something in the future with regard to something that happened in the past? And secondly, with regard to Antiochus Epiphanies, the descriptions of what happened historically with Antiochus do not align with the prophecy. So there are huge historical problems first of all um with trying to find any event in history that aligns with what Ezekiel is describing, especially if it's after Ezekiel. Okay. But beyond that, there's a very important statement made right in the prophecy which debunks their efforts right out of the gate, which is God says, "Gog, you're the guy. Gog, are you not the one?" So, one of the most important questions that we have to ask is where are all of the previous prophets before Ezekiel speaking of a last days invasion of the land of Israel? Where is it?
So, let's look at some of these uh passages. So first of all, when you look back from Ezekiel's day and you look back at the previous prophets, what you do see are multiple prophets speaking of a multinational coalition gathered by God himself for the judgment of Israel. And this is important. It is God's judgment against Israel as the Gentiles come against Jerusalem and against Israel. So Ezekiel 38 uh 15-16 again just this is the the foundation text and then we're going to look at some of the others. Ezekiel says you and many peoples with you a great assembly you will come up against my people Israel like a cloud. We just looked at that. Now I want you to notice that God calls them my people Israel. Now, the supersessionists, the replacement theology guys will say, "Those people in the land of Israel, they're not Israel because they don't believe in Jesus." God says otherwise, doesn't he? God says, "I will bring the unbelieving nations up against my people for judgment." Why is he judging them? Because they're in disobedience. They don't believe in Jesus. But he still calls them my people, Israel, doesn't he? See, this is right at the crux of the debate within the within the church between those who believe in replacement theology and those that don't. Those who believe in replacement theology say if you're not a believer in Jesus, you are not God's people, right? The dispensationalists and the covenant guys. And you can make a good argument for that. Technically, that's true. But God still calls them his people. Why? Because he still has an ongoing covenantal call over them. This is the mystery that so much of the church is unable to grasp that even though they are enemies of the gospel, they are still beloved because of the covenant promises of God. And the covenants are irrevocable. Okay.
So Joel 3:2 Joel he says, "I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat." That's Jerusalem. So there's Joel speaking of all of the nations in the last days in the context of the day of the Lord coming against Jerusalem. Zephaniah 3:8, "My decision is to gather nations to assemble kingdoms again for judgment against Israel." Isaiah 29, the multitude of your enemies, all the nations who wage war against Ariel. Ariel is the lion of God. And it's a pet name for Jerusalem, for Israel, which is really, really fascinating. There are so many passages that we could look at that speak of this coalition of nations invading the land of Israel. Now, later Daniel, who comes a bit after Ezekiel, he prophesies of these things as well, like really strongly, very clearly. But again, Daniel came after Ezekiel. So, Ezekiel was not talking about Daniel. He was talking about the prophets that came uh before him.
Number two, uh as we look back at the previous prophets, we see that many of them speak of the enemy from the north. This motif of the enemy coming from the north. Ezekiel universalizes it and climaxes it. So he he takes all of these different prophets speaking of this invasion from the north and he universalizes it and extends it to the end of the age. Ezekiel 38:15, from the remote parts of the north, he says, you will come. Jeremiah 4:6, I am bringing evil from the north. Jeremiah is to prophesy. And he says, what do you see? And he goes, I see a boiling cauldron from the north and it's about to tip toward the entire land and just spill out boiling water all from the Golan in the north all the way down the land of Israel. It's from the north that judgment comes. Jeremiah 50 toward the end of the prophecy. Verse 41, a people is coming from the north, a great nation. Again, this is a very common theme of them coming from the north. We're not going to look at all of the passages.
Number three, you have the invasion of the land and specifically them surrounding Jerusalem. This really kind of ties in with number one. You will come up against my people. There it is again. I thought they're in rebellion. They're being judged. God calls them my people. That flies right in the face of those who say the people in the land of Israel today are not Israel. God says they are my people. Israel, right? Like a cloud that will cover the land. Micah 4 11-12. And now many nations have been assembled against you who say, speaking of Israel, let her be polluted and let our eyes gloat over Zion. But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand his purpose. For he has gathered them like sheav to the threshing floor. He's gathered them to judge them. Isaiah 29:5-7, this is an important one. We just touched on it previously. The Lord says, "But the multitudes of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the multitudes of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away." This is such an important verse because this passage in Isaiah is what Daniel later builds upon in the prophecy of Daniel chapter 2 which speaks of the metallic statue that when the kingdom of God comes and strikes the statue on the feet of iron and clay all of the kingdoms are destroyed at the same time and they become like dust and like chaff and blow away and nothing is left. It's a perfect reflection of this passage here in Isaiah 29. Okay, Daniel was building upon this imagery that was already laid, this foundation that was laid in Isaiah 29:5. And it says, "And it will happen instantly, suddenly." That's very important because again in my debate with Steve Greg, he says, "No, it happens slowly, gradually over thousands of years." And as I argued in a session that I did did just about a week ago, I said that is not what the prophecy speaks of. It speaks of something that happens instantly, completely, suddenly. That is clearly what the vision is describing. And we don't have a right to alter or twist what the word of God says. So the multitudes of the ruthless ones like chaff will be blown away. And it will happen instantly and suddenly when? When Jesus returns, when the rock from heaven strikes the kingdoms of this world and destroys them, as Jesus said in Matthew 21, fall on this rock and be broken, right? He's quoting from Daniel 2, for everyone that does not fall on this rock will be pulverized. They'll become like dust when on the day of judgment. It's always on the day of judgment. From the Lord of hosts, you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and a loud noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire. And the multitude of all the Gentiles, the nations who wage war against Ariel, again, we just looked at this. Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, who distress her, they will be like a dream, a vision of the night. In other words, they'll just dissipate and become nothing. They'll be forgotten.
