Given the current events with war unfolding between Russia and Ukraine, it seemed good to address the Gog/Magog prophetic future and ponder where Gog/Magog and what the future may hold.
“And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Daniel 12:8-9
Just as Daniel did not understand everything, so too, I do not proclaim to have all of the answers, but will merely point out what the Bible says about Gog/Magog and what seems to be a probable answer regarding these things, as well as ponder what the future might hold. However, please note that the Rapture will have taken place prior to this event. For further information please see His Glorious Appearing chapter.
38 “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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 God; 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: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. 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. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God; 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, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
39 “Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God. And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel 38-39
I pondered going into some of the politics that are certainly not mainstream minded in regards to the conflict with Russia and Ukraine, but I have since noticed that some of the alternative news I subscribe to (Ron Paul Liberty Report/Patriot Post/NewsWithViews) have covered both of these topics, so I will let the world cover these and focus more on the question of Gog/Magog as it is definitely a topic that seem worthwhile to cover at this point.
First let’s start off with proving how Russia is Gog/Magog. Even if Russia ceased from being a nation and the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7) were off for centuries, that area of the world would still be considered Gog/Magog.
“Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,”… Ezekiel 38:2
“And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:”… Ezekiel 38:15
The following is taken from the A Voice in the Wilderness website (www.a-voice.org)
READER QUESTION:
One question. Does Gog/Magog refer to Russia? How do we know? What does Gomer refer to?
VW ANSWER:
Let’s see if we can sort this out in a rough sketch. It seems that even the “experts” are not totally certain, as any descriptions are laced with words like “probably”, or “thought to be”, etc. But let’s see what the references say about these various names, and you-all can plug them into the correct verses of Ezek ch38-39
- Gog: is the “prince/ruler of Magog, Rosh, Tubal, Meshech”
- Magog: is the “land of Gog”. Mountainous region between Cappadocia and Media. Directly north if Israel on the “neck” of what is presently the middle of Turkey.
- Rosh: “Rosh” is found in NKJV/LITV, etc. In the KJV it is rendered as “chief”. Many scholars assume it refers to Russia.
- Meshech: “descendants of Mesech often mentioned in connection with Tubal, Magog, and other northern nations including the Moschi, a people on the borders of Colchis and Armenia.” Today, of course, we know Armenia is in that area between the Caspian and Black Seas. Many scholars have associated “Moschi” with current “Moscow” and the Muscovy/Muscovites
- Tubal: region in east Asia Minor, which would be like current eastern Turkey.
- Persia: the Persian Empire included everything from India, to Egypt, to Thrace (west side of the Black Sea), parts of Europe, Africa, everything around the Black & Caspian Seas, Arabian desert, Persian Gulf.
- Ethiopia: I expect that’s pretty much where it is now
- Libya: see definition for Ethiopia
- Gomer: while my NKJV map shows it being western Turkey, the OLB notes indicate “Cimmerians and other branches of the Celtic family” That seems to get on up into Europe. I’ve read some scholarship in the past that includes “Germany” and “France” and such. And of course, the Celts ended up in the UK regions.
- Togarmah: the NKJV map shows it being similar to the above definitions of Magog and Tubal. But 38:6 indicates “far north”, so I expect these descendants of Noah might have started out in eastern Turkey and migrated up to the “far north”. Who’s up there? Follow a straight northerly course from Israel and it’s Russia?
- Sheba: southern Arabia
- Dedan: “place in south Arabia”
- Tarshish: “site unknown but perhaps in Cyprus or Spain” Ps72:10 speaks of “Tarshsish and of the isles”. While Tarshish is mentioned a few times in the O.T., it is never pinpointed, and seems to have been some place ‘far away’ from Israel. Enough so that Jonah was going to run away from the Lord by going there.
Many scholars speculate that this might be a prophetic reference to the USA. And the reference of “all their young lions” (38:13) is thought, by scholars, to refer to the British Commonwealth… since the British crest has lions on it. That would include Canada, Australia, etc. And indeed, the UK seems to be somewhat dragging its feet with relationship to joining in with the EU; the EU seeming to be part of the rest of those coming against Israel. And indeed, the US and UK have tended to carry out many joint military ventures, including the punishing of Saddam with the business of the “no fly zone”, etc. It was a Britain (Balfour) who was responsible for the establishment of the Israeli homeland, and the US is Israel’s closest ally. And indeed, all these other enmities against Israel are at odds with the US and UK, and the US seems to have somewhat of a working relationship with Saudi Arabia and some other entities around that region.
Now, if Tarshish -is- the US prophetically, notice God’s pronounced woes against this country. (Is2:16, 23:14) But also notice Is60:9, “And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar,” The largest concentration of Jews outside of the Israeli homeland is the USA. In fact, there are ‘more’ Jews in the US than in Israel.
