Iran Has Joined the War Against Ukraine.
For the first time since Darius the Great — whose Persian Empire stretched into parts of what is present day Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine - Iran deployed military Units to Europe. They have joined the Russians in their war against Ukraine. Meanwhile, we agonize over the Red Whimper and gloating Democrats who did not lose much.
Over the years, I’ve used J. Vernon McGee’s awesome tome, Thru the Bible. I use a lot of his work below, because his analysis is even more poignant today. Don’t dismiss Putin at ALL! Nor whoever replaces him. Culture and national politics want to make the people of Christ Caged Lions while ignoring the fierce enemies on our Horizons.
Let’s take a look at what I believe our national leaders are foolishly - like children - ignoring in the agonies of fake pandemic, Deadly Vax attempts to modify human DNA, green agendas, and their socialism.
Ezekiel 38:1-3
If there is any section in the prophecy of Ezekiel that is familiar, it is chapters 38 and 39. These two chapters tell of the repudiation of Gog and Magog. I am going to attempt to handle these chapters just a little differently than I generally do because I am anxious to lift out certain great truths and strategic perspectives for our consideration. Unfortunately, these chapters have been interpreted by men who apparently have no knowledge of the prophecy of Ezekiel and what goes with it. As a result, they have come up with some very odd interpretations. They remind me of the advertisement that was put in the Mines Magazine in El Paso, Texas, by some mining experts and engineers. They put an ad in that magazine in a deadpan way, as though it was serious. “Wanted: Man to work on nuclear fissionable isotopes, molecular reactive counters and three–phased cyclotronic uranium photo synthesizers. No experience necessary.” Well, it is equally as humorous to try to interpret Ezekiel without knowing what the entire book is about.
In chapter 37, God has a definite purpose for Israel in the future, and these two chapters deal with that subject. They tell about the final enemy that will come against Israel in the last days. Note that the United States is nowhere in that prophecy. Probably because we already ‘did it’ to ourselves.
In chapters 38 and 39, I believe that the enemy mentioned is Russia. In my grandpa’s industrial woodshed in college, when I hurt myself studying Daniel and Ezekiel at the same time, I did not believe that it referred to Russia. I refused to accept that interpretation because I belonged to a church body which taught amillennialism. They did not believe that Russia was being referred to in this portion of Scripture. Even after I had earned my master’s degree in History, at 15 years in the Army, I still had not accepted it. Finally, I came to the conclusion that I had better study this and discovered Chuck Missler and Koinonia House. After wrestling with this under Chuck’s teaching, I am convinced that the enemy of chapters 38 and 39 is Russia. Three points of contact make me know this in my own heart and mind: We can study movements of Armies and strategies, but what we have here at the strategic level is known as the Linguistic Phenomenon, the Geographic Phenomenon, and the Philosophical or Ideological Phenomenon.
LINGUISTIC PHENOMENON
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him [Eze 38:1-2].
Gog is a word for ruler, meaning roof, which actually means “the man on top.” I can't think of a better name for a dictator than Gog. If he is not on top, he is not a dictator, and if he is on top, he is a dictator.
Magog means “head”; it is the Hebrew word Rosh, which means head. Dean Stanley, in his exhaustive History of the Eastern Church, published half a century ago, has a note founded on Genesius, the great Hebrew scholar, to the effect that the word Rosh should be Russia. Then Dean Stanley adds that this is the only reference to a modern nation in the entire Old Testament. This is indeed remarkable.
Bishop Lowther made the statement that Rosh taken as a proper name in Ezekiel signified the inhabitants of Scythia from whom the modern Russians derive their name. You see, Russia was first called Muscovy, derived from Meshech. Ivan the Fourth, a czar of Russia, who was called Ivan the Terrible, came to the Muscovite throne in 1533. He assumed the title of Czar, which was the first time the title was used. I am sure you detect that the names Meshech and Tubal certainly sound like Moscow, and Tobolsk, which is way over in Siberia. The linguistic phenomenon certainly leads us to believe that Ezekiel is talking about Russia in this passage.
GEOGRAPHIC PHENOMENON
Now the second proof that identifies Russia is the geographic position. Here we have mentioned the nations which will be with Russia in the last days: “Gomer, and all his bands: the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee” (v. Eze 38:6). “Gomer” is Germany, and “the house of Togarmah” is Turkey. “Of the north quarters” gives us the geographic location. Again, in Eze 38:15 we read: “And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,” and in Eze 39:2 the same location is given: “and will cause thee to come up from the north parts.” Whenever I give an illustrated message on this passage in Scripture, I always show a map of Israel and Russia. The literal meaning here is the “uttermost parts of the north.” If you look at a map, you will find that Russia is directly north and northeast. In fact, it covers Israel just like that picture you have seen of the man under a great big sombrero. That hat covers him just like Russia covers the nation, Israel. When you start going north of Israel, you end up in Russia, and when you get through Russia you will be among the icebergs. You and the polar bears are going to be the only ones there.
