It is unfortunate, but there are far too many end-time prophecy scholars who absolutely have missed the fact that the battle on the Great Day of the Lord is the final stage of the Antichrist or Gog’s Apocalypse War — it is when Father God has gathered the Antichrist or Gog and his armies together in the Valley of Jehoshaphat to fight against the Lord in the Battle of Armageddon or the Battle of Gog. Without a doubt, Father God has repeated the same future activity throughout His Word, and this repeated end-time scenario, once again, depicts this frequently overlooked Divine Truth: The Battles of Armageddon and Gog are the same Great Day of the Lord final battle of or final stage to the Antichrist or Gog’s end-time Apocalypse War.

Why this Divine Truth gets overlooked by so many people only can be because the Holy Spirit is not revealing this Divine Truth to the ones who have overlooked it. With the aid of the Holy Spirit, there is no way anyone could miss the fact that Father God actually tells Gog from Magog that he “…will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken” (Ezekiel 39:5). This open field or face of the field Father God speaks about is in the Valley of Jehoshaphat — the same valley in which the Antichrist is killed.

Concerning this repeated end-time scenario, the prophet Daniel is one of many Old Testament prophets who retells the same final battle scenario. He says the King of the North (Gog or the Antichrist) “…will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him” (Daniel 11:45, NASB). Now the reason why many people don’t see that Gog and the Antichrist are the same evil end-time ruler is because they believe the Antichrist and the False Prophet IMMEDIATELY are thrown in the Lake of Fire at the end of the battle of Armageddon. Yet the prophet Daniel makes it clear that King of the North, who is widely accepted to be the Antichrist, actually does die (cf. Daniel 7:11) — just like the prophet Ezekiel makes it clear that Gog does die too.

Moreover, even though the apostle John says the Antichrist and the False Prophet are thrown alive into the Lake of Fire (see Revelation 19:20), he does not say that this action is IMMEDIATELY following the end of the Battle of Gog or the Battle of Armageddon. Many people just assume the apostle John means the Antichrist and the False Prophet IMMEDIATELY are thrown alive into the Lake of Fire, even though elsewhere the Scripture says that it is appointed unto men to die once and then stand in judgment (cf. Hebrews 9:27). Thus, since the prophet Ezekiel says that Gog is killed and buried, and since Gog is the apostles Paul and John’s Antichrist, the prophet Isaiah’s Assyrian, and the prophet Daniel’s King of the North, without a doubt the apostle John is speaking about the Antichrist and the False Prophet’s resurrected bodies being thrown alive into the Lake of Fire.

Those who have rejected Christ Jesus will die condemned to an eternal death. They later will be raised so that they can receive their final judgment — an eternity in the Lake of Fire. Until then, according to Hebrew traditions, when they die their physical death, their bodies immediately will go to the place of Torment where they remain until the second resurrection — the resurrection unto eternal damnation (cf. Revelation 20:11-15; please note that the Gog AND Magog the apostle John mentions in Revelation 10:10 is not speaking about the same Gog of Magog that the prophet Ezekiel mentions. Apostle John’s Gog AND Magog are the names for Satan AND his demonic hordes).

Therefore, the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, as well as the apostle Paul, say the same thing about Gog, the Antichrist, the King of the North, and the Assyrian. These prophets and apostles say that Gog, the Antichrist, the King of the North, and the Assyrian physically die. These prophets and apostles say:

But thou art cast forth away from thy sepulchre like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a dead body trodden under foot. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named for ever. ~ Isaiah 14:19-20, ASV (the “them” in the phrase “joined with them” refers to the honorable kings of nations who sleep in glory that are spoken of in Isaiah 14:18; this blue parenthetical information is my emphasis)

Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:  that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder. ~ Isaiah 14:24-25, ASV

‘And it shall come to pass on that day that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passersby on the east of the sea; and it shall stop the noses of the passersby. And there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it the Valley of Hamongog [that is, The multitude of Gog]. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a day of renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. And they shall separate out men for continual employment, passing through the land, to bury with the passersby those who remain upon the face of the earth to cleanse it. At the end of seven months shall they search. And the passersby who pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamongog. And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah [that is, The multitude]. Thus shall they cleanse the land.’ ~ Ezekiel 39:11-16, KJ21

Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. ~ Daniel 7:11, NASB

~ and ~

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:8, NASB

Apparently, the Assyrian will be killed in God’s Holy Land, which is Israel (cf. Isaiah 14:25; NOTE: the word “mountains” in this verse is the literary figure of speech called synecdoche — when a part represents a whole, or a whole represents a part. In other words, the word “mountains” represents ALL of Israel, including the mountainous parts of Israel, as well as represents a part of Israel, like Jerusalem or Megiddo, and so forth). Now not only is the Assyrian killed in Israel but also so are the King of the North, Gog, the Antichrist and their hordes. Scriptures point to Christ Jesus as being the One who will slaughter each one of these enemies of God and Israel in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (a part of Israel’s “mountains” figure of speech).

Since Christ Jesus will slaughter the Assyrian, the King of the North, Gog, and the Antichrist while they are in Israel, this truth means that they all will be buried in Israel the same way — in a mass grave or a common pit, where they all will be covered over with the bodies of the rest of the enemies of God and Israel that Christ Jesus has slain (cf. Isaiah 14:19). Therefore, because the Assyrian, the King of the North, Gog, and the Antichrist are all killed in a battle with the Lord, because all are buried in Israel, and because all will be resurrected and thrown alive in the Lake of Fire, then it should be obvious that they all are the same person.

Now even though many end-time prophecy scholars have declared that the Antichrist and Gog are not the same person, as well as declared the Battles of Gog and Armageddon are not the same end-time battle, the truth of the matter is that, for example, just like the four New Testament Gospel writers — Mark, Matthew, Luke and John—provide four different perspectives on (give four retellings of) the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus, there are many different Bible versions or retellings of the prophesied Apocalypse War’s series of campaigns (battles on mountains, battles in northern Israel, battles in southern Israel, and a battle in Edom)—of which the last battle that happens on the Great Day of the Lord will be the Battle of Armageddon. This is when the nations of the world will be gathered for battle and for judgment, and when the Antichrist and his multitudes completely are destroyed. However, what so many people miss is that this final battle is just like the Battle of Gog, which concludes with God’s judgment against Gog and all of his armies (total destruction). Furthermore, what so many people miss is that there also are numerous versions or retellings of the Battle of Gog from Magog, in which Gog completely is defeated in the same manner and in the same place as the end-time Antichrist (see, for example, Joel 3:2, 12; Zechariah 14:1-5, 12; Zephaniah 3:1, 5, 8; Ezekiel 39:2, 4, 17). 

The point here is that while, for example, it takes the four New Testament Gospels to give people a complete (or nearly complete) picture of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus, it also takes what each one of the Old Testament prophets says about Gog and the Battle of Gog and what each one of the New Testament apostles says about the Antichrist and/or the Battle of Armageddon—in order for people to understand that Gog and the Antichrist are the same person AND the Battles of Gog and Armageddon are the same final stage of the end-time Apocalypse War. Furthermore, just like throughout the Bible Father God, His only begotten Son, and His Holy Spirit are given numerous names — Elohim, Adonai, YHW-jireh, YHWH-nissi, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Alpha, Omega, Potter, Creator, Prince of Peace, Lamb, Lion, Lord, Shepherd, the Word, the Bridegroom, Savior, Redeemer, Immanuel, Living Water, Comforter, Earnest, Intercessor, Spirit of God, Spirit of Life, Spirit of Truth, Teacher, and so forth—the end-time evil leader of the ten-nation coalition throughout the Bible also is given more than one name —Spoiler, Extortioner, Violent Man, Man of Sin, Son of Perdition, Lawless One, Little Horn, Beast, and many more. Most important, he is called Isaiah’s Assyrian, Daniel’s King of the North, Ezekiel’s Gog, and John’s Antichrist.

More evidence that proves the Battles of Gog and Armageddon are the same final stage to the end-time Apocalypse War, and proof positive that Gog and the Antichrist are the same person is the fact that the Bible is very clear about the end-time Apocalypse War having many campaigns. These campaigns primarily consist of the regional battles the Antichrist, Gog, or the rider on the Red Horse fight, as well as the final stages to the Battle of Gog or the Battle of Armageddon. Then too, in the Qur’an, the Mahdi (the Antichrist or Gog) is described as someone who will wage multiple military campaigns (jihads . . . holy wars) that will include the invasion of many non­-Muslim countries, which he will achieve when he makes Islam’s Sharia Law a global practice.

