“You’re pregnant.” Three of the most beautiful … and three of the most terrifying … words you’ll ever hear. The first question most people ask the doctor is … “Are you sure?” And the second question usually is … “When is it due?” Now, the doctor has to do some quick calculations in his or her head given the stage of the child’s development that they can discern … and sometimes they’re pretty close … but the fact is, they’re only guessing. As those of you who have been through the process know, only God knows the exact date, amen?
Even though the parents don’t know the exact date, they know one thing for sure. At some point that child is going to make its appearance in this world … and every day that passes makes the odds of that more and more possible. You start reading books, taking Lamaze or birthing classes, and … around the seventh or eighth month … you put together a “go” bag … filled with things the mother-to-be will need when she’s in the hospital. The idea is that you don’t want to be running around trying to gather things in a panic. You know where that “go bag” is and you are ready to grab it and “go” at a moment’s notice if need be.
As I said, neither the doctor nor the parents know exactly when the child will be born. Sometimes there are mad dashes to the hospital that turn out to be false alarms. One thing is certain, however … at some point you’re going to know that “this is it!” … this is the real thing.
After teaching at the Temple one day, Jesus took a moment to rest and catch His breath. As He and the Disciples were sitting there, the Disciples began pointing out the beauty of the Temple and the buildings around it.
“Do you see all these things?” He asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one [of them] will be thrown down.”
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains (Matthew 24:2-8).
With everything going on in the world today, many people have been asking: “Is this it?” Is this the beginning of what Jesus called “birth pains”? There have been many false alarms over the centuries and millennia but … as with actual birth … there comes a point, right? Jesus said that nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom … there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Hummm … nations have been rising against nations and kingdoms have been rising against kingdoms all the time. Famines and earthquakes are another constant. According to “earthquaketrack.com,” there have been 27 earthquakes in the past 24 hours, 975 earthquakes in the past 7 days, 5,112 earthquakes in the past 30 days, and 59,323 earthquakes in the past 365 days. Thankfully, most of them happen deep below the earth’s surface where we can’t feel them so we’re not aware of them.
The executive director of the United Nation’s World Food Program, David Beasley, reported that there are currently 135 million people facing “crisis levels of hunger or worse. … And now, a global pandemic with its brutal impact on economies and communities is pushing millions more to the brink of starvation” (Berkowitz, A. “Major Worldwide Famine in 2021 ‘Presaging Messiah as Prophesied by Amos.’” Israel 356 News, November 22, 2020.)
Many, many people have predicted the end of the world and the coming tribulation … and one of these days, guess what? It’s going to happen. It may be happening right now … it may not … but it is certainly important, I think, to keep an eye on things and consider the possibility and have your spiritual “go” bag ready, amen?
We have Jesus’ words to the Disciples to go by but we also have the visions of several of God’s prophets who were given a preview of what and possibly when this is going to happen. If you study the visions of Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and John, you’ll note a great deal of similarities as well as some variation. I believe that they all saw the same thing or were given the same vision but each, being human, interpreted what they saw through the lens of their time and their own personal experience. If we were to go around the sanctuary this morning, we would all have different stories to tell about the recent flood, for example. There was only one flood. There are certain “facts” about the flood … but we all saw it and experienced it from our own personal experiences and then combined what we know and what we heard with what we experienced.
Another thing we have to keep in mind when we examine and talk about the visions these men had is that they were trying, to the best of their ability, to accurately describe things that they had never seen before, and so, again, they had to use images and words that were familiar to them and to the people that they were trying to warn or educate. How would Ezekiel describe a TV to someone in ancient Israel? How would Daniel explain a cellphone or John a car to first century Judeans and Christians? The best that they could do was attempt to describe divine revelation with the words and understanding that they had. Everyone of us would have the same problem today if we had to describe the kinds of divine revelations that these prophets had, amen?
As I said earlier, a lot of people are wondering if we’re seeing the beginning … or perhaps are already in the midst of … the Tribulation or the end times and I thought that we would look at one particular vision that Ezekiel had to help us possibly get a Biblical perspective on the dynamic forces that seem to be tearing our world apart today. Are we experiencing the beginning of the birth pains the Jesus described to His Disciples in Matthew 24?
