When does the Gog/Magog battle, described in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, occur?

Ted’s Response:

You are absolutely correct in saying that Israel will know that God has defended them against their enemies. As Ezekiel wrote, immediately following the battle involving the armies of Gog/Magog, "From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God" (Ezekiel 39:22). This carnage of the forces of Gog and Magog is the same as the winepress of God's wrath (Isaiah 63:1-16; Joel 3:13; Revelation 14:19,20, 19:15).

Unlike many who believe that this combat will happen prior to the beginning of, or sometime during, the 70th Week, I believe that it will take place at the very end of the 70th Week, when Jesus returns physically to earth. This is not the same as the Battle of Armageddon, which will occur later. All of the details describing this can be found in my commentary, The Final Battles.

Note the similarities within these parallel passages in Isaiah and Revelation, at the time that Jesus returns bodily to earth in Bozrah, Edom:

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. ... I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground" (Isaiah 63:1-3,6).

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (Revelation 14:19,20).

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty (Revelation 19:11-13,15).

The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat—the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat (Isaiah 34:5-7).

Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: "Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind," declares the Sovereign LORD (Ezekiel 39:17-20).

I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great" (Revelation 19:17,18).

When Jesus comes back to earth, He will return to Bozrah and travel to Jerusalem, slaughtering the nations' armies in the "winepress of God's wrath" along the way. Both Isaiah and John described Jesus' garments, bloody red from treading the winepress and slaughtering the armies (Isaiah 63:2,3; Revelation 19:13,15c). Then (after that), the Antichrist (beast) and his armies will gather (in the plains of Megiddo) to make war against Jesus (Revelation 19:19). The birds who have gathered will feast first on the armies of Gog/Magog, then later on the armies of the Antichrist.

Now, look at this prophecy, given to Daniel:

From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days (Daniel 12:11).

It will be at the end of that subsequent 30 days that the Antichrist and His armies, enraged that the seven Bowl Judgments will have been being poured out upon them during that month, will meet in the plain of Megiddo, that is at Armageddon (Revelation 16:1-16). They will be preparing to come against Jesus, Who already will have been sitting on His throne in Jerusalem since having returned to earth 30 days prior to that.

Note two verses written by Zechariah:

On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo (Zechariah 12:11).

Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle (Zechariah 14:3).

In the second case, the Lord (Jesus) will fight against Gog and the armies from the Magog nations, who will come against Jerusalem, just as He later will fight against the Antichrist and his armies at the Battle of Armageddon.