On earth, those people remaining (none of whom had been raptured or had their bodies changed) would be those left behind. They also were not in the antichrist’s (beast’s) army that already died and were food for the birds, but were others, maybe fence-sitters or absent from the scene in the rest of the unbelieving world (Gog and Magog’s aligned peoples).

The unbelieving world can still technically reproduce because they are flesh and blood, and with a thousand years to live in peace, one would imagine they will choose to do so. The fact there are still people at the end of a thousand years speaks to that.

The assembled army in Revelation 19:11-21 never actually fought a battle against God.  Heaven stood open, and in the vision, John sees Jesus as the political leader on a horse with the armies of heaven (angels), ruling with a scepter of iron and the sword of the Spirit, Word of God coming out of His mouth. From Heaven, at His Word, the beast and false prophet are captured, and their armies of men die on earth.  Bird food.

If God could create the world with His Word,
and still the churning seas with His Word,
He can certainly destroy the earth’s inhabitants in the same way, by His Word.

While that was a decisive battle in the earthly war (one that surely all unbelieving earth-dwelling peoples would learn about in a technological age), there will be a second, final battle that will not happen until after the Millennium.  The beast who falsely promised peace and the false prophet are now publicly out of the way (having been captured alive and thrown into the fiery lake of sulfur). That’s earth.

Then, in the spiritual realm, an angel comes down out of heaven to bind Satan for a thousand years, and there will be a peaceful Millennium credited to Christ.  On earth as it is in heaven.  The beast who falsely promised peace is gone so not to confuse anyone with whose peace it is. It’s clearly and unmistakably the peace of Christ. With no more excuse of “the devil made me do it,” and no more of activity of deception in the spiritual realm as Satan currently works today, there will be a period of Christ’s rule on the earth.

The unbelieving world will be ruled in a Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” 
The spiritual realm is at lull of war, a thousand-year standstill of peace. 
A calm before the storm.

The result will be pure testimony to earth-dwellers of the peace Jesus brings…peace with God (it testifies because the saints are gone! They were raptured to Heaven where they rule) and peace of God earth-dwellers now experience on earth for a thousand years.

It is this final testimony that man’s good works alone can’t save
(and moreover, rejection of Jesus and His true peace)
that prepare the unbelieving world
for the righteous justice of God in the final battle and final judgment. 

Shockingly, they’ll rush to side with the devil even after all that peace! There will be no remaining doubt that when the righteous judgment of God arrives with His wrath, they deserved it, welcomed it, and wanted it rather than worship a God they truly hate. Their sin nature and love of sin will prove an enduring obstacle too great for human nature alone to solve.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

It’s why Jesus came as Savior before He comes as Judge.

Now, with that uncomfortable topic of Tribulation Martyrs out of the way, we can be consistent in saying all believers (Jew and Gentile heirs together) will no longer be “flesh and blood.”  They will not marry.  They will not have kids in the Millennium.  They all reign with Christ for a thousand years. 

So, who do they rule over?

That requires a view of Revelation that is not a chronological, linear view but a holistic view…in which the same events are retold along with different scenes revealed due to different angles.

My overarching paradigm is:
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
(Matthew 6:10)

.

Remember, Ephesians 6:12 “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (italics added to show that this is in the spiritual realm, not in Heaven per se).

Were one to view Revelation as linear or chronological, in Revelation 19, Jesus returns riding a horse with His armies, and they fight (on earth) the armies of the world. The bad guys die—indeed all of them, Scripture says—and they are eaten by birds.  Then comes the peaceful reign of Christ with the saints helping… for a thousand years…of ruling over …(who?) I guess nobody but each other … while on the earth.  But at the end when Satan is loosed for a little while because he “must” be then the devil deceives people from the far corners, Gog and Magog. 

Uh, where did Gog and Magog come from?  Weren’t they already dead and bird food? 
It makes no sense with a chronological reading.

But if we view it more holistically, John receives visions of the new events and new visions of the same events with new perspectives for new purposes.  On earth as it is in heaven.  (It’s not a simple repeat, but through a different lens).  The altar, thrones and resurrected souls (Revelation 6:9 and 20:4) are in Heaven as events continue to transpire on earth. 

John records them in an order because that’s how narratives are written.  So, it’s not quite like “flashback scenes” in a movie as concurrent events advance the story without a split-screen, but it’s a familiar way to try to understand a holistic format since we can’t see two arenas fully and simultaneously.

