The Battle of Gog and Magog

[Rev2015]

In Ezekiel 38 and 39 we are told this battle will happen in the latter days, just prior to a 7 year period. I believe God has revealed to us when this event will take place, if we will simply believe it. It is in the latter days,..... just before a 7 year period. This should ring bells to any student of prophecy. The book of Daniel tells us of a 7 year period, in the latter days. The book of revelation also foretells of a 7 year period, that is divided into two 3 1/2 year periods, also in the latter days. Being the 7 last years just before the return of Christ. The Ezekiel 38 and 39 battle will happen before the covenant with many, before the 7 years of tribulation. It is the battle that will subdue the three kingdoms in Daniel and place the world in the condition necessary for 10 kings to implement a global government, and place that government under antichrist.

After the 1000 years of Christ ruling the earth, Satan will be released. The forces that align with him are destroyed and God follows with the destruction of the original creation, and then He creates new heavens and a new earth. There is no 7 year period indicated between Satan's uprising and the passing away of the heavens and earth, and God creating a new heaven and earth. 

All that is being indicated, as a similarity between the people from both events, is they come from the same region on the earth.

There are 3 main battle events in the future. One will be the battle that initiates the conditions for the world's nations to sign on to the covenant with many. This is Ezekiel 38 and 39, happening just prior to the 7 years (as indicated) of tribulation. This battle will escalate into a world war with the use of WMD's. This is a possible parallel to the 2nd seal. I personally believe the conditions created by the aftermath of the resurrection and rapture, will be the catalyst that will initiate this battle. During this time we may also see North and South Korea go to war. China may attack Taiwan, and India and Pakistan could also go to war. These are volatile hot spots in the world where war could break out without notice, an event such as the rapture could trigger all these.   

The second battle is in Revelation 19:11. When Christ returns, the 10 kings of the earth have gathered their armies to fight against the armies of heaven at His return. Christ will destroy all of these armies and take over the earth and begin His 1000 kingdom.

The third is when Satan is released at the end of the 1000 year kingdom, when Christ destroys those armies and the heaven and earth pass away.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Rev2015

[Serving]

For me, this declaration sets the time frame for us :

Relation 20:7-9

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 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.

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

This is the measure I am following, I am taking this literally & for me, all other added information to this subject found within the scriptures must likewise conform to this method for this particular subject. So I do not have to worry about the placing of this prophecy because God has already done it for me.

And seeing that this is a deep future prophecy not directly affecting us, I am not expecting to find answers to every single question I might ask, because it is for a deep future generation .. but I do find quite a bit of detail nevertheless .. buuuut .. even the details given leave many unanswered questions (I've got years worth of unanswered questions still) .. to me this means we are told just enough to have a firm enough understanding of the matter but the finer details are something we will have to wait for the Lord Himself to inform us of after we are gathered to Him.

This poses no problems for me because not even other highly detailed prophecies answer absolutely everything either .. other words, this acceptance of missing details unanswered is not an aberration but a frustrating & recurring prophetic theme that irks someone like me who wants to know every detail down to the finest grain !!

So if I can "grudgingly" accept that not every question will be satisfied, I console myself with the fact that if every detail in every prophecy needed explaining so no unanswered questions remained, I'd probably need a forklift just to lift up the bible because it would be so big .. every prophecy has unanswered questions, be they fulfilled or not .. this one is no different.

Nevertheless, knowing that Satan is not destroyed at the 2nd coming but instead is imprisoned, tells me that God is not yet finished with Satan, otherwise he would have been simply destroyed at the 2nd coming. So I search the scriptures for any other insights on this imprisonment and guess what .. some years back now I found this whilst reading my bible :

Isaiah 51:13 And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

Isaiah 51:14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

Now if you read the whole chapter (and surrounding ones) you'll find the theme is to do with the lead up to the time frame being spoken of in Revelation 20 (if one is aware of there being flesh Israel ruled over by resurrected spirit saints during the millennium that is) .. and the captive exile (exiled from heaven) is the oppressor himself .. Satan, he is often called the oppressor many times throughout the scriptures.

Now, Satan doesn't want to die in his prison, nor that all his hard work & lies he has fed the world with .. that bread and those doctrines (lies) "should fail" (be undone / gone to waste).

