Something About The Gog-Magog War Baffles Me...

Yesterday, I reported on a MAJOR development in prophecy. It involves Russia's response to Noble Energy's announcement of an enormous natural gas discovery. In fact, it's the biggest find in Israel's history, and analysts estimated the natural gas was worth about $26 billion!

Get a load of this news from just a few short weeks ago, which broke shortly after that news from Noble Energy. It's news of Russia’s interest in partnering in Israel’s Tamar-1 gas field through a company called Gazprom, which has been trying to enter the Israeli energy market for years. When they heard about the Noble Energy discovery they immediately attempted to buy into it.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as Gazprom had planned. Missing out on the Tamar prospect is a major loss, because the gas discovery at the prospect would have enabled the company to become a major supplier to Israel and other countries in the Mediterranean Basin. The Tamar discovery also puts an end to possible Israeli gas imports from Russia via Turkey via the proposed undersea infrastructure conduit, which would have cost $2 to $3 billion to build.

Folks, this cannot be overstated! Ezekiel 38 speaks of God putting “hooks” in the jaws of what we know today to be Russia, drawing her down into Israel. Very interesting that Russia is already at work to secure the Mediterranean energy market. Could this be the beginning? Stay tuned!

Ironically, and on a side note, the new Gazprom Headquarters in St. Petersburg, Russia will be the tallest building in Europe, which is odd since we just spent a ton of time in other articles this week studying the Tower of Babel.


Needless to say, it may be time for us to revisit and review this unfulfilled prophecy because the way things are going it could erupt at any moment. Good for us then that the previous articles on the often overlooked Noah's Prophecy may be helping to set the stage for us here.

That being said, there's something about the Gog-Magog War that baffles me. Actually, there are a few distinct aspects of this ancient prophecy found in Ezekiel 38-39 that I found myself thinking about today.


WHY I'M BAFFLED - REASON #1


Ezekiel 38:23 tells us that, "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," but we know that there will still be those who will reject Him.

One thing that always baffled me about the Gog-Magog War has to do with the outcome. Correct me if my interpretation and understanding is wrong, but I never quite understood how the forces of Gog-Magog would be defeated supernaturally by God, and yet there would still be people in this world - - despite having the hard evidence before their very eyes (perhaps even a survivor or two from the invading forces would be left alive to tell their story and ultimately bring glory to God) - - who will still resist God, not believe any of it, and still refuse to turn to Him in genuine repentance.

Sure, I realize that arrogance, pride, and hardened hearts will play a role. Even so, how can this be? Is there perhaps anything that might explain how the secularist, lost, unrepentant, unbelievers will try to explain this supernatural event away like it was nothing?

If I'm correct in my understanding that this is how it will be like with a good number of people who are alive on the planet at the time, I believe we may have a glimpse of our answer if we take another look at the recent conflict in Gaza. As this news report suggests, some of the weapons and tactics used in the recent Gaza conflict have human rights groups concerned because they believe that many may have been violations of international law.


Intense focus has been particularly paid to the "White Phosphorous Bomb," which I found rather odd at the time. Human rights investigators have been trawling through the rubble in Gaza and gathering testimonies in an attempt to piece together a picture of the way both sides fought and the weapons they used.

International law demands that a distinction is made between combatants and non-combatants, and civilian casualties proportionate to the military gains from the attack in which they occurred. But Amnesty International has concluded that some Israeli attacks "were directed at civilians or civilian buildings", while "others were disproportionate or indiscriminate."

As well as the way Israeli forces used White Phosphorous in the conflict, which Amnesty has dubbed a war crime, the organization has also raised concerns about other weapons and their use.

For instance, Flechette Shells contain several thousand razor-sharp, nail-like metal darts, each about 4cm long. The shells explode in the air scattering the darts over the surrounding area - - in a cone-shaped pattern 300m long and 90m wide, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).


Marc Garlasco of HRW says there is concern about the number of Palestinian civilians killed by missiles fired from unmanned Israeli aircraft, or Drones, particularly because these can be precisely targeted and guided by an operator using imaging "like a TV camera" as they home in on their target.


In fact, some of the reports I've read make it sound almost as if the writer believes the Israelis were using this conflict in Gaza as a "testing ground" and the civilians as "guinea pigs" for unveiling new weapons and tactics in battle.

Perhaps, but my intention here today isn't to debate that. What I do want us to consider is how if this line of thinking exists now, and that if it gains any kind of traction, I could clearly see a scenario in the near future where as the invading forces of Gog-Magog are destroyed by "pestilence and with blood; overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone" (Ezekiel 38:22) then the rest of the world will just explain it away as the Israelis having been able to develop "state-of-the-art weapons technology" as opposed to any supernatural deliverance (from a God they don't even believe in anyway), which allowed them to overwhelm and completely annihilate their enemies despite overwhelming odds.

Joseph Chambers writes, "As the greatest supernatural intervention of human history - - a defense right out of heaven above - - Israel's God is going to reveal Himself. When this Divine display is finished, the Muslim religion will be stripped of all its glory. It will no doubt cause great anger among the hard core Muslims that escape death but a turning to Jesus Christ of those honest individuals that see the glory of our Eternal God."

