Allow me to acknowledge, at the outset of this blogpost, that much of what I write in this specific post is speculative. I have already accomplished in the previous posts one major goal of this blog series: I have hammered nails in the coffin of atheism. Atheists have charged that Jesus and John were false prophets—that their prophecies did not come true during the timeframes in which they promised that they would. The previous 38 posts considered prediction after prediction and demonstrated that they had been fulfilled at the times they were prophesied to occur. This final battle of history was not given a timeframe. Atheists are not permitted to claim that my speculations in this post must meet the rigor of proof demanded of John’s and Jesus’ prophecies in the previous posts. It is true that Jewish rabbis from the first century have speculated that the reign of the messiah would last for 2000 years, after which would come the end and the world-to-come (as I discuss in blogposts Apocalyptic? #4, #5, #21, and #37). I find their speculation fascinating, and believe that John was familiar with such speculation when he prophesied the 1000-year confinement of the Dragon (i.e., the millennium). I might even mention that the Christian writing the so-called the Epistle of Barnabas (which J. A. T. Robinson dates in the early 70s A.D.--just years after Revelation, but not considered inspired and in the New Testament canon--states something similar to the Jewish Rabbis. In Barnabas 15:4-5, it says:
Give heed, children, what this meaneth; He ended in six days. He
meaneth this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all
things to an end; for the day with Him signifyeth a thousand years;
and this He himself beareth me witness, saying; Behold, the day of
the Lord shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six
days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end.
And He rested on the seventh day. this He meaneth; when His Son
shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall
judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the
stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day.
John does not explicitly paint himself into a corner regarding time frames, as do Yehoschua and the school of Elias. John does indicate that there would be at least one "thousand years" period. During these thousand years, "the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan," would be "bound" and thrown "into the Abyss . . . to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended" (Revelation 20:2-3). Following these "thousand years," however, John does not appear to promise an immediate end to human history. Instead, "After that, [the dragon] must be set free for a short time" (Revelation 20:3).
While I am fascinated by the notion that we may be nearing the end of the final 2000 years of history (admittedly, partly because it helps me cope with the corrupt world situation as it presently exists), I readily admit that this speculation of a 2000-year period from Jesus’ generation to ours is NOT inspired prophecy. Conversely, neither is it purely baseless speculation. The rabbis of the school of Elias based it on their interpretation of Psalm 90. It has, therefore, some logical support, and should be kept in mind. Nevertheless, the end of world history, clearly, is still “futuristic” from our perspective. The end of human history, according to Revelation, is focused around four entities: 1. the Dragon (who raises up world empires), 2. his final Beastly protege(s)—Gog and Magog—and, once again, 3. the “land” and “the beloved city,” along with an additional entity, 4. “the camp of the saints.” Revelation 20:7-9 tells us:
Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be
released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
corners of the earth (land), Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle,
whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on
the breadth of the earth (land) and surrounded the camp of the saints and the
beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
The Identity of the
Beloved City
The words “the . .
. city” in Revelation ALWAYS refer to Jerusalem, but sometimes to the old
Jerusalem and sometimes to the New Jerusalem.
In the first 90% of Revelation—when referring to the old (earthly) Jerusalem,
whom John also calls, negatively, “Babylon,” “Sodom,” and “Egypt”—the word
“great” is usually inserted between the words “the” and “city” (hence, “the
great city”: Revelation 11:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, and 21). In the final 10% of Revelation—when referring
to the New Jerusalem—the word “holy” is sometimes inserted between the words
“the” and “city” (hence, “the holy city”: Revelation 21:2, 10, and 22:19), but
it is notable that, in Revelation 11:2, the old Jerusalem is referred to, also,
as “the holy city.” ONLY ONCE does John
refer to “the BELOVED city.” That
instance we find right here, in Revelation 20:9—placed CONSPICUOUSLY BETWEEN John’s
two divergent uses of the term “the . . . city.” This does not seem sheerly accidental; it
seems intentional. It seems as if THIS Jerusalem is a transitional
entity—midway between the old earthly Jerusalem that was destroyed and the New
heavenly Jerusalem that will occupy the New Heavens and New Earth. First Century readers (and modern readers, as
well) will easily recall Jesus’ “love” for the earthly city of Jerusalem,
despite his prophecies of its doom. Matthew
23:37-39 NKJV (and Luke 13:34-35) records that love:
“O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers
her chicks under her wings, but you were
not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I
say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
By simple deduction, since the New Jerusalem will not
arrive until a new heavens and new earth are created, John must still be
referring to the earthly Jerusalem. We,
therefore, may feel confident that we know who the “beloved city” is
(Jerusalem) and what the “land/HA-ARETZ/earth/GĒ” is (the Land of Israel). Jerusalem (along with the Land of Israel) is
the central scene of the final battle of history, as it was the scene of the
Battle of Armageddon, nearly two millennia ago.
