The Battle of Gog and Magog III

(Russia Invades Israel)

("The Battle of Gog and Magog" at the Snyder's Bible Chapel, Grace Brethren Church, Hedgesville, West Virginia, June 1996.).

Come with me now to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 38. We're going to do like a newspaper reporter. We're going to report on the war of Gog and Magog. I'm going to answer the questions: Who? When? Where? Why? What? How? There's a lot of material here. I will talk fast. I'll cover it as quickly as I can, make it as simple as I can. So you will know all the answers to the questions which I have just asked.

God is Against Russia

Turn to chapter 38 the book of Ezekiel, verse 1, "And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,".

Verse 2,
"Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech (that's Moscow) and Tubal (Tubals), and prophesy against him,"

Now you already know who's going to lose. If God says He's against somebody you know he's going to lose. But we'll get into more detail in a moment.

Verse 3,
"And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (Moscow)..."

Today we call it Russia. People say, well, it was the Soviet Union and now it's broken up so how do you account for it now? Very simple. You watch who is the chief ruler of Moscow. He will be head of Russia. That's the country that's going to lead the group that are coming into Israel soon.

In verse 3 God says, "...I am against thee...".

I must contrast that with something that Ezekiel the prophet wrote in chapter 36, verse 9.

God says, "...behold, I am for you...".

He's talking to Israel. So God says to the Jews and the nation of Israel "...I'm for you...". And to Russia and her leader He says, "...I'm against you...". So you already know who's going to win and who's going to lose. But you don't know how God's going to do it, but you will when we get through this. It's all very simple, very plain. Unbelievable, but true.

Take the Bible Literally

Ezekiel 38: 4 says,
"And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth,..."

Now let me stop and say I believe in taking the Bible literally always unless common sense and the Bible itself indicate otherwise. When it says, "He comes down out of the blue as the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the newly crowned King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.", I take it literally. (See Isa. 9: 6 - 7, Rev. 19: 21.).

"And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He could smite the nations:..." (Rev. 19: 15) (Read also Rev. 19: 21, Zech. 14: 12.).

The Sword

That has got to be figurative. The King of Kings isn't coming down out of the blue, biting down on a blade of steel. "His word is sharper than any two-edged sword." It's His word that He speaks with His mouth (Heb. 4: 12). That sword is figurative. Now here, He puts hooks in their jaws. Is that figurative or literal? Common sense will tell you. And God gave you all a head and in every head I assume there is a brain and in every brain I assume there is a mind. I don't see anyone here who forgot his head tonight. So I'll assume you got the rest of it.

The Mind

By the way, if you ever meet somebody who's stupid enough to say, "I don't believe it if you can't see it." You can stop that person in his tracks. Ask him if he has a mind. Nobody has ever seen a mind, but I have never met a person who would admit he didn't have one. Now the brain, you can open the skull and find a brain, but the mind, that's something else. I have never met anyone who would admit he didn't have one. So if you find someone who's just dumb enough to say he doesn't believe it, I've heard of people like that say, "I don't believe in anything you can't see." Well! Just ask him if he has a mind, then you've got him because nobody has ever seen the mind, but like I said, I've never met a person who wouldn't admit he didn't have one.

Hooks in Their Jaws

Well, God says He's going to put hooks in their jaws. Every farmer knows that when you kill hogs you take a hook and put it in their jaw and hang them up, but that's not the way you handle people. If a meat hook were put in the jaw of a individual that would kill him. So common sense, and I'm telling you everybody's got some and God expects you to use it when you read the Bible, common sense tells you that it's got to be figurative. What that simply means is, they haven't got a choice. God is ordering them to do this and they have to do it. God is going to bring these nations into Israel so that He can give them a licking. They have been waiting for it a long time and God is going to give them the beating of their lives because of what they have done to the Jews for all these years. He's going to figuratively put hooks in their jaws and take them in. They haven't got any choice. They've got to go in there. And He is going to really unleash His fury, as we shall see.

God says,
"And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:" (Ezek. 38: 4)

(Wooden swords because they will burn the weapons for seven years. There will be more about this later.).

Notice they're coming on horseback. I'll have more to say about that in a moment.

Who is Coming in With Russia?

Now let's go on with, Who is it that's coming? We already know it's the chief prince of Meshech (Moscow), called Gog. The land is Magog. The prince is Gog. We call it the war of Gog and Magog. But here are the names of others who are going to be helping. There are six of them in all. Russia is the first one.

In verse 5, the second one is, "Persia,...".

Today that's Iran.

And the third one is, "...Ethiopia,..." (Ezek. 38: 5).

We thought a few years ago that couldn't be because Ethiopia had a Christian emperor, Haile Selassie. The Communists came in, destroyed him and his government, and have ruined that country, and it's communist now and will be joining these other groups, these other nations going against Israel. Ethiopia.

