What in the world is going on? SECTION III part 3
Last week we covered the pass war of Israel, The Battle for Beersheba 31 Oct. 1917, the War of Independence 1948, October 1956 war to open the Suez Canal, 1967: Six-Day War Arab Israel won back Jerusalem, 1973: Yom Kippur War, 1982: Lebanon War, and Second Lebanon War In July 2006 Hezbollah We discussed future wars named in the Bible Psalm 83 war, Ezekiel 38 & 39 war and the Battle of Armageddon.
We look at a few things that came out in the news; Israel is planning to fight a multiple front war; Israel is surrounded by Iran proxies. Iran unveiled their first hypersonic missile that can reach Israel. The UN voted Iran as vice president of the General Assembly. Not long after leaving a US-led maritime coalition, the UAE appears to be joining a new naval alliance with Iran.
Saudi Arabia announced that they would cut oil production by 10%.
This week there is a lot of news concerning negotiations between the US and Iran to re-new the nuclear agreement. All these news articles in my opinion push for a Psalm 83 war.
Last week we read Ezekiel 36, where God commands the mountains and the land to prepare for Israel’s return. This chapter is also a demonstration of an unchanging God. In the creation account in Genesis 1 & 2 God prepares the earth before placing man in the garden. After preparing mountains and land for Israel’s return, God tells Ezekiel to prophecy Israel return.
In this prophecy will see Israel returning to the land in unbelief and finally in belief.
[Ezekiel 37:1-28 NKJV] 1 The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD [rûaḥ roo’-akh means wind, breath, mind, spirit,] and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it [was] full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, [there were] very many in the open valley; and indeed [they were] very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 “I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I [am] the LORD.” ‘ [ This I believe referencing Israel’s return in 1948] ” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but [there was] no breath in them. 9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. [Israel today has a great army, Israel ranks among 10 most powerful countries in annual list; 4th strongest military] 11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 “Then you shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken [it] and performed [it],” says the LORD.’” 15 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 16 “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 “Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. 18 “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you [mean] by these?’– 19 “say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which [is] in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ‘ 20 “And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 “and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. 23 “They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. 24 “David My servant [shall be] king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. 25 “Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David [shall be] their prince forever. 26 “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 28 “The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.
[Revelation 21:3, 22 NKJV] 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them [and be] their God…. 22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
[Ezekiel 38:1-6 NKJV] 1 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 “and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I [am] against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company [with] bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 5 “Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them [with] shield and helmet; 6 “Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah [from] the far north and all its troops–many people [are] with you.
[Ezekiel 38:7-12 NKJV] 7 “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. 8 “After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword [and] gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. 9 “You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” 10 ‘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: 11 “You will say, ‘I will go up against a 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’– 12 “to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places [that are again] inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
Note that Israel is living in safety, with unwalled villages or cities. They are no longer surrounded by the Iranian proxies as they are now and in Psalm 83.
The reason for this attack against Israel is different, this time it’s economic!!! In the war outlined in Psalm 83 the reason for the attack is to annihilate Israel, wipe them off the face of the earth.
[Psalm 83:2-4 NKJV] 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from [being] a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.
Remember we brought out Satan’s plan to annihilate Israel to prevent the second coming of Christ.
[Ezekiel 38:13-20 NKJV] 13 “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’” ‘ 14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know [it]? 15 “Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. 16 “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 am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” 17 ‘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? 18 “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says
the Lord GOD, “[that] My fury will show in My face. 19 “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, 20 ‘so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, 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 mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’
These passages sound little bit like the battle of Armageddon and the earthquakes mentioned in Zechariah 14 when the sets His feet in the Mount of Olives and it splits, and Revelation 16 the seventh bowl Judgment.
[Revelation 16:16-21 NKJV] 16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. 17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. 19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, [each hailstone] about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.
When you get to verse 21, it is a different war.
[Ezekiel 38:21-23 NKJV] 21 “I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 “And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who [are] with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 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.”
Note that God turns these armies against themselves and rains down great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; this is not the battle of Armageddon that we read about in Revelation 16 the battle fought in the valley of Megiddo.
[1 Samuel 14:19-23 NKJV] 19 Now it happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the noise which [was] in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” 20 Then Saul and all the people who [were] with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed every man’s sword was against his neighbor, [and there was] very great confusion. 21 Moreover the Hebrews [who] were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp [from the] surrounding [country], they also joined the Israelites who [were] with Saul and Jonathan.
Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, [when] they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. 23 So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.
[Ezekiel 39:1-16 NKJV] 1 “And you, son of man, prophecy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I [am] against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; 2 “and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 “Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. 4 “You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who [are] with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and [to] the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 “You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD. 6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I [am] the LORD. 7 “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 nations shall know that [I am] the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 “Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This [is] the day of which I have spoken. 9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on 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. [This not the second coming because when Jesus come back no need to burn weapons] 10 “They will not take wood from the field nor cut down [any] from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord GOD. 11 “It will come to pass in that day [that] I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call [it] the Valley of Hamon Gog. 12 “For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. [After the battle of Armageddon there no burying taken place] 13 “Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD. 14 “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15 “The search party will pass through the land; and [when anyone] sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 “[The] name of [the] city [will] also [be] Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.’
[Ezekiel 39:17-29 NKJV] 17 “And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat till you are full, And drink blood till you are drunk, At My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table With horses and riders, With mighty men And with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD. 21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 “So the house of Israel shall know that I [am] the LORD their God from that day forward. 23 “The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 “According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” 1 25 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name– 26 ‘after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their [own] land and no one made [them] afraid. 27 ‘When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 ‘then they shall know that I [am] the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 ‘And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
[Revelation 19:11-21 NKJV] 11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes [were] like a flame of fire, and on His head [were] many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He [was] clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on [His] robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 “that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all [people], free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