In the Christian Bible and the Muslim Qur’an, readers learn that the Antichrist or Gog also is described as a global leader—the political, military, and religious world leader who comes from the Middle East, out of a Muslim country instead of coming from any European country. Then too, although this global leader might be liked by the people on earth, not everyone will love him. Indeed, after his attempt to convert the Hebrews to Islam fails, he will fight God’s chosen people. The bottom line is that his ultimate goal always has been to destroy the Hebrews, and his desired outcome is predicted to be the Hebrews’ final holocaust that will take place within Israel.

Similarly, this global leader also will come against Christians and try to force them to accept Islam. Again, since one of his goals is to establish a one-world Islamic religion, in order to achieve this goal this global leader (Antichrist or Gog) will have to be anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and purely satanic.

Without a doubt, the Old Testament prophets speak about the same end-time cataclysmic war that ends with Christ Jesus destroying the enemies of God and Israel who, if left to their own devices, would succeed in wiping out the Hebrews, as well as would succeed in destroying the entire earth. The Old Testament prophets also speak about the same central characters and battles of that war. Moreover, this same end-time war and the same people in that war that the Old Testament prophets speak about always have the same ending. Basically, there is an alliance of nations that attacks Israel. God intervenes in order to save His chosen scattered people from being annihilated. They not only are returned back to their Promised Land but also they are eternally saved and forever restored back into right fellowship with God. The evil ruler of this alliance of nations and his hordes are killed, and Satan is thrown in the bottomless pit. There are one thousand years of peace, after which Satan is released for a short time. He then is completely defeated. The centuries of ungodly, unsaved men and women are resurrected, judged, and thrown into the Lake of Fire, as are Satan, Hell, and Death.

Now concerning those regional battles that the Antichrist or Gog fights, most scholars agree that the first four Seals, which are the beginning of the Wrath of God that is poured out during the Tribulation Period, represent the activities of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, who are symbolized by the white, red, black and pale horses with their riders. These horses and riders are metaphoric descriptions not only of the different activities that take place during the Tribulation Period — such as conquests, battles, hunger, and death — but also they are metaphors for the Antichrist or Gog, who is the one who snatches the short-lived peace from the world, and the one who repeatedly attacks Israel.

There can be no doubt that the rider on all four horses is the Antichrist or Gog. This fact is why the first Seal, which represents the activities of the rider on the white horse, is symbolizing how the Antichrist or Gog, with his extraordinary charm, will trick the world’s nations into believing he wants them to have peace. He definitely dupes Israel, because the prophet Daniel prophesies that Israel will sign a peace treaty with the Antichrist or Gog that is supposed to last for seven years.

When the second Seal opens, the Antichrist or Gog, who is the rider on the red horse, not only has changed his peace tune, when he begins to fight for control of the ten-nation coalition that is in existence before he rises to full power and authority, but also when he initiates a war with Israel. This war will escalate until all of Gog or the Antichrist-ruled nations of the world — and those nations against Gog or the Antichrist — will take part in the greatest battle that this world will ever know — the Battle of Armageddon or the Battle of Gog.

As already mentioned, the Antichrist’s Apocalypse War begins with the regional battles he fights. Again, these will be battles he fights before and after he subdues all ten of the nations that become the prophesied coalition under his control—those ten horns or ten nations that will make up the revived Islamic Caliphate system of the revived Turkish-Ottoman Empire that is prophet Daniel’s fourth beast and the apostle John’s eighth head or empire. Put differently, once the ten nations are under Gog or the Antichrist’s control, which will be by around mid-Tribulation, Gog or the Antichrist will begin to fight with Egypt, Libya and Sudan, as well as with other people in his empire, during the Great Tribulation, who are rebelling against him — those individuals who now do not accept Gog or the Antichrist as either their ruler or their Mahdi. He also will be handling those individuals in his empire who fight among themselves (the Sunnis and Shiites). Additionally, Gog or the Antichrist will spend time capturing and beheading those individuals who refuse to be governed by Sharia Law, capturing and beheading those individuals who refuse to accept the mark of the Beast, dealing with those individuals who steal food and kill others for their food, dealing with those human beings who are angry that they no longer have any access to oil, and struggling to keep the diseases and pestilences (God’s plagues) from spreading throughout his empire, and so forth. Most important, at least to end-time prophecies fulfillments, the Antichrist or Gog will be fighting with the people of Israel.

Without a doubt, the majority of these regional battles will be the results of the third Seal, which ushers in a famine judgment—rationed food and inflationary prices that the rider on the black horse (the Antichrist) symbolizes. For sure, scarcity and inflation traditionally go hand in hand with war — in this case, the Apocalypse War that the rider on the red horse (the Antichrist) initiates.

This Apocalypse War — which lasts nearly three and a half years — will spread across the world from the Middle East. The international nations that participate in this war no doubt do so because food, water, gasoline, and other day-to-day necessities have become scarce. These scarcities are why the scales the black horse rider holds symbolize that the food shortage is indeed critical. There can be no doubt that it is the Antichrist or Gog who will be the one controlling the distributions of food and water, especially throughout the Middle East, and the Bible says that this food, for example, is weighed out like gold. It is unbelievable how expensive it will be to eat one meal a day, at this time. For example, according to apostle John, the price set for a day’s ration of wheat and barley suggests that men and women pay a day’s salary in order to feed their family what pretty much is nothing more than the minimum amount of food that people on an extremely strict diet would eat.

Not only will the Antichrist or Gog be in charge of food and water distributions but also he will be the one controlling the distribution of oil. No doubt deciding who gets food, water, and oil and what prices they will pay for them is how the Antichrist or Gog gets the nations of the world to participate in his war against Israel.

For sure, the black horse rider (the Antichrist or Gog) definitely will use these starvation, thirst, and lack of comfort circumstances to make people eager to pull the trigger — to kill more and more human beings so that there is more food, water, gasoline, and so forth, for the living. Clearly the wealthy will not be affected by the scarcity of food, water or gasoline, because the apostle John says they are able to buy luxury items — olive oil and wine — while the very poor pay a day’s wages for a loaf of wheat or three loaves of barley.

As if everything the second and third Seals — the red and black horses with their riders — set in motion is not bad enough, along comes the fourth Seal with its pale (or yellowish-green) horse and its rider, who also symbolizes the Antichrist. As a result of the pale horse Seal, warfare will have increased, and so will have famine, horrible diseases, and terrible plagues. Not only will millions of people die from the Antichrist or Gog’s regional battles — die by swords, starvation and pestilence — but also countless men and women will die from wild animals’ attacks, who no doubt are starving too.

The point here is that by the time the pale horse’s judgments begin, there already will have been a tremendous loss of human life. On top of that, the additional warfare, famine, horrible diseases, and terrible plagues will cause a fourth part of the world’s population to die in a matter of days. Since Death’s companion is Hell (Hades or Torment), as already mentioned, it is believed by many scholars that the billions of people who die at this time in the Tribulation are nonbelievers (unsaved individuals). These biblical prophecy scholars reason that —because the spirits and souls of the believers who die in Christ Jesus go back to God at the time of believers’ deaths — then the billions who die as a result of the pale horse’s judgment have to be nonbelievers. Their spirits and souls are the ones that go to the place that is called Torment (Hell or Hades), where they await their resurrection unto damnation —where they await their final judgment.

With the seventh seal judgment comes the seven trumpet judgments, and with the seventh trumpet judgment comes the time for the latter campaigns of the Apocalypse War — several attacks on the land of Israel and the Hebrew people. The Antichrist or Gog will be mad at God because of the trumpet judgments He has been pouring out on the whole world, especially on the Antichrist or Gog and his hordes. That is why these lasts campaigns will be fought from Edom in southern Jordan, from Megiddo in northern Israel, on the mountains in Israel, and from southern Israel in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is outside of Jerusalem.

Now the Valley of Jehoshaphat (see Joel 3:2, 12) is also called the valley of decision (see Joel 3:14). This is where the final battle between Gog or the Antichrist and the Lord takes place. The Scriptures say that God tells Gog: “You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you” (Ezekiel 38:9, NASB). In other words, like the Antichrist and his ten-nation coalition, Gog and his hordes are not limited to Megiddo, which is located in the Valley of Jezreel, nor to the mountains of Israel. As already mentioned, God tells Gog that his hordes will cover the entire land of Israel, and that he — Gog, the leader of those hordes—would die in an open field. The only conclusion to draw here is that Megiddo is where Gog or the Antichrist and the majority of his troops are stationed — it is where Gog or the Antichrist strategizes about where in Israel and when he will deploy his troops.

