And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. Rev. 20:7-8
Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 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. 5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you. 7 “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. Ezkiel 38:2-7
Sounds like the same war to me. No reason at all to believe Israel will fight two major wars involving God of Magog and all the other great nations. I'm convinced it's the same war being prophecied about. Especially seeing as how Revelation reiterates several of the prophecies of Ezekiel. In fact, most every prophecy in Revelation mirrors a prophecy of the OT prophets, primarily the Major Prophets.
The first major difference is that Ezekiel’s invaders are said to be from specific countries, thus not all the nations of the world. At Armageddon, the Lord “will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle” (Zech. 14:2). Thus, the Gog event is a regional invasion while Armageddon involves all the nations of the world coming against Jerusalem. That is a significant difference. Second, Arnold Fruchtenbaum notes, “the Ezekiel invasion comes from the north, but the Armageddon invasion comes from the whole earth.”
Third, the Gog invasion is clearly said to occur at a time when Israel is “living securely” (Ezek. 38:8, 11, 14) and “at rest” (38:11) in the land. There will probably not be a more threatening and dangerous time for Israel in her entire history than the end of the tribulation and the events of Armageddon. This hardly matches Ezekiel’s description.
Fourth, Mark Hitchcock points out, “the passage in Ezekiel does not mention a military battle other than the fact that the invaders kill one another. The destruction is primarily by divine intervention through a convulsion of nature (Ezek. 38:20–23). In the conflagration of Armageddon, there is a great battle fought between the Lord with his hosts and the assembled nations in which the King of kings slays his enemies with the word of his mouth and emerges as the victor (Rev. 19:11–15).”4 In other words, each passage describes contrasting events that indicate they are totally different campaigns.
Fifth, “the purpose of the Russian invasion is to take spoil; the purpose of the Armageddon Campaign is to destroy all the Jews,” observes Fruchtenbaum. Sixth, he continues, “in the Ezekiel invasion, there is a protest against the invasion; in the Armageddon Campaign, there is no protest because all the nations are involved.”
Seventh, if these two campaigns are one and the same then there is not any time for Israel to bury the dead (7 months) or burn the instruments of war (7 years) (Ezek. 39:9,12). Scripture implies that seventy-five days after Christ’s return, the thousand-year kingdom will commence and that it will began after a cleansing of the judgment from the tribulation (Isa. 2:1–4; 65:17–25; Dan. 12:11–12). Seventh, Ron Rhodes observes another difference between the two battles as follows: “At Armageddon the Beast is the head of the invasion campaign (Revelation19:19), whereas Gog is the head of the invading force in Ezekiel’s prophecy (Ezekiel38:7).”
Eight, “The armies gathered at Armageddon array themselves against Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:19), which is not true of Ezekiel’s northern military coalition.”
The more one contemplates the differences between the two events the more one realizes that they cannot be the same. The details of the two events just do not matchup. This is likely why virtually no evangelicals today favor this view. Most of the supporters of the timing of Ezekiel 38 and 3 are primarily from the past.
The Ezekiel war is not the same war as Armageddon or the rebellion that Satan foments after his brief release from Hell.