Middle East Meltdown 010 – Ezekiel 38

Middle East Meltdown 010 – Ezekiel, 38

By Dr. Andy Woods – 03/27/2022

Ezekiel 38:6

Alright, you all! Well good morning. Let’s go ahead and open up with a word of prayer and get started. Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for the fact that you are the same yesterday, today and forever and you are sovereignly working in our world to accomplish your plan despite the fact that there’s a lot of craziness going on in the world, you’re still at work and you want us to be involved with you in Your work, so thank you for that privilege and I do pray, Lord, that you would get your way this morning here at Sugar Land Bible Church and be with us during the main service and the Sunday school that precedes it, as we take a look at Your word. We pray for the illuminating ministry of the Spirit, whereby we can understand spiritual things. So we’re just going to pause, Father, just for a few moments to confess any sins that we have committed against you in thought, word and deed, so that fellowship could be restored, so that we can receive this morning from Your word. Father, we’re grateful for the promise of 1st John chapter, 1, verse 9 (1 John 1:9), which exists for the church age believer to restore broken fellowship with You. We thank you for the guarantee of our salvation and even in the midst of that wonderful guarantee you’ve given us provision by which we can experience the restoration of fellowship. We thank you for that, Lord and we looked at these things in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, Amen. 2:44

Well, if you guys could locate in your Bible the book of Ezekiel chapter 38, and verse 6 (Ezek 38:6). It’s nice to be back with you all. Thanks to Jim last week and then Paul Scharf the prior week for teaching the Sunday school hour and we’re continuing our verse by verse study through Ezekiel, 36 through 39, which is a series that we have entitled the Middle East Meltdown and we’ve been away from this for a couple weeks so let me just sort of review what we’ve covered briefly.

Ezekiel 33‒48

1. Ezekiel recommissioned (33)
2. False shepherds removed (34)
3. Edom destroyed  (35)
4. Israel’s restoration: physical & spiritual (36)
5. Israel’s restoration illustrated (37)
6. Means of restoration: Northern invasion (38)
7.  Results of the Northern invasion: conversion (39)
8. Millennial Temple (40‒46)
9. Tribal land allotment (47‒48)

Ezekiel, 36 is that tremendous prophecy about the restoration physically and spiritually of the nation of Israel in the last days.

Ezekiel 36

1. Israel to prosper again (1-15)
2. Israel’s sins inhibiting prosperity (16-21)
3. Israel to be restored: physically & spiritually (22-38)

Chapter 37, illustrates the content in chapter 36 through two illustrations:

Ezekiel 37

1. Vision: Valley of the Dry Bones (Ezek 37:1-14)
   1. Vision (Ezek 37:1-10)
   2. Interpretation (Ezek 37:11-14)
2. Sign: Two Sticks (Ezek 37:15-28)
   1. Sign (Ezek 37:15-17)
   2. Interpretation (Ezek 37:18-28)

The vision of the valley of the dry bones and then the vision of the two sticks. So by the time we finish those chapters, we know that God is going to do something very special concerning Israel in the last days. He’s going to restore them to the land first and ultimately to the Lord Himself second. So then the question becomes what is the means or the tools that God is going to use for this restoration? God has a lot of tools in His toolbox. Have you noticed that as you walk with the Lord?

Ezekiel 33‒48

1. Ezekiel recommissioned (33)
2. False shepherds removed (34)
3. Edom destroyed  (35)
4. Israel’s restoration: physical & spiritual (36)
5. Israel’s restoration illustrated (37)
6. Means of restoration: Northern invasion (38)
7.  Results of the Northern invasion: conversion (39)
8. Millennial Temple (40‒46)
9. Tribal land allotment (47‒48)

And chapters 38 and 39 described the tool that He’s going to use, which is a northern invasion against the land of Israel, while she is living in a false security in unbelief and through that northern invasion, Israel will understand that she has nobody to rest upon for help other than the Lord and she actually will cry out to the Lord to rescue her and what happens at the end of these chapters is a converted Israel. So we know there’s going to be a converted Israel but we don’t know so far, is how God is going to do it and chapters 38 and 39 is a description of the tools that He’s going to use to bring Israel to faith. So we can take chapters 38 and 39 and divide them into four parts.

Ezekiel 38‒39

1. Invasion planned (Ezek 38:1-13)
2. Invasion executed (Ezek 38:14-16)
3. Invasion defeated (Ezek 38:17‒39:20)
4. Invasion’s results (Ezek 39:21-29)

We have an invasion planned, then an invasion executed, then an invasion defeated and then you have results of the invasion and so we just barely started the invasion planned, verses 1 through 13 (Ezek 38:1-13)

1. Invasion Planned (Ezekiel 38:1-13)

1. 1. God’s intention (Ezek 38:1-9)
   2. Gog’s intention (Ezek 38:10-13)

and you’ll notice that there’s God’s plan verses 1 through 9, God’s intention (Ezek 38:1-9). In other words, it’s God Himself that’s going to drag these nations like hooks in the jaws of a stubborn animal. It’s God Himself is going to draw all of these nations into the land of Israel in the last days for this invasion and that’s a description in verses 1 through 9. Now, verses 10 through 13 (Ezek 38:10-13) is the intention of the invaders from the human perspective. They think they’re coming to do their own will and what they think they’re doing and what impulse they’re acting on, what motive they’re acting on, is described in verses 10 through 13, but because we’ve read the whole chapter, we know that they’re not acting on their own impulses, because ultimately verses 1 through 9, it’s God who’s orchestrating these events. So this becomes a tremendous chapter on sovereignty versus free will and please don’t ask me to explain that cause nobody can, little old me. But somehow God is sovereignly executing His plan and as He’s sovereignly executing His plan, He’s actually relying upon or better said, using the free will, volition of His creatures that are in rebellion against Him and by the time you get to the end of this, you see a glorious plan executed and the only thing you could do is just praise the Lord cause only the Lord can pull something like this off. So verses 1 through 9 is God’s intention and that’s where we saw all of these different players.

Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Togarmah., Rosh, Magog, Persia, Cush and Put, invading the land of Israel in the last days. So by the time we finish this chapter, chapter 38, you’re going to see fourteen nations, total.

Most of them are covered in verses 1 through 9, but there’s a few that are covered later on in the chapter. 8:32

So the first one mentioned, you recall as we just sort of trying to review verses 1 through 5, is Magog.

Josephus – Josephus, Antiquities, 1.6.1.

“Magog founded those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians.”

Magog, Josephus identifies with the Scythians and you have to understand that these strange names that we’re reading about here, all show up in Genesis, 10, the table of nations and it’s a description in Genesis, 10 of where those people groups settled after the global flood and after the Tower of Babel. So when we rely upon historical sources like Josephus, we can figure out where those people groups went and we can identify the modern nations containing those people groups and when you do this exercise, you start to pinpoint exactly the very nations that will invade Israel in the last days and then you say to yourself, well, how could Ezekiel have understood our headlines two thousand six hundred years in advance. Well, the reason he understood our headlines two thousand six hundred years in advance is God told him cause God is all knowing what would happen. So Magog is the Scythians and I’ve sort of already tried to explain that the Scythians can be identified with a group there in Central Asia.

All of the Stans would be Magog, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and of course, I need to update this map and put in there Afghanistan, which was on our news feeds, I don’t know 3, 4, 5, 6 months ago, was it not? The second player mentioned is Rosh and I’ve gone to a lot of effort to explain that Rosh is Russia. I’m not going to explain all of that again today. Go back into our sermon or teaching archives and you can get the full explanation of that. But here’s a scholar named Clyde Billington writing in the Michigan Theological Journal and he is studying everywhere Rosh shows up in ancient near eastern literature and there’s his conclusion, I’ve got it underlined.

Clyde Billington – Clyde E. Billington Jr., “The Rosh People in History and Prophecy (Part Two)” Michigan Theological Journal 3 (1992): 59, 61.

“Historical, ethnological, and archaeological evidence all favor the conclusion that the Rosh people of Ezekiel 38–39 were the ancestors of the Rus/Ros people of Europe and Asia. . . . Those Rosh people who lived to the north of the Black Sea in ancient and medieval times were called the Rus/Ros/Rox/Aorsi from very early times. . . . The Rosh people of the area north of the Black Sea formed the people known today as the Russians.”

The Rosh people of the area north of the Black Sea form the people known today as the Russians. Wilhelm Gesenius in his classic Hebrew called the Lexicon written in 1847 or published in 1847, I should say, who was a scholar’s scholar did the same exercise and he says concerning the proper noun Rosh, he says:

Wilhelm Gesenius – Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon (Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1847; reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 752.

“pr. n. of a northern nation, mentioned with Tubal and Meshech; undoubtedly the Russians, who are mentioned by the Byzantine writers of the tenth century, under the name the Ros, dwelling to the north of Taurus . . .as dwelling on the river Rha (Wolga).”

…Undoubtedly the Russians… So we believe that the second group that’s mentioned here, that will invade Israel in the last days, is Rosh or Russia and then the next group that Ezekiel speaks of is, going back to our map here, Meshech and Tubal.

Josephus – Josephus, Antiquities, 1.6.1.

“..and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are Cappadocians.”

Josephus in his Antiquities identifies Meshech with the Cappadocians and if you’re a good student of the Bible, you’ll recognize the word Cappadocia. It’s in 1st Peter chapter 1, verse 1 (Pet 1:1). It’s who Peter was writing to. He mentions a lot of different people groups that he is writing to and one of the names he mentions is Cappadocia and so Cappadocia is in that area there, which is also modern day Turkey.

Herodotus, who wrote within a century of Ezekiel’s prophecy, tells us that Meshech and Tubal were a group of people that were living southeast of the Black Sea.

Herodotus – Histories, 3:93-94 (450 B.C.)

“The twelfth, the Bactrians as far as the land of the Aegli; these paid three hundred and sixty. The thirteenth, the Pactyic country and Armenia and the lands adjoining as far as the Euxine sea; these paid four hundred…The Moschi, Tibareni, Macrones, Mossynoeci, and Mares, the nineteenth province, were ordered to pay three hundred. The Indians made up the twentieth province. These are more in number than any nation of which we know, and they paid a greater tribute than any other province, namely three hundred and sixty talents of gold dust.”

So when you go to the Black Sea and you move south and slightly in a eastern direction, you come also to modern day Turkey and then also another group that’s mentioned in this mix is Persia. Persia of all of the names mentioned here I think is the easiest to identify, because Persia existed in biblical times.

It was the empire that followed Babylon. The Jews of course as you know, went into the Babylonian captivity 350 miles to the east of the city of Jerusalem and it’s at that point that the Persians overthrew the Babylonians in about 539 BC and it’s recorded for you that political sea change in Daniel, 5 and so the Jews began to trickle back into the promised land under Persian rule, starting off with a man named Cyrus, the Persian, whose name the prophet Isaiah called out two hundred years in advance, which is an astounding prophecy. You’ll see that at the end of Isaiah, 44 and the beginning of Isaiah chapter 45. Cyrus, to the best of our knowledge, was not a believer, he was a polytheist and yet God called out his name and said, I’m going to use this man Cyrus to release my people from the seventy year Babylonian captivity, now that the Babylonians have been overthrown by the Persians.

