6. What Does Bible Prophecy Say About Islam? – Part 2

Transcript

Andy Woods
Answering Islam Conference
What Does Bible Prophecy Say About Islam? – Part 2
11-7-15 Ezekiel 38-39

Good morning everyone. Let’s bow our hearts, shall we, for a word of prayer. Father, we’re grateful for this yesterday and today and some of the difficult topics that we’re trying to deal with in this conference, Answering Islam. I pray, Father, for the enablement of the Spirit today, a lot of us are tired, that the Spirit comes to illuminate the Scripture to us and we specifically pray for His illuminating ministry, both in this hour and the hour that follows. And help us, just awaken us Lord to things that You would have us to understand in the times that we find ourselves. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, and God’s people said Amen.

If you have a copy of your Bible with you, you might open it to Ezekiel chapter 38, one of the things that can be dangerous in a conference, kind of like the one that we’re doing, is it can come across as the world has gone to hell in a hand-basket type of conference, so you leave sort of depressed and that’s why I wanted to kind of interject the difficult discussion that we’re having about Islam with actual prophecy because Peter tells us that, in 2 Peter1:19 that prophecy is like a light shining in a dark place. [2 Peter 1:19, “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”]

So it reminds us that God has not lost control of this world, even though from the human point of view it looks like it’s out of control. So that’s why we’ve sort of given ourselves in the two sessions that I have, both yesterday and today, to this topic, What Does Bible Prophecy Say About Islam. I feel that the section of Scripture that best answers that question is Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

You might recall that we had worked our way through a series of journalistic questions as kind of a way to organize our thoughts on these two chapters. We’ve already, in the prior session and this session built in the prior one, so if you missed the first one you might be confused a little bit with some of it but if you listen to two of them together you’ll get the whole context.

Yesterday we looked at the “who” question because Ezekiel mentions these very strange names. He mentions Put, Cush, Persia, Magog, Rosh, Meshach, Tubal, Gomer and Torgarmah. And you say I thought you weren’t supposed to speak in tongues without an interpreter. Those sound like strange, very strange words to us, don’t they.

Well, yesterday we documented that Put is Libya, Cush is the Sudan, Persia is Iran, Magog would represent the various nations of central Asia, Rosh is Russia, and Ezekiel actually gives four names that speak of what we think of as modern day Turkey, Meshach, Tubal, Gomer and Torgarmah. Then we kind of looked at the when question, which is a subject of great controversy amongst prophecy students and I kind of stepped out on a limb and gave you my view as to when this is going to happen, November 15th…. No, I’m just kidding! [Laughter]

I basically think chapter 38 is going to happen with the second seal judgment, towards the beginning of the tribulation. And chapter 39 is really talking about the after effects of everything and it’s pretty much speaking of things that are going to happen at the end of the tribulation period. So I think that these two chapters are talking about two different phases of this event. And then we took a look at the why question, why is this attack coming against Israel? And we basically saw two reasons; number 1, it has to do with Satan’s longstanding hatred against the Jews and the Jewish people. That’s why these nations are inspired in the very last days to attack Israel. This is what Ezekiel foresaw all the way back in the 6th century.

And we also saw from Ezekiel 38:12 that the issue is spoil or wealth, or money. [Ezekiel 38:12, “to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.”]

So they attack Israel for a spiritual reason, it’s satanically motivated but from a human point of view there’s a humanistic reason which is the desire for Israel’s wealth. So what we’re moving into now is the what question; in other words, what is going to be the aftermath of this battle? What is going to happen as a result of these things? And take a look, if you will, at chapter 38, verses 19-22; I’ll make a lot of references to a lot of Scripture throughout this talk.

There’s going to be a divine annihilation of this coalition and I think that’s described there in chapter 38, verses 19-22. [Ezekiel 38:19-22, “In my zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. [20] The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. [21] I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains.’ Declares the Lord GOD. ‘Every man’s sword will be against his brother.’ [22] ‘With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. [23] I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD.”]

And as you look at those verses what you’ll discover there is there’s going to be an earthquake, there is going to be disease, there is going to be torrential rain and hailstones and fire and burning Sulphur. In other words, what’s being described there is God shows up and isn’t it great when God shows up in our lives. And when Israel has not a friend in the world God’s their friend. God shows up supernaturally and protects the nation of Israel.

It’s very interesting here, it talks about (in these verses), “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.” And if you know a little bit about the Bible, if you know a little bit about the Old Testament you’ll know that that’s a common battle strategy of the Lord. In fact, you might think back to the days of Gideon and the Midianites. Remember how God told Gideon to send a lot of the troops home? Now why does God tell him to send the troops home? Because He wants to be the one will win the battle, He wants the full credit to go to Him.

And this is exactly what’s happening with Israel; she has no friend in the world and yet God shows up and protects her. So who does the glory go to? It goes to God. God doesn’t need a large army; He doesn’t need nuclear weapons to accomplish His will. He is omnipotent. Judges 7:22 describes the Midianites being defeated, using the same strategy that’s described here in Ezekiel. It says, “When they blew the trumpets the LORD set the sword of one against another, [even throughout the whole army; and the army fled….]” and that’s what is happening here in this battle as this coalition is brought to an end.