"...Libya..." is ruled by Khadafi who hates Israel with a passion. He has collected millions and millions of dollars worth of equipment from Russia just waiting for the chance to get on with trying to destroy Israel. So Libya will be in that group. That's the fourth one.

"...all of them with shield and helmet:" (Ezek. 38: 5)

And then it says, "Gomer,..." (Ezek. 38: 6).

That's a surprise. Gomer is chiefly what is today Germany. Germany butchered and murdered, under Adolf Hitler, 6 million of the seed of Abraham. God said, "Those that bless thee I will bless, and those that curse thee I will curse." (See Gen. 12: 3.). I talked about that in another message. God cursed Germany and brought the sins of Germany to ashes and ruins and Adolf Hitler in those ruins. There are still a lot of Germans. A lot of those fellows call themselves skinheads. We entitled them spreading anti-Semitic propaganda in Germany. Still a lot of Germans hate Israel. They're going to pay a price for it. They're going to be involved here. That's the fifth one.

And then it says, "...and all his bands; the house of Togarmah..." (Ezek. 38: 6).

Togarmah is Turkey, chiefly. There's more territory involved here, but these are chief territories. Now that's the sixth one. That's all.

The United States

Somebody says, " 'Well, what about the United States?' The United States will be destroyed, as I heard one Bible preacher say years ago. You see, the United States will be destroyed because it's not mentioned in the end time prophecy." I must disagree. We have nearly two hundred countries in the world and just a few of them are mentioned in the end time prophecies. And only the ones like these specifically that are going against Israel are mentioned. The others are not mentioned. The United States is not mentioned. Canada is not mentioned. Brazil is not mentioned. There are scores of countries not mentioned. Only the ones that are going against Israel. We are not going to fight against Israel. We're not going to help her very much either, but we're not going to fight against her. So, we're not mentioned.

Let me say also, I do believe that the judgment of God is falling upon the United States. We're in big trouble because we have refuted the God of our ancestors. We have refuted the God of the Bible. We have refuted the Bible, made it illegal to have in schools. Public schools in America were started for the express purpose of teaching children to read the Bible. Columbia, Harvard, Yale, a number of the big universities in the east were all started by fundamental, Bible-believing Christians. If you get copies of their charter, you'll find they were started for the express purpose of teaching young men and women the Bible. But the old Devil has changed things altogether. Now they're completely run by unbelievers, atheists, communists, and everything else that's right in their eyes. So the judgment of God is beginning to fall upon America. But I do not believe, now I'm just expressing my opinion, do not believe that the United States is going to be destroyed, for the express reason that there are still more missionaries going out from America to the ends of the earth to tell the Good News then are going from any place on earth. The United States is still better to the Jews than, I guess, about any nation on the earth. Between those two things God has blessed America in the past and I do believe He will preserve her for the present, even though we're going to have some very very difficult times in the immediate future. Let me repeat, I think the judgment of God has begun to fall upon America because we have refuted the God of our fathers and the God of the Bible and we have thrown the Bible out of our schools.

So getting back to this now. There are six countries that will invade Israel. That's Who.

In the End Time

Then it says,
"Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them." (Ezek. 38: 7)

"After many days thou shalt be visited:..." (Ezek. 38: 8)

Now the question is, When is this going to happen? This was written 25 hundred years ago. And God named Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, chief prince of Meshech. Two and a half millennia in advance, God named the exact countries. They're going to lineup and invade Israel.

"After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years..." (Ezek. 38: 8)

There it is in the end times. That's what Ezekiel said. I've been trying to convince you in every message that we're in the end time now. Everything that I've been saying points to the fact that we're just about ready for takeoff (to go up in the Rapture). We can't set the date, but it's very close, very soon the Lord is coming. Jesus said, "...I will come again..." (John 14: 3). The disciples said, "Tell us, when is it going to happen? What's it going to be like when You come?" (See Mat. 24: 3.) He named a whole list of things. (Read Matt. 24: 4 - 8, Luke 21: 8 - 11, 25 - 26, 28, 32.). I've gone through some of them. Some of the others I haven't gone through. I still have about two or three big ones coming up in some other messages.

