Pulse
7 September 2026
The conflict in the Middle East has inspired many Christians to speculate about the end-time fulfilment of biblical prophecies. The Bible book that is currently in much of the spotlight is not Revelation as one would expect, but Ezekiel in the Old Testament.
Ezekiel’s vision of the restoration of Israel, the destruction of Israel’s enemies and the mysterious invasion of Gog from the land of Magog in Ezekiel 38-39 have captured the imagination of some Christians. These Christians have understood contemporary geopolitics involving America and the Middle East as the fulfilment of these prophecies, leading them to believe that the end is near.
Back in 2024, after Iran fired 200 missiles on Israel, 99 percent of which was successfully intercepted and destroyed, John Hagee proclaimed that ‘Prophetically, we are on the verge of the Gog-Magog war that Ezekiel described in chapters 39 and 38.’ More recently (4 March 2026), Hagee, said that ‘The prophet Ezekiel makes it very clear that in the end of days – right now – the king of the north which is Russia will invade Israel.’ Hagee is the founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest and most influential ‘pro-Israel’ organisation in America which boasts of 8 million members.
Hagee is not the first to relate contemporary geopolitical realities to the ancient prophecies of Ezekiel. In his essay entitled ‘Ezekiel in Christian Interpretation: Gog, Magog and Apocalyptic Politics’, Andrew Mein, a biblical scholar at the University of St Andrews, provides a list of speculations on what he calls the ‘Geopolitical Gog.’
In the fourth century, the theologian Ambrose (339-397), who had considerable influence on the young Augustine, speculated that Gog in Ezekiel represented the Goths who were marauding towards the Italian heartlands. Ambrose based his identification simply on the similarity in sound between the words ‘Gog’ and ‘Goth’, a mistake that has been repeated in modern times.
In a sermon that celebrated the victory over the Avars (a barbarian people) in 626, Theodore Synkellos of the great Church of Constantinople, asserted that Ezekiel’s prophecy relates to Constantinople. According to Mein, Theodore thought that Constantinople is a ‘better candidate to be “the navel of the earth” than ruined Jerusalem, and the Avars are a good fit with Gog …’
Hal Lindsay, in his 1970 bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth maintained that the modern face of Gog is Russia. Lindsay arrived at this conclusion based on the theory of a nineteenth century Hebrew grammarian and Lexicographer, Wilhelm Gesenius. Such speculations received enthusiastic support from Christians who espouse some versions of dispensationalism and Zionism.
Over the past fifty years or so, at least two US presidents – Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush – have read contemporary events and figures into the prophecies of Ezekiel. Reagan identified Gog with Soviet Russia and the fire and brimstone of Ezekiel’s prophecies with nuclear weapons.
When Reagan was serving as California’s Governor between 1967 and 1975 during the Cold War, he reportedly said that:
Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained upon the enemies of God’s people. That must mean that they’ll be destroyed by nuclear weapons. They exist now, and they never did in the past. Ezekiel tells us that Gog, the nation that will lead all of the other powers of darkness against Israel, will come out of the north. Biblical scholars have been saying for generations that Gog must be Russia.
Prior to his invasion of Iraq in 2003, Bush told Jacques Chirac, the French President, that Gog and Magog are at work in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, adding that the biblical prophecies are being fulfilled in their day. In an article published in Church and State, Stephen Spector writes: ‘Bush evidently believed that he was advancing God’s providence when he led the USA into war in Afghanistan and Iraq.’
In the course of church history, the following countries or political powers have been identified as Gog: Scythians (2nd century), Goths and Huns (4th to 5th centuries), Arabs / Saracens (7th – 8th centuries), Muslims / Turks (11th – 13th centuries), Mongols / Tartars (13th century), Ottoman Turks (15th – 17th centuries), Russia (19th century), Russian and/or Germany (World War I), Nazi Germany (World War II), Soviet Union / Russia (Cold War), Soviet Union and Arab Coalition (1967 Arab Israeli War), Soviet Union and Arab States (1973 Arab-Israeli War), Iraq / Saddam Hussein and / or Russia (1991 Gulf War), Iraq, Russia and Iran (2003 Iraq War), and Russia and Iran, plus allies (2000s to present).
The bewildering diversity of conflicting interpretations of the same ancient text, each identifying whoever or whatever is the most threatening enemy at the time, should give us pause. It should alert us to the serious methodological flaw behind the attempt to relate contemporary international politics with biblical prophecy.
How, then, should we read a prophetic text such as Ezekiel?
EZEKIEL IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT
One of the most important principles of responsible interpretation of prophetic books of the Old Testament such as Ezekiel is that they must be understood in their historical context. To leap from the text which was composed in the sixth century BCE to the twenty-first century is to risk making that fatal mistake of anachronism – reading modern categories into an ancient writing.
