Dear writers and readers of FiveDoves,

            I was wondering about the possibility of a duality perspective relative to Gog of Magog, of both an angelic being and a human being. Please consider the following, and then let me know what you believe that the scripture teaches about this:

The scripture refers to Michael as one of the chief princes in the angelic realm.

Daniel 10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia

There are also some angelic princes mentioned, like the prince of Persia and the prince of Grecia, but they are not necessarily called chief princes.

Daniel 10:20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.

However, there is one other angelic chief prince named: Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, for the land of Magog. Persia & Greece have their own prince, but Israel and Magog have chief princes. Gog is an angelic chief prince, not necessarily Putin or Gorbachev. Gog is someone who was around in Ezekiel’s day, and yet still around for the Tribulation:

Ezekiel 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

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.

2500 years is slightly longer than the typical threescore and ten for man. Prophecy teachers too often want to prove the Russian interpretation so badly, that they try and make chief prince to mean prince of Rosh in Ezekiel, but Michael is still left as one of the chief princes in Daniel, since it wouldn’t make sense to have Michael be a Rooskie as well.

Also, if Gog is supposed to be Putin, or Gorbachev, or some other up and coming Russian leader, then why have prophecy teachers never, never, never, shown even one of the other scripture references spoken of in Ezekiel 38:17? (at least I have never seen one shown to me by anyone else)

Ezekiel 38:17 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?

Also, Ezekiel 28 has both the king of Tyrus and the prince of Tyrus. They both begin by speaking about only men, yet end up describing others more sinister. The king of Tyrus clearly describes Satan. However, the prince of Tyrus looks to be describing the son of perdition – not only because he is the son of the king of Tyrus, and thus the son perdition – but also because the following verses look to prophecy what the son of perdition does in the Tribulation:

Ezekiel 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

I am referring to the duality approach. It is like when the LORD was speaking about & to the king of Tyrus in Ezekiel 28, he was really speaking to the spiritual power behind the throne, and in that case, Satan. The human king was not old enough to have been in Eden, and he wasn’t on the ark, so there is a duality of personage in focus. In a similar way when the LORD was speaking to Job about Leviathan, he wasn’t speaking about only a sea monster, or a big crocodile, or even only a dinosaur, and even Martin Luther knew that the spiritual characteristics attributed to Leviathan, were descriptive of Satan, and this was reflected in A Mighty Fortress is our God. When Jesus said to his disciples, that he had chosen the 12 of them but that one of them was a devil, there was again a two-fold aspect of the description – Judas was certainly a man, but he was also somehow a devil – there are differing views on how that could be, which I’m not getting into here. Another variation of the duality approach is in some of the old testament theophanies, where the scriptures clearly calls the person the angel of the LORD, but by studying the context & comparing scripture with scripture, it is easy to see that in some of those cases it was actually an appearance of the LORD himself.

            So I’m wondering about the duality of Gog – that there will be an actual human being, a leader from the north parts, who attacks Israel in the end times, allied with Persia, et al – but that the description seems to show more, that the chief prince is also an angelic being, not one of the angels that follow the LORD, who has been an ancient foe of Israel, and will be the power behind the leader from the north in the end time. In a similar fashion that the prince of Persia was the angelic power behind the kings of Persia, and that the prince of Grecia was the real power behind Alexander and then his four generals. Ephesians 6, written for new testament believers, allows us an even closer view of the spiritual warfare that is actually going on, with the principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. So, like Gabriel had to wrestle with the prince of Persia, until Michael, the prince of Israel came to help him – and like how Michael and his angels will fight against the dragon and his angels in Revelation 12, it would appear that the real evil power behind the Ezekiel 38 & 39 invasion is also a prince, and a chief prince at that. Of course, someday, all the angelic creatures, even the fallen ones, will all bow to Jesus, who is King of kings, Lord of lords, God of gods, and Prince of princes.

            It looks to me that Gog is an angelic spirit over the land of Magog, a chief prince, of the likes of Michael (except Gog is a fallen angelic spirit), or like the prince of Persia – and that also there will be a man, out of Magog of the north, who will lead the military coalition into the land of Israel. Now, whether this man is simply guided or led by the angelic Gog, or whether he will be possessed, like many think similarly happened to Hitler with another fallen angel, I do not know for sure. Also, in Revelation 20, after the thousand year kingdom, both Gog and Magog are mentioned again. It is clear from Ezekiel, that chapter 38 & 39 are to happen before the thousand year kingdom. Therefore, either if Gog is only referring to a man, then there would be two men named Gog, from Magog, both attacking Israel, but a thousand years apart from one another. However, if Gog is the name of the chief prince, fallen angel over the land of Magog, then it can be seen how he could get armies from there, led by two different men, a thousand years apart, if the fallen angel Gog, will not yet have been judged, and cast into the lake of fire, until Satan is, after that second failed invasion.

Am I way off base thinking this way about Gog of Magog?

            Thank you,

                        Gino