Down in chapter 39, verses 4 and 5 what you’ll discover is the aftermath of the battle, there’s going to be so many corpses lying around that the birds themselves will begin to come and gorge themselves on all of these corpses. [Ezekiel 39:4-5, “You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who ae with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. [5] You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken, declares the lord GOD.”]

And in fact, if you go down to chapter 39, I believe it’s around verse 12, this is what it says: “For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.” So there’s going to be a seven month burying of the dead, which is a lot of funerals when you think about that, happening at the aftermath of this battle.

As you go back up to Ezekiel 39:9 it talks about the destruction of weapons. Notice chapter 39 verse 9, it says, ‘Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them,” or fires for them. Now a lot of people say well, doesn’t the millennial kingdom come at the end of this battle? And the answer is yes. And people are bothered by this and they say well how can you have the burning of weapons in the millennial kingdom?

Well, to me that’s no problem at all because according to the book of Revelation, chapter 19, verses 2-3 Babylon, the great city of Babylon is going to burn throughout the millennial kingdom. Revelation 19:2-3 says this, “BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot” Babylon of course being the height of the antichrist system, “for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.’ [3] And a second time they shouted, ‘Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.”

So if Babylon is burning throughout the millennium what’s the problem with some weapons burning for a few, seven, years? And you know, a lot of people, I think, and what you’re starting to see in a lot of theologians, and I think this is misguided, is they’re merging the eternal state and the millennial kingdom and acting as if they are one and the same. In fact, the millennial kingdom is totally different than the eternal state. The millennium is described in Revelation 20; the eternal state is described in Revelation 21 and 22. In the millennium sin is restrained; in the eternal state totally removed. In the millennium the curse is restrained; in the eternal state the curse is removed. In the millennium there will actually be death.

Now those of us that are part of the church that have been raptured and are returning with Christ to rule and reign in glorified bodies will not die but there will be those who are believers that survive the tribulation period and enter the millennial kingdom and they’ll begin to reproduce and the earth will be repopulated again. And as that happens the sin nature gets passed down. And so what you discover in prophecies like Isaiah 65:20, it says if someone dies at the age of 100 everybody is going to sit around sad and say wow, how sad that is, such a young man died. Today if you make it to 100 you’re considered lucky. [Isaiah 65:20, “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred, and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed.”]

So death is still a reality in the millennial kingdom but you’ll notice that the curse is restrained to quite an extent. But in the eternal state there’s no death at all, Revelation 21:4 says that. [Revelation 21:4, “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or drying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”]

In the millennium you’ll have mortals and resurrected people living together; in the eternal state only resurrected people. In the millennium destinies are undecided, those that are the descendants of the mortals that repopulated the earth, that survived the tribulation period, their grandkids, their children, their great grandchildren will need to be evangelized during the millennial kingdom because God has no grandchildren. Right? He only has children. You come to God through your own faith or you don’t come. You can’t come to God based on your parent’s faith. But in the eternal state destines are all sealed.

The millennium is a renovation of the present earth; the eternal state is a totally new earth. The millennium is temporary, it last for a thousand years; the eternal state lasts forever. The millennium is transitional, the eternal state is non-transitional. In the millennium time exists, it’s a thousand year kingdom but there is no time in the eternal state. In the millennium there will be a temple functioning that’s described in Ezekiel 40-48 but John is very clear in the eternal state there is no temple. There’s satanic activity at the end of the millennium. Satan will lead, he’s incarcerated during this time but he will lead a worldwide revolt at the end when God releases him from the abyss. But Satan is a thing of the past in the eternal state. So there’s rebellion to some extent in the millennium but not the eternal state.

There’s just a vast difference between the millennial kingdom and the eternal state. And so if you’re taking Revelation 20 and22 and just merging it altogether as if it’s one and the same, as many people do, when we do that we’re really not doing good Bible study, we’re not paying attention to the details of the passage.

But as we described sort of the aftermath of this battle with the seven year burning of weapons which I don’t have any real issue with taking place during the millennial kingdom. The most important issue that I think Ezekiel is drawing our attention to is this battle will result in the conversion of Israel. Take a look at chapter 39 and notice verse 22, it says: “And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward.” Look at the very last verse of chapter 39, the very end of the verse, it says: “…for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

What is the aftermath of this battle? Why is God always allowing this to happen? He is allowing this to happen so Israel, who is currently in unbelief, the remnant of the nation will be brought to saving faith. Why is that? Because God knocks us down so that we look where? We look up. That’s how He’s worked in all of our lives and that is His purpose in sending the nation of Israel through this tremendous ordeal called the tribulation period. The tribulation period is not a time period that we as the church are destined for. Why is that? Because we are already in faith; we are already believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of the tribulation is to bring unbelieving Israel to saving faith. So if we, as God’s people, are already in faith, there’s no reason for us to be in the tribulation. That’s why when you study any tribulation text in the Bible, whether it’s Old Testament or New Testament you never find a reference to the church being on the earth during that time. And this is a doctrine that we call the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. The church is not exempted from normal persecution and difficulties of life but we are exempted from THE wrath of God. Amen! And we’ll be removed from the earth before that happens.

