And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. -Rev 20:7-9.
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. -Rev 19:17, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. - Rev 19:20.
We saw earlier in the last three blogs that Satan was cast in the bottomless pit when the Church was born in the first century so that he cannot deceive the nations anymore. He was in prison for a thousand years (a long time because thousand in the bible is used to represent a big number, not necessarily the exact number 1000. For eg. Ps 50:10). However, after the expiry of the time of gentiles, the time of the end commenced in 1948. It was then that Satan was loosed out of his prison to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog. The number of them is as the sand of the sea. This is the ungodly population that came out of Abraham = Ishmaelites and the unbelieving Israelites. (The number of the stars of heaven is the believing population that are called the spiritual children of Abraham = the remnant of Israelites and the gentiles).
Gog and Magog are mentioned alongside Meshec and Tubal in Ezekiel. They are people that have lying lips, false and deceitful tongue, and they hate peace according to Ps 120. They are barbarians and are for war. While these peoples can be identified today with Moscow and Tubulos of Russia, they are mentioned as being spread on all four corners of the world. This means they are the ungodly and the unbelieving nations of the world who have submitted to Satan to rise against the believers of the ‘end times’.
Here are some of the additional details we can get from Ezekiel’s prophecy: (Chapter 38 and 39)
1. God is bringing them for the final battle: I will bring thee forth, and all thine army
2. They are fully armed: all of them clothed with all sorts of armor – defensive as well as offensive
3. They will come against the believers – gentiles and Jews – all spiritual Israel: brought back from the sword; is gathered out of many people; brought forth out of the nations; they dwell safely; people of Israel
4. They will come against the Lord’s land / inheritance - Zion: Against my land
5. The enemy will ascend (Alah in Hebrew Isa 14:14): Thou shall ascend
6. The enemy will come like a storm: and come like a storm
7. They will compass the camp of the saints: like a cloud to cover the land
8. The number of whom is as the sand of the sea: Many people with thee; a great company; might army
9. Fire came down from God out of heaven: my fury; the fire of my wrath; an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. I will send a fire on Magog
10. Moon shall turn into blood: I will plead against him with blood
11. There shall be great earthquakes: mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground
12. The seventh angel will pour out his vial into the air and …it is done: it is done
13. to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you: spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them; 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
14. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort; every feathered fowl,
15. come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth
If there are at least fifteen such parallel passages in Ezekiel 38 and 39, it must certainly be the same things that both Ezekiel and Apostle John are talking about.
Hence, waiting for an actual battle (some call it the battle of Armageddon and others the fourth world war) with outdated weapons held by mounted horsemen who will come against the nation of Israel in the Middle East is out of question.
The battle is happening now. Gog and Magog have been gathered by Satan to wage a final assault against the believers. However, God will call the shots and God will wind up things as per His plan.
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