The Identity of Gog and Magog
We already know
who the Dragon is (Satan, in his role as the raiser of world empires). Then, who are Gog and Magog? Are they now in existence? From
John’s perspective, the thousand years of Revelation separate two major
battles--Armageddon, in which “the beloved city” was left desolate, and
Gog and Magog, in which “the beloved city” will be rescued. The Jews
of the first century believed that they were engaging in the battle with Gog
and Magog, thinking that they (the Jews) would prevail, but John corrected
them. The Battle of Gog and Magog was still at least 1000 years
away.
There are definite similarities and important differences between
the Battle of Armageddon and the Battle of Gog and Magog. Most importantly, the end is different.
The present-day signs Christians believe they are seeing might be pertaining
to the Battle of Gog and Magog. Ezekiel 38:16 promises Gog: “You will come up against My
people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land.” Although this specific language
is not used in Revelation, it describes what happens in both battles. Ezekiel 38:19 speaks of “a
great earthquake in the land of Israel.” An earthquake is also mentioned in Revelation
6:12 pertaining to the Battle of Armageddon and explained in my blogpost
Apocalyptic? #32. There, I point out that earthquakes are common in the land of
Israel. They have certainly happened
more than once. Ezekiel 38:20 mentions
“mountains” and “walls” falling. Ezekiel
38:22 mentions pestilence and bloodshed, hailstones, and fire. All of these events occurred in the Battle of
Armageddon, as well, but were directed against Babylon (Jerusalem), not Gog and
Magog. This time, God’s fury is against
the opponents of Israel. Ezekiel 39:1-4
records God saying: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog . . . I
will turn you . . . and bring you against . . . Israel. . . . You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel.”
Some
have speculated that Gog and Magog are (participants in or the aftermath of)
the Battle of Armageddon, because Ezekiel 39:4 states concerning Gog: “I will
give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of
the field to be devoured,” just as Revelation 19:17 declares, “Then I saw an
angel . . . saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come
. . . that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of
captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on
them, and the flesh of all people . . . both small and great.’” Nevertheless, this kind of language is
typical of military slaughter and, clearly, represents the gory aftermath of a
militarily defeated foe. In the case of
Revelation 19, such language was the somber warning that “the beast, the kings
of the earth, and . . . the false
prophet . . . were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
The Jews who were
waiting for their salvation on the temple mount in 70 A.D. were quite likely
actually expecting the fulfillment of Ezekiel 39:6: “And I will send fire on Magog .
. . and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore.” Those
Jews had surely thought that Rome was Gog and Magog and that God would rescue
them, even at the final moments. John,
however, was telling the first Century Jews that the positive conclusion they
were anticipating would not occur for at least another thousand years. At that (later) time, John was predicting the
defeat of Gog and Magog, the time when, according to Ezekiel 39:23-29:
“The Gentiles shall know that
the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were
unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into
the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. According to
their . . . transgressions I have dealt
with them, and hidden My face from them . . . Now I will bring back the
captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel . . . then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into
captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left
none of them captive any longer. And I will not hide My face from
them anymore,’ says the Lord God.”
Who, then are Gog and Magog? How far back should we go? There was a historical Magog--Noah’s son
Japheth’s descendant—born after the Flood, according to Genesis 10:2. Nevertheless, more recently, according to Jewish
interpretations and legends of Gog and Magog, citing Louis Ginzberg, in The
Legends of the Jews, Gog and Magog were understood to be the final
anti-Jewish political forces who would invade the land of Israel in the final
conflict in the history of the world.
Gog, according to Ginzberg, will be annihilated with hail, fire, and
brimstone (II.356). The king of Magog would
be a king of all nations (III.252-253) who would die on the mountains of
Israel. Gog and Magog would be destroyed
on the plains of Jericho (III.443).
