“You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”
[Ezekiel 38:16]
The prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39 are perhaps the most comprehensive in all of Scripture that describe the future invasion of Israel that will be led by the end-times Antichrist. According to Jewish tradition, the war of Gog and Magog will be the final battle in Israel that will precipitate the Messianic Redemption, or coming of Messiah.
“According to the Talmud, as the Messianic era approaches, the world will experience greater and greater turmoil: Vast economic fluctuations, social rebellion, and widespread despair. The culmination will be a world war of immense proportion led by King Gog from the land of Magog. This will be a war the likes of which have not been seen before. This will be the ultimate war of good against evil, in which evil will be entirely obliterated.”
(Ezekiel ch. 38, 39; Zechariah 12:2, 14:23; Talmud – Sukkah 52, Sanhedrin 97, Sotah 49)
If understood correctly, Ezekiel 38-39 paints a prophetic picture that reveals critical details about the Antichrist and his military alliances.
There is only one glaring problem …
The prevailing thought in the church today is that the war of Gog has nothing to do with the final battle over Israel but rather depicts a separate conflict altogether that must take place some time before Antichrist is revealed. Pastors, Bible teachers, seminary professors, and prophecy watchers have been propagating this popular view for generations. The reason? Faulty presuppositions and poor exegesis!
Those who insist that the battle described in Ezekiel 38-39 has nothing to do with the Antichrist hold to several fundamental presuppositions that force them to arrive at a faulty conclusion. Their logic is flawed because their original premise is incorrect. Here is the basic logic of their argument.
- The Antichrist must come from a Revived Roman Empire.
- The alliance of nations under Gog’s command listed in Ezekiel 38-39 are clearly Middle Eastern, Muslim majority nations.
- Therefore Gog cannot possibly be the Antichrist.
Of course, the fatal flaw of this argument is insisting that the Antichrist must arise out of a revived Roman Empire. As I demonstrated in my earlier post [Rejecting a Revived Roman Empire], there is no Scriptural basis that supports such a view.
On the other hand, the prophetic Scriptures consistently place an emphasis on the nations immediately surrounding Israel, which corresponds to the Middle Eastern context. This blind commitment to a Revived Roman Empire has caused countless people to miss one of the most significant, comprehensive end-times prophecies concerning the defeat of Antichrist and his armies!
Because of the rich content, I will take the next several posts to unpack the prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39 and demonstrate that the war of Gog of Magog is indeed the final battle in Israel between the Antichrist and his armies and the Lord Jesus and His armies. At the conclusion, I hope to clearly make the case for the following …
- Gog is another name for the Antichrist
- Gog is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, which is modern-day Turkey
- The Hebrew word, Rosh, is NOT a proper name title, but is consistently translated as chief, or head, and has nothing to do with a geographic location or modern-day Russia
- The alliance of armies that join Gog (the Antichrist) are all modern-day, majority Muslim nations
- This battle takes place in the last days at the time of the end
- This battle corresponds to other prophetic passages that describe the final battle in Israel and the Day of the LORD — Joel 2-3, Isaiah 63 & 66, Ezekiel 30-32, Zechariah 12-14, Zephaniah 1-3, Psalm 83, Luke 21, Revelation 16-19 … to name a few
- Outpouring of God’s wrath on Gog and the nations — including an earthquake, fire, hailstones, pestilences etc…
- The LORD reveals Himself and literally fights for Israel in their midst
- The LORD is vindicated before the nations and glorified among all
- Antichrist is killed and his armies decimated
- The birds of the air and beasts of the field feast on the dead bodies of the slain
- Israel is supernaturally saved and delivered from Gog (Antichrist)
- God pours out His Spirit on Israel, and the nation turns to the LORD in faith once and for all
- Israel is restored to her land forever
- King Jesus will at that point rule and reign on earth from Jerusalem for 1,000 years
Stay tuned for Part 2 …
Days of Noah 
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