The Gog/Magog Invasion

A Coming Event in World History

One set of predictions not yet fulfilled in his history is in Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39. These chapters ought to be read in context! Here are these two chapters and the notes fill in the context. The entirety of 38 and 39 are shown since Bible illiteracy is now at all all time high these days.  

The Seventy Weeks of Daniel

The Seventy Weeks Text

Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.

“At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

 “Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy (place). 

 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Then he (the false messiah) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.” (Daniel 9:20-27)

Covenants: God Keeps His Promises

For two millennia God the Holy Spirit has been calling a people for Himself out of every nation. Before that great work began, God dealt with individuals or groups by means of covenants (conditional and unconditional). After Abraham, Elohim focused on an elect nation, Israel, and the Covenant with them given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. Everything God does is by covenants—even within the Three Persons of the Godhead.

Israel failed under the Old Covenant but Yeshua inaugurated the long-awaited New Covenant with his eleven disciples during His final Passover meal. The church and Israel each have current binding covenants with Yahweh but the United States and other gentle nations do not. God is committed to keeping His promises to Israel and the Church--as separate entities--with differing callings and destinies. The clearest predictions that God would bring His people back to Himself in due time were given through the prophet Jeremiah in their nations darkest hour. See Ray Stedman, Death of a Nation

Background on Ezekiel

The prophet Ezekiel served Yahweh during the Babylonian exile. Ezekiel presents himself as Ezekiel, the son of Buzzi, born into a priestly (Kohen) lineage. Apart from identifying himself, the author gives a date for the first divine encounter which he presents: "in the thirtieth year". If this is a reference to Ezekiel's age at the time, he was born around 622 BCE, about the time of Josiah's reforms, and shortly after the call of Jeremiah to a prophetic ministry around 626 BCE. Ezekiel's "thirtieth year" is given as five years after the exile of Judah's king Jehoiachin by the Babylonians. The Aramaic Targum on Ezekiel 1:1, however, as well as the 2nd-century rabbinic work Seder Olam Rabba(chapter 26), take a different approach, where they both say that Ezekiel's vision came "in the thirtieth year after Josiah was presented with a Book of the Law discovered in the Temple".

According to the Bible, Ezekiel and his wife lived during the Babylonian captivity on the banks of the Chebar River, in Tel Abib, with other exiles from Judah. There is no mention of him having any offspring. Ezekiel describes his calling to be a prophet by going into great detail about his encounter with God and four "living creatures" with four wheels that stayed beside the creatures. For the next five years he incessantly prophesied and acted out the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, which was met with some opposition.

Ezekiel's contemporary Daniel wrote extensively during the Babylonian Captivity. He served Nebuchadnezzar and his successor through Belshazzar into the days of Cyrus the Mede. Ezekiel cared for the exiles in a camp along a canal outside of Babylon. However, Ezekiel and his contemporaries like Jeremiah, another prophet who was living in Jerusalem at that time, witnessed the fulfillment of their prophecies with the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. On the hypothesis that the "thirtieth year" of Ezekiel 1:1 refers to Ezekiel's age, Ezekiel was fifty years old when he had his final vision. On the basis of dates given in the Book of Ezekiel, his span of prophecies can be calculated to have occurred over the course of about 22 years. The last recorded prophecy of Ezekiel dates to April 570 BCE. (Wikipedia)

Gog and Magog  (Wikipedia)

Rosh = Russia
Magog = Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan
Persia = Iran
Cush = Sudan
Put = Libya
Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah 

Time Frame: Seven Years, the Tribulation period 

A widely discussed future event prophesied in Bible is found in Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39. It’s best to read all of Ezekiel to understand the context. 

38:1 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh,
Meshech, and  Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 

In the “Latter Days” a great land invasion of Israel is depicted. Previously attacks from the North by the “king of the North”-- (usually Syria)-- and the king of the South (Egypt) happened again and again in ancient Israel. See Daniel 11 for the series, and see Ray Stedman, The Time of the End

The Last “King of the North,” “The Assyrian,”  is mentioned 12 times by Isaiah. Probably he leads “the campaign of Armageddon seven years after the Gog/Magog invasion.

However Dr. Andy Woods notes in his study of the Gog/Magog war that the events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 seem to start after the Rapture but extend for seven years reaching a grant crescendo at the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.  Andy also notes that Rosh, Russia, is a major player in the Gog/Magog Invasion. Russia's invasion of the Ukraine is an indicator of the current polarization. By the Way, Russia is from the Eastern Half of the Old Roman Empire. Chuck Missler expressed his understanding of Russia's role in the end times in a number of his lectures a dozen years ago.

God is the Commander-in-Chief, behind the scenes, assembling this great army to come against Israel from the North in the latter days. The armies will be gathered together into a fragile coalition -- because of their greed and a common hatred of the Jews. Israel's petroleum reserves and advanced social order make her the envy of most of the nations in the world, especially her neighbors. The desired plunder will include huge oil and natural gas reserves discovered in Israel in the past half century. Israel is an extremely bountiful economy in the Region, while her neighbors are languishing economically.

The enemy hordes will fall on the hills in the North of Israel (the Golan Heights?) No Jewish civilians or military forces appear to be involved. (There are, however, many settlers living in the North today.) The invading armies we will be struck down by God, an event which will wake the world up to Israel's central place in God's love and sovereignty over the whole earth.

38:18 "On that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, my wrath shall be aroused. 19 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; 20 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. 21 I will summon the sword against Gog in all my mountains, says the Lord God; the swords of all will be against their comrades. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgement with him; and I will pour down torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulphur, upon him and his troops and the many peoples that are with him. 23 So I will display my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord."

Great victories always come from God's hand! We can thank God in advance and praise Him ahead of time! With a simple, silent moving of His Spirit often turned Israel's enemies against their own kind. God will allowed His enemies to destroy one another while God's people Israel watch in wonder and awe with thanksgiving.

God never wins His battles by strength of numbers. He is ready to move and to act when a few of His people will trust Him, and in faith believing, ask Him to roll back the great evils of an age.

The invaders in the Gog/Magog campaign will apparently be all Sunni or Shiite Muslims--plus some opportunistic adventurers along for the ride. Deep, ancient hatred exists in the world of Islam.

I (God) will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 

Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
Gomer and all its troops; the house of 
Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.

38:7 “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. 

After many days you will be visited. 

Here is a reference to the time frame of the invasion. Israel will be back in the land after 2000 years in the Diaspora. The “Last Days” refers to the two-thousand year interval between the First and Second Advents of Jesus.

In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people, on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.

38:9 You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”

‘Thus says the Lord God: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan: You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’— to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land. 

Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ ” ’

38:14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?

Then you will come from your place out of the far north,
you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. 

The imagery of horses and foot soldiers was state-of-the art warfare 2500 years ago. Updated to today’s weapons and military systems, the invading high-tech army will seem to be a coming holocaust of vastly superior legions bent on a final, final solution -- to exterminate the Jews once and forever. Indeed, within Islam there is a drive, a mandate, for one world under Allah, with a Caliphate in Jerusalem.

You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. 

It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” 

Here the God of Israel steps out of hiding. Israel should have known and been ready for her Final Redemption. 

38:17 Thus says the Lord God: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?

“And it will come to pass at the same time, 
when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” 
says the Lord God, 
“that My fury will show in My face. 

38:19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: 

Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’ 

I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord God. 

“Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 

And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 

Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.” (Revelation 16:17-21)

“Every man’s sword will be against his brother. And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus 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.” ’

39:1 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 

The invading armies self-destruct! No Jewish blood will have been shed, apparently.

You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord God. 

Chuck Missler suggests that the imagery here is of a limited, tactical nuclear war within the ranks of the invading armies. Chuck described radioactive dead bodies and "hot" equipment scattered on the Golan Heights, requiring trained remediation experts with all radioactive debris buried in a special fenced zone East of the Dead Sea. Missler noted that the Hebrew words for the search and burial crews suggest they are trained technicians with radiation detectors and wearing special protective suits. But God raining fire down on the “coastlands” is more ominous. (36 times in the OT, "The coastlands אִי'iy are also the “isles.” (אִי ʼîy, ee; a habitable spot as desirable; dry land, a coast, an island:—country, isle, island.)