I'll be talking about the sign of Knowledge. That's an exciting one. Daniel said there would be such an increase of knowledge that will make possible an unbelievable increase of speed. We're going to talk about that, from the speed of a horse in the Garden of Eden to the speed of a rocket in my lifetime. Almost all of it happened in my lifetime. And that's the sign of the end of the Age. We're going to take a trip into space and talk about all that's happening in space and speed with which man's been able to travel in my lifetime. That's a fantastic one. Then I talk about the sign of Jerusalem ("The Miracle of Jerusalem"). A very exciting thing happened just a few years ago in relation to Jerusalem to prove we're at the end of the age. Then the last one is the sign of Gentile History. I'm going to be in the book of Daniel, and go through several sections of Daniel to show you that 25 hundred years ago the prophet Daniel named countries in advance, hundreds of years sometimes in advance, before the things existed and he said which the next one would be. He outlined the whole thing and brought us right through and now we can look back and check up on Daniel and find out he was exactly right. Everything to the letter, right. I'll show you where we are right now. And because everything has been fulfilled exactly right up till now, we can be sure the rest is going to be fulfilled too. That means we've got to leave. That's where we are (ready to go up in the Rapture). When you hear this message you'll hear me say again and again, nobody but God can write a book like that. That's true. Nobody but God can tell you the future history of the world, naming empires before they come into existence and tell you all about how it's coming out.

Well, here we're talking about the battle of Gog and Magog. Who? When? Where? Why? What? How? And right now we're telling you, when. It will be in the latter years, that's in the end time, that's where we are now. I'll have more to say about that in a moment.

A Nation That Was Brought Back by the Sword

Ezekiel 38: 8,
"...thou shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people,..."

Mr. Ben Gurion said, "Here we are in the land, having come from more than a hundred different countries." And there it said, 25 hundred years ago, they will be gathered out of many people. (See verse 8.).

And where is this battle going to take place?

The next line says, "...against the mountains of Israel,..." (Ezek. 38: 8).

That's where the battle is going to take place.

"...which have been always waste: but it [has been] brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them." (Ezek. 38: 8)

There is Coming a Day When Israel Will Dwell Safely Alone

That is a puzzle to some people. They can't understand why it is said, that Israel shall dwell safely. Well, it is altogether different than what it was. When the Jews were in Germany they had no means of fighting, they had no means of protecting themselves. The Germans treated them like cattle and butchered, murdered, tortured, killed them, burned them, poisoned them. But now they have got perhaps the third strongest military force in the world. People don't push them around. (Read Deut. 33: 27 - 28.).

Terrorists Attacks

The fanatical Muslims in Lebanon start throwing (setting off) rockets into Israel and Israel goes there with a plane and blows it up. Israel had the instrumentation to tell exactly where it was coming from and they went and bombed where it was coming from and then the world screamed, "Oh you wicked Jews, you're bombing the United Nations." What the newspapers didn't tell you was that those fanatical Muslims were shooting right out of the United Nations headquarters in Lebanon. They thought the Jews wouldn't bomb the United Nations headquarters. The United Nations have been on the side of the Arabs all the time. It's really disgusting. Some terrorists hitchhiked in a United Nations vehicle out of Lebanon down into Israel and when they got into Israel they got out and went to a local school and started to shoot the Jewish children. The United Nations has never apologized to Israel for what they have done. This last thing the world should have known why Israel bombed the United Nations area in Lebanon, but it was because the terrorists have gone in there and shot their rockets out of there and the United Nations officials must have given them permission or they couldn't have done that. Anyway, God says, "Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them." (Ezek. 38: 7).

"After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land (Israel) that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel,..." (Ezek. 38: 8)

That's where it's going to happen and that's who it's going to be against.

"...which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them."

Safely in the sense that they are able to protect themselves now and nobody can dictate what has to be done.

Verse 9,
"Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee."

"Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, [at that] ...time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:"
"And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;..." (Ezek. 38: 10 - 11)

Rebuilding the Cities With Unwalled Villages

Israel has rebuilt, like the prophet said they would, a lot of cities that were totally laid waste, totally destroyed over the centuries, dozens of them, but they didn't build any walls. In Bible times we read about how the children of Israel were allowed to come back from the captivity in Babylon and the first thing they did when they got back was to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem for protection. Israel has come back from more then a hundred countries of the world. Rebuilding the cities, reclaiming the wastelands, but they have not built any walls. Unwalled cities, that's why. Prophet Ezekiel said 2500 years ago, these enemies of Israel will be coming into the land of unwalled villages. (Read Ezekiel 36: 6 - 12. God is speaking to the land. The land is responding to God's Word, and the Jews are doing what it says the prophet said they would do when they're in the land. They are in the land and the Scriptures are being fulfilled.).

Then it says,
"...I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates," (Ezek. 38: 11)

"To take a spoil..." (Ezek. 38: 12)

(The word spoil means to loot, to take silver, gold, oil and so forth.).

These Nations Are Coming in to Take a Spoil

Now, the question, what are they coming for? There's the answer, to take a spoil.

