The Battle Of Gog And Magog Series

THE BATTLE OF GOG AND MAGOG

EZEKIEL 38-39

INTRODUCTION:

OUR WORLD IS NO STRANGER TO WAR. HISTORY TELLS US THAT IN ALL OF RECORDED HISTORY THERE HAS BEEN LESS THAT 225 YEARS OF PEACE IN THIS WORLD. IN THE PAST THIRTY TO FORTY YEARS, MOST OF THE WORLDS WARS HAVE BEEN LOCATED IN THE MIDDLE EAST REGION. SO WHEN WE THINK OF GOG AND MAGOG WHAT MAKES THIS SO SPECIAL?

THERE ARE SEVERAL ELEMENTS OF THIS BATTLE THAT MAKE IT SIGNIFICANT IN HISTORY:

1. THIS BATTLE WAS PROPHECIED IN EZEKIEL CHAPTERS 38-39. IN AND OF ITSELF THIS IS NOT SIGNIFICANT, AS MANY BATTLES INCLUDING ARMAGEDDON HAVE BEEN PROPHECIED IN SCRIPTURE. WHAT MAKES THIS BATTLE SIGNIFICANT IS THIS. FIRST, IT GIVES US A LIST OF THE MAJOR NATIONS INVOLVED.

2. THIS BATTLE WAS PROPHECIED SOME 2,600 YEARS AGO. IT IS A BATTLE THAT IS SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO LAST DAYS PROPHECY.

3. THE ENORMOUS ARMIES THAT WILL BE INVOLVED IN THE BATTLE. THE SIZE OF THE ARMY ATTACKING ISRAEL, CAN ONLY BE DEFEATED BY DIRECT INTERVENTION OF GOD. THERE IS NO OTHER EXPLANATION FOR THE FINAL RESULTS OF THIS BATTLE.

4. NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A WAR. WARS CAN HAPPEN OVER A PERIOD OF TIME AND WITH MANY VENUES. THIS BATTLE HAPPENS AT ONE TIME AND ON ONE VENUE. IN FACT PROBABLY THE ONLY THING COMPERABLE TO THIS BATTLE WILL BE ARMAGEDDON.

5. I WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THIS BATTLE IS NOT ARMAGEDDON. THE LISTING OF NATIONS INVOLVED IN THIS BATTLE IS VERY SPECIFIC, BUT THERE WILL BE SOME NATIONS NOT INVOLVED IN THE BATTLE. THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON WILL INVOLVE ALL THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.

6. THIS BATTLE, MORE THAN ANY OTHER BATTLE IN HISTORY WILL DISPLAY THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD, AND HOW GOD IS DETERMINED TO PROTECT HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE.

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WHAT WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT TODAY CONCERNING THIS BATTLE ARE THE COUNTRIES INVOLVED, THE TIMING OF THE BATTLE, AND THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE. I’M SURE YOU WILL SEE THAT MANY ASPECTS OF THE BATTLE ARE BEING PREPARED EVEN AS I SPEAK HERE TODAY.

POINT ONE: WHO ARE THE COUNTRIES INVOLVED?

EZEKIEL IS VERY SPECIFIC ABOUT MANY OF THE COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN THIS PROPHECY. THE NAMES HE CALLS THEM HERE MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR TO YOU, BUT WHEN I GIVE YOU THEIR MODERN DAY NAMES I THINK YOU’LL BE SURPRISED BY SOME.

NOW LOOK AT THE FIRST SEVEN VERSES OF EZEKIEL 38. THIS IS WHERE THE MAJOR COUNTRIES INVOLVED WITH THE BATTLE ARE IDENTIFIED. IT SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISING THAT MANY OF THE NATIONS NAMED HERE CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE DESCENDANTS OF NOAH IN GENESIS 10.

LETS BEGIN BY IDENTIFYING THE ONE NAME MENTIONED THAT IS NOT A COUNTRY. THE NAME GOG IS NOT THAT OF A COUNTRY BUT OF A LEADER. THE WORD MEANS “RULER’ OR “THE MAN ON TOP.” IN VERSE 2 GOG IS EXPLICITLY CALLED “THE PRINCE”. EZEKIEL COULD HAVE BEEN IDENTIFYING THE LEADER OF THIS MASSIVE ARMY AS “GOG”.

1. MAGOG: ACCORDING TO THE JEWISH HISTORIAN JOSEPHUS, THE ANCIENT SCYTHIANS INHABITED THE LAND OF MAGOG. THE SCYTHIANS WERE NORTHERN NOMADIC TRIBES WHO INHABITIED TERRITORY FROM CENTRAL ASIA ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF MODERN RUSSIA. IT WOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES: KAZAKHSTAN, KIRGHIZIA, UZEBEKISTAN, TURKMENISTAN, TAJIKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN.

2. ROSH: THERE IS COMMON THOUGHT AMONG MOST SCHOLARS, FOR REASONS THAT WE WON’T GET INTO TODAY, THAT ROSH IS MODERN DAY RUSSIA.

3. MESHECH AND TUBAL: ARE IDENTIFIED IN ANCIENT HISTORY WITH THE MUSHKI AND TABAL OF THE ASSYRIANS, AND THE MOSCHI AND TIBARENI OF THE GREEKS WHO INHABITED TERRITORY THAT IS NOW PART OF THE NATION OF TURKEY.

4. PERSIA: THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT THE IDENTITY OF THIS COUNTRY. IT HELD IT’S NAME UNTIL MARCH 1935 WHEN IT BECAME THE NATION OF IRAN.

5. CUSH: THIS WORD IS OFTEN TRANSLATED ‘ETHIOPIA’ IN MODERN VERSIONS. BUT IT IS MORE THAN THAT. SECULAR HISTORY LOCATES CUSH DIRECTLY SOUTH OF ANCIENT

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6. EGYPT EXTENDING DOWN PAST THE MODERN CITY OF KHARTOUM., WHICH IS THE CAPTIAL OF MODERN DAY SUDAN. THIS MEANS THAT CUSH INCLUDES THE COUNTRIES OF ETHIOPIA AND THE SUDAN.

7. PUT: IT IS CLEAR FROM ANCIENT SOURCES THAT PUT WAS A NORTH AFRICAN NATION. FROM THE ANCIENT BABLYONIAN CHRONICLE IT APPEARS THAT PUT WAS THE “DISTANT” LAND TO THE WEST OF EGYPT, WHICH WOULD BE MODERN DAY LIBYA.

8. GOMER: JOSEPHUS NOTED THAT GOMERITES WERE IDENTIFIED WITH THE GALATIANS WHO INHABITIED WHAT TODAY IS CENTRAL TURKEY. THUS GOMER THEN IS PART OF WHAT IS NOW, TURKEY

9. BETH-TOGARMAH: THIS COUNTRY ALSO HAS IT’S ORIGIN IN CERTAIN PARTS OF WHAT IS NOW CALLED TURKEY.

EZEKIEL IS ALSO CLEAR ON TWO OTHER ASPECTS CONCERNING NATIONS. HE CLEARLY STATES THAT THERE WILL OTHER NATIONS INVLOVED BUT REMAIN UNNAMED. EZEKIEL ALSO POINTS OUT IN V. 13 COUNTRIES THAT WILL NOT BE INVOLVED IN THE INVASION: NAMELY THE COUNTRIES AROUND THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, AND SOME WESTERN COUNTRIES, THAT SOME THEOLOGIANS INCLUDE ENGLAND, AND SOME COUNTRIES RELATED TO HER I.E. THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.