The Three Wars to End All Wars

Explaining the battles of the End Times prior to the Millennium

By  Khen Lim



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This morning as I began presenting my sermon, I took a look at the online CNN headliners. Here they are:

“19 dead as patients burned on beds during bombing”

“Coroner: Oregon gunman shot himself.”

“Bush on shooting: ‘Stuff happens’”

“Russia bombs Syria for fourth day”

“Migrants break into Eurotunnel”

“Eastern U.S. soaked by huge storm”

“Coca-Cola calls on FIFA boss to quit”

“Attacker kills 2 in Jerusalem”

“Gay priest loses Vatican duties”

“ISIS’ car bombs kill 24 in Baghdad”

What’s the world getting to, you ask? Maybe we should ask what GOP presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina asked: “How did we get to this?”

The world is tearing itself apart. CNN headliners are all bad news because that is a fact – we’re having so much bad news because we did this to ourselves. We had numerous chances to right ourselves but we’re too smart to think of doing anything else but to play God. And this is the result. But it will get worse because God says so. The wars that define the End Times tell us that what we’re seen so far is nothing compared to what we are about to face. We will in due time feel the full wrath of God… because we deserve every bit of it.

Here is another reason why we’re knee-deep in shocking news, devastations and confounding mess – we’ve not been good to Israel. We have failed to be a blessing to the Jews. We have done everything we can do separate us from Israel. What’s worse is that we’re doing our best to destroy them by siding with the enemy. And it’s become so bad that almost none of us can tell anymore right from wrong.

These wars that we will talk about here are the defining hour for humanity and they will pitch the worst enemies against God’s People. According to Scripture, a rollcall of Israel’s avowed enemies will be awfully long. In the Book of Ezekiel alone, many nations are listed but many of which we might not be familiar with today because those were ancient times and their names may now no longer be in use or the land boundaries might have changed substantially. But one thing is sure – most of these nations of old have since embraced Islam.

In many ways, the history of the Jews and Israel are intertwined with Islam though it might not strike one as being apparent. It is not directly mentioned in Scripture but Islam’s nascent footprints are found as early as in the Book of Genesis with the birth of Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, in collusion with Hagar, his Egyptian slave. Not being the covenantal son that God had promised, Ishmael became the early wedge between two women at war with one another (Gen 16:5-12):

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judges between you and me.” ⁶ So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. ⁷ Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” ¹⁰ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” ¹¹ And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. ¹² He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

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Also here in Gen 21:9-21:

⁹ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” ¹¹ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. ¹³ “Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵ And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. ¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ “Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. ²⁰ So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. ²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

On the one side was Abraham’s wife Sarah and on the other side was Ishmael’s mother Hagar. The enmity resulted in mother and son being evicted from the family camp into the harsh and hostile wilderness with only God standing in the way between them and certain death. And God promised not just protection from harm but a pledge to make them productive.

These verses from the Book of Genesis form the foundation upon which the enmity between Islam and Christianity will forever be established. God had not forgotten Ishmael and because he is also the seed of Abraham, he would also be looked after. This however set the stage for the biggest, fiercest and ugliest battles to be played out in all of mankind, as we shall soon see.

But then, let us also understand all of this from a different perspective. The depth of history of mankind as defined by the Old Testament (OT) contrasts that of Islam. While the OT was completed in 425BC, Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, was only born 1,000 years after that fact. Yet despite this huge time difference, Muslims have long cast their hands of vengeance against Israel (and all of Christendom) as if their fate was moulded by the Jews.

With all of that in retrospect, the fact is clear – Islam has been and will continue to play a destructive role in Israel’s future as much as it will contribute to its restoration in the last days. As we shall see, it is very likely also that Islam will be responsible in accelerating man’s progress to the End of Time.

Of the many OT narratives, the Book of Ezekiel stands among a few that provide strong and important clues as to how everything will end for Israel and for humanity. Like the Book of Daniel, the details here are profound amidst a complexion of stark and chilling reality about where we are headed and who will be involved. Ezekiel was a prophet and a Babylonian captive in the times of the capitulation of Judah, Israel’s southern kingdom. His words were recorded and written down some 2,600 years ago, which when put into context, is 1,200 years older than anything Islam can offer as evidence of its formative years. Ezekiel’s prophecies are as remarkable as they are frightening; in Ezek 38:1-6, he speaks of the restoration of Israel to the land in the latter years and he lists out the Muslim nations in terms specific to his time:

¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, ³ “and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ⁴ “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; ⁵ Persia, Cush and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops – many peoples with you.”

