Revelation 19:17-21 “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, (18) that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great." … (21) And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
There is a common misconception in the church about our Lord’s millennial reign, i.e. when our Lord Jesus returns to the earth all carnivores will become herbivores. The reason people think that is because of the passages of scriptures recorded in the book of Isaiah (Chapters 11 and 65). In both passages, the scripture refers to the wolf and the lamb feeding together and the lion eating straw like the ox. In context however, both of these passages refer to the age to come when God the Father will create new heavens and a new earth; they do not refer to the period of our Lord’s millennial reign which will take place on this current earth. We have already seen that our Lord’s millennial reign begins with the battle of Armageddon. The above quoted passage of scripture describes the aftermath of that battle, and is very descriptive of the birds of prey feeding on the bodies of the fallen army of the anti-Christ. And so we can clearly see from this passage that birds of prey will remain carnivores during our Lord’s millennial reign.
Ezekiel 34:23-28 “I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. (24) And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. (25) "I will make a covenant of peace with them and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. … (28) And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture refers to the period of the Lord’s millennial reign. In this passage the Holy Spirit teaches us that God will not transform the wild beasts into herbivores during the millennium, but rather He will remove the wild beasts from the geographic location where the saints reside, so that those beasts will not be able to devour them. And so we see that the fact that God will remove the wild beasts from the midst of where the saints will live indicates to us very clearly, that the wild beasts will remain carnivores during the millennium.
Isaiah 35:4-10 “Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you." (5) Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. (6) Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. (7) The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. (8) A highway shall be there, and a road and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool shall not go astray. (9) No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, (10) and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture also refers to the period of the Lord’s millennial reign in the earth. In describing the land where the saints will dwell, again the Holy Spirit tells us in this passage that no lions will be there and that no ravenous beasts will be there. He does not say that they will be there but that they will be eating straw like the ox, but rather He says that they will be absent from that location. Again this clearly indicates to us that lions and other ravenous beasts will remain carnivores during the millennium.
Ezekiel 39:1-4 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; (2) and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. (3) Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. (4) You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.”
As we will see in the following section, our Lord’s millennial reign will end with the destruction of the rebelling armies of Gog and Magog; the above quoted passage of scripture refers to that event. The point that I wanted to highlight from this passage however, is that just as with the dead bodies of the armies of the anti-Christ, so it will be with the dead bodies of the armies of Gog and Magog; God will give their bodies over to be devoured by the birds of prey and the wild beasts of the field. And so we can clearly see from this passage that carnivorous creatures will still be on the earth during the millennium.
Michael E.B. Maher
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