Gog & Magog Explained: Why the World Turns Against Israel - Living Inspired

[music] >> We're told in scripture in the Bible, Ezekiel 38, very famously, that nations will go to war against Jerusalem at the end of days. Same thing in in Zechariah chapter 12. And God is going to be destroy of all the enemies against Jerusalem. As it turns out, the name of this enemy is called Gog. What does Gog mean? Like, what is Gog? I don't know of a country named Gog, do you? Welcome to another chapter of Gog and Magog. Uh this is an ongoing saga. We've been talking about Gog for for a few months. But now I really want to tackle one specific part, and perhaps we could from there go quite a bit further. You see, who is Gog and Magog? And furthermore, why do they come up against Jerusalem? What's their motive? And who are their allies? And what is the land of Magog? And why do they have to fall coming up against Jerusalem? But this chapter tells us clearly that before Messiah comes, the Jewish people return to the land of Israel. Nations come to attack Eretz Yisrael over Jerusalem, and God destroys them all. And then, once the Jews are in Eretz Yisrael, and V'haya Bayom Hahu, V'akash Hashem L'chol Hagoyim Habolim Al Yerushalayim, that God will destroy all the nations that come up against Jerusalem. This is these What I want to show is what I want to illustrate is a very specific uh prophecies that are highly falsifiable. They're very specific that at the end of days, before Messiah comes, the Jews return to the land of Israel, and there's a state, and there's an army. And nations that surround Eretz Yisrael attack Eretz Yisrael, and Jerusalem be a burdensome stone to all the nations that come against it. You see, in prophets, there's actually three wars of Gog and Magog. Two of them are in Ezekiel and one of them is in Zechariah. Primarily, we're going to be dealing with the prophecy of Ezekiel 38. And it's important to mention that Maimonides, in describing end times in general, says that figuring out who in each person is will not bring anybody closer to fearing God or love of God. But there's something astounding which I found the Maharal, a 16th century mystic, said about the war of Gog and Magog. He said the following, that historically, this type of war began when Abraham was promised this land. As soon as God promised and made a covenant with Abraham, immediately four kings came up against Abraham. Why did they come up? Well, the Maharal explains that the Jewish people being chosen created a theological problem for their faiths because if in fact their idol worship was true, then how could God promise Abraham and his descendants this land? Abraham was successful in that war and that increased his name and his God's glory around the world. The second time such a thing happened was by Sennacherib in the time of Hezekiah. What happens there is they come up against Jerusalem once again. And the Maharal says that the exact number of soldiers who came up by Sanhedrin was the same number that came up by Abraham. Because once again, the Jews living in their land with 10 of the tribes just being exiled created an opportunity for those who wanted to see God's promise tested. In fact, they themselves were checking to find out why God chose the Jewish people and if in fact they were true that God it was true that God chose the Jewish people then it would be something that they could disprove by fighting this battle. In fact, they lost. They didn't wake up the next morning. And that's what leads us to the end time prophecy >> [snorts] >> of the war of Gog and Magog. So, what is Gog and Magog? Well, what happens is is that the nations see God restoring the land to the Jewish people. They witness the Jews returning and coming and rebuilding this land. The land that has sat desolate for 2,000 years has suddenly given forth shoots and has started to give forth its fruit. And industry awoke. The Jewish people returned, rebuilt Jerusalem, and Torah began to expand like never before. This is all described in the verses. And when the nations witness the return of the Jewish people to the land, some nations are threatened by this. Now, what does the word Gog mean? Well, over here I'll take you to Samson Raphael Hirsch who says the following, that the word Gog in Hebrew means a roof. And Magog means the people who rely on the roof. So, what is the roof? Who are the roof people? We're trusting in the clouds of heaven. So, what do you have in the end time war that plays itself out in Ezekiel and Zechariah, and really all over the place, is a war between the people who trust in the roof against those who trust in the clouds. In a manner of speaking, it's the roof people against the cloud people. If we go back to Egypt, one of the plagues was hail. And hail would come down and destroy everything. But God said that if you put your cattle inside of a shed, they will not be destroyed. If you put it under a roof, they won't be destroyed. So now, let me ask you a question. The Torah says that these people were God-fearing people because they put their cattle under a roof. But why? Weren't they just saving their cattle? And here lies the answer, my friends. The answer is the reason why they were God-saving people is because even with the roof, their cattle wasn't protected. In fact, the hail could have smashed right through the roof and killed their cattle. But yet, God said, "If you follow my command to put the cattle under a roof, then the roof won't protect you, but God will protect you. And here lies the secret of why the people of Gog, the people who rely