Gog’s destruction would be God’s final destruction (III.455). King Saul, when he was innocent, prophesied
that the war of Gog and Magog would be the last judgment (IV.66). The Jews understand that Psalm 2 is the Psalm
concerning Gog and Magog (VI.266). “Why
do the heathen rage? God laughs at
them.” It is easy to see that the Jews
expected the battle of Gog and Magog to be the final battle on earth and that
the enemy (Gog and Magog) would be a confederation of the enemies of the Jews
on earth. Yet, Gog and Magog would be
destroyed in the land of Israel, as they proceed to attack. This is interesting, since the Jews were not
even in control of the land of Israel from the year 70 A.D. until the year 1948
A.D. With the emergence of the State of
Israel in 1948, the stage could be set for a possible invasion from Gog and
Magog.
The Identity of the Camp of the Saints
John uses the Greek word (PAREMBOLE/παρεμβολή)—translated
“camp” in this location—only one time in the Apocalypse. The New Testament writer who uses the term
most frequently is Luke, in the book of Acts.
Acts uses the term six times (21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, and 32) and a
seventh time, in a textual variant, in 28:16.
Other than the textual variant (which, apparently, is not deemed to be
the original text by the translators of the NKJV), the NKJV (mis)translates all
six uses in Acts as “castle.” Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich, in A Greek Lexicon
of the New Testament, more correctly identify the word as “the barracks or
headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem.”
This identification seems quite apparent, as it refers in every one of those
six instances to the area where the Roman troops kept Paul in protective
custody when the non-Christian Jews were attacking him in Jerusalem. If the textual variant, in 28:16, is
considered the correct text, Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich identify the term as
“the barracks in Rome where the soldiers who accompanied Paul were quartered”
(when Paul was finally brought to Rome to appeal to Caesar). For other Greek writers, the Lexicon
states that the term is “mostly used as a milit[ary term] . . . a fortified
camp . . . [or] an army in battle array.”
Thus, as the only other New Testament book employing the term, Hebrews
11:34 uses the term to signify heathen “armies” who were put to flight by
Hebrew judges and kings. In Hebrews
13:11 and 13, the term might refer to Jerusalem as a “fortified city,” since
the reference there is to Jesus suffering outside the gate and his disciples,
therefore, going forth to him outside the “camp.”
Clearly, in Revelation 20:9, while the term “camp” is
most likely referring to a military entity (barracks, headquarters, fortified
camp, or army in battle array), it is not referring to a heathen military
entity. This entity is a military entity
of the “saints.” Who, then, are the
“saints”? John mentions the prayers of
the “saints” in God’s presence in 5:8, and 8:3-4. The “saints” are listed, along with God’s
servants the prophets who will be rewarded in 11:18. The “saints” will be conquered (martyred) by
the Beast in 13:7, so they must have patience and faith (in 13:10). In 14:12, John makes clear that the saints
“keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” so they are
Christians. Their blood was poured out
in 16:6, 17:6. They “rejoice over” the
destruction of the old Jerusalem (Babylon), along with the apostles and
prophets, in 18:20. They were slain,
along with the prophets, in 18:24. They
are the “righteous” in 19:8. They are the final group referred to in Revelation
22:21: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen.”
Speculation
Now, allow me to speculate . . .
If, then, the “camp of the saints” is a Christian military entity, there is really only one major “Christian” military entity in the world, right now: the armed services of the United States of America. True, there are other “Christian” nations, but their militaries are not large. Our allies in NATO, for example, are notably dependent upon the military decisions of the U.S. Our major military adversaries are not notably “Christian”—Communist China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and the recently-heavily-armed-at-our-expense military of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It should be said, however, that Russia does contain a strong and growing Christian population (as do Iran and China, although the Christians there are not necessarily welcomed by the state). If we expand our view over the last century of “the camp of the saints” fighting to protect a “Jewish” entity in World War II, perhaps even Russia could be counted, along with our western allies, Britain and France, in the camp of the saints.
It
turns out, however, that the two strongest western allies, at present, are the
United States and Israel. If I were to
speculate concerning the identities of the “camp of the saints” and “the
beloved city,” in the current environment, I would guess that this alliance of
the strongest Christian country and the Jewish nation of Israel might be the
co-targets of Gog and Magog. I would,
then, be on the alert, if any major military movement against Israel (the land)
and Jerusalem (the beloved city) begins.
