But it says the effect of this victory would be to explain why Israel had gone into captivity. That would seem to refer to the captivity in Babylon, given the time and circumstances of Ezekiel's ministry.
Then it says the Spirit would be poured out on the Jews. Peter said that happened on the day of Pentecost, through the Gospel, which came to Israel while Israel was again in its own land, having already returned from captivity in Babylon.
But the book of Revelation takes up the theme of Gog again. So I wonder if Revelation saw a future fulfilment of the same prophecy as Ezekiel's, or whether Revelation was merely describing a different future event in terms of an already-fulfilled prophecy. The book of Revelation does after all also mention Babylon long after Babylon had literally already met its demise. Although Peter's epistle mentions Babylon as a first-century reality. In what sense, I wonder. And in either case, is the event described in Revelation still future or already fulfilled.
There is something in the Ezekiel chapter which may help to date its fulfilment. It mentions wooden weapons and weapons of ancient history such as shields, bucklers, bows, arrows, hand staves, and spears.
So it seems the chapter could have found its fulfilment already.
If Ezekiel's prophecy is now past, to what then does Revelation refer.
Or if instead Revelation refers to the same event as Ezekiel's prophecy, what then might that tell us about the way Old Testament prophecy can be understood.
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