This article results from numerous questions I replied to on the Gog/Magog postings a few months ago, but it is easier now to make it a posting. I am posting the relevant passage for this discussion, and sorry it is a bit long, but necessary.
{{Ezekiel 39: 7 “My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,” declares the Lord GOD. ‘That is the day of which I have spoken.
Ezekiel 39: 9 ‘Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out, and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears and for seven years they will make fires of them. 10 They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,’ declares the Lord GOD.
11 ‘It will come about on that day that I shall give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off the passers-by. So they will bury Gog there with all his multitude, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog [of his defeat]. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself,’ declares the Lord GOD”}}
Following the three-part series on the Gog/Magog war that was posted on RaptureReady around March 2022, so many questions got asked of me. That is good; it means a lot of people read RR. One of the most common questions was the timing of this battle, and a lot of readers saw it as happening during the Tribulation but not at the end of the Tribulation. That was because they saw problems with the wood and the bodies in the verses above.
(a). So many asked about why the Jews would need firewood.
(b). So many have a problem with dead bodies and army items all over the place at the start of the Millennium if the Gog war was part of the Armageddon campaign.
(c). In the past, I have been asked how can it be that weapons are made of wood.
I want to say that all these questions have arisen from people carefully reading these two Ezekiel chapters and having problems with the matters I mentioned above.
I want to make it abundantly clear that I am not the expert who can answer all these things, and I am prepared to say no one is. We do the best we can with God’s help, with the proviso that none of us knows exactly how these things will pan out, except the physical conditions resulting from the Gog war. I am being forthright with you that in the past, and even now, I wondered/wonder about these matters ((a)-(c)) and still have no definite solution to them. I am going to speak on them in this article.
I hope it causes readers to go to the scriptures and examine them.
[1]. Let us again examine this verse which I have done in the past – {{Ezekiel 39:7 “My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”}}
This verse introduces all the verses which follow in the sense that all succeeding verses depend on this one. They flow out of it. Gog/Magog have just been defeated supernaturally by God, and immediately the LORD makes that declaration that He will never again allow His holy name to be profaned – no more cursing, no blasphemy, no taking His name in vain.
All those who read Revelation know that the whole world blasphemes, and keeps doing it, right up until the Second Coming. Just look at this verse that must be only a matter of weeks away or a few months at the most, from the Second Coming – {{Revelation 16:11 “and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds.”}}
The conclusion from that is that there can be no Gog war before the Second Coming, else there would be no more blasphemy or profanity, but there is, right up until the Second Coming. That must be conclusive proof that the Gog war cannot be before the Rapture or anywhere during the Tribulation. It has to be right at the end when Jesus returns to defeat Gog (and all the other Armageddon forces) to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
The second truth coming from verse 7 is that the nations will know that God is the LORD and that He is the holy One IN Israel, not the holy One of Israel. That means when He is reigning IN Jerusalem, and it is in line with Zechariah 14. Again, that is conclusive proof that the Gog war is on the eve of the Second Coming.
[2]. There is a small matter in this verse – {{Ezekiel 39:8 “Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,’ declares the Lord GOD. ‘That is the day of which I have spoken.”}}
All through the Old Testament, the prophets write about the DAY of the LORD, over and over. I did a 12-part series on that which is on RR, and that is the DAY that the Lord openly pours out His wrath on the world because of the unrepentant sin and wickedness.
It happens after the Rapture and not before because it relates to all the prophecies concerning Israel. The signs the Lord gave for His coming in Matthew 24 are DAY of the LORD signs.
WOOD AND FIREWOOD
[3]. We come now to a difficulty I mentioned earlier on. {{Ezekiel 39: 9 “Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out, and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears and for seven years they will make fires of them. 10 They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,’ declares the Lord GOD.”}}
The most important word in that passage above is “Then,” and it continues the narrative following the beginning of the reign of the King/Messiah in Israel in verse 7. It is so important in 39 verses 7 to 10 to see the progression. We now understand the following from chapter 39 – Gog is defeated; God’s holy Name will never be profaned again; Messiah is reigning in Jerusalem; THEN verses 9 and 10 continue the narrative.
Honestly, I cannot provide arguments or reasons for verse 9, the burning of the weapons, but before that, I need to speak on a question I was asked over and over. That question was, “How can this stuff like cleaning up the land for seven years happen after the Second Coming? Surely that sort of thing can’t happen in the Millennium?” They are very valid questions. I can understand why they would be asked.
Firstly, in considering this, it must be said that the Millennium is not an instant fix of a totally new set of conditions. That will not happen until the new heavens and new earth.
Activities keep happening in the Millennium; the seed is sown, the reaper does his work, only that the sower will outstrip the reaper because everything is so abundant. Isaiah 11 gives more.
It is not strange that the land of Israel would be cleansed from war. If a conflict happened now, there would be haste to make mass graves and just use front-end loaders to sweep the debris and bodies away (sorry if that sounds crude). However, in the Millennium, they will be slow and fastidious. That shows it is a different era then, with different methods and values – another reason why the Gog war can only be on the eve of the Second Coming.
