When Gog Falls, the World Knows Yahweh

The Gog Magog War (more like a slaughter) is something of a point of contention among many of the believers in either Christianity or Judaism.

An event this massive is a paradigm shift in the prophetic timeline and the eventual fulfillment of all that is written.

Once we hit this mile marker, we know we are at the precipice of the last events of the eschaton.

There are many Christians who see echoes of the Gog Magog prophecy in the world’s current events, and I don’t blame them because of years of speculation about how a certain word sounds like Russia, or how Iran is doing this or that.

The current Iran situation has nothing to do with this, though.

If we get peace, I will love that. Peace is always preferable to war. If not, then destroying all the terrorists until the rightful crown prince takes his throne to lead the innocent civilians is the right way to go.

That is not what this post is about, however.

Also, Gog is not present at the time of this writing. It is Gog who leads this coalition of Islamic nations against the biblical Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael in Hebrew, something printed on Palestinian coins of yesteryear).

Gog is another name for the Beast, or Antichrist.

People who subscribe to voices such as Irvin Baxter or the Hal Lindsey types of the past swear this war is on the immediate horizon.

The problem is, this is an exegetical framing of the events of the last days using current headlines instead of what the Bible says we WILL see, thus it is eisegesis in some respects.

I’ve studied this prophecy extensively in my years as a believer. And as a young believer, I bought into the speculative notion of this being a war that happens before the last seven years.

Throughout the years, I wrestled with it being the same as Armageddon. The birds feast in both passages, after all, so why couldn’t it be Armageddon?

I don’t want to get into a scholarly breakdown of the events in Ezekiel 38 and 39, but I noticed something most people don’t bring up (the pre-tribulation camp, anyway) when they speak about this event.

In Ezekiel 38:23, we see God makes Himself known in the eyes of the nations after Gog falls.

In other words, none of the nations know God until the supernatural intervention of Yahweh.

This means that we can’t place this at the end of the Millennium, because Jesus would rule for 1,000 years and everyone would have known He is Yahweh ruling from Israel here on Earth.

You can’t convince me God’s name is not sanctified and unknown for 1,000 years when the Messiah is ruling the world in the only legitimate one-world government structure.

Interestingly, God’s name is never profaned after Gog is destroyed.

“And My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore.And the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:7 [ESV]).

So once Gog is defeated by God Himself, the nations will never profane the name of God again and understand who the true God of this universe is.

Which means this “war” can’t possibly happen before the Great Tribulation.

“It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming His name and His dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:6 [ESV]).

If the Antichrist and his kingdom are blaspheming God, then the timeline makes no sense when you put this before the Great Tribulation.

The Antichrist will be the most boastful individual to walk this sphere, so this point alone destroys any notion of a pre-tribulation Gog and Magog event.

But there are some I respect who would place this event after the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Their reasoning is quite solid. It is a combination of the previously mentioned point and the overt reference to Gog and Magog in Revelation 20.

“…and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the Earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:8 [ESV]).

This would seem to be an airtight point against placing the war at any time prior to Jesus ruling for 1,000 years as king.

However, when we read the text of Ezekiel 38 &39, notice that the nations don’t know God yet, as the first point I made explains.

So, how can Jesus be ruling for 1,000 years and the nations not know who He is?

His rule is so perfectly in force that if a nation does not come to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem every year, there will be no rain on that land.

“And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain;there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths” (Zechariah 14:18 [ESV]).

So you’re telling me I’m supposed to believe that Jesus has been ruling and stopping rain on nations if they transgress the Torah’s commandments to keep the holidays of Yahweh, and they don’t know who He is yet by the time Gog Magog happens?

No.

The only place we can put Gog and Magog is the same place as what is colloquially known as Armageddon.

When Gog falls, the nations will understand God. Also, I noticed there is a great earthquake and the entire world trembles at God’s presence when this happens.

“The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at My presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground” (Ezekiel 38:20 [ESV]).

“And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake” Revelation 16:18 [ESV]).

These events happen after Jesus returns (or I suppose during His arrival since the Earth itself will bow to the king by flattening anything proud and lofty).

All end-times prophecies about Yahweh being present on Earth during the eschaton will be fulfilled in Jesus’s Second Coming.

Meaning, these events describe the conditions when He arrives. There are other passages that say the universe will darken, and He overturns the mountains in His wrath. Every time you see Jesus returning in the Old Testament, there is a massive earthquake and mountains bowing to Him.

There is no possible way to place the Gog Magog event before the Great Tribulation, and there is no way to place it after the Millennium.

The only thing that makes sense is if it is the same event as the Judgment of the Gathered Nations at the Second Coming (Armageddon is a misnomer), when Jesus descends to defend Israel from the surrounding nations’ attempt at exterminating them and taking the land that belongs to them alone.

Let’s keep things in context and understand the Bible speaks for itself most times on any theological or eschatological matter.

Blessings and shalom to you!