All right. Yeah, this is going to be a challenge, and I'm going to do my best to try to lay these things out for you. But Ezekiel 38 and 39 are going to be very difficult chapters. I've still got several things, especially related to the timing of this battle that are a challenge. And hopefully, if you can read these two chapters, then that will certainly help you. A long way as far as just being familiar with the territory and understanding some of the challenges that face any person who tries to understand these two chapters in the grand scheme of prophetic events which God has revealed. So this is a series dedicated to the battles for Jerusalem that will happen in the last day and really at the heart of the battle for Jerusalem is the battle ultimately really for God's name. Because Jerusalem is the only city where God chose from all eternity to put his name. And since one's name in the Bible is related to one's reputation, then God has changed his reputation to the destiny of Jerusalem. It is that city that where God will establish his throne, the throne of David, and his Messiah will rule over the whole earth from that city. And fundamentally, since the story of history can be looked at as a story between God and Satan, then Satan doesn't want God's name known to the world. And therefore, he wants to ultimately take over the city of Jerusalem and establish a throne there for his man to rule, who is the Antichrist. And so the battle for Jerusalem is really a battle over whose name is going to be exalted forever. God's name or the greatest angel that he ever created, but this angel fell and became known to us as the Satanos, the destroyer, Satan. And that is why Jerusalem in the last days, Zechariah says, will become a cup of trembling because the nations are raging under the demonic influence and fleshly impulses against God. Now, we have looked at what I consider to be the first battle that will take place in the last days. And that is the and you might want to turn there, Daniel 11, 40 in particular, but all the way down to verse 45. And I gave you a map. And if you don't have that map, then that there may be some extras on the back table. But that map charts the various movements that is described in these six verses. I call this battle the battle between Egypt and Syria versus Israel. So two increasingly Semitic nations in the present time, Egypt and Syria, will eventually turn their sides against Israel in the last days. Now textually in verse 40, they are attacking the Antichrist. They are attacking him. And he is not but he is not even in the land of Israel at that time. So they are actually attacking Israel while he is outside of the land. But an attack against Israel is an attack on the Antichrist since he has already come into the peace treaty with Israel in Daniel 9 27. He will make or force a covenant with the many for the last seven years of Daniel's prophetic calendar. Therefore, an attack on Israel is an attack on him since they are an extension of him. Now, therefore, to keep his treaty with Israel and to keep his foothold in Israel, he will respond to the Egyptian and Syrian forces by attacking them. We see in verse 40 from the north, and he will defeat Syria, Lebanon, and the northern parts of Jordan, many countries. He will then enter into the promised land. He will defeat the Egyptian and Syrian forces in the land. And finally, he will pursue the fleeing Egyptian forces south into Egypt and he will defeat them. Next on his agenda will be Libya to the west and Sudan to the south. But he's going to hear rumors, verse 44, from the north and east. And since Israel is the center point of the compass, the north of Israel and Jerusalem and east of Israel and Jerusalem. And this is going to halt his military campaign in North Africa for the time being. It'll force him in verse 45 to return to Jerusalem where he was set up his military tent. Now, I'm taking it that these rumors that you see there in Daniel 11, 44, is it 44 or 43? I'm not looking at it. I should have it memorized by now, but he says he will hear rumors from the north and the east. Is that verse 43 or verse 40? Thank you. Okay. All right. Verse 44. Those rumors that he hears are the rumors that relate to the nations that are depicted in Ezekiel 38, which we are going to look at tonight. OK, there's a coalition of nations that are making an alliance and planning to enter into the land of Israel. They're devising an evil plan. And so Daniel 1144 links you with or feeds you into the next battle, which is Ezekiel 38 and I find it very interesting that Daniel, the young boy who went into exile to Babylon in 605 BC, lived and crossed paths with Ezekiel, who went into exile to Babylon as well, but in the 597 BC deportation. So they're both living in exile in Babylon. They're both prophets. And probably Daniel outlived Ezekiel, but Daniel more than likely would have had access to all of Ezekiel's writings. Whether he made a linkage in his own mind between Daniel 1144 and Ezekiel 38 and 39, I don't know. But like Dr. Walbert always said at Dallas Seminary, we know more about Daniel than Daniel. And that's simply because so much of what Daniel saw has already been fulfilled. and therefore we have a much greater understanding of the things which were revealed through him. So I'm taking the rumors though there of Daniel 1144 that come from the north and east of Israel and connecting that with the coalition of forces that are described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Now before we look at these nations of Ezekiel 38 and 39 there were two questions that came up last week related to Daniel 11 and I think there's actually three but I can't remember the third one so if I've forgotten and you remember just let me know. One of them dealt with a remark I made about the first seal, which is in Revelation chapter 6. I made a remark about that seal being basically world disarmament. So I want to turn there real quick and show you this. Revelation chapter 6, verse 1, which would be the first seal, and this would be the opening of the events on earth that deal with what we call the 70th week of Daniel, that last seven years. Most people just call it the tribulation. Now, what I mean by saying that the first deal is world disarmament is that all modern weaponry or modern ammunition required for that weaponry will be confiscated or destroyed in some manner. It may be by an organization like the United Nations. I don't know. But some group or powers that will be will force disarmament on the world. And this will give rise to a period of peace. It's really a false peace. The world thinks that they have peace and safety because they don't have AK-47s and AR-15s and that type