At one point, Ezekiel described a cataclysmic war between several very powerful nations and Israel.
“The Word of the LORD came to me: Mortal, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Mechech and Tubal; I will turn you around and put hooks into your jaws, and I will lead you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company, all of them with shield and buckler, wielding sword. Persia, Ethiopia, and Put are with them, all of them with buckler and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; Bethtogarmah from the remotest parts of the north with all its troops – many people are with you” (Ezekiel 38:1-6).
Now, there are a lot of names and places in what I just read … places and names that probably make little or no sense to us but … we need to remember that these were real places that existed during the time that Ezekiel received this vision. Those same places existed in Daniel’s time but may have been known by different names. Those same places existed when John received his revelation but they may have had different names. Those same places still exist today but we know them by different names … but we can figure out what those places are when we start where Ezekiel started … Israel.
From Ezekiel and ancient Israel’s point of view, Jerusalem and the nation of Israel were the center of the world. “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and countries all around her’” (Ezekiel 5:5). A more accurate or literal translation of the Hebrew would read: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem, the navel of the nations and countries all around her’” (italics added).
“As the navel is set in the centre of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world … situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the centre of the sanctuary, and the ark in the centre of the holy place, and the foundation stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded” (Feinberg, C.L. The Prophecy of Ezekiel: The Glory of the Lord. (Chicago: Moody; 1969; p. 223).
From this perspective, we can begin to draw a map or picture of the people and places that Ezekiel saw go to war with Israel in the end times. In the scripture that we just read, Ezekiel described a person by the name of “Gog” who the “chief prince” of a region called “Magog” (Ezekiel 38:2). He also lists eight other countries who form an alliance with Gog to attack and defeat Israel: Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, Put, Gomer, and Bethtogarmah. You’ll note some familiar names in the list … Persia and Ethiopia … which, along with the Bible, are useful in helping us locate the other countries.
Let’s start with “Gog, of the land of Magog, chief prince of Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:2). We know that “Gog” is not a place because God calls him a “chief prince.” The name “Gog” means “supreme,” “a height,” or a “high mountain” (Jeremiah, D. Is This the End? Nashville: W Publishing Group; 2016; p. 214). A “prince” or “ruler” would be a person of “supreme height,” amen? “Gog” could also be a title, like “Supreme Ruler.” I believe that “Gog” is a title because Ezekiel saw someone who was clearly a ruler but didn’t know their name … given that he was seeing events in the future that hadn’t happened yet, amen?
“Gog” is apparently a prince or ruler of Meshech and Tubal who then invaded and took over the land or region of Magog. Meshech and Tubal were cities or territories that had been established by Meshech and Tubal, the sons of Japheth and the grandsons of Noah (Genesis 10:2). Scholars and experts believe that Meshech and Tubal were located in what is modern day Turkey.
Now, this is where things start to get interesting. Both Daniel and Ezekiel describe some of the lands that will attack Israel as countries that are from the “uttermost part of the north” or the “extreme” north (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 213). Most scholars believe that the country of Magog is the mountainous region around the Black and Caspian seas. This includes the modern-day countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and perhaps Afghanistan. “All of these nations have one thing in common: Islam. And within their borders they have a population of 60 million” (Hitchcock, M. The Coming Islamic Invasion of Israel. Sisters, OR: Multnomah; 2002; pp. 31-32). Hum … Meshech and Tubal … regions in modern day Turkey … mostly Muslim. Magog … located in the region of the Black and Caspian Sea … mostly Islamic. Starting to see a pattern here?
Persia has always played an important role in Biblical history. For example, it was the Persian General Cyrus who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. Persia changed its name to Iran in 1935 and then changed it to the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Unless you’ve been living in a cave with no electricity, TV, or internet, you know that Iran continues to be a powerful player in the Middle East.