This is the darkest time in Israel’s history, that Ezekiel is describing, where she doesn’t have a friend in the world other than God. And that’s a pretty good place to be in, isn’t it? Who cares if all of your friends desert you if God is backing you up. Why does God back up Israel over and over again? Why is Israel such a big deal in the mind of God? It’s very simple: Israel is the only nation in the history of mankind that’s ever had a covenant from God, a covenant made by God to them.

Now you say, well, doesn’t America have a covenant with God? Well, I don’t know how you could determine that unless you have some kind of extra biblical insight for me. I think in the Mayflower Compact we made a covenant with each other and a covenant with God our way to Him. Right. That’s part of American history, you’ll see that in the Mayflower Compact, which is a document that precedes the Declaration of Independence, I think by over a century. That’s what our forbearers did when they came to these shores. But Israel is different because Israel never made a covenant with God; God made a covenant with them. That’s why God cannot abandon Israel, if He did He would prove Himself to be a liar.

Jeremiah 31:35-37 says, “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the LORD of hosts is His name; [36] If this fixed order departs from before Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘Then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever. [37] Thus says the LORD, ‘If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,’ declares the LORD.”

God, through the prophet Jeremiah, just before Israel went into, Judah went into the Babylonian captivity He said this: Yes, you’re going into a time of discipline but as long as there’s sun, moon and stars you’ll always be a nation before Me. So if you want to get rid of Israel it’s a pretty easy thing to do, you just get rid of the sun, moon and stars. Get rid of those Israel stops being a nation because that’s what God, the Creator, said. So it’s a tremendous thing that is happening here in these chapters.

So that’s a little bit about the “what” question. Let me move now into the “how” question. We analogized a lot of these things to a chess board last night. The chess pieces have to be set up a certain way on the board before a chess game can take place. And I’m not a date setter nor the son of a date setter but I do believe this much, that there are things happening in our world today that are unexplainable unless you understand a prophecy like Ezekiel 38 and 39, and how God is moving things around to fulfill His Word. And I see happening here three strategic trends. One is the regathering of the nation of Israel in unbelief. How can this whole scenario happen unless there is a nation of Israel in existence in unbelief? And for many, many centuries theologians just looked at these verses and said they’re not literal; they got into a mystical allegorical kind of interpretation. But isn’t it interesting that with the rebirth of Israel, May 14, 1948, you have exactly what Ezekiel said would be there, a nation of Israel in her own land, dwelling in unbelief.

One of the things we saw last night was the fact that there are basically two regatherings spoken of in Scripture. There is the present first regathering and then there will be a permanent second regathering. In the first regathering she returns to part of the land in preparation for this Gog/Magog invasion. In the second regathering she will return to all of her land. In the first regathering she comes back in unbelief; in the second regathering the Lord gathers His elect, Israel, from the four corners of the earth in faith. In the present regathering she is restored to the land only; but the second regathering is different, she’s going to be restored to the land and the Lord. So it’s not just political this second time, it’s spiritual. The first regathering sets the stage for discipline, which is (I believe) what we’re seeing today. The second regathering sets the stage for blessing or the millennial kingdom.

How many nations can you think of that have been displaced from their homeland and go into worldwide dispersion and come back out 2,000 years later and go right back into the land that they came from, with their culture intact, their religion intact and their nation intact, and their language intact. I think of Rome, that pushed Israel out of her land in A.D. 70. Rome spoke Latin; well, Rome is gone, Latin is a dead language. Israel is an actual nation again and Hebrew is a live language. Can we see the handwriting of God in that. It’s astounding. People say well, why doesn’t God, why doesn’t He perform miracles today? When you look at the Middle East you’re looking at literally a modern day miracle because countries when they’re out of their land, sociologists tell us for a certain number of generations, they lose their distinctiveness as a culture.

So the Bible mentions the Amalekites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites and the termites and the mosquito bites and the out of sights and all those names. Where are they today, these nations? I mean, we don’t say oh, a very nice Jebusite couple moved in down the street, because it’s true, once you’re displaced you lose your cultural identity. But Israel, who is right in the mix with all of the “ites” is alive and well. And some people, they get mad, when we start talking like this they say well how can you see the hand of God in that nation? Don’t you understand that they are a bunch of unbelievers over there? Well, guess what you have to be before you can be a believer? You have to be an unbeliever, don’t you? Let me ask you a question: Did God work in your life before you were saved, as you look back on things? Of course. Why can’t God be doing the same thing today with the nation of Israel?