In Heaven they are accomplishing God’s Kingdom come, His will be done, “on earth as it is in heaven.”  When the Millennial Kingdom does come, they’re reigning and ruling…from Heaven…but their reign and rule is experienced…in the spiritual realm but importantly, also on our physical earth as we presently know it. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

How does that work? Just as in our present day, a time in which Jesus called Satan the prince of this world, we’re being spiritually ruled. Hold that thought: spiritually ruled. But Jesus also said Satan now stands condemned (John 16:11) and Ephesians 2:2 says, people followed evil “ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” If we can be ruled by evil spiritually, so too, there will be a time when righteousness and peace will rule the earth when Satan is bound, and God’s Kingdom comes. God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven.” Hallelujah!!

It’s complicated trying to understand the spiritual realm. But Scripture says there will be a Millennium of Christ’s rule. The unbelieving world still on earth will be spiritually ruled by peace and righteousness credited to Christ; they will have seen a physical army of evil destroyed and eaten by birds to put the fear of God into them; and now they will see what human nature alone can accomplish–in a thousand years of a world free from evil influences.

To see what man in his sinful, broken nature can accomplish apart from God.
Spoiler Alert: Nothing…

Last time we saw that at the Rapture, bodies of believers from all generations will rise.  They will also be changed.

 “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable…I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:42, 50-52)

Just as Jesus was raised from the dead and had His resurrection body, so too will we. These new bodies will not be “flesh and blood.”  This is important. In fact, it’s so important that Jesus reiterated it for us in 3 of the 4 Gospels. 

Luke 20:34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.”

A corrective to Mormonism and certain other religions, Jesus says that these bodies will not reproduce or get married.  Jesus said that we’ll be “like the angels” in heaven.

Why is this important?  I was listening to Dr. David Jeremiah (who, by the way, I like) and he asked the question if the Millennial Kingdom is inherited only by saints, then who gets sent to hell along with Satan upon his release at the end of the Millennium?  He suggested it is the adult offspring…children, grandchildren, great grandchildren of the saints who survived the Tribulation since faith is not passed down.

This is a truly unfortunate downside of believing that the Rapture must happen before the Tribulation begins.  It limits the future outcomes so that people who refused to bow down to the beast and are powerful witnesses and true heroes of faith during the Tribulation don’t get to meet Christ in the air, their bodies are not changed even during the peaceful Millennial reign of Christ, and their sinful kids get thrown in hell after Satan is released. 

Just wow. 

I’m sorry, but I have a terrible time reconciling that with a God who shows no favoritism and whose own self-description says this: “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:9-10)

Where is the love?  Are the Tribulation Martyrs substandard believers?

I do not believe that the Rapture gets all the good little Christians out before everything hits the fan.  I think that is a misguided evangelical hope meant to placate people who don’t want to suffer an actual test of their faith. I don’t know, maybe God will send them into sleep, and they’ll be part of those who are resurrected first from the dead.  But this I do know: my God didn’t spare the Israelites the Passover event.  They were passed over.  He protected them by their faith.  He didn’t spare the exiles but preserved a remnant…by faith.  Therefore, my evangelical hope is that God preserves us through it.  We witness by our faith in Christ despite persecution.  It calls for courage and bravery and most of all, shielding by the Holy Spirit on account of our faith.

It coheres with Revelation 20:4 “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” (italics added)

If the rapture of all believers already occurred before the Tribulation begins, how did these Tribulation survivors end up in heaven? For faithful survivors of the Tribulation, these martyrs, their bodies will have been changed to reign with Christ and they won’t reproduce or have any new children to send into hell. So, who is left? There’s more to the story…

No.  We are not in the Millennial Kingdom.  We’re not even at the Rapture yet.  With that out of the way, let’s take a final multi-part look at how Jews and Christians are heirs together…in a way that coheres with Scripture.

“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:6)

There’s more mystery beyond that mystery in the theology of Paul:
“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’  As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.  Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.  For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.” (Romans 11:25-32)

How does that relate to the rapture of the Church, the Tribulation, and the Millennial Kingdom spoken about in Revelation 20 and being “heirs together”?

The Gospel is the foundation for the first resurrection.  Jesus is our model…Who Scripture calls the author/pioneer and finisher/perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

“For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

The deciding factor will be faith. It will also be orderly. 

