Exploring 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 →
As 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:
