So this is our last session for this part of it, and then we will finish up next week with all that I have been doing here and That'll be the final demise of the Arab Muslim nations in the Great Tribulation in their judgment and book of Isaiah is just filled with us there's so much that Isaiah says about it and But we've looked at the invasion, we've looked at that it was coming, and we've looked at who the people were, all the nations surrounding Israel, and we said it's yet future, so I'm going to talk about how it happens, where they come, and how the Lord disposes of them, the period right after that, and then we're going to look at where it's placed in relation to the Great Tribulation. There's some disagreement about that, but I think it's pretty clear once we take apart the verses here and we can see when this actually happens. So reading in Ezekiel 38 verses 10 to 13, continuing from last week, this is the section on why this is going to happen. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, it shall come to pass in that day that things shall come into thy mind. He's talking to Gog now, the Russian guy. And thou shalt devise an evil device. And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to turn thy hand against the waste places that are now inhabited against the people that are gathered out of the nations, that have gotten cattle and goods that dwell in the middle of the earth. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish, and all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take the spoil? Hast thou assembled thy company to take the prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods? to take great spoil. So this section is describing why this is going to happen. What is the reason for the invasion? Russia wants wealth. They want the spoil that they think they're going to get down there. And it's not spelled out exactly what it is, but cattle and silver and gold and something are kind of generic terms in the Old Testament for general spoils of war. There's a lot of speculation as to what else there could be that they would want. We know that the Dead Sea is just filled with a ton of different minerals that are used in production processes and chemical processes like sulfur, potassium, chlorine, sodium and calcium and magnesium and bromide. Another reason is to get closer to the oil fields, because the oil fields are in the Muslim nations, and the Russians have had the Muslims as allies, and they will have them as allies here, too. So it could be that they want to get closer to them and have more access to that oil without upsetting them. We also know that this year, natural gas, a huge amount of it was found in the Mediterranean by the Jews just off the coast there between Israel and Cyprus. The Muslims would welcome any help in destroying Israel, so they would welcome the Russians to come in and they're going to help them. So it's saying that they devise an evil thing for the purpose of taking these spoils. So there's something there when this happens that they're going to want. God is just going to trigger this in God's mind. He's done it in the past with the Assyrians. He gives the Assyrians a little bit of an idea that something that they already want to do according to their nature, to be conquerors and destroyers and so on. That's what he's going to do here, too. There's a second group of nations that's listed here, Sheba and Dedan, which is really northern Saudi Arabia, where most of the population is anyway, that say they don't particularly like this, but they don't do anything about it. They just let it go. And there's another group called Tarshish and all the young lions thereof. We're not sure what Tarshish refers to. It could be Spain, it could be England, it could be Africa. But whatever country it is, it's referring to the colonies that have been bred from those old countries. In which case, there's a lot of colonies that have come from Great Britain. And it could be that, or it could be the same thing that the Spaniards have done. They used to have a lot of colonies. So Russia succeeds in this invasion. These other countries, Shib and Dedan, they just kind of protest. They don't do anything. And they don't get any help from them. The army, though, is going to be disposed of when it comes against Israel. Now, the text moves on to say, therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto God, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, in that day when my people Israel dwell securely, thou shalt not know it, and thou shalt come from the place of the uttermost parts of the north, thou and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army, and thou shalt come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land. It shall come to pass in the latter days that I will bring thee against my land. and the nations may know me when I shall be sanctified in the Ogog before their eyes." So the text is saying here that this invasion starts and it's just like a swarm of insects. There's so many people that comes against Israel. And Israel is in a state of security. It doesn't mean peace, it just means they're secure in their land. And they are secure. After hundreds of wars and all the battles they fought, the United Nations giving them the property and so on, it's theirs. They are secure in that property. They've got military issues with other nations coming after them, and we've seen all of that as we've looked at this history here, but they are still there. And they are secure in that this is their land. This is their land. This is their land. It belongs to them. They're completely in God's hand. They are the apple of his eye. Now, the next section of scripture shows that the invaders are destroyed. The next section says, thus, let me see, where am I at here? Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Art thou he of whom I spake in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel that prophesied in those days for many years that I will bring thee against them? And it shall come to pass in that day when God shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils, for in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel, so that the fishes of the sea and the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the field, and all the creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him unto all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah." Every man's sword shall be against his brother, and with pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him. And I will reign upon him and upon his hordes and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower and great hailed stones, fire, and brimstone, and I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations, that they shall know that I am Jehovah." The question that gets answered here as to what is going on, it's an invasion of Israel, because Russia's iniquity, if you will, is full. The Lord's just had it with them. I mean, they've engaged in so many persecutions, and we've seen, shortly after the War of Independence, they sided up with the Arabs and the Muslims, and they started sending them military. armaments and people and strategizing you know how they can harm Israel and Israel is the apple of God's eye and it's been touched and they're also referred to as the wife of Jehovah. Just like we as the Church of the Bride of Christ, the nation Israel is referred to in the Old Testament as the Bride of Jehovah. So God is angered and he's moving out in judgment. He's going to destroy this invading army. Civil war breaks out amongst the invaders. There's an earthquake. The pestilence happens. The blood, flood, hailstones, fire brimstones. The nations get wiped out that are coming against them. And all the Russians get destroyed. And the purpose of this is so God can be sanctified. He wants everybody to know that He is in charge. He's orchestrating this. Yes, you got these people that hate Israel that are coming against Israel, but He is going to take care of this. He's going to make sure that this is done according to his plan. Now the next section of scripture is sort of a repeat and we call this the hermeneutical law of recurrence. We see this in Genesis early on where it talks about creation and then it goes into specific information about the creation. This frequently happens in the narrative portions of scripture where there's some information given and then in subsequent paragraphs there's more information about one aspect of what has occurred just prior to that. So this next section here is further information about the destruction of the people and the invasion. And the text reads, starting in Ezekiel 39 with the first verse, And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal, and I will turn thee about, and I will lead thee on, and I will cause thee to come up from the uttermost parts of the north, and I will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and I will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy hordes, and the people that are with thee. I will give thee into the ravenous birds of every sort, and the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken, saith the Lord Jehovah, and I will send a fire on Magog and on them that dwell securely in the isles, and they shall know that I am Jehovah." So there's some new information added here to expand out about this invasion. the armies fall on the mountains of Israel. And I probably should have put a topographical map there, because there's a mountain chain that goes right down the middle of Israel. And before the 1967 war, that went right through the Judean-Sumerian area, which was controlled by Jordan at that time. But they come right down Israel, right from the north, And they get almost to Jerusalem, because that's really the prize. That's what they want. They want to get to Jerusalem and take that. I bring out the fact that there's a mistranslation in the Old King James about how many of them perish. It says one-sixth of them, but all of them perish. There isn't any of the invading army that doesn't die. And the text moved on. It says, and I will send a fire on Magog and on them that dwell securely in the isles, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. The Russian and the allied army are all destroyed. But the land of Russia itself is destroyed. They lose their political prowess on the world stage. Once they lose that political prowess, the Eastern Bloc countries, all there is left is the Western powers. And somehow from that, there's going to be a one world government. The Bible doesn't teach it how it's going to happen. But this happens to cause the Eastern Bloc nations to lose any political prowess they have. It's just like about half of the countries in the UN just lose it, you know? And the only superpower that's left is the United States and those in Europe that are part of the Western democracies. China comes into this in the Book of Revelation later, but China is a unique one in that it is an invading nation, but not until the Great Tribulation. It's not part of this. It's not part of this. I'll talk to that a little later. And the reason that this happens is because God wants people to know it's Him. Pay attention to me. It's all he's asking for. Pay attention to me. And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel. Neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned anymore, and the nation shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, said the Lord Jehovah, This is the day whereof I have spoken." Now, he says that there's going to be a revival in Israel, too, with the Jews, because they're going to see this. Just like he said, I make known in the midst of my people Israel. They're going to realize who's doing this. Because look at all the miracles that have happened to them in the development of their country, coming back after 1900 years, getting a country, winning these wars with hardly any armaments and hardly any people. I mean, these things don't happen when there's a level playing field between military battles. I mean, God is on their side. The last part of this that is key to understanding this whole thing is the seven years of burning. Now, this is like the grand finale of the invasion, and it's helpful for us to understand that the military equipment that gets left behind And the rest of the armaments that are used here burn for seven years. It's like there's this fire that just burns. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves and the spears. And they shall make fires of them seven years, so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any of the forest. For they shall make fires of the weapons, and they shall plunder those that plundered them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord Jehovah. There's a, it's a theory basically, but it looks like these are nuclear weapons for several reasons. What's gonna burn for seven years and provide fuel? And everybody's got nuclear weapons, the Jews have got them, the Russians have got them, and when an invasion like this happens, people are gonna use what they have to win. I mean, the guy from Russia, God, when he comes down to do this, He's not doing it to be a nice guy and use some conventional military armaments. He wants to win. He wants to take over this spot and he wants whatever booty is there for him, whatever it is at that time that is there that's desirable. So it makes sense that this is going to be a nuclear exchange. What I didn't do is give you meanings of these words. I probably should have put that in there. The ancient names that were translated here in the King James or even the American Standard, bows, arrows, chariots, and so on, these are generic terms in the Hebrew. Bows, for example, and arrows are just referring to missiles and launchers. It's not a real bow and not a real arrow. That's what King James English in 1608 thought that it meant. So that's how they translated it. But that's not what the Hebrew says. And the Hebrew talking about chariots, the word for a chariot is a Merkava. And a Merkava is the name for the Israeli tanks. So the ancient names are generic. They don't have the same meaning that they've been given in the English. Now, look at this here, there's a description of the burial of the dead, and I'm a believer that they have to wait for seven months before they come in, but others say a few things different, and I'll look at the different views. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog a place for burial in Israel. the valley of them that pass through on the east of the sea, and it shall stop them that pass through, and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall call it the valley of Hemengog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them, and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah. And they shall set apart men of continual employment that shall pass through the land, and with them that pass through, those that bury them that remain upon the face of the land to cleanse it. And after the end of seven months shall they search. And they that pass through the land shall pass through, and when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamangag. And Hamona shall also be the name of a city, thus shall they cleanse the land." Now, this is going to be in one of these valleys on the east side of the Mediterranean Sea, somewhere around the Jordan Valley, just about north of the Dead Sea. They're going to have to wait seven months before they go in. And there are some that say, well, it's going to take seven months. But the Hebrew text really lends itself to waiting seven months, because the next set of verses talk about people that see the bones there are not allowed to touch them. And they got professionals that will come in and clean them up. Men of continual employment, that's the old King James term for somebody that's a professional, you know, does the same thing continuously. And because they're contaminated, everything's contaminated, they don't want anybody touching these. That's why I really believe this is a nuclear exchange here with the description. They don't go in casually. These are not going to be amateurs doing this. They're professionals. And no one can touch this stuff. It's interesting technology, you know? God stages this event where the Russians, along with the Muslims, invade Israel, then he clobbers them, there's this fire that pours down from heaven, and nobody can go into the battleground for seven months and the weapons burn for seven years. That's interesting technology for this being written somewhere around 560 BC. The most controversial question within evangelical, dispensational evangelical renderings of the Bible is, when does this happen in relation to the Great Tribulation? We all know, it doesn't matter what theology you got, everybody knows that there's going to be a huge war. It's going to last seven years, sometime. Now, people want to place this before that. They want to place it during it. They want to place it just after it, because just after the Great Tribulation, there's a 75-day period. We call it the interlude. And Jesus is going to judge. those Gentiles that made it through the Great Tribulation as to whether they became believers or not. He's going to do this in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And some say it happens then, some say it happens in the Millennial Kingdom. Beyond that, There's some basic clues that we need to look at here. One, in this whole scenario, Israel is a state again. It's a recognized state, a sovereign country. Secondly, the waste places of old have been cleared up. You know, this whole movement of the kibbutzim, kibbutzim, if you will, that happened after the War of Independence, where all these people came in and they got property. It was all barren, arid land. And they