The Return of the King of Kings Part 4

                “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, Meschech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meschech, and Tubal.  I 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.  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.  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.”
                Ezekiel 38:1-8

This prophetic vision revealed to Ezekiel describes a coalition of nations attacking Israel in the “latter years” or End Times.  This prophecy further affirms the fact that Israel would be restored as a nation.  It speaks of those “brought back from the sword”, meaning the nation driven into exile by Roman swords in 70 A.D.  Israel had indeed been long desolate before Jews started to return during the Zionist movement of the late 1800’s and then in greater numbers following World War II.  And as history has shown, the Jews were literally brought out of the nations to resettle in Israel.  And while they are surrounded by enemies that have attacked them more than once, they do dwell in safety from the perspective that they have a very highly trained and well-equipped army to protect them – a level of protection they never had during the centuries in which they dwelled as strangers in strange lands, often leading to terrible persecution.

The level of detail to which this portion of the prophecy has been fulfilled would seem to validate the other elements, and so it is important that we understand what else Ezekiel is saying.  He speaks of “Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal”.  There are two primary lines of thought as to whom this is referring.  The first, is Russia.  Scholars have linked Meshech with Moscow and Tubal with the Russian city Tobolsk.  They refer to Meshech as the 6th son of Japheth (the son of Noah).  His descendants occupied the territory from the shores of the Black Sea to the south of the Caucasus.  They became the Rossi and Moschi tribes who occupied much of what is now Russian territory.

The second possibility is Turkey.  Some scholars point out that Meshech and Tubal are the Moschi/Mushki and Tubalu/Tibareni tribes that occupied portions of modern Turkey.  It could be that both are right, in that tribes originating in Turkey migrated into Russia.  Therefore, Gog could be either a leader of Russia or Turkey.  We are certainly seeing an increase in Russian involvement in the Middle East in recent years due to the Syrian civil war.  We are also seeing Russia play an active role in bringing together several of the nations described in Ezekiel’s coalition.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran (modern Persia) have had several high-level meetings in recent years.  Again, much of this due to their alliance in assisting Syria in their fight against ISIS and other rebel elements.

As a side note, I would like to point out that the goal of ISIS was not to win their fight to maintain a caliphate.  Their stated goal was to draw the major powers into a World War that would usher in the Mahdi (their version of the leader of a Messianic Age).  One has to wonder how close they have come to fulfilling this goal, as there have been some tense exchanges between Russia and the United States over the course of the Syrian war.  In one instance, American forces actually killed Russian contract soldiers who attacked a US/Kurdish base.  There have also been tense moments between Israel and Russia as Israel has been launching airstrikes into Russian-protected Syria to destroy Iranian forces moving into the region.

The fact is, Russia is actively extending its influence among the nations listed in Ezekiel’s coalition.  They have been fostering military ties with Libya, Ethiopia and Iran.  They recently caused a controversy by selling weapon systems to NATO ally Turkey.

But what would Russia’s interest be in the Middle East and with attacking Israel in particular?  Russia’s economy is based on three things – oil, natural gas, and weapons sales.  Arming the nations of the Middle East provides a good revenue stream for Russia.  They do not care that these weapons are all being trained on Israel.  Influencing the Middle East also allows Russia to influence oil production.  Any conflict in the Middle East that disrupts oil production (for instance, Iranian proxies sabotaging oil tankers and pipelines) raises oil prices and enriches Russia.  Lastly, Russia is Europe’s main supplier of natural gas.  The stranglehold Russia holds over NATO nations in this regard has tempered any reaction against Russian attempts to rebuild the Soviet Empire in places like Georgia, Crimea, and the Ukraine.

Israel has been actively working to develop and exploit its natural gas reserves.  They have now reached the point where they have discovered enough natural gas to become an exporter.  They have formed a partnership with Greece and Cyprus to create a pipeline that would tie in to the Poseidon pipeline that feeds natural gas throughout Europe.  This, in my opinion, makes Israel a growing threat to Russia from both an economic and a geo-political stance.

Note that Ezekiel’s prophecy talks of Gog being turned around by God and led into the conflict.  This could have two meanings.  The first, is that the Soviet Union had been very active in the Middle East during the Cold War, but then seemed to retreat and give way to American influence in the region following the fall of the Soviet Empire.  Vladimir Putin revived Soviet-style global ambitions and one could say has been drawn back into the region in a big way following the chaos of the Arab Spring and the rise of ISIS.

Another possibility is that under Donald Trump, America’s support of Israel will become so overwhelmingly apparent that any thought of a successful attack against Israel will be deemed unrealistic and Russia will back away from any schemes to foster a war in the region (at least anything that could be traced back to them).  But an event like the Rapture (which I will describe in a future post) where Christians are taken to Heaven in the blink of the eye, would cause immense chaos in a Christian nation like America and create an opening for Russia to lead an attack on Israel without fear of American involvement.  This truly would be God creating an opportunity that would be too good for Gog to pass up.

Getting back to the Russia/Turkey question, it should be noted that Vladimir Putin has claimed to be a Christian.  Whether that is true or just an attempt to use his Kremlin training to psychologically disarm America’s Christian leaders, is unclear.  If he is a true Christian, he will be taken up in the Rapture, in which case either some other Russian will step in to lead the coalition, or perhaps the prophecy really is referring to a leader of Turkey, like the increasingly despotic President Tayyip Erdogan who has spoken of re-establishing a caliphate and retaking Jerusalem.

Regardless who the leader is, it is clear the coalition of nations described by Ezekiel is forming.  The only thing standing in their way is the will of America to defend Israel.  If they perceive any weakness in America’s ability or resolve to defend Israel, they will attack.  This weakness could come from the Rapture as I described, or if President Trump were to lose the 2020 election and be replaced by a Democrat President who is not committed to defending Israel.  Based on much of the rhetoric now coming from Democrat politicians, Israel’s enemies would probably view the transition to a Democratic President as a good time to strike.
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One thing Ezekiel makes clear is that Israel will win the war and they will do so through miraculous intervention by God.  I will discuss this in my next post.
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