Having said all of that, perhaps the definitive Scriptures that prove the Battles of Armageddon and Gog from Magog are the same final stage of the Apocalypse War are Ezekiel 39:17-20 and Revelation 19:17-18. Certainly if Christ followers have the Holy Spirit’s help, when they are studying Daniel 8, Ezekiel 38 and 39, plus Revelation 19, believers in Christ will realize that prophet Ezekiel’s end-time feast/supper is the same end-time feast/supper apostle John describes. Christ followers’ realization is possible, because the Holy Spirit only REVEALS to believers in Christ God’s spiritual and Divine Truths that are hidden in biblical prophecies. The Holy Spirit NEVER INTERPRETS God’s spiritual and Divine Truths. Interpreting is what human beings do — those men and women to whom the Holy Spirit has NOT revealed God’s spiritual and Divine Truths that are hidden in biblical prophecies. As a result, their interpretations are nothing more than educated guesses that keep them way off track.

Nevertheless, the first definitive verses from the Bible that prove the Battles of Armageddon and Gog from Magog are the same final stage to the same prophesied catastrophic end-time war are found in the book of Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel writes:

As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.  You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war,” declares the Lord God. ~ Ezekiel 39:17-20, NASB

The second definitive verses from the Bible that not only prove the Battles of Armageddon and Gog from Magog are the same final stage to the same prophesied catastrophic end-time war but also parallel Ezekiel 39:17-20 are found in the book of Revelation. The apostle John writes:

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” ~ Revelation 19:17-18, NASB

It is obvious that these described suppers for the vultures both represent the feast or supper that happens at the end of the Tribulation Period. It is obvious that the huge feast or supper of God for the vultures and other birds of prey that follows not only Gog’s defeat but also the Antichrist’s defeat is the same great supper of God. The uncomfortable truth is that it doesn’t make sense that such a slaughter would happen twice — once before the seven-year Tribulation begins, and again at the end of the seven-year Tribulation — especially since the slaughter of Gog and his multitudes is so massive.

Then too, the Scriptures say that AFTER the Lord tramples Gog and his armies, the Hebrews will maintain a constant acceptance and acknowledgment of who God is “from that day forward.” The prophet Ezekiel writes:

And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. And the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward. ~ Ezekiel 39:21-22, NASB

If Gog and the Antichrist are two different end-time evil rulers, then why are the Hebrews once again acknowledging who God is after Gog’s defeat? The Scriptures are very clear that this FOREVER acceptance and acknowledgment of who God is ONLY will happen AFTER Christ Jesus returns and defeats the Antichrist or Gog and his multitudes. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be any enemies of God and Israel left for Christ Jesus to destroy, after the destruction of Gog. In fact, this enormous slaughter leaves so many corpses that even the vultures can’t eat them all. The prophet Ezekiel says that:

‘For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 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. ‘They will set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search.’ ~ Ezekiel 39:12-14, NASB

Now since the prophet Ezekiel also says that God makes His holy name known again to the people of Israel — something that happens AFTER the destruction of Gog and his multitudes — and since prophet Ezekiel says that from that time forward God isn’t going to let people disrespect or vilify His holy name, this proves that the Antichrist has to be Gog. The truth is that the Hebrews as a whole nation neither will know God’s holy name nor reverence God’s Holy name UNTIL AFTER Christ Jesus returns, saves them, and restores their fellowship with God.

Consider these points: When it is understood that the Battle of Gog also is the Battle of Armageddon, it is easier to understand the timing of Christ Jesus return. The information that is found in the Bible indicates that the Lord returns to save and judge Israel on Yom Kippur — the Day of the Lord/Day of Judgment/Day of Trouble. When 30 days are added to the 1,260 days (the 3½ years of Jacob’s Trouble, or the years that lead to the end of the second half of the Tribulation Period), this 30^th day of the new Millennium not only will mean Christ Jesus will have been on Earth for 30 days but also this 30^th day is the prophet Daniel’s 1,290 days. These 1,290 days pertain to how long it has been since the day the Antichrist or Gog first set up the desolation that causes abomination (see Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:30-31, and Matthew 24:15). When 45 days are added to Daniel’s 1,290 days, it will be the 75^th day of the new Millennium or the prophet Daniel’s 1,335 days (see Daniel 12:11-12). This 75^th day will be the first Hanukkah of the Millennial Kingdom. This Hanukkah will be when the new cleansed Millennial Temple will be ready to be dedicated.

An equally important point is that the seven months after Gog’s death— the seven months of burying the corpses that are left after the vultures have their great supper of God on Yom Kippur in the month of Tishri — will be the new Millennium’s seventh month on the Jewish civil calendar, or the first month of the Jewish festival calendar, which is Nisan. The month of Nisan will be the time of the Millennium’s first Passover. The Hebrews will have finished cleansing the land just in time for their month-long celebrations. Nissan is the month in which the Hebrews celebrate deliverance, redemption, and a physical and spiritual resurrection. Indeed, the Hebrews’ restoration will begin a time of healing for Israel and all the nations of the world that doesn’t end until after the seven years of burning the weapons of war are over. The uncomfortable truth here is that it will be the saved Hebrews AND Gentiles who are healing. They are the Lord’s Sheep or Wheat who will have survived the Tribulation Period and entered into Christ Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom as His saints whose bodies have NOT been glorified. These individuals will be capable of reproducing — capable of marrying and having children.

However, if the Battle of Armageddon is yet to come sometime AFTER the prophet Ezekiel’s Battle of Gog — as many end-times prophecy scholars say it does —  that means there will be ANOTHER gathering of ANOTHER evil ruler (the Assyrian or the Antichrist) and his armies, ANOTHER GREAT earthquake — which will mean God has lied, since He says there would be none other like the earthquake that precedes the hundred-pound hailstones in Revelation 16 — ANOTHER massive slaughter of this second evil ruler and his armies, ANOTHER Great Supper of God for the birds of prey, ANOTHER seven months of burying the dead, ANOTHER seven years of burning weapons from this second battle in which the Lord of Hosts destroys the second gathered armies, and ANOTHER Great Day of the Lord (see Revelation 16:13-20; Revelation 19:17-18; Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3, Joel 3:10). Each mentioned ANOTHER is a description of what happens to Gog from Magog and his hordes. Therefore, it should be clear that the Battle of Gog and the Battle of Armageddon are the same end-time Great Day of the Lord battle, and Gog and the Antichrist are the same end-time evil ruler of God and Israel’s enemies.

If it is not clear that the Battles of Gog and Armageddon are the same battle, then consider the following points: If the prophesied seven Tribulation years (Daniel’s 70^th week), as so many people believe, are the same seven years that occur AFTER Israel has burned weapons for fuel, then why does the apostle John say that the people in the Tribulation will be cursing God because of His Wrath? The apostle John says Tribulation individuals will curse God because of the hailstones that weigh a hundred pounds each (see Revelation 16:21). Once again, these are the same hailstones that God rains down on Gog and his hordes. Now according to several Scriptures in the Bible, this hailstone plague happens right before Christ Jesus returns to Earth to fight the Antichrist. This truth means these hailstones happen at the END of the Tribulation Period and not before it even begins.

Therefore, the seven years that Israel is burning weapons for fuel have to be the first seven years of the Millennium, because the prophet Ezekiel says these seven years will take place AFTER the great slaughter of Gog and his armies. No doubt, burying the dead bodies for seven months and burning up all of the antiquated weapons — the arrows, bows, small and large shields, spears, and war clubs (cf. Ezekiel 39:9) — for seven years is Israel and the nations’ of the world’s responsibility, and not Christ Jesus’s responsibility. The point here is that miracles, signs, and wonders are for nonbelievers. At this point in time, Israel is a true believer, and so are the surviving Gentiles (Sheep and Wheat). This truth is why God has no need to supernaturally clean up the Earth for them, since they will be living on the Earth — farming, pruning, and doing other activities that are common for human beings to do—for the next 1,000 years.

Be that as it may; a very major point is that God would not tell prophet Ezekiel to say that He (God) stopped ALL maligning, badmouthing, and disrespecting of His name right AFTER Gog was defeated if the defeated Gog wasn’t also the defeated Antichrist. As the prophet Ezekiel says, it is God who says:

And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the Lord. My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ~ Ezekiel 39:6-7, NASB

Now as previously mentioned, it is with the aid of the Holy Spirit that any close examination of all of the above-cited Old and New Testament Scriptures will cause believers in Christ to conclude, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the prophet Ezekiel’s Battle of Gog — who is from Magog— is the same final stage to the prophesied catastrophic end-time war as is the end-time Battle of Armageddon. In other words, since the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 39:17-20 is describing the total destruction of Gog and all of his multitudes, then it should stand to reason that the prophet Ezekiel also is describing the complete destruction of the Antichrist and all of his hordes, as well as the complete destruction of the False Prophet. Their total destructions only can happen at the end of the Tribulation Period and in relation to the second bodily return of Christ Jesus (cf. Revelation 19:11-21).