Chuck Missler suggests a nuclear exchange between Russia and the United States is triggered -- taking out both superpowers -- according to the scenario of Mutually Assured Destruction. Supporting this idea is Chuck's observation that Russia does not seem to be a major player in the campaign of Armageddon seven years later.

Also, America is not mentioned in Bible prophecy, apparently! Great stockpiles of nuclear weapons exist in the world today, no longer controlled by the two superpowers."Stored up Wrath" is a Biblical term that may prove relevant in the end.

39:6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. 

Fire directly from God will permanently weaken the invaders from the North. The coastlands (nations remote from Israel such as the United States), will suffer judgments by fire in that day. At this time all the nations will realize that the God of Israel fights for, and defends Israel.

The unfolding events in the Golan Heights obviously will be watched on satellite television by all of Israel as well as by the outside world. The Golan Heights are only a hundred miles or so North of Jerusalem. The invaders from the North will be brought to their knees by the self-disclosure of the God of Israel. And, Israel will be jolted with a wake-up call from the God of their Fathers.

The nations of the world will be forced to see there is but one true God and Israel has been chosen by this God to represent Him by their life-style and example.

39:7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. 

Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 

Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the day of which I have spoken.

“Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years.  They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord God.

“It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. 

Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord God. “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search.

The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.” ’

39:17 “And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field:

“Assemble yourselves and come;
Gather together 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,
Of rams and lambs,
Of goats and bulls,
All of them fatlings of Bashan.
You shall eat fat till you are full,
And drink blood till you are drunk,
At My sacrificial meal
Which I am sacrificing for you.
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.

Here we have described “the Great Supper of God” (not to be confused the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb”),  The invited guests here are vast flocks of vultures, crows, carrion feeders. The generous food supplied will be the dead bodies of the invading army.

39:21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.

The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” ’

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.

Here is a prophecy about all the Jews worldwide being brought back by God "on the wings of eagles" immediately after the Northern armies self-destruct. The number of Jews in the world today is about 16 million. About 30% live in Israel and 50% live in the United States. Jews make up only 0.2% of the world population yet have had an enormous impact in every nation where they have lived in the Great Diaspora. The seventy percent of Jews today who live outside of the Land are apparently destined to make Aliyah (immigrate) to Israel according to Ezekiel.

 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 

39:29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.”

The present world population is 7.9 billion persons and increasing. About 150,000 people die each day, 150 million babies are born. The net population growth per year is about 80 million. A great population decrease lies just ahead. Globalists suggest the optimum world population should be no more than 500 million, a fifteen-fold decrease. Since this can't be attained by voluntary efforts, one-world government will be necessary soon. After the Rapture of the true church, there will be a big population decrease because of the unloosed judgments of God described in the book of Revelation. This seven-year period will result in millions around the world coming into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the evangelist campaign of 144,000 Jewish evangelists --led by Jesus Himself. The majority of us ignore His detailed warnings and announced plans to recover and restore our plant and its inhabitants. God IS Love and He wishes no one to perish for any reasons. His program for the end of this age maximizes mercy. Many people today live in denial of the very existence of a Higher Power.

The Gog/Magog invasion will permanently weaken Russia, the -stans, Turkey and Iran!
A major regrouping will follow.