What, then, is the historical context of Ezekiel?
According to Marvin A. Sweeney, Professor of the Hebrew Bible at the Claremont School of Theology, ‘[t]he chronological framework of the book of Ezekiel (1:1-3 and 40:1) indicates that the book’s chronology was designed to encompass a total of twenty years, from the fifth through the twenty-fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah in 592-572 BCE.’
In addition, Ezekiel’s chronology is connected to the political history of Assyria, Babylonia, Judah and the Judean exile. The French historian and professor of religions, Daniel Bodi, points out that the book’s language, imagery and conceptual world are deeply embedded in its Mesopotamian setting.
Although the prophecies of Ezekiel emerged in the sixth century BCE, their historical background must be traced considerably further back, particularly to Judah’s relationship with Assyria and Babylon.
Judah’s involvement with Babylonian politics already went back to the late eighth century BCE, when Hezekiah participated in anti-Assyrian initiatives that included contacts with Babylon. Assyria’s King Sennacherib invaded Judah in 701 BCE, capturing numerous fortified cities and devastating much of the kingdom, although Jerusalem itself was not captured.
Eventually, the political might of Assyria waned, and Babylon became the dominant imperial power. During the transition, King Josiah (640-609 BCE) tried to introduce extensive religious reforms which focused on the worship of YHWH and the temple in Jerusalem. However, this was not merely an attempt at catalysing a religious renewal. It was also a political move to assert independence from the imperial powers.
Ezekiel was born at around 623 BCE and grew up during this heady period of religious and national restoration.
Chaos and uncertainty followed the death of Josiah at Megiddo in 609 BCE. After the brief reign of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim became king and enacted a rebellion against Babylon which prompted Nebuchadnezzar to attack Judah.
After the death of Jehoiakim, his son Jehoiachin ascended to the throne and surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BCE. He was deported to Babylon together with thousands of Judeans. Ezekiel was among the exiles. Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as king, who led an unsuccessful rebellion. Consequently, Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 587 BCE.
Ezekiel therefore prophesied within this period of the Babylonian exile.
All this means that Ezekiel must never be read as a collage of free-floating texts detached from the ancient Near Eastern world and the experience of imperial conquest and exile that inspired them. Furthermore, the purpose of Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry must be properly understood. His visions were meant to interpret the catastrophe that befell Judah theologically.
In the midst of all this devastation, defeat and tragedy, YHWH is still sovereign. Babylon, which appeared to be the enemy, is in fact also an instrument of YHWH. The prophecy is about YHWH’s judgement. But it also points to Israel’s restoration, renewed worship and the return of the divine presence. As Sweeney explains:
To a large extent, the book identifies YHWH’s purposes with Babylonia … it contains no oracles against Babylon. YHWH is portrayed riding through the heavens in a throne chariot – much like the Assyrian god Assur and other Mesopotamian deities. According to the book of Ezekiel, Babylon will serve divine purposes until such time as the restoration can take place.
CARTOGRAPHICAL OR THEOLOGICAL?
In attempting to answer this question, I will discuss in this section two approaches to the prophecies contained in Ezekiel.
This first approach – which, in my opinion, is an erroneous one – is what may be described as the ‘cartographical’ approach. As the name suggests, this approach attempts to map modern geopolitical events onto an ancient prophecy. It asks which modern geographical and political entities correspond to the places and peoples mentioned in the prophecy.
The theological approach, on the other hand, asks questions that have to do with what the prophecy reveals about God, his people, human rebellion and sin, divine judgement, salvation and the consummation of God’s purposes. The historical and geographical particularities remain important, but they are interpreted within the theological world of the prophecy.
Let us take a brief but closer look at these two approaches.
Cartographic Prophecy
Cartographic prophecy attempts to produce a map which matches ancient prophecy with their contemporary fulfilment in certain geopolitical events. Put differently, it treats geographical references and names like co-ordinates on a map.
In the case of the prophecies contained in Ezekiel, cartographic prophecy tries to make the following identifications:
Gog = Russia
Persia = Iran
Meshech = Moscow
Tubal = Tobolsk
Gomer = a particular modern ethnic group
Cush = another ethnic state
In his article published in the Journal of Evangelical Theological Society, J. Paul Tanner explains that ‘[t]he connection of the Gog passage of Ezekiel 38-39 with Russia rests on two primary arguments: the etymological relationship of the place names, and the reference to the “remote parts of the earth”.’ Tanner argues that ‘the use of the place names to make an argument for Russia is extremely weak.’ In addition, the phrase translated as ‘remote parts of the north’ does not, in Tanner’s view, ‘have to mean something so restricted as Russia to the far north of Israel.’