In order to further understand how said battles are the same war, we need to understand the commonly repeated phrases and themes that the Old Testament prophets used. These repeated phrases and themes prove that The Battle of Gog and the Battle of Armageddon are just different accounts of the same end-time final stage to Gog or the Antichrist’s Apocalypse War, in spite of the fact that these battles are called by other names in the Old Testament and/or have different names for their major players. For example, the nations who invade Israel in the end-times have several names in Psalm 83 that are unlike the names in Ezekiel 38 and 39; indeed, even some names are missing altogether from Ezekiel 38 and 39.  

Several of the Old Testament prophets prophesy, for example, that in the last days many nations that are Israel’s Middle Eastern neighbors will form a coalition. There can be no doubt that today’s Russians are in cahoots with the Iranians and some Syrians. However, their current alliance only describes the initial phase that will lead to the re-organization of the prophesied end-time coalition — the one that will come against Israel around the middle of the Tribulation Period. This re-organized coalition will consist of the Antichrist — who is the prophet Isaiah’s Assyrian, the prophet Ezekiel’s Gog, and the prophet Daniel’s King of the North or the Little Horn — and the revived ten Islamic horns or Islamic nations (the revived Islamic Caliphate of the Islamic-Turkish Empire). For sure, the ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue symbolize the Sunni and Shiite Muslims — primarily Arabs. In the end-time, these two Muslim sects and their branches initially will unite for the sole purpose of waging war against Israel. It is from this formed coalition that the Little Horn (who is the Antichrist, Gog, the King of the North, and the Assyrian) emerges and debuts as a god who begins to reign and rule over the people of the Earth.

For sure, the ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue mean the ten-nation coalition will be in existence before the end-time Antichrist or Gog, etcetera, rises to full power and authority. In other words, the ten-nation coalition will be in full swing by the time the Tribulation Period begins. Around mid-Tribulation, the Antichrist or Gog, etcetera, not only will reveal that he is indeed the prophesied Gog from Magog or the prophesied Antichrist, etcetera, but also this is when he will stand in the rebuilt Jewish Temple and declare that he is a god. Then he will set up the abomination that causes desolation (cf. Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15). Shortly thereafter he will begin to subdue several Muslim countries of the ten-nation coalition and convince the others to support him as their king. Then the Antichrist or Gog, along with his armies, will wage war on Father God’s chosen people — the Hebrews.

Without a doubt, the passage in Daniel 8:16-26 definitely confirms that the ten-nation coalition will be established in the end-times before the Antichrist (the Little Horn) actually rises to full power and authority. From Daniel’s prophecy in chapter eleven, we now can understand —with the help of the Holy Spirit — that this Daniel 8:16-26 passage contains the beginning of the end-time fulfillment, which is symbolized by the two iron legs on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that lead to the iron mixed with clay ten toes. In other words, Daniel chapter 8’s prophecies have dual fulfillments — short-term and long-term. This truth is why, the Daniel 8:16-26 passage depicts both the original and the revived Islamic Caliphate dynasties (Daniel’s Kings of the South: Egypt, Sudan, and Libya) and the Turkish or Ottoman Kingdom (Daniel’s Kings of the North: Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria). Their initial union and their revived union both form an Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire made up of Sunnis and Shiites who were (and will be) governed by Sharia Law. In other words, the Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire that Daniel 8 describes not only was the seventh successive head, kingdom or empire that apostle John describes but also will be the revived or eighth head that will be a rebirth of the seventh. The prophet Daniel writes:

At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians [Sudanese] will follow at his heels. ~ Daniel 11:40-43, NASB; the bracketed information is this blogger’s emphasis

Now it should be evident that the prophet Daniel’s Kings of the North and South represent the remnants of the divided Grecian Empire, which splintered into the lands that include Syria, Turkey, Egypt and Greece. Put differently, the end-time Antichrist who is Gog or the Assyrian or the King of the North (the Little Horn) will rise to power and authority from out of a neo-Seleucidan empire — the Kings of the North: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Iran. The Kings of the North end-time adversaries, those who object to the influence the “Little Horn” has, are the neo-Ptolemaic empire — the Kings of the South: Egypt, Libya, and Sudan.

The originally splintered Grecian Empire was made up of the lands Alexander the Great’s four generals or successors (basileis or kings) received after Alexander’s death: 1. Cassander [Greece], 2. Lysimachus [Turkey], 3. Seleucus [Syria, and other Near East territories such as Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran], and 3. Ptolemy [Egypt, which includes today’s Libya and Sudan]. This splintered Grecian Empire is the prophet Daniel’s third beast — the leopard with four wings and four heads (see Daniel 7:6). The territories of the third beast (Babylonia, Persia, and Greece’s conquered territories), which the third beast controlled, also are the territories belonging to the third successive empire that conquered the land of Israel and persecuted the Hebrews. This beast and its territories eventually are devoured or crushed by the prophet Daniel’s fourth beast, which is extremely strong with large iron teeth and ten horns, from which comes a little horn (cf. Daniel 7:7-8). This fourth beast and its conquered territories are controlled by the Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire.

In other words, the third beast and the territories it crushes are merely a short-term fulfillment. The end-time crushing of the prophet Daniel’s fourth beast, its and armies, and its trampled and devoured territories are the long-term fulfillment. These truths are why the prophecies in Daniel 8 have a dual fulfillment.

Now, what is most important to note here is that the prophet Daniel’s fourth beast and the corresponding iron legs and iron mixed with clay ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue (cf. Daniel 2:33a) cannot be the Roman Empire. The reason why prophet Daniel’s fourth beast and the corresponding iron legs and iron mixed with clay ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue are not the Roman Empire is because the Roman Empire NEVER crushed all of the Babylonian, Persian, and Grecian territories. The empire that completely crushed these territories was the Islamic Caliphate dynasties made up of Sunni and Shiite Muslims who united with the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.  

Once again, the Roman Empire neither crushed nor conquered all of the empires that are symbolized on Nebuchadnezzar’s statute that are above the iron legs. Put differently, the Roman Empire didn’t devour the territories that belonged to the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, and the splintered Greek Empire, nor did the Roman Empire devour the people they conquered. The truth is that the Roman Empire assimilated all of their dominated ethnic groups.

On the other hand, there are several reasons why the Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire is the only empire prophet Daniel is referring to, when he says that

…there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. ~ Daniel 2:40, NASB

For sure, the Ottoman Empire continued to devour its conquered non-Muslim territories and peoples in the same way as did, for example, the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate dynasty. The Arab Muslims of the Umayyad Dynasty did everything they could do to sustain Islamic civilization in the Holy Land, primarily by erasing any lingering residue from the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires. The Umayyad Caliphate dynasty successfully stamped out the residue of the Babylonian (Lion), Persian (Bear), and Grecian (Leopard) cultures and languages, as well as stamped out with the Roman Empire’s culture and languages from the Holy Land. They did this: 1. by building the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in the then Palestinian Jerusalem, 2. by building the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus on the ruins of the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Syria, 3. by minting Islamic coinage that everyone had to use, and 4. by mandating that, instead of using the Greek language, the Arabic language now would be used on all public records.

As previously mentioned, the Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire, just like the Umayyad Caliphate dynasty had done, rapidly and forcefully continued to devour and break into pieces the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires’ persistent presence not only by crushing its predecessors’ people but also by dividing up those lands that were once part of said empires. That is why today, for example, in Syria and Israel, there are Palestinian Arabs who practice Islam in what were once Grecian and Roman territories. Then too, this devouring or crushing truth is why the nations of Iraq (Babylonia) and Iran (Persia) are currently Islamic nations! In other words, the lingering residue from said empires’ presence in these lands successfully was removed!

Furthermore, the original Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire also tried to untangle itself from the heterogeneous mixture of ethnic groups and religious creeds that were in its empire. It tried to free itself from its mixed populations’ conflicting interests, rival groups, and antagonistic sects that the Sunni and Shiite Muslims with their many branches caused. This truth is why the revived Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire in the future — like it was in the past — will become partly strong and partly brittle.

One last reason why the Roman Empire cannot be the prophet Daniel’s fourth beast, nor the apostle John’s eighth king or head with ten horns and ten crowns, is because the Roman Empire not only NEVER devoured or crushed their conquered territories or peoples but also the Roman Empire NEVER is described as having ten horns with ten crowns. Therefore, the ten horns on prophet Daniel’s fourth beast and the apostle John’s eighth head or king are not ten successive Roman emperors, as some scholars claim, but rather these ten horns with ten crowns are ten end-time kings who rule ten different kingdoms at the same time.

