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Gog and Magog By Oleg Part 3 of 3

The Post-millennial Fulfillment

Revelation 20:8–10 describes a final, complete, and definitive fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy regarding Gog and his antagonistic forces. The names of Gog and Magog are employed as a collective term for every foe of God and His faithful people. The culmination depicts the last judgment of God when Satan, described in the book of Revelation as the archenemy of God (Rev 12:7–12), and all his allies are destroyed.

Gog and Magog in Rev 20 are more than just a confederacy of a few nations, they have evolved into an universal symbol representing God’s eschatological enemies. In Rev 20 Gog and Magog fight against the New Jerusalem, whereas in Ezek 38–39 they fight against the“mountains of Israel.” But the most important thing is not the city or the mountains, but the people who live there. The emphasis is on the people, the true remnant of God, and the city or the mountains are only the setting or frame of the real context.

In Revelation there is a constant play with numbers. The number seven is dominant (seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven plagues, etc.). It is interesting that the numerical value of the Hebrew letters of the phrase “Gog and Magog” is seventy (7 x 10). “Gog”(3 + 6 + 3 = 12); “and” (6); “Magog” (40 + 3 + 6 + 3 = 52): 12 + 6 + 52 = 70. Seventy is the number of nations listed in the table of nations in Gen 10 (the Japhethites are fourteen nations; the Hamites form thirty nations, and the Semites twenty-six nations). Thus, seventy nations symbolize the totality of nations, and in the case of Rev 20, all the wicked people and nations who have ever rebelled against God.

Revelation 20 explains the meaning of Gog and Magog more fully. In Ezekiel Gog rises from the north along with other nations, but in Revelation they come from the four corners of the earth. Louis Were rightly argues that “the number four is employed in the Scripture for the whole world.

The prophecy of Ezek 38–39 describes the failure of the confederacy of Gog and his allies against Israel because God intervenes on behalf of His people and utterly destroys their enemies.77 This prediction of attack and defeat, however, never occurred in history, even though it could have happened under different circumstances. But this potential historical situation serves as a type for a threefold fulfillment: (1) in Christ (the Personified Israel and the Representative of Israel)—the Christological fulfillment; (2) in the church (Israel consisting of believing Jews and Gentiles)—the ecclesiological fulfillment; and (3) at the time of the end in two phases (at the second coming of Christ and at the end of the millennium)—the antitypical eschatological/apocalyptic fulfillment. The first two fulfillments are only fulfillments in principle, but the third one is the primary or full-fulfillment.

Thus, the phrase “Gog and Magog,” used at the culmination point in Revelation, is the cipher or code under which God’s hostile forces are masking but manifested historically on many occasions, in various characters, figures, and symbols. From the time of Jesus, who tasted the full attack of Gog and Magog forces in principle, this disguised Antichrist power was growing in intensity and magnitude.

The fulfillment of the Gog and Magog prophecy in Revelation is a perfect description of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, a war with many battles. The outcome of this war, described under a mosaic of different symbols, leads to either life or death.

In my opinion, there's one key teaching in the book of Revelation that put into the right perspective various attempt to understand this book - especially the second part of it dealing with the last days events. The teaching I'm talking about is the Millennium. The three most common understandings of the millenium may sound a little different depending on who you talk with, but can be broken down into three different categories; premillennialism, postmillennialism or amillennialism. I'm going to describe them for you briefly, but I don't think one should subscribe to any of those – at least the way they are commonly perceived. The problem with those is that they didn't originate in the Bible. But they are certainly affects the way people interpret the Revelation.

Today, it seems the most predominant view is premillennialism. This view holds to the idea that Christ’s second coming will precede the millennium. According to Henry Virkler in his book Hermeneutics, premillennialists believe that “He (Christ) will descend to earth and set up a literal 1000-year earthly kingdom with its headquarters in Jerusalem”. It is important to understand that not all premillennialists agree on all the details. There are two major camps of premillennialists: traditional premillennialists and dispensational premillennialists. When it comes to the actual details of the millenium there will be a lot of disagreement on its nature and purpose, but to be a premillenialist a person must believe that Christ’s second coming will take place before the millennium (pre-millennium).

Postmillennialism, according to Virkler, “is the view that through evangelism, the world eventually will be reached for Christ. There will be a period in which the world will experience joy and peace because of its obedience to God. Christ will return to earth at the end of the millennium” (post-millennium) (201). It must be clarified that postmillennialists do not believe that everyone will be a Christian during this time, but that society as a whole will be Christian.

Amillennialism, according to Virkler, “is conceptually a form of postmillennialism. The millennium, in this theory, is symbolic and refers to the time between Christ’s first and second coming. During this time Christ rules symbolically in men’s hearts. Christ’s second coming will mark the end of the period.” Amillennialists believe that Christ will never have an earthly rule.

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