Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Revelation 20:7-15, Gog and Magog and the great white throne
Released at the end of the thousand years, Satan gathers Gog and Magog, the nations from the four corners of the earth, around the camp of God's people, but fire from heaven consumes them and the devil is thrown into the lake of fire. Before a great white throne the dead, given up by the sea, death and Hades, are judged from the books, and anyone not found in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire, the second death.
Revelation 20:7-15, in every translation this tool compares.
At the end of the thousand years Satan is freed and rallies the nations from every corner of the world, called Gog and Magog, against God's people and his beloved city, but fire from heaven destroys them and the devil is cast into the burning lake for ever. John then sees a great white throne before which heaven and earth flee, and all the dead, raised from sea and grave, are judged by their deeds as recorded in God's books. Death and the grave are themselves destroyed in the lake of fire, along with all whose names are missing from the book of life. Who Gog is, and whether this battle is the one already told in chapter 19, are debated.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/book-of-life\/","n":"The book of life","s":"An old picture of God keeping a register of the names of those who belong to him. Jewish writers developed it, and the New Testament uses it from Luke to Revelation.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-sea\/","n":"The sea","s":"To ancient Israel the sea stood for chaos and danger that only God could command. The Gospel stories on the lake of Galilee lean on that old picture.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/gehenna\/","n":"Gehenna","s":"The valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, a place with a dark history, whose name had become the word for the fiery place of the wicked after death.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/resurrection-of-the-dead\/","n":"The resurrection of the dead","s":"Most Jews, with the Pharisees, expected God to raise the dead to bodily life at the end of the age. The Sadducees denied it. Nobody expected one man to rise ahead of everyone else.","r":""}
Gog is Israel's last enemy in Ezekiel 38-39; Josephus writes that "Magog founded those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians" (Antiquities 1.6.1). Many identify Gog with Gyges of Lydia, whose capital, Sardis, was one of the seven churches (the Zondervan dictionary; the atlas, whose gazetteer calls Magog uncertain). In Jewish texts Gog stood for all nations massed against Israel (Keener; the dictionary). Heiser's Unseen Realm reads Gog as a supernatural figure from the cosmic north, and the dictionary calls him "the demonic and sinister leader of ungodly peoples"; Keener reads human nations. Books of deeds recall Daniel 7:10 and Enoch (Keener), and the book of life Israel's registers of citizens (the dictionary). The drowned, unburied, were thought barred from Hades (the cultural backgrounds notes; Wright), hence the sea giving up its dead. The lake of fire recalls Daniel 7:10's river of fire, the Greek underworld and 1 Enoch 90 (the cultural backgrounds notes); Heiser's Reversing Hermon traces the fire prepared for the devil's angels to 1 Enoch, while his podcast finds fiery judgment already in Isaiah 33:14 and 66:24. Heiser leaves open whether the second death is annihilation or endless torment.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Revelation 20:1-6, and on 20:7-8, 20:9, 20:12 and 20:13-14
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Revelation 19:20, 20:8, 20:9, 20:12, 20:13 and 20:14
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, on Revelation 12:10
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 40, Foe from the North, and its endnote
- Michael S. Heiser, Reversing Hermon, ch. 11, sections Gog, the Rephaim-Titans, and Typhon and The Lake of Fire, the End of the Watchers
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 20:7-15
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Revelation 20:7-10, 20:11-15 and 20:13
- CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 20:11-15
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.6.1, trans. William Whiston
- Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entries Gog, Magog and life, book of
- Carl G. Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, The Seven Churches of Revelation, Sardis, and gazetteer, Magog
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 20: Satan's Final Defeat and the Great White Throne Judgment, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
- Michael S. Heiser, Naked Bible Podcast, Revelation series, audience question-and-answer episodes (about 401-406)