Based on the above truth, it should be clear that the apostle John’s beast kingdom or empire of Revelation 13 and 17 no doubt is the exact same fourth kingdom or empire as represented by the iron legs and ten toes of iron and clay that were on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, as well as is the same beast as the combined four beasts in prophet Daniel’s vision. Unquestionably, this eighth beast kingdom or empire is the composite of both the initial and the revived amalgamated Babylonian, Medo-Persian, splintered Grecian (Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Egypt), and Ottoman Empires — the seven heads of Daniel’s four beasts. In other words, the prophet Daniel’s three beast kingdoms or empires are devoured by his fourth beast, which means the fourth beast also is the apostle John’s ten horned, seven-headed beast from the sea. The apostle John writes:

…Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. ~ Revelation 13:1-6, NASB

~ and ~

Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. ~ Revelation 17:9-13, NASB

The prophet Daniel writes:

The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ~ Daniel 2:32-33, NASB

Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. ~ Daniel 2:40-43, NASB

After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. ~ Daniel 7:7-8, NASB

~ and ~

Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. ~ Daniel 7:19-20, NASB

Notice that the apostle John says that one of the beast’s seven heads looks “…as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed” (Revelation 13:3). “[A]s if it had been slain…” is not describing the death of a person who later comes back to life, which is what many biblical end-time prophecy scholars claim. That head that appears to have been slain is the Islamic Caliphate system of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire, which received a so-called fatal blow in 1924 when the Caliphate system was dismantled. It was Turkey that both obtained and lost the Caliphate system’s power. When the Caliphate system died Sharia Law also died. Sharia Law no longer was the law of the land.

Therefore, it should not be any surprise that the biggest Islamic threat today is Turkey, because its leaders are seeking to revive the old Ottoman Empire. To revive the Ottoman or Turkish Empire, however, the Islamic Caliphate system must be reborn. It will be resurrected, because apostle John says that the head that appeared to have received a “…fatal wound was healed.”

Once again, this revived Islamic Caliphate system of the revived Turkish-Ottoman Empire is the prophesied 8^th head that rules for a short time (42 months or 3½ years of the Tribulation Period’s 7 years). Now the succeeding 7 heads or empires or kingdoms that apostle John reveals as the satanically empowered empires or kingdoms that have invaded Israel, taken the Hebrews from Israel into captivity, and persecuted Hebrews from Israel are: 1. the Egyptian Empire, 2. the Assyrian Empire, 3. the Babylonian Empire, 4. the Medo-Persian Empire, 5. the Grecian Empire, 6. The Roman Empire, and 7. the Islamic Caliphate (made up of Sunni and Shiite Muslims) of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire.

Once again, the ten nations/kingdoms/horns that rise prior to the Antichrist’s rise to full Satanic power and authority are the mixture of Arabs (the Sunni and Shiite) Muslims who are symbolized as the initial two iron legs with ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. These ten nations will receive power and authority from the Antichrist (Gog, the Assyrian, the King of the North, the Little Horn) so that they (the ten nations) all are ruling at the same time.

Of these ten nations, the Little Horn (Gog, the Assyrian, the King of the North, the Antichrist) uproots (subdues) three: Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia (Sudan). He later will replant them as figureheads under his rule. Likewise, once the Antichrist or Gog puts out the fire that nations from the East and North of Israel start (no doubt Iran [from the East], Syria [from the North]), the Antichrist also will replant Iran as a figurehead under his rule. Then he will do the same with Saudi Arabia, and every other nation, so that not only will the prophesied ten-nation coalition led by the Antichrist or Gog or Assyrian or King of the North be in place, before the evil ruler wages war on God’s people in Israel, but also so that this ten-nation alliance will be the primary nations that make up the hordes the prophet Ezekiel says come against Israel with Gog in the Battle of Gog — the Battle of Armageddon or the final stage to the prophesied Apocalypse War.

Put differently, the nations mentioned in Psalm 83 plus the nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39 are the same nations who make up most of the armies Christ Jesus destroys at the end of the Tribulation Period in the Battle of Armageddon or the Battle of Gog. The ten-nation coalition that will be in place before the Antichrist or Gog or the King of the North or the Assyrian rises as Satan’s counterfeit christ (the Muslim Mahdi) will consist of: 1. Iran (Persia), 2. Iraq (Babylonia), 3. Syria, 4. Saudi Arabia (Ishmaelites; Sheba and Dedan), 5. Turkey, 6. Jordan (Ishmaelites, Hagrites, Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites), 7. Lebanon (Gebal and Tyre), 8. Egypt, 9. Libya (Put), and 10. northern Sudan (Cush/ancient Ethiopia). Once again, the three horns that the Antichrist subdues are: Egypt, Libya, and Sudan.

For sure, recorded history teaches that the Islamic Dynasties, specifically the short reign of the Umayyad Caliphate/Dynasty (661-750 A.D.), did the most to expand the Islamic religion and the Islamic Caliphate/Dynasty. The Ottoman or Turkish Empire, which really is the fourth major Islamic Caliphate/Dynasty that followed the three major Islamic Caliphates/Dynasties (Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid), is a commingling of the Turks and the Arabs.

Now, as already mentioned, history records that the Islamic Caliphate’s union with the Turkish-Ottoman Empire created a heterogeneous mixture of ethnic groups and religious creeds. Earlier the point was made about this empire trying to untangle itself from its mixed populations’ conflicting interests, rival groups, and antagonistic sects—Sunni and Shiite Muslims, with their many branches. The point also was made that over time this mixture of Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Turkish-Ottoman Empire would one day cause the empire to become partly strong and partly weak (breakable). The prophet Daniel writes:

And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. ~ Daniel 2:43, NASB

The Aramaic word that is translated in the above verse as “mixed” is “`arab.” Furthermore, throughout the Middle East in biblical times, the Arabs were referred to as “mixed desert peoples,” which is why “mixed” always has been synonymous with the word “`arab.” This truth is confirmed by the prophet Nehemiah, who writes about the Hebrews being forbidden by Law to assemble with Ammonites or Moabites because they were “mixed desert peoples” — people of Arab descent. The prophet Nehemiah’s reference to Arabs being a mixed multitude is as follows:

On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God for ever, because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.  And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. ~ Nehemiah 13:1-3, ASV

The Hebrew word that is translated in English as the phrase “mixed multitude,” which is in Nehemiah 13:3, is `ereb. Thus, the Law not only says the Hebrews cannot assemble with any Ammonite or Moabite but also forbids them to marry Ammonites or Moabites, because they are a “mixed multitude.”

The point here again is that the original union between the Islamic Caliphate Sunni Arabs and the Islamic Caliphate Shiite Turks or Ottomans was a heterogeneous mixture of many ethnic groups with their varying religious creeds — a mixed multitude of Muslims who were, for example, Turkish-Ottomans, Arabian-Ottomans, Palestinian-Ottomans, Persian-Ottomans, Fulani-Ottomans, Afghani-Ottomans, Pakistani-Ottomans, and so forth, who primarily were Sunni or Shiite Muslims, who were from any one of the following subsects or branches: Hanbali, Hanafi,  Ja’fari, Shafii, Maliki, Fiver (Zaydi), Twelver (Ithna-Ashari), Sevener (Ismaili), and so forth. It was these different mixed ethnic and religious groups of Sunni and Shiite Muslims who have been fighting each other for centuries.

This above truth is why the prophet Daniel is prophesying that the revived Islamic Caliphate system of the revived Turkish-Ottoman Empire will be iron mixed with soft clay that will not mix. Furthermore, there is no denying that the prophet Daniel’s prophecy about the iron and clay commingling is an obvious reference to the Arabs in the revived Islamic Caliphate system of the revived Turkish-Ottoman Empire. For sure, the Arabs (the mixed pagan people of the Arabian Desert who historically and biblically have been Esau’s Edomite descendants, as well as the Ammonite and Moabite descendants of Lot) are the Arabs who occupy modern-day Jordan. The rest of the mixed pagan Arabian Desert people are the Arabs who are Ishmael’s descendants, and many of them are today’s Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Iraqis, Libyans, Sudanese, as well as a great many of the Arabs living on the Arabian Peninsula (in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates).

These different Arabs today, with their mixed populations’ conflicting interests, rival groups, and antagonistic religious sects (Sunni and Shiite), have perpetuated their old Islamic schism (Sunni — iron —allegedly the stronger majority of Muslims, and Shiite — clay —allegedly the weaker minority of Muslims). This truth is why these two Muslim sects ultimately will not hold together. For sure, this truth and fact also was the reason why the iron legs and iron mixed with clay ten toes (Sunni and Shiite Muslims) on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue also have symbolized that the original Ottoman or Turkish Empire initially started out as a strong union built on the Islamic Caliphate foundation and governed by Sharia Law. It mostly remained that way, until the Caliphate was dismantled and Sharia Law no longer was the law of the land.

