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1. Eschatology Seminar Lecture 03: The Magog Invasion (Ezekiel 38 & 39) Presented by Eternal Answers Ministry www.EternalAnswersMinistry.org

2. Some argue that Magog is part of the Armageddon scenario: It describes a terrible battle in which God intervenes to save Israel We will examine today the idea that this is actually a pre-Rapture event, possibly one designed to disguise the Rapture itself

3. Firstly, why all the weird names like “Magog” in prophecy? Petrograd -> St. Petersburg -> Leningrad -> St. Petersberg Byzantium -> Constantinople -> Istanbul • Place names change, family names change, etc. • The one thing we cannot change is the name of our ancestors, so the Bible uses these as referents

4. Ezekiel 38 • The context of this whole passage of Ezekiel is the final (ie the second time-Is. 11:11) return of Israel to the land. • Modern Israel is a secular nation paying little more than lip service to God. • Chapters 38 & 39 detail an event the outcome of which, the Bible says, will leave no doubt in Israel’s mind that her God still intervenes & superintends divine protection over His people, never sleeping, never faltering.

5. Ezekiel 38 1] AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, • To understand to whom God is speaking, we must use the Table of Nations found in Gen-Ch. 10 & 11. • Magog is the second of the seven sons of Japheth • Josephus identified the offspring of Magog as the Scythians, a name used by the Greeks particularly Herodotus, for peoples north of the Black Sea. • In later history, they are identified as the Magyars, a tribe of fierce horseman warriors that terrorized medieval Christendom from Russia.

6. Ezekiel 38 1] AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, • Meshech and Tubal are cities of ancient Anatolia from which Turkey was formed. • Meshech is of the Medes, today known as the Kurds of northern Iraq, southern Turkey, & northwest Iran. • Before migrating there, however, they were instrumental in founding several other cities north of the Black Sea where the Meshechvites were known in the local dialect as “Muscovites” • established their principle city on the Volga river calling it “Muscovvei" • still standing today with the more modern, Hellenized form of its name –“Moscow"

7. Ezekiel 38 1] AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, • Regarding “Gog,” at first, it seems strange that this character has no precedent mention in the Bible. • However, here we may be victims of our reliance upon the Masoretic text of the OT which was not developed until the 10thc.AD. THUS hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. -Amos 7:1 (KJV/AV based on the Masoretic reading) Lo, the LORD hath shewn unto me that a swarm of locusts is come & behold one of the young, devastating locusts was Gog, their king. -Amos 7:1 (LXX reading)

8. Ezekiel 38 1] AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, • This is the (mostly lost) key between the prophesied Magog (Magyar = Russian) invasion led by Gog of Magog (Ez 38:2) & the Christian Book of Revelation, Ch. 9 • "locusts" rise from the pit led by their "king" who is called Apollyonie Gr. "Destroyer" (Rev 9) • At first, this seems a contradiction, for in Proverbs 30:27 we are expressly told that the locusts have no king • There are many passages in scripture that tell us spirit beings, including demons, are territorial (Dan. 10:12-13; Rev 9:14). • The key of this verse & the tie-into Revelation is to reveal to us that Gog is a demon whose territory is Magog (Russia).

9. Ezekiel 38 1] AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, • This is not a facile or fanciful linking by wishful eschatologists. Early Christians used the LXX; NT writers quote it. Thus, John, writing Revelation, would have had the "Gog" as the king of the locusts LXX interpretation in front of him (actually, he would have memorized it from his tenderest youth in his hometown synagogue) as he was writing. Any Jew or Christian with a Jewish background reading Revelation 9 prior to the 10thc.AD would have immediately made the connection to Amos & thus to Ezekiel.

10. Ezekiel 38 3] And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: • “chief” = Heb. rus (pron. Roosh or rush) • According to ancient sources, the Rush were a people that lived in the mountains we call the Urals today. • The origin of the name "Russian" is, oddly, obscure from any Russian language. *Pivtorak. Formation and dialectal differenciaton of the Old Rus language. 1988