Over the years the Bible teachers have had a lot of argument about what the spoil is. What are these nations going into take? And the best they could come up with was, to get the fertilizer in the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea Minerals

The Dead Sea is very rich in all kinds of minerals, phosphates, and so forth. And Israel spent four years trying to establish a system whereby they could get those minerals out of the sea on a profitable basis. So the first four years they were in the red. Since then, and it's been quite a long time, they are in the black. They're making money. Tremendous wealth is in the Dead Sea, tremendous wealth. Somebody speculated that there's more wealth in the Dead Sea than the total combined wealth of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy put together. I don't know if that's true or not, but I can tell you this, it's (the minerals are) hard to get out. I never was quite well satisfied with the idea that Russia was going in to take that fertilizer. Those of you who heard my message, "The Sign of Asher I", know now there's a whole lot more to the story. Those of you who never heard it, just let me summarize again.

Israel Has a Lot of Oil

Andy SoRelle, using a verse in the Bible, "Asher will dip his foot in oil," drilled for oil and went down and found a tremendous reservoir of oil. He thinks that the Jews have as much oil as the Arabs, very high-grade oil. He already drilled the well, but the casing jammed. They lost 20,000 dollars a day for many days trying to straighten it. They had to abandon the oil well and Andy returned to the U.S. He wanted to go back to Israel and drill for oil again. (He said, "I'm not wildcatting anymore. I know where the oil is."). In three weeks they could have the oil and it would be flowing in the pipelines. Now the interesting thing is, there are two refiners that are in need of oil. A new one at Ashdod with a beautiful ultramodern harbor. The other one in Haifa built in the days of British, but it's still there. A pipeline connecting both, and Andy's well is right by that pipeline in the Plain of Sharon. He said, "Within 24 hours after they hit the oil, it will be in the pipeline on the way to the refinery." Now there's a beautiful harbor waiting for a ship to come in and get a shipload of very high-grade oil at Ashdod. Here's another good harbor at Haifa waiting for a ship to come in and take the oil there. Russia's oil industry is in a bad state or condition. They have now spent the money to replace their pipe and their machinery and all of that, so it's not that they don't have any oil in the ground. They don't have the facilities for getting it out. So it just makes sense to me, especially since they haven't stopped building those submarines so they can protect their shipping as it goes in. God says it's going to happen, Russia is going to invade Israel to take a spoil (to loot). I'm telling you, I think now they're going in to take that tremendous reservoir of oil. Just bring your ships in both harbors and take the oil from them, they think! It's not going to happen. But they think it will. Now that's not all the story. Let me tell you the rest of it. That's the oil. See Deuteronomy, chapter 33, verses 1, 13, 16, 19, 24 - 27, and the first line of verse 28.

"To take a spoil,..." (Ezek. 38: 12)

What's the spoil? Well, let me read on.

It says,
"...and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land."

Chicken, Fish, and Other Cattle

There was a time when Israel didn't have many cattle. They always fed us a lot of chicken and fish because they could raise chickens commercially like I did when I was in the broiler business. They could raise any number they wanted that way. They had hundreds and hundreds of fish ponds. They can raise a lot of fish. So they would always feed us chicken and fish. But then when they got the Golan Heights, that's the ancient land of Bashan, the land of fat cattle, the Bible says. They started raising great herds. There are a lot of cattle now in Israel, up in the Golan Heights. Peres wanted to give it back. I think God engineered the election and he was not reelected. A new Prime Minister says he's not going to give back the Golan Heights, but we'll have to wait and see what happens there. But the point is, Israel now has a lot of cattle. They're in the Golan Heights, the ancient land of Bashan, which according to the Bible, belongs to Israel. But here it says they're going in to take cattle and goods.

Other Nations That Are Mentioned

Ezekiel 38: 13, "Sheba, and Dedan,..."

They're ancient tribes in the area of Saudi Arabia.

"...and the merchants of Tarshish,..."

I think those are the European Nations along the Mediterranean.

"...with all the young lions thereof..." (Ezek. 38: 13)

People say, "Well, is the United States anywhere in the Bible?" If it is, it's in that phrase, "...the young lions thereof...". The colonies of the nations of Europe would include the United States. That's the only way I can find the United States in the Bible. I disagree totally 100% with people who try to make the United States to be the promised land, and the United States to be Israel and all of that stuff. They come up with a whole lot of nonsense. There are people that do that, and teach that. They are totally wrong. If you want to find the United States in the Bible I think you have got to use, "...[and] the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee,..." (Ezek. 38: 13)

These nations are going to say to the nations that we mentioned before that are coming in to take a spoil: "...Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?"

The nations around Israel, including, I think, the young lions thereof, which includes the United States, are going to say to these six countries, "What do you think you're doing by going into Israel? Why are you going in there? You're going in to take a spoil, including silver and gold and cattle and goods. A great spoil!"

The end of verse 13 says, "...to take a great spoil?".

