Well, another week has gone by in the unprovoked invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine by Russian forces. Vladimir Putin calls it a special, quote unquote, military operation. But no matter what he calls it, it's still against all international law. Fighting has intensified around the capital city of Kyiv. Other cities have been reduced to rubble. The Russians are shelling hospitals, schools, apartment complexes, movie theaters, wherever civilians are huddled in bomb shelters, hoping to live another day. Any agreements to allow civilians to leave had not been honored by the Russians as they have opened fire on convoys of civilians streaming from the cities. Now they say over six million refugees have flooded the country surrounding Ukraine with many, many more on their way. In fact, I just read this morning that the Russians are actually taking some to Russia against their will. So like kidnapping them and taking them against their will to Russia. The Ukrainian army fights on, badly outnumbered by Russian troops. And yet somehow, they've been able to hold off the Russians from taking the capital city, in fact, from taking any of the cities. The West continues to inflict economic sanctions on the Russian economy and on Putin's close friends. Russia recently retaliated by putting sanctions on US officials, prohibiting them from visiting Russia in the future, which I'm not sure they were going to do anyhow. They have warned the West of consequences if we continue to supply Ukraine with defensive weapons. There's a growing pressure on our president to do more than mere sanctions, but perhaps order an airlift of supplies to those trapped in the Ukraine. The president of Ukraine spoke to a joint session of Congress requesting additional aid for his country. And he also spoke to the United Kingdom and Germany as well. Nobody knows how and when this invasion, and most believe that the Ukraine, will eventually be occupied by Russian troops and a pro-Russian government will be put into place. But that is unless somehow the fighting Ukrainians along with the economic sanctions of the West can repel the Russian forces. Now, what we are seeing today, I believe, is just a foretaste or a harbinger of what is to come. For we know in the future, according to Ezekiel 38 and 39, Russia and a coalition of countries, including Iran, Ethiopia, or the Sudan, or some say that's Iraq or Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, and Turkey are going to join forces and come against the little nation of Israel. They may be joined by the closer Arab nations surrounding Israel who are today against Israel's right to exist as a nation and would like nothing better than for Israel to be cut off from being a nation. But when will this happen? When will this happen? Biblical scholars are all over the clock as to when this invasion will take place. Some place it at the middle of the Tribulation, right before the Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel. Others lump this battle with the final battle, the Battle of Armageddon, at the end of the Tribulation period. And still others postulate that there will be an interlude between the end of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. And it's during this interlude that the invasion will occur. And then there's still others that hold the invasion will come at the end of the millennial kingdom, identifying with the battle that's recorded in Revelation 20, verses seven through nine. But all of these views do not take into account that it's gonna take the Jewish people seven years to burn the instruments of war, and seven months to bury the dead. Nor does it take into account the weak response of the West. to the invasion by Russia and her allies. My view that I expressed last week is that the invasion is going to take place prior to the beginning of the tribulation in the intermission period in which we are now living. In fact, I believe it could occur prior to the rapture of the church. Before we're taken out of it, it could happen. Now, wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't that be something if it occurred while we are still alive and we would see prophecy fulfilled right before our eyes? Now, the timing, though, is not connected in any way to the rapture, but rather to the tribulation period. However, my own thinking, which I shared last week, is that it will occur right after the rapture of the church. For when the rapture occurs, the United States, I believe, will cease to be a super world power and the protector of Israel. With the societal upheaval in the West that is bound to happen when Christians are taken out of here, Russia and her allies will see this as their chance. The West will be weak. The Antichrist has not yet come to power in the West. Russia and her allies will move against Israel to destroy it. They will align themselves and seek to drive the Jewish state into the sea. Now, the questions I want to answer this morning is why. and what's gonna happen the course of the conflict and then the outcome or the consequences that are going to occur. Now why? What would cause Russia and her allies to come against the nation of Israel? Why this invasion? Follow along as I begin reading Ezekiel chapter 38 in verse 10. Ezekiel 38 in verse 10. says 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 the 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 to take booty to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited and against the people gathered from the nations who have acquired livestock and good who dwell in the midst of the land. Now one of the reasons I believe they're going to go against Israel is first of