As I’ve said before, I don’t mean to be political but it’s unavoidable when talking about the history and current dynamics in this part of the world. Every year, Iranian Muslims celebrate “Al Quds Day” on the last Friday of Ramadan … which began on July 10th of 2015. It was established by the late Ayatollah Khomeini who “urged the entire country to ‘shout its hatred for the Zionists’ and back Palestinian efforts to seize territory from Israel” (Community Security Trust. CST Blog: What is Al Quds Day? August 3, 2021). Al Quds is now observed by Muslims around the world. What makes this so frighting is that former President Obama gave them the means to act on their hatred. In July of 2015, England, France, Russia, China, the U.S., and Germany signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. The “Iran Nuclear Deal” as it came to be called gave Iran access to $100 billion to develop nuclear weapons. While the U.S. nuclear deal has increased Iran’s power in the region, it has done nothing to dimmish Iran’s hatred toward the U.S. and Israel. According to The Washington Post, the proposed accord would provide Iran with a huge economic boost that would allow it to wage the wars that it is already sponsoring and fighting across the region more aggressively (Hanoush, F. Taken from “ISIS Is Training an Army of Child Soldiers.” Newsweek, November 21, 2015). The loose and unenforceable inspection terms outlined in the treaty play into the hands of Russia’s growing ties with Iran (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 217) … add to this the growing ties between Afghanistan, the Russians, the Chinese and the $80 billion dollars’ worth of military equipment we left behind that is now in the hands of the Taliban. Former President Trump withdraw the U.S. from the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2018 but the current administration is expressing a desire to renew our involvement in the Iran Nuclear Deal.
To the southeast of Israel is the Sudan … which was known as Ethiopia in Ezekiel’s day. Ethiopia was founded by Cush, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah and is equal to Iran in their hatred of Israel.
Also to the east and located in northern Africa is the country of Libya … which is still called “Libya.” Like Ethiopia, it was also founded by a son of Ham. Modern Libya was ruled by Muammar Gaddafi for 41 years. Although he was killed in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, his legacy continues to haunt Libya, which is still wracked by civil war and street violence … including an attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 217).
Now, the location of Gomer is not known today. Some scholars posit that Gomer, who was the first son of Japheth and the grandson of Noah, is the founder of Germany. If that is true, it has ongoing and frightening ramifications for Israel.
Bethtogarmah or “Togarmah” as it is called in some transaltions was the third son of Gomer, who was a son of Japheth, which makes him Noah’s great-grandson. Some commentators and Biblical experts locate Bethtogarmah in Turkey or more likely in Turkestan.
According to Ezekiel’s vision, these are the nations that will one day form a coalition and march against the nation of Israel … and when you look at these countries on a map you’ll see that they surround Israel … Persia and the Muslim countries from around the Black and Caspian sea regions from the west … Turkey and Germany from the north … Ethiopia from the south … and Libya from the east.
Ezekiel tells us why these countries will attack Israel. The first is to seize their land. We spoke a couple of weeks ago about the desires of Israel’s enemies to drive the Israelis in to the Mediterranean. If you’ve ever gone to Israel, the contrast is amazing. Through the use of modern hydroponics and farming techniques, Israel has become a fertile oasis. They grow wheat, sorghum, corn, avocados, kiwi, oranges, mangoes, grapes, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, zucchini, bananas, apples, pears, all kinds of dates and melons as well as raise livestock and commercial fish. All pretty impressive when you consider that they do this in a harsh desert region. As God promised them, however, “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6). It makes Israel a tempting prize to its enemies, amen?
Another thing that makes Israel a tempting prize is its wealth. “Israel’s economy has been ranked the world’s third most innovative, behind Finland and Switzerland and just ahead of Japan and the United States” … you heard that right? Just head of the United States (Muggeridge, P. These Are the Most Innovative Countries in the World. World Economic Forum, July 9, 2015). Israel is home to seventeen billionaires and more than eight thousand millionaires (Bergman, R. Israel in 2015: 17 Billionaires, Over 8,000 Millionaires. YNetNews, October 14, 2015). God has blessed Israel today beyond even what He had blessed them with in King Solomon’s day.
