Premillennialism’s greatest strength is its
hermeneutic. Premillennialists insists that we must interpret the Scriptures
according to their most natural sense within their grammatical, literary and
historical context. By “natural” sense, we mean what the original author
intended his original audience to understand naturally as they read the
passage, without any “secret” meanings. . . . The Last Battle. John
describes the second great birth in Revelation as the battle of Gog and Magog,
the final chapter in humanity’s rebellion against God. Many have argued that this
battle is actually simply a prophetic recapitulation of Armageddon. “Names and
places are different, but there can only ever be one battle which is both so
universal and so final as this one. It must be the same as the Armageddon of
Scene 5, where ‘the kings of the whole world’ are assembled for ‘the great day
of God the Almighty . . . ‘”
Of course, amillennialists simply deny that such a
battle will ever take place in time and space history. Kuyper states
categorically, “Thus also here an actual period of time is not to be thought of.”
Alan Johnson wonders how such a massive host could be found after the
disastrous destruction of earth’s forces at Armageddon, but admits the
possibility that these simply could be marshalled from “other people who during
the millennial reign defected in their hearts from the Messiah.” One can only
imagine that these two passages describes the same battle by ignoring the clear
differences between the two. Gog and Magog do not appear to fit the context of
those terrifying days of God’s wrath in the book of Revelation. Of course, the actual
context clearly places the battle after the millennium (20:7-8).
Even the Ezekiel 38-39 description of Gog and
Magog sounds much different from Armageddon. Gog and Magog happen during a time
of peace and prosperity. Armageddon happens in the midst of a war which is
destructive to the forces of Israel, assuming that Zechariah 13:8-9 was written
to describe that day:
“In the whole land,” declares the LORD,
“two-third will be struck don and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.
This third I will bring into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.”
The destruction contrasts significantly from the
battles described by both Ezekiel and Revelation, which do not even hint that
the saints suffer any loss at all at the hands of Gog and Magog. Indeed,
Ezekiel tells us that Israel will be living securely (Ezekiel 38:8, 13). While
Israel suffers horribly from the terrors which lead up to Armageddon, Israel is
enjoying peace when Gog and Magog come against it. Furthermore, there is no
hint that Gog/Magog consists of a progressive battle which brings enemy forces
closer and closer to the holy city. Instead, Revelation pictures the battle as
a singularly lopsided event, where the nations come to Jerusalem and Christ,
completely annihilates the forces with a single stroke. Also, Ezekiel never
indicates that Gog/Magog wars are judgments against Israel. The only purpose o
the battle is to judge those who oppose God’s chosen people (38:10-13; 38:16).
The differences between Armageddon and Gog/Magog are strong enough to cast
doubt if Armageddon and Gog/Magog are actually the same battle.(Robert Wetmore,
“Premillennialism, Armageddon and Judgement,” in K. Neill Foster and David E.
Fessenden, Essays on Premillennialism: A Modern Reaffirmation of an Ancient
Doctrine [Camp Hill, Pa.: Christian Publications, Inc., 2002], 153-65,
here, pp. 153, 160-61)
