“Now as soon as the 1,000 years have ended, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will go out to mislead those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Maʹgog, to gather them together for the war.”
~Revelation 20:7,8

If nationalist divisions are done away with during Christ’s millennial reign, where do the nations comprising “Gog and Magog” come from? (Dan. 2:44; 7:13,14)
The “Gog and Magog” referred to in this passage is apparently different from the one in Ezekiel’s prophecy. (Eze. ch. 38 & 39)
Ezekiel’s prophecy seems to take place before Armageddon, in an attack headed by a coalition of nations otherwise known as “the wild beast” and the “false prophet.” (Rev. 16:13,14; 17:12-14)
But in John’s “Gog” prophecy, the wild beast has already been destroyed, and the one directly misleading the nations is Satan. (Rev. 20:10)
One way to explain there being nations ready to war against God at the end of Christ’s reign is to draw the conclusion that not all will accept God’s authority.
Satan, infuriated, will lure some away from God, influencing them to form new groups, like nations, that rule themselves and reject God’s heavenly king.
In this case, “Gog and Magog” is alluding to the original attack on God’s people before Armageddon, but literally refers to a second attack before a second, final war with God.
While this makes sense within the framework of our current understanding of these prophecies, it brings up another set of questions.
Why doesn’t John’s account have a more easily identifiable parallel account to that of Ezekiel’s?
What about Jeremiah’s parallel account? (Jer. 25:29-38)
Can it be referring to the first attack or the second?
Not all the prophets’ accounts about the last days cover the same details, and the details in Revelation are not in chronological order, so one can imagine the prophecies unfolding in different ways.
If I go out on an analytical limb here and imagine that both prophets’ Gog of/and Magog references occur at the end of the thousand-year reign, then I am forced to ask myself the same thing about Armageddon and the second, final war.
But at the end of chapter 19, the wild beast and false prophet are being destroyed as a result of Armageddon. (Rev. 19:15,19,20)
Satan is not destroyed then, but tied up for a thousand years, and then released. (Rev. 20:1-3)
This means that there undoubtedly is a second, final war, which lends support to the explanation that John’s “Gog and Magog” is a second attack, similar in nature to the first.

A work friend once asked me a question about what the Bible says on human suffering.
I replied, “I would need more than five minutes to explain it.”
Whenever I felt discouraged from studying or writing, I remembered that conversation and felt renewed commitment to this project.
Thank you to all my subscribers and casual readers over the last few years.
Because of you and God’s spirit I have been able to endure and strengthen my faith.
I did not intend this project to go on indefinitely.
That said, I am really looking forward to reading the newly translated Spanish New World Translation and sharing notes on that in Spanish on a future sister page.
There are parts of the Bible that beg more attention of me than others, and I hope to continue sharing insights from my personal study here on my own schedule.