Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Ezekiel

[Airport]

How many percent of the world's population do you think will be part of Gog and Magog?

The soldiers of Gog and Magog are predicted to be as numerous as grains of sand, so it could be expected that a sizable chunk of the world's population will be a part of them.

[jimwalton]

There is no consensus on the interpretation of Gog (Ezekiel 38-39), which makes it difficult to quantify a percentage of the world's population. Martin Luther identified Gog as the Islamic caliphate, which could encompass up to 23% of the world's population at present. Others identify Gog as the northern countries we label as Russia and Eastern Europe. Josephus identifies Magog with the Scythians (Gentile barbarians) with Gog as their prince. Still others see Gog as a metaphor of the enemies of God's people. In rabbinical writings, Gog and Magog are enemies of the Messiah. Augustine's perspective was that Gog and Magog represented the final priest of the world against Christianity. It's just impossible to figure out who specifically the authors are talking about, let alone assign a percentage. It seems that Gog represents those opposed to God's people and therefore opposed to God Himself.

Gog and Magog show up again in Rev. 20.8-9, where they are identified as "the nations in the four corners of the earth." Four is a symbol of completeness, the Earth is obviously the total population. While Ezekiel identified a people group to the north, John (in Revelation) expands that reference to be more general: gathering people from the pool of all humanity who are opposed to God and His people on Earth.

The reference to "in number they are like the sand on the seashore" is obviously metaphorical to their immense abundance. The biblical text gives the impression that the armies (whether literal or metaphorical is difficult to discern) of godless humanity assemble to bring down Christianity.

The book of Revelation is always difficult.