"...Son of Man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal... Peria, Cush, and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops-the many nations with you... In the future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountians of Israel... You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up...You will say, 'I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people... I will plunder and loot...
'Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says, 'In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? You will come from your place in the far north, you and the many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army... I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes... When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused...I will make my holy name amoung my people Israel. I will no longer let my name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel. It is coming!... Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up... For seven years they will use them for fuel." Ezekiel 38:1-39:9.

What?

What's the story? Gog, Beth Togarmah, Persia, Cush, Put and Gomer get it into their heads to attack an unsuspecting country. God loves this country very much and His hot anger is aroused when these countries come to attack this unsuspecting country. God wants to show these attackers once and for all who the Almight God is. For the whole story, read Ezekiel 38 and 39.

Who?

Who are these contries? Well, here's the answer:

Unsuspecting Country- The Unsuspecting Country is Israel of course, as mentioned several times during the prophecy. Everyone in this prophecy is angry at Israel and decides to attack them. But God decides He will not let that happen to His people and protects them.

Gog- If you look at Ezekiel 38:15 it says, "You will come from your place in the far north..." so Gog is far north. It is believe that the Magogs are the ancestors of the Russians, so Gog is Russia. The name Magog is a symbol for the ruler in the prophecy. If you look at Genesis 10:2 it lists Japeth's sons and Magog is one of them (the other countries who attack Israel are listed too). So obviously when Gog attacks Israel, the ruler's name will not be "Magog" because that is just a Biblical symbol. It will be something else.

Perisa- Persia is mentioned through out the Bible several times. Of course before there was Persia, there was Babylon which exiled the Jews. Then when Persia took over they told the Jews to go on home. Persia was a very, very big country in the Bible times. It used to be Syria, southern part of Turkey, most of Iraq and all of Iran. Over the years Persia got smaller and smaller and then the country changed it's name to Iran. All countries that used to be Persia, didn't like Israel then and don't now.

Cush- Cush is northeastern Africa, probably where the descendants of Cush setteled. Cush is thought to be Ethiopia, part of northern Sudan, and southern Egypt.

Put- Put is Libya.

Gomer- Gomer is Germany, Slovakia and south east Europe.

Beth Togarmah- It says in Ezekiel 38:6

"... and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all it's troops." Beth Togarmah is Turkey, which is north of Israel.

When?

I've looked through out this prophecy, and I'll look again and again, but I have not found anything that says when it will happen. Tim Lahaye seems to think it will be before the Rapture or the peace treaty. He said it would be easier for the Antichrist to make a peace treaty with Russia out of the way. He dated it to be about 3 and a half years before the rapture/peace treaty. But that would be kind of like date setting the Rapture and we all know what the Bible says about date setting the coming of Jesus.

There is one verse in the whole prophecy that gives a tiny hint to when it could happen, but no dates. And this is just my own speculation, so even though I'm probably wrong, I'll put down anyway. Ezekiel 38:8 it says "... In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war..." So when it does happen, it could be after a war maybe. When there is peace. That's just an idea. Or maybe that verse means that Magog will attack a land that has been through many wars. Who knows?

One fact remains: God has allowed His people to be attacked and scattered before because they had turned away from Him or forgot Him. Well, this time He won't let anyone destroy them, so it makes you think that when Gog attacks, Israel has turned back to God (as they have now). And with all the Anti-Semitism going around, it could happen soon.

Why?

Well, this is something that is going to take a lot of explaining. It's obvious that none of these countries have any reason to attack Israel. They don't like Israel, but that's not a real reason. There are several reasons why these countries would be against Israel. One is that they want Israel's hidden oil. Israel doens't destroy their land for oil and they have a lot of it, and they countries could try to destroy Israel for it. Another view is that it isn't the countries who attack Israel, but a certain people who will attack. Some people think that Islamic people from these countries will attack.

We all know that the Islamic people don't like the Jewish people. Sure the Jewish people only have a little piece of land out there in the Middle East, but the Arabs don't even want them to have that. The Islamic people believe that Israel belongs to them. But four thousand years ago, God Almightly promised that land to His people, the Jews, so it is theirs.

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