Assyrians | Gog & Magog

Divine deliverance of old Jerusalem by an "Angel from Heaven"
compared to
Divine deliverand of new Jerusalem by "Fire from Heaven"

OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Old Jerusalem receives sudden, divine deliverance from existence-threatening siege by an angel from Heaven.
NEW TESTAMENT SAINTS
"The Camp of the Saints, the Beloved City" receives sudden, divine deliverance from existence-threatening siege by "fire from Heaven."

2 Kings 18:9-19:37

17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem.

32 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him
with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

 Revelation 20:7-10
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed
the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Commentary
This passage begins by stating that the Assyrians already took away the cities of Israel & Judah before approaching Jerusalem.  Those taken away were hardly heard from ever again, even considered "the lost tribes of Israel."  Even when some were allowed to return to the land of Israel much later, they were ever after referred to as "Samaritans," never quite "God's People " ever again.  This was, then, a circumstance in which the very existence of God's Covenant People, Jerusalem was threatened with extinction more than any time since the Exodus which preceded the conquest of the promised land and the establishment of the kingdom.
Commentary
LIkewise, this siege by Gog & Magog was envisioned as a circumstance in which the very existence of "the Camp of the Saints, the beloved City" was threatened with extinction more than any time since the Tribulation which preceded the 1000-years Millennium.  Such were the circumstances of true Christian believers everywhere when the fire of the Reformation suddenly came as a deliverance from Heaven.
Timeline: 

Comments

I like the idea of the short season ending in the Reformation. I will detail the nations in Gog & Magog and who they correspond with in Josephus, and how this relates to 1070AD.

I still may place the short season ending a little sooner, in the 1100s when the Vikings discovered the new land of the new hemisphere, which many Christians actually viewed as the foundational land of the New Jerusalem.

This is demonstrated in a book called The Stone Kingdom, as the discovery of America allowed for many advances in Christendom. However, this is outside the scope of what I've studies in depth. I may be wrong, and am always willing to be corrected in light of greater Scriptural insight.

Here are the nations of Ezekiel 38.

Gog - king of Turkey in Ezekiel's day (called Gouges by Greeks); Gog of Magog being a new king of Turkey descending from the land of Magog, Turkey being the principal land of the Ottoman Empire; this new Gog who descended from Scythian land was the Seljuk Sultan known as Melik Shah

Land of Magog - region of Scythia, where the Seljuk Turks lived before being expelled by the Scythians, representing the Northern Corner of the Muslim Faith

Meshech & Tubal - two regions within Turkey, conquered by the Seljuk Turks Persia - Eastern corner of Muslim Faith

Ethiopia - Southern corner of Muslim Faith

Libya - Western corner of Muslim Faith

Gomer & His Bands - Galatia, a region in Turkey; Gomer is said to be the father of Togarmah in Genesis

House of Togarmah in North - Identified with the Cimmerians by Josephus, later called the Seljuk Turks, who were expelled by the Scythians before coming down into Turkey to found the Ottoman Empire. The Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1070AD. However, they only held it for 28 years.

The destruction of Gog & Magog was completed with the fall of the Seljuk Dynasty when the Christians conquered Jerusalem in 1098 and founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This Kingdom lasted until 1489. Both Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli were both born in the early 1480s and were the first two leaders of the Reformation, so we get a nice transition from the Kingdom of Jerusalem falling, to the Reformation rising.

Read Ezekiel 38-39 and you'll be amazed how other Preterists have missed this, and how perfect it is to complete Preterist thinking. Russell, the founder of Preterism, really wanted a perfect Millennium. Now we've got it! We just had to study 1070AD, look at Revelation's reference to Gog, then go back to Ezekiel to see what he was talking about!

Ezekiel 40-48 does not appear to have been fulfilled yet, and in my opinion, there are still other prophecies which have not been fulfilled. The Israel established in 1948 is not the prophesied kingdom of peace found in Isaiah or Ezekiel. Ezekiel depicts an Israel with much larger boundaries, and automatic adoption into the house of Israel by being born in the land.

It also has a Temple not in Jerusalem, but in Shiloh, which is currently in the heart of the West Bank! Perhaps its fulfillment is conditional on Israel's repentence, much as Jonah's curse on Nineveh was conditional on them not repenting. Its fulfillment would require the reinstatement of the House of David and a fully functional Zadokite Priesthood.

I did a little more research to see how things fit with the timeline delineated in Ezekiel 39 and in the First Crusade, and guess what? A perfect match! Everything matches up. This perfects what Stuart Russell yearned for in Preterism, a literal Millennium, and literal time units!

 

1. Ezekiel 38:1-4 (Lands of Gog)

Gog of land of Magog - Seljuk (the new Gyges) and Seljuk Dynasty, ending with Malik Shah

Land of Magog - Scythia, where the Seljuk Turks dwelt before taking Asia Minor

Meshech - Seljuk-held Cappadocia of Asia Minor

Tubal - Seljuk-held Tabal of Asia Minor

 

 

2. Ezekiel 38:5-12 (Allies of Gog)

Persia - Northern Corner of Islam

Ethiopia - Southern Corner of Islam

Libya - Western Corner of Islam

Gomer - Seljuk-held Galatia of Asia Minor

Northern House of Togarmah - Cimmerians (Seljuk Turks)

 

3. Ezekiel 38:13-23 (News of Gog Spreads)

Sheba & Dedan - Heart of Muslim Faith, Mecca & Medina

Merchants of Tarshish - Western Extent of Catholic Faith

 

4. Ezekiel 39:1-10 (Decline of Gog)

7 Years of Burning Magog - 1092 to 1099, from death of last unchallenged Seljuk Sultan, Malik Shah, to fall of Jerusalem to Crusaders, where slain non-Christians were burned to eliminate stench

 

5. Ezekiel 39:11-16 (Fall of Gog)

Valley of Hamon-Gog - Passage from Jaffa to Antioch and Jerusalem, where slain non-Christians were burned to eliminate stench

City of Hamonah - Perhaps Jaffa, port city of First Crusaders

7 Months Burying Magog - 7 Month Siege of Antioch, from October 1097 to June 1098

I hope you will continue this vein of research.  I am involved, though, in others studies at the moment.  But that is exactly why I produce this website: to invite the thoughtful research of others along these veins of discovery.  And let correction be welcomed, too, as a means of helping to guide towards the proper understanding.

 It should be obvious to all, really, that if Rev 20:1-10 & 2 Peter 3:2-14's "1000 Years" is anything different than either:
A) a actual, 24-hour day
or
B) a an actual 1000 years
then it can only be
C) figurative of infinity.

But since Rev 20:1-10 demarks the beginning & ending points of the "1000 Years" with noteworthy events, with other events both preceeding & following the "1000 years", option "C) infinity" is out of the question.

And since both passages also denote much grandeur and centuries of long anticipation for these "1000 years", option "A) an actual, 24-hour day" must be ruled out, as well.

Common process of elimination, therefore, makes it clear that the Bible's "1000 years" period can be nothing but an actual 1000 year period as our calendars count them: option B).

 

May God grant Opalsun66 the spirit of wisdom & revelation in the knowledge of Him in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, our Teacher.