February 5: SHEER NUMBERS
…and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. Revelation 20:8
After a thousand years of peace for God’s people in heaven, the watching universe will witness for themselves that there is not a shred of repentance to be found in the character of Satan. He immediately organizes a new campaign to deceive the nations, convincing them that together they can fight against God and win. It is highly likely that his first new lie will be to tell them that he resurrected them, as he masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). This new lie would be calculated to make them forget his initial lie seven thousand years earlier. This lie is the very foundation of the false doctrine of inherent immortality: “You will not surely die,” said Satan (Genesis 3:4).
In addition to the thousand-year span between the first and second resurrections, there is another distinction: the wicked are raised in their old bodies. New, perfectly healthy bodies that will never die (John 11:26) are God’s gift to the redeemed.
The nations which are in the four corners of the earth are identified in terms from the Old Testament. Gog and Magog are Ezekiel’s terms for a cruel king and masses of people willing to do his bidding against the restored nation of God’s people following Judah’s Babylonian exile. Their most notable characteristics being organized rebellion towards God and extreme hostility toward His people. This describes the plans that Satan makes as he gathers untold hordes of the wicked (every single one who has ever lived) together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. This expression is deliberate, and reminds us of God’s promise to Abraham. The wicked will see themselves as great because of their sheer numbers. The LORD said to Abraham following his near sacrifice of Isaac: “Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies.” (Genesis 22:17)
Ezekiel 38-39 contains prophetic details of the faceoff as Satan leads his final desperate charge against God and His people. In a very real sense, God’s people in these last days are in Babylonian exile. Babylon’s influence is in every country and every household. Recall that when the Persian King Cyrus facilitated the Jews’ release from 70 years of Babylonian exile, many of them had grown so comfortable in Babylon that they would not leave. Spiritually, they were just dry bones (37:1-4). Tragically, they had traded their distinct identity as God’s people for worldliness, a foreshadowing of what we are seeing now; that is, if we are willing to see it. These last days are thunderous times of decision. The Lord always allows each of us to choose. Be assured that all who truly desire to be entirely His will be led by His Holy Spirit to complete restoration and safety.
“When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.” Ezekiel 39:27-28