Thank you, as always, for your help. My question is about the book of Ezekiel. I’m well aware of the prophetic implications of chapters 38 and 39 as well as the Millennial Kingdom mentioned at the end of the book, but my question pertains to Ezekiel 12:27-28. I’m specifically wondering about the part of verse 28 that says, “None of My words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be performed”. If the entire book of Ezekiel was meant to be fulfilled in the generation of Ezekiel himself, what fulfillment was there for 38-39, the temple and the kingdom? Was there a defined break in the book that I’m missing that showed that these prophecies are strictly for future times and not part of what God was mentioning in verse 28?
Ezekiel 12:27-28 is not meant to be taken generally, but as specifically pertaining to the Babylonian conquest. The Lord was speaking about the judgment that was coming upon Israel and Jerusalem in the form of the Babylonian armies that were even then camped outside the gates of the city. It was the third siege of the city over a 19 year period, and the Lord was telling them it would be the last. There would be no more delay. It was accomplished in 586 BC.
After the city was destroyed and the nation taken captive, the Lord began speaking of their future regathering, but not the one that began 70 years later. Beginning in chapter 35, he began speaking to them about the End Times. Chapters 36-37 were fulfilled in the re-birth of the nation beginning in the early 20th Century and becoming official in 1948. Chapters 38-39 speak of a battle still in our future. 40-48 deal with the construction of a future temple and life in the Holy City during the Kingdom Age, what we call the Millennium. Most scholars agree that these chapters have no historical fulfillment, but are yet future to us.