So the three returns from Babylon/Persia, that are recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, these all happened under Persian rule. So Persia, actually, was one of the good guys, so to speak, going back into biblical times and so Ezekiel, no doubt thought it was strange, when he received this prophecy from the Lord, of Persia actually turning on Israel in the last days, when they had been such a helping hand and so you can continue to track Persia as a modern day nation and in 1935, Persia, her name was changed from Persia to Iran, still an ally of Israel even after that change, still an ally of the west, but like everything else in Bible prophecy, give things enough time and they’ll eventually fit into the orbit that God Himself has predicted and so in 1979 in Persia, the Shah was deposed and replaced by the Ayatollah and Persia was now known, not just as Iran but the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we put this picture up before.

The top picture is what was going on in Iran, prior to 1979. It was what you call a modern, liberal, if I can use that word, progressive country. Women were allowed to dress the way they wanted, they were allowed to drive cars where they wanted, they were allowed to get education, they were allowed to pursue careers and then the bottom slide is a picture of what Iran is like today because of the rise of the Ayatollahs and a Shiite Islamic regime in Iran and you see women in burkas, you see the civilization covered with burkas from head to toe, you see a situation where women are not allowed to drive cars, they are not allowed to dress the way they want and where a husband actually has a legal defense if he beats up his wife. 17:01

So a lot of people will tell you that politics doesn’t matter. I think if you ask the females living in Iran, does politics matter? They would say, yes, because there was a massive change that happened in 1979. Now, it’s sad to watch, but if you’re a student of Bible prophecy it doesn’t surprise you, because Ezekiel saw Persia, a good guy, turning against Israel in the last days. If there’s anything that Iran and Muslim nations hate, it’s the existence of the modern state of Israel, because they view the modern state of Israel as a usurper on all its territory and so as Islam has spread all over that part of the world, it furnishes the motivation, the theological and ideological motivation for the attack that Ezekiel saw two thousand six hundred years ago. We talked about the Iranian school books, the textbooks, I won’t read through all of that again just remind you of what Yoram Ettinger said, he says:

Yoram Ettinger – “Iran’s School Textbooks‒Can Congress Afford to Ignore It?,” online: http://theettingerreport.com/Iran-and-MidEast/Iran-s-School-Textbooks-%E2%80%93-can-Congress-afford-to-i.aspx, May 29, 2015, accessed 30 May 2015.

“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.” While the “savior” – the infallible, immortal, divinely ordained and eventual global leader, the Mahdi – has not surfaced yet, Iranian children are taught that the battle is already raging throughout the world, awaiting their sacrifice. School . . .

. . .textbooks of Western democracies are the most authentic reflection of peoples’ values and worldview. School textbooks of tyrannies are the most authentic reflection of the nature and mission of the regimes. Iranian school textbooks reflect the strategy and tactics of the Ayatollahs, much more authentically than speeches, interviews, diplomatic statements and conversations conducted by President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif.”

Iranian school textbooks reflect the strategy and tactics of the Ayatollahs, much more authentically than speeches, interviews, diplomatic statements and conversations conducted by President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif…  That was written back in 2015. But if you want to understand what Iran is about, you just look at what they’re teaching the kids in the school and they’re actually preparing these children for this, you know, apocalyptic end times scenario where they believe that you have to, as Shiite Muslims, cause chaos in the world. I think they’re doing a pretty good job, by the way, of causing chaos in the world and as you know there are within a millimeter of getting their hands on a nuclear weapon and nobody seems to have any ability in the world community to stop this or the will to stop it. So when atomic Ayatollah, that’s a scary thought when you think about it, a nuclear Ayatollah, that’s a pretty scary thought when you think about it. But it’s this idea that you have to create chaos in the world and if you create enough chaos in the world, I think it’s the eighth imam, if I remember right, is going to come back to the earth. So he’s not going to come back to the earth unless there’s chaos in the world, so we’ve got to cause chaos in the world to get this end time scenario in Islamic eschatology to come into existence. So these are all modern developments in Persia or Iran and of course, Persia or Iran, given everything I’ve said, fits exactly into the orbit that Ezekiel predicted. All those many years ago, along the Chebar river during the Babylonian captivity. 20:20

Another name we covered is Cush. Cush is translated: Ethiopia. In fact, a lot of your English translations, like the new American Standard Bible, is so confident of this, they just put Ethiopia into the text. The actual Hebrew word is Cush and I give you this quote from the Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia that said:

Cush = Sudan – Philip C. Johnson, “Cush,” in Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, ed. Howard F. Vos, Charles F. Pfeiffer,  John Rea (Chicago: Moody, 1975), p. 1.411.

“The designation, Ethiopia, is misleading for it did not refer to the modern state of Ethiopia…Cush… bordered Egypt on the South,…or modern Sudan.”

The designation, Ethiopia, is misleading for it did not refer to the modern state of Ethiopia. Cush bordered Egypt on the South or modern Sudan… So when you see Cush in your Bible translated Ethiopia it has to cover that area that I’ve got a circle around there called the Sudan.

Renald Showers writes in his excellent book “The Coming Apocalypse”:

Renald Showers – Renald Showers, The Coming Apocalypse: A Study of Replacement Theology Vs. God’s Faithfulness in the End Times (Bellmawr, NJ: Friends of Israel, 2009), p. 92.

“Sudan is dominated by a brutal Arab Islamic fundamentalist government that murderers, rapes, and enslaves Christians and animists and is slaughtering the black Muslims in Darfur in an attempt to establish a pure Islamic state.”

Sudan is dominated by a brutal Arab Islamic fundamentalist government that murderers, rapes and enslaves Christians and animists and is slaughtering the black Muslims in Darfur in an attempt to establish a pure Islamic state… So it’s interesting how Ezekiel could identify what we would consider to be all of the touch points or hot spots all over our world; and another name that we talked about was Put. We said where we are going to put Phut?