There is, beyond this first strategic trend there’s a second strategic trend that relates more to our topic of Islam, strategic trend number 2 is the alignment, there must be an alignment of the nations against Israel. There must be a present gathering of a coalition of nations with a hostile intent towards Israel; that’s what Ezekiel saw in this vision going back to the 6th century. So what do we have? We have all of those names that Ezekiel mentions lining up exactly like he said. Now look at all these nations, Libya, the Sudan, Iran, Magog, Turkey, Central Asia, with the exception of Rosh or Russia, what do they all have in common? Hint—this is the Answering Islam Conference. They are all Islamic nations, and what I simply want to point out is that Islam itself furnishes the motivation for this end time attack. Why is that? Because in Islamic thought Jerusalem is a holy site to them. Allegedly that is where Mohammed ascended back to Allah. Now having said that, how many times do you find the word “Jerusalem” in the Qur’an? Goose egg, zilch, zero, nada! How many times to you find the word “Jerusalem” in the Bible? About 800 times. But you see, in their mindset Jerusalem is holy because that is where Mohammed ascended back to Allah. So in their minds that land and that city belong to them.

Muslims, once they have ruled over a territory, which Islamic forces once did, once they have ruled over a territory that area irrevocably belongs to Allah, and any nation that exists is viewed, other than an Islamic nation, as a usurper; it’s viewed as virtual disrespect to Allah. That’s why the Muslims will never be satisfied as long as Israel even exists.

I’ve used this map before, see that green area? Those are Islamic controlled countries. Do you see that little tiny red dot there? That’s Israel. And what are we being told today? Well, if Israel would just give up a little bit territory we’ll all be happy. Well, the fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter what Israel does, these folks will never be happy as long as Israel even exists.

I remember when the leader, the former leader of Iran, Ahmadinejad, made a statement, he said we want to wipe Israel off the map. And everybody said what a terrible statement. And I thought well, that’s actually a step forward because at least he’s admitting Israel was on the map, you know, to be wiped off. Israel doesn’t even appear on most Islamically drawn maps. I like how Benjamin Netanyahu puts it. He says, “If the Arabs were to lay down their weapons today there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today there would be no more Israel.” That kind of sums up things, doesn’t it?

The myth that’s being circulated is we just want co-existence. But let me ask you a question. When was the Palestine Liberation Organization founded? It was founded in 1964. What are we being told today? We’re being told that if Israel will just to back to her pre-1967 borders that she won in 1967, if she just goes back to those pre-1967 borders then everybody will be happy. Oh really! Then why was the Palestine Liberation Organization founded three whole years before Israel got those extended territories in 1967? See, this whole idea of land for peace, once you get into the Islamic mindset the whole thing is a myth. It’s a myth because these nations are furnishing a religious motivation for this end time attack.

Let’s take a look at some of these nations more particularly. You look at all of these nations and you remember what happened in 2010 which has been dubbed the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring essentially was one moderate government toppled after another in the Middle East and replaced by a more radical form of Islam. See, the Arab Spring itself, I think, was a huge stage setting event for Ezekiel’s end time battle. Our former President, George W. Bush, dubbed these nations what he called the access of evil. And what you have to understand, as Shahram has been explaining, in Islam, I no longer call it radical Islam, I call it consistent Islam, because this is what’s taught in their documents.

See, everybody is mad at right wing radical Christianity. Well, what does radical right ring Christianity teach? What does fundamentalism teach? Love your neighbor, bless those who curse you. What does fundamentalist Islam teach? Well, it teaches worldwide submission to Sharia Law. It teaches that if you die in the cause of martyrdom, like flying a plane, for example, into the World Trade Center building then your soul immediately is promised access to heaven and all of your sexual fantasies can be indulged with 70 virgins. See, if Christians were consistent they are no threat at all. But if Islam is consistent with its beliefs it’s radically a threat, is it not?

Here’s a little something I found in the Qur’an, I don’t know if I used the right one that Shahram told us to use in terms of the right website, but it says this: “Allah has promised to those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that he will surely grant them succession,” now succession is a translation from the word caliphate, “upon the earth just as he granted it to those before them and that he will surely establish for them therein their religion in which he has preferred for them and that he will surely substitute for them after their fear of security for they worship me not associated with anything but me, but whoever disbelieves after than then those are the defiantly disobedient.”

What this is talking about is caliphate. What is caliphate? Caliphate is worldwide submission to Sharia law. That’s the controlling force in these nations that Ezekiel saw all the way back in the 6th century B.C.

Let’s take a look at some of these nations in particular. Take a look, for example, at Persia, which yesterday we documented or identified as Iran. A prophecy of Persia herself turning against Israel in the last days. That probably seemed like a strange prophecy to Ezekiel because as we mentioned yesterday Persia was becoming one of the good guys. It was under Persia that Israel was allowed to return into her land after the 70 year captivity under a man named Cyrus, and later Artaxerxes in three returns.

That’s what the book of Ezra is describing, that’s what the book of Nehemiah is describing. This all took place under Persian reign. And Ezekiel saw this vision of Persia, who was essentially a good guy or rapidly becoming a good guy, turning against Israel in the last days.