all to take a spoil. To take a spoil. It says here that they're going to go to take plunder or to take booty. Do you have any idea how rich in mineral wealth the little nation of Israel is? Just in the Dead Sea area alone, geologists have estimated that there are more than 45 billion tons of unprocessed chemicals. Besides common table salt or sodium chloride, there is sodium chlorine, sulfur, potassium, chloride, or potash, calcium, magnesium, and bromine. Potash is the major ingredient in fertilizer. And the world uses approximately 1 million tons of fertilizer a year. Now, with the supply in the Red Sea, Israel could supply the entire world for the next 200 years and not deplete the supply. For the Jordan River is pouring mineral wealth into the Dead Sea faster than the Israelis can take it out. 25 years ago, geologists and economists estimated that the potential value of the potash, bromine, and other chemical salts is $1,270,000,000,000. That's a lot of money. It's a mineral gold mine. Geologists have also found around the Dead Sea area large regions of oil-bearing sand, indicating that there are pools of oil under the surface just waiting to be tapped. The Middle East is one of the largest and richest oil fields in the world. Offshore, they have discovered off of Israel vast pools of natural gas. Israel is in the process. of building a pipeline from Israel to Cyprus to Greece, which would supply all of Europe with natural gas. Up until January of this year, the United States was behind this project. But we have withdrawn our support because of Putin and also because of our green energy policies. But perhaps, with Europe being cut off from natural gas from Russia, we will reconsider. But I kind of doubt it, since gasoline prices at the pump have been going up and up in our own country, and calls to open up the pipeline or to drill more have fallen on deaf ears as we're being pushed to adopt greener energy. So I doubt that the administration's going to change their mind and change course and support again the building of this natural gas pipeline. You know, we today are dependent. We are no longer independent energy-wise. We're dependent upon foreign powers. Many of them are enemies to provide us with oil and the gas we need. And so we can see with an oil shortage or crisis, it may be enough to move Russia and her allies against Israel to take a spoil. Or perhaps if Israel supplies Europe with their natural gas, which Russia now was doing, they will come against Israel in retaliation. So Israel today has the minerals, oil, and wealth that Russia desperately needs. Their own economy is in shambles. They need a major infusion of cash to keep their nation afloat and to build their military. And one way of getting what they need is to invade Israel and take control of the rich region of the world. So that's one reason I believe they're going to come. The second reason is to control the center of the world. to control the center of the world. Ezekiel 38 verse 12 says, to take plunder and to take booty to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited against a people gathered from the nations who have acquired livestock and goods who dwell in the midst of the land. Who dwell in the midst of the land. They're coming against those that dwell. Or the NIV says, those living at the center of the land. The Hebrew word here for center or midst is translated in other places, navel. You know, like belly button. Israel is the navel of the world. It's the belly button of the world. The very center. God says in Ezekiel 5, 5, thus says the Lord God, this is Jerusalem. I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. The center of the world, in God's mind, is not Washington, D.C. Not Washington, D.C. It is not Moscow either, but Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the center of the world. The world revolves around the nation of Israel, and whoever controls the Middle East will control the world. For in geographical terms, the Middle East is the bridge between three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa. and whoever wants to dominate the world needs to control that middle east and so israel is the center in god's sight it's the center of the world so the coming the midst there's a third reason that is to execute an evil plan to execute an evil plan verse 10 38 10 says 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. An evil plan. The invasion of Israel by Russia and her allies is an evil plan. Evil. It's instigated, I believe, by the author of evil, Satan himself. He has, since the beginning of time, tried to thwart the plan of God and destroy the Jewish people and their Messiah. Genesis 6, he attempted to pollute the human gene pool by the intermarriage of demons or fallen angels with the daughters of men, producing a superhuman race which was destroyed by the universal flood. Throughout Israel's history, he sought to destroy the nation and the people through false religions and foreign invaders. When Jesus was born, Herod killed all the babies in Bethlehem, seeking to rid the world of the one who was born, king of the Jews. Satan attempted Jesus to forego the cross by bowing down and worshiping him. He could have had the kingdoms of this world, the crown, without the cross. But Jesus refused. He thought that he accomplished his goal of thwarting God's plan when Jesus was crucified only to see Jesus rise from the dead, conquer Sid, and make an open showing of victory over Satan. Since then, the Jewish people have been in Satan's crosshairs as wave after wave of antisemitism and persecution has been unleashed. Hitler attempted to destroy the Jews but failed. And I believe here is another