Josephus – Josephus, Antiquities, 1.6.2.

“Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself: there is also a river in the country of Moors which bears that name; whence it is that we may see the greatest part of the Grecian historiographers mention that river and the adjoining country by the apellation of Phut: but the name it has now has been by change given it from one of the sons of Mesraim, who was called Lybyos.”

and I give you this quote from Josephus, who identifies Put as Libya. That area there that I’ve got a circle around and of course, some things that we talked about that have happened in my lifetime is that’s where Muammar Gaddafi came from and you might recall the terrorist activity that he was involved in, bombing a German discotheque because it was known that American soldiers would frequent that discotheque. That was all the way back in 1986 and then most recently in my lifetime is Benghazi, which took place on September 11. Boy! I wonder why they picked that date September 11th, 2012, where our embassy there in Benghazi was under attack as were our embassies in different parts of the world as well.

This is known as the Arab spring and you remember how the administration at the time, the Obama administration, just before a presidential election, tried their best to cover the whole thing up and pretend like this was not some sort of Islamic uprising. They tried to blame it on an amateur video and so there’s a lot of history there going back to about 2012, but that is Libya, where our embassy was attacked. That is the Libya that Muammar Gaddafi came from. 23:43

So we pick it up here with verse 6 and these names continue. We’ve covered verses 1 through 5 but notice verse 6 (Ezek 38:6): Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops— many peoples with you… So the next entity on Ezekiel’s list is Gomer and if you have the Scofield Reference Bible, you know my hope is built on nothing less than Scofield’s notes and Moody Press as the saying goes. I really enjoy the Scofield Reference Bible, it has a lot of wonderful things in it, but it completely gets Gomer, for whatever reason, it gets it wrong in the notes. They try to tell their readers, the Scofield reference Bible all the way back in 1909, that Gomer is Germany. No, Gomer is not Germany, because we have this reference from Josephus’ Antiquities, tracing where that ancient people group mentioned in Genesis, 10 settled and Josephus says:

Josephus – Josephus, Antiquities, 1.6.1.

“For Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, [Galls,] but were then called Gomerites.”

Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now called the Galatians, but were then called Gomerites… So Gomer equals Galatia and you say, well, wait a minute, isn’t there like a book in our Bible called the book of Galatians? Yes, there is. Galatia was in, I don’t know, the southern Asia minor area, that’s who Paul wrote to, based on churches he planted on his first missionary journey. He went back to Syrian Antioch, which is on the northern tip of the nation of Israel and he learned that these churches that he had founded were drifting into legalism and it didn’t take long for that apostasy to begin. Paul had planted that church probably about a year or less earlier and he writes the stinging indictment against their drift into legalism called the book of Galatians; and that actually becomes, the book of Galatians, the very first epistle that Paul penned. Paul will pen thirteen epistles. Epistle number one is the Galatians and so that’s where Galatia was, also in modern day Turkey and you keep looking there at verse 6 and it says: Gomer with all its troops… And then it talks about this other group, I think in Hebrew it is better pronounced bayt as in house… Beth-togarmah… Now, forget Togarmah for a second,  just focus on that first word “bayt”, that means house. So it says Bayt-togarmah or reads in English Beth-togorma. What it’s saying is the house of Togarmah. So if you want to understand where Togarmah is, you just have to get rid of the first word “house” and just focus on the word “Togarmah” and Josephus tells us that Togarmah is to be identified with a group called the Phrygians.

Josephus – Josephus, Antiquities, 1.6.1.

“…Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians.”

Now, if you’re a really, really good Bible student, you might know where Phrygia is mentioned in the Bible; it’s mentioned in Acts, 16, verse 6 (Acts 16:6). It’s an area that Paul the apostle passed through. He actually wanted to go up north and minister there and the Holy Spirit said, no and Paul kept on moving ultimately into Macedonia and ultimately into Europe, but as he was moving in that direction it says in Acts, 16, verse 6 (Acts 16:16), they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. So as he was passing through there, there’s this group called Phrygia.

So Phrygia is in the area known as Galatia, which is also modern day Turkey. So you may find this interesting. I find it very interesting that four names Ezekiel gives, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Togarmah, all relate to Turkey.

So what the Holy Spirit is saying is: You better keep your eye on Turkey in the last days. Turkey has a monumental role to play. That’s why I was going to entitle this: Let’s talk Turkey. But what you’ll discover with Turkey is what’s happening in Turkey is exactly what happened in Iran. Turkey used to be a friend. In fact, Israelis used to take their vacations in Turkey. Turkey was one of the early states to recognize the modern state of Israel, just like Persia or Iran was, and of course with Islam taking over Turkey, everything changed. Here is a quote, this goes all the way back to 2006 by Frank Gaffney. He was in the Reagan administration. He is the President of the Center for Security Policy. He pops up a lot on the different cable shows and he says, of Turkey:

Frank Gaffney – War Footing (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2006), 164. Cited in Rhodes, 177.

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.”

