Explaining the battles of the End Times prior to the Millennium
By Khen LimImage source: thesierraleonetelegraph.com
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.”
Image source: canhdongtruyengiao.net
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
Image source: travelingtemplar.com
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
Image source: ngrguardiannews.com
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
Image source: theblaze.com
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
Image source: the-end-time.blogspot.com
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
![](https://heavenawaits.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/mapgaza.jpg)
Image source: heavenawaits.wordpress.com
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
![](https://3ecclesiastes2kaleidoscope1time.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/800px-ancient_near_east_540_bc-svg.png)
Image source: 3ecclesiastes2kaleidoscope1time.wordpress.com
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
![](https://standeyo.com/NEWS/09_Faith/09_Faith_pics/091013.Assyrian.map.2.gif)
Image source: standeyo.com
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.
*******
Image source: jewsnews.co.il
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.
*******
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
Image source: thepropheticscroll.org
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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbixFIK7wKjINsUO0jiM37y61prZy_f54_NlD1o552TBwlk-vSnpth-MFOH0EeDZRTEic1V1xv2P-jkp1v4PCheC2D23cwNUUC5FFyxZPmw0uJsXBKcxeg9Y8fiunP5JbbzdOk4iKJLM/s1600/FIRE-UPON-MAGOG.jpg)
Image source: eschatologytoday.blogspot.com
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.
Image source: trackingbibleprophecy.com
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.
![](https://realityinthenews.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/backstabbed_netanyahu.jpg?w=584&h=434)
Image source: realityinthenews.wordpress.com
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.
Image source: sodahead.com
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
Image source: independantamericanparty.org
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.
Image source: jgray.org
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.
Image source: jgray.org
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXpQEP17_UVYG6Igoc4-l8Wr3AVslssPDjEhLIVLuVh6P3I3sND4rYyiLW22PIvtxZWEkOcwMLOmBvepnDAnK1xKeWhujEhJBnmcrAJbJVGIvD64Ly6qqTbjAMhZfTYCWVx3gYcSLsNXH/s1600/christs+return.jpg)
Image source: theignorantfishermen.com
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.
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