of idea. And interestingly, 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul speaks about this because he says, at that time, when the world is rid of all the weapons, they will be saying what? Anybody remember 1 Thessalonians 5 too? they will be saying peace and safety. But then the world is going to quickly learn the lesson that many people in this world already know, but will probably not be around then because of the rapture, of course. And that is the lesson that the problem is not AK-47s and AR-15s. The problem, as Isaiah said a long time ago, is that the heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can know it? Man is extremely depraved. And so just getting rid of modern weapons isn't going to stop the wickedness of man any more than not having modern weapons 2,000 years ago didn't do away with the wickedness of man. They'll still have hate and murder bound up in their hearts, and they will then begin to utilize the ancient types of weapons that were used, swords, shields, horses, that kind of thing. And that's what I'm seeing here in the first two seals. So let's actually look quickly at the second seal first and work backwards. And then you'll be able, I think sometimes it helps to look at things from a little different perspective than you're accustomed to looking at. Notice in Revelation 6, 4, we have the second seal and when it is opened, behold, there is a red horse. The red horse signifies war and bloodshed very clearly from the verse. And to him who sat on it, it says, it was granted to take peace from the earth and that men would slay one another and a great sword was given to him. Now, look, if he took peace from the earth, then there had to be peace before seal two. And that's my point, see? And that brings you back to seal one and seal one, as you see in verse two, when this seal is broken, there comes a white horse. Oh, isn't that a pretty sight? Everybody loves a white horse. See, the white horse signifies peace. But I'm saying it's only a false piece. See, it's an apparent piece due to disarmament, which you see from the rest of the verse. See, because he who sat on it had what? He had a bow and he was given a crown and he went out conquering and to conquer. See, notice he had a bow, but what did he not have? He didn't have any arrows, you know, typically bows need arrows. I mean, you could club somebody with a bow, but it helps to have arrows. And you might argue then that really what the first seal is describing is world dis-ammunition, because he has a weapon, but he has no ammunition to fire with. I'm fine with that. But one way or another, the UN or some other global organization will eliminate modern weapons or ammunition. But in either case, the end result is the same. The modern weapons won't be useful, and so the world will think, well, now we've attained peace, because we don't have high-capacity mags. But as the end of the verse indicates, it will be a very short-lived peace. And the seal too, that peace is taken away when the red horse comes on the scene and a great sword is given and they are destroying one another. So you have war there in verse four. And it's very, just to confirm that this is not modern weaponry in verse four, the Greek word for slay. is a Greek word that refers to being killed with a sword. In fact, it's the same word used in 1 John 3.12, which tells us how Cain killed Abel. We actually know the implement that was used by Cain against his brother Abel, and it was either a long knife or a sword, which he used to slit his throat. You know, God said, you know, I'm not pleased with your sacrifice. So Cain said, Oh, fine. You want a blood sacrifice? I'll give you one. Here's my brother. The first murder occurred in the first family. It tells you how bad the human heart really is. So it's at this point that the world is forced to use ancient implements of war after that first seal. And another verse that would just confirm this would be Joel 3, 10. And it's in the context of this later in the tribulation, but nonetheless in the tribulation time. And it says, men will beat their plowshares into swords. and their pruning hooks they will beat into spears. So they'll take agricultural tools during this time and try to beat them into things that they could use to fight other people. So world disarmament is coming by some means and men are going to be forced to turn other things into weapons of war. Now the second question someone brought up is in Daniel 1140. They said when the Antichrist on the map when he comes down and starts his attack in Syria, is that when Damascus is going to be destroyed? See, because Damascus is an ancient city, it's a famous city, a beautiful city. And it has been there for thousands of years, and yet I believe this person is thinking of Jeremiah 49, 23 to 27, which prophesies that Damascus, which is the capital city of Syria, will be destroyed. It will be burned by fire. And I think that's a good possibility. that that passage is referring to that, and if it is that case, then it'll be the Antichrist that defeats it and sets it on fire and so forth, destroys it. I think that's the most likely interpretation because the other cities and places that are discussed in Jeremiah 49 and 50 and 51 are all talking about things that are in the future and have not yet been fulfilled. Now, after that military defeat, the first battle, Daniel 11, 40 and 45, He hears rumors, right? In verse 44, and we said that's where Ezekiel 38 and 39, I think, come into the picture. Notice, it's very interesting in Ezekiel 38, 8, what do you see about the land of Israel? I'm not, I just know this. OK, it says in verse 8 that they will come into the land that is restored from the what? The sword. So they are attacking, this coalition of nations in Ezekiel 38 is attacking after a prior battle where Israel has restored, been restored from the sword. So I'm taking it the battle that they have just been restored from is the one that we just studied in Daniel 11, 40 and so forth. Okay, the Egypt-Syria battle. So this starts to shape things up to help you see that this battle in Ezekiel 38 and 39 actually follows and is the second battle for Jerusalem. Now right now I'm just going to put Ezekiel 38 and you'll understand more later because if you'll read the passage you're going to see that Ezekiel 39 takes you all the way to the end of the tribulation and yet we have Yeah, oh, sorry, I just put Ezekiel 38. I'm just going to write down that chapter for now, because it's possible that something in this passage, there may be two battles in this passage, Ezekiel 38 and 39, but somehow we get all the way to the end. If you look at 38, 39, 29, the very last verse, it says the Lord will have poured