In the book of the prophet Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, we find a war like no other trumped only by the final battle of Armageddon in which Christ will slay the nations with the sword of His mouth. The infamous prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, who is Gog of the land of Magog, will become a chief over a confederation of nations and tribes that is comprised of the neighboring nation-states of the land of Israel. He will lead these peoples in an attempt to raze the Hebrew nation, however the Bible makes it crystal clear how this war will turn out. It will end with a feast of blood and flesh for the birds of prey in the region where the Lord has referred to His enemies as the 'fatlings of Bashan' since the slaughter will be massive and gory. So violent will this war be that five sixths of this army lead by Gog will be eliminated...and not by human agency, but by the very hand of God. For the mathematically challenged, that is eighty-five percent killed, leaving a tiny remnant to return to their homelands and extol the glory of the Lord.

Having spent the last two years studying the Magog vs. Israel conflict, I have found some astonishing passages that coincide with this event in other Scriptural books that shed light on this and related prophecies leading up to the Rapture and the final seven years of judgment called the 'Tribulation Period'. First, let's look at a passage in Zechariah that jumped of the page at me, even though I have read it many times this time I began to see fuller meaning:

Zechariah 4:6-7 Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts. 'What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel {you will become} a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!'""

The phrase “this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel”, is laid out for us in the first chapter of Haggai and I will leave it to the reader to fully investigate, but in short it says that the people do not think it is time to rebuild the temple but the Lord is now commanding it of them. The context of this passage is speaking of the time when the temple of the Lord will be rebuilt in the latter days. We know that Zerubbabel did in fact begin the rebuilding of the second temple that was finished in the days of Christ's earthly ministry by king Herod, however, the prophet was referring to the third temple – the one found in Revelation 11 and Daniel 9 which must be standing before the Tribulation period can begin. How can this be? Because this entire passage, in fact the first seven chapters of Zechariah, follows along with the book of Revelation referring to the two witnesses of Revelation at the rebuilt temple, the seven golden lampstands, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the building up of the Antichrist's throne in the land of Shinar ( aka Babylon)...yes all of these are found in Zechariah, and the vision is explained as being reserved for the 'latter days'.

I have discovered that in this passage we also find an obscure mention of Gog from the Magog vs. Israel conflict in Zechariah's text above. I pondered for a while over the term “O great mountain" and if it was even plausible that there might be a link to anything from Ezekiel 39 & 39. Here is the unexpected result:

Lexicon entry for (pronounced: Gawg) (Strong's H1463): Hebrew GOG = 'mountain'

We know that from another perspective, Magog is labeled as the land to the extreme north of the fertile crescent from the family of the descendants of Japheth, within the table of nations – and it is this land from which Ezekiel explains Gog will descend. What is important is that Magog is defined as the 'land of Gog'. The lexicon discovery then ties together with the following Scripture perfectly:

Ezekiel 38:18-23 "It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "that My fury will mount up in My anger. "In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare {that} on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. "The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. "I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord GOD. "Every man's sword will be against his brother. "With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD.'"

Just as the Lord has said, “What are you, O great mountain (keeping in mind Strong's Concordance H1463: GOG = mountain) before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!'" There can be no mistaking the top stone or 'capstone' for anything other than the finishing of the building of the temple. It is just as clear that this will happen in the 'latter days' long after this Zerubbabel has been 'gathered to his fathers', around the same time that the witnesses begin their ministry in Revelation 11. Since reincarnation is not an option, there is only one conclusion as to who this Zerubbabel is and it is found by looking at the precedence set forth by Scripture in Luke chapter one:

Luke 1:17 "It is he (John the Baptist, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, cousin to Jesus) who will go {as a forerunner} before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." I will show in future study that while this has happened, it will once again occur with the appearance of the two witnesses at the beginning of the Tribulation period.

John came in the 'spirit and power of Elijah, but Christ called him Elijah. Therefore, it is no stretch to think it will be the same for the 'latter days' Zerubbabel.

We can also yoke together the destruction of Gog (aka 'O great mountain') and his army in Zechariah, who the Lord will destroy with a 'great earthquake and mountains being 'thrown down' which will then become 'a plain', to the amplified description given in Ezekiel's account. This is a commonplace occurrence in the Holy Bible in both Covenants – that multiple prophets receive partial revelations of identical events - who are both contemporaries and separated by several generations, peoples and countries. We, too, find that the phrase used in Zechariah, “'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts”, is also a one liner that is detailed in no brief language in Ezekiel's 38th and 39th chapters, where the Lord declares that Israel will not protect herself, but He will destroy this confederation of nations by His mighty hand. This is also found in Haggai:

Haggai 2:21-23 "Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, 'I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 'I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, everyone by the sword of another.' 'On that day,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,' declares the LORD, 'and I will make you like a signet {ring,} for I have chosen you,' " declares the LORD of hosts.

After this one-sided battle is complete the collective heart of Israel will be strengthened. We can then take from Zechariah's account that the capstone or top stone will be brought with shouts of “grace, grace to it!”. The context of Zechariah's vision leaves room for only one possible conclusion – this event will spur an emboldened Israel to begin the rebuilding of the temple as the rest of the world stands idly by wringing their hands, doing nothing but trembling in awe, fully aware that the God of Jacob has defended Israel and delivered her out of the hand of Gog and his army. This is explained throughout both the 38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel when the Lord will 'magnify His holy Name' in the sight of the 'nations' and 'Israel'.

For almost 14 centuries the Dome of the Rock has been planted firmly on the top of mount Moriah, perfectly planned out in the provisional will of God until just the right time, forcing Israel to resist hauling up the stones of the next temple onto the temple mount. I do not believe that the Dome will necessarily be destroyed though it may, but I do find more than ample evidence that the first two temples stood to the north of the Muslim holy sight in a direct line from the eastern 'Golden' or 'Messiah's' Gate, which is currently sealed off by mortar and stone with a Muslim cemetery placed in the direct path of this gate in the belief that Christ cannot enter in through it because He might defile Himself. Evidently, they that erected the wall of bricks and laid the field of headstones and mausoleums do not understand just exactly who Yeshua Ha'Moshiach – Christ Jesus – truly is. Not ironically though, this continues to lump hand-fulls of straw onto the proverbial camel's back, providing more and more evidence to a plot foreknown and predestined in the providence of the living God – put into the hearts of man just as the Lord has since he hardened pharaohs heart against the release of Moses and the children of Israel.

In closing, and as an attempt at a teaser for the next article, I would just like to add that this study has revealed some very interesting things that I have never heard from any preacher or teacher before. Found across a wide variety of books in the Bible; throughout Daniel, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and several New Testament books, I believe is a plethora of proof regarding the 'Rapture', the identity of the two witnesses and their ministry at the temple, the seven churches or sevenfold lampstand representing the church as a whole (though only two of the seven are found worthy of the Rapture event) and a variety of exciting happenstances that are shortly going to come to pass – I believe in our lifetime, and possibly in as little as months to just a few years.

So let's just watch the news, shall we. Let's see if Syria and Iran continue to warm up to Russia – let's wait for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and see if they decide not to launch it against the so called 'Zionist disease (as described by Ahmadinejad) who will be eradicated from the face of the earth' – waiting to see if Israel preemptively strikes Iran as she did Iraq's nuclear reactor. Is there a war fitting the description above just over the horizon in which all of Israel's Muslim neighbors will join in a frenzied (jihad) attack against her lead by an angry Russia. Only time will tell, but praise be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in any case. It is finished!