Joel chapter 3, "Behold, in those days and at that time when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations, and I will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, that is Jerusalem. There I will enter into judgment with them." The Lord will enter into judgment with the nations. Now, some people try to say a lot of these things were speaking of 70 AD. God didn't judge Rome or the nations in 70 AD. He judged Israel. This is a passage where the Lord brings the nations to Israel to judge Israel and then he judges the nations instantly. Suddenly they become like dust. So here is Joel chapter 3 speaking of all of the nations gathering together against Jerusalem on behalf the Lord will judge them on behalf of who? My people. My inheritance Israel. Don't ever tell me that the people in the land of Israel today are not Israel. It doesn't make any sense. There is no logical, rational, biblical argument that can be made. This is just a bunch of biggest bunch of nonsense that's floating around out there. People have no idea what they're talking about. They're biblically illiterate. They don't think through these things. Listen, in the first century when Jesus was in the land of Israel, there was no kingdom. It was just a province. It was just a, you know, a vassal state of Rome. And it's no different today. Israel is a secular state today. It's not a theocracy, but the people of Israel are in the land of Israel. And God calls them my people, my land. And then he goes on. He says, "They've scattered my people among the nations, and they have divided up my land."
Back to Ezekiel 39. Now, this is what happens after God judges Gog and all of his hordes. And this is very important that we recognize the results of the judgment on all of these Gentile nations. The Lord says, "And you, son of man, Ezekiel, prophesy against Gog and say, thus sayeth the Lord God, behold, I am against you, oh Gog, prince of Ro, Meek, and Tubal. I will turn you around. I will drive you on, take you up from the remote parts of the north. I will bring you against the mountains of Israel. I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand. You will fall on the mountains of Israel. You and all your troops and the peoples who are with you. I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and the beasts of the field. You will fall on the open field. It is I who have spoken, declares the Lord, when I send fire upon Mog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety, and they will know that I am the Lord. When the Lord judges the nations that come against Israel, then all the Gentiles will know that I am the Lord," he says. And then he says, "My holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profigned anymore." And then the nations will know that I am the holy one in Israel. And that phrase in the Hebrew is kadosh kadosh ba Israel, the holy one in Israel. Ezekiel 39 is describing the paria, the coming of the Lord. He is now present in Israel. His feet are on the ground. This is the return of Jesus of the Old Testament. Behold, it is coming and it will be done, declares the Lord. This is the day of which I have spoken. So here it is again. The Lord is saying what I'm describing here is the same thing that I have been repeatedly describing throughout all of the previous prophets. This is the day of the Lord. This is the consumate day of the Lord at the end of the age. And it goes on, by the way, and it says, "And then Israel will know that I am the Lord when I pour out my spirit on them." It is a perfect parallel to Zechariah 12 when they look upon the one they have pierced and the Lord pours out his spirit on them, the spirit of grace and supplication. This is when Israel is no longer just called his people. They actually become his people. They repent and they become believers in their Messiah in Jesus or Yeshua.
Joel chapter 2 verse 1, blow a trumpet in Zion, for the day of the Lord is coming. Surely it is near. What is the message of the prophets with regard to the day of the Lord? What is their message? Warn the people. Warn the people that the day of the Lord is coming. That the kingdom of God is coming. What was the message of John the Baptist? Repent for the kingdom of God is near. What was the message of the prophets? Weep, wail, mourn. Repent, for the day of the Lord is near. What was the message of Jesus and the apostles? Repent because the Lord is going to send Jesus and he's going to judge the living and the dead. Repent, therefore, the day of the Lord is near.
Listen, the Jew hatred, the insanity, the anti-semitism, the stupid ideas that are floating around out there that are spreading like wildfire from Candace Owens to Tucker Carlson across the board. It's growing. The entire podcasting influencer space is embracing it to Megan Kelly. It's popular. It sells. It is the cup of drunkenness. The cup of stuper that is spoken of by the prophet Zechariah that says, "Behold, I'm going to make Jerusalem a cup that makes the people drunk when they drink it. And when they drink it, they're going to it's when they try to lift Jerusalem, it's going to make them drunk. And it actually says they will rupture themselves. they'll actually give themselves a hernia. It's actually a death sentence. So, this is the warning to all of us, not just to the idiots, you know, that are embracing Jew hatred, that are spreading lies and idiocy that is just so popular right now everywhere, but to all of us, to everyone watching this, to me, our job as those who believe the words of the prophets is to repent because the day of the Lord is coming. And so I'm just going to end with Joel 2 11-13. The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome. Who can endure it? Who can endure it? Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me, Tshoua, come back to me with all your heart with fasting, with weeping and mourning and rend your heart and not your garments. Actually, let that repentance sink deep. Now return to the Lord your God because he's gracious and compassionate. He's slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, and relenting of evil or relenting of uh of punishment. This is the call for everyone right now as we see the storm clouds gathering. We see the rage of the nations, the controversy of Zion swirling. Guys, we've been talking about this for 20 years. I've been talking about it for 20 years. As as long as I've had a you channel, I've been warning of this. It's here. Never again is now. The cup of drunkenness is being drunk all around us. It's affecting our friends and our family and our church and our pastors. And it's in the church. It's a sign that the days are drawing near. And it's time for all of us to cling to Jesus. Not just slogans, Christ is king, but to actually cling to Jesus. and not not to point the fingers primarily at others, but to look at our own hearts and to find genuine repentance because the day of the Lord is near. Amen. And amen.