(Ezekiel 38:2-5, 17; Daniel 11:41,44; Revelation 7:2-3)
The prophets described the nations who will gather for the final great battle.
Isaiah prophesied God’s judgment “on Edom, and on the people of My curse.”1Isaiah 34:5 Edom represents all the enemies of God.
Joel warned: “Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness.”2Joel 3:19 Egypt represents the defender of Israel.
Daniel said that the king of the north “shall enter the glorious land, and many shall be overthrown, but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.”3Daniel 11:41
God described His opponent as “Gog in the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meschech and Tubal.”4Ezek 38:2 The land of Magog is today’s Russia, and we assume that this is why Magog is called the prince of Rosh. Meschech and Tubal are the two sons of Noah’s son Japheth. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the descendants of Meschech settled in Turkey, and Tubal was the father of the Latins in Italy and Spain. God continued, saying, “Persia, Ethiopia, and Lybia are with them…Gomer and all its troops.”5Ezek 38:5-6 Gomer is another son of Japheth. Gomer is the father of the Armenians, Celts and Germans.
God described the foolishness of Gog, saying, “Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?”6Ezek 38:17
John prophesied that an angel would dry up the Euphrates to make way for the kings from the east.7Rev 16:12 John described the end-time salvation of God from the east. Just before the battle began, “an angel ascending from the east … cried out, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bondservants of God.’”8Rev 7:2-3 Thus, we believe that the kings of the east must be on the side of God. Daniel said that rumors from the north and the east would trouble the king of the north and cause him to attack with great fury, “yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.”9Daniel 11:44-45
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