11. Ezekiel 38 3] And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: • However, numerous secular genetic studies confirm Genesis 10's account of the origin of the people we now call the "Russians." • Russians show the characteristic R1a genes (Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)) of paternal descent from a single male,,*some 4000 years ago, with only slightly less frequency of the R1a in the upper north (emphasis added) *Rosser et al. (2000);Tambetset al. (2004); Oleg Balanovsky, SiiriRootsi, AndreyPshenichnov et al., "Two Sources of the Russian Patrilineal Heritage in Their Eurasian Context," American Journal of Human Genetics 82, 236–250, January 2008 • Such large frequencies of R1a have been found only in Eastern Europe and India. *F. Luca, F. Di Giacomo, T. Benincasa et al., "Y-Chromosomal Variation in the Czech Republic," American Journal of Physical Anthropology 132:132–139 (2007) • According to some modern ethnologists, ethnic Russians originated from the earlier Rus' people and gradually evolved into a separate ethnicity from the western Rus peoples, who became known as the modern-day Belarusians and Ukrainians

12. Ezekiel 38 3] And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: • However, numerous secular genetic studies confirm Genesis 10's account of the origin of the people we now call the "Russians." • However, these sources agree that there is a “different genetic material” found in the northern peoples of Russia the origin of which is unknown!!! • Remember this when we revisit the reference in Daniel to “they” who “mingle themselves with the seed of men.”!!!

13. Ezekiel 38 4] And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5] Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: • “…Persia” = Elam: or Iran • Pre- 1979 this was thought laughable as Iran was a Western ally. • - “Libya” = Phut: (Settled W of Egypt) Libya, N Africa

14. Ezekiel 38 4] And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5] Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: • -“...Ethiopia” = Cush • Kassites, E of Assyria (Settled S of the 2nd cataract of the Nile) • In 1611, “Ethiopia” did not designate merely the nation state we know today. It meant all of central-south Africa, or what they called “Black Africa” • Thus, today, most modern translators use the term “Cush” which, though more obscure, more accurately describes the current geography

15. Ezekiel 38 6] Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. • “Gomer” • We know by the Latinized form of their name; the Romans called the land of these people “Germania” or today’s “Germany.” • “Togarmah” = Armenians, Turkey, Turkestan • To this day, Armenia refers to itself as “The House of Togarmah.” • “...of the north quarters”: “The uttermost part of the north” • (Ezek 38:6, 15; 39:2). • In the Hebrew, the word for North has been modified to imply the extreme or uttermost parts of the North. • Take a globe, find Israel & track North. What’s the last country you are in before you hit the Arctic Ocean?

16. Ezekiel 38

17. Ezekiel 38 7] Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. • “...and all thy company”: • So, who is currently providing Persia, Cush, Phut, Libya and Togarmah their arms ie “preparing” them for war? -Russia. (Remember, this was written 2600 years ago!)

18. Ezekiel 38 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. • -ie The Land has been restored from its desolation by the Jews

19. Ezekiel 38 9] Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.10] Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,12] To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. • ie having seen the desert bloom under Jewish stewardship, these jealous nations seek to steal the prosperity of the land now that it has been made fruitful. • Since 1948, little Israel has been turned from a desert into a thriving agricultural power

20. Ezekiel 38 9] Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.10] Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,12] To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. • ie having seen the desert bloom under Jewish stewardship, these jealous nations seek to steal the prosperity of the land now that it has been made fruitful. • It is the tiny state of Israel that now supplies 80-90% of the citrus to all of Europe

21. Ezekiel 38 9] Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.10] Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,12] To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. • ie having seen the desert bloom under Jewish stewardship, these jealous nations seek to steal the prosperity of the land now that it has been made fruitful. • Holland actually imports tulips from Israel today!

22. Ezekiel 38 13] Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gatheredthy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? • “...Sheba and Dedan...“Tarshish” • Questioning Bystanders? • These three seem to not want to get involved with a military conquest for economic reasons, so they are standing by, wagging their fingers, questioning the wisdom of Gog’s actions & giving him something of public a tongue lashing. • But, who are they? • “Sheba and Dedan” are names for the ancient tribal nomadic inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula

23. Ezekiel 38 13] Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gatheredthy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? • “… Tarshish” • There are many theories on “Tarshish,” everything from Spain to Sardinia, to Britain… • A source of tin (Ezek 27:12). “Britannia” is from a word meaning “tin”; the Phoenicians brought tin from Cornwall;Jonah bought a ticket to that land, but he never saw it—instead he got to see the interior of a big fish! • The “ships of Tarshish” were large merchant vessels made for distant ocean-going traffic—two year voyages? (1 Kgs 22:48; Isa 2:16; Cf. Ezek 27:12, 25). Archaeology has verified worldwide trade went on at Stonehenge