After closely examining the Ezekiel passages with those in Revelation, Tanner concludes:
Ezekiel 38-39 describes a fierce invasion against the land of Israel led by Gog of the land of Magog. A common premillennial interpretation is that this invasion is led by Russia and her allies during the tribulation preceding the second coming of Christ. This is quite doubtful in light of the descriptions given in these chapters.
As I have already pointed out, throughout the history of the Church, several very different and often conflicting attempts have been made to match prophecy with the political powers of the time. The cartographical approach is therefore extremely speculative and consequently also very unreliable. To speak with certainty that Gog refers to Russia is therefore quite irresponsible.
Cartographical readings of prophecies often suffer from the problem of anachronism which I alluded to earlier. The political entities, territorial boundaries and even geographical conceptions of the ancient Near Eastern world were radically different from the modern international system. The concept of the nation-state is totally alien to the ancient world and therefore cannot simply be projected back to Ezekiel.
Cartographical exegesis also commits the error of etymological or phonetic reductionism. We have encountered this mistake in Ambrose’s identification of Gog with Goth because the two words sounded more or less the same. Modern interpreters make the exact same mistake when they equate Moscow with Meshech based on phonetics alone.
A Theological Hermeneutics
The proper approach to the prophecies of Ezekiel, especially those found in chapters 37-39, is to ask what theological purpose they serve. Thus, the questions that we should pose to the text is not: who is Gog today? Where are Magog, Meshech and Tubal today? What country lies in the ‘far north’ today?
Rather the questions we should pose to the text are as follows:
- What does Ezekiel say about God?
- What does the prophecy say about biblical Israel and the surrounding nations, such as Babylon?
- What is the function of restoration?
- What is the purpose of the repeated ‘know that I am the Lord’ formula?
- How is this prophecy a part of the larger canonical story?
- How does the New Testament transform these prophetic themes?
Cartographical exegesis makes the nations the centre of attention. In keeping with Ezekiel’s theology, theological hermeneutics is profoundly theocentric – YHWH is the centre of attention.
The difference between the two is profound!
Thus, in contrast to the approach of Ambrose, Theodoret of Cyrus, in his fifth-century commentary, emphasised the theological point of the history recounted in Ezekiel, which has to do with God’s victory over Gog. This proves his great power and providence. The exile was God’s way of bringing his people to repentance.
In his great masterpiece, The City of God, Augustine also took issue with the narrow interpretation of Gog as pointing to specific political entities. Rather, it represents the global anti-God forces that persecute the Church. Augustine writes:
The nations called Gog and Magog are not to be taken as standing for some barbarian peoples, whose home is in some particular part of the earth … It is indicated, in fact, that they exist all over the world when the first statement about ‘nations in the four corners of the earth’ is followed by the remark that those nations are Gog and Magog.
In other words, instead of asking ‘Who is Gog today?’, which is the concern of cartographic hermeneutics, the question that should be asked is: ‘What does Gog represent within Ezekiel’s theology of the kingdom of God?’ And instead of speculating on how Ezekiel’s prophecy foretells contemporary geopolitical realities, or how the latter fits the former, we should reflect on what is revealed about God in these ancient texts.
It must be emphasised that this is not just a methodological preference. It is based on the text itself and underscored in the repeated refrain: ‘They shall know that I am the Lord.’
CONCLUSION
The excitement surrounding some contemporary geopolitical realities because they are interpreted as the fulfilment of prophecies concerning the events preceding Christ’s return must be approached with caution. Many such associations are made based on questionable principles of biblical interpretation, particularly in the interpretation of prophetic texts.
Old Testament books such as Ezekiel and Daniel, and New Testament books such as Matthew (chapter 24) and Revelation have often been subjected to what some have called ‘newspaper exegesis’. This is an approach which starts with contemporary events and then returns to the Bible to find prophecies that appear to explain those events.
The expression ‘newspaper exegesis’ is attested at least as early as Greg L. Bahnsen’s 1976-77 essay, although its coinage should not necessarily be ascribed to Bahnsen.
Newspaper exegesis is dangerous not only because it can misconstrue passages in Scripture by assuming that they describe contemporary political developments without exegetical warrant. It is dangerous also because it leaves the Church vulnerable to political manipulation. Furthermore, when politicians and world leaders employ it, newspaper exegesis can have real-world consequences for conflicts such as the current war between America, Israel and Iran and the Israel-Palestine issue.
By reading into Scripture what it does not in fact say, newspaper exegesis can displace Christian hope with eschatological sensationalism. Biblical prophecy is not about speculation concerning the latest geopolitical developments. It is God’s call to his people to faithfulness, perseverance, discernment and hope in God’s sovereign purposes.
Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor at Trinity Theological College (Singapore).