To start us off, allow me to give you a quick breakdown as to coming events according to what I see in scripture.
The rapture of the church will happen. That is where followers of Jesus will disappear, both the living and the dead, to be with Jesus. This will possibly be explained away by the governments of the world blaming UFO’s.
A major war breaks out with the countries called out by name who attack Israel which seems to involve a nuclear bomb and Israel’s enemies are defeated, but not because of her technology. As a matter of fact, many of the Jews will recognize how miraculous and will turn back to God. This will happen either just before the rapture or just after.
The Antichrist comes on the scene establishing a one world government. There will be a peace treaty made between the Antichrist and Israel.
Seven years of tribulation will take place. During this there will be a one world religion, a one world currency, world wide disasters, and more diseases.
Half way through the seven years of tribulation the Antichrist will break the treaty with Israel.
The second half of the tribulation will be worse than the first half.
At the end of the seven years Jesus will return along with His people who went with Him earlier. This will be the war of Armageddon where the Antichrist and his army try to fight Jesus and us. You can guess who wins.
Jesus will set up a kingdom and rule for 1,000 years out of Jerusalem.
So, when do these things begin? That is what we refer to as the end times. There is a fancier word for it - Eschatology. Scripture has much to say about signs that identify the end times with wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, diseases, hatred.
The whole world will see certain events which could only happen in our day because of technology. A one world government. A one world currency. Israel becoming a nation after 2,000 years of not existing. The list goes on. There is one event that is taking shape right now. It is a detailed war predicted in Ezekiel 38 where Iran, Turkey, and, it would seem to be, Russia attack Israel from the North. Before I get into this, allow me to set the stage.
Daniel 10:1-2,7-14 CSB 1In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. The message was true and was about a great conflict. He understood the message and had understanding of the vision. 2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks…7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision. The men who were with me did not see it, but a great terror fell on them, and they ran and hid. 8 I was left alone, looking at this great vision. No strength was left in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless. 9 I heard the words he said, and when I heard them I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. 10 Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. 11 He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling. 12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. 14 Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.”
Daniel begins a fast that will end up lasting for 3 weeks. I don’t believe that he intended on fasting for so long, but it took that long for him to get an answer. Why did it take so long?
This is my point for this message this morning. The heavenly messenger sent to Daniel said that he was stopped by a prince of the kingdom of Persia and had to do battle with him for 21 days. Michael, a chief angel, had to come and assist him.
We just read that this happened in the third year of king Cyrus who was a Persian king. This is the same king who was prophesied by name 150s earlier by Isaiah in Isaiah 44 and 45. It was Cyrus who sent the Jews back home after 70 years to rebuild Jerusalem. He was a friend of Israel.
When Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital 70 years after Israel’s rebirth, Israel created a coin with Trump’s face on one side and Cyrus on the other side, referring to Trump just like Cyrus.
Never in any written history has Persia been an enemy of Israel. Yet, there seems to have been a spiritual enemy that did not want a message delivered to Israel. It fought hard for three weeks to keep God’s word from getting to His people.
Now, here is a crazy thought, I’m just thinking out of the box. Could that angel have come from 2,500 years in the future from our time and it was the demon over the boarder of Iran today that fought with him? Just a crazy thought because, again, Iran, Persia, was not an enemy of Israel back then, nor will it be until 1979.
In 1979 the religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, took over the Iranian government. It was from that point that we begin to see the same attitude toward Israel as was experienced by the messenger that came to Daniel. Therefore, they shout, “death to America and death to Israel.”
According to Wikipedia, there is a timeline of over 2,500 years that list over 600 times in history that the Jews have been kicked out of a country or just killed. One of those was when the Jews were kicked out of France by Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella in 1492, days before Columbus left France and it is said that his whole crew was made up of Jews. This is the first of many reasons that there are close ties between Israel and the United States.
So, lets push on to current events.
Ezekiel 38:1-3,5-6,8-9,11,14 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog (Afghanistan), the prince of Rosh (Russia), 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…5 Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer (part of Turkey) and all its troops; the house of Togarmah (northern Turkey) from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you…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.”…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’…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?
1. Israel - For up to 2,000 years, until 1948, it was impossible that the endtime prophecies could happen because Israel was destroyed in 70 A.D. But, that all changed when Israel became a nation again in one day when my grandfather was 48 years old in 1948.