That insight alone tells us something in itself does it not?  .. That Satan wants to continue with that "bread" he is "feeding" to mankind, even right to his very last .. to go out defiantly and to take as many with him as possible .. so .. just from that Isaiah declaration above, what do you suppose the first thing Satan will do when released to uphold that message God is conveying to us through Isaiah?

Something like this perhaps :

Revelation 20:8 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.

It certainly fits his character and his intentions as mentioned in that Isaiah prophecy does it not?

And since this is Satan's desire, to carry on his work of deceiving and RULING .. it would be no stretch at all to imagine him gathering an army to achieve this goal right? (just as any "deposed king" would desire / attempt)

To take up where he left off .. to regain his "leadership" over mankind .. but .. God has a nasty surprise in store for him this time .. his total & eternal destruction.

Regards.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2015 by Serving

[WilliamL]

The 7 Bowls: God's Wrath Poured Out on the Nations
   ... 7th Bowl:  "[T]hunderings and lightnings...a mighty and great earthquake...great hail from heaven." Jesus—Yeshua—and the armies of heaven descend to destroy the armies gathered together against them. The Beast and the False Prophet are captured alive, and "cast into" the lake of fire.  Rev. 16:17-21; 19:11-21 

[The foreshadowing of the 7th Bowl: Joshua—Yeshua—and the Israelites defeated the many armies gathered together against them on 'the day the sun stood still.' "[T]he earth trembled and shook" amidst a great storm (Jasher 89:15), and great hailstones fell from heaven. The Canaanite armies were routed and slaughtered, and their kings were captured alive and "cast into" a cave.  Josh. 10 All this took place 40+ years after the Tribulation-Exodus into the wilderness of the Mosaic era.]

    The Armageddon battle of the 7th Bowl and Revelation 19 is that of Ezekiel 38-39, the only other place God mentions using "great hailstones" in war. Ezek. 38:22  Both passages also tell about God's great feast for the birds:

    Come, gather together to the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings...[and] mighty men, the flesh of horses [etc.]...  Rev. 19:17-19
    ...come, gather together...to my sacrificial meal...that you may...eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of princes...[and] horses [etc.]...  Ezek. 39:17-18, 20

      This is also the time of the battle of Zechariah 14: 

    Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations... it shall be one [unique] day that is known to the LORD...at evening it shall be light. Zech. 14:3, 7

Compare Joshua 10:13-14 : 

    So the sun...did not hasten to go down... And there has been no day like that before...for the LORD fought for Israel.

    Zechariah 14 focuses on the battle for Jerusalem, while Ezekiel 38-39 focuses on the greater battle against the assembled armies gathered in the Plain of Esdraelon/Megiddo. However, both passages, as also Revelation 16:18,  speak of the tremendous earthquake to take place. (Ezek. 38:19-20; Zech. 14:4-5) Both also say that among the invaders, "every man's sword will be against his brother." (Ezek. 38:21; Zech. 14:13)  So this is all one continuous conflict, fought over a wide area, in which the Lord personally fights. In Joshua's day, the king of Jerusalem was the leader of the assembled heathen armies: this was a foreshadowing of the Latter Day battle for Jerusalem.

Take note of "the flesh of horses" eaten by the birds. Armies don't have horses these days. (And don't delude yourself into thinking that "horses" don't mean horses: birds don't eat trucks.) This can only mean one thing: the world's technology will be destroyed by nuclear war in the early stages of the End Times, and will not be reconstituted. Nations will thus resort to raising horses for transportation. Now consider: raising enough horses to transport an army ("all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army," Ezek. 38:15) will take decades to accomplish from scratch.

You cannot put the End Times into a 7-year box.

Edited August 31, 2015 by WilliamL
typo--remove italics

[Ezra]

We should endeavor to keep the battle of Armageddon distinct from the battle of Gog and Magog. There are some similarities, but there are also major differences.

