Ezekiel 39:29

The Lord would no longer prove inaccessible to His people because He would bestow His Spirit on all the Israelites. [Note: See Cooper, p. 349, for a helpful chart contrasting nine ideals present in Eden, lost in the Fall, and restored to Israel in the future, drawn from chapters 33-39.]

There are at least eight views as to the time of this future invasion.

1. The invasion is only symbolic of the attempts of evil forces to overcome God’s people. [Note: E.g., Allen, Ezekiel 20-48, p. 210; and Stuart, p. 352.] It does not describe a real battle but in the language of warfare pictures the triumph of good over evil, the forces of God over those of Satan. The amount of detail and specific references to places and times in this prophecy argue against this view. [Note: For further arguments against this view, see Feinberg, p. 219.]

2. It will occur before the Tribulation, either before the Rapture or at the time of the Rapture or just after the Rapture. [Note: E.g., David L. Cooper, When Gog’s Armies Meet the Almighty: An Exposition of Ezekiel Thirty-eight and Thirty-nine, pp. 80-81.] But the prophecy sets the time of this invasion after God has restored Israel to her land (cf. Ezekiel 38:8; Ezekiel 38:16). Ezekiel 36:26-28; Ezekiel 39:26-29 indicate that Israel’s restoration will involve spiritual regeneration as well as physical return, so the present return of Jews to the State of Israel cannot be the fulfillment.

3. It will happen during the Tribulation (cf. Daniel 11:40-41; Revelation 14:14-20). For three and a half years Antichrist will encourage the Jews to return to Palestine, but then he will break his covenant with them and begin to attack them (Matthew 24:15-22; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:40-41). Thus Israel will enjoy a period of peace in the Tribulation. It is during the first half of the Tribulation, toward its end, that advocates of this view place the fulfillment of this prophecy. [Note: E.g., J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, pp. 350-52; Dyer, "Ezekiel," p. 1300; idem, in The Old . . ., p. 691; and Wiersbe, pp. 232-36. ] Ezekiel 39:7 says that following this battle the Lord’s name will be profaned no longer, but during the second half of the Tribulation it will be profaned (cf. Revelation 13; Revelation 16:9; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:21). It also seems unlikely that the Jews could bury corpses for seven months and burn weapons as fuel for seven years following an invasion in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation. The last half of the Tribulation will involve unparalleled persecution for the Jews (Daniel 9:27).

4. It will take place at the end of the seven-year Tribulation (the battle of Armageddon; cf. Zechariah 12; Zechariah 14:1-4; Revelation 19:11-21). [Note: Feinberg, pp. 218-19, 230-31; H. A. Ironside, Ezekiel, p. 265; W. Kelly, Notes on Ezekiel, pp. 200-201; Louis S. Bauman, Russian Events in the Light of Bible Prophecy, pp. 174-77. Harold W. Hoehner, "The Progression of Events in Ezekiel 38-39," in Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands: Biblical and Leadership Studies in Honor of Donald K. Campbell, pp. 82-92, argued that Ezekiel 38 refers to events in the middle of the Tribulation and chapter 39 to events at the end of the Tribulation.] Some advocates equate Gog with the king of the North (Daniel 11:40). Some of Ezekiel’s descriptions of Gog’s invasion recur in Revelation 19:17-21, which describes the end of the Tribulation. However other aspects appear in Revelation 20:7-10, which describes the end of the Millennium. Israel is dwelling securely in the land that Gog will invade, but at the end of the Tribulation Israel will have been under intense attack for three and a half years (Daniel 9:27).

5. It will happen between the end of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennium. [Note: E.g., Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom: An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God, p. 187; and Gaebelein, p. 251.] Since Jesus Christ’s return to the earth will end the Tribulation and begin the Millennium, it does not seem that there will be enough time for the invasion of Gog and its consequences then (cf. Ezekiel 39:1-16; Matthew 13:41). Furthermore some of the allusions to this invasion in Revelation suggest a time at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:7-10). John F. Walvoord believed that the rebellion of Gog will occur before the Millennium, but did not say exactly when. [Note: John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom, p. 331; and idem, "Revelation," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, p. 981.]

6. It will happen at the beginning of the Millennium. This seems highly unlikely since all who enter the Millennium will be believers who have assisted the Jews (Matthew 25:31-46). Moreover all weapons of war will be destroyed at the beginning of the Millennium (Micah 4:1-4).

7. It will occur at the end of the Millennium. [Note: E.g., Ellison, p. 133; Davidson, p. 301; Merrill, p. 380; and Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., p. 282.] Revelation 20:8 refers specifically to Gog and Magog in a context describing the end of the Millennium. Israel dwelling in safety in her land, the situation described repeatedly in Ezekiel 33-39, fits conditions at the end of the Millennium. Rabbinic writers identified Gog and Magog as the final enemy that will attack Israel in the messianic age. [Note: See Fisch, p. 253.] Critics of this view say, Why bury the dead for seven months following the battle when the resurrection of the unsaved will follow immediately (cf. Revelation 20:11-13)? This objection assumes that these events will follow one another immediately, but the text does not say so explicitly. Why would the Israelites burn the weapons for seven years since it appears that God will create a new earth immediately after He quells the rebellion described in Revelation 20:7-10 (cf. Revelation 21:1-4)? Again, there may be time between these events that the Bible does not reveal anywhere but here. Another problem with this view is the description of the Lord calling the birds to a great feast in Revelation 19:17-21, which occurs at the end of the Tribulation.

8. The best solution seems to me to be a combination of views 4 and 7. Apparently the fulfillment will take place in two phases, first at the end of the Tribulation and then at the end of the Millennium, when Israel is dwelling securely (cf. Revelation 19:17-21; Revelation 20:7-8). [Note: E.g., L. Cooper, pp. 336-37; Alexander, "Ezekiel," p. 940; and Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 394.] Ezekiel evidently described the invasion of Israel’s enemies into the Promised Land as a single event, but later revelation clarifies that it will happen on two separate occasions. Part of Ezekiel’s prophecy describes one of these invasions, part the other, and some of it describes both incidents. Gog then does not describe a single individual but two people both of whom share similar plans. In the first fulfillment Gog is the king of the North. In the second he is the human leader who will lead the rebellion at the end of the Millennium.

It seems unnatural for God to describe as one battle one that will have two parts separated by 1,000 years, and there is certainly no indication in Ezekiel that Gog’s invasion will have two phases. However, in view of later clarification in the Book of Revelation, we apparently have another instance of two events widely separated in time viewed by a prophet as one. The prophets’ descriptions of the near and far destructions of Babylon (Isaiah 21; Jeremiah 51), the two advents of Messiah (Isaiah 61:1-2), and the coming of two persecutors of the Jews (Antiochus Epiphanes and Antichrist; Daniel 11:21-44) are other examples of this "foreshortened" view of the future.