out his spirit on the nation Israel. Well, that's when he that's the end of the tribulation. That's when he's coming in his kingdom. So there's a lot of complexities involved here, because I don't think this battle can occur at the end of the tribulation. At least it can't begin at the end of the tribulation. It's got to start much earlier than that, as we'll see. And so either it is a longer battle than maybe we expect, or it is actually two battles. Now, we hear a lot about these chapters today do we not I mean maybe you're not you don't stay up to speed with you know Joel Rosenberg and all that kind of stuff but you know I do he goes on ad nauseum he's writing all these books and so forth epicenter Tehran initiative I mean there's like six five of them now or something and I don't read that stuff but that's just because I know what they're going to say anyway now He makes a big deal of there's going to be this Russian and Iranian alliance and the big deal about the threat of a nuclear Iran. Now, I'm just going to tell you right now that there is nothing in Ezekiel 38 and 39 about a nuclear attack on Israel. There's not even a hint of anywhere in here. In fact, you're going to have five nations enter into the very land of Israel. Now, Israel is the size of Vermont, by the way. It's not that big. I've been there. It's about 30 miles wide and about 150 miles from north to south. It's a little bitty. Texas is like way bigger. We're big. I'm proud of it. Israel is tiny and you don't invade a country that size when you're going to just drop a nuclear bomb on it. You would stay away from the area where you drop a nuclear bomb. There's nothing like that here. In chapter 38, verse 12 and 13, you see that these enemies are entering for spoil and for plunder. They are entering into the country which sits at the very navel of the earth. In verse 13, they are said to be coming for silver and gold and cattle and goods. And so you don't drop a nuclear bomb on gold, if you want it, and silver, and you don't drop it on cattle and goods if you need those for some reason. So whatever that's all talking about, that's not going to happen, okay? Iran may acquire nuclear arms, and that is very significant, okay, as far as the geopolitical developments in the Middle East. It could change things radically. but they're not going to use them against Israel in Ezekiel 38 and 39. They may use them against the West. They don't like us. They're anti-West. And the West may have to decline to enable Bible prophecy to unfold. And for that reason, yeah, it's very serious what's going on in Iran. But Iran is not going to drop a nuclear bomb on Israel in Ezekiel 38 and 39 or any time if you ask me. They'll never do that. So a lot of that stuff is just hype. It's not the text. See, what people like to do is not really study the text. Just make a few clever suggestions and look at the text a little bit, and then that leaves them a whole lot of room where they can slide around on grease and just say whatever they want. But if you study the text in depth, like I'm going to show you, you can't slide all over the place. I mean, it ties you down and that means that the biblical picture then comes into clear focus. But as long as you tune your in all this other hype, you don't see the text in focus. You got to know the text. I don't care what Joel Rosenberg or any of these other people think. OK, if it's not the text, if it's the text, I want to listen to them. Now, as I've mentioned, the most difficult part of this thing is the timing. When is this battle going to occur? And I've already alluded to the fact that it's going to occur during the first half of the tribulation. Since this battle occurs in the first half, shortly after the disarmament, Egypt and Syria invade, and then they're defeated by the Antichrist. He hears rumors back that there's going to be an attack on Israel by a coalition of nations. This battle I've already alluded to is going to begin, let me just say begin sometime in the first half of the tribulation and I hope to show you that the textual details best support this beginning of the battle, this timing. Okay, now tonight I just want to follow the basic Bible study method with you. There are always three steps to studying the Bible and the first one is observation. second one is interpretation and the third one is application okay the first step observation you're just asking what do I see okay and this is where you are like a private investigator you are the Sherlock Holmes of the text and that means you're asking questions of the text who, what, when, where, why, how okay those are your basic questions during the observation stage of Bible study. Then you go on the interpretation. What does it mean? Not what does it mean to me? That's really irrelevant and totally irrelevant in the interpretation stage. At the application stage, the third stage, that's where you're asking now, how does it apply to me? And so forth, those types of questions. So tonight we're just going to try to deal with some of the who, what, when, where, why and how. And we're just going to deal or start with the who and the why and the where will be obvious in the northern mountains of Israel. But to get into the context, let's just start in verse one, and I'll tell you a little bit about Ezekiel. The word of the Lord, he says, came to me. And Ezekiel, we said, was a prophet, which means God revealed himself in words. He actually spoke or by vision to Ezekiel. Now, he was in Babylon because he'd been taken there. As I mentioned earlier, he's in the same place as Daniel. He may have access to some of Daniel's writings. Daniel certainly later had access to Ezekiel's writings. But they're both in Babylon with their people who are in exile. It's a very distressing situation for this country. Imagine if we were all taken into exile to Cuba or something like that. OK. It would not be a situation which is an enjoyable one. You might wonder about the future of your country. You might wonder about your people and what would happen to you in the distant future. Are we going to stay around? Are we going to be wiped out? What is our future? Well, that's exactly what the people down in Babylon wondered. And God gave them two prophets to reveal the future of Israel. Now, it's obvious that Ezekiel received a lot more of this revelation than Daniel. Daniel only gives us 12 chapters. And Ezekiel gives us, how many? 48. So four times as many chapters at least. And that doesn't make Ezekiel more important than Daniel. It just means that there's more there. And Ezekiel, like Daniel, is one of those extremely challenging books. Now, I don't have time to teach the whole book. And I probably don't have the skill. But