Armageddon and the destruction of Gog
The destruction of Gog is one of the most anticipated events in Bible prophecy. Bible scholars have known that for centuries but today, the event has taken a back seat to less important prophetic events. For example, the “Psalm 83 war” has been thrust into the forefront of discussions. And of course, the ever-present Russian invasion of Israel, which I now consider to be a fake prophecy. There are the always popular Pope controversies and the soon-to-come revival of the European confederacy of nations.
Some of the supposed prophecy topics I just mentioned stretch into the field of the bizarre. Many of the discussions would fit best on late-night radio programs along with discussions about bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster. They consist of wild speculations, more than they do real Bible study.
It’s better if we learn to practice good Bible study habits instead of getting too deep into speculation. All of us need to be careful we don’t speculate rather than study. I include myself in that.
The Prophecy of the destruction of Gog.
Ezekiel 39:1-6
1“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
2and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.
3“ I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand.
4“You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field.
5“You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken,” declares the Lord GOD.
6“And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety, and they will know that I am the LORD.
Keeping it short but in context
As a reminder, I try hard to keep my articles reasonably short. This is not one of them. That’s very hard to do, but it’s important in our changing culture. Most of us don’t have the attention span to read much anymore. I trust that’s not true of you, though it afflicts a lot of people nowadays. But at the same time, it’s important that we don’t forget the context. As I try to keep articles short, it can be easy to lose the context of the entire passage. I also include the biblical content because it’s important that we have God’s Word in front of us as we consider the meaning.
So, as I consider another important passage in Ezekiel thirty-nine, I want to be sure we keep the context in focus. It’s very important that we do that in all of our Bible studies.
Gog is the Antichrist
In a previous article, I presented the contrary view that Gog is none other than the Antichrist. That’s a view that is contrary to the position of many popular Bible prophecy teachers. But it is a view that has been held by numerous scholars over the past two thousand years. So, just because the reader may not be familiar with the view, it’s actually a more accepted point-of-view than many realize.
https://thewritelife.tech/2019/03/27/ezekiel-warns-gog-the-false-christ/
Ezekiel 39: 7 The Holy One in Israel
“So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”
In the opening verse of this next section, we see a very unusual phrase. The Lord is referred to as the Holy One in Israel. That’s remarkably different than the phrase we are used to reading. The Holy One of Israel is the more common term. This is a notable difference. And there’s an obvious reason for the change. Once the destruction of Gog is finished, the Son of God will move from heaven to Jerusalem. God won’t be at a distance from humanity. He will be the “God with us.” That’s the meaning of the name Immanuel. That prophet Isaiah gave the future Messiah that name. See Isaiah seven.
So remember, here in verse seven, Ezekiel is commenting about events immediately following the destruction of Gog. Once the invading forces are destroyed, God’s name will be exalted. And he makes an emphatic declaration. His Holy Name will no longer be polluted. Not by the Jews, or any of the Gentiles. This provides one of the most compelling reasons to reject the popular view of this prophecy. In that popular view, the Gog invasion takes place before the seven years of the tribulation begins. But we know that during those seven years, the world as a whole will reject God and most will follow the Antichrist.
And the Antichrist will reject the true Messiah, and defile the temple and Holy Name of God. So, this presents a huge problem for the popular theory. Ezekiel says, when Gog is defeated, the heathen will know that God is the only Lord. So, why would they then follow the Antichrist?
Ezekiel 39: 8 A highly anticipated day
“Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD. This is the day whereof I have spoken.”
What makes this day so special? The destruction of Gog signals the end of the rebellion against God. This is what the prophets foretold so long ago. This is the day in which healing will finally begin. The day will finally come, and the Lord will say “it is done.” It’s a final event, not a prelude to the tribulation. It’s the final act of war when Gog’s body lies on the battlefield in Israel.
The Lord inspired many prophets to describe the details of these last days’ events. Since this was covered so extensively, we should see some consistent messaging in the writings of all the prophets. Which we do. But the Russian invasion theory stands as such an outlier when we consider the consistent message of the Old and New Testament writers. If there were to be a Russian or European invasion of Israel, it would stand in stark contrast to God’s repetitive message. All the way back to Abraham in Genesis twelve, we see God’s warnings. The offspring of Ishmael will cause an enduring problem. The surrounding nations and the offspring of Israel’s enemies, (Ishmael, Esau, Edom, etc.) would invade Israel in the last days.
Ezekiel 39: 9 After the destruction of Gog
“And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years.”
Once the leader of the invasion is dead, the citizens of Israel will begin a long process of cleanup. Remember, this will be a massive final battle. The armies of numerous nations will take part in this war. We should expect as many as twenty or more nations represented in this last battle. In Ezekiel’s words, he used the terms he was familiar with. Shields and bucklers were common terms that referred to protective equipment. Today, we might imagine the latest advanced armor for soldiers or even their tanks and mobile equipment. And of course, we won’t see bows and arrows, but rocket launchers, mortars, and antitank missiles.
The cleanup and destruction of the weapons of war will last for seven years. That seven-year period presents another challenging issue for the Russian Gog theory.
