Part 2: A future northern coalition will attack Israel.
In our previous post, we detailed how Israel had been attacked the prior weekend with a blitz of over 300 potentially deadly drones and missiles fired from within the Islamic Republic of Iran. God used friendly Arab neighbors and Western allies to intercept nearly all of those dangerous projectiles.
The following Friday morning, Israel launched a “limited” retaliatory strike near Iran’s “nuclear energy mountain” at Isfahan, some 200 miles south of Tehran. More importantly, Israel also took out air defense units in Syria, allowing them to use a stealth fighter for a “surgical strike” on the critical Russian-made radar system in central Iran.
Are these events part of the “Gog of Magog” scenarios of Ezekiel?
Modern Iran’s ancient name of Persia is included in a listing of a coalition of countries who will fight a future war against a restored Israel in the “latter days” (Ezekiel 38:1-6).
Chapter 39 of Ezekiel informs the reader that God will destroy the infamous leader named Gog and his coalition armies “upon the mountains of Israel.” His initial army came from those regions named “Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” in “the land of Magog,” over which he is described as a “prince.”
Some Bible students see Russia as far north of Israel and assume it to be Magog. They see its major cities of Moscow and Tobolsk as “Meshech and Tubal.” Others see modern Turkey on a world globe as directly north of Israel and believe its eastern and western regions to have contained regions named Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal in Ezekiel’s day.
We don’t know. We are not even sure if the prophesied future coalition of nations attacking Israel will occur before, near its end or after the 1,000-year reign of King Jesus on earth from Jerusalem. Ezekiel doesn’t compare nor tie his coalition prophecy to another timeline of end-time events.
Whatever the origins and actions of Gog’s alliance described by Ezekiel (38:1-6), God declares He will remove their weapons from their hands and “send a fire on Magog” and the watching nations “shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel” (39:4-7).
The Destruction of Gog and his Armies
Oddly, the related passages say the victorious people of Israel will “burn” the captured weapons of war for fuel for seven years (39: 9-10). If taken literally, this future, modern war will use combustible weapons. Why? Are these armaments that actually burn or is ancient imagery used to describe modern weaponry? Or, could modern weapons be made unusable due to atomic attacks, electromagnetic pulses (EMP), or the like?
After these armies “fall upon the mountains of Israel,” people of the land will “cleanse the land” for seven months to discover and carefully gather for burial all the human remains left from “Gog and all his multitude.” The human flesh from these dead will be devoured by ravenous birds and beasts of the field (39:4,11-16).
The purity rituals of Jewish practice forbid them from touching dead or religiously unclean things. Consequently, it seems they may employ people from the region to search the land for seven months and bury the bodies systematically. If anyone sees even a human bone, they will set up a marker so it can be found by the buriers, for “Thus they shall cleanse the land.”
The remains of bodies and bones will be collected in a mass grave in a large valley “east of the sea” and be called “the Valley of Hamon Gog” (39:11). It is not clear if this large burial site will be to the east of the Mediterranean Sea in southern Israel or east of the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan. Pastor Jack Hayford has pointed out this location would allow Israel proper to be free of religious defilement, as they “cleanse the land.” So many will be buried there that it will “obstruct travelers” on what was otherwise a major north-south route in the region. New routes to circumvent the whole area will likely be needed.
Satan, Gog, and Magog: Together Again?
John the Revelator reveals that after the 1,000-year reign of King Jesus, Satan will be unbound from his prison in the “bottomless pit” for a “little while” (Rev. 20:1-3). He will lead a rebellion of people living during that idyllic, messianic age of peace and righteousness on earth (20:7-10). This confirms the innate sinfulness of the human heart (Jerimiah 17:9).
It seems many will insincerely submit to King Jesus’ rule during the Millennium without inner commitment to His lordship. Likewise, there are many in our day who profess saving faith in Christ but do not truly submit to His Lordship nor persevere in faithfulness. Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:8; NLT).
John doesn’t explain how “the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan” (20:2) could again deceive “Gog and Magog.” They were already defeated and destroyed in Ezekiel 39:11-16, yet now, they are again to gather nations of innumerable rebels to battle against the “saints and the beloved city” (Rev. 20:9).
Could the apocalyptic drama of Gog and his allies attacking Israel in Ezekiel actually not be played out until after the one-thousand-year reality and rule of King Jesus and…
…the long-awaited Kingdom of God? And, could the kingdom-reality of swords being beaten “into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks” (Micah 4:3) be a reason the armaments of Gog’s armies seem to be rudimentary and consumable?
This will be Satan’s “last hurrah” before being “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” There, he will join the beast and the false prophet and be “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:7-10; MEV).
Does John use the enigmatic “Gog and Magog” terminology in verse eight to liken that military campaign to that of the Old Testament prophecy as a reminder or as its only reality? Is Ezekiel’s prophecy about to be fulfilled soon in the Middle East, or does it await the end of the Millennial reign of King Jesus? We don’t know for sure. Respected Bible interpreters debate the issue.
The “end times” end!
However, Chapter 21 of Revelation introduces us to a future when time will be no more! We will inhabit a “new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and earth will have passed away (as previewed in Rev. 6:12-14; 16:18-21; 2 Pet. 3:10-13; et al). The Great, Holy City will descend from God, “having the glory of God” (21:10-14). In this New Jerusalem, God will be with us! We will be His people, and He will be our God!
In this new, eternal heaven, “God shall wipe away all tears from [our] eyes. There shall be no more death. Neither shall there be any more sorrow nor crying nor pain, for the former things have passed away” and all will forever be well with our souls (Rev. 21:3-4; MEV). Hallelujah!
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