generally speaking, starting in Ezekiel 33, He for seven chapters down to Chapter 39, his focus is on the restoration of Israel. Now, wouldn't that be encouraging if you were in exile to know that your nation was going to be restored? All right. So there are these prophecies given in these seven chapters that deal with the restoration of your people after they have been in exile. Now, in this period. of chapters, you learn a whole lot. I'm just going to give you a few things that are in here. One of the things that is in these chapters is the revelation of a new covenant. Jeremiah revealed the same thing that God is going to make a new covenant with Israel. He would pour out his spirit on all Israel and they would all know him from the least to the greatest and so forth. No man would teach another for they should all know him now. That's one of the great things that's revealed in this chapter. So the new covenant will be fulfilled in connection with the restoration of Israel. Another thing that you will be aware of that's in these chapters is the dry bones, you know, and the question comes to Ezekiel, you know, can these bones live? And he says, I don't know. You tell me. Good answer. Now, in that vision, the dry bones. Or laying all out in this desert valley. I mean they're dry dry Okay, and then you know they are given sinews and muscles and it's covered in flesh and Yet, they didn't have the breath of life in them, and then they are given the breath of life The point is of this vision that there are two stages to Israel's restoration in the end times, just like there were two stages to Adam's creation in the garden or actually is created outside the garden and placed in the garden. If you read the text, the body was formed and it had no breath of life. And then the breath of life was breathed into the body and it became a living soul. Two stages in Adam's creation. two stages in Israel's final restoration. And the first stage is Israel will be regathered in unbelief. And that's the state of Israel today since 1948. Then later, the imparting of the breath to Israel will be when Israel is regathered in belief, which that's yet to come. So there are two stages or two phases to Israel's restoration. We learned that in this section. Another prophecy in this section that's very important to connect with what's going on in Ezekiel 38 and 39 is a prophecy where there are these two sticks and Ezekiel said to put those two sticks together. Now the two sticks represent on one hand the southern kingdom of Judah and the other stick represents the northern kingdom of Israel. Remember, there was a divided kingdom after the time of Solomon in Rehoboam's time. And by putting those two sticks together, God is saying at the time of Israel's restoration, I will take all the tribes of Israel and I will join them together in one kingdom as they were under King David. So they will be under King Messiah. So a lot of things happen at the time of the restoration. that give the nation Israel hope for the future and that's what these chapters are really written to do and that is to give the nation hope because they were in exile they were down and out now if we were to press on into Ezekiel 40 to 48 you would see the glories of an extensive prophecy about a temple a glorious temple that will be rebuilt by the Messiah in Jerusalem It will be there for the duration of the Millennial Kingdom. And there will even be sacrifices that will atone, and that section of Scripture will really challenge you. Why are there sacrifices in the Kingdom when Jesus has already been sacrificed? All right, I know. But they are, and there's reasons for it. So, they must serve some different purpose, and that's true, but that's a whole other series. But those chapters, 40 to 46, really describe in glorious detail this amazing temple that dwarfs anything that's ever been there in the history of the temple. It's just the very deck, you know, the mount upon which it is built is 39 times the size of the present temple mount. So obviously Jerusalem has to be radically modified as far as its topography is concerned, to house this amazing temple of the king, which you might think of as his house. And it is the greatest architectural design in the history of the world because it's God designing his own house. But that temple will be rebuilt and there will be sacrifices. And finally, the last two chapters, 46, 47, and 8, I think, of Ezekiel deal with the land divisions to the 12 tribes in the millennial kingdom. And that's very important because it shows you that at last Israel will enjoy the total enjoyment of the promised land in total security, meaning that her covenants will be fulfilled. The covenant made to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. Now, we're interested in Ezekiel 38 and 39 because this battle leads them to the kingdom. It is a part of that restoration that takes place and it would give them hope because, as you'll see from the battle, they're going to be victorious because God is victorious. God is the one who defeats their enemies and they also fight among themselves. So there's quarreling among the enemy armies. But in the end, they are victorious and taken into their kingdom blessing in the temple. So let's let's just kind of start observing some a few things. Phase one is always observation. Look at verse one. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel saying, Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog. So Ezekiel is commanded to set his face toward God, Gog. Now, the Hebrew preposition there toward it can mean direction, you know, in other words, Ezekiel, turn and face the direction of Gog of the land of Magog, or the preposition can mean against set your face against them in the sense of look sternly toward them because you are about to give a prophecy of judgment against them. And since verse three, God says, I am against you, Gog, and against there is the exact same preposition, then probably What Ezekiel is now going to do is turn his face in the direction of Gog with a stern, judgmental face and begin to prophesy what God tells him. Now, who is this Gog of the land of Magog? Well, Gog is not a personal name, even though it is used that way in 1 Chronicles. It's a word that means the top of something. In the Old Testament, it's used, for example, of the top of the altar, where the sacrifice would be. It's also used for the top of a house, which we call the roof. But obviously, he's not the top of the altar or the roof, so this means he's the top ruler. Let's say he's a czar. That is the idea. It's a political title, not a personal name. It's a political title. like Czar or Caesar or President is the title. And he's mentioned 11 times