Who is Gog and Magog?

(When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9They 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. 10And 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.)


It does not appear to be fulfilled yet as the 1000yrs reign of Christ has not begian and Satan will not gather the Armies of Gog and MaGog until the 1000yrs is up and Satan is loosed on the Earth.

I have often wondered if the Armies of Gog and MaGog were China and India not really sure why but it has been a thought in my mind. They do make up about 1/3 of the world population combined.

 

Well Gog and Magog were the sons of Japeth and were the fathers of the European nations. This could be a prophecy (future tense as Jacob's posting reveals) as to Europe waging an attack on God's kingdom. Also the hebrew terms Rosh & Meshech in Ezek 38:3 can be seen as Russia & Moscow so most people assume that the Russian nations will be the attackers of the kingdom.

I personally just think that it is an analogy and that it represents the world view that the rebellers will hold. The secular gentile world view. The western society & easter philosophy world views

 

The name Gog appears in three different books of the Bible.

1)I Chronicles
2)Ezekiel
3)Revelation

"The sons of Jo-el;Shem-ai`-ah his son, Gog his son,Shim`-e-i his son." I Chronicles 5:4

I Chronicles identifies Gog in the lineage of Reuben. A major problem, that people have had, is reading Ezekiel 38 as being a list, rather than as a single entity. Gog is a single entity. The Land of Magog locates Gog as S.E. Europe. Meshech and Tubal relate to Northern Turkey. The Russian royal family of Kiril (Ivan) traces back to Turkey. Romanov traces back to Andrei Koblya. Another Koblya was connected to the Battle of Kosovo Prodja.

Ezekiel`s prophecy is to Jews. Tarshish is Spain. The Lions of Tarshish refers to Spanish Jews (Sephardic). Ezekiel 38 can be connected with Daniel 12. Ezekiel is warning the Jewish remnant to prepare. Gog appears to be a reference to the Antichrist. Gog comes from within Jewish elements to destroy the Jews.

 

Similar to Dr. Bob's post and to Augustine's dichotomy of the "Kingdom of God" vs. "The Kingdom of this World" - I think it is probably not a particular nation but a term used for "all opposition" to God.

The reformers (following Augustine) were, for the most part, of that opinion as expressed by Matthew Henry:
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/MatthewHenryComplete/mhc-com.cgi?book=re&chapter=020

I think I would lean more toward that opinion myself.

 

Stratiotes:

Daniel uses the term "Prince" in reference to spiritual forces. The Archangel Michael (chap.12)is refered to as God`s Prince. A reference to the "Prince of Grecia" was a reference to a particular demon. Ezekiel refers to Gog as the "Chief Prince". The same pattern of term usage would indicate, that Gog is the chief demon over that region. That demon is residing over the area between the Danube River (Belgrade) and the Black Sea.

Bob