“1Thessalonians 4:15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

The Lord will come down from heaven into the air, then the dead in Christ (the saints Old Testament era and New) will rise first.  Faith “credited as righteousness” Jews looking forward to Christ will be there along with Jewish (like the disciples) and Gentile believers in Christ in the New Testament era.

“After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). 

Again, the deciding factor is whether one is “in Christ” or apart from Him. 
So, the question each of us needs to ask ourselves is “Am I in Christ or apart from Him?”

.

Now we come to a controversial part of Ezekiel 37, even more than who constitutes the “whole house of Israel.”

Ezekiel 37:22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them.

God says that they will be His people, and He will be their God. One nation. In the land, on the mountains of Israel. It’s hard to see how anyone can interpret that as anything other than geography.

Verse 24 “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd.

It’s a Messianic reference and Jesus, Son of David…prophecy fulfilled, King, Shepherd and priest.

 “They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live…”

 Where?

 “in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived.”

There you go.  In their own land, the land given way back at the beginning of being a chosen people.

I know some people are upset at the idea of the Jews possessing the land (even while allowing free passage or choice to live in Israel by Arabs) instead of a “two state solution” but it’s a fact that many Arabs already live in Israel.  Peacefully, to the credit of both.  

In fact, of the hostages recently in the news (importantly they are hostages NOT prisoners of war because they were taken before the war broke out) an Arab Israeli was rescued alive…but all those who were Jewish, including an American, were killed by Hamas.  There is obviously no peaceful coexistence in the minds of terrorists and even if a two-state solution were to prevail as a solution, it’d be temporary. One cannot live in peace with terrorists sleeping on your doorstep.

But someday, God will bring the “whole house of Israel” back to live–in peace–in the land He gave to Jacob. When in the future is unclear, but the fact of it is as sure as God’s Word.

Continuing our look at Jews and Christians being heirs together though the finished work of Jesus Christ, Ezekiel gives us another word about unity.

Ezekiel 37:15 The word of the LORD came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Ephraim’s stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. 

The enduring tribe of Judah would be joined with what are often considered the “lost tribes.”  Carried into exile and perceived as lost among the nations, absorbed, assimilated, and extinct as a people group?  God says, “Nope. Still a people to Me.”

God Himself gathers and brings together. 

Ezekiel 37:18 “When your countrymen ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ 19 say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph– which is in Ephraim’s hand– and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’  20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on 21 and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.

Just as Joseph was thought dead to his brothers and father, only to be restored to them, so too, the faithful from the “lost tribes” will be restored as the remnant plucked bit by bit out of the nations to which they’d gone.  

We don’t have to figure out who they are. All we have to do is trust God with His clearly stated Word. God knows who they are and where they are.  God gathers.  God brings together.  God joins in unity.

God sees. Hopelessness and despair are feelings we get when we’re exhausted mentally and physically from the battle, tired of a fight we seem to be losing, and end up feeling abandoned, cut off from anyone who helps. 

We’re on our own, and we discover that we’re not enough. 
Ever felt that way?  The nation of Israel did.

God speaks. Ezekiel 37 has some encouraging words. 

Ezekiel 37:11 Then [the LORD] said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.” They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.”

They feel a certain way and speak it…but the Sovereign LORD speaks hope.  Whose words carry greater weight?

.

This army is comprised of God’s people.
Yes, they’re disappointed, weary people of God who deserved every bit of exile,
but they are God’s people–His ownership, nonetheless.
Just look how many times God says it! (Verses 11,12,13)

13 “Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'”

Bringing them up from the graves of the nations in Israel and other nations…the whole house (Judah and the faithful from the northern tribes), not just those dry bones from those who were left to die in the sun with all the shame and ignominy. Some were in graves. “Bring you up” spiritually. 

Heirs together with Christians.

The Apostle Paul had unique insight into this mystery:  Romans 11:25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

God will bring “Jacob” (patriarch and faithful from the twelve tribes) up spiritually to prove He is the Lord of Life.  Romans 11:28 “As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”

I know people are concerned with conflating modern national Israel and the “whole house of Israel.”

True, it is a fine line to walk, but we walk it
because Scripture says they are loved on account of the patriarchs.

It’s not our job to sift the “whole house of Israel”
nor to place only the faithful remnant in their historic homeland.

Hold loosely what constitutes “the whole house of Israel,”
but hold tightly to idea whoever that is, God will bring them up,
turn godlessness away, take away their sins, and deliver them.

Because He said it.

God’s army won’t come to existence by itself. 
What God promises, He builds, and what He builds, He will finish.