started growing crops there, and they developed an irrigation system. Now, Israel feeds the Middle East in produce. It's incredible what comes out of there. And so the waste places are inhabited, they're flourishing. Israel, it says, is dwelling in unwalled cities, and that's just the same thing as the kibbutzim. These people live out in these compounds, so to speak. They don't have walls anymore around their cities and their villages. It never says, the text never says that there's peace, it just says security, which is a much different thing than peace. Whether there's a state of war or a state of peace, when you're secure, it means that this is mine, I own it, you know, somebody may try and steal it from me, but I still own it, it's still mine, I got the legal right to it. All of these descriptions pertain to Israel today. And in our last session, we looked at what the meaning of the latter days was, and the latter times started with the First World War. So from the standpoint of this invasion, it can happen any time. But the thing that makes the most sense is it happening before the Great Tribulation. And I'm going to look at the four major views. There are some that try and build a case for the mid-tribulation view, some for the post-tribulational view, also called the Armageddon view. And Armageddon is right at the end of the Great Tribulation. There's eight stages to that battle. And so this is right at the end of that. Then this interlude view, that it happens in that 75-day period there, Some say the end of the millennium view. In other words, after the thousand years. Because after the thousand years, the eternal order is established on this earth. And the book of Revelation describes it as the new Jerusalem coming down. But that is what we call heaven on earth. It's the establishment of the eternal order here on the earth. And then the pre-tribulational view, which is the only one that makes sense when you accommodate the seven years and the seven months. Seven months before you can go in, and seven years that everything's going to burn. There's not too much you can do with that. Now, Israel is established before the Great Tribulation as a state. The Russian Confederacy that invades Israel is during a time of security before the Great Tribulation. And third, the Confederacy is destroyed in Israel before the Great Tribulation. I mean, they're destroyed during this battle, not during the Great Tribulation. The description of Israel fits this passage really well because they've been brought back from the sword after 1900 years, 46 invasions and all the war of independence. It's basically free of foreign domination. They have their own country back and they came from many nations. There's 80 or 90 different nations. of Jewish people that are represented in Israel now, and there's an ongoing effort for them to make Aliyah, so they say, inviting the world's Jews to come to Israel and live. They're rebuilding the ancient places, they're dwelling securely, and this is just a great description of Israel. They've won all the modern wars that they have been engaged in. Now, Russia is still a despotic nation. Even though the Soviets fell, they are still a despotic nation. There's no real freedom, there's no true booming economy there. Market forces have never really been implemented because they have a group of ex-communists, so to speak, running the place. I mean, Vladimir Putin is now being called the new czar because he's grabbed control again. And he was the head of the KGB under the Soviets. So nothing's changed. I don't care what the news says, it really doesn't matter. And the problems of the seven years and seven months only fits by pushing this before the Great Tribulation. Because any other time pushes these events into a time period that's incompatible with them. It just doesn't make any sense. The middle tribulation, first of all, the beginning of the tribulation doesn't have any problems with the seven months, but it's got a real big problem with the seven years. Because that puts Israel into the second half of the tribulation, and they're going to be in the middle of this fight, and they're not going to be picking up things. I mean, this is a worldwide fight going on in the Great Tribulation. They're not going to be cleaning up a battlefield when it is a battlefield at that time. So it's a different battle. The middle of the Tribulation, three and a half years in, has got a problem, because that would be extending this out beyond the Tribulation into the Millennium, and that would be completely opposite of what the Bible teaches of the peace and security of the Millennium. There isn't any angst, there isn't any battles going on in the Millennium. The end of the tribulation has a lot of problems because it extends this completely into the millennium. And there won't be any battles in the millennium. To understand what the millennium is, we have to look at what Isaiah has talked about the millennium and the characteristics of it. So that has got a lot of problems. Really, there's only one view, and that's the before the tribulation view because it accommodates both the seven years and the seven months. And that's why I place it there. And I have put a chart about the key events of the Great Tribulation. that I placed the invasion sometime before the Great Tribulation. And the Great Tribulation lasts seven years. The Mid-Tribulation is three and a half years. There's a thousand year millennium, and then the eternal order is established. And in both the millennial kingdom and the eternal order, there aren't any battles. There's nothing like this going on. It's just there isn't any discussion in the Bible about it. You get some interesting discussion from theologians trying to figure this out. Again, the only one that really makes sense with the way this battle is laid out is the before the tribulation period, and it's a separate battle. It's an absolutely separate battle. Amen?