The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 435

Vera. 7-10.-Safatl loo,e<l from hM pruon qfter thfl thcm11nd ye,,,rs. Durillg tlw millennial period on earth, while the departed lltlints are living and reigning wi~h Christ, evil will be BUbdued md restrained, but by no means will it be extiQct. ,H8'l it beea exiinot it could not have broken out ,-gain, nor would there be any D,lllld for the ....,.BoA{i -of the saint.a. The godless ones dispersoo abr~, who will at the .cloae of the thousand years break out afresh, are mentioned here under the peculiar D&0,141!1 0 Gog and· Magog." l If any one will examine the account of the dispersion of.~ nations in -Gen. x., he will find that one of Japbeth's sons was named. M11gog. ",Magog," says Josephus," founded those that are after him caMed Maig9git.es, but·ths Guek ■ ~ll .thei:n Soythians." '!'here is little or nothing f]lore to call atte~tion w these people till we eoi:ne to the Book of Ezekiel, where the name l'ifagog is again used, but not iu the l81ISe of a people so much as of a land, the syllable Ma- being equivalent oo land or district. SinOEI, then, Magog is the land of Gog, Gog is the name of a prinOfi! 1uppoeed · to .rule over tliat territory ; obviously, ideally so, since he ·is comµia.nder. over a group of peoples covering a much greater space of ground than the Soytbilllllf, a.nd also peoples who were Jt a great distance from each other, viz. the Bcythi!La hordes., the Persian,, the lJ:thiopians and Libyans of Africa, Gomer or the Cimmerians i 'l'ogarmah or the Anneriiana, and the multitude that peopled the regiops ~yQDll them,.. Now, in Ezekiel we have a prophecy that. after the restorati~ of Israel, tl:da Gog, with all hie banda, shall come agaioBt that people, and that his onset sliall only issue in .bis own destruction. Wo have IIO often seen and observed how lsrgel;y th~ ayi:nbolism of the Apocalypse ia based on the facts and symbols of the Old Ttllltament. that it can be µo, aurprise to ua oo find that it i1 so when we are approaobi11g tho theme of the Divin& treatment. of sin in its fioal onset on God's people. E:ven the names Gog and Magog ,turn up again, not, how11ver, as the names of & prince and hia lan-1, but as "the nations which are in the four corners of the_ earth," w1',o, after _the millennium, will emerge f.rom their retreat, and com.e in full fon:e again,t " the camp o( the saints."· The new uprising of evil after the thoui;and years' rest il! certainly not wha.$ we should expect orde.sire. .But doubtless there isa Divinereasonforpermittj.ng i~ 80to be. or it would not be. Let us look at this i:natter closely in the light of God'a W <m:I, ~nd maybe we shall find more to instruct us on this tbema than at firs~ sight apJ)(l&r& pro~bl11. l. WE GATBEB l!'BOJI '1'!11& l'ASSAGB 80MB lilllTS AS TO THB. BTATB 011' 'JIHK QIW¥CK ON EARTH llUBilfG TBB :r.w.LJSNNUL PBRIOD. 1. There ia no reason to doftbt tqat,'.t4~ millennium, owing oo the effective restraint then put upon evil through the Wor~ of truth and the power of God, will be a period of very grea~ blessedness. Seeing that; Satan i1 the aotive agent in so much evil, it is ali:nost impossible to avoid the con~ clusion that, when he is bonnd, a large proportion of evil will cease to exist, and a far wore rapid diff'usioa of good will be the bleased result. Dt1ring, or p<JMi!ily &V'!D before this period, we may expect the restoration of the Jews, aud, consequent UJlOll t.hat, the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles, and the fulfilment of the glowing vision of the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah. 2. 'J'here is no reason whatever oo aup))Olle. from any of the teaching of Scripture, that. our Lord Jesus Chriat will then ~. present on the earth in any.other way than in the power of his Spirit. The chapter before ua, which is supposed oo teach the reign of Christ with hi• risen saint,: on earth, teaoheii (Inly, as we have alret.dy seen, that \be departed saintt are seen liviug and reigning 1 Vide Fairbaim'11 ' Oommeutary on E~ldeJ.' Al~ aome u11&fql references in Barnaa'1 llOtl.'M on this chnpter. BKVELAT.10111. 2 I f.82' 'fTIE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINB. [en·. xx. 1-15.