in these two chapters. So he's very important to the prophecy and God is very angry at this guy. Now notice where he's from. He's from the land of Magog. Now Magog See how much time we have. Magog is listed in the table of nations. Where is the table of nations? Genesis 10, after the flood, God forms 70 nations. And those nations are listed in Genesis 10, and Magog is one of those nations. He's a Japhitic nation. You have Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And the text tells us that the whole world, population came from those three men, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We happen to descend, most of us, from Japheth. The Arabs and the Jews, they descend from Shem. And the Orientals and others, Asians, they descend from Ham. Now, Magog is Japheth. This is people that descend from Japheth, as we do. And he's from this land. Also, you'll see there in verse The verse that Meshach and Tubal later in the verse, you see Meshach and Tubal. They're also listed in the table of nations coming out of Japheth. And in verse five, you see Ethiopia. OK, that is mentioned in the table of nations and verse six, Gomer and Beth Togerma also listed in the table of nations. Now, all these migrated from the Tower of Babel to certain places. and settled after the flood. So it seems that what is happening is Ezekiel is tracing these people that migrated out from Babel and settled in certain areas. So if we can identify the areas where they had settled in Ezekiel's day, then we can look at a modern geopolitical map and see what nations cover those areas, and we'll know, if this prophecy were to be fulfilled now, what nations would be involved on the basis of the geographical areas where these people migrated to and settled. That seems to be the key. So Gog of the land of Magog. Now, we already said Gog. He's a political ruler, like a czar. He arises out of the land of Magog. OK, where's Magog? On your mat. you see Turkey and just north of what modern-day Turkey doesn't say Turkey but you see it's there it's got Tubal and it's got Gomer in it and all those that's Turkey just north of that is the Black Sea and to the right side of the Black Sea you have the Caspian Sea now there's a mountain range that kind of runs from the northern side of the Black Sea over toward the Caspian Sea that is the land, that's where the people of Magog settled. Okay. Today, these nations are Southern Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. I probably mispronounced that. Eric, you can pronounce me. You're the Middle East expert. Azerbaijan. Does that ring a bell? Okay. But the majority of it, majority of it is in Russia, Southern Russia. So we'd say Magog is the land of Russia. Okay. And that makes Gog a Russian czar from Russia. Ezekiel 39, 6 says his land is Magog. And if you go on to chapter 39, verse 6, you see his land is Magog and his land is going to be torched by God because of this attack that he leads against Israel. Now, what do we know about Russia since he'll come from Russia and he's the leader of this coalition of forces? Well, they were one of the major, three major superpowers. in the 20th century, along with Germany and the United States of America. But after the Cold War with the US, they lost their superpower status. Now, since then, their economy has struggled, everything, and they've been trying to ally, and successfully, with Arab nations in the Middle East to regain their status and their foothold in that oil-rich region. They're also, of course, anti-Semitic, and there's a whole history to that, but many Jews, as you know, have left Russia to return to the land because conditions are not favorable for life in Russia for them. They also have a growing Islamic population and with the population rate growth of those who are the religion Islam in Russia versus the average Russian citizen, in a few decades Russia will be Islamic. It's interesting, Russia has about 126 to 130 million people. I used to think they had a lot more just because they have so much space. But they only have about 130 million people, but obviously they are a major, major country that has to be dealt with. At the present time, they are overwhelmingly atheistic and materialistic. And you can see from verse 12 and 13 that they invade Israel in order to capture spoils. to seize plunder, to take away silver, gold, cattle and goods. So they may be invading because they're having a famine and they're having economic collapse. So that covers the Tsar Gog of the land of Russia. Then we have the fact that this Tsar in the verse is called the prince. He's called the prince of three nations, Rosh, Meshach and Tubal. Now, actually, some people think Rosh should should be lowercase because Rosh means it means chief. And so they take it as an adjective. That modifies Prince and they translate it, he's the he's the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal, but Tommy Ice, Thomas Ice has given I've read he's got five arguments as he's compiled that show that Rosh should be taken as a noun here and is the ancient form of a word that eventually did result in the word Russia. So Rosh then would be Russia. Now Prince, this is another title. And while his political title is something like Tsar Gog, this is his military title. And it means captain. We think of him more as the general. That's the equivalent in our way of thinking. That is, he's the general. of this coalition of forces that will come against Israel in the last days. Now, it says he's the general of Russia, he's the general of Meshech, and of Tubal. Okay, who are these? Okay, who's Meshech? Well, Meshech was another nation, we said, that migrated out after the flood. They occupied, on your map, the land that you see there just to the south and east of the Black Sea, which is present-day Turkey. and you can see that on your map. Tubal, who is Tubal, another nation that migrated out after the flood and they're always linked interestingly with Meshech in the Bible and like Meshech, the descendants of Tubal also settled in the southeast of the Black Sea in modern-day Turkey. So Meshech and Tubal are both populations in modern-day Turkey, that geographic area. What do we know about Turkey today? Well, They're Islamic, but they've had a secular government for many years, since 1923. But in the last two or three years, the people have been very dissatisfied with the government, and so they started electing more fundamentalist Muslims into positions of power. And so the current trend and the talk in Turkey is that they are going to become more strongly fundamentalist Muslim. So it would be no surprise if Turkey would ally with Russia in an invasion against Israel since Islam is basically anti-Semitic. The