Is The Stage Being Set For The War of Gog and Magog?
Posted: Sunday, March 29, 2009
by Joel Kontinen
http://joelkontinen.blogspot.com/
The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel saw a series of visions in which the armies of Gog and Magog invaded Israel. The word of the Lord came to him, advising him to prophesy against Gog and several other nations:
In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you. (Ezek. 38: 8-9).
The First World War brought an end to the Turkish occupation of the promised land. Great Britain took over the land. In 1917 British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour issued a statement that history knows as the Balfour Declaration: " His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
However, the British did little to carry out their promise. It was not until after the holocaust of World War II that large numbers of Jews were able to return to the land of their fathers. In 1948 Israel became a sovereign state. Since then, the surrounding Arab countries have time and again attempted and failed - to drive "the Jewish entity" into the sea. The wars of 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 only made Israel stronger.
Ezekiel's prophecy lists the nations that will take part in an attempt to occupy Israel:
Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops-many people are with you." (Ezek. 38: 2-6).
Prophetic language differs from a literal use of language in that it tends to be more figurative. However, this list includes many nations that hate the Jews. Persia or Iran is the most obvious one. Iran will probably have a nuclear bomb within a few months. The biblical Ethiopia corresponds to today's Sudan. Gog is probably Russia.
The Jews are indeed living in their own land, being " brought out of the nations" but they do not yet "dwell safely" there, so something still has to happen before Ezekiel's vision can be fulfilled. Perhaps a peace agreement will be signed in the near future. But it will soon be broken.
Why would Russia and her allies want to attack Israel? Russia's natural gas reserves are emptying while massive reservoirs of natural gas were recently found in Israeli waters. America and the EU will do well to be on good terms with Israel since Israel might soon become one of the leading exporters of natural gas.
According to Ezekiel's prophecy, Gog and Magog will suffer a disastrous defeat and Israel will be able to use their weapons as fuel for seven years. This period might well correspond to the Great Tribulation that according to the Book of Revelation lasts seven years.
I am not saying that the War of Gog will start next week or even next year. But sooner or later all prophesies will be fulfilled.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Joel, thank you for writing about this. It is indeed on its way. Too many other prophecies are in play for it to be too far off. It's interesting that priests are being trained and walls for the 3rd temple are being built. I believe it will be some sort of peace treaty as well. The one world financial system is being pushed as well as the great call for spiritual unity. We are in the midst for sure. Blessings to you! TeresaThanks for reading, Teresa. Yes, indeed, it seems that the stage is being set. But I think we should above all remember Jesus' admonition in Acts 1:7-8 about being overly interested in dates: the important thing is to preach the gospel to the lost.Blessings to you,JoelAmen and Amen! Every opportunity to the Spirit gives, we need to share the Gospel message. Keep on keepin' on!I do agree.Joel
Very very interesting and exciting news. Nice to read articles and know that prophesies are being fulfilled. Thank you for this article. may many find the Way before it is late.Regards,SwapnaThanks for reading,God bless,Joel
Gog and Magog are not Russia. Gog is a spirit being, a Chief Prince. The only other time "Chief Prince" is used in the Scripture is when talking about Michael the archangel. Gog is an archangel of Satan. The reason most prophecy teachers think the Anti-Christ's empire is from Russia is because they are not interpreting the Scripture using the terminology and names from the time of the writers. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus identifies Magog as the Scythians (Antiquities I, vi. 1). "Magog founded the Magogians, thus named after him, but who by the Greeks are called Sythians.” That's Persia today. He also identifies Meshek and Tubal which are in present day Turkey. If you think about it, Russia can not be the "King of the North" because it says in Scripture that the Anti-Christ will have trouble from the north. Who is north of Russia that can be giving him trouble? The Eskimos? I don't think so.Anyway, the Anti-Christ himself will be an Assyrian. He will be a backslider. The Scripture says he will have no regard for women. In Greek that means he is homosexual. He will not rule the world, that's a mistranslation where it says he will rule the whole world. He can't rule the whole world and yet Edom Moab and Ammon escape from his hand as the Bible says. Those are present day Jordan. He cant rule the entire globe and not be able to conquer little tiny Jordan. He doesn't rule those to his north because they come after him too (this is when the Russians come into play). He also has kings from the East coming for him, so he doesn't rule them either. He only rules some of the nations around the Middle East and the Mediterranean. He will not rule America, Canada, South America, Scandanavia England or Russia and many other countries. Those prophecy teachers who try to make it out that the AC rules the entire globe and Believers wont even be able to buy a loaf of bread are trying to create fear in the hearts of Christians. Prophecy was NOT given to us to scare us but rather so that we might have peace because we will know what's going to happen in the future. Any message that brings about fear in the heart of the Believer is NOT from G-d. I do know where that kind of fear comes from.Rabbi StanleyThanks, Rabbi. I agree with you that the purpose of prophesy is not to cause fear but to inspire trust in the credibility of Scripture. However, we should not close our eyes to what we see taking place around us, either.The details of biblical prophesy have always given rise to different interpretations and debates about them will probably not cease today or even tomorrow . I do admit that my interpretation is not infallible and I might even have got some details wrong but I think that the general trend of what I wrote is fairly obvious. Perhaps its best to wait and see.While people might also be interested in biblical prophesy for the wrong reasons, this has not been my motive. (I have actually written very little about it.)Blessings to you,Joel
Shalom,I wasn't finding fault with what you wrote here, I gave you a pretty good rating which I don't give most writers here on searchwarp. I also don't believe we should close our eyes as to what's going on around us, that would be foolish. I do disagree with your idea that we should just wait and see however. That's called being a "Pan-tribulationist", let's just wait and see how it all pans out. G-d didn't give us Scripture so we could just ignore it, but so that we could study it and understand what we are reading. Wouldn't you agree? I think your motives are fine, but I would add that the Scripture says, "Study to show thyself approved unto G-d". That includes prophecy.Rabbi StanleyShalom,I seems that we both have had our share of misunderstandings. My "wait and see" had to do with the interpretation of some of the details of Ezekiel's prophesy. I do believe that we should take prophesy seriously. But it is not the most important thing. Perhaps we should remember Acts 1:7: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power... and you will be my witnesses ...to the ends of the earth."Blessings,Joel
Shalom,That's not what that passage is talking about. It's not saying we shouldn't try to understand when these things will happen, otherwise it wouldn't give us time indicators like Daniel's 7 year period. I do agree with you in that it isn't the "most" important thing in our walk with G-d but certainly all things in Scripture are important. I think we could probably leave it there without your feelings getting hurt.Rabbi StanleyShalom,Actually I agree with you most of the time on this issue. It's only probably in 1-2 per cent in which I beg to differ. But let us not make a mountain out of a molehill.Blessings,Joel
Agreed. Have a good day.
R. StanleySame to you.Joel
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