Revelation 20:7-8, Gog and Magog

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 

//This verse always makes me chuckle. It's the funny way John of Patmos inserted an explanation for Satan's final battle, as if "Gog and Magog" tells us anything at all. It sounds more like a puppet show than a battle.

One clue that's helpful when reading Revelation: almost everything there can be found in the book of Ezekiel. In this case, John refers to a strange battle scene from Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. Here, God lures Gog (a leader) and Magog (a group of people) to attack a peaceful people (presumably Israel). Then, God sends a great earthquake, torrents of rain, hailstones, and burning sulfur on Gog and his troops and on the many nations with him. After God devours this army, the Israelites once again "dwell in their land secure and untroubled." This does sound an awful lot like Revelation, doesn't it?

Fact is, Jewish writers had already begun trying to explain the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel. For example, the Jewish historian Josephus believed it to be a historical reference to the Scythians. John simply adds his opinion on the matter, suggesting that Ezekiel was writing about a battle yet to come.