^{Note: Names placed in bold are the author’s doing}

In Scripture, he refers to them as Persia, Cush and Put, which we know them today as Iran, Ethiopia and Libya. We know that today, Iran spearheads the Muslim leadership to crush and annihilate Israel but included is their alliance with Syria and Hezbollah, which operates out of Lebanon. The team of nations assembled against Israel is vast. Israel as a restored nation is surrounded on every terrestrial side by Muslim nations.

So here’s a quick overview of the culpable nations involved that the Bible has foretold:

Lebanon

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The name comes from the snow-capped mountain range north of Israel to mean ‘whiteness’ in Hebrew. Biblical Lebanon raised a famous person, Hiram, King of Tyre (2 Sam 5:11) who offered the wood that Solomon used for the temple but then we are rudely reminded of an infamous name, Jezebel, the Phoenician daughter of the King and priest of Sidon (1 Kgs 16:31) who with Ahab, King of Israel, not only wreaked havoc to corrupt Israel but also made Elijah the prophet so afraid that he fled to Mount Horeb (Sinai) (1 Kgs 19:2-3). Tyre and Sidon were best known for trade and mercantile while the King of Tyre is often typified as a picture of Satan’s pride and glory (Ezek 28:12-17).

Tyre is known today as Lebanon, a liberated French colony as from 1943 with 59.7% Muslims and 39% Christians. However the country is riven with control by Iran and Syria with proxy fascism by Hezbollah, all sworn to destroy Israel. Psalm 83 cites Lebanon as one of several other countries to invade Israel, which is not difficult to imagine because the country is the home to the Hezbollah terrorists.

Syria

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The Biblical Syria is often known alongside Damascus, being the chief city-state that is, until the Assyrians came and conquered. Syrians are Semitic people, coming from the same Jewish stock as the Israelites. Even Deut 26:5 records Jacob as Syrian (“Aramean”) who went to Egypt. Their pagan gods were a constant threat to the nation (Jdg 10:6) and it is well known that Syria was always at a war footing against David and Solomon (1 Kgs 11: 25).

Despite France having granted Syria independence in 1946, their enmity against the Jews had not abated. The country is populated by 74% Muslims and 16% Christians making up 18.8 million with 90% of them Arabs. Syria is in cohorts with Iran, having signed defence treaties that hold the promise that should one be attacked by Israel, the other would consider it a sovereign invasion and hence, take up arms. Currently Israel holds on to the Golan Heights and the Shaba farms which Syria lost in 1967 so that they could serve as a buffer against invasions from the north.

Egypt

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Egypt’s role in Scripture is glaringly obvious, going all the way back to the son of Ham, Mizraim (Gen 10:6). Israel was already a nation as Jacob’s family emerged from 400 years of captivity. The Bible tells us how the Egyptians had always wanted to destroy Israel. In fact after the Jewish population was deemed “too large,” Egypt had attempted to cull every male child (Ex 1). It was also Egypt that pursued Israel to the Red Sea (Ex 14:23) and when Israel was in the wilderness, the desirous pandering for Egypt is seen as a rejection of God’s leadership through Moses (Ex 14:11-12). After the Jews had turned their backs on God, it was Egypt that Israel had persistently counted on for help when they were threatened by Babylon and Assyria.

The British had control over Egypt until 1922 and following the end of World War Two, they attained sovereignty with 78.8 million population of which 90% are Sunni Muslims. They were the first to boldly sign a peace treaty with Israel but paid the price when the Arab League expelled them and later their president was also assassinated. With the recent influence of the Muslim Brotherhood following the diabolical Arab Spring, the deadly ancient rivalry with Israel now appears rekindled.

