Gog: Are You The One?
By Douglas Berner
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? (Ezekiel 38:17 KJV)
The ArtScroll Tanach Series volume of Yechezkel (Ezekiel)
renders this verse as follows:
Thus says my Lord HASHEM/ELOHIM: Are you the one about whom I spoke in
ancient days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in
those days many years ago that I would bring you against them?
Why does God include
this verse in his prophecy regarding Gog and Magog in chapters 38 and 39 of the
book of Ezekiel? In verses 38:2-3 and 39:1, God establishes that the
prophecy is directed towards a future leader, Gog, of the land of Magog,
and that God, Himself, is specifically against this leader Gog. Ezekiel tells
us that God declares, Behold, I am
against thee, O Gog, at the beginning of both chapters.
God is focused on Gog in a very unfavorable manner. Gog is
asked if he thinks he is the one whom God has spoken about through the
prophets. Is Gog the one who will successfully invade Israel and
bring destruction to the land?
This is a verse that has caused some confusion and
misunderstanding for many readers of the prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39. Most
readers and scholars conclude that God is telling us that Gog and his invasion
were already predicted by the prophets, prior to Ezekiel’s time, and that Gog
will be the fulfillment of those prophecies. However, I believe this conclusion
is a misunderstanding of the character of this passage.
Scholars who interpret Gog as the fulfillment of previous
prophecies struggle with identifying which prophecies were written about Gog.
This is an inevitable result of not having any prophecies in the Old Testament
which specifically name Gog. The only exception to this lack of identification
of Gog is in the Septuagint translation of Numbers 24:7 and Amos 7:1. In the
Septuagint, Gog replaces Agag in Numbers 24:7, and in Amos 7:1, Gog is
mentioned as a king of the locusts. Neither of these translations is consistent
with the Masoretic text and neither helps us in the identification of Ezekiel’s
Gog, as neither of these passages contains any prophetic information directly
relating to Ezekiel 38-39.
Some scholars point out that there are books mentioned in
the Bible that we no longer have access to which could contain the prophecies
referred to in Ezekiel 38:17. These books include: the book of the wars of the
LORD (Numbers 21:14); the book of Jasher
(Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samual 1:18) (Strong’s Concordance identifies this as a
book of songs); and the book of Nathan the Prophet (1 Chronicles 29:29). There
is a version of a book of Jasher available. I have one titled, Sefer Hayashar: The Book of the Generations
of Adam. Whether this is the same book referred to in scripture is
uncertain. Regardless, this book does not contain prophecies regarding a leader
called Gog.
It cannot be completely ruled out that prophecies regarding
Gog were not made and then lost and thus not recorded in the canon of the Old
Testament. However, that would indicate that the Holy Spirit lost control of
some of God’s important prophetic messages and I have difficulty reconciling
that with the status of the Bible as the supernatural word of God. I do not
believe the answer to Gog’s prophetic status lies in lost prophecies.
In Ezekiel 38:17, God
is making a point by asking a question. But why is this statement raised in the
form of a question? What is the message that we are to take from this passage?
We need to understand that the prophet Ezekiel is not asking this question. It
is God who is asking this question. God is pointing this question directly at
Gog, “Are you the one?”
Ezekiel was called by God to become a prophet during Israel’s seventy year period of exile to Babylon. God is
insinuating that in the historical time preceding Ezekiel’s day He had
instructed the Israelites through the prophets regarding a future leader who
would come against them (invade Israel militarily) as a form of judgment or
chastisement by the sanction of God. God used Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon for that very purpose during Ezekiel’s lifetime,
but God is not referring to Babylon
in this prophecy. He is referring to a future event following Israel’s return to the Land from their exile to Babylon. In fact, God
makes it clear that He is referring to a time following the return of Israel to
the Land from an exile which included not just Babylon but the many nations of
the world (Ezekiel 38:8). God also makes it clear that this prophecy will be
fulfilled in the “latter years” and “latter days” of Israel’s history (Ezekiel 38:8,
16).
When we study the
character of this prophecy and God’s relationship to it, the fact that God
raised this verse in the form of a question becomes highly significant.
What leader is God referring to when He mentions “the one
about whom I spoke” in this passage? He
can only be referring to the future Antichrist. That future leader will
invade Israel and will be
used by God as the final world leader who comes against Israel in the
form of a divinely sanctioned judgment or chastisement. God has a purpose for the Antichrist to fulfill which is to act as an
instrument of God’s indignation by pushing Israel to the brink of total
destruction and thus forcing the Jewish people to acknowledge God’s Son, Jesus
Christ, as their true Messiah. God has specifically allocated a period of
three and one half years for the Antichrist to be empowered by Satan and to
impose his will over Israel.
The Antichrist will come, not because Satan mandates his coming, but because
God mandates it.
We should ask whether God allows any such comparable role
for the Gog of Ezekiel 38-39. Does Gog get any supernaturally mandated time to
impose his own will over Israel?
Absolutely not! The very next verse 38:18 makes this clear
when Ezekiel declares, 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. God reveals His
reaction to Gog’s invasion of Israel
by announcing an immediate divine intervention against Gog and his armies. God will decisively intervene to cause the
supernatural destruction of all of the invading forces in Gog’s alliance. When
will God intervene? At the very beginning of the invasion before it has a
chance of succeeding, not three and a half years later.
What purpose does the
question that God has raised in this verse serve God in the context of the
prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39 if Gog is really the final world leader prophesied by
God’s prophets? I think the answer is none. If Gog really is the one, then the
verse is superfluous. But what if Gog is not the one! Then the verse in
question form makes perfect sense, both from God’s perspective and to ours.
Why does God throw
such a challenging question in Gog’s face? “Are you the one …?” God seems to be
plainly declaring: “Gog: You are not the one! You are not the final world
dictator. You are not the Antichrist who will come against the land and the
people of Israel.
You are not the one who will enter the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and who will declare himself to be
the god of gods.”
Thus we can see and understand God’s immediate and
supernatural reaction to Gog’s invasion of Israel. Gog believes he will have a
sudden and decisive victory over Israel. But God sees it
differently. Gog has no sanction from heaven for his invasion and it will end
just as quickly as it begins. God is
against Gog because Gog has ill intentions against Israel for his own purposes
without any authorization from God. Gog is not the Antichrist. Gog is not the
one!
About the Author
Douglas Berner is a retired Police Sergeant with a
background in Criminal Investigations. He studied geology and criminology at Florida State University
and received B.S. degrees in both fields. He has no theological training but
has been a student of the Bible and Bible prophecy for over 25 years. He has
expanded his interest in the Bible, geology, and archaeology by making four
trips to Israel
in the 1990’s, twice serving as a volunteer involved in archaeological research
and field activities. He briefly lived in Israeli settlements in the West Bank during these archaeological trips. He is the
author of The Silence is Broken! God
Hooks Ezekiel’s Gog & Magog.
You can visit Doug’s website: www.thesilenceisbroken.us
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