Ezekiel saw all this in his vision. Thoughts will come into the minds of Israel’s enemies, he said, and they will “fall upon the quiet people who live in safety, all of them living without walls, and having no bars or gate; to seize spoil and to carry off plunder; to assail the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center of the earth” (Ezekiel 38:11-12). The great armies that surround Israel will attack a “peaceful” people … a people gathered from the corners of the earth … who turned uninhabitable land into fertile farmland … a people who live at the center or navel of the earth … and they will slaughter them and plunder their wealth and the fruit of their labor.
Ezekiel told us who would attack Israel, he told us why they would attack Israel, and he also tells when they will attack Israel. Three things must take place … two of them have already happened. First, the people of Israel must be re-gathered in their homeland. We talked about the re-establishment of the Nation of Israel in 1948 several weeks ago. Out of the 14 million Jews in the world today, over half … 6.3 million … live in Israel … slightly more than the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. Obviously, Ezekiel’s prophecy could not have been fulfilled prior to 1948 as the Jewish people were still scattered all over the world and had no homeland to return to.
Earlier, God told Ezekiel to “set his face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD” (Ezekiel 6:2). This may sound like so much literary imagery to us but this was highly significant to the people that Ezekiel was preaching to. According to Christian author and speaker Dr. Mark Hitchcock: “Before the Six-Day War the mountains of Israel were in the hands of the Jordanian Arabs, with the exception of a small strip of West Jerusalem. Only since that war have the mountains of Israel been in Israel” (Hitchcock, M. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House; 2012; p. 310).
Israel becoming a nation was one condition. Prosperity is the second thing that must happen before the great war … and I’ve already given you an idea of just how wealthy and prosperous Israel has become in the short time that its been a nation. Its wealth has made it the envy of its neighbors. The Israelis tell a joke about a Jew who only read Arab newspapers. When asked why he did that, he said: “When I read the Israeli papers, all I find is bad news about us – how we are vulnerable to terrorism and attack, problems with Palestinian settlements, political turmoil, and growing isolation. But the Arab papers tell nothing but good news about us: They constantly claim we’re all rich, successful, and rule the world” (Schumpeter, J. Beyond the Start-Up Nation. The Economist, December 29, 2010).
The third condition … peace … has not happened … yet. Ezekiel said that Israel would be land of quiet people living in unwalled cities … no bars or gates to protect their homes. This is an astounding promise. Nothing was more vulnerable in ancient times than a city without walls. When the Babylonians and the Romans sacked Jerusalem, part of their punishment was to tear down Jerusalem’s walls leaving them vulnerable to further attacks and pillaging. “There has never been a time in Israel’ existence, ancient or modern, when it has not been concerned about defense. Israel has always been surrounded by enemies … [and] is constantly threatened from all sides by extremely hostile neighbors many times its size” (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 225). We talked briefly about Israel’s missile defense system, Iron Dome, last week. When you go to Israel, you’ll see many check points and many well-armed soldiers. Every male Israeli is required to serve in the Israeli military for three years and every Israeli woman is required to serve two years in the Israeli military. Every store and restaurant has a metal detector and there is always a bomb shelter close by. They have already fought three major wars in its brief modern history and, as I’ve already noted, Israel’s close neighbor, Iran, is rabidly eager to annihilate them (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 225).
The LORD said that there will be peace in Israel … but here’s the catch. It will be a deception to get Israel to lower its guard. “Then [the Antichrist] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week” (Daniel 9:27). When the Antichrist appears, the first thing that he will do is settle the dispute between Israel and her Arab neighbors … and that will be heralded as a great, great day indeed. Forming a coalition of nations, the Antichrist will enter into a covenant with Israel, guaranteeing her safety. This covenant will last seven years … just long enough for Israel to feel safe and to let her guard down. For the first time in its history, Israel will become a nation of “unwalled villages” (Ezekiel 38:12) … making them an open and ripe target for Israel’s enemies.
While it appears that the nations surrounding Israel will have destroyed her, it is they who will be utterly destroyed. If you look at verse 7 closely, it sounds like God is encouraging Israel’s enemies to attack her. “Be ready and keep ready, you and all the companies that are assemble around you” (Ezekiel 38:7) and then God goes on to say in verses 14 through 16: “On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will rouse yourself and come from your place out of the remotest parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army; you will come up against my Israel, like a cloud covering the earth (Ezekiel 38:14-16).
