Most Bible and prophecy teachers, including myself, believe that Gog will be the principal leader – whether diplomatically and/or militarily – of the nation of Russia and the de facto leader of the invasion of Israel, as spoken by God through the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 38 and 39:1-16. Gog’s invasion of Israel is accompanied by a slew of Islamic nations, making this invasion immense by military standards.
God singles out Gog within Ezekiel’s prophecy and essentially has a one-sided dialogue with this evil man, making Gog’s intentions much clearer for the reader of the text to follow. But what about the Islamic nations? Do they have the same goals and aims as Gog does? Or is their mission and objective different?
God says to Gog concerning the Islamic nations that have met him for their invasion:
“Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.” – Ezekiel 38:7
Has Gog reached out to these many nations, asking each if they are willing to join him, knowing their demonic hatred of Israel, or did they show up on their own as they saw Gog’s forces coming to the northern borders of Israel that they may join in Gog’s invasion of their historical enemy? If he has reached out to these nations, has he revealed his objectives or has he subtly hidden his true intentions?
While we will not be able to necessarily answer the above questions Scripturally, we may be able to offer some plausible logical suppositions for the reader to consider on this and other aspects of this invasion.
Our brief study is primarily focused on Ezekiel 38:10-13.
All underlined Scripture passages are my own emphasis.
“Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.” – Ezekiel 38:10-12
God, as He is addressing Gog through the prophet Ezekiel, says that Gog “shall think an evil thought” and “shalt say” that he intends to go to Israel “to take a spoil, and to take a prey.”
Observe that this is Gog’s “evil thought.” Is this the same evil thoughts that are in the Islamic nations’ minds? More on this thought momentarily.
What exactly is this “spoil” and “prey” that Gog hopes to attain? Is this the Islamic nations’ desire as well?
Next, the LORD, through Ezekiel, reveals some rhetorical questions that are posed by other nations when this invasion begins:
“Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” – Ezekiel 38:13
As with so many wars, especially in the time that Ezekiel received this prophecy from the Lord, nations would come against other nations for “a spoil” for “silver” and “gold” and “to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil.” These resources were valuable commodities in ancient times. Even today, many wars are fought over resources, just as they did in Biblical days, though the resources may have changed.
Treasure?
Many have speculated that Israel will find what is believed to be treasures from Solomon’s Temple that, according to those who hold this view, were hidden away by the Prophet Jeremiah just before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. There are divergent opinions on where this treasure may be hidden if it indeed still exists in Israel. The Jewish Talmud, tradition, and the extra-Biblical passage of 2 Maccabees 2 are used as potential proof texts. As I have warned the body of Christ before, we should be extremely wary of extra-Biblical sources, relying solely on the Word of God alone.
We do know, however, that at the midway point of the Tribulation, that the ark is found in heaven:
“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” – Revelation 11:19
While God is absolutely opposed to Israel returning to Temple sacrificial offerings, logically, God would have taken the ark to heaven after Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice, at the very latest. After all, there is already an ark replica available to Israel to use in the Third Tribulation Temple.
While I do not dismiss the treasure possibility out of hand, I do see this a little differently.
Certainly, silver and gold are still of monetary value today, but that could change in a heartbeat, as even silver and gold may lose all their value when the worldwide economy crashes, as we know it will from Revelation 6:6. People will be more concerned about feeding themselves and their families than investing in a precious metal whose only value is what man says it is. In my eschatological understandings, the worldwide economic collapse will coincide in The Gap between the rapture and beginning of the Tribulation, which is in the timeframe of when I expect the Gog/Magog invasion of Israel will occur.
For me, there are other more viable and logical modern-day resources that I see being much more valuable than treasures of silver and gold because, as we noted above, the essential resources needed in today’s world have changed. And because these resources have changed, we need to understand that most of the resources valuable today were not even in existence or known to the world in Biblical times.
Therefore, we should apply a little logic in our investigation on what these spoils and prey may actually be.