Jordan

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Although the famous river in the Bible had use of this name, the region was better known as Ammon, Moab and Edom. These were the three nations that had common ancestry with Israel through Lot’s daughters whose descendants occupied Ammon (Gen 19:38) and Moab (v.37), through Jacob’s brother, Esau, that gave rise to Edom (25:30, 36:1). All three were naturally Israel’s enemies (1 Sam 14:47). From the name Ammon, we have Jordan’s modern capital, Amman. Although the nation was formed in 1946, it was only in 1950 that they adopted the name Jordan. They gain instant notoriety by being the first nation with Egypt to attack Israel in 1948. 92% of its 5.9 million population are Muslims. 98% of them are Arabs. Like Egypt, Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel, giving Arafat reason enough to stage an attempted assassination of its then-King Hussein.

Palestine

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The name came from Philistine and they were ancient enemies of Israel known as the ‘sea people’ having arrived from Crete (then known as Caphtor or Caphtorim in Gen 10:14, Jer 47:4). They have always been a constant threat against the Jews, occupying an area called Gaza (Jdg 16:21) including the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod. Following Alexander the Great’s conquest, their threat fizzled somewhat but Hadrian did revive its name in his attempt to destroy Judah’s nationhood once more.

It was Israel’s own Arab population that politically declared themselves Palestinians (or Philistines). Two factions appear to be vying for control of the Palestinians, namely Fatah and Hamas; the former a secular group while the latter, a militant junta allied with Syria and Iran, both of which want Israel dead. Palestine has been clamouring for nation status and is apparently near to achieving the goal at the United Nations. Once they are successful, they will press for war crime charges against Israel’s political and military leaders.

Iran

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Until 1935, they were called Persia, which we can recognise in Scripture as the nation under Cyrus the Great (Isa 44:2, 45:1) who defeated Babylon and created an empire that encompassed the whole of Israel and the Middle-East. It was Cyrus who allowed the Jews to return home and rebuild their temple (Ezek 1:1-8) and during Xerxes’ era, Esther who became his queen, had staved off the Persian Haman’s wicked plot to murder the Jews (Est 3:8). Daniel had also prophesied the fall of Persia and then the rise of Greece (called ‘Medea’ in Dan 8:20-21).

As modern-day Iran, their resurgent infamy derives from the Ayatollah regime that swears complete annihilation of Israel. Thanks to U.S. President Obama, they are now finalising the development of nuclear weaponry. Their alliance with Russia is also disturbing and their close friendship with Syria continue to seriously destabilise the region. Of the 68.6 million people, 51% are Persians of which 89% are from the Shi’a sect of Islam. The current Ayatollah believes himself to be the incarnation of the Mahdi, the Shi’a version of the Messiah, who in their delusion, will vanquish the enemies of Islam including Jews and the West, together with Christ.

Assyria and Babylon

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These two are ancient rivals of Israel. Both had been a serious thorn in the lives of the Jews, occupying, evicting and enslaving them. Of the two, the Assyrians were more destructive, as they helped scatter the ten tribes of Israel’s northern kingdom. Jonah the prophet went to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to proclaim its downfall but the city had miraculously repented (Jnh 1:2, 4:11).

Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar, put paid to Assyria at the Battle of Carchemish in about 605BC. There, they were victorious over the Egyptian-Assyrian alliance. The captured Daniel was then brought to Babylon that same year. Eight years later, Ezekiel was moved there too. In 586BC, Babylon destroyed Solomon’s Temple as well as the city of Jerusalem. Under Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel became Babylon’s prime minister and witnessed its fall to Persia in 539BC (Dan 5).

Assyria and Babylon might not physically exist today but in the form of Iraq, they certainly do. Founded in 1932 following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, 97% of its population are Muslims with 60-65% of them from the Shi’a sect while the Sunnis make up the minority. Most of the Jews had already long left Iraq once the anti-Semitism movement began there in the 1940s.

As we know in recent times, the ancient lands of Assyria and Babylon are undergoing transitional shifts. The winds of politics and Muslim radical fundamentalism are pushing their agendas and bring up tumultuous trying times for the people of the land. And so we don’t know what the final outcome is going to be. What we are sure about is what Scripture tells us about Babylon being a key player in the End Times (Rev 17-18) in terms of geography and from a religious aspect. We must remember that southern Iraq is Shi’ite and is friendly with Iran. The North, on the other hand is Kurdish and are the descendants of the ancient Medes. Had the Americans chosen not to fight the war that caused the fall of Saddam Hussein, the south would have long been usurped by the Iranians.