[Serving]

Hi William,

The 7 Bowls: God's Wrath Poured Out on the Nations
   ... 7th Bowl:  "[T]hunderings and lightnings...a mighty and great earthquake...great hail from heaven." Jesus—Yeshua—and the armies of heaven descend to destroy the armies gathered together against them. The Beast and the False Prophet are captured alive, and "cast into" the lake of fire.  Rev. 16:17-21; 19:11-21 

[The foreshadowing of the 7th Bowl: Joshua—Yeshua—and the Israelites defeated the many armies gathered together against them on 'the day the sun stood still.' "[T]he earth trembled and shook" amidst a great storm (Jasher 89:15), and great hailstones fell from heaven. The Canaanite armies were routed and slaughtered, and their kings were captured alive and "cast into" a cave.  Josh. 10 All this took place 40+ years after the Tribulation-Exodus into the wilderness of the Mosaic era.]

    The Armageddon battle of the 7th Bowl and Revelation 19 is that of Ezekiel 38-39, the only other place God mentions using "great hailstones" in war. Ezek. 38:22  Both passages also tell about God's great feast for the birds:

    Come, gather together to the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings...[and] mighty men, the flesh of horses [etc.]...  Rev. 19:17-19
    ...come, gather together...to my sacrificial meal...that you may...eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of princes...[and] horses [etc.]...  Ezek. 39:17-18, 20

      This is also the time of the battle of Zechariah 14: 

    Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations... it shall be one [unique] day that is known to the LORD...at evening it shall be light. Zech. 14:3, 7

Compare Joshua 10:13-14 : 

    So the sun...did not hasten to go down... And there has been no day like that before...for the LORD fought for Israel.

    Zechariah 14 focuses on the battle for Jerusalem, while Ezekiel 38-39 focuses on the greater battle against the assembled armies gathered in the Plain of Esdraelon/Megiddo. However, both passages, as also Revelation 16:18,  speak of the tremendous earthquake to take place. (Ezek. 38:19-20; Zech. 14:4-5) Both also say that among the invaders, "every man's sword will be against his brother." (Ezek. 38:21; Zech. 14:13)  So this is all one continuous conflict, fought over a wide area, in which the Lord personally fights. In Joshua's day, the king of Jerusalem was the leader of the assembled heathen armies: this was a foreshadowing of the Latter Day battle for Jerusalem.

Take note of "the flesh of horses" eaten by the birds. Armies don't have horses these days. (And don't delude yourself into thinking that "horses" don't mean horses: birds don't eat trucks.) This can only mean one thing: the world's technology will be destroyed by nuclear war in the early stages of the End Times, and will not be reconstituted. Nations will thus resort to raising horses for transportation. Now consider: raising enough horses to transport an army ("all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army," Ezek. 38:15) will take decades to accomplish from scratch.

You cannot put the End Times into a 7-year box.

Lets look closer at the verses in question in regards to the "flesh of horses" bit you mentioned because the answer is in there for us.

Now the part you refer too is called "the great supper of The Lord" .. take extra note of the last half of verse 18 please :

Revelation 19: 17-18

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

Now, besides the fact that even today, many nations armies still use horses for patrols & reconnaissance purposes, (I've even seen footage of Australian special forces on horseback in certain middle eastern zones which are not ideal for vehicles etc) ..

But besides that, notice how the last half of verse 18 tells us that it is not just the armies being feasted on .. but civilians too .. and world wide at that !!

And seeing that many nations peoples still use horses in many ways, then these horses don't necessarily need be a major part of the military aspect, since this is world wide feasting going on, and horses are still used in many nations even today.

So that poses no problems for me .. I 've had lots of time to ponder on this and I can't see a problem with it at all .. and yes, I did question that too, many years ago now, so there's nothing wrong with your questioning it, but it is not a brick wall once all the other prophetic consequences are taken into account in my opinion.

Regards.

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2015 by Serving

[WilliamL]

Hi William,

...Take note of "the flesh of horses" eaten by the birds. Armies don't have horses these days. (And don't delude yourself into thinking that "horses" don't mean horses: birds don't eat trucks.) This can only mean one thing: the world's technology will be destroyed by nuclear war in the early stages of the End Times, and will not be reconstituted. Nations will thus resort to raising horses for transportation. Now consider: raising enough horses to transport an army ("all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army," Ezek. 38:15) will take decades to accomplish from scratch.

...And seeing that many nations peoples still use horses in many ways, then these horses don't necessarily need be a major part of the military aspect...

