Chapter 1 – EZEKIEL’S WAR

Duration: 8 years (give or take a few months)
Timing: Unknown/Imminent (next)
Key Scriptures: Ezekiel 38, 39, Daniel 11:21-45; Matthew 24; Revelation 6 & 8

Gog’s (Antichrist’s) invasion

In this study, we will see how every event relates to the timeline given by Jesus to His closest followers: James, John, Peter and Andrew. This is because I believe that when Jesus talked with His followers on the Mount of Olives (the discussion we now call the Olivet Discourse, which is found in Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21), He gave us a timeline of all of the End Times events. So if we are to understand these End Times, we must always see how events fit into the Olivet Discourse timeline. I mean, who can put together a jigsaw puzzle without having all of the pieces out on the table? Doing this will help make the End Times “easy” to understand. 

However, to put these things together, we need to go to various scriptures and biblical authors to get the whole picture. To learn about Ezekiel’s War, we have to go to Ezekiel 38 and 39 and Daniel 11:21 – 45. Once we see what’s happening here, we can see how it fits in with Jesus’ timeline from the Olivet Discourse. There are other scriptures that discuss this war, but these verses are key.

After putting together Ezekiel and Daniel on this war, we see that Israel is overrun and a statue is set up in the temple of Jerusalem. When we understand this then we can look to the Olivet Discourse to see when this takes place. 

When His friends asked Him about these End Times, this is how it went:

Matthew 24:³ As [Jesus] sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”⁴ And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. ⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

So here’s what He says that we can expect:

• Deception – “See that no one leads you astray.”
• False christs – many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’
• Much warfare – you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom
• Famines 
• Earthquakes

And all of these are just the beginning.

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t really cover the deception and false christs in detail. But it does show about the wars. So all we need to do is see which wars in the Bible fit the narrative of this time. As we continue in the Olivet Discourse, we read the following:

Matthew 24:⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

 So the next thing to look for is Tribulation, in the form of religious persecution against the faithful of Christ. In Matthew 24, verses 10 through 14, Jesus goes on to tell us the following details, which give us get a better feel for all this:

Matthew 24:^10 “And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. ¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

As insightful as these details are, they don’t really help us understand where these wars fit into the timeline. So we move on into the Olivet Discourse for something more concrete. And in fact, the very next verse of Matthew 24 gives us a crucial bit of information.

Mathew 24:¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

This verse is one of those special identifiers that helps us tie all of these events in with each other. That’s what we’re going to do now in this study. 

Now that you have an overview of how I put these things together, lets get into the Word of God and see what it says about Ezekiel’s War.

Ezekiel’s War Begins

While Jesus mentioned deception and false christs, there is nothing else (that I know of) that must take place prior to the events of and leading up to Ezekiel’s War (except Israel being at peace). That means that this war is “imminent”. It could begin at any time now. (Although, I hope that we have at least ten years from the time of this writing, which would have it starting in 2029 or later.) But it’s not our concern in this study to figure that out. Still, I really do feel like we are very close to it.

It’s called “Ezekiel’s War” because we read about it in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. There are other verses from other prophets that will shed more light on what we get from Ezekiel, and we’ll look at those as we come to them (like Daniel).

It seems that this war, prophesied by Ezekiel, will last for around eight years, give or take a few months. It is the beginning of the End Times events that we are studying, and it will continue all the way up to the return of Jesus (the last thing in this age). This means it starts just before the 7-year tribulation and continues through these events into God’s wrath, and the return of Christ, culminating in the defeat of the Antichrist and Satan at Armageddon.

So, let’s look at Ezekiel 38 and get started:

Ezekiel 38:¹ The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him…”

Right away, we see that Gog is a man; a leader (prince) of a place, called “Magog”.  I’ll not provide any references for who Gog may be or where Magog could be located, you can search those on your own (this is a quick study that doesn’t go that deeply into the weeds). But I’ve read in a few sources that Magog is considered to be located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, from northern Turkey (including the region south of the Black sea) up to and including southern Russia. So Gog could be a man from modern Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, or Armenia (maybe even Iran). Magog could be any or all of those.