Is Afghanistan Found in Bible Prophecy? By Nathan Jones August 29, 2021  Watching the news has been horrific lately, hasn’t it? Afghanistan has fallen to the ultra-fundamentalist Taliban. Iran’s Ayatollahs remain hellbent on developing a nuclear weapon to annihilate Israel. Islam’s might continues to rapidly spread and threatens the entire world! The Biden Administration’s hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan has caused a mass exodus of people trying to flee the country after the Taliban retook the government, meeting almost no resistance. For a long 20 years now, the United States has been waging a war against terror, and in the process losing many American and allied lives in order to bring the Afghani people freedom from the Taliban and to make the West safer. But now the Taliban are back in force, killing Christians and American allies along their meteoric rise to national power. Across the world, the situation has brought up a lot of bad feelings and troubled sleep. We grieve for the people of Afghanistan. We grieve for our servicemen and women and their families who’ve sacrificed so much, including their own lives. To know that our nation’s two-decades long sacrifice has funneled down the drain in a matter of mere days is both enraging and saddening. We feel for the Afghani people’s lost freedoms. And, we pray for the many missionaries there who are now facing imminent danger and inevitable martyrdom. Looking at the terrible pictures of the Afghani people hanging onto our aircraft, desperate to escape strictly enforced Sharia law, will be burned into our minds for the rest of our lives. And, we feel outraged over the billions of dollars of U.S. weaponry — drones, missiles, tanks, and Humvees — left for the Taliban to turn and aim at Israel and the West. A dark time is looming over that nation, and ours as well. It’s hard to fathom the roil of emotions. And yet, the Bible clears up the big picture as to where the course of history is heading and how Afghanistan fits exactly into end time Bible prophecy. Afghanistan can be found in a prophecy called — the War of Gog and Magog. The War of Gog and Magog is set between a massive coalition of nations descended from Noah’s sons Japheth and Ham against Israel (Genesis 10:2-7). The nations are from the territories of ancient Rosh, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Gomer, and Beth-Togarmah (Ezekiel 38:2-6). Their leader is called “Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:2-3). The battlefield is on “the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate” (Ezekiel 38:8). The purpose of the invasion is to “plunder and to take booty”and attack the people of Israel (Ezekiel 38:12-16 NKJV). Let’s now explore what the modern-day equivalents are for these ancient peoples. Magog We find Afghanistan within the following list of nations that will comprise Magog. Some historians point to the former Soviet nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, as well as including Afghanistan, as encompassing the land of Magog. Historian Edwin Yamauchi explains that Magog was the “ancient Scythian northern nomadic tribes who inhabited the territory from Central Asia across the southern steppes of modern Russia.” These nations, today consisting of a population of 60 million, are united by one commonality — Islam. Rosh The word “Rosh” or “Ros” appears in Ezekiel’s list of nations in the New King James Version and other translations based on the Greek Septuagint, which other translations translate as the adjective “chief or prince.” Tenth Century Byzantine writers, such as Ibn-Fosslan, identified a group of Scythians dwelling in the northern parts of Taurus upon the river Volga as the Ros. The early Byzantine Church claimed that the Ros were the people who lived far north of Greece in the area today known as Russia. Rosh is supposed to be “from the remotest parts of the north” (Ezekiel 39:1-2). No other nation exists more directly north of Israel and is more remote than modern-day Russia. Meshech The ancient Moschoi or Muschki or Musku tribe settled in Cilicia and Cappadocia, which is now part of modern-day Turkey. Ezekiel 27:13 notes these people traded in slaves to Tyre, and Ezekiel 32:26 refers to them as an ancient bandit nation. Tubal The people of Tubal would have hailed from the ancient Tibarenoi tribe. This land also resides in modern-day Turkey. Gomer The Jewish historian Josephus identified Gomer who “founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians [Galls], but were then called Gomerites.” Gomer most popularly looks to reference the Gimirrai of the Assyrians, or Cimmerians, who lived in the Black Sea area adjacent to Turkey. Beth-Togarmah Togarmah, or Beth-Togarmah, which means the “house of Togarmah,” contains an etymological connection between the name Togarmah and the names Turkey and Turkestan. The Tilgaimmu resided between ancient Carchemish and Haran, which is modern-day Turkey and possibly the lands of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Persia The land of Persia is ancient and long-running and the easiest to identify, only having changed its name to Iran during the last century in 1935. Cush Cush is another area easy to identify, having split into Ethiopia and the Sudan in more recent history. Put Scholars claim that Put is Libya with the possibility that the land also includes Algeria and Tunisia. Many Nations Ezekiel describes “Sheba and Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions” as just observing the battle (Ezekiel 38:13). Sheba and Dedan were Shem’s descendants who settled in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Tarshish could refer to Tarsus located just northwest of Israel, or the island of Sardinia located just north of Carthage in the Mediterranean Sea. But, more than likely, the inhabitants of Tartessus, located on the southwest coast of Spain, denotes the Phoenician merchants who sailed as far as Britain. The “young lions” could then be referring to Spain and Great Britain’s colonies in the New World. Noticeably absent from this list of Middle Eastern nations are those surrounding modern-day Israel, such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Gaza, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula nations. Why these “many nations” are not also actively involved in the Gog-Magog Battle is open to speculation, but a Psalm 83 scenario where the seer Asaph foresaw Israel subjugating their surrounding neighbors could be the scenario that grants Israel the peaceful precondition Ezekiel describes that precedes the Gog-Magog invasion (Ezekiel 38:11). Aftermath The end result of such a massive invasion by a seemingly invincible army on an unprotected Israel ends up surprising the invaders and shocking the world. The invading nations are, in truth, being manipulated by God, pulled out of their lands as with “hooks in your jaws,” so that those nations feel the Sovereign Lord’s fury (Ezekiel 38:4,18). God drags these specific nations to the “mountains of Israel” to “bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed… flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone” (Ezekiel 38:21-22). God’s ultimate purpose for supernaturally obliterating the invading coalition is so: “Thus, I [God], 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). God’s supernatural victory over the Gog-Magog invaders allows Him to reintroduce Himself to the world and declare in no uncertain terms that Yahweh is personally defending Israel. Should the people of the world doubt, they only have to look on Israel who “will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons… and they will make fires with them for seven years” (Ezekiel 39:9). As for the invaders’ corpses, “for seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land” in the newly named “Valley of Hamon Gog” by a newly built “town called Hamonah” (Ezek. 39:11-12,16). Timing {Explore exactly what nations are involved in the coming massive Gog-Magog attack on Israel, when this war will likely take place, and how dramatically different the world will look after God steps directly into the fray in an academic presentation made by Nathan Jones titled Timing Gog and Magog.} Pray There’s something very important we Christians need to do — we need to pray. We need to pray for the safety of the Afghani people, the boldness of the Christian missionaries there, godly wisdom for our feckless leaders, and that our people make it out of the country before the Taliban’s fatal deadline. {Find out just what Islam believes, their history and goals, and the end time views that fuel their desire to ignite an apocalypse. And, prepare yourself to witness to the coming influx of Islamic immigrants moving into your neighborhood — all of this and more in an all-new academic presentation made by Nathan Jones titled Witnessing to Muslims in Light of Islamic Eschatology!} Lamb and Lion Ministries

