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General questions
Question:
2. Is Gog/Magog of Ezekiel 38 and 39 the same as that of Revelation 20?
Answer:
Some Christians think that the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 is the same war as that of Revelation 20 at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace.
We pull out the Bible texts of Ezekiel 39 about the state of affairs after the war:
Ezekiel 39:9: And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
Ezekiel 39:10: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 39:11: And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
If Ezekiel 38 and 39 and Revelation 20 speak of the same war then the above Bible texts are the condition of the first seven years (verse 9) after the war.
We read in verse 11 that Gog will have a grave east of the sea. So after the war the sea is still there. Now the Bible texts about the war of Revelation 20:
Revelation 20:7: And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Revelation 20:8: And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Revelation 20:10: And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
This is where the Gog/Magog war takes place at the end of the thousand years. According to verse 8, their numbers are like the sand of the sea. So the sea is also there at the end of the thousand years.
After the devil is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (verse 10) and the final judgment has taken place, the new heaven and new earth will come according to the Bible texts below:
Revelation 21:1: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Revelation 21:2: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
In verse 1 we read that on the new earth the sea will no longer be there. So Ezekiel 38 and 39 is Armageddon, according to my Bible studie number 3, just before the millennial kingdom of peace where the sea will still be there.
Revelation 20 is at the end of the thousand-year kingdom of peace after which the sea will no longer be there. So we come to the conclusion that Ezekiel 38 and 39 is not the same war as Revelation 20.
Revelation 20 speaks of the same spiritual power Gog/Magog of Ezekiel 38 and 39 which reveals itself again when Satan is released at the end of the thousand years.
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