Also mentioned are Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. These could very well be in the same geographical area (the Caucasus). Again, nailing these down are too in-depth for us in this study. I hope you don’t mind that I don’t show everything.

The Region of Magog (may include part of Iran)

But here’s something that I am pretty certain about: Gog is the one we call “antichrist”. If you know that you disagree with this, please hear me out before you the toss the book. Otherwise, hang in there and I’ll explain enough for you to either agree or disagree with this assertion. But for now, let’s continue the study where we left off. 

Ezekiel 38:³ …and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. ⁵ Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ⁶ Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you.

So, whether Gog is the antichrist or not, he is certainly not on good terms with God is he? Also, Gog seems to have no choice in what happens to him here. God seems to be the One Who is forcing Gog to act. For now, all we know is that he becomes allied with a few nations for the purpose of making war (against whom, we don’t yet know). A lot (if not all) of these nations are predominantly Muslim. Here are their modern names, as far as I know:

1. Persia = Iran
2. Cush = Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan (as a region)
3. Put = Libya, Algeria, Tunisia (as a region)
4. Gomer = Maybe Turkey, again
5. Beth-togarmah = Turkey again?

It’s a pretty big alliance. It could even be a problem for the United States, under the right conditions (especially if Russia is involved). Some might call it a caliphate. Let’s read some more before we get ahead of ourselves.

Ezekiel 38:⁷ “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. ⁸ After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. ⁹ You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.”

Ah, now we can see that this army led by Gog is going to assemble and at some point go against Israel (the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel – the land that is restored from war). It should also be noted that this could not have happened in any other time in history after Ezekiel wrote his prophecy. And that peace will be upon Israel. Look for peace to be upon the nation for at least long enough for them to lower their guard.

This might be a good time to bring in some information that we get from Daniel. As I have already said, I think that Gog is actually the antichrist. It is widely accepted that Daniel 11, verses 21 to the end of the chapter, discuss the antichrist, so let’s see how they fit together.

Daniel 11:²¹ In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. ²² Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. ²³ And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. ²⁴ Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time.

So this ruler in Daniel’s prophecy is a contemptible man, who worms his way into power. He seems to be really successful in warfare. He’s deceitful, and with only a few followers at first becomes very powerful. He shares the spoils of war with his men, which is a way to gain a strong following. 

But we still have a lot more to learn about this man (or these men, if you aren’t with me yet on that). Let’s go back to Ezekiel and pick up where we left off.

Ezekiel 38:¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme ¹¹ and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ ¹² to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. ¹³ Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’”

So Gog definitely has his mind set on grabbing plunder from peaceful people. The only resistance he gets seems to be verbal questioning from leaders in a few countries. Sheba and Dedan, as well as Tarshish are among the complainers. These nations may very well be: Saudi Arabia (and their close allies), called Sheba and Dedan; and the European nations, here called Tarshish. Again, you can check into these nations on your own. Whoever they are, they aren’t exactly putting their lives on the line for Israel. They seem to be a bit cowardly here, or at least somewhat disinterested. 

This all seems like Israel may get hit by a massive surprise invasion from several Muslim countries. Let’s read on. 

Ezekiel 38:¹⁴ “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? ¹⁵ You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. ¹⁶ You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”

So without a doubt, Gog is now attacking Israel with a huge force in a surprise attack that catches them off guard while enjoying peace and security. They cover the land of Israel “like a cloud”. And God reminds us that it is His doing to have Gog do this – all for the glory of God. Let’s go back to Daniel.

 Daniel 11:²⁵ And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. ²⁶ Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain.

Although it is God who is bringing Gog against Israel, Gog is still a willing participant. Indeed, Daniel shows us that antichrist is completely on board with God’s plan, and even seems to be scheming in his own heart what he will do.

Daniel is using terms that are a bit confusing to us in this century. He seems to be calling the leader of Israel “the King of the South”. As long as we understand his terms, we shouldn’t get confused. Daniel is definitely talking about an invasion from a force from north of Israel that attacks them. 

