Who are Gog and Magog?

I recently had a discussion with someone about demons and giants and the nephilim. They said that Gog and Magog were giants. It might be true. It got me thinking, though. I’ve read the names, and I knew the sources. I have never actually tried to reason out who these people are, and what is their significance? In the book of Revelation, the very end of the world is the war of Gog and Magog against Jerusalem (Rev 20:1-10). Because of the context, it really causes one to ask if these are even persons.

We find Magog in Genesis 10:2. He is a son of Japheth. Genesis 10 is considered the table of nations. So when we find these names in the rest of the Bible we shouldn’t assume it is the actual person. It is most likely the nation, or the people, that come from that person. So, already I am at an assumption that Magog is a nation, and not a literal person, when it is mentioned in Revelation.

But we find these names outside of Genesis and Revelation. They both appear in Ezekiel chapter 39. This chapter is a continuation of chapter 38. Ezekiel 38 and 39 are about the end time war against the Antichrist. There is the calling of all the birds and animals to feast on the flesh of the army. But in Revelation 20, we find that we are addressing Satan. He is thrown into the fire (which is the same fate that was given the Antichrist and false prophet at the end of Revelation 19).

 So why is it that when we read Ezekiel 38-39, it is clearly speaking of the Antichrist, but then Revelation 20 speaks of Gog and Magog as Satan after the Antichrist has already been destroyed and thrown into the fire?

Gog and Magog are not people, but symbols. The word Gog seems to be a Hebrew word play. It denotes the roof of the tent used for the feast of Tabernacles. However, it is a human alternative to that roof. The whole point of the feast of Tabernacles is that God has tabernacled with mankind. He has come down to dwell in our midst. This is a human alternative – an antichrist.

Antichrist is not simply opposed to Christ. It is anything and everything that claims to be Christ, but is not Christ. Gog, then is a symbol for the Antichrist and for Satan. The two are the same, though I don’t hold to the Antichrist being Satan incarnate. Gog is the promotion of something other than God as being God. Satan has said, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” The people ask ask, “Who is like the beast?” This quote from Revelation 13 is a direct quote from passages in the Old Testament asking the same question about God. “Who is like our God?” But they take it and use it to worship the Beast!

Magog is a nation. It is the land that Gog rules over. It comes from Japheth. Magog is most likely the ever alluded to “northern kingdom” in the prophets. Just exactly who this people is, I’m not sure. One thing is certain, the ma- prefix means from in Hebrew. So magog could also be some sort of metaphor or symbol. From Gog, or from Satan, would hint at being the kingdom of darkness. The end of the age concludes with a complete clash between darkness and light – Satan and God.

When we’re talking about Gog and Magog, we’re plunged right into the heart of the theocratic Kingdom, and in that we’re also scoping the depths of eschatology. The entire Scripture seems to be about one thing, and one thing only: the battle between two kingdoms. Everything else is understood within that context. So Gog and Magog are another one of the many symbols that tie us right back to Satan versus God, the battle for who will rule over this earth and all nations.
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