The grant given to Abraham is extensive. An outcome of the Gog/Magog war will probably mean a big increase in the borders of Israel with assimilation of non-Jewish “sojourners” living peacefully in the Land.

The Rapture of the Church must happen first. It will be a huge shock for the unprepared. Rapture Shock

Why the Rapture First

For two thousand years God has been calling out of every nation a Gentile Bride for His Son. When the last person in this group has been brought in, the departure of the church can occur. Then the spotlight will be turned again on Israel. The Jews were scattered abroad and denied the right to live in God's land leaving the Land empty and desolate until the last century.

The story of the regathering of people to the land (in a state of unbelief) is thrilling. But Israel achieved statehood in 1948 and has continued to flourish against all odds. The Gog/Magog War will result in yet another defeat for her enemies. Our covenant making God keeps all His promises.

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,  and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 
 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 
For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 
But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.

 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 
 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 
but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 
and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.
 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.
' (Deuteronomy 7)

Times and Seasons

Dispensations are about periods of history during which God administrates the nations of the world differently. Ray Stedman notes: Though a dispensation has some relationship to time, time is not the essential element. I want to explain that in a few moments. I much prefer the use of the biblical terms age," and "times and seasons." These are biblical phrases which mark the way God works in the course of history. We have the "age of grace"---we are living in it today. Jesus, you remember, spoke of the "times and the seasons" to his disciples. He said they are in the Father's power---the Father administers these various times and seasons in human history.

But you can't study the Bible without realizing that undoubtedly there are time distinctions which must be recognized. God hasn't always done everything with man in the same way. There has been a progressive unfolding of truth across the course of history, and we must recognize the various steps God took in that process. All Bible students recognize this. Therefore, in some sense, all Bible students who take the Bible seriously are dispensationalists. You are, for instance. You don't bring a goat or a sheep to church to offer as a sacrifice, which indicates that you are a dispensationalist, because you understand that those requirements have now passed away and God isn't demanding this of men any longer. I doubt if you have a tree in your back yard which you feel forbidden to eat the fruit of. Yet Adam and Eve had such a tree. This marks a difference, a change of "dispensations" since that time. And we gather for church services on Sunday morning, instead of on Friday evening as the Old Testament saints did. This marks a recognition of God's differing dealings with men---a change of "dispensations".

