The Destiny of the Bride of Christ - Part 10
Jesus will take His rightful throne in Jerusalem after winning complete victory over His enemies at the Battle of Armageddon. There will be many immediate changes for good throughout the earth, but there will also be an extended time of transition, reorganization, and restoration.
Just the cleanup alone after the Battle of Armageddon will take years!
*After *the 1,000-year reign of Christ, this Earth will pass away and be completely replaced with a New Earth, as we are told in many passages of Scripture (Revelation 20:11; 2 Peter 3:7-13; Revelation 21:1; Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33), but until that time, this Earth will serve as the Lord’s footstool, and it will need to be preserved and cleansed after the horrific battle of Armageddon.
It is difficult for us to grasp the extent of the carnage that will take place during the Battle of Armageddon. The Bible refers to this battle as a wine press that squeezes out the blood of the Lord’s enemies until a person could swim in it.
“So the angel swung his scythe on the earth and stripped the grapes and gathered the vintage from the vines of the earth and cast it into the huge winepress of God’s indignation and wrath. And [the grapes in] the winepress were trodden outside the city, and blood poured from the winepress, [reaching] as high as horses’ bridles, for a distance of 1,600 stadia (about 200 miles).”—Revelation 14:19-20 (AMPC)
The Great Supper
Even before the battle begins, God will summon all kinds of birds and other animals to feast on the remains of the rebels who will be conquered decisively by the Lord and His armies.
Just as the body of Jezebel was eaten by dogs in 2 Kings 9, the bodies of the enemies of Jesus and Israel will be consumed by animals after they are killed or wounded.
“Then I saw a single angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he shouted to all the birds that fly in midheaven, saying, ‘Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may feast on the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of powerful and mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all humanity, both free men and slaves, both small and great [in a complete conquest of evil].’”—Revelation 19:17-18 (AMP)
“As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Say to every kind of bird and to every animal of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice that I am slaughtering for you, as a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan [east of the Jordan]. So you will eat fat until you are filled and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast which I have prepared for you. You will eat your fill at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men, and with all the men of war,” says the Lord God.
“And I will bring [and manifest] My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment and justice [in the punishment] which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel will know [with absolute confidence] that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.”—Ezekiel 39:17-22 (AMP)
“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince (ruler) of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn you around and lead you along, and bring you up from the remotest parts of the north, and I will bring you against the mountains of Israel. I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows to fall out of your right hand. You will fall [dead] on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the nations who are with you. I will give you to every kind of predatory bird and animal of the field as food. You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken,” says the Lord God. “I will also send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands; and they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.
“I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, it is coming and it will be done,” says the Lord God. “That is the day of which I have spoken.”—Ezekiel 39:1-8 (AMP)
Plundering the Enemy
The enemies of God and of Israel will be thoroughly defeated and stripped of anything of value by the Lord’s conquering armies and the people of Israel.
“And they will take the spoil from those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,” says the Lord God.”—Ezekiel 39:10 (AMP)
Burying the Dead
The battle will be so horrific that it will take seven months to bury the dead in massive graves that God will designate for this purpose.
“And in that day, I will give to Gog a place for burial there in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east side in front of the [Dead] Sea [the highway between Syria, Petra, and Egypt], and it will delay and stop those who pass through. And there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall call it the Valley of Hamon-gog [multitude of Gog].
“For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
“Yes, all the people of the land will bury them, and it shall bring them renown in the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord God.”—Ezekiel 39:11-13 (AMPC)
Burying the dead will be such a massive undertaking that there will be crews hired and assigned to work exclusively to complete this task.
Then after the seven-month intensive burial project is almost completed, crews will be sent out to scour the landscape, searching for any remnants of human remains that are left on the battlefield. Any remains that are found will be flagged for pickup. Cleanup will continue until the land is thoroughly cleansed.
“And they shall set apart men to work continually who shall pass through the land, men commissioned to bury, with the help of those who are passing by, those bodies that lie unburied on the face of the ground, in order to cleanse the land. After the end of seven months they shall make their search.
“And when these pass through the land and anyone sees a human bone, he shall set up a marker by it as a sign to the buriers, until they have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog or of Gog’s multitude.
“And Hamonah [multitude] shall also be the name of the city [of the dead]. Thus shall they cleanse the land.”—Ezekiel 39:14-16 (AMPC)
Burning the Weapons
The prophecy that may seem to be the most unlikely about this time is Ezekiel’s prophecy stating that the citizens of Israel will use the weapons of Armageddon as fuel for fires after the battle. It seems unlikely because we don’t think of modern weapons being made of flammable material. That would be a safety hazard for armies in times of war.
But God’s prophecies are *always *true. His prophecies are *always *fulfilled.
Whatever will need to happen in order for these prophecies to be fulfilled *will happen. *Something may happen that we cannot anticipate now with our limited understanding. There may be changes in the manufacturing processes that will make the weapons flammable, or it is also possible that, under the leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ, new methods of burning things may be developed that would allow even modern-day weapons to be devoured by flames.
Whatever it takes to make these prophecies come true, we are clearly told in Scripture that for seven years after the battle, citizens of Israel will have no need of firewood. The weapons left behind after the battle of Armageddon will give them a seven-year supply of fuel for heating and cooking.
“And [when you, Gog, no longer exist] those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both the [large] shields and the bucklers (small shields), the bows and the arrows, the war clubs and the spears; and for seven years they will burn them. They will not take any wood from the field or cut down and gather [any] firewood from the forests, because they will make their fires using the weapons.”—Ezekiel 39:9-10 (AMP)
