The million dollar question for you and me is, “Are we going to live through the events of Ezekiel 38-39?” Will we suffer from the fallout of a world turned upside down, or is this event not meant for the Church?
Let us go to the Bible in search for the answers. Five general timing clues the Bible gives us when taken together will reveal a clearer picture of when this world-altering battle will occur.
Clue 1) “Latter Years” and “Last Days”
The first general timing clue is Ezekiel’s use of the terms “latter years” (Ezek 38:8) and “last days” (Ezek. 38:16). The key verse to understanding what these terms mean is Deuteronomy 4:30 which reads, “When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.” “Distress” is also translated as “Tribulation.” It is the Tribulation of Daniel’s 70th week that brings the Jewish people as a nation back into the belief in God, and later to accept Yeshua as their Messiah. The Tribulation leading up to the Millennial reign of Christ is what the Old Testament prophets consistently and repeatedly taught about.
Conclusion: We now know based on these key phrases that the Gog-Magog Battle has to happen somewhere around or in the Tribulation and in relation to the Millennial Kingdom — the 1,000 year reign of Christ. Neither of these have occurred, so we know that Ezekiel 38-39 is future.
Clue 2) Historical Absence
The second general timing clue is that history has never recorded the Gog-Magog Battle as ever having happened. Never in the history of the Middle East have the nations described in the Gog-Magog coalition been united in an attack against Israel. In no time has such a specific group of nations been destroyed by inclement weather. And, in no time in history has Israel named a valley Hamon Gog (Ezek. 39:11). No adjoining town called Hamonah has existed where the Jews buried invaders.
Conclusion: History just does not show that the Gog-Magog Battle has ever happened, which only leaves a future timing for it to occur.
Clue 3) Israel a Nation Once More
The third general timing clue is given in Ezekiel 36 and 37 — the regathering of the Jewish people back into their homeland “from all the countries” of the world (Ezek. 36:24). Like the vision of dry bones reanimated into a living person that Ezekiel witnessed, Israel did indeed become a nation once again on May 14, 1948, after nearly 1900 years since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D and scattered the Jewish people across the globe. After all these centuries, this prophecy has been fulfilled in our modern generation.
Conclusion: Because this prophecy has been fulfilled and Israel is a nation once more, that vital piece is in place allowing for the prophecy concerning the Gog-Magog Battle to commence.
Clue 4) — Uniting the Nations
The fourth general timing clue involves the developments nationally that have to occur to make the nations of the coalition unite in an effort to invade Israel. Two factors have made this coalition possible today. The first is the religion of Islam uniting these nations in satanic hatred of the Jewish people. The second is the economic bounty that Israel now has with its revitalized land and newly discovered gas and oil deposits. Today, the nations of the coalition are united in the single purpose of destroying Israel and plundering its wealth.
Conclusion: The daily news is resplendent with stories in support that this general timing clue has been fulfilled in just the last few years, allowing for the prophecy concerning the Gog-Magog Battle to commence.
Clue 5) Israel Peaceful and Unsuspecting
The fifth general timing clue is given in Ezekiel 38:11 which reads, “You will say, ‘I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people — all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.'”
This verse requires that Israel must be living without walls, peacefully and unsuspecting of an attack. Israel today lives in constant fear of attack and is always prepared for an invasion by the 60-plus million hostile Muslims surrounding their borders.
Conclusion: Because of this most unfriendly climate and the constant tension on the borders, this part of the prophecy cannot have yet been fulfilled and so is future.
Final Analysis
The Gog-Magog Battle is certainly future, but not the next invasion of Israel. Something has to cause the violent bordering nations of Egypt, Gaza, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon to not become members of the Gog-Magog coalition. For them to sit out acting on their hatred of Israel and to pass up on seizing such an opportunity as Gog presents is an utter improbability.
Another prophecy has to happen first for Israel to become a “peaceful and unsuspecting people.” The most likely prophecy that would lie before the Gog-Magog invasion is a Psalm 83 scenario where Israel has subjugated their bordering neighbors, or a nuclear deterrent like Isaiah 17 describes with the one-day destruction of Damascus, or a combination of the two.
