The Ancient Coalition Assembling and Attacking: Ezekiel 38-39

The End Times Made Simple

The last chapter explored Ezekiel‘s first connection to the End Times: providing the pattern for the glory of God departing from the Temple, indicating its imminent destruction — a pattern Jesus followed. God revealed a great deal more to Ezekiel about the end of the age, including who exactly will assemble to attack Israel when the world turns against it.

Ezekiel 38-39 describes a climactic battle in which a large coalition of nations invades Israel. There’s a lot here, and it will take several chapters to unpack.

Let’s begin where God begins:

The word of the LORD came to me:

“Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you.

“Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. (Ezekiel 38:1–9 ESV)

The first question we need to settle is simple: who are we talking about?

God gives Ezekiel a long list of names, including various countries and their leaders. God and Magog lead the least, yet they are also the most contentious to identify. We’ll deal with them later.

But the others are much easier to identify — and once we know who they are, we’ll know what’s coming next.

1. Persia (Paras) is modern-day Iran

This is the most straightforward identification. “Paras” in the original text, (or Persia), is simply the historical name of the land that became modern Iran. Iran was officially known as Persia until the 20th century.

2. Cush (Kush) is modern-day Sudan

Ancient Cush referred to the kingdom south of Egypt along the Nile (the Nubian region). While older English translations sometimes rendered the name “Ethiopia,” the core territory of biblical Cush corresponds to modern Sudan, not the modern nation-state of Ethiopia.

3. Put (Phut) is modern-day Libya

Nahum 3:9 links Put with the Lubim (Libyans) directly. Josephus and other ancient chronicles associate Put with a people and a river in North Africa that became identified with the Libyans.

4. Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Beth-Togarmah is modern-day Turkey

The ancient historian Herodotus places Meshech and Tubal in Asia Minor near the Black Sea. Assyrian records refer to the Mushku (Meshech) and Tabal (Tubal) in Anatolia. Josephus identifies the Moscheni (descended from Meshech) as located in Asia Minor. Gomer and Beth-Togarmah are likewise placed by historical sources in the same general region of Asia Minor / Cappadocia.

Turkey, Libya, Sudan, and Iran.

For a long time, theologians believed these to be symbolic. There was no reason for these countries to unite against Israel. For centuries, much of their land was Christian. For millennia, Israel didn’t exist as a nation. Envisioning a land invasion from these countries to Israel seemed absurd.

Then came the Fourth Beast.

Islam grew rapidly out of Arabia, conquering each of these lands. Countries that once united around Christianity now unite around Islam.

Then came World War II, and after its horrors of genocide, a rebirth — Israel emerged again as a nation for the first time since Jesus’ disciples were alive.

Israel existed again as a nation that could be invaded.

The countries of Ezekiel 38 united under a religion that consistently opposed the Jewish people. Impossibly, the pieces were lining up for this passage to occur literally.

Yet still there was a problem: these countries aren’t close to each other.

Iran and Turkey are nowhere near each other. The Mediterranean Sea separates Sudan and Turkey. How can these countries come together to launch a ground attack against Israel?

The world just saw how.

We watched it happen on October 7.

The forces of Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2024, the largest land invasion into Israel in decades.

But Hamas didn’t do it alone. It needed help.

And it received help.

From Turkey, Iran, Sudan, and Libya.

• Turkish-backed groups in Libya smuggled arms to Hamas. To use the names in Ezekiel 38, Gog-backed groups in Put smuggled arms to Hamas.”

• Iran funded and armed Hamas. Persia supplied the army that invaded Israel.

• Sudan served as a weapons transit route becomes. In the Ezekiel 38 names, Cush transported the weapons that killed Israelites.

• Turkey provided critical funding and political cover. Gog/Magog and Gomer provided for and enabled the attack into Israel.

For the first time in recorded history, the nations of Ezekiel 38 united to enable a land invasion of Israel.

These links may not have been obvious. They haven’t been the subject of the nightly news. Yet their existence is hard to deny.

Iran (Persia)
This is the strongest and best-documented link. Multiple intelligence assessments, captured documents, and reporting establish Iran as Hamas’s principal external patron for years leading into October 7. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps–Quds Force provided tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, specialized combat training, drones, weapons, and logistical support. Documents recovered in Gaza show high-level correspondence requesting large special budgets for war preparation, training for thousands of fighters, and coordination with Iranian officials. Hamas leaders treated Iran as the key supplier and strategist. Iranian officials have publicly praised the attack even while denying operational command of the specific day.

Libya (Put)
After the fall of Gaddafi, Libya became a major source of black-market weapons. Advanced rifles, rocket components, launchers, and other matériel flowed from Libyan stockpiles and militias into Gaza via Egypt and Sinai. Reports link Islamist networks in Turkey, Qatar, and Libya to the facilitation of these transfers, as well as training Hamas operatives. Israeli and Libyan sources have explicitly tied weapons and rocket technology used by Hamas to Libyan origins. Specific Hamas-linked arms-smuggling networks operating out of Libya have been documented and, in some cases, disrupted.

Sudan (Cush)
Sudan has long functioned as a key transit and facilitation node for Iranian weapons destined for Gaza and other Iranian proxies. Israeli assessments have repeatedly identified Sudanese routes (overland and via the Red Sea region) as part of the Iranian supply chain to Hamas. The pattern of Sudan serving as a weapons corridor for Iran-linked groups is well established in intelligence and reporting.

Turkey (Gog / Magog / Meshech / Tubal)
Under President Erdoğan, Turkey has been a major political, financial, and logistical patron of Hamas. It has hosted senior Hamas officials, provided safe haven, and allowed financial networks (money changers and related infrastructure) based in Turkey to move large sums—often linked to Iranian funding—to Hamas leadership and operatives. Turkish-backed groups in Libya have been involved in arms smuggling to Gaza. Government-linked Turkish foundations have channeled significant resources into Gaza that strengthen Hamas’s infrastructure. Turkey’s public rhetoric and diplomatic posture remained strongly protective of Hamas even after October 7.

To be clear, October 7 was not the invasion prophesied about in Ezekiel 38.

But it was the proof that Ezekiel 38 means every word it says, explicitly literal.

Because of this, we can know for sure: the same coalition of nations who enabled Hamas to invade Israel will continue to unite against Israel, until one day they send their combined forces over land to invade and conquer.

1500 years ago, this seemed impossible. None of these countries would want to invade, and Israel didn’t exist as a nation.

100 years ago, this seemed unlikely. Even if the countries would have wanted to invade now, there was nothing to invade — no Israel.

2 years ago, we watched it happen.

Every sign indicates that it will happen again.

But what will happen when these countries invade themselves?

What will it usher in?

God wants us to know. He told us directly.

Stay tuned.