Even in our time period some of Ezekiel’s prophecies seem so strange. I mean, you could not make sense of this prior to 1979. Why is that? Because prior to 1979, prior to the toppling of the Shah and replacing him with the Ayatollah the nation of Iran was essentially an ally of the United States of America. But how everything changed so dramatically in 1979 when the Ayatollah came to power and Iran became Islamized. In fact, Iran, at one point in time, even in our life time, if you look at the top of the screen, was basically a progressive country. The dress was normal, women could be educated, things like that. And look at the bottom part of the screen, look at what’s happened since 1979. Look at the burkas that they’re wearing, look at the rights to women that are being denied. And this all has changed in our lifetime. And people say it could never… it could never happen here in America, that’s just not the pattern of the world, the world has example after example of how quickly nations can change once they come under Islamic influence.

Ahmadinejad, the former leader of Iran, denied the holocaust. He didn’t even believe it happened. He is, was or is a Twelver Shite Muslim, essentially that means the twelfth Imam will return to the earth during a time of warfare which he can hasten through the destruction of the great Satan, the United States of America, and the little Satan, Israel. Did you catch the order on that? We are the great Satan in their minds. Israel is actually the little Satan, they’re viewed almost like a puppet of the United States of America. The United States of America is really where the animosity lies, towards the United States of America.

Now Ahmadinejad was replaced by Rouhani in August of 2013. He’s being billed to the world as a moderate. I think a moderate is more dangerous because as long as Ahmadinejad was traveling to the United Nations and making outrageous statements it was all out there in the open. If the world thinks his successor is a moderate you can kind of sneak in a lot of things under the radar screen, and people have a tendency to fall asleep. And of course the United States of America has accelerated all of these things through its recent deal with Iran, hastening their date through which or from which they will cross the nuclear finish line. And under Rouhani the nuclear program of Iran has not slowed down at all, in fact, it’s accelerated dramatically.

Well, what do Iranian students read in their public school textbooks? I got this from Yoram Ettinger and he writes this: “Iranian school textbooks, such as The Qur’an and Life (Grade 12, p. 125) prepare Iranian children for the Ayatollahs’ sublime goal: the apocalyptic, horrifying, millenarian, military battle against the USA and other ‘arrogant oppressors of the world,’ which are ostensibly led by ‘idolatrous devils.’” And it goes on and on talking this way. This is what Iranian school are learning from their textbooks. I miss the good old days of Janet and Mark and See Dick Run and things like that, Dr. Seuss.

Let’s take a look at another nation here, Cush or the Sudan. You look at the Sudan, what’s happening in the Sudan. Well, that’s the location of one of the greatest genocides taking place in the modern world, called the Darfur genocide. Also taking place in that part of the world is a country that actually harbored Osama Bin Laden from 1991 to about 1996. You take another nation here, Put, or Libya; you might remember Muammar Gaddafi came from Libya.

You might remember and I think it was, if I remember right, around 1986 where he was responsible for setting off a bomb in a Berlin discotheque targeting American military, and how our President at that time put a stop to it in the sense that he actually bombed back and in the process killed one of Gaddafi’s daughters. And isn’t it interesting after that happened the world didn’t hear from Gaddafi for a couple of decades. That’s the doctrine of peace through strength; sometimes you have to exert strength to prevent greater acts of terrorism down the road.

And what is happening today? Well, the Muslim Brotherhood is alive and well in Libya, in fact, you might remember Libya from recent news. Libya is, in essence, where our ambassador Stevens was killed, four people total killed on that attack in Libya called Benghazi. And how the administration got up in front of the American people and it’s now been thoroughly shown that they were lying through their teeth, they blamed the whole thing, the whole uprising on a spontaneous video, a B rated video that somebody supposedly had made.

Did you know that that attack on our embassy occurred September 11th. Is that coincidental? I don’t think it’s coincidental at all. Did you know that in that attack there was sophisticated warfare, and weapons brought in to launch the attack. If all of that is true, how do you blame it on a spontaneous uprising due to a video. But that is Put or Libya, that’s one of the nations that Ezekiel saw in his vision.
Well, we also have another nation, we have Meshach, Tubal, Gomer, Torgarmah. Last time we identified those as Turkey, so let’s talk Turkey just for a minute, if we could. Turkey was a longtime ally, not only of the United States of America but was also an ally to some extent to Israel, was a member of NATO, but like Iran, Turkey itself has drifted from being a secular government into being much more of an Islamic republic form of government.

Here’s a quote from Frank Gaffney, according to Frank Gaffney, President of the Center for Security policy, “Turkey is transitioning from ‘a secular democracy with a Muslim society into a state governed by a radical Islamic ideology hostile to Western values and freedoms.’” Turkey, the last time I checked, was denied admittance to the European Union so it makes perfect sense that Turkey would align herself with this coalition of nations that Ezekiel saw in his vision. You might remember the flotilla incident; a Turkish ship was seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza in May 31, 2002. Where was that flotilla dispatched from? It was dispatched from Turkey.

