Gog, Magog, Rome, and the End Times!

There are a lot of people today talking about Gog and Magog—The Ezekiel 38 attackers of Israel leading to an earthquake and miraculous victory for the Jewish people. Prophecy experts and armchair prophecy "experts" (sometimes they are the same people) see Russia and Iran as central in this attack. Given what is happening in Russia today, with its brutal attack on Ukraine, and what is taking place with the Iranian nuke deal, it is certainly something to consider.

But I would just remind everyone that this is not the first time in history that believers were yelling Gog and Magog. One of those instances was when the Roman Empire finally collapsed. Christians at the time viewed the Roman Empire as the Kingdom of God. Roman Christianity had a theocratic identity with Rome. Some bishops equated the attacking Goths and Visigoths with Gog and Magog in the fifth century.

Of course, Ezekiel 38 speaks about a war against the nation of Israel, not the Roman Empire. The Church Fathers had spiritualized these verses, and Christianity, which was now synonymous with Rome, was the new Israel. Augustine fought against this interpretation—that the fall of Rome was the Gog and Magog war and that Rome was the kingdom of God. While he did embrace the idea that the Church was the new people of God and hoped the Jews would leave Judaism for it, he did not believe any "earthly institution could be 'pure' in the terrestrial city." (Britannica)

The Fall of Rome

Here's an interesting fact. Rome was the longest-lasting empire in history—some say it began in 635 BCE and others in 27 BCE, but we all know that it fell in 476 CE. Suffice it to say, it was enduring. While Constantine embraced Christianity in 313 CE, it wasn't until February 27, 380 CE, under Theodosius I, that Christianity became the "religion of the Roman Empire." Just 30 years later, in 410 CE, the unthinkable happened, the Visigoths sacked Rome. And less than 100 years after Christianity became the empire's official religion, Rome fell.

"In 410, an army of Visigoths under Alaric entered and sacked the city of Rome, dealing a humiliating blow to its proud population who thought the city to be both eternal and invincible." (Lindemann and Levy, p. 63)

There will be no effective theocracy without a "Theo" — God. All pretenders will come down until "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever." (Rev. 11:15)

Getting back to the main topic, I do believe we are in the End Times. But I also believe that 1,000 years from now, somebody may see this blog and laugh. We may be gearing up for the Ezekiel 38 War. Or not.

The New Testament imperative is that no matter what, we should always be ready.