It’s transitioning from “a secular democracy with a Muslim society into a state governed by Islamic ideology and hostile to Western values and freedoms”… And this is how Islam always works, they always come in and say, give us rights, respect diversity and because they have so many children compared to what’s happening in the host population, child production wise, eventually they have the numbers to take over and once they take over, then they stop talking about tolerance and plurality and diversity and they start using the force of government that they seek to get control over to persecute people that don’t agree with their theology. So as you watch this massive influx of Muslims into Houston, into Texas, as you watch this group of people called OTM’s, “Other than Mexican” is the name, what you’ll start to see is they’re just flooding in through our open borders policy; and right now, all they’re saying is we want diversity, we want respect, we want plurality, but all you got to do is look at Turkey and look at Iran. The agenda of Islam is not just we want to be a little group within a happy country, it’s we’re going to take over the whole country and it’s just a matter of reading what they say and looking at what they’ve done in other countries of the world to know that’s the ultimate agenda and once that happens, the country turns against Israel because Islamic ideology and theology is hostile to the nation of Israel. 31:44

So what happened in Iran is now happening in Turkey and I find that very interesting because Ezekiel gives us four names. I don’t know of any nation in this coalition that’s given four identifications. Ezekiel gives four identifications and he says, watch Turkey. So little old Ezekiel two thousand six hundred years ago saw things that were probably indescribable until modern times. Iran or Persia turning against Israel and now Turkey turning against Israel. So these are just headlines I’ve collected over the years. This goes back to 2018. Turkey is in the news all the time. This one says:

Turkish President Assumes New Sweeping Powers

http://www.israelislamandendtimes.com/turkish-president-and-pm-we-will-gather-together-all-of-the-muslim-world-and-invade-jerusalem/, July 09, 2018, accessed 01 August 2018.

“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has assumed sweeping new powers as the country transitions to an executive presidency… Erdogan’s new presidential powers are considerable. He can issue decrees with the enforcement of the law and appoint ministers who directly report to him. Erdogan also chooses nine of the 12 constitutional court charges. Under the new system, the post of prime minister is abolished.”

Turkish president assumes new sweeping powers: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has assumed sweeping new powers as the country transitions to an executive presidency. Erdogan’s new presidential powers are considerable. He can issue decrees with the enforcement of the law and appoint ministers who directly report to him. Erdogan also chooses nine of the twelve constitutional court charges. Under the new system, the post of prime minister is abolished… This is how it always works. Oh! Just give us a voice, give us a place. More children, more children, more children and then that place becomes, Oh! We’re in charge now and once they make that flip and we had Shahram Hadian, whose family fled from Iran when he was a child just prior to the deposing of the Shah in 1979 has terms that he uses to describe this house of peace, house of war, once the population reaches a certain level. Then all of a sudden we’re into war mode, takeover mode. So just kind of keep that in mind because that’s exactly what’s happening with Muslims unvetted coming into the United States of America and they’ve conditioned everything so well that if you dare speak out against this, like I’m doing right now, you’re taken off the internet, because you’re a racist, as if Islam is a race. I mean, if you think Islam is a race, you don’t understand Islam. Islam is all over the world in multiple races, it’s not a race and to be quite frank with you, when you go through the Quran, very little of Islam deals with religion. The majority of the statements in it deal with politics; it is an Islamic conquest ideology. It is just as real ideologically and politically as is communism, which as you know has caused trouble in a similar way all over the world and what you discover is that the Muslims and the communists will work together to execute this agenda that Ezekiel, 38, talks about it’s called the “Red Green Access”. Why are they working together? Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So the Marxists and the Islamicists are all on the same page and because of political correctness and critical race theory and all of these things that we’ve been brainwashed with, we can’t call a spade a spade anymore, we can’t even see it for what it is. 35:43

Here is an article, this goes back to 2015, Turkish president and Prime Minister says:

Turkish President and PM:

‘We Will Gather Together All Of The Muslim World and Invade Jerusalem,’”

http://www.israelislamandendtimes.com/turkish-president-and-pm-we-will-gather-together-all-of-the-muslim-world-and-invade-jerusalem/, May 30, 2015, accessed 30 May 2015.

“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].”

We will gather together all of the Muslim world and invade Jerusalem… Gee, come out and tell me how you really feel. He says: 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 I say to myself, did this guy wake up one day, read Ezekiel, 38, verse 6 (Ezek 38:6) and say, I think I’ll audition for the job. I mean, to me it’s just so eerie how Ezekiel saw all of this. But we know how he saw it. God who knows everything, revealed history in advance. Here’s another article talking about how Turkey is not going to go into what’s called the EU.

Laura Mowat

The Express, online: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/853497/EU-State-of-the-union-jean-claude-juncker-turkey-membership. September 13, 2017 , accessed 12 December 2017.

“‘They’ve pulled up the draw bridge’ Juncker RULES OUT Turkey joining the EU. THE President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has said Turkey will not be joining the European Union (EU) in the foreseeable future in a flagship speech.”

So this is a little dated, it’s 2017, it says: They’ve pulled up the draw bridge Juncker RULES OUT Turkey joining the EU. The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has said Turkey will not be joining the European Union (EU) in the foreseeable future in a flagship speech… Well that would make perfect sense based on what Ezekiel saw. They’re not going to identify with a western power. So what power are they going to identify with? This coalition that we’re reading about here. So the fact that they wouldn’t go along with the west and the European Union makes sense, because Ezekiel says they’re going to be involved with a different coalition. 37:54