(The King James Version says, "...a great spoil..." and "...a spoil...". It means to loot. They're going in to take a lot of things like silver, gold, oil, cattle and so forth.).

They're Coming on Horseback

Now Ezekiel 38: 14,
"Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when My people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?"

"...thou shalt come from thy place in the north parts,..." (Ezek. 38: 15)

Out of the north. That's Russia and some of those other countries that I named.

"...thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses..." (Ezek. 38: 15) (That's how.)

Now that creates a problem. Some people say, "Well, of course, Ezekiel didn't know better. If he had known what we know now he would have said that they're coming in tanks and airplanes." Well, there's several reasons, several things here that I have to mention. First of all, the birds are going to eat the flesh of these horses and if they were tanks they would have trouble eating the tanks.

Russia's Buying a Lot of Horses

A few years ago I was preaching in Hanover, PA. and there are three big horse farms in that area. They were telling me that these big horse farms raise a lot of horses and every year they take their young horses and have an auction. They will have a big horse sale. The three farms go together. They said for many years the biggest buyer year after year has been Russia. So when I got to Russia on one of my trips, I tried to buy a book on agriculture. I wanted to find out how many riding horses they had because those farms don't produce plow horses. I know Russia's got some plow horses, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about cavalry and that's not plow horses. The farms they were buying all those horses from raise riding horses. So I tried to find out how many horses they had. You know what? The book told all about the cows and the sheep and the goats, and everything else, but not a word about horses. Then I was preaching in one church and a man heard me say what I just told you and he came up to me afterward and he said, "You know, I went to a church that after the war was very interested in helping those people replace their cows because we knew the cows were destroyed in the war and the children didn't have milk. So we were sending a lot of heifers over there so that they could replace their herds and the milk-producing cows." And he said, "I volunteered to go along and to help to feed the cows in the boat being taken over the ocean." He said, "I got put on a ship full of horses. I was feeding horses all the way over, and when we docked, we were at a Russian harbor." Then he said, "The whole harbor was full of ships and every ship was full of horses." I don't know anymore. I can't tell you. People think this can't be. They won't be going in on horses. Well, God says you're going on horses. And do you know what? I have found in all the years I've been studying the prophecies God always knows what He's talking about. He says what He means. Some times He uses figures, but there are no figures here because when the birds come to eat the flesh there will be horses. You know they're not eating tanks. Now I do not doubt that they will have tanks and airplanes, but I am also sure they're going to go in with a Russian cavalry. That's what God says. And I have never yet found God wrong. Now let me go on.

A Vast Cavalry

"...riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:"
"And thou shalt come up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land;..." (Ezek. 38: 15 - 16)

Now that could refer to a lot of planes that are coming in or it could refer to so many horses that when you stand on a mountain and look down there the whole countryside is black with horses. Take it as you want.

"...thou shalt come up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days,..." (Ezek. 38: 16)

There's the time element again.

"...and I will bring thee against My land, that the [gentiles] may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes."
"Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by My servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?"
"And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that My fury shall come up in My face." (Ezek. 38: 16 - 18)

God Demonstrates His Power

When these nations come into Israel God is going to be very angry. He says He brought them in to punish them and that's exactly what He's going to do with unbelievable fury. We have it all documented. Here it is.

"For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall [come]..." (Ezek. 38: 19)

Now, there are seven ways that God is going to use, seven methods, to absolutely devastate these invading armies. Absolutely devastate them. Number one: an earthquake. And it will be a powerful earthquake!

"...Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land..."
"So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all 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." (Ezek. 38: 19 - 20)

That's the first one. These armies come in and suddenly all the ground under them, horses, tanks, planes, whatever, is going like this. Terrible earthquake.

Israel Will Know That God Has Done This

Now, let me stop and say, "So far, five times the Arabs have come against Israel. Five times Israel has won when from a military standpoint they should have lost every time. They won every time, but they haven't yet given God the glory. Ben Gurion did; but most of the Israelis consider themselves non-religious. Which is another word for atheistic. So they've taken credit for themselves for being so smart. 'Look what we did. We outsmarted the Arabs, we outfought them.' And they think they're so great." God is now going to destroy these armies in such a way that when He gets through, every Jew in Israel will know they had nothing to do with it. They will know who their God is. Stick with me and I'll prove it to you.

The Catastrophes That Come Upon
These Invading Armies

The first one is the earthquake and you have already seen it is one awful earthquake. That is just the beginning, and that is probably the least of all them. Look at number two: insanity.

Ezekiel 38: 21,
"And I will call for a sword against him throughout all My mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother."

Insanity. Every soldier that invaded Israel from these six countries is going to lose his mind. He's going to pull out his sword and start killing his buddies. The Jews are up on the mountains watching. They're not fighting. They don't need to. The mount and everything else is shaking beneath the invading armies. Now they're killing each other.