However, as already stated, in the end times, another union between Sunni and Shiite Muslims also will begin like strong iron legs to a revived Islamic Caliphate system of the revived Ottoman or Turkish Empire. The Sunni and Shiite Muslims, who today are governed by Sharia Law (the Islamic foundation to the old Islamic Caliphate system), will unite to serve one central leader who is the future Mahdi (the Antichrist or Gog, and etcetera), but again these two sects and their branches later will begin to fight one another — later will become the iron ten toes that are mixed with clay. No doubt it will be their fighting among themselves that will make their union brittle, again, because the iron and soft clay will not mix together. Once again, prophet Daniel prophesies:

And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. ~ Daniel 2:43, NASB

It, thus, should be understood that what prophet Daniel is prophesying is nothing more than the end-time fighting of the Sunni and Shiite Muslims that will take place before the Antichrist (Gog from Magog) brings them all under his control. There can be no doubt that the Sunni vs. Shiite fight also will continue — off and on — throughout the latter half of the Tribulation Period, and that their fights would be one of the major reasons why the Antichrist’s allegorical Mystery Babylon is destroyed.

Now, even though today’s Russian and Syrian troops currently are helping the Iranian military so that Persia/Iran eventually will be able to invade the King of the North’s territories (cf. Daniel 11), the prophetic Scriptures make it very clear that there also is going to be a massive Turkish response to the Persian/Iranian invasion,  and this response is represented by Daniel’s goat with the one horn that becomes the four horns out of which arises the little horn or Antichrist, who comes from the region that today includes Turkey and Syria. Without a doubt, Daniel’s ‘Little Horn’ — the military leader who comes from nowhere else except out of Alexander’s splintered kingdom (the four kingdoms mention in Daniel 8, of which Syria and Turkey are more prominent in the end times than are Greece and Egypt).

Hence, this Turkish (Gog of Magog’s) response is the already mentioned long-term fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy about the revived iron legs and iron and clay toes (the toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue) that will not hold—will not mix together well (see again Daniel 2:43; see also Nehemiah 13:1-3). Just as Christians are primarily Roman Catholic and Protestants, with many different denominations and sects, there are sects and subsects of Muslims — there are many different Islamic branches of the Sunni and Shiite sects. Therefore, what Daniel is describing when he says iron and clay won’t mix together — once again— is the different branches of the Sunni and Shiite Muslims fighting among themselves — a fight that leads to the Antichrist’s kingdom being in turmoil before the actual beginning of the Battle of Armageddon.

Because of their hatred of Israel, the Sunni and Shiite Muslims, who will be governed by Sharia Law (the Islamic foundation of the Islamic Caliphate system), will unite to serve one central leader who will be none other than the prophesied future Mahdi (the Antichrist). The ten-toe coalition — which is the same as the ten horns in prophet Daniel and apostle John’s visions — is the alliance that is in Psalm 83.

According to the Old Testament’s prophets and apostle John’s prophecies, the second half of the Tribulation will unfold pretty much like this: Sometime after the Bride of Christ is raptured, end-time Israel will make a covenant with the man that, at some point during the first half of the Tribulation Period, the two Jewish witnesses will reveal to be the Antichrist or Gog. The prophet Daniel writes:

And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate. ~ Daniel 9:27, NASB

After the man (Little Horn), who later is revealed to be the Antichrist or Gog, becomes widely accepted as a phenomenal leader, he will begin to consolidate his military power by convincing the then existing ten-nation coalition of Muslim countries that surround Israel—the alliance that is mentioned in Psalm 83 — to let him rule them. With the same charm and deception that he initially uses to fool the world about his true identity and real agenda, this Little Horn also will convince each one of these ten Muslim countries to support ONLY him, either via his battles or via his charisma. Eventually these ten nations will reign with the Little Horn, who gives them power and authority for one hour — for a short period of time, which will start right after the Little Horn reveals that he is the Antichrist or Gog and then sets himself up as god. That will be around mid-Tribulation. Shortly thereafter three of these ten nations will turn on the Antichrist or Gog. He will subdue these three nations and divide their spoils.

Now, as already mentioned, it is revealed in the Word of God that the Antichrist or Gog subdues Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia (Sudan) — the kings of the South. Once again, the prophet Daniel writes:

At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians [Sudanese] will follow at his heels. ~ Daniel 11:40-43, NASB; the bracketed information is my emphasis

Without a doubt, it is the peace contract Israel signs with the Antichrist or Gog that gives the nation of Israel a false sense of security — makes the Hebrews think they are safe from being invaded by neighboring Arabs, who are their life-long enemies. This truth is expressed via the prophet Ezekiel’s description of Israel being a “land of unwalled villages” (Ezekiel 38:11, NASB). The prophet Ezekiel writes that Gog or the Antichrist thinks to himself:

…‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.’ ~ Ezekiel 38:11-12, NASB; also see Ezekiel 13:10

Then too, Daniel the prophet also writes:

Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. ~ Daniel 8:9, NASB

~ and ~

At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. ~ Daniel 11:40-42, NASB

The sequence of events is clear. Around mid-Tribulation, the Antichrist or Gog will battle Egypt, Libya, Sudan, as well as many other countries—primarily the ten nations of the end-time Muslim coalition (Syria [north], Iran [east], and Saudi Arabia [south] are included). Then Gog or the Antichrist and these nations will invade Israel, which is the prophet Daniel’s “the Beautiful Land.”

In other words, Israel never will have true peace and safety until after Christ Jesus has returned and completely has wiped out God and Israel’s enemies. Moreover, since the biblical end-time prophecies make it clear that Christ Jesus doesn’t return until the nation of Israel as a whole has accepted Him as the Lord and Savior, and since the biblical end-time prophecies repeatedly mention that the Lord is the one who gathers the scattered people of God, then it stands to reason that when the prophet Ezekiel says Gog or the Antichrist will come against “the land of unwalled villages,” he definitely only is describing Israel’s wishful thinking. Israel will think She is safe, but the truth is that She has placed Her trust in the wrong man and, as a result, the Hebrews in Israel will think they are as safe as a “walled” nation would be, but they are not. Put differently, they definitely will not expect war. However, the truth of the matter is that Israel only has an illusion of “peace and safety,” and apparently all that is necessary for Israel to be considered a “land of unwalled villages” is the illusion of “peace and safety.”

This last statement must be true because Scriptures point out that the inhabitants of Israel definitely have been lulled into a false sense of security, after which Gog or the Antichrist attacks Israel. The apostle Paul says that there is coming a time when,

While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:3, NASB

The prophet Daniel also describes Gog or the Antichrist’s end-time invasion of Israel. Daniel writes:

Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. ~ Daniel 9:26, NASB

Then too, Daniel writes:

In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time. ~ Daniel 11:24, NASB

Again, the total fulfillment of Daniel’s visions is the Battle of Armageddon, which is the Battle of Gog of Magog. Therefore, it needs to be understood that the ten toes of iron mixed with clay are the ten-nation coalition—the same nations that come against Israel in the final Battle of Armageddon. It also needs to be understood that in order for the Lord to be the One who fulfills the prophecy of Him not only delivering Israel’s Hebrew captives from their enemies but also saving the nation as a whole, many Hebrews in today’s Israel must once again be taken captive, many must be destroyed, and there has to be a remnant in the land of Israel BEFORE the Lord can return again as the prophesied Lion of Judah.

This above truth is why it is important to understand that the angel Gabriel is making it clear to Daniel that he (Gabriel) is explaining that the fulfillment of Daniel’s vision happens during “…the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end” (Daniel 8:19). THREE times in Daniel 8 the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that his vision’s fulfillment concerns the appointed time of the END —that which will be happening right up until Christ Jesus’ second bodily return.

For this last reason, in order for many Christ followers to understand and accept all of the above truth concerning Gog and the Antichrist, as well as the Battles of Gog and Armageddon, believers in Christ must know, understand and accept that the true identity of the prophet Ezekiel’s Gog is that of the Antichrist. The evil end-time ruler’s identity means that the true identity of the land of Magog is NOT Russia, and this fact means that the troops that the Antichrist or Gog brings with him when he invades Israel will come from modern-day Turkey, and other Muslim countries that surround Israel. Knowing these truths —that Gog is the Antichrist and that Magog represents the Turkish army that invades Israel from the north or modern-day Turkey — will help believers in Christ correctly place the timing of the end-time battle that destroys the Antichrist (Gog). In that end-time battle — the Battle of Armageddon or the Battle of Gog — the Antichrist or Gog’s hordes are destroyed, and Gog or the Antichrist and His False Prophet not only die themselves but also they earn a place in the Lake of Fire. Once more, the Battle of Armageddon is the same end-time skirmish as the one the Battle Gog and his multitudes cause.

