Revelation 20:7-10 “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison (8) and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. (9) They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. (10) The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
As the start of our Lord’s millennial reign will begin with the battle of Armageddon, so it will end with another battle, i.e. the destruction of Gog and Magog. The above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that when the thousand-year reign of our Lord Jesus draws to a close, that once again Satan and his angels will be released from the bottomless pit to go into the earth to deceive the unbelieving nations. And so Satan will deceive the unbelieving nations to rebel against the reign of the Lord Jesus and His saints. Scripture reveals to us that thoughts will arise in men’s minds and they will begin to make evil plans (Ezekiel 38:10). Satan is the one who will place those thoughts into the minds of the unbelieving nations. And so it is because the Lord and His saints will rule the unbelieving nations with a rod of iron, that when Satan places thoughts of rebellion into their minds they will be eager to follow his deception. As we have already seen in a previous passage quoted, the unbelieving nations will view the saints as soft prey, for the scripture tells us that the saints will be living peacefully in villages without walls. They will also be envious of the prosperity of the Lord’s saints, for scripture also tells us that they will come against the saints, not only with the intention of ending their rule but also to take the wealth of the Lord’s saints for themselves (Ezekiel 38:13). The armies that eventually come against the Lord and His saints on that day will be immense, for the above scripture refers to their number being as the sand of the sea. To put that number into some sort of perspective, the scriptures tell us that after their armies have been destroyed; all the saints will be involved in burying the dead and it will take seven months to bury them all (Ezekiel 39:12). You will recall that when the Lord Jesus destroyed the beast and his army at Armageddon that the saints did nothing but watch, and it will be exactly like that on this occasion. The only difference on this occasion is that it will be God the Father who will destroy the armies of Gog and Magog. There is another aspect regarding the destruction of Gog and Magog that gives us a bit more insight into what it will be like on the earth in the later days, for the scriptures tell us that the saints will use the weapons of those armies for firewood for the next seven years (Ezekiel 39:9). The weapons that the Holy Spirit speaks about in that passage are shields, bows, arrows, javelins and spears, thus confirming the truth that there will be no modern weapons available such as we know in this present age. The fact that the saints will still be using the weapons of Gog’s armies for firewood seven years after their destruction, also indicates to us that the second resurrection will not take place immediately after this event. The above passage also reveals to us that it is at this time that Satan himself will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. And so just as the Antichrist and the false prophet, Satan will not be present at the great white throne judgement of God, for those three would have already been cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.
Michael E.B. Maher
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