attempt by Satan to destroy the Jewish nation and people before the beginning of the tribulation period. For if Israel ceases to be a nation, if the Jewish people are annihilated, if Russia and their allies are successful in destroying Israel, then there can be no fulfilling of the 70th week of Daniel. because no Jews remaining for God to prepare for the reception of their Messiah, no Jewish people to populate the kingdom, and thus no kingdom over which Jesus will one day reign. And so this is an evil plan. The thoughts that will arise in God's mind and the evil plan that he will make are certainly from Satan himself, for he's out to destroy the Jewish people and nation. So the Russians and their allies are going to be pawns in his hand, and they will seek to invade Israel to take the spoil, to control the center of the world, and to execute an evil plan that comes from Satan himself. But there's one more purpose and that is to meet God in judgment. To meet God in judgment. Look at what our text says beginning of verse 15. Ezekiel 38 verse 15. says then you will come from your place out of the far north and many people with you all of them riding on horses a great company and a mighty army 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 nation may know me which i am which i am hallowed in you oh god before their eyes when the Iron Curtain was shredded with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Missionaries from the West flooded the nation. Through the cooperative efforts of the commission, Protestant evangelical mission organizations banded together and worked together to send missionaries and to establish training facilities in the former atheistic nation. But in recent years, the door has been shut. The Russian Orthodox Church at first welcomed the missionaries, but now as people are being converted to other strains of Christianity, they are opposed to outside groups and have sought official sanctions against evangelical mission organizations. And the former Soviet and communists are only too happy to oblige. For years under Marxism, the official religion was atheistic materialism. In the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx in 1948, it says that communism abolishes eternal truth. It abolishes all religion and morality. Lenin, in his book Religion, makes his famous statement that religion is the opiate of the people. Lenin stated that because communism is based on a scientific and materialistic worldview that there must be an active campaign to rid society of any mention of the word God. Now many liberal Christians mistakenly believe that everyone worships the same God. You heard it said, we might call him God. The Jews call him Yahweh or Jehovah. Those of the Islamic faith call him Allah. The Buddhists call him Buddha. And the Hindus call him Krishna. But we all worship the same God, no matter what label we might put upon him. And that, my friends, is pure baloney, first of all. But it's also purely a liberal Christian viewpoint. Those of the Islamic faith do not believe the Jew and I worship their God. They believe we are infidels. They believe that the Jews worship a false god, not Allah. And so Russia and her Islamic allies are going to come against the God of Israel in a battle to put an end to the God myth. Indeed, this is a holy war, a holy war. a spiritual conflict. And that is what we're involved, I believe, in today. It's a holy war. Because the church in Ukraine was strong. It was growing. It was sending out missionaries to other parts of the world. It was sending missionaries into Russia and into the other Baltic countries. But one, on the day that Russia and our allies move against Israel, they're going to meet the true and living God, the Holy God, in battle. Gog meets God. It will be their day of judgment. The long-suffering of God will have expired and God's judgment is going to fall upon them. Now these are the causes, I believe, that are going to motivate Russia and her allies to come against Israel. They're coming to obtain a spoil. They're coming to control the center of the world. They've devised this evil plan. Satan is behind it, but God is also behind it. He's bringing them there for the judgment to come. Now note the course of this conflict, beginning at verse 17 of chapter 38. It says, 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 shall come to pass at that same time when God comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, that my fury will show in my face. 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 said that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, the beasts of the fields, 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 mountain 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 the mountains, says the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother, and I will bring to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed. I will rain down on him and on his troops and on the many people who are with him flooding rains, great hailstone, fire and brimstone. Thus I will magnify myself and sanctify myself. I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord." Now first of all, note the course of this conflict. Russia and their allies are going to come up against Israel at God's command. They're going to surround Israel, they're going to surround Jerusalem, and when they do so, God is going to cause a great earthquake to happen in that region. The earthquake will not only affect those living on the land, but the sea as well. Every living creature in that region is going to feel the effects of this earthquake as God's judgment is unleashed on these surrounding armies. The earthquake is going to