The Coming Gog and Magog War

“And the word of the Lord came unto me: ‘Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal; prophecy against him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you Gog, chief price of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army – your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, 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.

‘Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms, in future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, those people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, ‘I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people – all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?’

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 many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. You will advance against my people Israel, like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.’

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘You are the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel. At that time, they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. In my zeal and fiery wrath, I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble, and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so, I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’ (Ezekiel 38 1-23)

Everywhere we look we are being inundated with the developments within the Middle East. News stories are breaking daily about the possible war brewing between Israel and Iran. Speculation is brewing that the United States is prodding Iran into displaying an action to cause war within the region, which could develop into World War 3.

This speculation is completely justified due to the aggressive sanctions placed on the Iranian regime and the most recent confiscation of the Iranian Oil Tanker by the United Kingdom. Iran has notified the world that it has breached the uranium limits present within the Iranian Nuclear Deal and Israel has made it clear that their fighter planes can attack anywhere within the Iranian homeland. Things are escalating quickly, and the alliances spoken about within the writings of the Prophet Ezekiel are becoming clearer by the day.

We are told by Scripture about the coming alliance between the nations of Iran, Russia, Turkey, Libya, Sudan and Ethiopia and how this alliance will come against the land of Israel (see blog post Gog and Magog War for map). The Gog and Magog War prophecy has been one of the most noticeable prophecies within Scripture for a reason. This prophecy would not be possible without the Jews returning to their homeland, living in relative peace, gathering much wealth, and hated by its neighbors. The scenario that creates this possibility could only be possible within the modern age as none of these events came together prior to 1948.  The Jews were displaced from their homeland in 70AD when the Second Temple was destroyed, and the Romans removed the Jews from their homeland. The nations of Israel were without a geographic nation until after the atrocities of the Holocaust brought the international community together to create the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was founded on May 14^th, 1948 and with its creation, prophetic events have begun to unfold.

We are told by Jesus that the generation that witnesses the first prophetic event, in relation to His second coming, would witness all events prior to that generation passing:

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24: 32-35)

And Scripture specifically states how long a generation will be:

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn people back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.’ A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death – they are like the new grass of the morning: in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.

We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90: 1-12)

Through this prayer of Moses, we are told that the lifespan of man is seventy to eighty years leaving us to understand that a generation will have that same timespan. Using this analogy, we can demonstrate that the generation that witnessed the birth of Israel in 1948 would need to witness the coming of our Messiah prior to the completion of eighty years. This would mean that the seventy to eighty-year timeframe would be between 2018 and 2028. All prophecies considering the return of Jesus Christ would need to be completed within the next nine years for this timeframe to hold true and for the prophetic clock to be correct. This leaves little time left for mankind to witness the most traumatic events ever to unfold upon the earth.

The Gog and Magog War brings about the most climactic event witnessed within Scripture. We are told that this war will bring God himself to earth to demonstrate his divinity to the entire world (read blog post We are Instructed to Fear God so Why Are We Trying To Produce The War That Causes His Arrival for details).

Anyone looking upon the current world can see that we are living in unusual times. Mainstream news sources are talking about Bible Prophecy as if these prophetic events are common place. Scoffers are proclaiming that there is no God and that the Christian community has lost its mind. No one can understand the world markets as the economic models that have governed our global commerce no longer works and investors are only looking for government intervention as the indicator for market prosperity. Civilian uprisings are occurring daily, and terror attacks are removing any sense of security present within our society. War is on the horizon and we all know it!

As we witness the war of Gog and Magog unfold in the Middle East, we will see our world change forever. None of us will be able to stand during that day when our Lord demonstrates His power to the whole world:

“Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Gog, chief price of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. On the mountains of Israel, you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. You will fall in the open fields, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord.

I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel. It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord. This is the day I have spoken of.

Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up – the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign Lord.

On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the Sea. It will block the way of travelers because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So, it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog. For seven months the Israelites will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I display my glory will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign Lord. People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground.

After the seven months they will carry out a more detailed search. As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will leave a marker beside it until the gravediggers bury it in the Valley of Hamon Gog, near a town called Hamonah. And so, they will cleanse the land.

Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls – all of them fattened animals from Bashan. At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and solders of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign Lord.

I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay on them. From that day forward, the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So, I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.

Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel and will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy though them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 39: 1-29)

 

Clinton Kowach

7/14/19