After the Heathen Rage, What's Next? Part 1

Dennis Edwards

To go back to previous articles: Why Do the Heathen Rage?

After the Battle of Armageddon

We will go to Ezekiel to find out what happens in Israel after Jesus’ return during the Battle of Armageddon.

Ezekiel 39:9 “And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand-staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:”

Looks like it will take seven years to burn and destroy the armament used in the battle.

Ezekiel 39:10 “So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, says the Lord God.”

The people will be able to salvage fuel from the vehicles and then destroy them with fire.

Ezekiel 39:11“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (the Antichrist) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it the valley of Hamongog.”

Hamon-Gog literally means “the multitude of Gog.” They are the multitude that shall die in the battle in Isarel around Jerusalem. If the battle of Armageddon takes place on the Plain of Megiddo, from where we get its name, then that would be on the northern coastal plain where the ancient city of Megiddo once stood. 5/6 of Gog’s military forces shall die in the battle according to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 39:1-2 “This says the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel.”

Only 1/6 of Gog’s force will live through the battle.

Ezekiel 39:12-13 “And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord God.”

Seven months shall the people of Israel be in burying the bodies of the Antichrist’s force.

Ezekiel 39:14 “And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.”

After the first seven months when they will have buried the majority of the bodies from the war, a group of men will be hired or appointed to continue to search for any more bodies.

Ezekiel 39:15 “And the passengers that pass through the land, when any sees a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.”

Those that come upon any bodies from the war will set a marker so that the appointed workers can properly dispose of the body. The remains of the body may be radio-active from a nuclear exchange.

Ezekiel 39:16 “And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus, shall they cleanse the land.”

The word “hamonah” in Hebrew means “His multitude.” The town closest to the area where the Antichrist forces were destroyed shall be called “His Multitude,” because there the multitude of the Antichrist’s forces perished.

Revelation 19 briefly covers the same event.

Revelation 19:20-21 “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

Jesus has the Antichrist and the False Prophet “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” Which seems to mean that they are being cast into hell. The remnant of his followers who worshipped the Antichrist as God and had received the mark of the beast shall be slain. They will be the ones whose bodies or parts of bodies will be searched for to properly bury or dispose of. The 1/6 who lived through the battle may be some that were forced to participate in the military, but whose hearts were not fully following the Antichrist. They may have been following out of coercion.

Those that live on into the Millennium will have an opportunity to receive Christ as their Saviour, as we have today. It won’t be forced salvation. It will be, “whosoever will, may come.” Satan shall be locked away for the 1,000-year period and many of those that never new Christ will have their chance to hear and believe. God is patient and loving and His mercy endures to all generations. Many eschatology scholars believe the newly converted Jewish Remnant will be key part of the missionary movement in the conversion of the unbelievers who lived through the Wrath of God on into the Millennium.

In the Book of Daniel, we learn that those who live through the Wrath of God, who did not receive the mark of the beast, nor worship him, shall be blessed. They are alive and can be thankful that they are able to take part in the regeneration of the earth. Christ will reign on earth for 1,000 years under new atmospheric conditions.

Daniel 12:12 “Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.”

That’s where we get the 75-day period of the Wrath. If the Great Tribulation lasts 1260 days, then 1335 minus 1260 gives us 75 days. The Rapture takes place after the 3 ½ year tribulation or after the1260 days. The tribulation starts at the middle of the 7-year period when the Antichrist breaks the covenant and sets up the Abomination of Desolation. After the tribulation comes the Wrath of God, the vials or bowels of Revelation 16, which take place during that 75-day period.

Daniel 12:11” And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”

The preceding verse tells us that the abomination of desolation shall stand for 1,290 days, or 30 days longer than the Great Tribulation period. The great tribulation is 1,260 days. 1,290 days minus1,260 days equals 30 days. By inference, we are led to believe that Jesus does not remove the Abomination of Desolation until 30 days after the Rapture. The setting up of the Abomination in the middle of the seven-year period is the sign that the Great Tribulation has begun at that 3 ½ year mark. 

In other words, the seven-year period is divided into two parts. During the first 3 ½ years the Jewish sacrificial worship will begin. At the middle of the 7-year period the Antichrist and his forces set up the abomination of desolation in the holy place. The Great Tribulation begins and lasts for another 3 ½ years, or 1,260 days, or 42 months, or sometimes mentioned in Scripture as “time, times, and half a time.”

Matthew 24:15&21 “When ye shall see the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, (whosoever reads let him understand),…For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

The setting up of the abomination of desolations is the sign Jesus gives to watch out for, as it initiates the 3 ½ year tribulation period. The Daniel passage that Jesus referred to is a bit more cryptic, but is essentially saying the same thing.

Daniel 9:27 “And he (the Antichrist) shall confirm the covenant for one week (a seven-year period): and in the midst of the week (at the 3 ½ year mark) he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate…”

The sacrifice and oblation refer to what we believe to be a renewed Jewish sacrificial worship on the temple mount, either in a newly constructed third temple, or a type of outdoor sacrificial pavilion and prayer area on the temple mount.

In two other places in Daniel, we find reference to the daily sacrifice.

Daniel 8:11-12 “Yea, he (the Antichrist) magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him (the Antichrist) the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.”

Here we see the Antichrist stopping the daily sacrifice. If the “sanctuary” is synonymous with the temple or the pavilion of prayer, then the Antichrist could be entering into Jerusalem and setting up the abomination at that time.

Apostle Paul may be referring to the same event in his letter to the Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself (the Antichrist) above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

Remember the placing of the abomination of desolations in the temple occurs at the midst of the last 7-year period of the present dispensation.

Daniel 8:13-14 “Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”

From Daniel 12:11 we know that the transgression of desolations, or abomination of desolations, stands in the holy place for 1290 days after the sacrifice is ceased. By doing the math from the information that we now have, we can conclude that together the time of the sacrifice and the abomination standing in the temple is 2,300 days. Since the abomination stands for 1,290 days, we can subtract that amount from the total of 2,300 days. We come up with 1,010 days as the amount of days that the sacrificing will take place. 1,010 days is approximately 33 months and 20 days. That would mean the daily sacrifice would start approximately 8 months and 10 days after the signing of the Holy Covenant. It would take that long to construct the building or pavilion that will used. 33 months and 20 days added together with 8 months and 10 days gives us 42 months, which translates into 3 ½ years.

Daniel 11:31 “And arms shall stand on his (the Antichrist’s) part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate.”

The Holy Covenant may be some international agreement made between the nations to give the Palestinians some statehood in exchange for the Jewish nation being able to worship their God on the temple mount. The sacrificing commences and lasts until the 3 ½ year mark when the Antichrist, because of Israel’s failure to keep the accord, stops the daily sacrifice, places the abomination, and the 3 ½ year tribulation begins.

To go to Part 2.