You continue reading here in chapter 38, verse 6 (Ezek 38:6) and it says Gomer with all its troops… Gomer of course is Turkey… Beth-togarmah… Turkey and then it gives you this expression… from the remote parts of the north with all its troops… So Ezekiel is very, very clear that this invasion is spearheaded not by someone north of Israel only, but someone from the far north, the remote north. In fact, if you look down at verse 15 (Ezek 38:15) and that’s one of the things that you have to pay attention to as you study your Bible, repetitions, if something keeps getting repeated, I think the Holy Spirit has put it there for emphasis. You go down to verse 15 (Ezek 38:15), same chapter, and it says: You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north… And then look at chapter 39, verse 2 (Ezek 39:2), I actually have that one upon the screen, God says: I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north… So it says it three times. North of what? The thing to understand about Bible prophecy and you have to think the way God thinks or you can’t understand Bible prophecy. God does not think the way man thanks. Man does not look at Israel as the centerpiece of everything, but God does. So if you want to understand what’s meant by north, south, east, west, it is always relative to the nation of Israel and if you look at chapter 38, verse 12 (Ezek 38:12), God says that. He talks about the Israelis when this invasion takes place, who live at the center of the world. Now, the White House doesn’t think that way. The United Nations, sometimes called by Israelis the “United Nothing”, doesn’t think that way. But God thinks that way. That’s why the rebirth of Israel in 1948 was such a big deal, because the whole end time scenario doesn’t make any sense unless that piece of the jigsaw puzzle is in place and you need to understand that because a lot of people when you get into this subject will say, Oh! They’ve been talking about the end times for the last two thousand years, every generation thinks they’re the end time generation and that’s true, but the current generation has something that no other generation in Christian history has ever had, which is a reborn Israel. Once you have a reborn Israel, now you have the piece of the jigsaw puzzle in place, where you can identify all of the different players. In fact, back in Ezekiel chapter 5, verse 5 (Ezek 5:5), same book, it says: Thus says the Lord GOD, This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her… And I think I’ve made reference in the series to the fact that center there is a translation of the Hebrew word that’s used to describe the navel or the belly button and what God is saying is just as Israel, just as the belly button is the center of the body, Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular is the center of the earth. So when it talks about a conglomeration of nations coming against Israel spearheaded not just from the north but the remote north, it’s just a matter of starting in the city of Jerusalem and going directly north as far as you can and what do you come to? You come to one of the major players. Rosh or Russia. Now here even Google maps comes to our assistance.

Just look at Israel and draw a straight line to Moscow. A straight northern line and it’s clearly identifying here through this expression, Rosh or Russia. So there is a linguistic reasoning why Rosh equals Russia. I’ve shared a lot of that in prior studies, but there’s an actual further evidence, a geographical evidence that Rosh is Russia as well and you see, as I’ve used this map before, I found this on Facebook, by the way, so it’s got to be true.

I think this was actually used on Pastor JD Farag’s prophecy update, but as you move from Russia into the Ukraine, you see between Russia and Israel is what’s called Ukraine. So you’ll notice that Russia is not moving east, she’s not moving west, she’s not going in the opposite direction. I mean, she’s moving in this, I guess from her standpoint, this southern trajectory from Israel’s standpoint from the remote north and so when Russia invades Ukraine, I said to myself well, it’s that sad that that happened and I feel very badly for all of the people involved that have lost life and limb and property and everything else, but then on the other side of my mind I said, I’m not surprised at all, because Ezekiel predicted this type of trajectory. I’m not surprised at all when I see a very aggressive Russia, just like we have it now. Russia prior to the communist revolution in 1917, was a Christian Orthodox country and just like Turkey flipped, because of Islam, just like Persia flipped because of Islam, Russia flipped, because of Marxism and that’s why you have Russia in bed with Islam, the red green access, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So when Russia begins to move in this direction, it’s sad but it’s not a shock. When Russia becomes very aggressive on all of our newsfeeds and cable channels that we observe, we say that’s sad, but it’s not a shock. When Turkey flips we say, that’s sad but I’m not shocked. When Persia flips we say, you know, that’s sad but I’m not shocked, because that’s what God said would happen. I mean, God identified, as specifically language will allow, exactly what’s happening right now in real time. Now, I want to be very, very clear, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not a fulfillment of prophecy. 45:57

Arnold Fruchtenbaum at our Chafer Conference was asked that: Is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is it a fulfillment of Bible prophecy? Arnold correctly said no, because the Ukraine is not Israel. Once Russia moves into Israel, now we’re potentially dealing with a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. So even though this invasion is not a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Prophecy is such that it can’t just happen in a vacuum. The stage has to be set and I would put this kind of thing just like all of the other things I’ve talked about this morning in that stage setting category. You cannot have a checkers game or a chess game, unless someone takes the game board out of the box, assembles the pieces and the players take their respective seats. Only when the stage is set do you know that a chess match is about to start. That’s what’s happening right now. God is moving all of these pieces around. These nations think that they’re in charge. They’re not in charge of anything. God is moving all of these pieces around, actually using their free will against him to put all this into place for the ultimate goal of a converted Israel. Now, if you don’t have the Bible in your life and you don’t read the Bible or you go to a church that will talk about any number of things except what I’m talking about here, you have no world view in place to understand what’s happening. But when you become a student of the prophetic sections of God’s word, you have such an edge on others, because you don’t know just what is happening, you know why it’s happening. That’s how you can stay calm in the midst of insanity when the world is pulling its hair out. What are we going to do? You remind people that God predicted this and you wouldn’t believe, you start talking like that to people, relatives, co-workers, oh, my goodness! You wouldn’t believe what a platform you will start having to share the gospel with people. Particularly now, because the unsaved world doesn’t know what’s going on and they’re scared to death. We are the only people that have any type of reasonable or credible answer. Christendom itself, that was indoctrinated into amillennialism going back to the 4th century, that takes all of these passages and says they’re non literal, they have no answer, but you have an answer because you take a literal, normal, grammatical, historical approach to the entire bible. Charles Feinberg, now this was written in 1969, it’s one of the best commentaries on the book of Ezekiel you could ever get your hands on. I was the ripe old age of three years old when he said this and he writes on this passage, concerning the remote north, he says:

Charles L. Feinberg – The Prophecy of Ezekiel: The Glory of the Lord, Paperback ed. (Chicago: Moody, 1969; reprint, Chicago: Moody, 1984), 224.

“The area of origin was stated as out of the uttermost parts, the farthest reaches, of the north. It is well known who has been dominant in this region of the world ever since the end of the last global conflict, an area which has actually kept the entire world in turmoil constantly. Russia is a power that must be reckoned with now, and surely will figure largely in the events that lie head, especially when the church is raptured to her risen Lord.”

