Though the general idea of the paragraph is relatively plain, the particular meaning of the prediction is involved in much obscurity, viz. that of a war in which Satan deceives the nations of the earth, Gog and Magog,(555) whose number is as the sand of the sea, and who go up under his leadership to compass the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but who are destroyed by divine intervention through fire from heaven. The description is evidently symbolic, and Gog and Magog were doubtless not intended to be identified as particular nations; nor can the fulfilment be literally understood. Like many of the prophecies of the past it is surrounded by a haze of indefiniteness that prevents its full interpretation until its meaning is revealed by the course of events. The source of the symbolism is found in the Old Testament invasion of Gog, a passage in Ezekiel (ch. 38‐39), a prophetic scene of war, which becomes here the formal type of the last struggle between the hosts of sin and those of righteousness, and seems to refer to some new, national, and world‐wide form of opposition to Christ and his kingdom in which all the earth‐forces of evil are gathered together for their extinction—a final stage of the conflict necessary for the completeness of the victory, which is to be postmillennial, and in which all the powers of evil shall be speedily and finally overthrown.(556) It may also be that the view of battle here given is intended to be partly retrospective in its purpose, and to link this struggle with the age‐long conflict which culminates when the Beast and the False Prophet are taken, giving another view of Har‐ Magedon in which now, after a period of quiescence, Satan’s overthrow forms the final part.
6 The Second Resurrection, Ch. 20:11‐12a, and 13a
This is the final and complete resurrection which occurs at the end of the world, and comprises all those, whether believers or not, who failed to participate in the first resurrection. The completeness of this resurrection is specially emphasized. Even the sea gave up the bodies of the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the souls of the dead that were in them (v. 13a), in preparation for the judgment. The description here given of the second or general resurrection, it will be seen, presents the ordinary view of Scripture, while that of the first resurrection introduces a new and different conception, viz. that of a special resurrection. The main distinction between the two resurrections may be regarded as chiefly one of order rather than time, though the precedence of the first in point of time is also included. In each case a resurrection of the body is meant, but the first is partial in extent, consisting of a particular class, while the second is universal, comprising all classes.(557) The paragraph, when thus interpreted, affords a clearer view of the resurrection as a whole, showing its proper order or sequence, and separating into two main parts that which is mostly regarded in the New Testament in its entirety as a single event occurring at the last day. In fact the doctrine of two resurrections taught in this passage, and the clearness with which the resurrection of the wicked for judgment is set forth, together constitute the most notable contribution of the Apocalypse to the eschatology of the New Testament;(558) for “whatever may be the difficulties involved, and however they may be solved, we must recognize that John here predicts an anticipative and limited resurrection of the same character as the general resurrection which is to follow.”(559) This was undoubtedly the thought presented to John’s mind in the vision, whether we attach any didactive significance to it or not, and it ought not to be overlooked in our interpretation.