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These aren’t the only countries who have single-minded designs on destroying Israel but they make up the key actors in the Middle-East. We must not forget the role of the secondary players of which the most formidable is Russia, who has long called for the destruction of Israel. The Russians were incidentally also the ones who resisted the most in allowing Russian Jews to return home to Israel in the late 1880s.

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When we speak of prophecies and how they unfold, there is only one “holy book” that has predicated the future with unerring accuracy and that is the Holy Bible. Nothing else is comparable in its extraordinary breadth and detail in which is laid out the most comprehensive outline of the nations of the Middle East and how they are all fated to play their roles in a period we know as “The Day of the Lord.” 

Here, God uses Scripture to tell us the judgements He will inflict upon the nations that discredit, reject, threaten and profess to destroy Israel. All of these we are now seeing in the very last period of time prior to the Second Coming of the Messiah in establishing the 1,000-year Millennium on earth as His reign. These events are rapidly approaching ever as we write. While none of us can pinpoint an exact day and time, we know it isn’t too far from today. The day will come when the Lord will lift away His withholding grace and open the doors for His judgements to come.

My forthcoming three-part article called ‘The Restoration of Israel – Perspectives from the Poetic and Prophetical Books of the Old Testament’ is designed to put some clarity into the issue of the prophecies that have come and are to come and then to see how they unfold in light of what would happen to Israel. With this article, we deal closely with the perspective offered by the Dispensational Premillennialism biblical interpretation model, which we believe subscribe most accurately to the way we should read Scripture.

John McTernan's "As America Has Done to Israel" 

In this very article, we will deal with some gaps that ‘The Restoration of Israel’ does not cover by talking about the wars that will break out before the Millennium is due. These are the final and defining wars; indeed, the wars to end all wars. For that, I refer to John McTernan’s excellent book on the prophetic study of the Middle East. Called “As America Has Doneto Israel” (Whitaker House, 2008), I have extracted some biblical details to flesh out these gaps I speak of.

McTernan describes the pressures that Israel has been enduring at the hands of its supposed ally, America; pressures to relinquish land for peace, pressures that would ultimately weaken the Jewish State and bring it to its knees but within a short time, America itself was hit by catastrophes, which rather than coincidental, McTernan believed to be a divine response of displeasure. In his book, he detailed three wars, which some of us might even live to see at least one of them. Each of these wars will not only take place in the Middle East but they will be progressive in scope and severity, becoming increasingly larger and more serious as one gives way to the next, until it becomes a global crisis in which every nation will be embattled.

The First War

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Without a doubt, as we have talked about earlier, Arab nation involvement is a given. Many of those countries surround Israel, casting a shadow of pall and ominous doom. If we were to “interpret” Scripture and what it means in terms of today’s warfare technologies, there is some indication that we might witness weapons of mass destruction (WMD) being unleashed.

God will incur His judgement when He goes up against militant Islam (some refer to them as ‘House of Esau’) even as they encircle Israel. The Bible tells us that the nations that directly surround Israel will be destroyed to the extent that they are no longer inhabitable. The lands will be so torn asunder, circumscribing an impassable ring of destruction to the south and east of Israel.

The nations that God would destroy in the first war include Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and some parts of Saudi Arabia. Their lands will become fruitless and deadly, once the nuclear, biological and/or chemical weapons played their destructive parts. Nothing will live and grow because the soil will have been toxic beyond belief. Kuwait, though not mentioned, will be on fire (just like it was in the 1991 Gulf War) depicted as ancient Idumea in Scripture.

The Second War

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The Second War is comprehensively described in Ezekiel 38-39 but just to be sure, there are other parts of Scripture that also talk about it. In the preceding two chapters, the prophet talks of the rebirth of the nation of Israel in what we popularly know it as the Valley of the Dry Bones (37:1-14). However prior to the Kingdom Age (Millennium), Ezekiel reveals that the stage will be set for the Second War to occur. Although it was written some 2,600 years ago, the prophet provides us with an astounding line-up of nations, the confederacy of which covers Turkey, Iran, Libya, Ethiopia including parts of Eastern Europe and other nations left unnamed.

