The Prophecy Against Gog

If you are a fan of the Anne of Green Gables books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, you may recall that in the book Anne of the Island, Anne and her university friend Philippa Gordon discover a quaint house which they later are able to rent from the elderly ladies who live there.

“It’s the name I want you to notice especially,” said Phil. “Look—in white letters, around the archway over the gate. ‘Patty’s Place.’ Isn’t that killing? Especially on this Avenue of Pinehursts and Elmwolds and Cedarcrofts? ‘Patty’s Place,’ if you please! I adore it.”

Anne of the Island, Ch. 6.

In Patty’s Place there is a fireplace with two green-spotted china dogs on the mantel named Gog & Magog. [Here is a link to the chapter for your reading delight.]

The china dogs were inspired by a set of real china dogs owned by Montgomery’s grandfather and which sat on his fireplace mantel. His ceramic pups were actually named Gog and Magog. Montgomery purchased her own pair of china dogs on her honeymoon. I do not know if she called them Gog and Magog.

(And yes – I am a huge fan of the Anne books and have been to the real Green Gables on Prince Edward Island (multiple times!) and have drank my fair share of “raspberry cordial” and walked on the red sand beach and been to the musical in Charlottetown.)

🥰

Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog are not china dogs.

Gog is a person. Magog used to be a person but in this context is a place. Let’s break it down.

Oh – and ya know how Lot is pronounced like Lowt? Well, Gog sounds like gowg. Go with a g on the end.

For starters – let’s go back to Genesis…

“The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭10‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

All the highlighted names above appear in Ezekiel 38. Genesis 10:7 includes the names Sheba and Dedan which we find in Ez. 38:13.

So… THING ONE: We’re dealing with THE most ancient territories on earth. Most of the regions named in this chapter were first settled by the sons and grandsons of Japheth, the son of Noah, and the lands were named after their founders.

I do not recommend Googling “ancient world of Noah’s son’s map.” You’re going to get a LOT of nonsense. Old maps put all of Ham’s descendants in Africa, Shem in the Asia, and Japheth in Europe. That’s WAY over-generalized. As for newer maps- any quack with a computer can make a map for the internet now. I saw one map that had a Pangea-like set of continents with Shem settling North America which it labeled as “the land of Eber.” I laughed out loud.

Here is one decent map, but maps of anything pre-flood or immediately post-flood admittedly involve a lot of speculation. It’s not like you can just go look up 4500 year old property records at your county courthouse.

Here is most of that same area today:

The country Americans have traditionally called “Turkey” 🦃 is now going by its more accurate pronunciation and spelling, Türkiye 🇹🇷 which sounds like a Thanksgiving cheer, “Turkey yay!”

🦃🍗🍽️🥳🎉😄

In the New Testament world, this is where many of Paul’s letters circulated – Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Pamphylia…

The book of Galatians could’ve been called “Letter to the Land of Magog” or “The Epistle to Türkiye” and the Post Office would’ve been able to deliver it. 📫✉️

You’ll hear all kinds of theories online that Magog is Russia and that Gog is Vladimir Putin. I can’t find a shred of biblical evidence to back that up. People take the description of “north,” “north parts”, “northern lands,” or even “far north” and they skip over all the countries immediately north of Israel, ignore the ancient identity of “the far north” (which we will come to presently), and they head straight for the Arctic Circle in Siberia. The text says “north” not “the North Pole.” 🎅🏻🎄 ⛄️ Sheesh.

So… I looked up “north parts” in Hebrew.

And, y’all… Ho boy.…

You might wanna top off your coffee. ☕️

And strap on a headlamp. 🔦

We’re about to go down a rabbit hole. 🕳️

And I’m honestly not sure how deep it goes.

---

To Gog, Yahweh says…

“You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭38‬:‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Hebrew word translated as “parts” or “uttermost parts” (sometimes also translated as “borders”) is yrekah.

I don’t think it necessarily means “far.” It just seems to indicate the edge or border that is furthest from you.

The Hebrew word for “north” is:

K. Did all you Bible geeks notice?

This is the Hebrew phrase rendered in a couple other very interesting spots as, “the sides of the north.”