Still, people will not believe it when they see it! Denial can be a powerful thing. When coupled with sin, it can destroy a person and put them on a road to eternal damnation. That's why a part of the world will respond in that manner to one of the greatest supernatural events ever recorded.

That's how I see the deception and denial playing out in the very near future. Lies, lies, and more lies. We're seeing glimpses of it now so I guess it wouldn't be too surprising to see an event like that reported this way in the near future.

On second thought, and in response to my question that began this piece, I guess it's not so hard to believe how that could happen after all.


WHY I'M BAFFLED - REASON #2


Setting that first section aside for a moment let's turn our attention to a plausible script for how events will unfold here in the near future. Simply put, I believe that my recent articles on Noah's Prophecy may be telling us to watch for the imminent Gog-Magog War. Why do I feel this way? Take a look at Ezekiel 38 with close attention paid to those nations that are named - - all are descendants of either Ham of Japheth!

As many people already know and understand, when the prophets spoke from God they often used names of ancient descendants to speak to "nations and peoples and tongues." These names given were all grandsons and the great-grandsons of Noah, as shown in Genesis.

This coming Gog-Magog War will serve as the eternal design of Bible prophecy. Men may well look at such a catastrophic devastation as cruel and beyond the acts of a Holy God, but this expression of wrath has been building for many centuries. It will include judgments against many vile and Godless acts of terror, great hatred manifest against the Jewish people, and hatred toward God Himself. Germany will receive her final judgment for the Holocaust and Russia will be judged for her atheistic hatred against her own people, as well as against Israelis and Christians. The Muslim religion will answer for centuries of vileness and defiance against the true and living God. The catastrophic level of God's wrath will be in the exact proportion to the wicked history of the nations involved.

This war could not occur until the nation of Israel was back in a portion of the Promised Land. There is not enough military might in the entire armies of the world to change God's promises. Israel is already a rich nation and is becoming richer every day. Their military is without parallel. They have discovered massive reserves of oil and eventually that discovery will be greater than all the Arab nations combined. How do we know that their oil deposits will be the world's greatest? The Promised Land and her treasures were ordained to flow as "milk and honey." We just reviewed the proof of this often overlooked end times prophecy in the previous article that was published to this site.

So, it is important that we know the Biblical reason for the War of Gog and Magog. It is Israel's riches and abundance that Russia covets. We know why the Muslims want to eliminate Israel, but Russia and much of her coalition forces want the treasures and wealth. If you study the unbelievable agricultural success, the technological brilliance, the military capabilities, and then add the possibility of billions of barrels of black gold, you will understand that Russia can see nothing but worldwide wealth and dominance.

Ezekiel 38:16-18 - - "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. 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? 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"

Unnamed pestilences and blood will rain on the army of millions. The rain will be overflowing and mixed with hailstones, fire, and brimstones. It will be massive and will actually fall from Heaven in such a manner that no one will doubt that it is God Himself that fights for Israel. The Bible is careful to state that the slaughter of this mob of wicked people extends back to their staging countries and capital cities.

Ezekiel 39:6-7 - - "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. 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"

But the thing that baffles me still is the timing of this event. When Russia and her allies will be destroyed I'm thinking it would have to be at the beginning of Tribulation (or Daniel's 70th Week; the final 7 years) as Ezekiel makes reference to the 7 years it takes for Israel to burn their implements of war, but it could be even before it. Ezekiel 39:9 tells us about the 7 years of burning of their weapons. Since the Jews will be persecuted by the Antichrist for the last 3.5 years of the Tribulation, that may suggest Russia and her Arab allies will be destroyed at least 3.5 years prior to the beginning of the Tribulation. It could, of course, be more.


WHY I'M BAFFLED - REASON #3


Could Gog be a supernatural being? We actually have every reason to believe that the "Gog" mentioned in this end times scenario is an Angelic being or a principality, which is over the Land of Magog (Turkey). The same language is used to describe this Gog as is used to describe a few other beings in Scripture.

"The Prince of Persia," which hindered the bearer of this very prophecy from coming to Daniel, was described as a Prince. In the same section of Scripture, the bearer of this prophecy mentions two other Princes also. The "Prince of Grecia," and "Michael, one of the chief princes."

This creates a context in these end times prophecies, where "Prince" is a term used to describe Angelic hosts given charge over certain areas, seemingly whether they are in rebellion or not (Daniel 10:12-21 ).

Here we see the reasons to believe that Gog, the Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal, is the angelic host given charge over the land of Magog (Turkey). Is Gog a country, nation, or a man on the Earth? Is Gog is an Angel in rebellion against God, who had been given charge over Turkey, that will be cast down in the end? Another interesting point is that Michael the Archangel is the Angel given charge over Israel since he is referred to as "your Prince" by someone talking to Daniel.

In the end, regardless of how these issues are ultimately resolved I think we may get to witness them firsthand very soon I'm afraid.

I think that there will always be different little nuances in each of our interpretations, but that we all agree that the Gog-Magog War is upon us.