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Time Continues After the Great Tribulation Period

By Chris McCann
December 7, 2017

Gog and Magog are figures the Bible uses to describe Satan's loosing and coming against the churches of the world at the time of the end of the Church Age (1988 thru 2011):

Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:

AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION GOG & MAGOG ARE DEFEATED

In Ezekiel chapter 38 & 39 we find parabolic language that can only picture Satan's assault against the church at the time of the Great Tribulation.

Then, we read that God strikes down Gog and Magog and they are defeated. It's obvious that Gog and Magog's defeat had to come at the conclusion of the 23 year tribulation period. Prior to that time Satan was victorious and overcoming the camp of the saints. It was only afterwards, after his service to God in destroying the corporate church was completed that he fell upon the mountains of Israel. May 21, 2011 was that day that Satan and his kingdom fell to the Lord Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.

At the conclusion of the 8400 day, exact 23 year Great Tribulation period (May 21, 2011 was that concluding day) and after Gog and Magog (Satan and his emissaries) have accomplished the purpose of God in bringing total desolation to the corporate church---God turns His attentive wrath away from the congregations of the world and begins to include all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth as the target of His furious anger. It is at this time that Gog and Magog fall at the hands of God:

Ezekiel 39:1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:

3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.

4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

THE DAY GOD HAS SPOKEN OF, THE DAY OF JUDGMENT HAS COME

Ezekiel 39:5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

They 'know' God is the LORD through the experiencing of God's judgment which is upon them.

The "day" God has long spoken of is Judgment Day. It is the Day of Judgment upon the world. The Bible indicates that day began immediately after the tribulation on the date of May 21, 2011!

GOG & MAGOG’S DEFEAT NOT THE END OF THE STORY

After reading the first 8 verses in Ezekiel 39 we would think that's the end of the story. Satan attached the church and won that battle. Afterwards, which can only be after the Great Tribulation period, God turned His wrath upon Satan and his forces (Gog and Magog) and destroyed them. God even says this is the 'day' He's spoken of. The Day of Judgment. All should be over and done with. Time to turn our attention to the new heaven and new earth.

However, the passage in Ezekiel 39 continues:

Ezekiel 39:9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:

10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.

11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.

12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.

13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.

We find as we read the Scriptures above that time periods of 'seven years' and 'seven months' are referred to.

TIME IN VIEW AFTER THE TRIBULATION

Now this is strange, isn't it? We read that Satan and his army has been overcome and then, yes, the language in which these two time references are given is language describing the cleaning up AFTER a battle. Burning the enemies weapons and burying their dead bodies. Therefore this is not a second picture typifying the same truth as the first; but this is a picture that is continuing the theme begun earlier in the same chapter.

In other words, God is telling us of a time period AFTER the tribulation. He uses the figure of seven years and seven months to describe it. We’re very much interested in checking this idea out because we’ve already seen a reference to time after the tribulation in the New Testament:

Mark 13: 24 But in THOSE DAYS, AFTER that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

A careful reading of the above Scripture reveals a startling truth: there will be a number of

unspecified “days” AFTER the tribulation.

SEVEN YEARS / SEVEN MONTHS

The first thing we notice when we look at these two time references is that we've seen them before. As a matter of fact these same two time references are in view when we look at historical types of the Great Tribulation period. We know that the famine in Joseph's day lasted for seven years. And we also know that the book of Acts refers to that seven year famine as 'great affliction' using the identical two Greek words translated as 'Great Tribulation' in Matthew chapter 24. Additionally, we know that ‘seven months’ was used by God when the ark was taken by the Philistines in the book of 1st Samuel. It too represented the entirety of the Great Tribulation period.

But this presents a very difficult problem to us. If the Great Tribulation is in view in these verses found in Ezekiel 39, then why did we read of Gog and Magog's fall and defeat earlier in the chapter? And again, the language is unmistakably consecutive. The events of burning the weapons and burying the dead bodies follow the defeat of Gog and Magog. It would make no sense whatsoever to burn the weapons and bury the bodies of a still strong and warring foe. No. Those type of things are done after the battle is over. And they are done by the victorious army.