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised In the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭48‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Most of the newer translations have it as “far north.” I’m not a real Hebrew scholar so I don’t have a linguistic case against that rendering. Like I said, I think it’s trying to communicate the furthest edge, but that doesn’t have to mean like “in a galaxy far, far away.” Here’s what I do know:

• Jerusalem is not geographically in “the far north”
• The Temple was situated on the northern extremity of Mount Moriah.
• The name Zion is used a bit fluidly in the OT for both physical Jerusalem and the heavenly city of God.

In this Psalm, “the sides of the north” isn’t a strictly physical designation. I think it’s a double entendre. It’s primarily talking about the physical Temple Mount on the northernmost edge of the mountain. But since it uses the terms “city of God” and “Zion” it has a definite heavenly flavor. And THAT city is hidden and unknown as the word tzaphown suggests.

Another honorable mention for the use of yrekah tzaphown is Jeremiah 6:22. The context is the destruction of Judah (the miniature day of the Lord).

Now let’s look at the other place it shows up. This one makes me realize – we’re not in a rabbit hole anymore. It’s much bigger…

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Y’all… this is how I feel about these 2 verses.

K. First off…

Lucifer, or should I say, “Baal,” already had a very nice mountain in the sides of the north.

The Canaanite god, Baal-Zephon, was considered a god of maritime trade. Isn’t that interesting? Think of how the account of the fall of Mystery Babylon highlights the maritime trade. So did Tyre. That’s an indictment against Baal-Zephon. His people got scorched. There was a separate mountain called Baal-Zephon. It’s near the spot where Israel crossed the Red Sea, see Ex. 14:2.

So Baal/Lucifer has his own mountain but he’s not content with that. Where does Lucifer aspire to “ascend” into?

😐 Heaven.

Correct.

😐 Was that supposed to be a hard question? Cuz if it was, I’ll take Isaiah 14 for $500 please, Alex. 😏

👨🏼‍🦳 Ok. Isaiah 14 for 500: 🟦 Where is the “Mount of the Congregation?”

🤔 Jerusalem?

☝🏼🤓 The North Pole?

😯 Oh, no- I know… Heaven?

It might help if we knew the Hebrew name for the Mount of the Congregation. It’s two words.

If this was in Greek and translated into English it would be called Church Mountain. The word church is used to translate the Greek ecclesia, “assembly” or “congregation.” And where do the saints of all the ages ultimately assemble?

Remember how we’ve said repeatedly that ancient people understood their gods to live on mountains?

Remember how Ezekiel described Eden as both a garden AND a mountain (28:13-14)?

I put it to your consideration that the heavenly City of God, Eden, The Mountain of God, The Mount of the Congregation, The New Jerusalem (basically all the same) is a Supra-natural place that is not bound by the laws of the physical universe and can be superimposed upon, or inserted within, physical reality as God may choose.

Yes, the faithful in Israel were called to assemble on the Temple Mount. I’m not suggesting that an historic interpretation does not apply. I think BOTH understandings are simultaneously true. It’s just that one of them is in a realm of reality that we cannot perceive.

If the Mount of the Congregation were only the physical Temple Mount in Jerusalem, how would sitting there achieve Lucifer’s goal of “ascending into heaven” and exalting his throne above the stars of God? This passage only makes sense if the Mount of the Congregation is spiritual.

Let’s take a closer look at the Hebrew:

Har Moade

Har rhymes with Far.

Moade is pronounced like mo-aid.

Har Mo-aid. Sound familiar?

There is a very important location in Bible prophecy that is transliterated (not translated!) from this name.

Armageddon.

“And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭16‬:‭16‬ ‭KJV‬‬

John specifically says that the word “Armageddon” is a Hebrew term not Greek. He is just putting the sounds into Greek letters.

I know we’re not to the book of Revelation yet, but it’s really important that we understand that the scenes in the book are not in a tidy order of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. It’s like Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. Sometimes there are sequential things, and sometimes there are side-quest prophecies or appendices.

