Several people have told me that they have been expecting the battle of Gog and Magog (Ezek. 38-39) for a long time, but it hasn’t happened.
They have heard that it is shaping up again and again, but the war has never come.
It is not that they want war. It is that they thought that it would have happened by now and it hasn’t.
Anyway, things may have changed recently. At least, that is what some are saying.
A civil war has been going in Syria since March 2011.
It is unquestionably the deadliest conflict in the 21st century. According to some monitoring groups 465,000 people have been killed.
In September 2015, Russia decided to get militarily involved in Syria’s civil war.
Since Syria shares a border with Israel, many prophecy teachers thought this could be the beginning of greater effort that would lead to the battle of Gog and Magog.
When Iran and Turkey got involved it seemed like the Battle of Gog and Magog had to be close because these nations will join Russia in that great latter days war.
Israel’s leaders are well aware of Ezekiel’s prophecy. They have long believed it would soon happen. They have built weapons, launched satellites and drones, trained emergency workers and troops, and they have kept some of those troops near their border with Syria in preparation for that great event.
Israel’s leaders have also been in touch with Russia’s leaders to try to avoid an incident that would trigger that war and get a lot of people killed.
Israel’s leaders have made it known that they are not interested in trouble with Russia, but Israel won’t allow foreign troops to establish bases on their border with Syria, Israel will retaliate if rockets or missiles land in Israel, and Israel will attack shipments of weapons from Syria and Iran to the terrorist group called Hezbollah.
It seemed like that was enough and things were kind of drifting along until the middle of March 2017.
That is when Israel saw a lot of activity at a large Syrian base that was too close for comfort to Israel’s border with Syria.
Russia was moving helicopters and troops to the base. Iran was landing plane loads of weapons and supplies at the base. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah were sending troops to the base.
And it seemed like Syria, Iran and Hezbollah were under the impression that Israel would leave their troops, weapons and supplies alone because of the presence of Russia’s helicopters and troops.
But Israel’s leaders had said they wouldn’t tolerate that and they meant it. On March 17, 2017, they sent four Israeli jets to strike the troops, weapons and supplies at the base.
In an unusual move, the next day Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu took to the airwaves to send a message to everyone—but primarily to Russia, Iran, Lebanon and Syria: Israel does not want a war, but Israel means business. There will be no foreign troops and bases near her border with Syria.
Russia called in Israel’s Ambassador to tell him that Russia will not tolerate any more Israeli attacks on bases where Russian forces are present.
On March 19, Israel struck again. They killed a Syrian commander, and destroyed a weapons convoy and several Syrian sites.
Some said this was an escalation of the conflict between Israel and her enemies. The Israeli Military Intelligence website called DebkaFile reported that “This raised the stakes for a potential IDF clash with Russian forces in Syria” (Israeli-Russian clash over Hizballah’s Golan grab; March 20, 2017).
It definitely shows that Israel is not going to back off.
Is the battle of Gog and Magog close?
Israel doesn’t want war, but Israel knows that war is coming and there has been a major escalation of hostilities there.
It definitely looks like the battle of Gog and Magog is close, but it will only happen when God puts a hook in Gog’s jaw to drag him and his allies to their defeat.
He can do that anytime He wants or delay it as long as He wants.
Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc.
Daymond & Rachel Duck
duck_daymond@yahoo.com