solely on the roof will have to fall. You see, when Iran or any country goes to war against Israel, what essentially they're saying is two things. Number one, the Jewish people do not have a right to this land. And that God's prophecy that he prophesized in Ezekiel 38 that the Jews will return. And they'll come back and they'll build up the land. Then Gog comes up to them. Why does he come up to them? Because he recognizes this prophecy unfolding and this threatens their religion, their faith in their power and strength. And in fact, we are told that the word Gog Umagog has a numerical value of 70. Why is that significant? Well, all 70 nations will somehow be involved against Israel. Is that happening right now? Well, Maimonides, like we said, warns against making speculation. He says that when events take place, we will have known once they have taken place. So, if the world decides to come up against Jerusalem, and that could happen very, very quickly. We're at a point right now where this can go really bad, really quickly. It's an opportune time for us to We're in the month of Iyar. Now, this month has something very special in it. Besides for the 28th of Iyar, when Jerusalem was parts of Jerusalem were liberated, it also has something the 14th day of Iyar. The 14th day of Iyar is actually called Pesach Sheni. It's the second Pesach. Now, you might say, "What does that mean? I thought there was only one Passover." Well, not exactly. You see, if we miss the first Passover, if somebody could not come the first time because he had a reason, he had ritual impurity, he couldn't bring the Passover lamb, he has an opportunity to do it once more. A second chance. A very rare occasion. Generally, when you have a commandment which we can't fulfill, it's gone. You don't put on tefillin in the morning, you missed out. If you don't sit in the sukkah, you don't have a second sukkot. But yes, you have a second Pesach. And the question is, why? Why give a second Passover? Now, there's another thing in the Torah which was somebody who actually missed out and got a second opportunity. And that was the daughters of somebody named Zelophehad. The daughters of Zelophehad. Now, these daughters did not have a portion in the land of Eretz Yisrael. But they came to Moshe and they said, "Just because our father was killed and we don't have a portion, we should not we should still have the ability of getting a portion of Eretz Yisrael." And Moshe said, "Yes, you are correct." And he gave them a portion. So, here you have another example of somebody not getting what they're supposed to do and asking. And this happened again by the time of Chizkiyahu. After this war, it was on the second month and for some reason, they decided let's go ahead and ask for a carbon Pesach. Now the similarities with Bnos Tzelafchad is the following that the daughters of Tzelafchad were actually were part of a tribe called Menashe. Now Menashe had half of the tribe was on the other side of the Jordan River outside of Israel and the other half were inside of Israel. And these daughters were given a portion outside of the land, a big healthy portion. But yet the daughters said no. We want to have a portion in Israel even though it's smaller. And that is why these daughters are so special in the Torah. In fact, the last chapter of the book of Bamidbar is entirely devoted to the daughters of Tzelafchad. This is such an important message that we can choose even though we have a portion of exile, we could choose a portion to Eretz Yisrael. And even if somebody misses the carbon Pesach, he misses the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, he has an opportunity in this month to bring it again. Now why is this significant? Well, you see, once we are able to bring the sacrificial lamb and we bring it up to the Temple Mount, then the world will see the Jewish people fulfilling another prophecy. Then we reinstate the Passover lamb will create a commotion in the world. And this will ignite all the nations to either accept the Jewish people and their sovereignty over the Temple Mount or come to war and join the people who rely on their roof, who rely on their might and power. And feel that they could impose their will on God's will. We're in a special time. We don't know if this is Gog and Magog. Some people speculate. But the ingredients, what's necessary for this to happen is that the world are jealous of the Jewish people. Now, one of the prophecies that says in the Bible is about the return of the Jewish people to their land is "V'le yisach me'eit ish es artzo." And nobody will want to have this land. That will be the final situation. Why? Let them salivate at the lips. Let them want to have this land. Then God says, "You can't have it." You see, at the end of times, all nations will understand the significance of the Jewish people offering the Passover lamb and doing the sacrifices that are explained by the priests in Ezekiel 44, where it describes the Torah and the mitzvahs all being fulfilled. It states clearly that the Jewish people will continue to serve God through Torah and mitzvahs, following God's commandment when Messiah comes. That's >> [snorts] >> the message. We continue to allow the world to witness our miracle and let them choose. Thank you for watching. If this message interests you, if you want to hear more about Gog and Magog, we're going to have possibly another episode. Let me know in in comments. Tell me questions and we'll try to address everything. Thank you for watching. Shabbat tov from just outside Jerusalem. Hazak u'barukh. >> [music]