cause fear, it's going to cause confusion. and as a result the invading forces are going to begin to attack and kill each other. They're going to attack and kill each other. You know God's used that tactic before. God has used that tactic before in the past to save Israel. When Gideon and his 300 men faced the 135,000 Midianites, according to Judges 7.22, when Gideon and his men blew their trumpets and smashed their lamps, it says that the Lord God caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. And so God used the Midianites to kill the Midianites. And God is going to use the same plan with Russia and their allies. The Russians are going to kill the Russians. You know, we see even today the animosity between certain various Islamic sects, the Shiites, the Sunnis, and the Kurds. And that's just going to be intensified. they're going to turn on each other. The killing is going to be aided by plagues, disease, and natural catastrophe. Those not killed by the sword will die from disease or from rain, hail, and brimstone, possibly a volcanic eruption. And in the end, God is going to bring Russia and her Islamic allies to their knees. They're not going to win when Gog meets God. Now, what will be the consequences of this conflict? What's the outcome? I guess it all depends on who you ask. It all depends on who you ask, because they're bad, they're good, and then it's the best consequences or outcome from this conflict. We'll deal with the bad first, and we're going to have to ask Russia and her allies what happened to them. We now found the text that, first of all, their armies are not only going to be defeated, but they're going to be decimated. decimated. Follow along as I read from Ezekiel 39, chapter 39 verse 1, Ezekiel 39 verse 1. It says, 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, Meshach, and Tubal. Sorry about that. My spell checker wants to change Gog to God all the time. So it's Gog. And I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you from the far north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will know the the bow out of your left hand and cause the arrow to fall out of your right hand, you shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are with you." The invading forces of Russia and her allies are going to be destroyed on the mountains of Israel. Now, how bad will it be? Well, it's going to take seven years to burn all their instruments of war. Ezekiel 39 verse 9 says, Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set 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 forest, because they will make fires from the weapons. And they will plunder those who plunder them and pillage those who pillage them, says the Lord God. Now, there's some question as to whether we should take this passage literally or not, for the warfare pictured here is kind of primitive in comparison to the arsenals that we have today. I mean, no one fights with wooden instruments or shields or horses. Some Bible scholars believe that in the future that the arms that we use now will be abandoned, and there will be a reversion back to more primitive means of warfare. In fact, I think I don't consider him a biblical scholar, but somebody asked Albert Einstein about World War III, and he said it's going to be fought with sticks and stones. Interesting. But anyways, I don't know where he came from. Some biblical scholars believe that there's going to be an abandonment. It's been reported, though, that the Russians have been developing weapons of war out of a material known as ligno stone. It's a compound developed by the Dutch, which is stronger than steel, it's invisible to radar, and it burns with great heat. Perhaps this is what Ezekiel had in mind in this prophecy, or perhaps Ezekiel's describing the weapons and language familiar to him and his contemporaries. The counterpart today would be to mechanize vehicles and offensive weapons, and the wood mentioned could be fuel used to run the vehicle. Whatever view you hold, it will take seven years to dispose of all of the weapons of war. And it's going to take seven plus months to bury all the dead. That is all the bones that the buzzards and wild animals have picked clean. for Ezekiel 39 verse 4 says you shall fall on the mountain of Israel you and all your troops and the people who are with you I will give you two birds of prey of every sort and the beast of the fields to be devoured and then verse 11 says it shall come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by the east of the sea, and it will obstruct travelers because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they call it the Valley of Ham and Gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land." Now this is the first This is the first of three feasts that the birds and wild animals are going to have in the end times. First of the three. Having one's flesh eaten by wild animals was a sign of God's judgment in the Old Testament. If you remember Jezebel, the wicked queen of Israel, the wife of Ahab, when she died, They threw her out of the window, upstairs window, and she died, and they trampled on her foot by the horses. The dogs ate her bones, her body, before the men had an opportunity to bury her. All they found was the skeleton. And even though the flesh will be picked off the bodies, the bones must be buried to cleanse the land. And it's going to take the men of Israel seven plus months to bury all the dead. But God will not only bring judgment on those invading armies, but look at verse 6. He says, I will send fire on Magog and those who live in security in the coastland. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. God's judgment is going to fall upon Magog and their allies. There will be a major destruction at home, thus weakening these nations even more and strengthening Israel. Verse 10 reveals that they will plunder those who plundered them and pillage those who pillage them. In other words, Israel is going to clean house. They are going to pick them clean. Russia and her allies had attempted to plunder and pillage Israel only to be plundered and pillaged themselves. Russia will be defeated. The backbone of the Islamic nation will be broken. Israel will be victorious. not by their own doing or by their own army or superior air force, but defended and secured by God alone. God is going to defeat Gog. This is the worst possible outcome for Russia and her allies. Now Russia will have time to rebuild her armed forces because they're going to play a role in the final battle, the Battle of Armageddon. But during the rise of the Antichrist and the establishing men of a one-world government, she will have a very limited role. She will not be of power like she is today. Now what about the good consequences? I said they're bad, they're good, and they're the best. The good consequences we need to ask Israel. Not only will the nation of Israel be secure in their land, but when this happens, I think before the tribulation period, I believe this will pave the way for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. For there is something that's conspicuously missing today in Jerusalem, and that is the temple. There is no temple in Jerusalem. The first temple was built by Solomon. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. When the exiles returned to Palestine after the Babylonian captivity, they began to rebuild the temple under the direction of Ezra. The second temple was not as lavished as Solomon's temple and was finished though in 516 BC. It was later renovated during the time of the Maccabees and then later again lavishly redone by Herod the Great starting in 19 BC. Herod's temple, or the renovation of the second temple, was the one in existence during the time that Jesus Christ lived here upon the earth. When Jesus departed from the temple area, his disciples wanted to take a tour of the various buildings to look at the incredible architecture. But Jesus makes this prediction concerning Herod's temple. He says, assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another. that shall not be thrown down. And on that same date that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first temple, hundreds of years later, Titus, the Roman general, marched from the Mount of Olives, broke through the walls of Jerusalem, burnt to the ground the temple, and then they manually tore apart the building stone by stone because of the gold that had melted down between the stones. They tore apart the temple and one stone so that not one stone was left upon another. The only part of the temple that remains is the wall, the Western wall, the Wailing Wall as it's called today. Since AD 70, Israel and the people have been without, Jewish people have been without a temple. But the Bible predicts the bible predicts that there's going to be a third temple a temple that will be built either before the tribulation begins or soon thereafter for it is seen to be in complete operation by the middle of the tribulation period and as all of the discourse jesus speaks of this holy place of the temple he says therefore when you see When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, he says then you know that it's time to head for the hills to hide because the time of the great tribulation is about to begin here on earth. Jesus predicted that in the end times there's going to be a functioning temple of God in Jerusalem which would be desecrated by the Antichrist. And Paul agrees, he concurs. He writes, let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. There's a temple. The apostle John according to Revelation 11 was given a reed He was given a reed like a measuring rod, and the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, those who worship there, but leave out the court, which is outside the temple, do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they shall tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months, or three and a half years. So Daniel, Jesus, Peter and John, Paul and John place this awful event in the middle of the tribulation period. Clearly if the temple is to be desecrated at this point it has to be built earlier. Now when the Antichrist commits the ultimate blasphemy by appearing in the temple and declaring himself to be God, it appears that the temple sacrificing and worship that has been going on for some time, that it's clear that this is a clear disruption and desecration. Daniel 9 27 reveals that he will cause the sacrifices to cease, implying that the sacrifices have been going happening for some time. Now, today, there is no temple in Jerusalem. None. And there's some real political roadblocks to rebuilding the temple on the Temple Mount. As soon as the Six-Day War ended in June 1967, speculation arose about the possibility of rebuilding the temple. But there is only one place where the temple can be rebuilt, and that is on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. It was on this mountain that Abraham offered up Isaac his son, demonstrating his faith in God. It was this threshing floor that David bought from Arunah the Jebusite and built an altar to the Lord to stop the plague from destroying the people of Jerusalem. It was here that Solomon constructed the first temple and Zerubbabel and Ezra the second. And it's logical to expect that the third temple will be built on Mount Moriah as well. But, but, standing