We come now to a question skeptics like – “What is this weapons of wood stuff? Surely the Bible is wrong and that Gog thing was way in the past?”
The only way I can answer that is like this. There would have been something wrong if Ezekiel was speaking of modern weapons of steel and other materials unknown to him. He was only able to explain it in terms known to him. I believe we have the liberty to transfer that understanding to our own time, and that means we don’t take the wood necessarily literally.
I am a literalist through and through, but there are times we have to “look through the expression” as we do in the Lord’s statement, “This is My body.”
I have tried searching a lot for some extra thoughts on the burning of the weapons, and this is all I got. If fact, no one can answer satisfactorily.
Pulpit Commentary – “Kliefoth appears nearest the mark, in suggesting that the emphasis lies upon the length of time the burning should continue; and that this was intended, by conveying an idea of the vastness of the spoil, to represent the thoroughness of Gog’s destruction and of Israel’s deliverance. That the whole delineation is symbolical, appears from the number of years the weapons are said to serve for fuel, viz. seven.”
Smith’s Bible Commentary – “Translated into modern warfare, they will be burning the oil supplies, no doubt, that have been brought in in this massive invasion. And they will have their energy needs taken care of for a period of seven years. [NOTE: As this battle is the same time as Armageddon, then there will be extra supplies from the Antichrist’s armies and the kings of the east.] So that they will not have to cut wood out of the field, neither cut down any of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD. It shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog… (Ezekiel 39:10-11).”
There are those who say Israel will take the uranium from the weapons and use that for fuel (power). I am not sure about that. We must be careful not to get too speculative.
There is one aspect here I find very, very interesting. Ezekiel says they will not need to take wood/trees from the forest/field for fuel for 7 years. The quotes above mention oil and uranium. The left-wing environmentalists are trying to trash all fossil fuels (and they include uranium). We know the great scream is on today to abolish fossil fuels and drag the western nations into ruin, all because of the hoax of climate change, and if there is any climate change, there is no link whatever with fossil fuels. God thinks fossil fuels are okay, so much so that they will be used in the Millennium.
The weapons can be recycled and used in Israel. Construction and life continue in the Millennium.
God laughs at the fools who are trying to destroy nations through the climate change hoax. Why did God give these fuels if they were not meant to be used? The Marxist climate-change activists would dismiss that as they rage against God, but Christians who accept climate change should take note.
Just before the Second Coming, maybe less than a few months, the bowl judgments are poured out in quick succession.
These are severe, and they end the Tribulation judgments. Just notice one of those judgments – {{Revelation 16:8-9 “The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire, and men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”}} They talk up global warming – God will give them global warming.
DISPOSING OF THE BODIES
[4]. The next point concerns the burial of the enemy hordes that intended to wipe out Israel. NASB {{Ezekiel 39: 11 “It will come about on that day [of Gog’s defeat] that I shall give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off the passers-by. So they will bury Gog there with all his multitude, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog.
12 ‘For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself,’ declares the Lord GOD.”}}
What can we now take from the verses above?
(a). “On that day” is always indicative of The DAY of the LORD and the time right at the end (of the age – Matthew 24:3).
(b). Gog will meet his demise in the very land Satan brought to defeat.
God will annihilate Gog along with all the Armageddon forces.
(c). Hamon-gog. One Jewish etymology site gives the meaning as “Multitude of The Rooftop denoting a large group of noisy people.” Nearly all biblical commentaries point it out as being a burial place for the Gog/Magog armies. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says this – “HAMON-GOG: ha’-mon-gog (hamon-gogh, “the multitude of Gog”): The name of the place where “Gog and all his multitude” are to be buried (Ezekiel 39:11, 15). By a change in the pointing of Ezekiel 39:11, ha-`abharim for ha-`obherim, we should read “valley of Abarim” for “valley of them that pass through.” In that case, it would seem that the prophet thought of some ravine in the mountains East of the Dead Sea.”
(d). The land will be carefully cleansed of defilement, and that will take 7 months.
(e). God glorifies Himself at the Second Coming, for it is the coming in glory. The Day that Messiah-Jesus glorifies Himself will be when He delivers His people by destroying Gog and then establishing Himself in Jerusalem as King.
FINAL THOUGHT. The people with narrow vision might say, as many do, “The Gog war must be before the Rapture, or straight after because it takes 7 years to clean up.” This is one of the prevailing ideas used to place the war very early (and very wrongly), as no mess must be there when Messiah comes to the Mount of Olives. That is so wrong, however.
Armageddon happens with the Second Coming. The Lord descends from heaven on the white horse and does battle with all the Armageddon forces, and THEN descends to Olivet. The debris from Armageddon is there right at the start of the Millennium. Don’t use that illogical argument for Gog and yet overlook all the war machinery and dead bodies from Armageddon. The same principle of clean-up will apply in the Millennium from Armageddon.