God’s War on Israel’s Enemies (Ezekiel 38-39) :: By Dr. Donald Whitchard
Gog and Magog: God’s War on Israel’s Enemies
Scripture References: Ezekiel 38:1-23,39:1-29; Daniel 9:27,11:40-45; Revelation 7:9-14
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) 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 toward the Jews living there. Up until 1979, with the fall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, 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 toward 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-Togarmah” are located on 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 toward 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 times when 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 halfway point when he goes into the rebuilt Temple, 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 1,000-year kingdom of peace and joy centered in Israel (Isaiah 2:4).
Putting together all of the pieces of the prophetic puzzle, we can conclude that the events written of in Chapters 38 and 39 take place during the first half of the Tribulation after the true church of Jesus Christ has been raptured to heaven (John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10) when Israel is living under the false peace of the covenant she has made with the Antichrist, who appears for the moment to be Israel’s Promised Messiah. We know that these nations will attempt an invasion of Israel.
The question is: Why do they want to invade it?
- First, it will be to seize and cash in on the natural resources and wealth of Israel (Ezekiel 38:11-12).
- Second, they want to control the Middle East.
- Third, they all harbor a mutual hatred for the nation of Israel, especially the Islamic nations who hate the Jews (The Quran refers to the Jews as “pigs” and commands all faithful Muslims to kill them along with all “infidels,” including Christians).
- Fourth, these nations are blistering under the tyranny of Antichrist and will challenge him for authority (Daniel 11:40-45).
These four reasons are the human justification for waging war, but as mentioned earlier, God’s goal or purpose in this invasion is that He might be sanctified in the eyes of all the nations (Ezekiel 38:14-16).
This invasion will look like the biggest mismatch in the history of warfare. It will make the Arab invasions of 1967 and 1973 pale in comparison. When Russia puts together this last-days strike force, it looks as if Israel will be finished. However, God is in total control of the situation, mounting up in HIs fury to destroy these godless invaders (Ezekiel 39:18). He will come to rescue His helpless people, using four methods to destroy the armies of Gog and Magog:
- He will bring about a great earthquake (38:19-20).
- Infighting will occur among the troops of the nations (38:21). In the aftermath of the earthquake, the armies will turn against each other, bringing about the largest carnage of death by “friendly fire” in human history.
- As a result, diseases will break out and spread, killing the remaining forces (38:22).
- There will be torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur poured on whoever is left of this decimated army (38:22).
No one at this time will say that this was an all-natural coincidence, “climate change,” or any other excuse to explain this victory. The eyes of many will be opened to the fact that what had happened was the benevolent act of God on behalf of His people.
Scripture tells of the aftermath of the battle with the arrival of “the birds of the air” and “the beasts of the field” to devour the flesh of the dead (Ezekiel 39:4-5, 17-20; Revelation 19:17-18). There will also be a time of massive clean-up of the land that will take seven months, including the burial of the dead and the removal of weapons (Ezekiel 39:11-12, 14-16) by having them burned, which will take three and a half years to complete (39:9-10).
In the midst of this wrath, God uses it to bring numerous Jews and Gentiles to salvation (Ezekiel 38:16, 23; 39:6-7, 21-22; Revelation 7:9-14).
Ezeki3l 38-39 is one of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible, and looking around, it seems like everything predicted is about to come to pass. Russia and its Islamic allies are the key players in this prophecy and will be the places to closely watch as the passage of time brings us closer to the “Blessed Hope” of Christ’s glorious return (Luke 21:28).
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(My thanks to Dr. Mark Hitchcock and his article on the Gog-Magog War in The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy (c) 2008, Harvest House Publishers, pp.119-122).
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