other armies involved in this invasion are mentioned in verse 5 and 6. Both these guys are in Turkey. In verse 5 we have Persia. and Ethiopia, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet. Gomer with all its troops, Beth Togerma from the remote parts of the north with all its troops, many people with you. Okay, Persia is easy to identify, right? Because until 1935, Iran was known around the world and in all the history books all over the place as Persia. So Persia is Iran. And since 1979, the Islamic revolution, the Iranian revolution, where Ayatollah Khamenei came back and he came to power, the government has ever since then been extremist Islam, fundamentalist. They express openly, we all know their anti-Western and anti-Semitic stance and they are now seeking to become a nuclear power which could completely destabilize the Middle East region. So it would be no surprise in the end They're already, you know, talk with Russia all the time. They have several arms deals and so forth with them. It would be no surprise at all if Iran allied with Israel in an invasion against Israel. Also, verse 5, we have Ethiopia, and this one you have to work with a little bit, because in the Hebrew this is Cush, and Cush is the nation that is south of the border of Egypt. And if you look on your map, it's not Ethiopia that is south of the border of Egypt, but it is who? South of Egypt, sorry, Sudan, right? Now some people say extend it and say it could also include Ethiopia. Okay, whatever. That's fine. Not a big deal to me. But we saw last week in Daniel 11 43 that Sudan would follow at the Antichrist heels very interestingly. This means that when the Antichrist goes into Egypt in the first battle of Daniel 11 he will hear the rumors and he will have to turn back before he can attack Sudan which was obviously his intended target after he defeated Egypt. So Sudan knowing that they were the next target on the Antichrist hit list will then ally with Russia and Turkey and Iran in this conflict that comes against Israel. Now interestingly Sudan is only one of three Muslim nations in the world with a militant Islamic government. In the last 25 years they have been close allies of Iran so to me it is a no-brainer that Sudan would be ready and willing to enter into an alliance with Russia and Iran and Turkey in an invasion against Israel. Then you have put and put in the Bible is the the nation that is west on the western border of Egypt. And that today is Libya. And we know a little bit about them again. Last week we saw what in Daniel 11 43. that Libya was also at the heels of the Antichrist, meaning they were also on his agenda, but he would have to turn his forces back before he could conquer them. Since Libya also knew, like Sudan, that they were about to be attacked, then they will also join this coalition of forces against Israel. At least it seems to make a lot of sense to me. Now, what do we know about Libya? Well, we know they're anti-Semitic. We know that during Gaddafi's rule, they gathered a large arsenal of weaponry from the Soviets, from Russia. We know they sponsor terror around the world. They are a terror state. However, in recent years, interestingly, they've destroyed a lot of their bombs, a lot of their mustard gas, and other materials that could be used to make nerve gas they've somehow disposed of. In any case, though, it would be no surprise that they would join forces with Russia in an invasion against Israel. Finally, verse six, we have Gomer and Bath-Togerma. And these are a little, these are somewhat hard, but to identify, but they're another nation, both of these that come out of the table of nations in Genesis 10. And but the Gomer, these were the Sumerians, Sumerians, not Sumerians. They initially settled in the south of Russia, but they eventually went to central Turkey. So I'm going to put them in central Turkey. I know a lot of scholars say that older scholars say that's Germany. I know I'm aware. Okay. I don't, I don't think so. In fact, Germany is pretty pro-Israel today. I mean, they, at least a lot of them. I mean, they are very sensitive to what happened about 70 years ago in their country, even though the rest of Europe isn't, they don't care. Beth Tograma. These are the Phrygians and they settled in modern-day Turkey as well. So, the places these eight groups migrated to are all basically located within five nations today. Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, and Sudan. And the battle is going to be led by the political czar of Russia, who is called Gog, who is the captain of the armies. So this answers the who, okay? Who will attack and who will rule them? These five nations will attack and their ruler will be the Tsar of Russia. Now having identified who, why? Why will they attack Israel? Well, that's more complex than you may first think. There's a divine cause or reason, a divine why, and there's a human why. Now, this is one of those passages, like many places, where you see God's sovereignty and human responsibility in the same passage. The divine cause, we can prove seven ways that God is the one who ultimately causes this coalition of forces to come against Israel. The first is in Ezekiel 38, 3. The name of God used there, the Lord God, is Adam Yahweh. Now Adon Yahweh emphasizes God's sovereignty over the nations. Sovereignty over nations. This name is used of God throughout Ezekiel 38 and 39 several times. So this shows this name shows that he is the one who's ultimately sovereign over the situation which unfolds in verses 4 and following. Now in Ezekiel 38 for the second reason. The first reason being his name proves it. Secondly, in 38.4 and 39.2, he has his actions prove it. Notice what he says in verse 4, 38.4, I will bring you out and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired. God is the one who will bring them out. The Hebrew word Yesa means to go out from one location to another. It is a Hithil perfect, meaning God is a causative agent in this action. God is going to cause these nations to go out of their lands and into the land of Israel with these implements of war, showing that it will be after the disarmament. See, army with horses and horsemen and that's not really that out of the ordinary. I can read you accounts of. Battles in the last seven within the last 70 years where people were running around with swords and horses and getting it on You know, they didn't have all the modern stuff. We think that's got to be used in war Okay, so it's not that much of a surprise fourth in 38 8 it is proved once more by his actions What does it say he will do? After many days, you will be summoned. Well, it's a passive voice. Tadak, who is the one who is going to summon them if it's