However there is something odd because the usual enemies aren’t in the list. Countries like Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria including even Hezbollah’s ‘Palestine’ are no longer mentioned because God had already destroyed all of them in the previous (First) War. Now the next wave of warring nations find that the only strategy left to attack Israel is from the north since access from the south and east have now been rendered impassable. As it is prophesied, God inflicted even heavier toll in the Second War and commensurately, the destruction was significantly worse.

Many are likely to view the Second War as revenge given that the first one didn’t go down well at all. What they probably cannot see is God’s Hand in all of this. If they did, maybe not so many nations might want to join in. Ezekiel revealed in 38:15 that Russia (Gog) is the one who will orchestrate the retaliation. Being a traditional antagonist and bitter persecutor against Israel, the Russians have a longstanding history of being anti-Semitic. Their pogroms in 1881 were a good example where innumerable number of Jews died. This harsh treatment resulted in international pressure that made it possible for the persecuted Russian Jews to be the first among the diaspora to make it home.

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The identity of Russia is in Scripture. This Second War does come with another name – it is widely referred to as the Battle of Gog and Magog. These two names appear not only in Ezekiel 38-39 but also in Revelation 20:7-8. Although the Bible commonly phrases them as if they are two nations – as in ‘Gog and Magog’ – careful reading reveals Gog to be the leader of a nation by the name of Magog. Douglas Berner in ‘The Silence is Broken! God Hooks Ezekiel’s Gog & Magog’ (2006) suggests that, “Gog is a person, not a country or a territory. Gog is the leader of a military alliance and the name Gog is symbolic of that leader’s character and his standing at the head of that particular group of nations. Gog is either the leader of the lands of Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, or the supreme commander of the lands of Magog, Meshech and Tubal” (p.27). The King James Version (KJV) translators referred to Gog as the ‘chief prince’ or ‘prince of the chief’ suggesting someone equally as superior and powerful. Either way, Gog is the leader and Magog is the nation that he leads. Magog is geographically northwards as the Bible says, “you will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north” (Ezek 38:15).

However we do have trouble trying to figure out Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. These are four ancient names that are difficult to relate to today’s geographic identities. The instant temptation is to lump them under Russia but linguistically none of these names line up with anything we know today. We are told that Magog, Meshech and Tubal were in Asia Minor but in Ezek 38:2, the way the verse reads could suggest that Rosh, Meshech and Tubal are all under the provincial collective of Magog. That same verse tells us that Gog is a prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal and lives in the land of Magog and with that, our reasoning goes that they are all within close proximity to one another. Whatever it is, in the end, we just don’t know for sure.

Verse 15 says that Gog will descend “out of the remote parts of the north,” which may indicate “outermost north” or “farthest point of north.” Again, we are not certain. No matter how one looks at this, it persistently points us in the direction of Russia but then what we are doing here is to shoehorn ancient geography into modern new millennium topology, which is awkward at best. To Ezekiel, Asia Minor could well be the edge of a pre-Pythagorean flat world and anything beyond that means falling off the edge into oblivion (!) Furthermore if we, the modern thinker, believe the “northern parts” to be farther up than Asia Minor, maybe we can consider any parts of Scandinavia then. After all, why stop at Russia?

We do have at least one reason why. Current understanding of geopolitics invariably point many fingers at Russia and much less at anyone in the “northern parts” in the modern history of its polarisation against Israel and America and much of the West. The tie-up with Russia isn’t just a moot example of wilful temptation but one that is insistent of what we know of the part of the Russians that is likely to play out in the End Times.

In other words, it is basically implausible for any of us to consider the final wars without Russia’s hands immovably stuck in it. This might be flawed hermeneutics but this is what best we have to deal with and understand. All of this invariably links in with Russia but then, the Russians are not alone in this. There is biblical certainty that there is a confederacy involved. To put it another way, Russia may be the ringleader but there is a clutch of other nations that would join in.

Here’s what we know of some of these nations:

-        Ancient Persia is of course modern-day Iran.

-        Cush is today better known as Ethiopia and is the land south of Egypt. However, today, that whole piece of land also encompasses parts of Sudan and Somalia. Like Iran, all three are staunchly Islamic countries. A large part of Sudan comprises terrorists as much as Somalia is a lawless state of pirates. Ethiopia is also predominantly Muslim.