Directions in the Bible are in relation to the land of Israel. North in the Bible does not mean north of California or north of where you live. In the Bible, north is north of the land of Israel. South is south of the land of Israel. West is west of the land of Israel, and east is east of the land of Israel. In other words, Israel is the geographical center of the earth as far as the Word of God is concerned.
PHILOSOPHICAL PHENOMENON
We come to the philosophical or ideological phenomenon which helps us identify Gog and Magog with Russia.
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal [Eze 38:3].
This is strange language. By this point in the Bible in the Book of Ezekiel, God said several times that He is against certain nations. He said it about Babylon; He said it about Egypt; and He said it about the nations which were against His people and against His person. In Ezekiel 38 and 39, we see a nation that is to arise in the last days, a nation which is against God. The reason we know it is against God is because God says, “I'm against you.” This makes it different from any other nation, because God said this about nations already in existence in the Old Testament that exhibited enmity and rejection of Him, but this nation in Ezekiel 38 and 39 hadn't even come into existence when Ezekiel gave this prophecy. Yet, God says He is against it.
We have seen something that no generation in the past has seen. We have seen a nation rise whose basic philosophy is atheism. The political economy of Russia rests upon the premise that there is no God. It is atheistic. No other nation in our day has assumed the dominant position of atheism.
What about the heathen, pagan nations of the past? Weren't they atheistic? No, they were not. They were polytheistic. Even Paganistic Plutonic - which is returning in New Age dogmas, today. They believed in many gods. In the beginning men went off the track, but they did not become atheists. The reason they did not become atheists is, I think, easy to understand. They were too close to the mooring mast of revelation. After all, in Noah's day, you did not have atheists. That was not the problem with that massive crowd at all. The problem with them was that they had gone off into being fallen angel offspring (only Noah and his family were righteous in the Generations), sin, and they worshiped many gods. Man at that point was polytheistic. All the great nations after the flood were polytheistic and suffered the judgments God pronounced in His book against those polytheistic nations. He said of Memphis that all of the idols would disappear, and they have disappeared. There were probably no people so given over to idolatry—with the possible exception of the Babylonians. Polytheism characterized the ancient world. But modern Russia is a nation whose basic philosophy is atheistic, a nation that is against God.
Do you realize that God did not give a commandment against atheism at the beginning? He did, however, give the first two commandments against polytheism: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exo 20:3); and “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exo 20:4). So, you see, there are commandments against polytheism, but none against atheism.
When you reach the time of David, atheism is beginning to appear. In Psa 14:1 we read, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” How ridiculous atheism is! It is almost an untenable position (Read Eric Metaxis’ book, Is Atheism Dead?), and here is Russia, a nation that says there is no God! Concerning Russia, men in high places have warned, “You cannot negotiate with them.” Mr. Churchill said of Russia, “A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Rube Goldberg, who drew one of those crazy cartoons years ago, called Joe Stalin, “The Great Upside–down Philosopher.” Underneath the cartoon was written: “Top is bottom, black is white, far is near, and day is night. Big is little, high is low, cold is hot, and yes is no.” Unreasonable? Insane? But that has been the basic philosophy of Russia, and it is a nation that has risen in our day.
Rom 1:28 – 32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
That certainly defines us, but back after the Russian Revolution of 1917, Stalin said, “We have deposed the czars of the earth, and we shall now dethrone the Lord of heaven.” When Russia put a Satellite past the moon, and when it was nearing the sun, the following was heard on the radio in Russia:
“Our rocket has bypassed the moon. It is nearing the sun. We have not discovered God. We have turned out lights in heaven that no man will be able to put on again. We are breaking the yoke of the gospel, the opiate of the masses. Let us go forth and Christ shall be relegated to mythology.”
What did they have in mind when they said that? Did they think that God was playing peekaboo on the other side of the moon? Because they got a glimpse of the other side of the moon and did not see God, did that prove He did not exist? That is the reasoning of the upside–down philosopher. God, however, has beaten them to the draw.
Before Russia even came into existence, God said, “I am against thee.”
You can see how Gog and Magog may be identified with Russia by this threefold reason: (1) the Linguistic Phenomenon; (2) the Geographic Phenomenon; and (3) the Philosophical or Ideological Phenomenon. These are the three points of identification, and when we get to chapter 39 of Ezekiel, God repeats once again that He is against Russia.
We dismiss Russia and Putin foolishly and perilously as we scurry around wearing blinders, focused on the Red Whimper, socialism and green agendas.
Jay - Heading up into the mountains for our Worshipper Warrior Men’s Advance