What is Gog\Magog War?
Ezekiel 38-39.
The Gog-Magog Battle is set between a massive coalition of nations that come against Israel (Gen. 10:2-7). The nations are from the territories of ancient Rosh, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Gomer and Beth-togarmah. Their leader is called “Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal” (Ezek. 38:2-3). The battlefield is on the “mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate” (Ezek. 38:8). The purpose of the invasion is to “plunder and loot” and destroy the people of Israel (Ezek. 38:12, 16). The end result of an invasion by such a seemingly invincible army on a seemingly unprotected Israel will surprise the invaders and shock the world. The invading nations are in truth being manipulated by God, pulled out of their lands as with “hooks in [their] jaws” (Ezek. 38:4), so that those nations can feel the “hot anger of the Sovereign LORD” (Ezek. 38:18). God drags these specific nations to the “mountains of Israel” to “execute judgment upon him [Gog] with plague and bloodshed… torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him” (Ezek. 38:22). God’s purpose of personally interceding using the supernatural destruction of so massive an army is not just its destruction, but “so I [God] will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD” (Ezek. 38:23).
By His supernatural victory in the Gog-Magog Battle, God reintroduces Himself to the world and declares in no uncertain terms that He is personally defending Israel. Should the peoples of the world doubt they only have to look on Israel who “will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up… for seven years they will use them for fuel” (Ezek. 39:9) and “for seven months the house of Israel will be burying them” (Ezek. 39:12) in the newly named “Valley of Hamon Gog” (Ezek. 39:11) by a newly built “town called Hamonah” (Ezek. 39:16). Ezekiel 38:1-6 gives the ancient names of the territories that comprise the invading nations in the Gog-Magog Battle: Rosh, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Gomer and Beth-togarmah. If only Ezekiel had gone the extra mile and given the names of the invading nations contemporary to the battle, a lot of debate over their modern identities would have been saved. Never-the-less, God prefers students of Bible prophecy to do their historical research, and the following list of equivalent names is the fruit of that research.
1]Magog = Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan (and possibly Afghanistan)
2]Rosh = Russia
3]Meshech + Tubal + Gomer + Beth-togarmah = Turkey (and possibly Azerbaijan, Armenia)
4]Persia = Iran
5]Ethiopia = Sudan
6]Put = Libya (and possibly Algeria, Tunisia)
One glaring similarity among all the Gog-Magog invaders put in a scenario today is that all but Russia claim their national religion to be Islam. Islamic religious fervor to destroy the Jewish people would unite the fractious Muslim nations into a coalition which has never existed in this form before. The obsessive drive for economic wealth would be the draw for Russia to join in and lead this doomed coalition.
To me, timing the Gog-Magog Battle just before or at the very beginning of the Tribulation can best fulfill these prerequisites and makes the most logical sense in my mind.
This is how I see the timeline most likely playing out:
1]The Rapture of the Church removes the Restrainer.
2]Israel subjugates her surrounding neighbors in fulfillment of Psalm 83.
3]The Gog-Magog Battle destroys the Russian and Muslim influence in the Middle East, makes the world aware of God’s presence, and restores Israel’s belief in the God of the Torah.
4]The Antichrist conquers what’s left of the Middle East and makes a peace covenant with Israel to complete the Revived Roman Empire.
5]Israel spends the seven years of the Tribulation burning the weapons.
6]Jesus returns at the end of the seven years to defeat His enemies at Armageddon resulting in Israel acknowledging that Jesus is God’s Son.
7]Jesus gathers the people from all over the world for the Sheep/Goat Judgment, which results in only believers entering the Millennial Kingdom.
Time will tell when the Gog-Magog Battle will truly take place. But, the players are already in place and the scene is just about all set for this epic battle to be waged in the not-too-distant future.