I’ll discuss that as we look at the next verse.
Ezekiel 39: 10 The seven-year challenge
“So that they shall take no wood out of the field. Neither cut down any out of the forests. For they shall burn the weapons with fire. And they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.”
One week or seven years remain unfulfilled in Daniel’s famous prophecy. I’ll skip over the explanation of that for now. Because of the remaining seven years, many pre-tribulation theorists and also Russian theorists insist that this war must take place before the tribulation begins. But the cleanup of the weapons will last for seven years. So, the theorists suggest, that the Gog Magog War must begin and end before the tribulation starts.
Some problems to consider.
- Ezekiel clearly writes as though the destruction of Gog is a final event, not a warm-up act.
- The Jewish people will be the ones who initiate and continue the burning of the weapons.
- During the tribulation, the Jews will face increasing and severe persecutions.
- They won’t have time to continue the project of burning weapons.
- Jesus warned that anyone not hiding halfway through the tribulation years faced grave danger.
There are more problems I could suggest, but let’s solve the problem easily. The seven years in which the Israelites burn the weapons are the first seven of one thousand years of peace. The Millennium will have just begun. There won’t be any need to hurry, worry, or fear as they clear the land of the remnants of war.
Ezekiel 39: 11 The destruction of Gog and the remaining stench
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea. And it shall stop the noses of the passengers, and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall call it The Valley of Hamon Gog.”
The Lord, through the words of Ezekiel, says He will give Gog a burial place in Israel. The names, Gog and Magog go all the way back to Genesis chapter ten. Biblical atlases reveal this geographic region to be where modern-day Turkey is. In this verse, Gog is a name for the Antichrist. Satan will choose a man to lead this final assault. At some point, the demon leader will indwell the false Christ. In the battle, Satan won’t die, but the man known as the Antichrist will. The body of the man will join the collective stench of the hundreds of thousands of decaying corpses in the aftermath of the war.
Life will slowly return to a new normal. The people of the earth will experience the beginning of lasting peace. Passengers will travel through the land and notice the smell of death that still remains. A place will be chosen for the burial of the dead bodies. It will have a name — Hamongog. It will be called the multitude of Gog.
Ezekiel 39: 12 After the destruction of Gog, Time to cleanse the land of Israel
“And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.”
In this verse, we have another timing factor to consider. Here the prophet mentions seven months of cleaning. This is in addition or apart from the seven years of burning the weapons. What is unknown and a mostly unexplored topic is what types of ceremonies will take place in the land of Israel during the Millennium. In the remaining chapters of Ezekiel’s book, he describes what is often called the Millennial temple. In those final chapters, the prophet describes the new temple and various sacrifices. Those sacrifices present problems for which most Christians have no answer.
This seven-month period of cleansing might be a part of the ceremonies that we don’t yet understand their full scope and meaning. But, just like the seven years of burning, this will begin after the destruction of Gog and during the first months of the thousand-year reign of Christ.
Ezekiel 39: 13 That is the day God will be glorified
“Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.”
As many prophetic writers did, Ezekiel goes back and forth in his commentary. While the burying and cleansing continue, the prophet reminds everyone about the most significant change that will occur right after the destruction of Gog.
God’s Name will be glorified, and that will never change from that moment on.
Ezekiel 39: 14 Don’t touch the dead bodies
“And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it. After the end of seven months shall they search.”
If you’ve read Hal Lindsey’s books or any of the other popular authors, this is a familiar detail. Special groups of people will be employed to deal with dead bodies. In popular prophecy books, it’s been taught that radioactive waste on dead bodies is the problem. We don’t know if that’s going to be true. It’s safe to conclude that nuclear weapons will be used extensively during the seven years of war. But these special units involved in disposing of the dead bodies may turn out to be something different.
In line with Jewish tradition, dead bodies were always a problem. The land will undergo a strict cleansing. And the people of the nation will undergo the same cleansing. Special care will be taken to ensure that no one becomes unclean by mistakenly handling a dead body. It’s safe to assume, according to Jewish ritual cleaning standards that this is all that’s going on.
Jesus will reside in Jerusalem. Nobody will want to take the chance of mistakenly becoming unclean if they hope to appear before the new King. This idea of ceremonial cleansing is an unknown aspect to most Christians. I won’t take time to explore that here, but I believe it will be a part of the customs in Israel in the future.
Ezekiel 39: 15 A sign of dead men’s bones
“And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog.”
Dead bodies and body parts will be scattered across the land. Mistakenly touching a dead body part will be common. They will establish a simple method to help travelers avoid accidentally becoming unclean.
Anyone who sees a dead body or a remnant of such will mark it with a sign. The special units will see the signs and deal with the remains.
Ezekiel 39: 16 After the destruction of Gog, Restoring the land of Israel will begin
“And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.”
A city will be founded where all of the dead will be buried. The city will be called Hamonah, which means a multitude. As mentioned above, the general region will have the name Hamongog, meaning the multitude of Gog.
So it is my firm conviction that the battle of Gog and Magog is the same as Armageddon. I’ll continue this idea in the next article on Ezekiel’s description of this war.
Let me know what you think.