Q: Why do you believe gog and magog are demon spirits rather than people or nations?
A: Thanks for this question.
In short, my belief is the result of perceiving The Bible as Heaven’s spiritual, strategic warfare manual for humanity, in general, and for The Lord’s ‘righteous elect’, in particular. 1 It is so much more than ‘just a religious book’ that’s packed full of stories of ancient times.
Background: God, through and for Jesus, created mankind as spirit, soul and body, in Jesus’ image. 2 Though our physical body will decay and die, The Bible reveals our spirit and soul are our immortal essence that one day will be assigned an immortal/eternal human body. He created us to be (reign as) gods/lords of Earth following a cataclysmic event that occurred in Heaven when Lucifer led a third of all angels in an attempted coup d’etat. They failed, were cast out of Heaven, and landed on Earth. They were present to witness the creation and inauguration of man as Earth’s gods/lords. Lucifer, who was transformed into satan, deceived Eve to sin (disobey The Lord), and Adam followed suit, though he was not deceived. In doing so, he abdicated his designated role, and satan legally became the god/lord of this world. This explains the steady deterioration in the spiritual quality of life since Eden.
In Genesis 3:15, The Lord signaled to satan that the war he initiated in Heaven would continue over and upon Earth for several millennia, and would be transacted through mankind. Later, He signaled this war would conclude in blazing glory for all who are righteous, and in a fiery lake for all others, including all demons who would be forever assigned immortal, human bodies – spirit, soul and body. 3
Opposing spiritual forces—holy and unholy angels—are thus arrayed to influence human beings for righteousness or wickedness. The greatest accomplishment of demonic spirits has been to convince most of us that they and Heaven’s holy agents, do not exist! Apostle Paul confirmed demonic spirits are arrayed ‘in heavenly places’, generally regarded as the second heaven - between Earth’s atmosphere and the third heaven noted in 2 Corinthians 12:2. A few Bible verses indicate these spirits are assigned over geographic regions of Earth. 4 Other verses demonstrate spirit forces, both good and evil, achieve their influence over humans via the imaginations of our heart/spirit—persistent imaginations we are so prone to act out, physically. 5
A perfect example of The Lord’s perspective view of this is presented in Ezekiel 28. In the midst of upbraiding the wicked King of Tyre, The Lord, through the prophet, addresses satan (ex-Lucifer, the king’s motivating spirit.
Within this broad context, Bible references to Gog and Magog, whether to people or lands/nations with those names, or about wicked motivating spirits, because THIS is ultimately what The Lord is concerned about in the unfolding spiritual war that continues to rage through us humans.
Physically, the 66 ‘books’ of The Bible were written over several millennia by an untold number of Jewish scribes. Spiritually, however, it is best perceived, read and studied as one book, guided by One Mind –The Mind of Jesus Christ. With the help of His Holy Spirit, His presence across its pages and ages, is easily perceived by born-again citizens of Heaven. Paul refers to this as the hidden, yet revealed mystery of Father God, in Jesus Christ, The Lord God, in us bona fide, born-again Christians. Because revelations therein are released over time, line-upon line, precept-upon-precept, here a little, there a little (per Isaiah 28), it may be best to give our greatest attention to the FINAL mention of topics we study.
In this regard, I believe it would be erroneous to interpret the final reference to Gog and Magog, in Revelation 20:7-8, literally as the names of two personalities who will lead ALL ‘the nations in the four corners of the Earth’ to attack Jerusalem. An unimaginable amount of wealth will have accumulated there in response to folks across the world trying to curry favor with Jesus, The Lord God, throughout The Millennial Reign age -- the 5th Biblical age of our history. By then, satan's kingdom will have been released back on Earth after having been locked away for a thousand years. So for the first time, ALL the new nations The Lord will have formed during His reign as Earth's global king, will be subjected to deceptive influences of demonic forces. Ezekiel 38 hints of the possibility that Gog might be the demonic forces currently influencing events in ‘the land in the far north’ (presumably of Israel), which today is Russia. Also note how Ezekiel references 'Gog, of the land of Magog', but Revelation 20 references 'Gog and Magog'.
It seems safe to intuit the following:
• Before the Millennial Reign age, Gog will spiritually catalyze the predicted Ezekiel 38 invasion of Israel when it is at peace, defenseless, and possibly over-crowded from the results of a 4th hasty migration of Jews from across the world, to Palestine. This invasion will utterly fail when The Lord will intervene.
• After the Millennial Reign age, when satan's kingdom is released back on the Earth, Gog will spiritually catalyze an attempted attack on Jerusalem, one that will also utterly fail when The Lord will intervene to (a) end human history on this current version of Earth, (b) initiate His Great White Throne judgment event (Revelation 20:11-15), and (c) reveal the MASSIVE new, eternal Earth He promised in Isaiah 65:17.6.
Strategically, this might signal a ‘significant promotion’ for this powerfully-deceptive demon spirit—from his (possible current) assignment over the land in the far north of Israel (current day Russia, the largest nation on Earth), to a possible global assignment. I
Ponder this: In The Bible, The Lord only personally addresses two evil spirits: satan, who was Lucifer in Heaven, and Gog!
Let’s endeavor to study and strategically comprehend The Scriptures by applying The Mind of Christ, which Apostle Paul declared we bona fide Christians have been spiritually given, though most of us may not have received, developed and applied it in our lives, by faith,
Again, thanks for your question!
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1 See: God 101 - Who Are God’s Elect (Part 1 and Part 2).
2 See: Hebrews 1:2-10 and Colossians 1:16-17.
3 See: The Grand Finale Goshen Effect (Poem, Part 5).
4 See: Earth’s Cloaked Satellites (Poem) and also Ephesians 3:10 and 6:12, Daniel 10, 12:1, and Ezekiel 38.
5 See: Genesis 6:5-8, 8:21, Proverbs 4:23 and Luke 1:51.
