The Battle of the Great God

The Harry Potter story begins and ends with a battle between Harry and Voldemort. In both cases, Harry triumphs over Voldemort, even though in the first fight he was only an infant. At the end of the series, the final battle between the two led to Voldemort’s complete defeat at Harry’s hand. I realized today that we have something similar in God’s great plan of salvation. We do not know much about the premortal existence, but John recorded this in his great vision, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9). At some point in our premortal existence there was a war between Satan and Adam (Michael). Adam triumphed over the devil, and Satan was cast out. This is really the beginning of our story, at least as far back as we know it. From that event began our journey to come to the earth where we too would face this same adversary and seek to overcome through our faith in Jesus Christ.  

            The final battle in which Satan will ultimately be defeated again will take place with Adam leading the hosts of heaven. After the Second Coming and the subsequent 1000 years of peace on the earth, Satan “shall be loosed for a little season, that he may gather together his armies.” Instead of fighting against the Savior, it is his original foe who will combat him: “And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven. And the devil shall gather together his armies; even the hosts of hell, and shall come up to battle against Michael and his armies. And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their own place, that they shall not have power over the saints any more at all. For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, even the Lamb” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:111-115). Satan failed to defeat Adam in the premortal world, and he will again fail to defeat him in his final futile attempt to fight against the plan of God.

            The name for this battle given in the above passage is “the battle of the great God,” but it is also known as the battle of Gog and Magog. John described it this way: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:7-10).   What is confusing is that another battle before the Second Coming is also known by the same name. The student manual puts it this way: “Ezekiel 38–39 speaks of a great battle that will occur in Israel in the ‘latter days’ and that will involve a people from ‘Magog’ led by a king named Gog. Ezekiel described this war as being waged in the ‘mountains of Israel’ against the children of Israel gathered to these lands. The Lord also told Ezekiel He would miraculously save His people from the armies of Magog so that all nations may ‘know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 38:23). Because of these descriptions, Ezekiel seems to be describing the great battle before the Second Coming, commonly known as ‘Armageddon.’ What can be confusing is that John the Revelator described a battle between good and evil at the end of the Millennium as the battle of Gog and Magog (see Revelation 20:7–9). So there are two battles referred to as Gog and Magog, the first right before the Second Coming and the other at the end of the Millennium. They are similar in that they will be massive battles involving great destruction that completely destroys the enemies of God and makes significant changes in the earth.” It seems to me that John’s mention of “Gog and Magog” was hearkening back to Ezekiel’s name for the king Gog and the land Magog since he gave no other explanation. So perhaps he was trying to connect the two battles and suggest that they would be similar in their result, with evil being defeated and God’s people preserved in both cases.

            Perhaps the most important lesson from all of this is that the end is known—God and the Savior and Michael will ultimately triumph over Satan and his forces, even if things can look dismal now on earth with so much evil. The only question is where each of us will stand and if we will stay true to Christ. President Oaks put it this way many years ago, “We are surrounded by challenges on all sides (see 2 Corinthians 4:8–9). But with faith in God, we trust the blessings He has promised those who keep His commandments. We have faith in the future, and we are preparing for that future. To borrow a metaphor from the familiar world of athletic competitions, we do not know when this game will end, and we do not know the final score, but we do know that when the game finally ends, our team wins.” So what does that mean for us? President Oaks continued, “‘Wherefore,’ the Savior tells us, ‘be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom—For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that I come quickly’ (D&C 33:17–18). I testify of Jesus Christ. I testify that He shall come, as He has promised. And I pray that we will be prepared to meet Him.”