Let us now continue to reason together. Since Psalm 83 obviously suggests that the enemies of Israel, who are mentioned in this Psalm, will attack each other and nearly wipe each other out, and since this is the same description that is used in reference to Gog and his hordes, as well as used to describe the Antichrist’s armies in the Battle of Armageddon (cf. Ezekiel 38:21-22 and Zechariah 14:12-13), then it stands to reason that the Arabic nations in Psalm 83 definitely comprise the same coalition that is led by the Antichrist or Gog. Once again, those enemies who come against Israel in the final battle of the grandfather of all wars — the Apocalypse War — share the same description of turning on each other and killing each other in one of the several campaigns of said war. This description clearly is a bit reminiscent of what happened in Gideon’s day, when the Midianites, who are Arabs, turned their swords on one another; see Judges 7:19-22. By the way, Gideon is a type of Jesus Christ.

Now isn’t it interesting that the initial reason for why the Midianites, Amalekites, “…and the sons of the east…” (Judges 6:3, NASB) attack Israel in Gideon’s day, ravaging the land and stealing the cattle, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, was for the purpose of leaving the people of Israel absolutely NOTHING to live on or live off? In other words, the goal allegedly was to wipe out the Israelites — to extinguish them. Apparently this is the same motive the invaders in Psalm 83 have. The psalmist declares that the Midianites’ military leaders Oreb, Zeeb, and their kings Zebah and Zalmunna declare that they invade Israel not just to plunder it but also to possess the “…pastures of God” (Psalm 83:12, NASB) — to own the Promise Land by annihilating the Hebrews.

The truth is that plundering is the modus operandi of the Antichrist or Gog, who with his raiding end-time Arabs initially take spoils from three of the ten-nation coalition (Egypt, Libya, and Sudan). Then the Antichrist or Gog divides these spoils among the remaining seven nations. Later he invades three other nations Sheba, Dedan and Tarshish. They actually ask the Antichrist or Gog if he has “…assembled [his] company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil” (Ezekiel 38:13, NASB). What this last passage reveals about the Arabs of Sheba and Dedan (Mystery Babylon or Saudi Arabia) is that the Antichrist or Gog swiftly will subdue each one of the remaining seven kings of the 10-nation coalition, until he brings them all under his control. Once again, this regional fighting will happen before the attacks on Israel begin, and they continue after Israel ins invaded.

The point here is that the end-time Sunni and Shiite Muslims will have the same reason for why they form the same alliance that is mentioned in Psalm 83. For sure their 10-nation coalition not only wants to plunder and possess all of Israel but also this end-time alliance wants to annihilate all the Hebrews.

Once again, Psalm 83’s end-time coalition led by the Antichrist or Gog will be just like the armies of the Midianites, Amalekites, and other Arabs who invaded Israel in Gideon’s day. The end-time coalition, the names of which are found, for example, in Psalm 83:6-8, Daniel 11:43, and Ezekiel 38:1-5, will invade Israel not only to despoil it but also to wipe out the Hebrews who live in the land.

Although these Muslim nations intend on annihilating the Hebrews, during the Battle of Armageddon or Gog, the Antichrist or Gog and all of his hordes will end up turning on themselves from their fear and confusion, which is just like the fear and confusion that caused the invading Arabs (the Midianites, Amalekites, and other Arabs) in Gideon’s day to panic. Gideon’s enemies panicked after hearing the sounds coming from his three companies of 100 soldiers’ thunderous trumpets, broken pitchers, and their battle cries, as well as after seeing these 300 Israelites’ burning torches. The author of Judges writes:

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. When they blew 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ~ Judges 7:19-22, NASB

In the end-times, God copies what He did to the Midianites and their hordes. God supernaturally fought the battle for Gideon and his 300 men, so He would be the One who saved His Holy Land of Israel and His chosen people living in it from being annihilated. The Almighty supernaturally caused many of Midianites and their hordes to kill themselves with their own swords, and the rest — those who fled back to their own lands to the east — God empowered Gideon and his army of 300 men to pursue them, to kill the two leaders of Midianites and their hordes, to capture the Midianites’ two kings, to defeat their hordes, and later to kill the Midianites’ kings (see Judges 8:4-21).  In the end-time, God also will prevent the Antichrist or Gog from slaughtering the remnant of Hebrews who still are living in Israel.

The way in which God copies what He did for Gideon is that God uses the second woe or the sixth trumpet’s judgment — a major end-time earthquake that destroys 1/10^th of the city (Jerusalem) and kills 7,000 men (cf. Revelation 11:13; Ezekiel 38:18-20) — to cause the Antichrist or Gog’s multitudes, who are invading Israel, to panic and become so out of control that they turn on their own swords — they begin to slaughter themselves. After that show of God’s supernatural Wrath, the Antichrist or Gog and his surviving members of his armies retreat back to their homelands — no doubt, this is when they take countless Hebrews into captivity.

However, the Lord’s judgment on the enemies of God and Israel is not done. After the seventh bowl judgment begins, there is the Greatest earthquake that the world has ever seen or felt, and this one is felt around the world (see Revelation 16:18-20). This massive earthquake is the result of God’s seventh bowl judgment. This global earthquake is followed by torrential rain, hailstones, and fire and brimstone (cf. Revelation 16:21; see also Ezekiel 38:22) — those hailstones cause Gog or the Antichrist and his armies to curse God. After this judgment has been poured out, God brings Gog or the Antichrist and his surviving hordes back to Jerusalem, for the final battle against Christ Jesus — the Battle of Gog, which also is the Battle of Armageddon. Because the massive global earthquake and the hundred-pound hailstones have damaged Israel’s infrastructure — for example, apostle John says that this global earthquake splits Jerusalem into three parts and causes the cities of the nations to collapse — they were ruined (Revelation 16:19), this is the reason why Gog or the Antichrist and his hordes have to arrive back in Israel on horseback, and why they arrived armed with bow and arrows.

Once the armies of Gog or the Antichrist, who are on horseback and armed with bow and arrows, cover Israel like a great cloud, Christ Jesus—He returns to Earth AFTER the seventh bowl judgment, which will coincide with the end of Daniel’s 70^th week (the end of the seven-year Tribulation). Scriptures make it clear that it is on the Day of the Lord (Day of Judgment/Day of Trouble/Yom Kippur/Yom HaDin) that the Lord and His armies from Heaven will touch down first in Bozrah, Edom (southern Jordan), where the Lord supernaturally crushes like grapes the Edomites (see Isaiah 63:1-5). On the same day, He will go from Edom to the Mount of Olives, where His feet will split the mountain right down the middle. This split will cause a new valley, which will be the way the Hebrews who will be trapped in Jerusalem will escape (see Zechariah 14:3-5). From the Mount of Olives Christ Jesus will go to Megiddo and crush Gog or the Antichrist’s soldiers who are stationed there, but even then Christ Jesus’ judgment still will not be finished.

God will have caused Gog or the Antichrist and the rest of his armies to gather in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where they plan to fight Christ Jesus. The Valley of Jehoshaphat is outside Jerusalem, and it is here that the Lord disarms the Antichrist or Gog and his surviving soldiers. Then Christ Jesus completely destroys them — He also crushes them like grapes, which is the imagery apostle John uses, as well as is what the prophet Daniel describes when he prophesies about the “stone” that “…crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold…” (Daniel 2:45).

As mentioned above, all of the enemies of God and Israel, who came with the Antichrist or Gog to destroy Christ Jesus and the remnant of Hebrews in the Battle of Gog or the Battle of Armageddon, will be disarmed and then crushed like grapes. These dead multitudes will become food for the vultures and other scavenging birds of prey, but the final judgment for the Antichrist or Gog and his False Prophet will NOT happen until after Christ Jesus’ 1,000-year reign is over. Then is when Christ Jesus will throw their resurrected bodies alive into the Lake of Fire (cf. Revelation 19:20). However, Christ Jesus’ final judgment on His enemies’ homeland will happen on the Day of Judgment—the day Christ Jesus defeats Gog and the Antichrist, as well as their hordes.

The prophet Ezekiel writes:

‘I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand. You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken,’ declares the Lord God. ^‘And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the Lord.’ ~ Ezekiel 39:3-6, NASB

~ and ~

As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.  You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war,” declares the Lord God. ~ Ezekiel 39:17-20, NASB

Now, according to the Old Testament prophecies, as previously mentioned, Israel will be scattered one last time. Israel’s Muslim enemies not only will carry Hebrews off into captivity but also these enemies of God and Israel will almost wipe out the end-time Hebrews.