Apparently you missed the part above which I have now underlined. The horses certainly are "a major part of the military aspect" for this great armed force, since "all of" it is on horseback!

[Serving]

Hi William,

...Take note of "the flesh of horses" eaten by the birds. Armies don't have horses these days. (And don't delude yourself into thinking that "horses" don't mean horses: birds don't eat trucks.) This can only mean one thing: the world's technology will be destroyed by nuclear war in the early stages of the End Times, and will not be reconstituted. Nations will thus resort to raising horses for transportation. Now consider: raising enough horses to transport an army ("all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army," Ezek. 38:15) will take decades to accomplish from scratch.

...And seeing that many nations peoples still use horses in many ways, then these horses don't necessarily need be a major part of the military aspect...

Apparently you missed the part above which I have now underlined. The horses certainly are "a major part of the military aspect" for this great armed force, since "all of" it is on horseback!

Hi William,

I wasn't commenting on Ezekiel .. I was commenting on revelation ch19.

I do not accept that they are the same event.

cheers.

[Serving]

 

It occurred to me that basically, whether you like it or not .. ANYONE who says that Gog & Magog is before the 2nd coming .. is .. and there is no other way to describe them .. Amillennial.

The scriptures are on our side, they say Gog & Magog is AFTER the millennium .. and I'll stick with that.

 

[WilliamL]

 

It occurred to me that basically, whether you like it or not .. ANYONE who says that Gog & Magog is before the 2nd coming .. is .. and there is no other way to describe them .. Amillennial.

The scriptures are on our side, they say Gog & Magog is AFTER the millennium .. and I'll stick with that.

Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven at the Second Coming, after the Great Tribulation but just before the Wrath, and catches up his Church.

The Wrath ensues, consisting of the events of the 7 Trumpets and the 7 Bowls, which cover quite a number of years.

At the 6th and 7th Bowls, which = Ezek. 38-39 = Zech. 14 = Rev. 19:11ff. and includes the Battle of Armageddon, Jesus descends to earth to defeat the nations gathered against him by the Beast and False Prophet. The Millennium begins.

So yes, I do say that the first battle of Gog and Magog is before the Second Coming; and no, I am not amillennial.

And so is fulfilled the prophecy of Ex. 17:16, "...the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation," right up to the end of time at the end of Rev. 20. Gog is a derivative of Agag, the title of the chief prince of Amalek, just like Pharaoh was the title of the leader of the Egyptians from generation to generation.

[Serving]

 

Hi William L,

 

It occurred to me that basically, whether you like it or not .. ANYONE who says that Gog & Magog is before the 2nd coming .. is .. and there is no other way to describe them .. Amillennial.

The scriptures are on our side, they say Gog & Magog is AFTER the millennium .. and I'll stick with that.

Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven at the Second Coming, after the Great Tribulation but just before the Wrath, and catches up his Church.

The Wrath ensues, consisting of the events of the 7 Trumpets and the 7 Bowls, which cover quite a number of years.

At the 6th and 7th Bowls, which = Ezek. 38-39 = Zech. 14 = Rev. 19:11ff. and includes the Battle of Armageddon, Jesus descends to earth to defeat the nations gathered against him by the Beast and False Prophet. The Millennium begins.

So yes, I do say that the first battle of Gog and Magog is before the Second Coming; and no, I am not amillennial.

And so is fulfilled the prophecy of Ex. 17:16, "...the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation," right up to the end of time at the end of Rev. 20. Gog is a derivative of Agag, the title of the chief prince of Amalek, just like Pharaoh was the title of the leader of the Egyptians from generation to generation.

 If you say Gog & Magog is before the 2nd coming, then you are Amillennial whether you realise it or not bro.

 

Revelation 20:

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 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.

 

There is only one Gog & Magog event & it can not be split into two events because the details are not the same as the warring before Christ's return.

What helped me when I first struggled with this subject, and it did do my head in for quite some months, was one overriding & eventual realisation .. that I was playing the pro's & cons game .. you know, where 3 scriptures seemed to support me but only two didn't !! That "game" .. big no no.

When I realised that there are absolutely NO pro's & con's in scripture, only misinterpretations, that I finally accepted what was plainly written .. that Gog & Magog happens after the Millennium, only after that surrendering could I move forward.

Cheers.