Revelation 16:16 comes right before the end. And I do mean the END. Verse 17 has the angel pouring out the 7th and last bowl of wrath and planet earth has a civilization-ending earthquake. Chapters 17 and 18 are descriptions of who just got judged and how. It’s a HUGE parentheses that continues all the way into chapter 19, verse 10.

The narrative of the END picks up in Rev. 19:11 with Christ on the white horse and Satan bound.

Now think about this. Jesus comes out of heaven. On a supernatural horse. He’s coming to do battle against a demonized army. Look at Rev. 16:13-16. Three unclean spirits are the ones who recruit this horde.

We already know from the microcosms of “the Day of the Lord” we’ve read about in the OT, that the future “Great Day of God Almighty,” (Rev. 16:14) involves an attack on Jerusalem. But what if it’s not just physical Jerusalem? I mean, the physical city has been attacked and sacked and rebuilt and sacked again for 2000 years and it has not once inspired Christ to mount up on that white charger.

And according to the NT, the saints ARE now and forevermore, the temple of the Holy Spirit and God dwells in us. There is no indication that He plans to move out and go back to living in stone temple. Ever. The location of God’s dwelling place is now in Spirit, not on a physical mountain (see John 4L19-24).

I put it to your further consideration, that the “Battle of Har Moade” is not a bunch of nations shooting at each other on the plains of Magiddo (which is simply a homonym). But rather, it may be both a physical AND metaphysical attack on the heavenly Mount of Assembly. It’s a battle in two theaters of war: both the physical Jerusalem and in the spiritual realm: involving demonic forces, humans using demonic powers to move in the astral realm, and perhaps human/animal/demonic chimeras 👽 (fallen angel bio-tech) that can interact in both realms.

Let me just say gently, that if your mental picture of the end of the world doesn’t look like Lord of the Rings meets War of the Worlds, it’s too tame.

Jesus rides out to meet the attackers at His gate. It’s the most EPIC thing in scripture. And it’s going to make every Hollywood blockbuster pale in comparison.

The whole “valley of Gog’s Hoards” and using the weapons for firewood and the meticulous caution used in burying the dead… that is a WHOLE other HUGE can of worms; a lot of which would be speculation.

So I will only draw attention to the obvious parallels between the destruction of Gog’s Army and Revelation.

“As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan. And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord God.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭39‬:‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, ‘Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.’”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Notice where the “feast” is held in Ezekiel: the mountains of Israel, not the plain of Megiddo.

There are a couple wild suggestions in Ezekiel’s prophecy. The LORD includes “he-goats” and “bulls of Bashan.” If “bulls of Bashan” rings a bell it’s because they came up in Psalm 22 – the crucifixion psalm. And I think they refer to demonic entities present at the crucifixion that only Jesus could see surrounding him. Bashan was, after all, the headquarters of the Nephalim Giants.

And they get mentioned in the Ezekiel prophecy too! The Hebrew word translated as “mighty men” is…

This is the EXACT word used in Genesis 6:4 of the Nephalim “mighty men.” Go look it up yourself in your Strong’s Concordance.

😧 Wait a second. Are you suggesting that there might be demons and Nephalim fighting at the Battle of Armageddon?!?!?

Yes. That’s exactly what I think the text is suggesting.

This invitation to the birds in Revelation is given at the Battle of Har Moade. And guess who is leading the Hellish Army? The Beast. Who is leading the army in Ezekiel’s prophecy? Gog. Ezekiel might just be giving us a vital clue about the identity of The Beast.

If these prophecies aren’t about the same event, then whatever Ezekiel was prophesying was an historic event that served as a picture of the end and it didn’t make it into the pages of history. Some have speculated that Gog represented the Greek invasion of Israel. Perhaps. But the Greeks didn’t end up dead on the mountains when they invaded. They succeeded in their invasion.

No, I strongly suspect Ezekiel and John were writing about the same end-of-days event.

These are both men who were sent into Exile. They were both taken in visions into the heavens and saw the glory of God on His throne. They both prophesied about the Day of the Lord. They both were asked to “eat” a scroll and prophesy afterward. And they both encountered angelic beings with measuring reeds and were both tasked with getting temple measurements. That’s not a coincidence. We’re meant to notice and compare the two. And we will begin in the next chapter.