It’s very interesting to read some of the statements of the current leadership of Turkey, both the President and the Prime Minister. Here’s one such statement: “By Allah’s will, Jerusalem belongs to the Kurds, the Turks, the Arabs, and to all Muslims. And as our forefathers fought side by side at Gallipoli, and just as our forefathers went together to liberate Jerusalem with Saladin, we will march together on the same path to liberate Jerusalem.”

And you read that and you look at Ezekiel’s prophecy and you look at the change that’s happened in Turkey, even in our own lifetime, and you say it’s astounding that God’s Word picked up on this very thing, back 2600 years ago. Of course God would pick up on it because God is omniscient. He knows the end from the beginning. So your Bible is revealing things, stage setting events that are sharply, and I mean sharply coming into focus, even in our own day.

Well, let’s talk about Rosh, or Russia just for a moment. For many, many years it seemed that a prophecy of Russia invading Israel seemed bizarre, strange, because after all, Russia was an Orthodox Christian country. The state adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, but isn’t it interesting how Russia herself has fit into the scenario that Ezekiel describes, with the communist revolution.

We remember Russia’s expansionistic cold war policies. We see a lot of evidence of it today, do we not, with Putin. Remember him rolling right over the neighboring state of Georgia in 2008. We’ve seen his activities in the Ukraine, Crimea; you pick up the news today and almost on a daily basis Russia or Putin is involved in something, Syria. And so it’s astounding that Ezekiel’s prophecies picked up on this.

We remember Mikhail Gorbachev, and perestroika, and glasnost, and how the world started singing a tune that I’ve got a feeling everything’s going to be all right, it’s a new day. And I thought to myself at that time, and I was laughed at, I was a college student and I would try to articulate some of these things in the classroom, I would say I don’t trust anything that Russia is doing, I think it’s just smoking mirrors, I think what is happening is it’s two steps backward, three steps forward. And that type of thinking was just dismissed. But isn’t it interesting how Russia is making much of a comeback today, in our time period that we’re living in now, in an expansionistic way.

I kind of look at Russia as one of those nations that Islam doesn’t yet control but I’m really starting to rethink that. Your average Islamic couple has about five children. In 1991 there were, according to Dr. Renald Showers in his book, The Coming Apocalypse, there were about 300 mosques in Russia and he projected by the year 2015, which is our year, today, that there would be 25,000 mosques in Russia. Could it be possible that even Russia herself will come under Islamic ideology and persuasion.

One of the really interesting things to take a look at is the alliance between Persia, Iran and Rosh or Russia. Iran, because it needed its military rebuilt from the Iraq-Iran war had cash but no weapons. Russia, because of the collapse of communism had weapons but no what? Cash. So it was a match made in heaven, or hell, depending on your point of view. Russia gives to Iran weapons; Iran gives to Russia cash. What is being described here is a partnership, if you will, between Rosh and Persia. And I would say to you that that very thing is happening constantly, it’s just a matter of reading the newspaper and seeing evidence of it over and over again.

And how the whole thing, even prior to 1979 seemed like it could never take place because after all, Iran, under the Shah was an ally, not of Russia but the United States of America and how everything shifted with the advent of the Ayatollah and our alliance with that nation disappeared. And how Persia is now in a very strong alliance with Rosh or Russia, the very thing that Ezekiel saw 2600 years ago.

And of course, the burning question in all of our minds is where is the United States of America in all of this? Well, conspicuously absent from any prophetic text is the United States of America. And we say to ourselves, well, wouldn’t the United States of America step in and help her long-standing ally, Israel? Most people don’t know this but Richard Nixon… you might have some very strong feelings about Richard Nixon one way or the other, but I can guarantee you this, Richard Nixon saved Israel. I know the man wasn’t perfect. Richard Nixon, in fact, let me just read a brief excerpt from an article.

“As a young boy growing up Richard Nixon’s Christian and Quaker mother told him that one day he would be in a powerful position and a situation would arise where Israel and the Jews needed help.” Now as I have understood the story, his mother was reading to him from the book of Esther and she sort of paused and broke out almost like a prophecy and began to speak these things into his life. And it says, “when it did” she said, “he was to help them.” It was reported that Nixon said he heard the voice of his mother saying these things when he was responding to a call and a plea for help from Golda Meir at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, October of 1973, during what is called the Yom Kippur War. And as the article goes on and it describes how miraculous weapons emerged from Richard Nixon, and Golda Meir went to her gave saying Richard Nixon is my President.

I get a little choked up on it as you might detect because I compared that to current statements that are made where we have our own President saying things like “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet Islam.” What a diametrically different concept that is from the Richard Nixon White House. I would encourage you to Google this article by Ben Shapiro: A Complete Timeline of Obama’s Anti-Israel Hatred. And it will document everything the Obama administration has done to Israel in terms of disrespect, beginning from the very day that Obama took office, in a timeline fashion. Statements like “we’re going to put daylight between the United States and Israel,” John Kerry calling the nation of Israel an apartheid state, the fact that Netanyahu shows up and makes speeches the President won’t attend, the cabinet won’t attend the speech, and so forth.