The Absolute Necessity of Energy in an End-Times World
One commodity that is of immense value in today’s world and will be until Jesus comes back is energy of all types. Energy is a universal standard commodity that every nation on Earth needs to survive and thrive.
Vladimir Putin and other national leaders have rightly claimed that whoever breaks out first and successfully with AI will rule the world, and energy is of the utmost necessity in this endeavor. In fact, AI utilizes vast amounts of energy!
Antichrist will also need vast amounts of energy to operate his worldwide Mark of The Beast economic and worship system; therefore, energy will be of vital importance to this system’s success. Energy may also be another hidden motive when Antichrist – in attempting to annihilate the Israeli people after the Abomination of Desolation, purging the nation of Israel of every Israeli in the Promised Land in the Great Tribulation – prepares to install his Mark of The Beast economic and worship system.
So, how can we come to a logical conclusion of energy being potentially the main objective of Gog’s invasion of Israel as recorded for us in Ezekiel 38, since these modern-day energy sources were not in existence and/or unknown in Biblical times? Can we make sense of energy commodities, using the same ancient spoils and prey that God uses in Ezekiel?
Silver and Gold
“Silver and gold” are derived from earth and rock.
In just the same way, so is one of the world’s greatest energy sources and multifaceted elements in innumerable products for modern-day humanity, oil! We drill in the earth and frack in rocks to obtain this precious commodity, very similar to how the world has procured silver and gold since creation.
Though Israel is currently ranked 67 in the world in crude oil production and does import additional oil, this could always change as more deposits could be found. However, for such an incredibly small country to be 67th in the world is pretty darn impressive, and even with their current production of 15,000 barrels a day and what they will have in import reserves would seem to be an easy spoil for Gog in his evil plan.
Personally, I would not be surprised in the least to hear of Israel finding more oil reserves – potentially vast amounts of reserves – in the not-so-distant future.
During the time immediately following the rapture, going forward, I expect that “climate change” will not be the fantastical, farcical issue that it is today, and even if it was, Gog would certainly care less.
Oil, when refined into petrochemicals, often has a silver and/or gold tint or hue.
Oil and/or petroleum is also known as “black gold”!
Cattle
The Hebrew word for “cattle” in both references of Ezekiel 38:12-13 is 4735 מִקְנֶה “miqnê” and means cattle, livestock, cows, sheep, goats.
When this interpretation came into my mind, I was blown away. This can only be understood in today’s generation.
Today, there is a war on cattle in this crazy world we live in, something never seen or even thought about in past generations. Climate fanatics are obsessed with the flatulence of cattle, especially cows, known as methane gas. Methane gas from living creatures is obviously a natural gas. Natural gas?!?!
God, in his omniscient foreknowledge, knew that this environmental idiocy would occur in the end times. He also knew that natural gas would be a valuable energy source in the future. Therefore, it is no stretch to suggest that cattle are representative of natural gas as an energy source. There would seem to be no better way for God to use this Hebrew word for cattle, knowing what would transpire in the last days, and linking cattle to the energy source of natural gas.
Natural gas is Israel’s primary energy source for electricity production!
Gog will certainly covet this immense energy source!
Goods
The Hebrew word for “goods” in both references in Ezekiel 38:12-13 is 7075 קִנְיָן “qinyān” and means thing acquired, acquisition, possession, purchased property, wealth, getting, goods.
Obviously, this word conveys a host of non-specific items. But regarding our theoretical assumptions, we are looking for other potential energy sources or valuable resources that Israel may have now or will acquire in the future for themselves, either by divine providence or purchase power.
Like most other nations, Israel purchases many forms of energy from other nations. Therefore, whatever varied energy sources Israel may have on reserve would be a contributing driving force behind Gog’s intentions. The Israeli people are some of the most intelligent and highly innovative people on the planet – just one more divine gift to God’s cherished chosen people.
There is also the Salt Sea (also known as the Dead Sea) that holds vast mineral wealth that Gog may be interested in plundering.
