Category Archives: Gog & Magog

Gog & Magog in the Latter Years

Jeremiah---Michael-AngeloAs I was preparing for this final article on Gog & Magog, thanks in part to a comment by one of my readers, I realized that in my article last week, Gog and Magog in the Millennium, I had completely overlooked an important piece of the evidence for determining when Israel will be dwelling in their land securely (yashab betach). That piece of evidence is found in Ezekiel 28 and frankly it’s embarrassingly obvious. See if you can find what I missed:

Thus saith the Lord YHWH; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen,

…then shall they dwell [yashab] in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell [yashab] safely [betach] therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am YHWH their God. (Ezekiel 28:25-26)

Notice the chronological order found here in Ezekiel 28. First YHWH gathers the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered and He is sanctified – in Israel – in the sight of the heathen – then – Israel will dwell securely. This message is repeated again in Ezekiel 36. Continue reading

Gog & Magog in Ezekiel 38-39

Ezekiel-by-Michael-Angilo60Last week’s post, Gog & Magog in the Millennium looked at a yet future invasion of Israel by Gog & Magog at the end of the millennium. This exploration of the Gog & Magog invasion allowed us to set a basis for comparing it to the Gog & Magog invasion mentioned in Ezekiel 38-39 with the goal in mind of determining whether these two invasions are related.

I think it only appropriate to once again look at the Biblical text before we dig into the subject. The following is an abridged portion of Ezekiel 38-39. I’d recommend you read all of Ezekiel 34-39 to get the complete contextual basis for Ezekiel’s prophecy:

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord YHWH; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:…

After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them…

Thus saith the Lord YHWH; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, (Ezekiel 38:2-11)

Now let’s look at some of the context found in Ezekiel 38-39. Keep in mind our goal here is to determine if this passage from Ezekiel is related to the Gog & Magog invasion of Israel described in Revelation 20:

    • Gog and Magog comprises a great army of horsemen with bucklers, shields, swords, & helmets. (Eze. 38:4)
    • These events take place in the “latter years”. (achariyth – end, latter, last ) (Eze. 38:8)
    • Gog & Magog invades Israel, in the “latter years” when they (Israel) have been gathered from the nations, in a land “brought back from the sword” and at a time when “they shall dwell safely all of them.” (Eze. 38:8)
    • Israel is a land of unwalled villages at rest. They dwell “safely” without walls, bars, or gates. (Eze. 38:11)
    • Israel’s desolate places are inhabited. (Eze. 38:12)
    • Gog & Magog come to take silver, gold, cattle, and goods. (Eze. 38:13)
    • Gog & Magog’s armies come “riding on horses”. (Eze. 38:15)
    • This takes place in the “latter days” so that the heathen may know YHWH. (Eze. 38:16)
    • Gog is the one whom YHWH, through the prophets of Israel, foretold would come against Israel. (Eze. 38:17)
    • Gog and his bands will be judged by showers of hailstones, fire, and brimstone. (Eze. 38:22)
    • Only 1/6th of Gog and his armies survive.
    • Gog’s armies use bows and arrows. (Eze. 39:3)
    • YHWH will make His name holy in Israel and the heathen will know that YHWH is the Holy One in Israel (Eze. 39:7)
    • After YHWH’s judgement, Israel will burn Gog’s weapons: shields, bucklers, bows, arrows, hand staves, and spears. (Eze. 39:9)
    • The weapons will be so numerous they will be burned for 7 years. (Eze. 39:9)
    • Israel will not have to cut wood from the field or forest during those 7 years. (Eze. 39:10)
    • Gog will have a grave in Israel (Eze. 39:11)
    • It will take 7 months to bury the dead (Eze. 39:12)

Continue reading

Gog & Magog in the Millennium

Arab-Tents-600Exploring the Bible’s prophetic record over the past twenty five years has been a grand adventure. I’ll admit I don’t have it all figured out, but instead of discouraging me, this has only given me a greater appreciation for the depth and richness of the subject. One aspect of Bible prophecy that I’ve been considering lately is the yet future invasion of Israel by Gog and Magog.

I like to read books on Bible prophecy and it seems that lately the battle of Gog and Magog has been on the mind of many respected prophecy teachers. In this blog post I’d like to explore the subject with the intent of trying to understand where this great prophetic event takes place within the Biblical timeline.

To give you a sense of how the subject is understood by some of today’s popular teachers, I’m going to briefly summarize five interpretations. Though each of these authors offer a unique perspective on certain aspects of this discussion, the majority share a belief that the events of Gog and Magog as described in the book of Ezekiel take place before the millennial reign of Yeshua. Most of my life I have held a premillennial view of Gog and Magog but in researching the subject lately I’ve found several aspects of the subject which trouble me about my long held understanding.

Before we dig into the subject, let’s take a brief look at the two places in the Bible where Gog and Magog are mentioned. The following are only excerpts, so in order to get the full context I recommend reading all of Ezekiel 34-39 and Revelation 20.

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord YHWH; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:…

After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them…

Thus saith the Lord YHWH; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, (Ezekiel 38:2-11)

 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. (Revelation 20:7-8)

Five Perspectives
Now let’s see how some of today’s prophecy teachers see the subject. Please note, due to the constraints of this blog article I’ve only summarized how I understand their positions. Please see their respective writings on the subject for fuller context. Links are provided. Continue reading