on Mount Moriah today is the dome of the rock, the second holiest place of the Islamic faith, second only to Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad. The Islamic faith teaches that it was on this rock that Abraham offered not Isaac, but Ishmael, his firstborn to Allah. And it was from this rock that the prophet Muhammad allegedly ascended to heaven. So this is the second most sacred place for those of the Islamic faith. When General Moshe Dayan planted the Israeli flag on the Muslim dome of the rock in 1967, he decided to be conciliatory to his Muslim captives. Dian, a secular Jew, perhaps thought it was safer to let the Arabs keep their holy place than to permit the religious Jews to have it, for he knew that they would immediately dismantle the mosque and rebuild the temple, igniting a holy war. And so, instead of keeping the site sacred for all Orthodox Jews, he took down the flag, gave the Muslims control over the Temple Mount, a decision that religious Jews have never forgotten or forgiven. And so today the Temple Mount is under Arab control. And it's hard to imagine them giving up the Temple Mount without a fight. But may I say that does not stop faithful Jews from making preparation for the rebuilding of the temple. Gershom Solomon and the Temple Mount faithful, they have tried on several occasions to lay a four and a half ton cornerstone on the Temple Mount. Another group known as the Temple Institute, headed by Rabbi Kayim Richman, have made almost all of the 102 utensils needed for temple worship. Training schools have been set up around Jerusalem to train temple priests. In 1999, the first census of all priests and Levites of its kind in 2,000 years took place. In Jerusalem, with the intent of recreating the schedule of priestly, and Levitical duties that existed during temple times. Clothing has already been made for the priest and high priest, and it's all displayed in Jerusalem. There has been, in recent years, excitement over finding two red heifers, and the possibility of having red heifers ashes needed to cleanse the temple and its utensils. Unfortunately, both of them were found to be non-kosher, so they couldn't use them. There has been reports that the stones for the temple have already been quarried and ready for delivery. The point is that thorough preparation of modern shipping and building equipment, the temple could be rebuilt in nine months to a year, fully functional and performing the daily sacrifices before the Antichrist desecrates it near the middle of the tribe. Now I think one day that Russia and her allies here, her Islamic allies, are going to be soundly defeated by God on the mountains of Israel. The threat of igniting a holy war and dismantling the Dome of the Rock will be nil. And I believe that this is going to pave the way for the Jews to build that third temple there on Mount Moriah. Now there's one more consequence. I left the best for last. For not only will Russia and her allies be soundly defeated, not only will Israel be secure in the land, and not only will the Jewish temple be rebuilt on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, but most importantly, God is going to be glorified. God is going to be glorified. For the purpose of defeating the Russian Islamic fascism is to protect and to demonstrate the holiness of God. Ezekiel 38 16 says 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'm hallowed in you O God before their eyes. Ezekiel 38 23 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. And again, in Ezekiel 39 verse seven, God says, 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 nation shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Last week we noted in closing that one phrase about God is repeated over again in these two chapters, and that was, thus says the Lord, or this is what the sovereign Lord says. For God wants to assure our hearts that He is in control, that He is sovereign, that He is Lord over all. But may I say this morning that God is not only sovereign, but God is holy. God is holy. He has set apart His special. He is in a class by Himself. He cannot tolerate forever those who thumb their noses at Him, those who have violated His words and commands, those who have persecuted His chosen people, those who have blasphemed His holy name, and those who have set themselves against the person and plan of God. God's holiness, the fact that he is alone to be worshipped, to be praised, to be glorified, that he's completely unique and distinct from everything and everyone else, his purity, his wholeness has been repeatedly violated by atheistic communism and radical Islamic belief and as a result God's judgment falls. God will not share his glory with another and so he uses this occasion to demonstrate to the rest of the world he is holy, to demonstrate to the rest of the world his glory. Now I trust that this battle scene puts a little fear in our own hearts. We sometimes grow a little flippant about God to many he's become the good old buddy or the big old pal or the man upstairs or whatever people call him. But I trust we'll never forget We will never forget that he is a loving Heavenly Father, but he is indeed holy. He's holy. And although he is long-suffering in patience towards us, who are his children, and although he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, yet he desires for us to live in such a way as to bring him glory and honor and praise to his name. So may we reflect upon his holiness and may we reflect his holiness to the world so that they might see and they might know that he is God. So I close with the question, are we reflecting, am I reflecting God's holiness to the world around us?