Number one, earthquake, number two, insanity so that they start killing each other.

Number three, "And I will plead (act) against him with pestilence..." (Ezek. 38: 22).

That's epidemics. Diseases will break out among these invading armies that they cannot control. Now they're sick. The earth is shaking beneath them, they're killing each other, they lost their minds, and now they're sick. No control, pestilence, epidemics.

"...against him with pestilence and with blood;..." (Ezek. 38: 22)

I think it's all part of the same thing.

"...and I will rain upon him,..." (Ezek. 38: 22) (That's number four.).

Now God is going to open the heavens and send a deluge down on them. It is going to rain! Rain! Rain!

"...I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, [an] overflowing rain..." (Ezek. 38: 22)

The Beautiful Farmland of Israel

Now, the chief center of this whole thing is the battle of Armageddon. The valley of Armageddon has topsoil that is deep. It was originally a mosquito-infested swampland.

When the Jews came back from the various parts of the earth they bought the swampland from the Arabs. The Arabs laughed up their sleeves that the Jews were so dumb they were buying swampland. They don't laugh anymore. The Jews knew that was some of the most fertile land in the world. They got busy and drained it. Many even died from malaria because of mosquitoes, but they finally drained it and now it is called the breadbasket of Israel. They raise crops the year around, two, three, four, or more crops. They don't want to work on the Sabbath, so I was told they are working on a tractor that will run by robot so it can run on the Sabbath. They can't get enough done by working six days. The valley of Armageddon, the breadbasket of Israel, is some of the most fertile land in the world with topsoil three, four, or more feet deep. A swampland which they have drained and when standing on the mountains of Megiddo and looking over the valley Armageddon you can count dozens and actually hundreds of fishponds. Every so often they would gouge out a hole, make a fishpond, and put a big tank with an automatic feeder on it. You see this big tank sitting by each one every so often and it throws the pellets in. The fish grow rapidly. They raise tons and tons of fish because they have all that food. Now, what do you think is going to happen to the soil that's that deep when it starts to rain and the rain doesn't stop and it's pouring down and that whole thing becomes one mass of mud? Any farmers here? What happens to the horse when he gets into three feet of mud? Take it from this farmer, I know. I helped to pull a horse out. That horse will go right in to his belly.

More About These Catastrophes

The soldiers are killing each other and the blood is flowing with the water. The horses have their noses right in it. No, the blood isn't going to be three feet deep like some foolish people have tried to laugh at the Bible and say, "You know the horse is going to have his nose in the blood." Well, all right, yes, but not three feet deep. If you know the whole story you know the valley of Armageddon and you know the horses are in to their bellies and the water is flowing along and the waters are filled with blood from all the soldiers that are getting killed. It all makes sense; it all ties together. That's not all.

You have them so far? Number one is an earthquake, number two is the insanity and they kill each other, number three is an epidemic, number four rainfall, an overflowing rain.

Now add to that, number five, hailstones. On top of all of this now hailstones start coming down. They are big because this is the fury of God. What a terrible, terrible judgment. And no Jew is saying, "Boy, aren't we good now, look how we're winning this war." They know they have nothing to do with it.

"...I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, [an] overflowing rain, and great hailstones,..." (Ezek. 38: 22)

I should have stopped to tell you earlier, no nation is going to help Israel. Not the United States, nobody. All they're going to do is say to these other countries, "What do you think you're doing?" That's all. That's the way God wants it. He doesn't want anybody to come and help Israel because He wants to show those cantankerous, rebellious, hard-to-get-along-with, difficult, wicked Jews. I would say all of that in the presence of my Jewish friends because it's true. He wants to teach them who their God is, and He will. I'll show it to you as we go on.

Continuing With These Catastrophes

That's number six.

"...fire..." (Ezek. 38: 22)

Now add to that fire! That must be lightning. I think the lightning will flash and creep back and forth up and down that area where those armies are like you would never believe. Not only there, we're going to find out that while it's happening there it's happening back in the countries they came from. What a terrible outpouring of the judgment and wrath of a Holy God: condemnations (judgments) on those nations that have come against the seed of Abraham. God said, "Those that bless you I will bless, and those that curse thee I will curse." (See Gen. 12: 3.). And He will bring these nations in at this point to do this to them because that's what they deserve. That's not all. You got number six, the fire, lightning and so forth. Then after that, number seven, "...brimstone." And that in the Bible invariably refers to volcanic eruptions.