I don’t think Israel needs America, I think America needs Israel. And the reason I say that is because Israel has God on her side. And I’m a very firm believer in Genesis 12:3. I don’t agree blindly in everything Israel does, God didn’t either, just read your Old Testament and you see that pretty clearly, but I have a healthy respect for Israel. I want to see them independent, I want to them thrive, I want to see them prosper because there’s a spillover blessing that occurs. Genesis 12:3 is very clear, “I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse.” That’s what God said. And I think a lot of the blessings that we’ve had in America, in this country, are attributable to our faithfulness to our longstanding ally, Israel. And it disturbs me and I know prophetically it has to happen, but it disturbs me to a large extent to see America herself turning her back on Israel.

But then again, God said it would happen because in Zechariah 14, around verses 2 and 3 it says every nation, now doesn’t “every” include America? Every nation will come against Israel. [Zechariah 14:2-3, “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. [3] Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations as when He fights on a day of battle. [4] In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives….]

One of the players that we didn’t really have a chance to cover yesterday was Tarshish, Dedan and Sheba, take a look, if you will, at Ezekiel 38:13, it says, “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you,” when this invasion happens, “‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize pounder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?’”

So what are Sheba and Dedan and Tarshish saying? Well, they’re just protesting, they’re not doing anything to stop the invasion. It’s just what we would call sort of a lame protest. Sheba and Dedan are pretty easy to document. Dedan is in Saudi Arabia; Sheba could very well be in Saudi Arabia or perhaps a little bit lower in Yemen, and Tarshish is where Jonah fled to, which most people believe is modern day Spain. So Tarshish would represent Europe to some extent; Sheba and Dedan would represent Saudi Arabia to some extent.

And you know, you read that and we just kind of read over it, and then all of a sudden this little headline pops up, very recently: Saudi Prince, Saudi Arabia, says I’ll side with Israel against the Palestinian uprising and Iran. And you read that and you look at Ezekiel 38:13 and it’s like the prophetic passages are jumping right off the pages to us in our time period. There will be a lame protest uttered once this invasion transpires.

A third strategic trend is this? A scenario must be in place whereby an overwhelming coalition of nations comes against Israel and is miraculously rebuffed. In other words, Israel wins against all odds, and may I just say to you that that whole scenario has happened a number of times, already, in our lifetime, on miniature scale. In 1948 who would have bet on the Jews in 1948. Everything was against them, yet Israel wins. 1967, the Six Day War, Israel was outnumbered and yet Israel wins again. 1973, the Yom Kippur War, Israel wins again. 1990, the Persian Gulf War with Saddam Hussein launching scud missiles at Israel, Israel wins again.

And you keep seeing these things happen and it’s almost like God is saying you’ve seen the dress rehearsal, I’ve showed you the dress rehearsal five, six, seven times, are you ready for the main act yet? And it’s like we’re being prepared to witness the very thing that this prophet saw 2600 years ago. You see, if I was talking like this 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 25 years ago, 10 years , would make no sense, the things I would be saying. And yet, here I am talking about these things simply faithfully trying to teach the Bible and suddenly the whole scenario is credible, where we have an interest in these things because oh my goodness, the Bible has, history has caught up to the very thing that Ezekiel said would happen.

In conclusion let me give you seven points of application. This is the “so what” section, great information so what, I’ve got to work tomorrow, Monday morning, how’s this going to help me? Number 1, prophecy is proof of biblical inspiration. Prophecy is history in advance. Prophecy comes us from the mind of an omniscient God. In fact, God Himself challenges the idols of His day in Isaiah 48:3, 5, by saying which of you can predict the future. God says I can. [Isaiah 48:3, 5, “I declared the former things long ago and they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. [5] Therefore I declared them to you long ago, before they took place I proclaimed them to you, so that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them, and my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’”]

Because you’re going to be challenged in your work place, even in your family amongst unbelievers that this Bible that you’re reading is an absolute fairy tale, it means nothing, and you need to remember that the Bible is unique amongst any other book that’s ever been written because it reveals history in advance. It gives us confidence for warfare that the Bible is God’s Word. And I would say this, work this into your evangelism. I’ve found that the world doesn’t really care what we say but they’ll give us a millimeter of hearing when you start connecting the dots with things happening in the Middle East.

Number 2, prophecy has a calming effect on the believer. There’s a great amount of fear in many of the things that we’ve studied at this conference and yet you study the pages of God’s Word and you learn that God is in control of everything. God is sovereign, what a great reminder that is.

Number 3, we need not fear the rise of Islam. It is somewhat terrifying to examine these things as we’ve studied in this conference and as you read a prophecy like this that God is going to bring Islam down on His timetable, so we need not fear its rise, God has got the whole thing under control.

