The Gog-Magog Invasion of Israel
Understanding Ezekiel Chapters 38-39
Israel, Russia and the Arab Nations in Bible Prophecy
"... Art thou come to take a spoil? ..." (Ezekiel 38:8-13 KJV)
Ezekiel chapters 38-39 prophesy that several Arab nations will rally together in the latter days and mount a massive military operation against the Nation of Israel. Despite the fall of the Berlin Wall and the "collapse" of communism, Ezekiel prophesies that a "hook in the jaw" will be placed in Russia's mouth and she will be dragged into this war virtually against her will. It will not be her smartest move. It will be the end of her armed forces.
As with most of Bible Prophecy, Ezekiel's prophetic language is symbolic, requiring an enlightened view of all Scripture. Therefore, we must carefully examine the prophetical books of the Bible and compare them with other Scripture. Prophetical books are not meant just for "filler" material ... they are intended to guide generations by revealing the future *before* it occurs. All of Bible prophecy will be fulfilled. The only question is when?
Generally prophecy books are arranged in chronological sequence. Occasionally, prophecy will take quick jumps backwards or forwards to make a point. In this case, the prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39 are dependent on the prophecies of Ezekiel 36-37 being already fulfilled. In other words, Russia and the Arabs cannot attack the Nation of Israel until after the Nation of Israel had been restored. In the 20th century, the Nation of Israel has been restored, just as prophesied in Ezekiel 36:24 and Isaiah 66:8.
Now Israel is back as a viable nation once again. An internal meltdown in Russia and trouble occurring in many former Soviet republics like Kosovo are creating unstable, unpredictable situations. Militaristic, Nationalistic, Anti-Zionist (Israel) men are vying to succeed Boris Yeltsin for the Soviet Presidency, including, but not limited to "Mad Vlad" Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Alexander Lebed and Gennady Zyuganov. And though he's not the Russian Premier anymore, don't count Mikhail Gorbachev out yet; He's very active on the world scene.
The winds of war are blowing once again in the Middle East. Iran is developing and testing a Medium Range Ballistic Missile with Russian assistance. Iraq is defiant to weapons inspectors once again. Iran and her protege Syria have purchased several Soviet fight-bomber aircraft in 1997. Syria has purchased 1000 Russian SCUD missiles and 500 launcher vehicles so that they can overwhelm Israeli defenses. Syria has also purchased 1000 Coronet anti-tank weapons recently. Israel has not been idly watching their neighbors arming. Israel is currently accepting delivery of advanced American F-15I fighter-bombers. An anti-missile missile system is being deployed. Israel is also purchasing 3 new German submarines to augment their navy. And Israel is now launching their own spy satellites. What is the outcome of all this military buildup? Here is the answer ...
Ezekiel Chapter 38 (KJV)
Ezekiel 38:1-7 Here God directs Ezekiel to prophesy against the land of Russia. Several nations are named such as Persia (mostly Iran but includes parts of Iraq), Ethiopia and Libya:
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and
Tubal, and
prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of
Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and
all thine army, horses
and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with
bucklers and shields, all
of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his
bands: and many people
with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled
unto thee, and be thou
a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the
latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back
from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which
have been always
waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of
them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land,
thou, and all thy bands,
and many people with thee.
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things
come into thy mind, and
thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them
that are at rest, that dwell
safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that
are now inhabited, and
upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods,
that dwell in the
midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof,
shall say unto thee, Art
thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away
silver and gold, to
take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when My people of
Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with
thee, all of them riding
upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it
shall be in the latter days,
and I will bring thee against My land, that the heathen may know Me, when I shall be
sanctified in thee, O Gog,
before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by My servants
the prophets of
Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of
Israel, saith the Lord
GOD, that My fury shall come up in My face.
19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there
shall be a great shaking
in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the
field, and all creeping things
that creep upon the Earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the Earth, shall
shake at My presence, and
the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall
fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all My mountains, saith the Lord
GOD: every man's sword
shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him,
and upon his bands, and
upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire,
and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of
many nations, and they
shall know that I am the LORD.
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,
and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against
thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to
come up from the north
parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out
of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people
that is with thee: I will give
thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and
they shall know that I
am the LORD.
7 So will I make My Holy Name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let
them pollute My Holy
Name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have
spoken.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall
go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the
shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and
they shall burn
them with fire seven years:
10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the
forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that
spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of
graves in Israel, the valley of
the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and
there shall they bury
Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The Valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse
the land.
13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the
day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury
with the passengers
those that remain upon the face of the Earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months
shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall
he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD;
Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the
field, Assemble yourselves, and 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.
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the Earth,
of rams, of lambs, and of
goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of My
sacrifice which I have sacrificed for
you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with
all men of war, saith
the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set My glory among the heathen, and
all the heathen shall see My judgment that I have executed,
and My hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and
forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their
iniquity: because they
trespassed against Me, therefore hid I My face from them, and gave them into the hand of
their enemies: so
fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto
them, and hid My face
from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and
have mercy upon the
whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My Holy Name;
26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have
trespassed against Me,
when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies'
lands, and am
sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into
captivity among the
heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more
there.
29 Neither will I hide My face any more from them: for I have poured out My Spirit upon
the house of Israel, saith
the Lord GOD.