The Extinct Volcanoes in Israel

And that whole area around the northern part of the Sea of Galilee, if you have been over there you know there are black stones, some this big, some this big. And the Jews went in there again. They bought land from the Arabs and the Arabs laughed and thought, boy, these Jews sure are stupid. They were buying land that was totally covered with these black stones. They couldn't plant anything. Stones all over the place. You know what? The Jews knew that those stones were only on the top. They were volcanic. In some remote era of the past, there were volcanoes all over the place. Up in the Golan Heights there are quite a few big extinct ones. But sometime ago they blew up and these black stones went all over the place. The Jews went in with bulldozers that had forked buckets and they gathered up all those stones and put them in big piles. We see the black piles now as you drive through that area. Some places they made a fencerow out of them. Then they had some of the most fertile soil in the world. Now they have all kinds of fruit trees. Avocado, all kinds, you name them. Growing in that area where those stones were.

When this time comes, those volcanoes are going to become active again and they're going to spew these big rocks all over these invading armies. That's number seven and that's the last one (brimstone) and that's enough.

God Will Fight This Battle For Them and They Will Know It

The earth is shaking beneath them, they lose their minds and start killing each other, now they become sick with an epidemic they can't control. It begins to rain overwhelmingly and they're bogged down in the mud. If there are any tanks they can't move. If any horses they're in up to their bellies. Whatever vehicles they have they're into the mud, no way they can move them and the people have lost their minds anyway. They're sick and they're killing each other and it's raining and they're soaked and it's just pouring. Then the hail pours out of the sky. Then the lightning flashes and creeps back and forth. Fires break out and in addition to all of that, big volcanic rocks fall on them. Not one time are the Jews going to say, "Boy, didn't we really fix them this time." No! They're going to learn their lesson.

"Thus I will magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezek. 38: 23)

God Will Send a Portion Back Home to Their Homelands

Chapter 39, verse 1,
"Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:"

"And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee,..." (Ezek. 39: 2)

King James says, "...the sixth part of thee...". Not all the translations are translated that way, but whatever part there is, some part is going to be left in order to go back home to tell the people what God did to them over there in the land of Israel.

There Are Two Different Battles

Now, the difference between the battle of Armageddon, and the battle of Gog and Magog, is this. This is the battle of Gog and Magog, when a small group goes home. The battle of Armageddon, nobody goes home. (This is referring only to the enemy soldiers who fight in that battle. They will all die.). The battle of Armageddon takes place at the end of the seven year tribulation period. This takes place at the beginning of it. Maybe before the tribulation starts close to the Rapture.

The reason. It takes seven years to gather up (and burn) the debris (weapons) from all the warfare, and seven months to bury the dead. But they need seven years to burn the weapons of war. (The people burn those weapons for seven years during the tribulation period.). I don't think the Lord will come and say, "Now we're going to set up a beautiful paradise on earth called the Kingdom. The first thing we're going to do is organize everybody into groups to go out and cleanup this mess that's on this earth." No that's not the way He's going to do it. He's going to speak the word and deserts are going to blossom like the rose. Everything will be a beautiful wonderful world. Paradise on earth at last. This is during the thousand year reign of Christ. (See Rev. 20: 4 - 9.). I have a message called "The Paradise of Prophecy" (Utopia on Earth). That's the story of the thousand year reign where I tell that story. But I don't think the Lord is going to organize crews to cleanup. He's going to command and the earth will be clean. Beautiful, wonderful, deserts will blossom like a rose. And there's so much that is wonderful, so many wonderful things to say about that. So, if it takes seven years to clean it (the weapons) up, that would bring it seven years before the millennial reign and that would be at the beginning of the tribulation period or just before that. So place it close to the time when we leave (go up in the Rapture). So that's why I use this as the sign of the end of the Age. It's almost all set now.

Russia is Coming From the North to Invade Israel

Ezekiel 39: 2,
"...and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and 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." (Ezek. 39: 3)

Verse 4 says,
"Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured."

"(For) Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. 39: 5)

God Sends a Fire on Russia's Homeland

"And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezek. 39: 6)

There will be a fire back on the land of Gog, that's Russia.

"So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more: and the heathen (gentiles) shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel."
"Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken." (Ezek. 39: 7 - 8)

Those People in Israel Will Burn the Weapons

It says,
"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:" (Ezek. 39: 9)

There's the seven year period that takes to clean up everything.

"So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. 39: 10)

(There will be a change in warfare.).

The Jews Will Bury the Dead For Seven Months

And in verse 11 is something very interesting,
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there (in Israel on the east side of the Dead Sea) shall they (the Jews/Israelites) bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of [Hamon Gog]." (Ezek. 39: 11)

Notice it says, these soldiers that come in under Gog, that's the chief ruler of Meshech (Moscow), will be buried, in Israel. Then it said, "...east of the sea...". Israel today does not have any land east of the sea, the Dead Sea. That tells me that very soon, I don't know how, Israel is going to get part of Jordan. At the time when Russia invades Israel, Israel will have land on the other side of the sea where Jordan is today. And that's going to be land that is Israel, it will be in Israel, but it will be donated to bury the Russians. And the rest of these soldiers that come in.

