World/ Ezekiel 38 – 39/ Opposition to Antichrist

Russia Once Again Gaining Position to Attack Israel

Ezek 38 & 39, World Future September 1, 2001

Christian Spirit Magazine Fall 2001 – Chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel are among the most watched for and closely monitored prophecies ever recorded in the annals of man’s history, Biblical or otherwise. Every Christian who has the hope of Christ’s return lodged in his or her faith waits for the day that this amazing and supernatural event will take place in the mountains of Israel, and it is possible that the current war in Afghanistan could be used by God to facilitate its speedy fulfillment.

The details of Ezekiel 38 & 39 tell us that someday (probably in the not too distant future) an alliance, which Ezekiel calls Gog and Magog (generally thought to be Russia), of violent and greedy nations, will suddenly and without warning launch an unprovoked attack on Israel. The attack, Ezekiel states, will come from the north and be spurred on not by political or diplomatic motives but purely for greedy profit and plunder. Among the allies of the North will be Libya, Ethiopia, and many other northern tribes, which are probably the Eastern bloc countries of Europe, parts of the old Soviet Union, especially the Muslim states and, last but not least, Persia. In one day they will descend upon Israel in a mass of military might and with a huge army.

We are given a few clues as to when this blitzkrieg upon Israel will take place. We are told that it would come in the latter years (or last days) and that it would take place after Israel, having been scattered over the earth in judgment, had returned to their homeland during these latter days. (Read Ezekiel 37 for the fulfilled miraculous return of the Jews to Israel.) The other clue about the timing of this dastardly attack is that it will happen at a time when Israel thinks they are dwelling in safety, secure and free from the animus of their traditional enemies, who for some unstated reason and by some unmentioned means make Israel to feel that they no longer wish to do them harm. “After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.” And, “And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.” Ezek. 38:8-11

Of the three conditions for the timing of the attack two of them have already been met. We are in the latter days. Prophecy moves in leaps and bounds and every discerning eye looks now to the heavens for Christ’s appearing. The Jews have returned home. The dry bones are revived, the flesh and sinews have been put on the bones. Israel has raised her flag and won her right to exist in three supernatural wars, in each confrontation fighting off a vastly superior and fanatically hostile confederation of Arab states. Jerusalem is the capital of a Jewish state for the first time in nearly two thousand years. Only one thing remains to be done for the conditions of the timing of the attack – just one thing. Israel has not been deceived, and has not deceived herself into thinking that she is safe and secure. The time of apparent safety for Israel seems to be somewhere in the future, her struggles with the Palestinian Liberation Organization continue to this day and is anything but peaceful. But the day of her apparent safety is coming. How it will come we do not know with certainty, but we know with certainty that it will come. And the anti-Terrorism sentiment of the world may have a backlash effect on the PLO and force them to accept an imposed peace or see themselves be the ones who are eliminated. (Be sure to see the article on the Palestinian’s dangerous game of diplomatic cat and mouse in this section.)

Apart from the timing, however, two other major factors must be established in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled. One, the alliance of Gog and Magog has to be intact and, two, a route or avenue from the north has to be available for the armies of Rosh to enter Israel and station themselves on the mountains of the Holy Land where they will meet their sudden and terrible demise. Both of these conditional elements for the prophecy’s fulfillment could be in the works now; all thanks to the threat of International Terrorism and, ironically, because of the steps the United States and her allies have been forced to take.

For many years the first condition of the prophecy seemed to be firmly in place. The confederation of nations, known as Gog and Magog (ancient names implying a satanic military force opposed to God’s will on the earth) seemed to be in perfect order. The leader of the conspiracy is thought to be a people called in Genesis, Rosh, an ancient name long associated with the tribes and people who now inhabit Russia. And since it is stated that this group (along with Ethiopia, Libya and Persia) will come out of the “north” it has long been believed that the attack of Ezekiel 38will be led and masterminded by Russia. Russian and its satellite Eastern European bloc nations, along with Ethiopia, Libya, Persia and other Moslem countries amounted to a strong alliance dedicated to the overthrow of Israel. All of these countries, except Iran (Persia), were sympathetic to the Soviet Union and avowed enemies of Israel. All that was needed, it seemed, was the support of Iran, and the fall of the pro-American regime of the Shah of Iran in 1979, made it look as though the completion of the Biblical alliance was only a breath away as anti-US sentiment took over Persia and made a political alliance with the Soviet Union and her allies all but inevitable. The only thing necessary, again, it seemed, was to gain control of an avenue or route of invasion. This seemed to be started and was all but a done deal when the mighty Superpower of the U.S.S.R. attacked lowly Afghanistan in 1980. It was expected the war would be over in a few months and then low and behold, the alliance intact, and with only sympathetic Arab and Moslem nations between the armies of Russia and Israel the attack of Ezekiel 38 was all ready except for Israel feeling a peace. But such is the way of God’s fulfillment of prophecy. Things are not as neat and tidy as we hope they are when it comes to God’s timing and His fulfillment.