Number 4, prophecy is a reminder of God’s faithfulness. You think of everything that Israel has done against God, right down to rejecting His own Son, and yet through all of these centuries of unbelief and disobedience Israel may have forgotten about God but God has not forgotten about Israel, because that’s God’s nature. If God is going to be faithful to Israel to keep His promises, then guess what? He’s going to be faithful to me and you and you may have had a season in your life where you’ve been away from the Lord, and you may think that God has written you off, but we’re reminded by the study of prophecy that God doesn’t forget His promises. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

Number 5, keep your eye on Israel; Israel is the centerpiece of the action, to the unsaved world, to the political establishment, Israel looks just like a nation that’s in the way of progress, but that’s not the way God thinks about Israel. In fact, look at Ezekiel 38:12, the very last phrase in verse 12, it describes Israel “at the center of the world.” Ezekiel 5:5 says virtually the same thing, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her.’” This is how God thinks when He looks at the world, He looks at Israel… now the Hebrew here is very interesting, it’s a translation that means the navel, or the bellybutton, the center of your being, that’s in essence the way God looks at the nation of Israel. You always have to keep your eye on Israel. Israel is God’s timepiece.

William Blackstone in 1908 wrote a book entitled Jesus is Coming, a very famous book in prophecy circles, and this is what he says: “Israel is God’s sundial.” Now this is in 1908, forty years before Israel was restored nationally. “Israel is God’s sundial; if anyone desires to know our place in God’s chronology, our position in the great march of events, look at Israel.” We have to start thinking the way God thinks as we look at the world through the lens of His Word.

Number 6, support Israel. If Satan’s goal is to destroy Israel and God’s goal is to sustain Israel which side of the angelic conflict do you want to be on? And we’re reaching a point, beloved, where we’re going to have to make a choice on this because the world itself is moving into DBS, I just subtract the D call it just BS but BDS stands for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions. That’s happening all over college campuses, against Israel. In fact, there are Protestant denominations, as I’m speaking, that are involved in discussions related to boycotting Israel. My goodness, you’re taking the wrong side in the angelic conflict when you do things like that.

There’s a belief that is just gobbling up mind after mind today in the evangelic church called replacement theology, which says that God is through with Israel as a nation. You buy into that belief system and it has to do more with a spiritual decision that a person is making in the war between God and the devil himself. “As for me and my house” I want to speak up for Israel, I want to be Israel’s best friend and I want to show up and vote whenever I can. And I’m so proud of the city of Houston for shooting down that demonic [CLAPPING] ordinance. And that’s the type of thing that can happen if God’s people just take seriously the issues of the Bible and the issue of stewardship over our own government.

Do you pray for Israel? Psalm 122:6 tells you to do that. It says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you.’” Do you want to prosper? I do. And God says love Israel, and pray for Israel.

And then finally, number 7, we need to remember that we are living on borrowed time. I’ve given this example many times and it just fits so beautifully with here we are in November. You know, I went into a department store on November 1, the day after Halloween, and they had the Christmas stuff all up; I mean, they must camp out there at midnight and wait for the calendar to change and put all the Christmas stuff up. And you see the Santa Claus, you hear the Christmas music, you see Christmas lights, Christmas presents and you say to yourself, well you know what? Christmas is coming. But then you say something else, you know what, Thanksgiving is coming too. Now why is that? Because Thanksgiving occurs earlier on the calendar than Christmas.

What are we seeing in the world today? We’re seeing the whole world being set up for the seven year Tribulation period and I say to myself, the seven year tribulation period is coming. But you know what? The rapture is coming even faster because the rapture must precede the seven year tribulation period.

We should not be living our lives as if we have a lot of time to burn. We need to be using every opportunity that we have to share the gospel with people, with the understanding that we may not have a lot of time left. Maybe I’ll live out my full life expectancy, maybe I won’t, but I need to be living every moment of my life as if the Lord could come back today, because that’s what the New Testament teaches, and we see it so relevant with the signs related to the tribulation period.

Are there people in your life you need to share the gospel with? Do it now! Is there a sinful habit in your life that you need to submit to God and say I’m not going to do that anymore, I’m going to ask You to change me? Then now would be a good time to do that. And some of you may have come to this conference, you might not even know how to enter into a relationship with Jesus at all, and in that case we have very good news for you, we call this the gospel. We call it the gospel because the gospel simply means good news It’s good news because Jesus did it all. He said, as His last words on the cross, “It is finished!” Which means we contribute nothing to our salvation, we receive salvation as a free gift and in the mind of God there is only one way to receive a free gift and that is by faith, because “without faith it is impossible to please God,” Hebrews 11:6 says.

Faith simply means trust, reliance, dependence. You have to reach a point in your personal decision where you’re no longer trusting in yourself or your denomination, or what your parents believe, or whatever to get to heaven; you trust totally in Jesus and that’s something you can do right now, even as I am speaking, it’s a moment of privacy between you and the Lord, you don’t have to raise a hand, walk an aisle, join a church to do it. It’s a private moment between you and the Lord.

See, Islam is teaching you’ve got to work your way to God, you climb up. What the Bible is saying is God reaches down, saying I have done all the work, trust in Me. And I hope you’re doing that now and if you are doing it now or have done it you’ve just changed your whole eternal destiny.

The role of Islam in Bible prophecy, we’ve looked at the five journalistic questions and we’ve looked at seven points of application. Shall we pray.