-        Ancient Libya was on the west flank of Egypt but today, the coverage of that same area extends to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, all of which are also Islamic. Be aware again that, Russia supplies Libya (formerly called Put, Ezek 38:5) with weapons as they do now to Syria.

-        Furthermore the land called Beth-Togarmah (Ezek 38:6) is north from Israel, which in geographic terms is Turkey, which is, again, 100% Muslim. The name came from Noah through Japheth then Gomer (Gen 10:1-3). The name Togarmah has come through ancient Assyrian records before it became a city state in Eastern Anatolia, which is Turkey in Asia Minor.

-        Then there are those who suggests that Gomer (v.6) is modern-day Germany but the linguistic differentiations coming from Ezekiel point us elsewhere. Alternative ideas lead us to think of Gomer as Gimarrai of north-central Asia Minor (as in Cappadocia), which may place us back in Turkey or somewhere in Eastern Europe close enough to the tipping end of Asia. It could also be representative of a small pocket of nations lumped together within that geography.

Therefore for this Muslim alliance to retaliate against Israel, Russian forces will line up squarely behind Turkey. We saw the same overture when the Russians were tactically behind the Arab League when all of them faced Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. The same thing applied in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. There is no reason to think they will not line up again the same way.

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Whatever that can be said about the present anaemic American government, we accept that the country prefers to prevent such a war from breaking out but the inevitability is hard to stop. This battle will take place once America is sufficiently weakened to the core or removed from the Middle-East. This possibility is frighteningly more real today than ever before because President Obama is getting America closer to the brink each day.

We also suspect that NATO’s strength will be sapped once Turkey walks away and into welcoming Russian arms, which isn’t too far-fetched when one considers its acrimonious attitude and condemnation towards Israel since the Aid Flotilla incident. All these basically set the stage for the Second War to take place from which the catalyst could be coming from “the remote parts of the north.”

With the Americans conveniently neutered and out of the way, Russia steps into the breech and becomes the dominant superpower but we still need a final major tipping point, beyond which American military power will finally be crippled. We don’t know what that might be but another term under the Democrats with liberal media dominance would easily do it. When that happens, it’s just as easy as handing the keys to the Russian army to do as they will.

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As for those who think that the collapse of the Soviet Union had put paid to their enormity and power, they might want to be reminded that under President Vladimir Putin, much of that has been restored and the army today has the ability to steamroll their way (Ezek 38:15-16) as we have seen in teasing bits with Georgia, brazenly courting the Ukraine separatists and now getting knee deep in the Syrian airspace at the expense of an emaciated American power.

The role of the Russians is of course a strategic one for the remaining Islamic nations. Ezekiel might not mention all of them but when the mighty Russians lead the juggernaut, all Muslim nations far and wide need no further motivation or incentive to sign up and join the race to finally establish the Caliphate. That is what they think but God has a different game plan. His prophecies tell us very clearly that He will destroy this entire invasion and He will unleash His wrath by way of perfectly timed natural disasters (Ezek 38:19-20) that will destroy this army no matter how huge (vv.21-22). He will do this so that all of man everywhere may know that He is the Lord (v.23).

Nonetheless the Russians will invade in swarms coming over the mountains to the north of Israel where we think neighbouring Syria could be the staging point. Unaware of the divine strategy, God is merely waiting for them. The plan is for them to enter the Covenant Land right at the mountains (Ezek 39:2-4) at which point, He will unleash His supernatural powers to wipe them out. The brutal meticulousness by which all of this will unfold will bring the whole world to its knees. Man will once more witness the Hand of God at work and they will be humbled to accept and recognise that it is He and not man who destroyed the army.

By now, a great revival will occur in Israel, fuelling the final part of the prophesied regathering of God’s people. As of 2014, there are still over 8 million Jews in the diaspora of over 140 nations and all of them are awaited home. By the time the Second War is over, we may well have a few million Jews still to make their way back to Israel. Still, many of them will finally come to embrace Jesus as the true Messiah and turn to Him in huge numbers not just in Israel but in all the world (Ezek 39:7). You will find the fulfilment of many of these prophecies documented in my forthcoming article, “The Restoration of Israel.”

However the respite will be brief. When the world thinks this is the worst it will ever get to, the errors of their ways will be further and more devastatingly revealed.