As close as this prophecy seemed to be to fulfillment it slowly began to unravel in the mountain caves and stark wilderness of Afghanistan. Instead of a skirmish of only a few months the war turned into Russia’s Vietnam and dragged on for nine years bringing utter humiliation and defeat for Russia. Crippled by its failure to annex Afghanistan, slowly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics fractured, splintered, died, and finally dissolved into a smattering of nations of southwestern Asia. [The Soviet Union seeking, perhaps, to obtain Afghanistan so they could use it to launch an attack on Israel was partly brought to ruin by its pursuit. As a result the communistic alliances and friendships became uncertain and undefined. There common ground was lost and the Ezekiel alliance became unsure, hazy and without substance. It was each country for itself. The economic ruin of the Russians made them lose their “vassal” states in Eastern Europe and they no longer could buy the friendship of Libya, Ethiopia or its other Arab allies. Suddenly, in the 90’s, nothing seemed to be in place. While prophecy was advancing in so many other arenas the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 & 39 seemed to take a number of enormous steps backward.

But international terrorism could revive things in ways not seen or imagined by prophetic teachers. The war in Afghanistan may very well end up giving Rosh a foothold in the Middle East that it has long sought for and needed. What irony, typical of the Lord, it would be if the United States, the very nation that stopped Russia’s advances into Afghanistan in the 80’s were to be the very instrument that established Russian forces and bases there. Russian Premier Vladimir Putin and President Bush have already made agreements and Bush openly solicited Russian help in the worldwide fight against terrorism and allowed Russian troops to be deployed in cased they are needed in Afghanistan. One might envision the need for occupation troops to keep the peace in Afghanistan. The United States certainly has no desire to occupy any of the countries, cities or states that it must confront in its long battle to stop terrorism. Will the U.N. do it indefinitely? Russia may be given the task just out of necessity. What irony if the United States, who stopped Russia from gaining Afghanistan, handed it to her for nothing, and thereby gave her the route to the heart of the Middle East and Israel. It could happen. And it could be the first step in the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 & 39.

From Afghanistan the avenue to the mountains and cities of Israel by land and sea would be through either Iraq or Iran and Jordan. If they flew their tactical weapons, horses and men in by plane then Afghanistan could provide the bases necessary for such a large scale operation that could hit with some lightning speed as in one day. The hatred of Iraq and Iran for Israel is well known so it is not hard to conceive that they would approve a sneak attack. The most likely of course, would be Iran. Why? Because they are Persia, one of those mentioned as members of the greedy hoard who hope to take a spoil from Israel. One way or another they will be in on the attack with Russia. The matter of crossing Jordan would be of no concern for the Jordanians will be powerless to stop the crossover whether they approve it or not. And further reason to believe that Afghanistan will be a base for the attack is that they could easily be included in the alliance because of their historical connection with Persia as the home and descendants of the Medes, the other half of that great Antichrist Empire prophesied of in Daniel.

In the popular fictional seines, Left Behind, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins depict Ezekiel 38 as an air war where Russia’s air force is supernaturally destroyed. While this is highly probable the fact that Ezekiel’s meaning also implies large numbers of troops on Israeli soil cannot be ignored. The prophecy also notes horses and weapons, bodies and the burning of seven years’ worth of weapons. The use of horses and conventional weapons of wood, that would be burnable, granted is far-fetched, but when seen as an unpredictable strategy safe from smart bombs and heat-seeking missiles and the new technology, a strategy not dependent on normal supply line constraints or confined to streets and highways as tanks and other vehicles might be, a quick strike with horses could be devised by a crafty high command as a confusing tactic to a modern enemy. It just may not be that silly an idea when employed by enterprising army hoping to use surprise as its main weapon. All of this would require a base of operation for the Russians on the other side of the mountains that divide them from the Middle East.

As far as the alliance of greedy nations goes, it may be restored or even still intact, though not in a politically discernable way such as in the United Nations or through some treaty or commercial organization. The prophecy says that God will put a thought in their heads, at just His time, and cause them to go down to their doom. It could be that the sneak attack will be put together in a supernatural way among the participants – quickly, without diplomatic protocol. The Syrians, Egyptians, Palestinians and Jordanians devised and coordinated their sneak attack on Israel in 1973 by a series of ad hoc phone calls back and forth between leaders and military men only days before they launched the war. The old friendships and connections are possibly still there and the lines are open. But more important to our understanding of the makeup and methods of the alliance is to view it as an irrational and totally supernatural unity. The one thing that has caused them to come down to Israel is a thought that God has placed in their heads. They have not even thought it up. It has not come to them out of consideration for power or political expediency. It is not to preserve an international policy for the national good, or even to keep their own power base at home. It is not even born out of their hatred for the Jews, though they will surely hope to exterminate them in the process. Their conspiracy centers, again, it would seem, around one thing and one thing only. They want a booty, they want spoil, they want to steal away with all of Israel’s riches. That is the one motive they have in common, that is what drives the conspiracy. They are thieves. God has put this singular thought in their collective heads. Therefore they need no open alliance, no discernable block of nations, no declared organization. They will be bound, crazy as it sounds, by a spur of the moment greed.

The threat of international terrorism has already made some surprising and strange partnerships and has revived the prospects of a soon fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 & 39. Watch Russia and what they are up to in the Middle East. The day is coming when we just might wake up to our alarm clock radios blaring with the news of a great attack launched against Israel by Russia and a host of conspirator nations resulting in their incredible and total defeat by some unknown and unseen force that has saved Israel. The only thing holding that day up, it would seem, is Israel feeling that they are safe and secure and for that we look to the current state of affairs in Israel and their conflict with the PLO…