I think the battle of Gog and Magog in Eze 38 is on
the Day of God’s Wrath. In the worldwide earthquake,
every wall will fall worldwide. All cities will be in
shambles. Damascus will cease to be a city, so will
Babylon.
Eze 38:18-20 says, "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
(an asteroid will impact the Mediterranean Sea);
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 (they will see the Sign of the Son of
Man in the sky), and the mountains shall be thrown
down, and the steep places shall fall, and EVERY WALL
SHALL FALL to the ground."
The two wars of Gog and
Magog
Ezekiel chapters 38 and
39 represent two separate battles which are
given backwards by the Holy Spirit. Some events
are recorded backwards throughout the bible.
Notice how Psalms
89:36-37 presents Christ in His
Millennial kingdom, but verses 38-45 go
backwards and picture Christ in His humiliation
at His crucifixion. Throughout the Old
Testament, you will not only see the two advents
pictured together with no intervening time
period (Gen. 49:11,
24;
1Peter 1:11),
you will sometimes see the two reversed as you
find in this Psalm.
Ezekiel 38
has nothing to do with the invasion of Israel
during the tribulation. Verse 22
is the key to the passage: it clearly
marks the "Gog" in this chapter as the
one who attacks Jerusalem at the end of the
Millennium in Revelation 20:8-9
(Verse 38:5) The last,
final rebellion against God is also led by
countries that are predominantly Communist
and Moslem.
Note the continued
emphases on the massive amounts of people coming
against Jerusalem in verses 4,6,9,15,16, and 22,
which would have accumulated by the end of the
Millennium.
Ezekiel 38: 8,
11, and 14 do not describe the state of Israel
in the tribulation, which is another reason this
chapter cannot be dealing with Armageddon. The
Jews do not "dwell safely" in Israel
before, or at any point during, the tribulation;
that is their state at the end of the
Millennium.
"Behold, the days come,
says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and
prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice
in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel "shall dwell safely": and this
is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jer. 23:5-6).
The "therefore" at the
beginning of chapter 39 just connects the same
cultures going against Jerusalem, not the same
battle. Notice there is no mention of Israel
dwelling safely in chapter 39. Chapter 39 deals
with the battle of Armageddon. This verse (as
well as vss. 17-20) clearly matches Rev.
19:17-18. The "fire" that comes
down for the Antichrist (typified here by "Magog")
becomes a lake of fire (Isaiah
66:15-16, 24, 34:8-10) into which the
Antichrist is "cast alive" (Rev. 19:20). Moreover it will take "seven
months" to bury the dead and "cleanse
the land" (vss. 11-12). After the battle
of Rev. 20:8d-9, the universe is destroyed
by fire (2Pet. 3:10 cf. Rev. 20:11),
so chapters 38 and 39 can't describe the same
battle. (KJV)
YBIC
Eric