The Third War

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The enormity of how the Second War play out will have been ominous for the world to witness but unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. By far the last and biggest – the Third War – will ensue between good and evil. This one will provide lasting definition of where humanity is headed. God will confront evil and with the Father having tolerated man’s foolish sins since time began, it is easy to imagine this as a very one-sided battle – We can picture God rolling up His sleeves, seething in unspeakable anger and then annihilate the devil.

In the Third War, God’s supernatural intervention will put history’s largest fielded army to the sword, putting an end to corruption and sinfulness that has blanketed all the nations into darkness since the beginning of time. And if you don’t know what this is about, you may now know it better as Armageddon.

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The name Armageddon comes from Megiddo, which is the name of a mountain – Mount Megiddo – which is located seventy miles north of Jerusalem. The mountain is at the southern tip of the Esdraelon Valley (Jdg 5:15, 2 Kgs 9:27, 23:29) and that valleyed area at its foot is called the Plains of Megiddo. 

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At the southern parts of this valley is where the mountains of Israel begin. The basin is huge, running from the southeast to the northwest and will be the ultimate stage for the final battle called Armageddon.

Despite the agonising defeats of the previous two wars, the enemies of Israel don’t appear to have learned much about God’s supernatural powers but essentially, the motivation for them to continue is because they remain indomitably desirous of capturing and destroying Jerusalem. In this Third War, Jerusalem is the biggest reason. Therefore even after Russia and its confederacy of Muslim nations are crushed in the previous battle, there remains other nations that will coalesce and take up arms against the Jews.

God will now use Jerusalem as the bait to lure and then reel them in by the hundreds of millions. We don’t know the identities of all these remaining nations but the apostle John had mentioned in Revelation that these vast armies will cross the dried-out Euphrates River and invade from Asia. They will represent all that is left of this world who hates God and they will number two-hundred million (Rev 9:13-16). Before they cross the devastated river, this vast army will have killed millions of those who remain alive after the Second War.

An army of two hundred million strong is a frightening example of the hatred that so many have against God and Israel. In the Third War, this is the ultimate display of man’s full-on rebellion against God. It will be done for the first and final time in an epic battle over Jerusalem.

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Because the ring of fire (from the First War) is still raging, the only way to attack Israel is still from the north. These armies will therefore fill out the Megiddo basin before they rampage their way to Jerusalem. As mentioned earlier, there will be much death and destruction along the way but once they can see Jerusalem clearly from a distance that will be the signal for their end to come. Waiting for them is Jesus who will mark this occasion as His long-awaited Second Coming (Rev 16:14). It is He who will personally destroy all of Satan’s armies that gather in Armageddon (Zech 12:1-9). It is He who will defend Israel and its people.

Zechariah the prophet puts it very clearly that Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives in exactly the same spot as when David had wept in defeat (2 Sam 15:14-30) and when Christ Himself was betrayed and rejected (Zech 14:4). There, in Jesus’ glorious presence, “the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south” (Ibid).

The destruction of the armies will be unusual, to say the least. Jesus’ presence alone will have killed all of them because His glory will be destructive against them. Christ’s brilliant and blinding glory will be like a blistering and plaguing effect on vulnerable human flesh (v.12), much like what we know today of a neutron bomb but amazingly, the Bible records that there can be survivors left thereafter. Verse 16 tells us that those who survived who were against Israel will end up worshipping God.

By now, it is possible that all that remain intact in the world may well be only Israel. We know of countries where the lands are uninhabitable. We also know of nations that have been so comprehensively destroyed. There are natural disasters we have read about that will obliterate many of the nations during the Second War as well. We also know that by the time of the Third War, many nations from Asia will also have risen up against God.

And in all of these, the nation of Israel, God’s Chosen People, will receive, welcome and fully embrace the One True Messiah, Jesus Christ and finally turn to Him in submission, humility, faith and obedience (Ezek 39:21-23). They will now go into deep mourning and in true repentance. This will be a time of celebration and renewal as Israel is finally in full reunion with Christ Jesus (Ezek 39:25-29):

²⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My Holy Name. ²⁶ They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. ²⁷ When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. ²⁸ Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. ²⁹ I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord God.

With heaven on earth, the Millennium may now begin.