Chapter 38
A new prophecy, of Gog and the land of Magog. There is a note in MSB saying this prophecy will be the subject of all of chapters 38 and 39. A northern confederacy. MSB goes on to say that Gog is likely a proper name, the name of a prince. MSB says this is the name of Antichrist. So this prophecy would be about the last days. It should tie to Daniel and to Revelation, and to other prophecy of the last days. The terms Gog and Magog also appear in Rev. 20:8. There, they refer to the final world uprising against Jerusalem. This would seem to be then about the battle when Satan is loosed for a short time after being locked up in the pit for the 1000 years of the Millennial. He manages to put together a last conspiracy to fight against Israel, while Jesus is on earth ruling as their King. He is the ultimate deceiver to pull that off in that time.
MSB goes to considerable trouble to debunk the idea that Magog is Russia. He concludes that it is most likely about Asia Minor, and names it as probably present day Turkey. This is where Antichrist will come from, per MSB. Wish I could cut and paste the whole note and send it to Paula. Many other cities and places are named. These can be looked at individually, but the idea is that the whole world outside Israel will come to fight Jesus and His people there. They will lose. God says it will be He who brings these other nations - the remaining lost in the world - to fight and lose against Christ's Millennial Kingdom. He will manipulate them to do His will, to carry out His plan, as He also raised up the Assyrians against Israel and Babylon against Judah, and then against all those who had despised Judah and embraced it's fall.
This army that comes will be a horde, like a cloud covering the land. They are coming against the people brought back from many nations. Very little wiggle room on who we're talking about here. This verse indicates the time we are talking about:
8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. [Eze 38:8 ESV]
So it seems to be clear that this will be after the Jews return to Jerusalem. If they are dwelling securely, I think we have to be in the Millennial. They are certainly not secure today!
2022- So...
I think clearly this is about the post-Millennial battle, the last ever battle, that Jesus wins with only his breath. Where did all these lost people come from? A horde, a cloud covering the land, and at the end of the 1000 years. What if...no, that won't fly. Here is the problem I have...The Sheep and Goat/Pre-Millennial judgment "seems to be" a judgment of all the living at that time. The church is rapture out, both living and dead, and are in spiritual bodies. A great battle has taken place and Christ Himself has appeared to defeat that army, to confine Satan to the pit for a thousand years, and then to judge.
Difficult...I am too tired to puzzle this all the way out, but here are just some possibilities here. What if the sheep and goat judgment is only of Jews who've come home survived t/gt. They are from all the nations, as they've been scattered for thousands of years. What if it is only these that are judged worthy or unworthy to enter Israel - the land promised to them and them alone. The rest of the world goes back to what they were doing, rejecting and neglecting God and his Son, for a thousand years. They are subject to the rule of Israel, however, and so begin once again to resent the power of God and his people. To hate from jealousy at the visibly undeniable blessings that accrue to Israel during this time. It is these people, still unjudged, still lost, Gentiles in the main, who mass up into hordes and attack Israel after a thousand years. All of them die by the fiery breath of Christ. So THEN, at the GWT, ALL the dead are judged. EXCEPT the Jews in Israel, who are no longer subject to the jeopardy of the second death.
The beast from the sea would have been judged also at the Sheep and Goat, or at least concurrently, not for what he did to the world, but for his blasphemous attacks on the people of God.
This is a bit scary to think about. This seems to tie so many things together, to solve so many seeming contradictions.
Gog will devise "an evil scheme" to conquer and plunder the "land of un-walled villages". To conquer a people who dwell in peace and make no preparations for war. They don't even have bars or gates.
2022 - It says "thoughts will come into your head". This whole thing will be irrational and crazy in light of the events of t/gt and the following thousand years. This is orchestrated toward God's pre-written ending of everything.
Beginning in vs 14, this prophecy is addressed to Gog:
14 "Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. [Eze 38:14-16 ESV] Gog will be used to demonstrate not his own greatness and power, but to show the holiness of God. (2020-Just had an interesting thought...maybe this army coming on horseback is literal. Maybe Trib and Great Trib have so thoroughly devastated the planet - except for Israel - that people are back to living in the iron age or bronze age or some near equivalent. Maybe cell phones are long gone, as is Petroleum to run the tanks and howitzers and nukes can no longer be maintained. In Israel, they are raising crops on the now fertile land, and Israel has truly become the source of bread for the whole world. That's why all these world leaders come there to settle their disputes. To do otherwise is to starve their own people.)
vss 17-23, the end of this chapter, say that when this army appears, God will fight the battle. There will be a great earthquake, so that the whole earth fears. The army of Gog will fight within itself. They will kill each other. There will be pestilence, torrential rain, hailstones, and sulfur. God will turn the earth itself against this army. They will be destroyed, and all will know that God is the Lord.
2022 - This seems to be adding detail to what we see in Revelation; 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, [Rev 20:9 ESV]
2024 - After the next 2024. The Chapter 39 notes are pretty well worked out. This is the pre- or at-Millennial battle. This is not the very end.
2024 - The 2022 note above would make this passage about the battle at the end of the Millennial, after the Jews have had peace for a thousand years. This "prince" that will raise an army to attack Zion will have been waiting...and God will "pull" him to raise an army of all those remaining on the earth that oppose him, and muster them to attack, and they will all be wiped out by fire, earthquake, and by the earth itself attacking them.
The other way we might look at this is at Armageddon. Christ has come and assumed his throne on earth, and Satan, not yet bound, will try to throw Jesus off the throne. Surely his forces at this time - as opposed to post-Millennial - will be massive. The implication is that Jesus will be back on earth and have time to gather the Jews to himself and begin his kingdom before this attack from the north begins. We would see that the defeat of this army is what makes 1000 years of peace and tranquility possible.
I don't know which is right...But I bet we could figure it out with a comparison to Revelation. Get the details of Armageddon, then get the few details of the final battle, and compare and contrast each with this account in Ezekiel.
I note also that Ezekiel keeps referring to the chief prince. We ought to consider that this might refer to a dominion, one of the seven dominions. Or not...because what spiritual demon could be in charge of this dominion? The seven were removed from power BEFORE the Millennial started. That sort of forces this to be a man, not a spirit. It also seems more likely that God would bring a man against Israel, for why would a demon need any urging for that? So God turns the King of Gog as He would turn a stream, and brings him in to complete the history of mankind.
2025 - Read straight through 38. As of now, I believe this is the battle that occurs right at the end of tgt, and will be fought between all the nations near Israel at that time, by whatever names, and the returning King, on his white horse, with all his armies with him. He will be coming to protect the peace that has reigned in Israel since they began coming home right after the rapture. Look at his weapons: Pestilence, blood, rain, torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Who wages war like that but Christ? And yet...will Israel have any peace at all while the SoP pursues them during tgt? Perhaps while they are still in covenant with the SoP, but then he will try to eliminate them with a worldwide genocide. Israel won't live in unwalled cities until the Millennial. And there is this great battle at the end of the Millennial that they won't even have to fight. And it will be an entirely irrational attack because at that time, Christ will have been reigning on earth for 1000 years. Who in their right mind would attack. Vs 8 says it will be in the latter years - way out there. vs 4 says "I will put hooks in your jaws...". They will be acting as God commands though they may not know it. Vs 10 says "thoughts will come into their minds". Yeah...This just about has to be the last battle ever, at the end of the Millennial.