24. Ezekiel 38 14] Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? • “...my people of Israel”: • This is one of the reasons that many scholars believe this is a “post-Church” event

25. Ezekiel 38 15] And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: 16] And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. 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? 18] And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. 19] For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20] So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. • This seems to be a global phenomenon

26. Ezekiel 38 21] And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. 22] And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23] Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD. • Reminiscent of how Pharaoh came to know that God is God! • Further, one can hearken back to the “black rain” that fell on Hiroshima after the bomb was used

27. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 1] Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 2] And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: • “...the sixth part of thee”: Hebrew equivalent of the Latin “decimate”…

28. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 3] And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. • chereb = destroying instrument; “sword” • qesheth= launcher; “bow.” • chets= piercing missile; “arrow.” • Incidentally, “Arrow” is the name of Israel’s missile system “I will smite thy launchers out of thy left hand, and cause thy missiles to fall out of thy right hand.”

29. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 3] And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. • Here, also, there is an interesting similar technology statement from Jeremiah’s description of the destruction of Babylon: For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. -Jeremiah 50.9 • Jeremiah is saying that the skill of the “expert man” is in the arrow! • They are “as of” an expert, not “shot by” an expert. • This is a “smart weapon” • And, as if to nail the concept of the ”smart weapon” home, Jeremiah concludes that none that are shot will fail to hit their targets ie they will have a 100% success rate: “none shall return in vain.”

30. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement Where is the US in prophecy? 4] Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.5] Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.6] And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. • “...among them that dwell carelessly in the isles”: • This appears to refer to a “third party”: neither the Magog forces nor Israel. • “Isles” or “coastlands”: implies the farthest reaches of the known world; cf. Ezek 26:15, 18; 27:3, 6-7, 15, 35)

31. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement Where is the US in prophecy? 4] Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.5] Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.6] And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. • “...dwell carelessly” • “carelessly” = betach: false confidence. Hebrew can convey whole paragraphs in a few words. To convey the whole image in this phrase, it would be more thoroughly translated: “those in the far-away coastal paradise who live carelessly in the false confidence that these events can not affect them.” • Whom does this sound like?

32. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 7] So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.8] Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.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: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. • The left-over weapons provide all their energy needs for seven years… • What kinds of weapons could “burn” for seven years? • If these are nuclear weapons, why would they only burn for seven years, not longer?

33. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 7] So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.8] Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.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: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. • The left-over weapons provide all their energy needs for seven years… • If this were Armageddon, and afterwards the Millenieum, why would they need nuclear energy?

34. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 7] So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.8] Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.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: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. • The left-over weapons provide all their energy needs for seven years… • Might it be that this event occurs at the Rapture which commences the 7-year Tribulation period (70th Week of Daniel) & the reason they only use them for seven years is because after seven years, THEN Christ returns & they no longer need nuclear energy?

35. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 12] And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.13] Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.14] And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. • -“...men of continual employment” • They employ professionals • These have to wait seven months before entering the area (?); then clear for seven months and bury the dead east of the Dead Sea (downwind).

36. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 15] And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. • Whenever remains are found by civilians, they are not to touch them (why?). They are to place a sign by the remains and wait for the professionals (v.14) to come & bury them. Very strange, indeed. • [The same instructions can be found in the Operator’s Manual for Marking Set, Contamination: Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC), US Armed Forces.]

37. Ezekiel 39: The Denouement 16] And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. • Hamonah = A form of the word “hordes.” • Ezekiel goes on to describe the after effect of this “war” in vv. 27-29 27] When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;28] Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.29] Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. • The ultimate result of the battle with Gog will be Israel’s national repentance and spiritual restoration (cf. 36:27; 37:14; Joel 2:28). This will be fulfilled when the Millennial Kingdom is established (Hos 5:15;Zech 12:10).

38. Prior to the 70th Week vs. Armageddon 1) The Magog invasion forces come from the north; Armageddon, from the whole earth. 2) Magog and its allies come to take spoil; Armageddon, to destroy the Jews. 3) The seven-month cleanup would seem inconsistent with Israel’s flight to Bozrah, etc. 4) The seven years’ energy requirement seems inconsistent with the establishment of the Millennium. 5) There is no mention of other key end-time elements: the Coming World Leader (“Antichrist”) or Babylon, etc. • Might this, instead, be a cover for the Rapture? Might it also be a prelude to the rise of the “peaceful” world leader, the Antichrist? • …NEXT SESSION!

39. Christ is not the question He is the answer!

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