A good question.  You are implying that it is occasionally difficult to know when prophecies are about Judah or about Christ and the church, or about the future kingdom.  I agree with this premise.  My answer is that the best way to answer this is to let the context and content determine the interpretation.  And also, to understand that it can be both-and, not necessarily either-or.  In any case, all of these are kingdom prophecies, in which case, the themes will be similar, meaning that it is not necessary for us to know for sure.

But, let me turn to an example.  I will use Ezekiel 36.  If we read 36:16-23, the context demands that we are talking about Judah, their sin, and their exile because of their sin.  Can we make application to us today, who have also sinned, and also have been scattered?  Sure, but the context concerns Judah.

Then there is Ezekiel 36:24-29.  This passage still can apply to Judah, who was taken out of the nations, as we know, but the context implies that the primary subject of this section is about the Church.  “I will cleanse you from all your impurities… I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees.  The clear parallel to Jeremiah 31 is here, and the Hebrew writer (Ch 8) makes it clear that this is about the New Covenant!  And then, of course, there is v. 25.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.  This is a rather obvious reference to New Testament baptism.  In fact, when Jesus challenged Nicodemus that he should have known about being born again, I believe he is referencing this passage!

But, we can make some applications in this section to Judah, can we not?  I am sure the Jews did.

But then we come to Ezek 36:29f.  I will save you from all your uncleanness.  We see NT implications here, but then we have “I will call for the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not bring famine on you.  I will increase the fruit of the trees…  Here we see what can only be seen as a reverse to the context of Judah and Jerusalem.

And there is v. 33. “On the day I cleanse you from all your sin, I will resettle your towns…  Is this the Church, or is this Judah?  Most of the rest of the chapter returns to a description of the restoration of Judah.

My point is that we need to understand that it will not always be clear, that context is key, and that it can be both-and.  What God did for Judah physically, he will do for us spiritually, so the message is quite similar, and all these passages can be applied to the Kingdom of God at any time.

We can do a similar analysis of Matthew 24—a famously difficult passage to parse out.  Is Jesus talking about the destruction of Jerusalem, or is he talking about his return?  In either case, this is a kingdom prophecy, so we should not be completely surprised that there is some ambiguity.  Matthew 24:15-22 seems to clearly have context that applies to AD 70.  Matthew 24: 30-44 is certainly about the second coming of Christ (as is confirmed when we read Matthew 25).  But there are parts of this speech by Jesus which are ambiguous as to its first application.  What about v. 29?  What about 24-25?  These are ambiguous.

I wish I had a clear and unambiguous answer for you, but I do not.  What I can do is reassure you that, whether these passages apply to Judah, to Jesus and the Church, or to the final kingdom of God—to heaven, the message is more or less the same, and the meaning for us in not nearly so ambiguous.  God is in control.  God will save and restore.  God will come and will save his people, and restore them to his glorious kingdom.

I hope this is helpful.

John Oakes