It has been stated several times that the Antichrist or Gog and his Muslim multitudes will begin their invasions of Israel sometime after mid-Tribulation—sometime after the Antichrist or Gog declares himself to be a god. After that, there will be ongoing exiles, captivities, and persecutions, but they will be the last exiles, captivities, and persecutions that the Hebrews will have to suffer before Christ Jesus makes His second bodily return to this Earth. For sure, the Word of God makes it clear that the Lord is the One who gathers the scattered Hebrews back into their Promised Land, from which they never will be scattered again. The Word of God also declares that the Lord is the One who restores God’s people, and Christ Jesus does it so that the very nations that comprise the ten-nation coalition — and the people who join with these ten nations — as well as the Hebrews who have been spiritual blind up until then, will know that Christ Jesus is indeed the Hebrews’ Lord and King. The prophet Ezekiel writes:

 When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. ~ Ezekiel 39:27-28, NASB

A couple of other retellings of the Hebrews’ final end-time scattering of the Hebrews are as follows:

For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land. ~ Joel 3:1-2, NASB

~ and ~

 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. ~ Micah 2:12, ASV

As already mentioned several times, when Christ Jesus returns to this world He specifically comes back to rid the land of Israel and the Hebrews living in it of their enemies. At that time, He completely will destroy the Antichrist or Gog and his hordes (the ten-nation coalition; the ten kings and their multitudes) during the Battle of Armageddon, which also is the Battle of Gog from Magog. Now when the prophet Daniel writes about the destruction of his fourth beast, which is apostle John’s eighth head or eighth beast kingdom — the revived Islamic Caliphate system of the revived Turkish-Ottoman Empire — Daniel is describing the Lord as the metaphorical “stone” that completely crushes the Antichrist or the Gog’s beast kingdom. Daniel writes:

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. ~ Daniel 2:35, NASB

~ and ~

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy. ~ Daniel 2:44-45, NASB

Once again, the apostle John describes how Christ Jesus defeats the Antichrist or Gog and all of his hordes, by trampling them like they are grapes in an extremely large winepress. Metaphorically speaking, that winepress is the entire land of Israel, and again the grapes are the enemies of God and Israel — those surviving Tribulation individuals in Gog or the Antichrist’s armies who never have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, and who also have the mark of the Beast. Indeed, the blood stains that can be seen on Christ Jesus garment, as He comes from Teman (Jordan: specifically, Edom) to Jerusalem, are from Him as He begins to trample His enemies like grapes. The prophet Habakkuk’s version of the Lord’s supernatural defeat is as follows:

Sun and moon stood in their places;
They went away at the light of Your arrows,
At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.
In indignation You marched through the earth;
In anger You trampled the nations.
You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For the salvation of Your anointed.
You struck the head of the house of the evil
To lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah. ~ Habakkuk 3:11-13, NASB

The prophet Isaiah and the apostle John retell the same event—the Lord’s garments becoming stained with blood during the Bozrah (sheepfold) deliverance of God’s chosen people. Bozrah was the name of an ancient city, the ruins of which were in Edom. The Edomites were Esau’s godless descendants. Today the land of Edom is the southern part of Jordan. The prophet Isaiah and apostle John write:

Who is this who comes from Edom,
With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah,
This One who is majestic in His apparel,
Marching in the greatness of His strength?
‘It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.’ ~ Isaiah 63:1, NASB (see also Isaiah 34:5-6)

~ and ~

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ~ Revelation 19:13, NASB

As already mentioned, before the Lord splits the Mount of Olives—thereby creating a new valley, which is the way His trapped remnant of Hebrews is set free from Gog or the Antichrist’s armies — the first event in the series of events that culminates in the final battle between Christ Jesus and the Antichrist or Gog (the Battle of Armageddon or the Battle of God) will be the Lord going to Edom and crushing the Edomites (Arabs in southern Jordan) like grapes. For this reason, as well as other stated reason, there can be no denying that the Bible is replete with references to Christ Jesus being the One who finally rids Israel and the rest of the world of the Muslim peoples, especially those Muslims who live in the lands that surround Israel (see, for example, Ezekiel 30:1-5 and Zephaniah 2:8-9, 12-13).  

For the record, in the immediately above cited Ezekiel and Zephaniah verses, Lud is modern-day Turkey. As already mentioned, Ethiopians are the Sudanese in modern-day Sudan, and Put is modern-day Libya; however, in the context of these cited verses, Put also is Libya and Northern Africa. Moab and Ammon, again, are parts of modern-day Jordan. Assyria is modern-day Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq; and Nineveh is the modern-day city of Mosul, Iraq.

Lastly, not only is the Battle of Gog from Magog the same battle as the Battle of Armageddon but also this really is no battle — it is not World War III — at all. Yes, the Antichrist or Gog and his hordes will wreak havoc throughout the Middle East, and the Apocalypse War that he will start gradually will escalate to the point that it looks like all of God’s Hebrew people, primarily, will be wiped off this Earth, but in the campaigns of the Antichrist or Gog’s Apocalypse War, God is the One who supernaturally will destroy some of the Antichrist or Gog’s armies who come against Israel. He destroys portions of these armies by a great earthquake and by lightning, which cause many soldiers in the Antichrist or Gog’s armies to turn their swords on themselves. Then too, God’s seventh bowl judgment specifically is poured out on them—the worst earthquake ever; also torrential rains, hailstones, fire and brimstone, pestilence, and blood.

The other reason why the Battle of Gog or Armageddon will not be World War III is because Christ Jesus returns with His host of angels and His saints to destroy Gog or the Antichrist before he and his multitudes have the chance to completely destroy the world. The Lord will fight all of the enemies of God and Israel all by Himself — in the Battle of Gog or Armageddon — and He will wipe all of them off of this Earth. As already mentioned, Christ Jesus first will disarm Gog or the Antichrist and his hordes by knocking their bows and arrows out of their hands, and then the Lord will slaughter His enemies with the sword that comes out of His mouth — with the Word of God, which is Christ Jesus’ judiciary sentence that He enforces.

The apostle John writes:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. ~ Revelation 19:11-15, NASB

The major point here is that it is Father God who has declared that He not only will cause Gog or the Antichrist to war against Israel but also He is the One who will cause every nation to be gathered in Israel, where they will drink from the cup of His fury. The prophet Jeremiah writes:

 For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, ‘Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.’ ~ Jeremiah 25:15-16, NASB

In other words, it does not matter to Father God whether or not the end-time nations want to be involved in today’s Israel or Jerusalem controversy. They are going to find that because of the existing world economics, world religion, and world politics there will be no way they will be able to keep themselves from being saddled with the evil designs the world has upon Israel and the city of Jerusalem. Father God has made it so that they will participate in the final battles of Gog or the Antichrist’s intended Apocalypse war.

For this reason, all of the above-discussed reasons are why the final Battle of Armageddon or Gog happens on the great Day of the Lord. This event is God’s last hurrah — His finale or climax to the history of sinful mankind. This event also is Christ Jesus’ curtain call, so to speak—when Christ Jesus finally will receive His earned praises for the sacrifice He made and the trampling He will give the enemies of God and Israel. Indeed, the Battle of Armageddon or Gog will be when Jesus Christ finally not only gets to roar like the Lion He is but also when He gets to appear as the Lion of Judah. Once again, He first will appear in Edom, where He begins to trample the armies of Gog or the Antichrist, and then He will appear on the horizon of Jerusalem’s eastern border—on the top of the Mount of Olives. Christ Jesus will go from there to Megiddo in northern Israel, and then He will come back down south to an area that is right outside of Jerusalem. This area is the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where Father God will have gathered together the rest of the armies of the Antichrist or Gog, as well as the Antichrist or Gog himself so that they all can be completely destroyed.

By the end of this last battle, the nation of Israel will have become a blood-soaked battlefield—that winepress in which Christ Jesus will have crushed His enemies like grapes. As the apostle John prophesies, this blood from God and Israel’s enemies will flow 200 miles (1,600 furlongs in the King James Version or 1,600 stadia in the English Standard Version). That is the distance from Megiddo in northern Israel to Bozrah in Edom (southern Jordan). This blood also is prophesied to reach as high as to the horses’ bridles. The prophet John writes:

 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. ~ Revelation 14:19-20

Finally, this concluding campaign to the Antichrist or Gog’s Apocalypse War is without a doubt the very same scenario — with a few variations—that is repeated by the majority of the Old Testament’s minor and major prophets, by Christ Jesus in the four Gospels, and in Scriptures written by the New Testament’s apostles Paul and John. For this reason, it should be irrefutable by now that not only are Gog and the Antichrist the same evil end-time world ruler of the revived Islamic Caliphate system of the revived Turkish-Ottoman Empire but also it should be irrefutable by now that the Battles of Gog and Armageddon are the same event that also have different names. Indeed, the Battle of Gog and the Battle of Armageddon are NOT two separate events like so many people think.  

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Selah (pause and calmly think about that—all of above information.

Other related blog postings are: A Revived Roman Empire Is Unlikely, Gideon Is a Type of Christ, The Ten Horns and The Little Horn: Good and Bad News for Edom, Moab and Ammon, and Mystery Babylon.