This word, "dispensation," is a biblical word. It is found in the King James Version in several places. It comes from a Greek word, oikonomia, from which we get, in English; "economy."" In the Revised Standard Version it is usually translated "stewardship" or, in some places, "plan." It appears in Ephesians 1:10 where the apostle Paul speaks of "a plan for the fulness of time." In Ephesians 3 :9, Paul speaks of a "dispensation" or "stewardship" which was committed to him, which he calls, in the RSV, "the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things." This is the word we are dealing with. Literally, it really means "the law of the house"---oikos is house and nomus is law; so oikonomus is the law of the house. It has to do with order and regulation within a household. You have your house-law and I have mine. Mine is different from yours, I presume, and to that degree I live in a different dispensation in my house than you do in yours. 

Israel Will Be Restored to Become the Head of the Nations

“On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing. “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:11-15)

The Jerusalem Council c. AD 50

Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them:

“Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. And after they had become silent, James answered, saying,

“Men and brethren, listen to me: Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.’

“Known to God from eternity are all His works. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” The Jerusalem Decree Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.

They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment— it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. (Acts 15:6-29)

The Holy Spirit Will Be Poured Out

A great outpouring of the Spirit during the time of the end is predicted by the Prophet Joel. Usually this is associated with the last half of the week, or 3.5 years.

“And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.

And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “

And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. (Joel 2:28-31)

The Campaign of Armageddon and the Second Advent Events are complex and merit a separate study

To anticipate: 

The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem. “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. “It shall be in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies. “And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Savior s

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

The Day of the Lord

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst.

For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle.

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.

Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Thus the Lord my God will come, And all the saints with You. It shall come to pass in th at day That there will be no light; The lights will diminish. It shall be one day Which is known to the Lord— Neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen That it will be light.

And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be— “The Lord is one,” And His name one. All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.

The people shall dwell in it; And no longer shall there be utter destruction, But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. It shall come to pass in that day That a great panic from the Lord will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, And raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand; Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations Shall be gathered together: Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance. Such also shall be the plague On the horse and the mule, On the camel and the donkey, And on all the cattle that will be in those camps. So shall this plague be. (Zechariah 12:1 - 14:15)

The Man of Sin Revealed || Behold the Messiah by Ray Stedman || And Then Comes the End by Ray Stedman  || The Royal Road to Wholeness
On Dispensations || Jewish Longings for a Temple || Chronology of the Times of the Gentiles  || The Seed Plot of the Bible
The Return of Jesus via Edom || The Return of Jesus: Edom to Jerusalem ||The Rescued Remnant at Bozrah || Jesus, The Shepherd King

The Book of the Revelation Overview and Notes

ʿOlam Hebrew word which means "world" or "eon" is used in the following Jewish phrases:

Adon Olam, meaning "Master of the World," one of the names of God in Judaism Tikkun olam Hebrew: תִּיקוּן עוֹלָם, a Hebrew phrase that means, 'repairing,' 'healing,' or 'perfecting' 'the world.'

An Integrated Message (Chuck Missler)

The great discovery is that the Bible is a message system: it’s not simply 66 books penned by 40 authors over thousands of years, the Bible is an integrated whole which bears evidence of supernatural engineering in every detail.

The Jewish rabbis have a quaint way of expressing this very idea: they say that they will not understand the Scriptures until the Messiah comes. But when He comes, He will not only interpret each of the passages for us, He will interpret the very words; He will even interpret the very letters themselves; in fact, He will even interpret the spaces between the letters!

When I first heard this, I simply dismissed this as a colorful exaggeration. Until I reread Matthew 5:17–18:

“Think not that I have come to destroy the Torah and the prophets; I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

A jot and tittle are the Hebrew equivalent of our dotting an i and the crossing of a t.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life;
and these are they which testify of Me.
 “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
  “I do not receive honor from men.
 “But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.

 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me;
if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
(John 5:39-43)

Notes by Lambert Dolphin

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