Gog-Magog War Ezekiel prophesies an attack on Israel that must be understood to refer to modern Israel. Interestingly, the prophecies concerning the Gog-Magog war have led many students of eschatology to continually postulate any and all attacks against Israel as somehow prophetic in nature.
Specifically he is named as “the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” To that end, Gog may be understood as a title, such as “Caesar.” Because the prophecy is spoken against Gog, it is apparent that the area consistent with modern day Russia is the leading nation in this attack, as Gog is the chief prince of nations which formerly occupied that geographical area.
Verse 8 also informs the student that this is modern Israel, rather than the former nation of Israel, because its a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate.
Whatever the attacking nations may state as their purpose when this attack comes, the Bible states their real purpose is greed for some element of plunder. Clearly the coalition who is attacking has their own motives, but Ezekiel 38 informs us that God himself has a motive for this attack;
The end result of the attack is that God’s “hot anger” will be aroused against the attackers. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ God’s retaliation against the attackers begins with a massive earthquake.
Because Antichrist’s assault on Israel will begin 3 1/2 years into the tribulation and the collecting of the fuel from the weapons of the Gog-Magog war will last seven years, it can be concluded that the Gog-Magog war will complete at least 3 1/2 years before the beginning of the tribulation, which will allow the full seven years before Israel is shut into a defensive posture.