Gog and Magog

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Hi all!

My first attempt at thread creation so please bear with me 🙂

I tried searching for this but was surprised to see there were no threads about it - so here I am.

“Gog and Magog” - anyone have any insights, studied this enigmatic thing? I know the reference in the Apocalypse, and the extended prophecy against Gog in Ezekiel. From what I can tell most attempts at identification with ancient kings are pretty weak, and many believe even the prophecy in Ezekiel refers to the final battle between good and evil.

From what I’ve read, Gog seems to be a person & Magog is something like “the nation/peoples of Gog”. So what is it? Is it a cypher for Antichrist and his forces or something else?

What do you guys think?

-jack
 
Back in my evangelical days there were people teaching with certainty that Gog was the Soviet Union and Magog was Communist China. Or maybe it was the other way around?

Always be skeptical of those who see the morning newspaper explicitly referenced in the Apocalyptic texts. 😃
 
Here is what I wrote in my commentary on Revelation 20:8
Since John gave 2 other accounts of Armageddon, he now mentions very few details in this account. Gog and Magog is reference to all the nations that are united with the Antichrist, not just two nations. And the camp of the saints and the beloved city is not references to one place, but it is all the places throughout the world where the people of God will be, since the Church is spread all over the world.
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The fire coming down from Heaven is not what kills the army of the Antichrist since we know that they were slain by the sword of the Lord’s mouth (see Rev. 19:21), but John skips that detail and tells us that fire comes down and consumes their dead bodies, and then afterwords that fire will be used to cleanse the earth, which is what St. Peter mentions in his 2nd letter, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire (2 Peter 3:10-12)!” This is done for the preparations of the new heavens and earth.
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But the saints who survive the Great Tribulation are taken from the earth before the fire consumes the earth, and the final resurrection takes place within this period of time, St. Paul tells us, “15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord (1Thes 4:15-17).” So, the resurrection of the dead actually happens right before the fire consumes the earth, and when the saints rise from the dead, the saints who are still alive at that time will also be caught up to meet the Lord in the sky.
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Here is the link litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Chapter+20
 
All wonderful answers!

NHInsider,

I think I remember reading something about that in Hal Lindsey’s old book back when I was a Protestant. I remember thinking that was one of the few things that I could atleast see why he said what he said. I think in Ezekiel it identifies Gog as coming from the “far north”. I could see why if one were looking for a literal fullfillment, then Russia during the Cold War would naturally spring to the American mind.

COP,

Very interesting! Thank you!

Peace,
jack
 
Eucharisted said:
They symbolize Israel’s enemies.
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This is as close as you are going to get. Whatever it meant to the Apostle John’s original hearers, we are to understand it in *general terms *of those who threaten God’s people, whomever those enemies are at any given time in the history of the Church. Any attempt to tie it definitively to a particular modern nation or to current events is to fall into the trap of making vain and transitory speculation (much like the aforementioned Hal Lindsey). He who is married to the spirit of the times quickly becomes a widow.
 
Hi Fidelis,

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

If we assume that Gog and Magog are the “bad guys” just before Christ’s return (at least that’s how I read Revelation), would you agree that we would be safe in identifying the terms with Antichrist and his followers/forces?

Obviously I wouldn’t got much further in my analysis than that because it would get into the old “who is the Antichrist” question.

I read a book by David Currie called Rapture: The End Times Theory that Leaves the Bible Behind that seemed to suggest this. Do you think this was the intended meaning of St. John? (Obviously the “Israel” here would be the “New Israel” of the Church)

-jack
 
Raphael777 said:
If we assume that Gog and Magog are the “bad guys” just before Christ’s return (at least that’s how I read Revelation), would you agree that we would be safe in identifying the terms with Antichrist and his followers/forces?..

…I read a book by David Currie called Rapture: The End Times Theory that Leaves the Bible Behind that seemed to suggest this. Do you think this was the intended meaning of St. John? (Obviously the “Israel” here would be the “New Israel” of the Church)

-jack
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Yes, I think that would be safe to say about conditions right before the return of the Lord and during the final tribulation of the Church — that Gog and Magog represent (in general) evil forces allied with the final Anti-Christ against God’s people, whether these enemies be political, religious, or national.

Currie’s book is excellent – comprehensive, balanced, and faithful to the Church. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to get their head straight on about apocalyptic literature and eschatology.
 
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