Gog And Magog

Gog And Magog

Note that it doesn't say the battle of Gog and Magog will happen before or during the tribulation, but after the millennium (Revelation 20:7-8).

I think knowing the Biblical timing of the battle of Gog and Magog is important as I don't want anyone to think that any prophecies in the Bible have failed to come true when they don't see the battle happen before the 2nd coming.

I personally don't believe there's anything in Ezekiel 38-39 or Revelation 20 that would suggest or require they be referring to two different battles over 1000 years apart yet both led by Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38:2; Revelation 20:8).

Note that both Ezekiel 38:22 and Revelation 20:9 say the battle ends with God sending fire down.

I'm glad most everyone also refers to "the" battle of Gog and Magog instead of "a" battle of Gog and Magog, for indeed I believe the Bible teaches only one.

Note that the Bible refers to "the" battle in the Greek: "sunagagein autous eis ton polemon" (Revelation 20:8). "Ton polemon" is "the battle."

*******
Ezekiel 38-39 = Two Different Battles?

I personally don't believe there's anything in Ezekiel 38-39 that would suggest or require they be referring to two different battles over 1000 years apart yet both led by a single man named "Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal" (Ezekiel 38:1), "Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal" (Ezekiel 39:1).

Some say that in Ezekiel a 6th part of Gog's army is left and turned back, while in Revelation it's totally destroyed. But note that Revelation doesn't say it's totally destroyed, and refers to the same fire from heaven as Ezekiel. I believe it will be similar to the destruction of Hiroshima, in which there were still some survivors.

Some say there could be no bodies to bury or be eaten by birds after the battle in Revelation because God's fire "devours" them (Revelation 20:9). But note that Nadab and Abihu still had to be buried even after God's fire had "devoured" them: "There went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them... So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp" (Leviticus 10:2, 5).

I believe Revelation 20:9 refers to the same fire from God as Ezekiel 39:6, which is the same battle as Ezekiel 39:4, which shows the birds eating Gog's army.

*******
Burning Of Wooden Weapons For 7 Years

I don't believe Revelation requires that the white throne judgment and the new earth come immediately after the battle ends.

Note that nothing regarding the burning of the weapons would require that Revelation 20:8 and Ezekiel 38-39 be referring to two different battles over 1000 years apart yet both led by Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38:2; Revelation 20:8). It's unlikely Israel would be able to use today's tanks and machine guns as convenient firewood, but they could use wooden "bows and arrows" and "spears" and "shields" made by Gog's army at the end of the peaceful millennium (Ezekiel 39:9-10).

Some refer to something called lignostone, but what is the secular source which shows what percentage of Russian tanks and machine guns are now made of lignostone?

*******
Seven Months Burying The Dead

Some point out that in Ezekiel they spend 7 months burying the dead, while in Revelation the dead are raised to judgment. But both of these can happen after the battle. The raising doesn't have to be immediately after the battle.

*******
Ezekiel 38-39 = 2nd Coming?

Note that Ezekiel 38-39 doesn't show the 2nd coming, and Revelation 19 makes no reference to Gog and Magog, but both Ezekiel 38:22 and Revelation 20:9 say the battle of Gog and Magog ends with God sending fire down.

*******
Birds Eating Carcasses

Note that the fact that birds eat carcasses in both Ezekiel 39 and Revelation 19 doesn't require they be the same event. Ezekiel 38-39 doesn't show the 2nd coming, and Revelation 19 makes no reference to Gog and Magog, but both Ezekiel 38:22 and Revelation 20:9 say the battle of Gog and Magog ends with God sending fire down.

Because the battle will not occur until "the thousand years are expired" (Revelation 20:7), any millennial restrictions on what animals may eat may also have expired: "I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh" (Ezekiel 39:17).

*******
Gog Can Only Prepare For War Before Millennium?

Some say Gog's preparation for war could only be before the millennium. But why not after the millennium? -- "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" (Revelation 20:7-8).

When does this happen? -- "He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks" (Micah 4:3). Doesn't that happen at the beginning of the millennium?

Now when does the opposite happen? -- "Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears" (Joel 3:10). Couldn't this be after the millennium?

*******
Must Be Today's Nations?

Some say the nations referred to in Ezekiel 38 can't be in the millennium but must be today's nations of the same name. But I believe those nations referred to will exist in the millennium. Note that Egypt is still called Egypt in the millennium (Zechariah 14:18).

Some say Revelation's battle involves the nations of "the four quarters of the earth" (Revelation 20:8) while Ezekiel 38 doesn't. But the nations referred to in Ezekiel are simply a sampling, for Gog's army will contain "the princes of the earth" (Ezekiel 39:18) and "all men of war" (Ezekiel 39:20), including from nations whose names do not exist today, such as Magog, Gomer, and Togarmah (Ezekiel 38:2, 6).

*******
God Will Turn His Face No More?

I personally don't believe Ezekiel 39:29 requires that God will hide his face from Israel in the millennium. I believe Ezekiel 39:23-24 refers to the Babylonian captivity. The defeat of Gog will prove to all unbelievers and believers that Israel did not go into captivity because of any inability on YHWH's part to protect Israel.

Note that Ezekiel 39:29 doesn't say "I will no longer keep my face hidden" but "Neither will I hide my face any more from them," that is, he won't ever hide his face from them again, as he did when Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon.

*******
Ezekiel 39 = Isaiah 25

I personally don't believe anything requires that Ezekiel 39 and Isaiah 25 be the same event.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1