How likely is that? Fairly! The threats from Iran to annihilate Israel
and to destroy America are constant. True: President Carter helped to broker a sometimes
“iffy” peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. With the Abraham Accords,
President Trump was able to decimate ISIS and forge peace treaties between Israel
and several of its Muslim neighbors, however tentative they may be. Nevertheless, anti-Israeli rhetoric is still
pervasive in many of those Muslim countries.
Will the peace agreements hold, if some significant Muslim neighbor
attacks Israel?
While it seems to me, at the present, that the most likely enemy of Israel (and the U.S., for that matter) would be a Muslim country, such as Iran, there is no more powerful political and economic adversary of the United States, right now, than Communist China. Gog and Magog could be a conglomeration of Muslim countries or it could be a multi-national alliance of Communist or former Communist nations. However, while these countries may be adversaries of America, it is difficult to see why they would have a particular animosity towards Israel. On the other hand, the majority of nations of the United Nations do seem to hold a general animosity toward the State of Israel. The United States is continually called upon to exercise veto powers to kill anti-Israeli resolutions at the U.N. Perhaps, there remains enough anti-Semitism in the world to fuel such enmity. There certainly was sufficient anti-Semitism in Germany (and other nations) to produce the Holocaust, in the last century. Recent news stories suggest that such anti-Semitism has not dissipated, in Europe. Nevertheless, with Muslim Pakistan in possession of nuclear weapons and Muslim Iran rapidly developing them and Muslim Afghanistan in possession of the extremely large sophisticated weapon cache left behind when the Biden administration pulled out and with the significant wealth and power of Muslim Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia (not to mention Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, and perhaps even Iraq, etc.), the development of an anti-Israel (and anti-American) Islamic confederation is certainly not out of the question, with these countries existing, as Revelation puts it, on the “four corners of the land” of Israel (Revelation 20:8). It appears to me that the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, and the Palestinian-based Hamas are continually trying to provoke such a conflagration between Islamic countries and the US-Israeli alliance. I would keep an eye on such possibilities. The fear of “mutually-assured destruction” has generally held sway in the conflict between America and her Communist foes, but Islamic terrorists display no such fear. They even seek the reward of dying in a Jihad. Hence, that is my greater concern.
How Will it End?
In a word: Fire. Revelation 20:9 states:
“And fire
came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” In Jewish legends, cited above, Gog,
according to Ginzberg, will be annihilated with hail, fire, and brimstone
(II.356). That sounds considerably like
Ezekiel 38:22 where he mentions pestilence and bloodshed, hailstones, and
fire. Lightning frequently accompanies a hailstorm. Perhaps, God will use lightning to
specifically pinpoint those on Earth He wishes to destroy. Or, perhaps, the “hailstones” are to be
interpreted as John did in his military plague of Hail (Apocalyptic? #30),
projectiles fired at the enemy. In that
case, the hundreds of rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza and Israel’s
retaliatory strikes may be called to mind.
Perhaps, even more sophisticated precision attacks—such as the precision
drone strike that took out Iranian terrorist leader
Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, at Baghdad International
Airport on January 3, 2020—are indicated. Maybe, even nuclear attacks delivered by
guided missiles or hypersonic propulsion missile systems or laser weapon
systems or taser shockwave or satellite-based warfare. At the very least, if humans are able to
develop such precision targeted projectiles, God certainly can, if He decides
to. But, is that the method by which God
will send fire down out of heaven?
Advocates of “global warming” theories might have us
envision a slow conflagration, as the earth (over hundreds of years) will
succumb to environmental destruction, but that doesn’t seem to fit with John’s
description. Perhaps, an asteroid will
strike the earth (as some suggest happened 66 million years ago to wipe out the
dinosaurs). We can then assume that, at
least, cockroaches will survive to populate the new earth. Is that the method by which God will send
fire down out of heaven?
II Peter 3:10-13 (NKJV) paints a different picture:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in
it will be burned up . . . all these things will be dissolved . . . the
heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt
with fervent heat? Nevertheless we . . . look for new heavens and
a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
This picture seems to align much more closely to the Revelation picture. Revelation 21:1 says: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” Thus, we come full circle. The world began with creation and at the end, when the old heaven and earth are destroyed, there will be a new creation. The topic of my next post.
