Gog and Magog invasion.

It is interesting looking at the various theories on Bible interpretation, that everyone has their opinion.  An opinion is great to have but I am looking at world events and looking at what various authors have written and asking, who is right?

In the case of Ezekiel 38 and 39 we have the Magog invasion.  Depending on who you talk to will depend on whose opinion you get as to the timing of the event.  Of the preterits bend you have two opinions.  First one is that some event happened in the past and that event was this invasion.   The prominent one put out by Gary Demar is that it occurred in the Book of Easter.  He has some interesting research and I am looking for a copy of his book to investigate further.  I do have several concerns about it though.  First is that the cleanup of the battle doesn't match.  Second the size of the army doesn't match.  In Esther, the Jews were allowed to have swords and in Shushan, the capital of Pursian 500 were killed.  First of all, the battle takes place in the Hills of Israel, so shushan can't be the battle field.  Second where are the bodies and where is the seven months of barials?  Also in looking at the Hebrew text, the word for Hamon is different.  Not much but in the Strong's concordance it is words 1995 in Ezekiel and 2001 in Esther.  Different last characters.  So I am not putting much stock on it.  Gary has asked me to come on his show and debate these points.  It is a temptation.

The Second view that would be from a preterits point of view lines up a bit more Biblically.  That is Gog and Magog is the next event on God's calendar.  Revelation chapter 20 says that Satan is bound for a thousand years and then is loosed for a season to deceive the nations bringing them against the city of the saints,  Gog and Magog.  Since most preterits also allegorize most of the Bible, they also allegorize this.  So there are questions as to what and where this is going to be based on someones interpretation.

Since I am futurist in my interpretation of the events, we have to look at the various views.  First is pre Rapture.  This is the view promoted in the books by Tim LaHaye(Left Behind) and Joel Rosenberg(The Ezekiel Option).  It will happen sometime before the tribulaiton.  The next view is the one promoted by Hal Lindsey, and many prominent prophecy speakers of the first part of the twentieth century.  That is it is part of the battle of Armageddon.  The third one has two divisions.  That is it is right after the rapture.  Many have tried to make this the second horsemen of the seal judgments.  The biggest problem with that is that the seven years to the return of Jesus has already begun.  The second option is that is after the rapture but before the tribulation.  J.R. Church has a new series called the pre, pre trib rapture which puts a gap between the rapture and the beginning of the tribulation.  This makes sense and this would be the time for this historic battle.

My personal belief is that the event is pre-rapture.  Based on events currently going on in the U.S., Iran, Turkey, Russia and Israel right now.  I believe we are prime for the event.  My wife thinks I ought to write a fictional book based on the current situation that would show how the event could go down.  I thought Joel Rosenberg did an excellent job but it left a few things out that could take place. 

Two of the biggest challenges to what is going on is the fact that the armies line up with horses and the weapons are of wood, Yet the cleanup is of Army regulations for how to clean up a nuclear battle field.    I may have a solution to why that is in which I would explore.  Also why are there not a lot of aircraft in the picture?  I think I know the answer.  If you think of how evil Iran's president is, you can think of the answer too if you understand nuclear weapons. 

Stay tuned.  If I can get the writing keyboard going, I'll write the book and let you judge for yourself if I am right.  Otherwise stay tuned and I'll post it here.