And I should also address the matter of terminology that both of our prophets are using. They are describing ancient weapons and modes of transport. Since they both received visions from God – which God would want them to understand – it would have probably been too much for them to see 21^st Century aircraft, vehicles and weapons. So, it very well could be that God decided to let them see the closest thing to what we have with what they knew. For sure, we can read this and see that war is going on. We don’t need to see actual horses and shields and swords or spears today to know how these prophecies are fulfilled.

As I write this, Israel has a mighty army that is quite powerful. And no doubt they would be up to the task of beating off this invasion, if it weren’t for the detail that Daniel gives us here: Plots are devised against the Israeli leader by his own people, maybe even his own family! (Or, this could refer to the leader’s own party in the Knesset, the governing body of Israel.) So this is apparently too much for the Israeli forces and they lose a lot of troops. The battle is lost for them. The invasion is successful. For the first time since they moved to their ancestral lands as a nation after World War II, Israel is completely overrun. 

Even at this point, I’m having a hard time believing that Gog and the antichrist are two different men, but let’s read on and see what else we can glean from the scriptures.

Ezekiel 38:¹⁷ “Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸ But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger.”

Ezekiel says something very interesting about Gog here. He says, “Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them?” This quote doesn’t leave a lot of room for there to be two (or more than one) invaders during this time. Indeed, it just seems highly improbable that two or more men would be able to accomplish such feats in the same End Times. Remember that both of them are attacking Israel after the gathering in their ancestral home. After all, Ezekiel is clearly speaking of such a time, and the antichrist is known to be here at that time (as we’ll see in a bit). How can they be different men? But there’s more to consider so let’s not dwell too much on this right now.

Daniel 11:²⁷ And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. ²⁸ And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.

Here, Daniel is showing how the two leaders, antichrist and the leader of Israel, will come together at a conference table to negotiate. They are both lying to each other and seek each other’s ruin. Antichrist will leave Israel and take some more of their stuff on his way out. 

It isn’t quite clear which “holy covenant” the antichrist is set against. It could be the agreement that he and the Israeli leader just made together, or it could be against the holy covenant between God and His followers. Or maybe it’s both. I don’t think we need to care at this point which it is.

By the way, I believe that it is at this conference table that antichrist and Israel agree that the Jews can rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. This is not specifically stated anywhere that I have been able to find (and I’ve really searched for it). But I say this out of pure logical conclusion. Look what Daniel said in another place:

Daniel 9:^26b And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. ²⁷ And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one seven, and for half of the seven he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. 

So, with this in mind, it seems that an agreement is made between them that has some element of seven years. This is one place where we get the idea of a 7-year tribulation. Notice that the 7-year term is violated after only 3-½ years pass. And Just as importantly, if not more, antichrist puts an end to the sacrifices and offerings. If there is no temple, there are no sacrifices and offerings to put an end to! This is why I believe that their conference table meeting includes the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. There’s a lot more to this, and we won’t cover it all, but we will come back to this a bit later in the study. 

At this point, this discussion at a conference table during the invasion, is actually when the 7-year tribulation begins on my timeline. But like I just said, there’s more to this story. So I’d like to continue in this chapter and finish the story of Ezekiel’s War. When we get into the chapters concerning the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation, we will take a closer look at other sources. For now, I just want to complete this line of thought concerning Ezekiel’s Gog and Daniel’s ruler (whom we know to be the antichrist).

Daniel 11:²⁹ “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. ³⁰ For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 

If I may, I’m going to take a little liberty with this text. I see that the antichrist attacked and left and then he comes back again. The first time, the weak Europeans and Saudis (perhaps) complained but did nothing. This time, it looks like a mighty navy shows up and scares him off. Who is this navy? Where are they from? Daniel says that they’re from “Kittim” other translations say “ships from the western coastlands”.  Well, we don’t have such a place that is called by that name these days with a mighty navy that would scare off this determined bully. What we DO have is the US Navy. Where was this “Kittim”?