Can we clear up the picture even more and know just when during the “latter years” Ezekiel’s prophecy in chapters 38 and 39 will occur? In the next part of this “Impending Invasion of Israel” series we’ll analyze the possibility that the Gog-Magog Battle could happen before the 7-year Tribulation.
Oooo. A cliffhanger! I hate cliffhangers!
Good article, Nathan.
Nathan said "For them to sit out acting on their hatred of Israel and to pass up on seizing such an opportunity as Gog presents is an utter improbability."
Perhaps the Gog-Magog coalition secretly forms and/or strikes so quickly that the Arabs don't even know it's about to happen.
It's harder for me to imagine the Gog-Magog coalition sitting out an Isreali war of supreme conquest that it is for me to imagine the Arabs sitting out the Gog-Magog event.
It's more likely to me that the Pslam 83 event would occur AFTER Israel is reawakened and emboldened by it's new found faith following the Gog-Magog event.
The big problem with my speculation is how will in the world Israel would be living in peace.
These articles definitely make you think.
One word, Billy: oil.
If the Psalm 83 was does take place, that means that Israel would then control how much of the world's oil? It would also make them one of the wealthiest countries on earth, if not the wealthiest when you add in farming, tech, and natural gas along having a port on the Med.
Great series, Nathan. You put everything into perspective for me..like putting all the ducks in a row. I have a greater understanding now of what Bill Salus teaches. Thank you for what you give us.
The Psalm 83 scenario portrayed by Bill Salus would not bring peace or stable borders to Israel and long as the international community does not acknowledge the soveriegnty of the Lord God regarding this matter. Under this category it would be but another Six Day War or Yom Kippur War, and international pressure would call upon Israel to relinquish captured territory and terrorism on a larger scale would be realized.
In order for Israel to have the required stable borders and peace (temporary), the mighty hand of the Lord God would have to be displayed to all their enemies and to the international community to allow for the construction of the Third Temple. The confirmation of an international agreement projected by the AntiChrist has nothing to do with Israel, since they are ommited from this scripture. The term is "many nations", not Israel and many nations. I believe this treatise will be one with economic proponents.
The main oil producers of the world will have their nations on fire at the time of Gog/Magog and economic upheaval will be a certainty. The AntiChrist will come to Israel through flattery, no doubt because Israel will be in a position of strength, not requiring an international security agreement. Later however, a global call for nuclear disarmament will be agreed upon, and Israel will join this agreement.
Once the nations are effectively disarmed of their nuclear arsenals the AntiChrist can fullfill his prophetic role as destroying many nations by peace. Evidently the nations will have agreed to disarm while the power structure of the AntiChrist retains these weapons. We can already see the beginning stages of this under the forerunner of the AntiChrist, Barack Obama. I apologize for going off topic a bit, it was useful in explaining my position regarding a supposed peace being imposed on Israel by this Global dictator to come.
I know this sounds crazy, but i believe 38 Ezekiel will be fufilled
around 18 SEP 2010. I MAY BE WRONG
OF COURSE.
Ever heard of a guy named Nate Krup ??
He had a vision about this back in 1979/1980.
1 >> STOCK CRASH IN AUGUST
2 >> WAR IN MIDDLE EAST in SEP
3 >> CHICAGO DESTROYED in OCT…
"all those who live in safety on
the coastlands will have fire sent
on them…….think what that
means, in 39 Ezekiel…..
Stephen in HILO HAWAII
Hey,
just couple thoughts.
(Dont mind my english). I came here from Rapture Forums, which i stumbled to today. And i c it has association with CMI which im friendly/familiar with.
Gog/Magog & Har Megiddon timing:
For me it was always quite clear from Rev.
#1 Har Megiddon – just b4 MK. Rev.16:12(:16)-20:2.
#2 Gog – at the end of MK. Rev.20:7-10 – The absolutely final war.
From "fundamentalistic" point of view it is clear; read as the text says. But when put together with Eze, it seems to get more complicated:
Imo Eze.38-39 doesnt say the timetable as clearly, it feels hes talking about different event than Revelation Gog; after all theres some earthly actions going on after it – unlike in Rev. where the old earth is annihilated from existence.
For 11th point of cons, to me it seems there will be Gog War I and Gog War II, with around 1000 years between them.
Anyway both of the Gog Wars and Har Megiddon seems to be tenfolds, if not hundredfolds bloodier than WW2.