not God? Now, what the word means to to summon is to cause a considerable change in a person's life that makes they've got to make a change. And God is going to do that. He's going to change the circumstances of these nations, in particular Gog of Magog, so that they are in desperate need of food and money and will make their attack. OK, this is a detail here and just a detail in 3816. It is proved, again, by God's actions that he is the cause of this coalition at the end times. He says it shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against my land. And the Hebrew just means what it says there. God is going to bring them against his land. Look at that. The land belongs to who? Israel? No, no, Israel is a tenant in the land. They do have divine right and title to the land as tenant. tenants of the land. They are not the possessors of the land. The land is mine, says Leviticus. God owns the land. It is his. And he is bringing these nations, he says, against his land. Sixth, in 39-2, it is proved again by another action of God. God says, I will turn you around, drive you on. And the Hebrew word for drive is tse, it means to lead on. It's an intensive action. It means God is the one who actually leads these armies from the remote parts of the north against the mountains of Israel. You could actually say, yeah, it's Gog, the human ruler, the political ruler, the military prince who is leading them. But from God's vantage point, he is leading them, according to 39 too. And finally, the seventh proof that this battle will occur because God is sovereign is that it's God's word. And this is in thirty nine eight. God says, behold, it is coming and it shall be done, declares Yahweh, Adon Yahweh. That is the day of which I have spoken. And the words I have spoken refer to a promise or a declaration. God has spoken it. He will do it. OK, so for seven reasons, regardless of what you might think about God's sovereignty, you've got to You've got to let your view of God's sovereignty come out of the text. You can't just make up, well, you know, man has free will and God's Indian. You know, fool around. God is leading these people against his land. He is bringing this to pass. He is sovereign over all these nations of the north. As Isaiah says, Isaiah 45, 7, God creates calamity. People don't like that. You mean he causes a mess? Yeah, he causes a mess. This is a pretty mighty calamity that he's about to cause here. Yet the fact that God causes, creates calamity. Does not make God the source of evil, because guess what? Men are always doing exactly what they want to do. Now, there are two proofs of this in this passage that these nations are doing exactly what they want to do. God didn't turn anybody's wrist. Notice in 3810. The human cause for this battle. There are two causes in 3810 reasons. First, it's proved by human thoughts, human ideas. It will come about on that day that thoughts will come into your mind. Now, if God can tell them what they thought way in advance, don't you know God's already known everything you ever thought or will think. Now, these nations will have thoughts in their mind to attack Israel and second, 3810 not only will they have thoughts but out of these thoughts they will devise what an evil plan and you will devise an evil plan and you will say I will go up against the land of unwalled villages I will go against those who are at rest that live securely all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates very important passage that we'll look at next week as far as living security and at rest and so forth the time of this invasion But it sounds to me like they are taking advantage of Israel because Israel is like an easy target. So in the end, the reason why these nations will attack Israel is because God has sovereignly decided to bring them against his land to judge them. Their sins have been built up and they are filled up. Their cup of sins is full and it's time for them to be judged. At the same time, the men who are in these nations will have thoughts in their mind and will plan an attack against Israel. So this shows you a relationship between how God's sovereignty relates to human responsibility or choice. And as I've taught you many, many, many, many times before, man always does what he wants to do. And at the same time, God's plan always comes to pass. I know that sounds just so simple, overly simplistic, but I'm telling you every passage, whether it's Judas was predetermined to betray him, but Judas pays for the consequences. Or whether God predetermined the cross and Pontius Pilate and Herod nailed into it and the Jews nailed into it. All these people are held responsible for doing what they did. And yet God says he planned it. And yet these people were doing exactly what they wanted to do. It's a very simple explanation. Another follow up question that needs answering is, you know, what for? You know, what what are the goals of this battle? What are these people trying to accomplish? And what is God trying to accomplish since God causes it? and man causes it, then God has goals and man has goals. First of all, God, what are God's goals in this battle? Well, there are six things. Let me just summarize them by looking at Ezekiel 38. I could take in lots of detail here, but let's look at the last verse of Ezekiel 38. Is it 20, 23? How did I get over in Matthew? OK, let's just summarize it here. I shall magnify myself. Now, the Hebrew word magnify means to make me look great. To make me look great, because so that's what the magnify myself, I'm going to make myself look great, sanctify myself. This is a word in the Hebrew that means I'm going to vindicate my holiness. See, a lot of people think, well, there's evil in this world, there couldn't be a God. The Bible is not true because the God of the Bible is good, and if God is a loving God, then he would remove evil. Well, guess what? He's going to. He's just being very patient. The one aspect of God they never figure in an equation is the fact that God is long suffering. This word sanctify here means he's going to vindicate his holiness. He is going to demonstrate that he is holy by judging evil. These nations have become evil. They filled up their sins and he will judge them. And it also says he will make himself known in the sight of many nations. This is another reason that God is bringing this to pass. He wants to reveal himself to the nations. Look at chapter 39, verses 6 and 7. And I shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety, and they will know that I am Yahweh. And my holy name I shall make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I shall not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel. All the nations of the