Since the “New World” (the Americas) were unknown to the Hebrews during the time of Daniel (as far as we know), it could be that God simply gave him a vision of a far off land in the west, which could have been either on the far reaches of western Europe or in the Mediterranean. Who knows? Is he trying to refer to an unknown navy from an unknown land here? Maybe. Does it really matter to our study? Not really. All we need to know is that antichrist comes back and is repelled by a mighty navy. As he leaves, his heart is really set against those who are of “the holy covenant”. Again, it might be the agreement made with the Israelis or it might be something else (probably faith in God). 

What happens next? Daniel doesn’t really give us any detail to go on. He just shows us how all of a sudden those warships aren’t a problem anymore. Antichrist seems to come back with his army a third time and they successfully overtake the temple grounds.

Daniel 11:³¹ Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. ³² He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. ³³ And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. ³⁴ When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, ³⁵ and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

This passage above is describing the beginning of the Great Tribulation, which we’ll cover in another chapter. For now, I just want to point out that when this invasion begins, it will continue without ceasing until the Lord returns.

Let’s get back to Ezekiel and continue where we left off. In verse 17 we got a glimpse that Gog might be the antichrist. In verse 18 he begins to speak of God’s wrath being roused by Gog and his actions. Now let’s finish chapter 38 as we see what Ezekiel has next for us.

Ezekiel 38:¹⁹ For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, on that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰ The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. ²¹ I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²² With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. ²³ So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

So this final passage in Ezekiel 38 continues to speak of God’s wrath upon the Earth during this time. Although we aren’t in the chapter on God’s wrath yet, I’ll just give a little spoiler here and say that God’s wrath comes after the Great Tribulation. I’m also going to say that in chapter 39 of Ezekiel (the very next paragraph) we read that God kills Gog on the mountains of Israel during His mighty wrath.

For now, let’s just zone in on this one fact: Verse 20 above tells us, “…all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence”. This detail is actually quite important in determining if Gog is or is not the antichrist. We’ve already seen a hint of them being one and the same person in verse 17. Now, we can know that it is during God’s wrath, with Jesus here in person, that Gog meets his end. We know that Jesus kills antichrist by the power of His coming. In 2^nd Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 8, Paul tells us, 

“…the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

So we need to search no further to see that Gog is indeed the antichrist. And as I have just shown you, Daniel chapter 11 and Ezekiel chapter 38 work very well together to give us a good idea of what to expect when the tribulation comes to the world. And again, we’ll revisit this when we get to the other chapters that deal with these important future events.

I’ll not run the risk of boring you with a bunch of redundancy on this, any more than I’ve already given. As you have just seen, the war of Ezekiel 38 (and 39) is the first event in the sequence of the End Times events that we will cover in this study.  We’ll look again at Gog being antichrist in the chapter on ARMAGEDDON.

Ezekiel’s War comes first and continues to progress as the Tribulation, Great Tribulation, God’s Wrath, and the Return of Christ, along with Armageddon, all come to pass as well.

Questions to Ponder

1. What is the next prophetic event to hit Israel?
2. How will we know that Ezekiel’s War has begun?
3. What End Times events will Ezekiel’s War encapsulate?
4. What is the final battle of Ezekiel’s War called?

Answers

1. Ezekiel’s War—An invasion upon Israel from the north.
2. When Israel is invaded and overcome by an army from the north.
3. All of the following:
   • The Tribulation
   • The building of the new temple in Jerusalem
   • The Great Tribulation
   • The Wrath of God
   • The Return of Christ
   • The resurrection of the dead in Christ
   • The rapture of the living in Christ
   • The battle of Armageddon
4. Armageddon

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Preface/Introduction
Ch 1: Ezekiel’s War
Ch 2: The Tribulation
Ch 3: 3rd Temple Built
Ch 4: The Great Tribulation
Ch 5: The Wrath of God
Ch 6: The Return of Christ
Ch 7: The Resurrection of the Dead in Christ
Ch 8: The Rapture
Ch 9: Armageddon
Ch 10: The Millennium
Ch 11: The Judgment
Ch 12: The New Creation
Ch 13: Conclusion
Ch 14: Summary
Glossary