In our converged timeline, there was a time slice reference in the top tier that reads, “Satan Loosed.” This occurs after a thousand year millennial reign of Christ on a renewed earth. The Book of Revelation is specific about the human instruments/infrastructures that satan will use.
“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore” (Revelation 20:7–8).
But Daniel 2:44 also references the event, and the end game –
In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. And this kingdom will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it alone will stand forever.
So who are Gog and Magog?
Wiki: Some post-Cold War millenarians still identify Gog with Russia, but they now tend to stress its allies among Islamic nations, especially Iran. For the most fervent, the countdown to Armageddon began with the return of the Jews to Israel, followed quickly by further signs pointing to the nearness of the final battle—nuclear weapons, European integration, Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem in the Six Day War in 1967, and America’s wars in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.1
Gog and Magog are mentioned specifically in Revelation 20, but they also may be mentioned indirectly in Revelation 16:14 – 20.
…demonic spirits that perform signs (proceed from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet), and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. (“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”) Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon…out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake…The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.
So if Gog and Magog are included in this massive gathering of kings and their nations, they will participate in the most epic crash-and-burn ever. There are different commentary positions on whether Revelation 16 and 20 refer to the same event. Chapter 16 implies that the kings will be incentivized by demons that proceed from the mouths of the unholy trinity—deceiving the people with false signs. Chapter 20 is clear on the fact that only one member of that trinity is given a temporary work release from the abyss. But the term “satan” could mean satan and his crew. And deception tactics are amply employed in both 16 and 20. Another position is that Revelation 16 represents a real-world natural battle. And Chapter 20 represents the dichotomous supernatural assault on God’s heavenly kingdom with Gog perhaps being a demonic principality.2
There is also a great perspective on the real-world natural battle acting as the catalyst for a major Jewish revival—when Jesus returns to earth to rescue Jerusalem from an absolutely hopeless situation.3
As a result of this impossibly radical, indisputably divine deliverance, the Jewish people embrace Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah—as foretold in one of, what I consider to be, the most moving scriptures in the Bible: And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. Zech 12:10
Diving deeper, there is an additional theory that, although Magog may represent a nation, Gog may actually be the leader of this nation. The Greek for Magog is Μαγώγ, an indeclinable noun of Hebrew origin, that represents the name of a country. On the other hand, Strong’s definition for Gog in the Greek: indeclinable proper name, Gog, king of the land of Magog…who it is said in Ezekiel 38 will come from the remote north, with innumerable hosts of his own nation as well as of allies, and will attack the people of Israel, re-established after the exile; but by divine interposition he will be utterly destroyed.
The Aramaic Peshitta treated both Gog and Magog as proper nouns and referenced verses in the Hebrew Bible. Checked out the Hebrew: Gog or גּוֹג, pronounced gogue = “mountain”; a Reubenite, son of Shemaiah; the prophetic prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and Magog. Magog or מָגוֹג, pronounced maw-gogue = son of Japheth; also a barbarous northern region.
Another great perspective, which reinforces that Gog is probably a person/leader, while dovetailing the natural and supernatural aspects together, comes from the rabbi of a Messianic Congregation in Montreal: For the Rabbinical commentators, Gog represented the apex of evil. He’s the name behind all those who work against God and against His people…Those rabbis who translated the Bible into Greek back in the mid-third century before Yeshua, had the same thought as they translated the names of these (evil) kings—if you remember Og, and Agag—you know, who wanted to prevent Israel from entering the land—they didn’t write their names—they wrote the name, Gog for each one of them. They changed their names into Gog to fit their hatreds against the people of God, for they went beyond the very (Hebraic) source. In history, some have seen the root of this word in the Sumerian language which actually preceded the Babylonian. In Sumerian, Gog means darkness, shadowy darkness.4
Regardless of the various Gog/Magog interpretations, we can agree on the fact that they all have a common/fundamental element of evil—that is loosed for a time. But here is God’s response to evil:
In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’ Ez 38:19-23
Our job as believers is to forgive and love our enemies; and to do good to them that hate us, taking Christ’s lead when He, not only turned the other cheek, but offered His face to the mockers to be spit upon—with the end game of overcoming evil with good. However, there are going to be situations where, although we are led of the Spirit, the break-through doesn’t seem to happen for us. In such cases, the victory lies in our response to the evil that is done to us—do we allow it to rewire our circuits—turning us into bruised and bitter people? Or do we continue to walk in love—knowing that God’s got it? And not derive our comfort from the fact that the evil people won’t go unpunished because “we would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth?” But we take comfort in the fact that God protects his children—and will provide a way of escape. Even the souls of the martyrs in heaven asked, “How long?” But we know with certainty that our Sovereign LORD will deal with the evil. (Matthew 5:44, Isaiah 50:6, Romans 12:21, 1 Timothy 2:4, 1 Corin 10:13, Rev 6:10)
2Youtube: /watch?v=uBGHblD5q0U
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