world are going to know that Yahweh has done this. And that is one of the purposes of this battle occurring in history, is God to reveal himself to the nations. And the last cause, briefly, is verse 17 of chapter 39. It's to provide a supper for the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. To provide food. Isn't it an irony since man was supposed to have dominion over nature and yet here nature is having dominion over man. So there you have four or five reasons. Now the human side and we'll finish with this and this will keep your attention because I know it's a little late but that's okay. Why do humans want to? Why do these human armies want to attack Israel? Why would a country the size of Russia have any interest at all in a country the size of Vermont? Well there are two reasons. The most basic of which is that they are anti-semitic and you see that in the middle of 3812. In the middle of chapter 38, verse 12, he says, and against the people who are gathered from the nations. So they come to capture spoil there, verse 12, and seize plunder to turn your hand against the waste places and against the people who are gathered from the nations. So they're turning their hand against Israel. They are anti-Semitic. That's a basic reason. But the other reason that I want to spend a few more minutes on, and that is the one there at the beginning of verse 12 and the end of verse 13. for spoil, to capture spoil. They want to capture spoil, seize plunder. Now, at the end of verse 13, you have specific plunder mentioned. They want to carry away silver and gold. They want to take away cattle and goods. Great spoil. Look at that adjective, great. This little nation, the size of Vermont at that time, has something of great, great value. than a nation the size of Russia would want to come and take. Now besides the cattle there, that may be for food, that may indicate famine, but they want silver and gold. Now in the end times, I'm convinced that Israel is somehow going to come into great wealth. Let me share one short story with you. As you know, In 1937, there was a little shepherd boy down by the Dead Sea and he was tossing rocks into some caves along where he kept his sheep, looking for sheep, that he had lost his sheep. And he heard something when he tossed it into this cave and something broke and he went and in 1930, about 1937, everybody says 1946 or something, that's baloney, it's all back in 1937, long before that, was the first discovery of some scrolls they've discovered over 15,000 scrolls. One of the most famous scroll that's ever been found, it's not really a scroll, but it's called the Copper Scroll. And it's actually a sheet of copper that was found. And it's something like a treasure map that shows 64 different caches where gold and silver have been hidden. all the way to Jericho. There are several places in the area there. Now, and it's all listed in talents of gold and silver. Now a talent is like 75 pounds. And there are hundreds of talents of gold and silver listed as hidden in these caches on the Copper Scroll. To date, none of these caches have ever been found. I just got something, okay, see I know Randall Price and Randall Price had permit and he finished his last dig on the Qumran Plateau there in the community that we think produced those scrolls. He had his last dig there this last summer and his permit just ran up December 31st to dig there. When he was carrying out this excavation, he had a GPR team did surveying which revealed in his permitted area a cache of gold and silver buried fairly deep on the plateau. They tried to reach it during his dig time but failed to get the required depth. Now he went and again and they went in again in October and confirmed that this is there. He made a request to try to get more time and equipment so he could go in and get out this anomaly, which appears for everything they can tell to be gold and silver, but he was rejected by the proper Israeli authorities. In any case, it could be a cache of hidden silver and gold, and that would give hints on how to decipher the rest of the Copper Scroll. So if so, the amount of talents that are listed to be found in these 64 places is an immense amount of wealth. And then we have a second thing to consider as far as Israel and wealth. And that is the value of the Dead Sea salts. There's something like 45 billion tons of valuable chemicals in the Dead Sea. It's a vast, vast, vast source of wealth. And finally, in recent years, Israel has discovered, as you may know, several large oil and gas reserves. these fines and more of them like it could potentially make Israel very wealthy. So, in any case, Israel becomes very wealthy in the last days because you can see there in verse 12 and 13 that they're invading them for spoil, for plunder. That's what they want. Alright, so I have to skip some stuff but we'll get that next week. In conclusion, in the latter years when the nation Israel is regathered in their land and the land has been restored from the sword, Ezekiel 38, 8. They are living securely at rest in unwalled villages in great wealth. Then Gog, the political czar of Russia, will lead the armies of Russia, Turkey, Iran, Sudan, and Libya against Israel. Their purpose will be to take the wealth of Israel, but God's purpose is to magnify his name and sanctify himself and glorify himself before all the nations. Clearly this battle will be instrumental in the conversion of Israel And it will be instrumental in the conversion of the nations. Do you know that more people will come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah during that seven year period of time than an entirety of church history? And it's because God is putting himself on display. And the world is coming to faith. All right. If you want to have any questions after you can come up here, I want to give everybody an opportunity to go on, though. Let's close with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your wisdom and your majesty and that you will put yourself on display because it will be time to cleanse the earth of those who are in rebellion against you and to establish a kingdom of peace. We thank you, Lord, that our Messiah is that king and that he will rule with an iron scepter and that he will reign in perfect justice and that we will enjoy as believers in the church to live in immortal resurrected bodies to rule in his kingdom with him. at some level in his administration and to serve our King. And we pray, Lord, that we would certainly be watching current events and seeing how these things line up. But most importantly, that we're looking for the Lord Jesus every day, that he might come and take us. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.