Ezekiel 37:4 Then [the LORD] said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!  5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'”

Countless times throughout history and through the prophetic word, the Israelites have been evicted from their historic homeland and taken into exile in foreign lands.  They have returned, built homes, lived in peace and war, and the cycle has repeated.

Nevertheless, the plan of redemption has been announced and in the Valley of Dry Bones, the purpose has been made known: so that they will know God is the Lord of life.

Just as Adam was nothing but formed animal flesh at his creation until God breathed the breath of life into him, so it happens here. 

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

It’s skin, flesh, and bones but it’s no more living than the army depicted in the Terracotta Warriors in Shaanxi, China.  Numerous but not alive.

9 Then [the LORD] said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet– a vast army.

An army doesn’t just exist.  An army fights.  Ezekiel didn’t say a crowd, numbers of Twitter followers, a group, a protest, or a fan club.  It’s an army, and it’s a big one at that.  Vast.

Who is this army?  I’m glad you asked:

11 Then [the LORD] said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.”

Tick Tock, the end times are marching steadily onward toward their conclusion.  The whole house of Israel will be brought from spiritual death to spiritual life…and why? To fulfill the prophets.  Now, to be sure Scripture says that “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Romans 9:6). But it also says that there is a manner in which “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-27). And Ezekiel records for us that the whole house of Israel will be gathered as a vast army in the end to prove that God is the Lord of life.

A picture of people far from God.  Dry bones. 
Dry bones of the Church.  Dry bones of Israel. 

People who once knew and experienced the wonder of an Almighty God who is “for them.” But that was while they were still faithful and knew the living water. But then they decided–maybe not with a vote, but with their hearts–to engage in twin sins: they forsook the living water of God and instead dug their own broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13). 

Israel knew it in exile.  The Church knows it in our modern era, cutting ourselves off from the life-giving Spirit on account of apostasy and self-reliant independence from God in every way.  Being our own gods, making our own rules for living, and every man seems to be doing what is right in his own sight instead of what the Bible teaches is right in God’s.

You don’t have to look long in metropolitan areas of America to see dead and dying churches and their displaying with slogan signs and flags exactly why they’re rejecting God in favor of culture.  Suburban and rural areas are maybe less so, but through national conversation, many of those, too, have turned their backs on God. 

It’s not just Christians. Plenty of Jewish people are nationalistic or heritage-only Jews but don’t even attempt to be observant, read the Scriptures let alone obey them, nor do they remember their heritage was one as God’s chosen people. If only they did and then wisely choosing to live with gratitude and love for God who would do such a gracious thing as to choose them. 

Bleak, dead, and dying.
Ezekiel speaks a word of hope from the Lord into a world like that:

Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.  2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.

Dead.  They weren’t new bones.  They were old, dry, brittle bones.  Baked in the sun bones.  Vultures had long ago stripped them of anything resembling meat.

The Lord speaks to Ezekiel ,”He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:3)

Good answer, Ezekiel.  Not only does God in His sovereignty know if He can do it…only God (in His sovereignty and grace) can make what has been dead–so dead it’s dry—come to life again.

The Lord continues: 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!  5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”

It takes the life-giving breath of God.
As a culture, as a world, as created beings, we need this.
Come home to God. Come to life again.

What is a Christian to do in a world increasingly governed by sin?  The Bible has something to say about that. 

Are you being accused or insulted by arrogant people?  Psalm 119:85 “The arrogant dig pits to trap me, contrary to your law.  86 All your commands are trustworthy;”

Are you being persecuted without cause?  Psalm 119:86 “Help me, for I am being persecuted without cause.  87 They almost wiped me from the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.”

What or Who is going to save you?  God and His unfailing, enduring Word light your way.

Psalm 119: 88 “In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of your mouth. 89 Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. 90 Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.  91 Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you.  92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.  93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.  94 Save me, for I am yours; I have sought out your precepts.”

 What do we do when evil people are trying to ruin us?  Psalm 119:95 “The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes…98 Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.”

What good does a study of God’s Word do for you?  Psalm 119: 99 “I have more insight than all my teachers… 100 I have more understanding than the elders…101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word… 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore, I hate every wrong path.”

The light of the Word endures to the very end.  Psalm 119: 105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path… 110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. 112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.”

Lord God, may I hide Your Word in my heart to comfort me in suffering, sustain me through persecution, enlighten me with Your wisdom, and feed my soul when I hunger for Your truth in a world going to hell. Amen.