Rise of Magog

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

End-times prophecy has always been an interest of mine.  I realize that in the end, none of us really know what is going to happen, or when it is going to happen.  As the Book of Matthew states, only the Father in Heaven truly knows.

That said, when I was reading the Hal Lindsey books, and the other books about prophecy, in the 1970s, I always found two things to be strange to me.  While the prophecy scholars were claiming the antichrist would rise out of Europe (largely due to the Bible’s “New Roman Empire” reference), I believed the end-times dictator to likely be from the Middle East (or at least Muslim).  First of all, I had to ask why a European leader would choose New Babylon (which I have always assumed it to be Baghdad in Iraq based on historical references) as the location for his throne?  Second, I have always been one to consider outside prophetic sources like Nostradamus as also having some validity in the prophecy game, and his quatrains state that the next global dictator will wear a blue turban.

The other thing that always bugged me was the belief that Magog is Russia (and more specifically, Moscow).  The prophecy-pushers believed that to be the truth because they were basing their findings on current geopolitical standings.  “But, what if Europe as a European empire, and the Soviet Union as a communist might, are not exactly what they are today during that future time period approaching the Tribulation and Armageddon?” I asked myself in the 1970s.

Since then the Berlin Wall has fallen, the Soviet Union has collapsed, and Europe’s might as a European empire (European Common Market) is beginning to look like less of a reality, as Islam works to overrun the continent, and pull it into their next Ottoman Empire caliphate.

As time passed, I kept revisiting my thoughts.  With the advent of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, and the growing Islamic threat since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, it has become more and more likely that Islam is a more major player in the end-times scenario than Europeans or Russians.

Which brings me back to Magog.

Based on historical maps, I’ve always believed that the prophetic biblical end-times giant, Magog, is not Russia, but Turkey.  The old tribes of Magog occupied what is today Turkey, and the former southern Soviet republics (which are all now Muslim-majority countries).  They never really reached as far north as Moscow.

Could it be that Magog, the scourge from the north that brings its might down against Israel in the Book of Revelation, the Book of Ezekiel, and other prophetic passages in the Old Testament is not Russia after all, but a new head of the Muslim caliphate who had suffered what was thought to be a fatal wound to the head of the Ottoman Empire back during World War I?  And, rather than a new Roman Empire made up of European might, could it be that the new Roman Empire is simply the resurrection of the Ottoman Empire, with perhaps an even greater Muslim caliphate than we saw before that includes new additions in much of Europe, as the force that is truly to be reckoned with in the end-times scenario?

It is interesting that in the Ezekiel passages that discuss the military movement against Israel all of the countries listed as being involved are currently Islamic, except Gog if you are to believe the descendants of the tribes are Russian, rather than Turkish.

This is not to say that Russia is not a player at all.  The territories of “Rosh”, from which the prince of Rosh (Gog) may come from, includes much of greater Russia and Moscow.  But is it possible that chief prince is Turkish, rather than a resident of Moscow?

We have to ask, where do these names (Gog, Magog, Gomer, Meshech and Tubal (etc.) come from?
These are the names of the tribes of people who settled the surrounding areas near the Middle East shortly after Noah’s flood from the Book of Genesis.

Gen 10:1-3 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

Eze 38:1-3 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

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