Verse 12,
"And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,..."

Seven years to cleanup all the debris (weapons, wood from buildings, and dead wood from trees, etc...) and seven months to bury all the dead.

"...that they may cleanse the land."
"Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown (famous day when) the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God."
"And they shall sever (choose) out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search."
"And the passengers that pass through the land, 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 [Hamon Gog]."
"And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land." (Ezek. 39: 12 - 16)

The Vultures Will Eat the Flesh

And now Ezekiel 39: 17,
"And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, [and] ...ye [shall] eat flesh, and drink blood."

He's talking to the vultures.

"Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan." (Ezek. 39: 18)

The cattle of Bashan, Golan Heights.

"And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood until ye be drunken, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you." (Ezek. 39: 19)

These are the birds, the vultures.

"Thus ye shall be filled at My table with horses..." (Ezek. 39: 20)

There it is. If you say that Ezekiel made a mistake, he should've said tanks, you got a problem. The birds are eating them and they will have a problem eating tanks.

"...horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God."
"And I will set My glory among the heathen (gentiles), and all the heathen (gentiles) shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid upon them." (Ezek. 39: 20 - 21)

In That Day the Jews Will Know Who Their God Is

Ezekiel 39: 22,
"So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward."

A very important verse. God's finally going to teach those cantankerous Jews that God is their God.

Scattered All Over the World Because of Their Sin

"And the [gentiles] shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against Me, therefore [I hid] My face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword."
"According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid My face from them."
"Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel,..." (Ezek. 39: 23 - 25)

Twelve Tribes of Israel

Listen, there are no lost tribes. Not with God. "...the whole house of Israel...". He knows where they are. He will bring them back. We don't. We say 10 tribes are lost, but they're not lost to Him. He says He will bring them back, "...and will be jealous for My holy name;" (Ezek. 39: 25).

"After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid."
"When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;" (Ezek. 39: 26 - 27)

2500 years they been scattered all over the world and now in my lifetime, according to the prophecies, God has brought them home. They were scattered because of their wickedness, their rebellious sins against the Lord. Now He's brought them back, still in their rebellion. So He's brought their enemies against them five times. Now He's going to bring these armies in. And when He gets through with them this time they will know finally who their God is. They will know why they were scattered through the nations so long.

Years ago, when I was in business, I was at a business meeting and there were executives of the various companies that I was dealing with around a banquet table and I was seated next to the head of a company, a very prominent Jew. And he said, "Nathan, you aren't doing any talking. All the rest of us are talking." I said, "Well, I have learned a long time ago that I don't learn anything when I open my mouth. I learn most when I just listen." I said, "Now if you start talking about Bible prophecy, then I'll talk." And he said, "Well." I mentioned something in the course of a conversation about the fact that I'm honored to be sitting beside him because he's one of God's chosen people. He picked that up and he said, "Well why is it that, if we're God's chosen people, we're scattered all over the world and suffer like we did?" I told him. Then I did the talking. God said it's because they rebelled against Him. They were stiff-necked and they just rebelled, and finally He's going to cure them here. They're going to know who their God is. Now listen to the rest of this. There's something else that's exciting. We're almost at the end.

Ezekiel 39: 26,
"After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid."

"When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;"
"Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God,..." (Ezek. 39: 27 - 28)

Finally they're going to know that. (The Lord is their God.).

After This Battle is Over the Jews Will go Home to Israel

"...which caused them to be led into captivity among the [gentiles]: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there."

When this happens all the Jews of earth will do what Ben Gurion told me they ought to do, that is, to come home to their land, and that's what they will do. That's what they will do. That's what it says. "Neither will I hide My face any more from them: for I have poured out My spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. 39: 29)

And that's one of the signs of the end of the Age. The sign of Gog and Magog. Russia's ready to invade Israel. She doesn't know it, but she will along with these other five countries. And when she does, that's a signal that we better get off to heaven if we haven't already gone (up in the Rapture). It's all close. That's all I can tell you. If you haven't made your reservation for heaven do it now. Ask the Lord to save you as we go to prayer.

Lord, we thank Thee for this time together in the Word. Now we pray that You'll take the message and finish it in every heart by Thy Spirit. Seal it home to each individual where it is most needed. Meet the need of every individual. And Lord, if there's anyone here who has not accepted You by faith, then help them to do it right now because tomorrow might be too late. And for every individual who has accepted you, Lord, I pray that You'll draw each a little closer. Help us to love You a little more and to desire above all else to please You, for You alone are worthy. And we pray it in the matchless name of Jesus, Amen!

The Nathan Meyer Bible Prophecy Association (BPA)