Gog And Magog: God's War On Israel's Enemies (Ezekiel 38-39)

In reading the account of the coming Gog-Magog War in Ezekiel 38-39, we need to ask some relevant questions on how everything comes to pass. First, who are the invaders of Israel mentioned in the prophecy? We read about ten proper names in Chapter 38:1-6 that help us identify the invading forces. Nine of these ten words describe geographical locations. Gog is not a location, but is instead a title, such as Pharoah, Caesar, or King. Gog will be the leader of this invasion and is also called a prince. The names Ezekiel gives are the ancient names of countries that existed in his day, well known to those living at that time but are totally foreign to most readers today. Let us start with the area known as "Rosh", also known as Rashu, Ras Apu, and Rus. It is now known as the nation of Russia. "Magog "was the land of the "Scythians", known today as Central Asia. The area is now a conglomeration of southern Islamic republics with a combined population of 60,000,000 Muslims. This territory probably includes modern Afghanistan as well.

"Meshech" (ancient Mushki and Musko in the region of Cilicia and Cappadocia), which is now the nation of Turkey, including southern Russia and Iran. "Tubal" is also within the borders of Turkey, southern Russia, and Iran. The Kingdom of Persia changed its name to Iran under Shah Reza Pahlavi in 1935 and had always been civil towards the Jews living there. Up until 1979 with the fall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahavi, the country had diplomatic ties with Israel and had joint military operations over the years. When Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, all of that ended, and today Iran is the sworn mortal enemy of Israel, calling for its destruction on a daily basis. The area of "Cush" is today the nation of Sudan, a Muslim nation with hostilities towards Israel. It is located south of Egypt. The nation of "Put", located west of Egypt, is now the country of Libya, while "Gomer" and "Beth-Torg- amah" are located in the borders of modern Turkey. It will be the combined forces of Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and the nations of Central Asia that will gather together at "the mountains of Israel" (38:7-9) with the objective of ridding the world of the Jewish people forever, claiming the land and its wealth for themselves, or so they think.

This planned invasion will take place in the "last days, when I will bring you against My land." (38:18). It is the LORD who initiates the idea of invasion in the minds of Israel's enemies (Psalm 83) in order that He will not only destroy them, but also show that He is the God of Israel, and the One and True God over all. This invasion will happen at the final time of history in preparation for the establishment of the Messianic kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be noted that nothing described in Ezekiel 38-39 has ever taken place in the history of Israel, therefore, all of this must occur sometime in the future. The Gog-Magog War occurs when Israel is in the land permanently. This happened on May 14, 1948, when the state of Israel declared her independence from the British Mandate. What had been "Palestine" was now the reborn nation as prophesied in Scripture (Isaiah 66:8). One other thing is that Israel "is at rest" when the invasion takes place (38:8, 11, 14). Since 1948, Israel has never known a day of rest or peace, either in the arena of war or battles with the political and diplomatic difficulties it has with the UN and its hostility towards Israeli policy and decisions. Today Israel is seen as the "villain" in the Gaza War, with the "Palestinians" as the "innocent victims" of "Israeli genocide", a line repeated by the media pundits, even by some who claim to be "Christians".

There are only two time where Israel will have peace, and both are mentioned in the Bible. The first will take place during the first three and a half years of the Tribulation (Daniel 9:27) when Israel signs a "peace treaty" with the Antichrist. This will be broken at the half-way point when he goes into the rebuilt Temple and performs an act of desecration upon the sacred altar and declares himself to be God on earth. The Lord Jesus warned of this in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:15-28; Mark 13:14-23; Luke 17:23, 24, 37, 21:20-24)). The Jews living at that time need to flee Jerusalem and the land as fast as they can and hide for their safety under the protection of God and not any nation (Revelation 12:14). All the world will be against Israel, even the USA, the staunchest ally Israel has ever had until this point in history. We see the seeds of this animosity already planted in the nation and it is growing with intensity each day. The second and final period of peace for Israel will take place when the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, returns to earth in the Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-21) to destroy Israel's foes and inaugurate His 1000-year kingdom of peace and enjoy centered in Israel (Isaiah 2:4).