These entities that migrated from what is now Turkey are presently part of what used to be the Soviet Union. We should understand that these names in Scripture are their ancient names, and that they originated in these places, and so many names are concentrated around what is now Turkey because Noah’s ark landed in the mountains that are presently between Turkey and Iran. That is the point from which all current ethnicities originated. From Genesis it would seem that they migrated to the Tigris/Euphrates plains where Babel began, and then they all split up when the languages were scrambled. So, this is where the expressions “probably” or “thought to be” come in… because the historian scholars are not exactly sure of every ethnic migration, either.
Now, even Turkey, while having a treaty with Israel, has been making noises against Israel. The EU has been gaining momentum, and flexing its global muscles to dabble into world affairs all over…and it seems that the PLO are looking to the EU, wishing (begging) for them to get involved in the process. Of course, Russia is already involved. They’ve already got their “muslim” wars going on. And all these nations… Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Lybia, etc. are overflowing with Russian weapons they have been stockpiling for the past several decades.
So, yes… Ezekiel 38-39 is about ‘all’ the countries that are presently involved with (in some way) the Middle-East ‘crisis’. (Link)
There really should be no doubt that Russia, including the former Soviet parts, are Gog/Magog. Now the question would remain for those who doubt such things, just where else would Gog/Magog be?…nonetheless we move on discussing this conflict and the timing of it in retrospective to what the Bible teaches.
So there are basically two trains of thoughts here, with another tidbit that will be mentioned later that is a possibility. The first and the one that I used to hold to, was that the Gog/Magog conflict would happen either right before the Rapture or immediately after. Yet, upon further study, this is not plausible based upon what the Holy Scriptures teach.
The premise for such a belief was this verse, which is often a stumbling block for many supposed scholars and even those who do truly know the Lord.
“And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:”… Ezekiel 39:9
So the assumption here is that this will be the start of the Tribulation time period of seven years (Seventh Week):
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Daniel 9:26-27
Logically one would assume because weapons are being burnt for seven years that this time period would coincide with the time period of the Seventh Week. However, there are other portions of the passage of Ezekiel 38-39 that correlate with other portions of the Holy Scriptures, as well as present a problem for following that theory of the Gog/Magog conflict.
We know that Gog/Magog conflict does not happen long prior to the actual return of Christ for the Bible is quite clear in Ezekiel 38:8 that it happens in the last final years. One of the keys to understanding this is found in verse 11 of Ezekiel 38:
“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,”…
Right now Israel is not a land that is unwalled, nor do they neglect bars or gates. They are not at peace with their neighbors who constantly threaten to erase them off the map. In fact their defense is powerful, but peace has not yet come. This will not be the case until Daniel 9:27 is fulfilled and then there will be the peace (1 Thes. 5:3) that would cause the walls and gates to come down.
The other keys to understanding is that there are verses within Ezekiel 38-39 that align with other portions of the Bible that are clearing speaking of the battle of Armageddon.
“And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Revelation 16:16
Right in the context of Gog/Magog and the Ezekiel prophecy we have the following verse:
“Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken.” Ezekiel 39:8
This is God speaking here and quite clearly correlating with ‘the day’ that He has spoken of. What day is this?
Gog/Magog
“For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.” Ezekiel 38:19-20
Armageddon
“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:12-17
Gog/Magog
“And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.” Ezekiel 38:21
“And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.” Ezekiel 39:3
“After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel 39:26-29
Armageddon – Restoration of Israel
“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” Joel 3:14-21
Finally…
Gog/Magog
“Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.” Ezekiel 39:4
“And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel 39:17-20
Armageddon
“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; 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. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” Revelation 19:17-21
Now while Gog/Magog is talking about Russia, we know that the nations of the world (Rev. 16:14), not just the Russia—old Soviet bloc countries, go against Israel. So what about the United States of America? Well that depends on how you look at things?
While All Will Stand does not purport to have all of the answers, the best is done to simply point the reader or listener to God’s Truth. There certainly are things that are ‘hard to be understood’ (2 Peter 3:16) and I don’t believe anyone will know for sure how these things are going to play out, whenever that might be.
Yet if America is the military and economic arm of the revived Roman Empire, than is America even still in existence at this current point in history. SEE: The Night Is Far Spent Article Seven After all if the ‘merchants of the earth weep’ (Rev. 18:11), when Babylon is destroyed, then what amount of military might would the USA still have, if any??? Big question here.
Nonetheless there is one other thing of interest that will be mentioned here.
“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. 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.” Revelation 20:7-9
This is post-Millennium, so are there two battles or is this when Gog/Magog occurs???
Nevertheless our focus should be on preaching the Gospel to those who might listen, still the study of all Scripture is profitable.
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Romans 13:12
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2nd Timothy 3:16-17
“Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:”… Colossians 1:28
Right now the world is seeing a battle between Russia and the Ukraine, will it escalate outside of those areas? Will it be put down? Will it cause World War III? Whatever the end of the matter ends of being, be assured you are not watching Gog/Magog unfold, this is for the future, these things will not occur until after the Rapture.