For instance, Israel exports potash, a useful fertilizer that would certainly be a valuable spoil during times of famine. Another useful Israeli resource is bromine, which is used in various applications including water treatment, fire retardants, pharmaceuticals, and plays a role in agriculture, electronics, and energy storage.
Again, it is very interesting that God condemns Gog for coming against His people “which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.” These modern-day resources have been a gift from God to His people Israel, many produced from the effects of the global flood in the days of Noah that have just recently been revealed to them as they have returned to their God-given Promised Land.
When it comes to goods in Israel that Gog may covet, might we add the vast amounts of military hardware and weaponry Israel has acquired over the decades to the equation? Gog would certainly desire and require to rearm himself after devouring much flesh in his numerous military campaigns!
“And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.” – Daniel 7:5
For more on the Russian Bear and the other three beasts of the end-times, please see Daniel 7: The Four Beasts of the End-Times.
Why Israel and Not Saudi Arabia?
This is a great question, as Saudi Arabia appears to be one of those nations that are questioning and protesting Gog’s invasion of Israel, represented by Sheba and Dedan in Ezekiel 38:13. Here are some logical answers that come to mind.
- Israel is finding massive amounts of oil and natural gas on a regular basis, and these discoveries could intensify even more as time goes on.
- Saudi Arabia is Islamic.
- Though Islamic sects can often hate each other, the one item in this world that unites them is their disdain and hatred of Israel.
- Russia knows that Islamic nations will certainly aid him in his attempted overthrow of Israel.
- Since Gog is aligned with many Muslim nations, the last thing he would want is an Islamic religious war that would thwart his intentions.
What About the Islamic Nations?
Here again are the same rhetorical questions that were posed to Gog by other nations:
“Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” – Ezekiel 38:13
How would the Islamic nations answer these rhetorical questions? Of course, we do not know for sure, but I would suggest that they would answer no. Why?
Immediately after the rapture of the church, not one single person will have the indwelling Holy Spirit, until, of course, the first converts come to Christ; the first of which may be the 144,000 Israeli Witnesses.
Antisemitism has grown exponentially in just the last year alone, as every problem in the world has seemingly been attributed to the Israeli people and the nation of Israel, so after the rapture of the church, Islam will be primed for their revenge. Their time to destroy Israel, in their demented minds, will have come!
Since Islam is already a highly demonically inspired religion, hell-bent on the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Israeli people, their obsessed hatred of all things Isreal will be Satanically supercharged after the rapture. It seems more than reasonable that because of this, their entire aim and mission is driving Israel into the sea at the instigation of Satan and his henchmen.
I propose that this invasion is not for spoil in the eyes of Islam, but rather this invasion for them is for the express intent to conquer and destroy Israel and her people, effectively to compete Hitler’s “final solution” and ultimately frustrate and defeat the plans of God at the instigation of Satan.
This laser focus on the destruction of Israel by the Islamic nations would certainly benefit Gog, as his eyes are specifically on the spoil and the prey.
Conclusion
I envision in my mind’s eye Gog reaching out to these Islamic nations, informing them that he is going against Israel, and if they are interested in taking care of their Israel problem, that they should join him.
It is my contention, though I am not adamant, that the Islamic forces that come against Israel with Gog may very well be ignorant of his evil intent to spoil and plunder Israel’s energy sources and other vital resources. It is hard to fathom that these Islamic nations, demonically inspired as they will be, have any other intention than to drive the nation of Israel into the sea and destroy the Israeli people. This tunnel-vision focus on the mission to destroy Israel and her people by the Islamic nations would obviously benefit Gog immensely.
If Vladimir Putin is Gog – and he may very well be – then this quote from the following article is apropos: “Russia now actively works toward Israel’s destruction.” Prophetically and logically, it will be the Satanically inspired Islamic horde of nations that Gog will amass at Isael’s northern border in Syria, side-by-side with his own troops, that Gog hopes to achieve his “evil plan.”
Thankfully and praiseworthily, the God of Israel, in protecting His chosen people and land, at this time, has His own plan!
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May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
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