| A Study of Gog and Magog in Eschatology | |||
| Gog and Magog Ezekiel 38 and 39 |
Armageddon
Revelations 14, 16 & 19 |
Gog and Magog Revelation 20 |
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| Who: | Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal (Turkey). Magog (Scythians - Russia), Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, Put (Libya), Gomer (Cappadocia - Armenia), and Beth-togarmah (eastern Turkey). | The kings from the east which are then joined by the kings of the whole world. The beast (antichrist) and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. | Satan will be released from his prison and deceives the nations, Gog and Magog...the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. |
| Where are they: | Of the land of Magog. Also Persia, Ethiopia, Put, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah. You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army. | The east and then the whole world. | The nations which are in the four corners of the earth… |
| When: | The period after the mid-point in the 7 year tribulation when the "abomination of desolation" occurs through the end of the tribulation when Christ returns. | The sixth and seventh bowl judgements in the tribulation. | When the thousand years are completed. |
| Before War: | Land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. The land of unwalled villages. Those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates. | The first half of the tribulation period. | The millenial kingdom with Christ reigning on the throne in Jerusalem. Many people are saved and many are not saved. |
| How: | You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you...thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world. | Demonic forces gather the armies together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon. | They came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. |
| How (God's Providence): | I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army...you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog. My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them. I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. When Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord God, “that My fury will mount up in My anger. | ||
| Details of events: | - Gog and a colalition of nations come against the land of
Israel. - A great earthquake in the land of Israel. - The fish, the birds, the beasts, the creeping things, and all the men will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. - Troops kill each other in panic and confusion. - With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. - Birds and Beasts feast on them; to eat flesh and drink blood. - God sends fire on those still in safety in the land of Magog. - For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them. |
- The great river the Euphrates gets
dried up, to be prepared for the kings from
the east. - The kings of the whole world are gathered together for the war of the great day of God to Armageddon. - A great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth. - The Jerusalem gets split into three parts, but not as a judgment. - The cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. - Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. - Huge hailstones (100lbs each) came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe. - The armies are thrown into the great wine press of the wrath of God and it was trodden outside the city and blood came out up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. - The beast (the antichrist) and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. - And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. - The birds are filled with their flesh. |
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Satan is released - A colalition of nations from the four corners of the earth, (Gog and Magog) come against Christ and the saints in Jerusalem. - They came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. - Fire from heaven comes down and devoures them. - Satan is cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever. |
| Results: | I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand. You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. You will fall on the open field. | The beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. | |
| Aftermath: | Israel will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. | The Millenial Kingdom | The New Heavens and the New Earth |
| Differences in passages: | Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, is also descriptive
of the Antichrist, who rises to world dominance in the coming time of
tribulation (cf. Da 9:24–27; 11:36–45; Rev 13:1–17; 19:20). The time of the invasion is best understood as the last 3˝ years of the future tribulation period of 7 years. Israel will have been under a false peace in treaty with the Antichrist (Da 9:27; 11:22, 24), before he turns on them in the “abomination of desolation” (Mt 24:15; cf. Da 9:27). The false peace will end in hostility lasting to the completion of the 7 years (Zec 14:1–3). When this final war occurs (cf. Rev 16:12–16), Christ will ultimately conquer the beast, the false prophet, and all the ungodly forces (Rev 19:11–21) in order to establish His millennial kingdom (Rev 20:1–10). God will employ a great earthquake in Israel; panic will seize the invading soldiers (v. 21) who will turn and use their weapons against one another. He will further decimate the ranks by pestilence, a deluge of rain, large hailstones, plus fire and brimstone. The descriptions are identical to that of the last half of the 7 year tribulation in Rev 6:12–17; 11:19; 16:17–21; 19:11ff. |
The titles
of Gog and Magog are used here symbolically of the
final world uprising against Jerusalem, its
people and Messiah King. This attack comes not just from the North but the 4 corners of the world,
as a world of sinners at the end of the 1,000
year kingdom come to fight the saints in the
“beloved city” of Jerusalem. On that occasion, there is only one weapon used—divine fire. The Gog and Magog assault in Rev 20:7–9 at the end of the Millennium is another assault on Jerusalem patterned after certain images of the invasion in Ezek. 38, 39, but it is a distinct event one thousand years after the millennial kingdom begins. |
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| Purpose: | So that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes. I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord. I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. And the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward. | This is the climax to the last battle with Satan and his armies, whose eternal destiny is set. It is followed by the final judgment of all the ungodly before the Lord (Rev 20:11–15) and the creation of the eternal, sinless state (Rev 21:1). | |
| Key Purpose: | The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword. Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel. | ||