Gog and Magog - The Last Battle

Gog and Magog - The Last Battle

The 1,000 year reign of Christ will end, however, right on time.

Revelation 20:7-10 – When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth —Gog and Magog —and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. ⁹ They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰ And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

After the Millennium, Satan will get one more chance to turn people against Christ. Just as He was given the opportunity to test people’s free will when God was reigning over the world at creation, so at the end, he will again be given the chance to test our free will when Christ is reigning over the world. Those who choose to reject Christ will march on Jerusalem and try to dethrone Him, just as Satan once tried to dethrone God in Heaven. But the outcome will be the same as it was before. Satan will not succeed. In fact, there won’t even be a battle! God will simply send fire down from Heaven and will destroy Satan’s army. Then, Satan will be thrown into Hell.

Zechariah 12:1-9 – A prophecy: The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: ² “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. ⁴ On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares theLord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. ⁵ Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

⁶ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.

⁷ “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.”

When Satan leads the nations into attacking Jerusalem once again, God will save it. But who are these nations that Satan will lead, and who is Gog and Magog?

Ezekiel 38 – The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal; prophesy against him ³ and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. ⁵ Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, ⁶ also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.

⁷ “‘Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. ⁸ After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. ⁹ You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

¹⁰ “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. ¹¹ 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. ¹² I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land” ¹³ Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her village will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’

¹⁴ “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? ¹⁵ You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. ¹⁶ You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.

¹⁷ “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You are the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel. At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. ¹⁸ This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹⁹ In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰ The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²² I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. ²³ And so I will show My greatness and My holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Satan very rarely acts openly or on his own. He usually recruits others to his cause so that he can hide in the shadows. During the last battle, he will make no exception. Just as he used the Anti-Christ to lead his armies before, during the final battle, he will use a man named Gog. He will be the leader of a land called Magog. This is the man who will lead the nations one last time in an effort to overthrow Christ from His throne in Jerusalem.

Also notice that Gog will attack “a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now, all of them live in safety” and “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 is the picture of Israel during the 1,000 year reign of Christ. It will have recovered from Christ’s war with the Anti-Christ, and, as we saw before, so many people from all over the world will have come to see and be with Christ that Jerusalem will have overflowed beyond its gates and walls. The land will be at peace because Christ has united the nations under His rule, and they no longer have a reason to suspect any enemy to attack.

But as God has said, “I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.” The end is written and decided ahead of time. Satan is not and will never be powerful enough to defeat God. The creature cannot overthrow the Creator.

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This blog post is included in my book, Last Days: A Biblical Guide to the End Times.

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