What God is really doing is setting a trap for Israel’s enemies. “I will bring you against my land,” says God, “so that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I display my holiness before their eyes. … On that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord GOD, my wrath shall be aroused. For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare: On that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the animals of the field, and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all human beings that are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground” (Ezekiel 38:17, 18-20).
Remember what God promised Abraham … those who bless Abraham and his descendants will be blessed but those who curse Abraham and his descendants will be cursed (Genesis 12:3). “God will use the evil tendencies of these allied nations – their greed, hatred, and bloodlust – to goad them into attacking Israel so that He can execute His judgment against them for their long history of human oppression. This judgement will come down in a series of disasters even more spectacular and catastrophic than the plagues [that] God inflicted on ancient Egypt” (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 228). Listen to what is in store for those who form a coalition and attack Israel.
First of all, there will be an earthquake. The mountains will be thrown down, says God, and the sound and sight of it will cause the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and every human being on the face of the earth to tremble in fear for their lives (Ezekiel 36:19-20).
The aftermath of the earthquake … the shaking, the thundering rumble, the billowing clouds of dust and smoke … will create mass confusion among the invading armies. “I will summon the sword against Gog in all my mountains, says the Lord GOD; the swords of all will be against their comrades” (Ezekiel 28:21). In their terror and confusion they will not only attach Israel but each other.
Then comes pestilence and bloodshed. “I will pour down torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur, upon him and his troops and the many peoples that are with him,” says the LORD (Ezekiel 38:22). The aftermath of God’s wrath and destruction upon Israel’s attackers will leave all of Israel’s fields, mountains, plains, gullies, and lakes strewn with masses of dead bodies. God will call out to the birds and the beasts to devour the thousands upon thousands of dead bodies that will be scattered across the land. “Assemble yourselves and come,” commands God. “Gather from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth. … You shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 39:17-20). “It will be a grisly testament to the ignoble end of those who defy God to the end” (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 230).
Remember the $80 billion dollars of weapons that we left behind in Afghanistan? Not this time. God promises to utterly destroy the weapons of Israel’s enemies. “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out,” says the LORD, “and set on fire and burn the weapons … and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,’ says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 39:9-10). It will take seven years for the Israelis to destroy all the weapons that were used against them.
It will take the Israelis seven months to bury all the dead. “It will come to pass in that day,” says the LORD, “that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel. … For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land” (Ezekiel 39:11-12). Israel will appoint search parties to scour the entire land for any remaining bodies or body parts that may have been overlooked to make sure that their land is truly pure and free of any trace of their enemies.
I love how author and pastor Ron Rhodes sums up the fate of Israel’s attachers:
“What a turn of events all this will be. The invading troops come with the intention of killing, but they themselves are killed. They believe their power to be overwhelming, but they end up being overwhelmed by the greater power of God. They come to take over a new land (Israel) but instead end up being buried in the land. The whole world will surely marvel at this turn of events!” (Rhodes, R. Northern Storm Rising: Russia, Iran, and the Emerging End-Times Military Coalition against Israel. Eugene, OR: Harvest House; 2008; p. 151).
With one fell swoop, God will accomplish two goals. One, He will have brought down a powerful, driven enemy of His people … and two, He will once again insure the continuing existence of His people. “Thus,” says God, “I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 38:23).
Hold onto this thought. The God of Israel, He’s our God too, amen? Whatever Israel’s fears are, they are no match for the King of kings … which means that whatever we fear is also no match for the King of kings, amen? When it looks like there is no hope, trust me, hope is waiting for the proper moment to show up.
• Israel’s God … our God … is a God of Justice … evil will not prevail.
• Israel’s God … our God … is the God of love … He will protect all His people.
• Israel’s God … our God … is the God of truth … He keeps His promises no matter what.
• Israel’s God … our God … is the God of the future … He is already there. Amen?