The area of origin was stated as out of the uttermost parts, the farthest reaches, of the north. It is well known who has been dominant in this region of the world ever since the end of the last global conflict… That would be of course, WWII, he says… an area which has actually kept the entire world in turmoil constantly… This was 1969, he said this… Russia is a power that must be reckoned with now, and surely will figure largely in the events that lie ahead, especially when the church is raptured to her risen Lord… Now, if Charles Feinberg were alive today, I wonder what he would say right now, he would be screaming his head off. He would be shaking his head and throwing up his hands in unbelief wondering what happened to Christianity. Why isn’t Christianity aggressive in terms of explaining this? Like I was in 1969. Well, we’re too busy Dr. Feinberg, listening to sermons on your best life now and how to be your own best friend and three steps to happiness or whatever it is people are talking about. 51:12

You’ll also notice there in chapter 38 and if you look at verse 6 (Ezek 38:6), it says: Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops… Now, look at this last expression here… many peoples with you… Look at chapter 38, look at verse 9 (Ezek 38:9), tell me if you see something repeated here: You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you… Notice if you could verse 15 (Ezek 38:15) same chapter: You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you… No one ever accused me of being a rocket scientist, but I do see a repetition here. Look at verse 22, chapter 38 (Ezek 38:22): 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… And then notice chapter 39, the next chapter verse 4 (Ezek 39:4): You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you… Why does it keep saying that over and over again? The many peoples with you, the many peoples with you, because Ezekiel is explaining that his list is not exhaustive. He is describing an outer ring of nations and what people do is they say, well, what about the inner ring of nations, what about Jordan? What about Syria? What about Egypt? What about Lebanon?

And what people are doing is they’re devising a different war from Psalm, 83, that will occur prior to, they say, the Ezekiel 38 and 39 war and the whole logic of it is, well, Ezekiel doesn’t mention the inner ring, he only mentions the outer ring so there must be a different war for the inner ring and I think that mindset is refuted simply by paying attention to the repetition of the expression and many nations with you. In other words, Ezekiel is not saying, here’s the only nations that are going to be involved. There are obviously going to be other nations involved, including the inner ring. So I am not an advocate of what people are developing in prophecy circles called “the Psalm, 83 war”. It’s a whole movement, books published, conferences, Psalm, 83 war, and people oftentimes want to call me and they want me to go on the radio show and they want to talk about the Psalm, 83 war and I’m very disappointing to them, because I say there’s no war in Psalm, 83. I mean, read Psalm, 83 yourself, you won’t see a war. You won’t see any of the language that Ezekiel, 38 and 39 talks about concerning, you know, the burying of the dead, the burning of weapons, information we’re going to eventually get to in our verse by verse treatment of this, seven months, seven years. The only thing that’s happening in Psalm, 83 is Asaph is praying a prayer of imprecation, against Israel’s perennial enemies and Asaph is saying, Lord, I want you to wipe these people out one day. There’s no prophecy about a war. It’s an imprecatory prayer. That’s all it is and they’re taking the genre of an imprecatory prayer and they’re trying to turn that into an independent war, which they postulate is different than the Ezekiel, 38 and 39 war. I believe that that whole mindset is a distraction. The action is in Ezekiel, 38 and 39 not Psalm 83. But yeah, but there’s an outer ring in Ezekiel, 38 and there’s an inner ring in Psalm, 83. Well, that’s covered by the repetition of the expression and many peoples with you. In other words, when this invasion occurs, yes it will be conducted by the outer ring of nations but it will simultaneously involve the inner ring of nations and so, since that’s true, I don’t have any need to go to a Psalm that’s not even a prophecy, which is an imprecatory prayer and turn it into a prophecy and start to run around the country at conferences telling people, well, there’s really two wars here. There are not two wars here. There is a singular invasion that Ezekiel is speaking of and Psalm, 83, has absolutely nothing to do with any of it, given the fact that it’s not even a prophecy anyway. So that’s the significance of this expression “and many peoples with you”. Yes, it will involve all of the nations we’ve talked about and a lot of others that Ezekiel didn’t mention, including those that are more adjacent to the nation of Israel. So what we have done is we’ve gone through this list and we can identify almost all of the nations that Ezekiel spoke of.

Rosh is Russia, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah are Turkey, Magog is Central Asia, Cush is the Sudan, Persia is Iran, Put is Libya, but then there’s others that will come as well, probably more adjacent to the nation of Israel. 57:57

Now what’s very, very interesting and what defies the law of probabilities is Ezekiel seeing an Israel in unbelief with this identical coalition forming. Not only did Ezekiel see a reborn Israel in unbelief, not only did he identify all the different nations that are going to be involved, but he also predicted that all of these groups would cooperate with each other. I mean, think of the odds of that. You make your prediction two thousand six hundred years ago and you see Israel in the land, in unbelief. Number two, you see the identical coalition of nations spoken of in our newspapers and then you also give the prediction that these groups will be in conspiracy with each other. Do you want to talk about conspiracy theories? This is the greatest conspiracy theory ever, where they are cooperating with each other and once you become sensitive to this, you start to see your headlines in a completely different way. Here’s a headline that says:

Mikhail Metzel

TASS Russian News Agency, online: http://tass.com/politics/932980. February 27, 2017 , accessed 12 December 2017.

“Putin: Russia’s military base in Tajikistan to ensure security of border with Afghanistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his readiness to consider the proposals made by his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon, aimed at boosting bilateral educational cooperation.”