Ezekiel described Israel as a place that had been restored from war and gathered from many peoples. When Israel became a nation again, jews came from countries in all parts of the world to come home after almost 2,000 years.
Israel is described by Ezekiel as a place without walls, bars or gates. That was unheard of in ancient times. But Israel has what no other nation in the world has, an iron dome and with missiles hurled there way often is still a safe place to visit. They live in peace.
2. Persia - Israel becoming a nation was only the beginning. The other problem was that Iran (Persia) would have to be a mortal enemy of Israel. But, Iran and Israel were best friends from 1948 to 1979. In 1979 the Sha of Iran was dethroned and terrorists took over. These terrorists have killed Christians by the tens of thousands in Iran; have threatened Israel, they chant death to Israel and death to America, and they have hired terrorists throughout other countries to carry out their hatred for Israel. That friendship was killed.
For the first time in history, Iran directly attacked Israel on April 14th. Everything changed.
3. Russia - A third hurdle is the involvement is a country of the far north described as Rosh, we think Russia. What would cause Russia to strike against Israel? They are so involved in Ukraine. Surly there would be no interest there.
Although Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are recognizable, keep in mind that names have changed and names are pronounced differently between languages.
My last name originally Bohm with an umlaut over the o. The closest an Englishman could come to pronouncing my last name was Beam, so an e was added to the name, but in the wrong spot.
As of April, according to i24 News in Israel, Russia has a missile cruiser in the Red Sea south of Israel and 11 observation points in Syria in the Golan Heights on Israel’s Northeast side.
Many of the rockets that have been sent toward Israel is Russian made. You would have thought that Russian would have used up their supply on Ukraine. Iran used Russian GPS to aim their missiles at Israel three weeks ago.
4. The Alliance - Another major hurdle were the names of the countries of those Ezekiel prophesied of. The three major players in this battle against Israel is Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Others are mentioned but they are a part of the proxies that we see today.
An article on March 6 declared the strategic partnership between Russia, Iran, and Turkey, aimed at creating a new economic order to counter Western influence, Israel and the United States.
5. Turkey - Last month Turkey cut off financial ties with Israel which is a big deal.
6. The Attack - Again, and this bares repeating, up until recently, Iran has continually poked at Israel calling for Israel to be wiped off the map, but through other countries. On April 14, for the first time in history, the Iranian Terrorists shot missiles at Israel. Israel has fired back.
7. Nuclear Missiles - Ezekiel 38 describes the war. Ezekiel 39 describes the cleanup after Israel wins and it says that the weapons take seven years to burn. The body cleanup takes 6 months and Israelis will post markers by bones so that the hired professionals can remove the bones. This is like reading a page from our playbook on cleaning up after a nuclear attack.
What has Iran been working hard to do for the past 20 years? Development a nuclear weapon specifically to attack Israel and then the United States.
8. On Horses - The Hebrew word for horses literally means swift and is translated as the Swallow bird in Isaiah 38:14. Could easily mean missiles, or jets.
9. Coming Like a storm - The new technology for warfare is the use of drones. Drones are used for spying. But in warfare they have been sent in in abundance and it is called a swarm, coming in like a storm.
10. My People Israel - This is a very interesting description. Some believe that because this is God’s description that it is proof that the Church is gone when this battle takes place and Israel is being called back to God. If that is true, then the rapture takes place before this war. If could happen at any moment, well…
Ezekiel 38:22-23 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.” ’
11. First, this war will be televised. The world will see it.
12. Second, God takes over. It will be evident that God will jump into this war and protect Israel. It will not be the United States.
Let me throw something out there. If this happens this year do you think that our government would step in? I don’t think so. If Trump is president, do you think that we will step in? Yes.
I am not giving a prophetic statement but just a personal observation. I don’t preach Democrat or Republican. But, I’m not blind to the dishonesty I see. As Trumps popularity keeps growing I will be shocked if we do not have some kind of state of emergency declared in September or October to keep the election from happening. Just my observation.
But, if there is an election and Trump does win then something will have to knock us to our knees to keep us from protecting Israel.
My point is that Jesus is coming back to take us away!
-Until He does we still will walk like winners.
-God still answers prayers.
-He will keep supplying for our needs.
-God Wins ALL Battles
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