Putin’s military base in Tajikistan to ensure the security border with Afghanistan. Well, look at this now we have Rosh and Central Asia not just in existence but cooperating with each other. Here’s another one:

John C. K. Daly

Eurasia Daily Monitor, online: https://jamestown.org/program/russia-and-uzbekistan-hold-first-joint-military-exercise-in-12-years-plan-further-cooperation/. October 3, 2017 , accessed 12 December 2017.

“Russia and Uzbekistan Hold First Joint Military Exercise in 12 Years, Plan Further Cooperation.”

Russia and Uzbekistan hold first joint military exercise in twelve years and they plan for further cooperation. Rosh, Central Asia, they’re buddies. Kind of like how Pilate and Herod came together to liquidate Jesus Christ. Here’s another headline:

Catherine Putz

The Diplomat, online: https://thediplomat.com/2017/06/on-trip-to-russia-kyrgyz-president-atambayev-sings-putins-praises. November 29, 2017 , accessed 12 December 2017.

“Checking in With Moscow: New Kyrgyz President Makes First International Trip to Russia. President Sooronbai Jeenbekov made a working visit to Moscow less than a week after taking office. Five days after being inaugurated as Kyrgyzstan’s new president on November 24, Sooronbai Jeenbekov touched down in Moscow for a working visit.”

Checking in with Moscow: New Kyrgyzstan president makes first international trip to Russia. Rosh and Central Asia cooperating. Here’s another headline:

AFP News

online: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5111291/In-Russia-Sudans-Bashir-asks-Putin-protection-US.html/. November 23, 2017 , accessed 12 December 2017.

“Putin meets with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, asks Russia’s Vladimir Putin to protect his country from the United States.”

Putin meets with Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Sudanese president who is wanted by the international criminal court, now why would he be wanted by the international criminal court? Because of the Darfur genocide that we spoke of earlier. Boy, I’m in trouble. I’m going to get prosecuted by the international criminal court, says the Sudan leader, who can help me? Oh! Russia is going to help me, what a relief. So now you have Sudan cooperating with Rosh or Russia. 1:00

I mean, what’s interesting about all this is not just the nation’s in existence but the alliances between them forming. Have you seen this picture on your newsfeed?

There’s the leader of Turkey and there’s the leader of Russia and there’s the leader of Iran, one big happy family. I almost want to sing the song, blessed is the tie that binds. Why are they such buddies with each other? Cause that’s what Ezekiel said would happen. I mean, it would be one thing to predict Russia, predict Turkey, predict Iran, it’s a totally different matter to see them conspiring together, constantly. Here is another headline:

Seth J. Frantzman

The Jerusalem Post, online: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Analysis-Russia-Iran-Turkey-meeting-is-message-to-US-514581. November 19, 2017 , accessed 12 December 2017.

“Analysis: Russia-Iran-Turkey meeting is message to US. Moscow, Turkey and Iran are all sending symbolic messages to Washington that the Americans are out in the cold and the post-ISIS era may well be dictated by regional powers.”

Russia, Iran, Turkey meeting is a message to the US, whenever you see Russia, Iran and Turkey meeting together for anything, you should say that’s what Ezekiel, 38 predicted. Here’s another headline:

Schams Elwazer

Milena Veselinovic and Hilary McGann. CNN, online: http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/22/world/syria-russia-turkey-iran-talks/index.html. November 22, 2017 , accessed 12 December 2017.

“Russia, Iran, Turkey agree to hold Syrian ‘congress’ to talk peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, addresses reporters with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a meeting on Syria in Sochi, Russia, on Wednesday.”

Russia, Iran, Turkey agreed to hold Syrian Congress to talk peace. Oh my goodness! You mean the three are getting together in Syria? Where is Syria? It’s just to the north of the nation of Israel. The current leader of Syria is a Putin puppet and Putin, along with these others have set up shop in Syria, which is adjacent to the nation of Israel. Here’s another headline:

Daily Sabah

online: https://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2017/08/07/turkey-iran-russia-to-hold-syria-talks-in-tehran-aug-8-9. August 07, 2017, accessed 12 December 2017.

“Turkey, Iran, Russia to hold Syria talks in Tehran Aug. 8-9. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (L), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (C), and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu attend a joint press conference after talks in Moscow, Russia, December 20, 2016. Turkish, Iranian and Russian officials will hold talks concerning war-torn Syria in Tehran on August 8-9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Sunday.”

Turkey, Iran, Russia to hold Syrian talks in Tehran. See, most people read these headlines that just go right over their head, they see no significance to it. But when you become a student of Ezekiel’s prophecy, you’re saying, oh my goodness! It’s what Ezekiel said would happen and so what’s my point? My point is folks and I’m not a date setter, but we are living on very borrowed time. As Paul the apostle said, well, I don’t want to quote the apostle Paul because I don’t have the scripture right in my mind and I don’t want to misquote the Bible. As the Bible says, the coming of the Lord for the church is right at the door. It is right at the door. Well, what does that mean to me? What it means to you and what it means to me is you better start living your life as if Jesus matters, because if you postpone that, you may not have an opportunity to do it later. If there’s a ministry God wants you to do, do it right now. If there is an evangelistic opportunity he wants you to take, do it right now. If there is unconfessed sin in your life that the Lord wants you to deal with by taking it to him, take care of that right now, because the Lord’s coming for the church is right at the door and it’s just a matter of looking at what Ezekiel said and looking how world events are aggressively moving us in this direction. 1:04

So we covered two verses today, praise God! No, strike that. We covered one verse today. We covered verse 6, so we’ll pick it up with verse 7 next week. Father we thank you for today, thank you for the word of prophecy made more sure as a light shining in darkness that we would do well to pay attention to. Help us not just to be data collectors, but help this to motivate the way we live for you in these last days. We will be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and God’s people said, Amen. Happy mini intermission.