The End Times are upon us! How do we know that? Do you keep up with what is happening in Israel? Are you concerned that a World War could erupt over the conflict in Israel and her enemies? Let’s examine the world situation in light of Scripture and ignore all of the doomsayers in the media (which you should not be listening to anyway). God is in control and His timing is always perfect. We are never in any danger as Christians since man cannot do anything to us because we are saved by the Blood of the Lamb! So, let’s look at the world’s situation concerning Israel’s current difficulties from the very words of the Bible.

The Jews in Israel are fighting against at least five fronts at the same time (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Syria, Iran, and possibly Egypt just across the border with Gaza’s Philadelphi corridor in the extreme South of Gaza) with all of their enemies determined to end their existence. Zechariah 12:1-3 – “The word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus says the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: “Lo, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the peoples round about; it will be against Judah also in the siege against Jerusalem. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will come together against it.” We are in the midst of the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy! Does that mean a World War is imminent? Depends on your definition of imminent and the interpretation of Biblical Prophecy of the End Times! If imminent means could be today, then the Bible disagrees. Let’s see why.

Today, there are almost universal cries for peace in the Middle East from the UN, from the USA, from many other countries, and from anti-Israel groups all over the world demonstrating their support for the Palestinians and their desire for Israel’s land, and their hatred of Israel. Do not believe that there are successful peace talks with Hamas today or ever will be because Hamas only wishes the total destruction of Israel, not some way to live peacefully in coexistence with the Jews.  Did you know, by the way, in Hebrew “hamas” means “violence/unprovoked aggression.” The Hebrew word “hamas” occurs in the Old Testament over 60 times indicating how often people aggressively opposed God, His People, and the Promised Land. The word “hamas” as used in Arabic references the ultimate in religious passion that drives a man to want to murder lots of Jews and be killed in the act, perhaps to receive his “72 virgins” (or as some like to say “72 Virginians”)! Here is a significant occurrence of the word “hamas” that we all recognize: “So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. [Hamas]” (Genesis 6:7-11).

Of course, there are those that say we are heading for a World War, and they are correct in a sense. The Israeli conflict will involve Russia, Turkey, Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, and others according to Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39. The key question is when and under what circumstances will this war occur. It will occur because God says so, but exactly when is the question. We can get a clearer picture of the circumstances leading up to this future war by reading Ezekiel 38 and 39. Let’s look at the Scripture (King James Version for a special reason) where the very important verses are underlined that relate to those circumstances about the war being imminent:

38 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,² Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,³ And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:⁴ And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:⁵ Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:⁶ Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.⁷ Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.⁸ After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.⁹ Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: ¹¹ And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,¹² To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. ¹³ Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? ¹⁴ Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? ¹⁵ And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: ¹⁶ And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. ¹⁷ Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? ¹⁸ And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. ¹⁹ For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; ²⁰ So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. ²¹ And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. ²² And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. ²³ Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

39 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: ² And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, (***Special reason due to this translation***) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: ³ And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. ⁴ Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. ⁵ Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. ⁶ And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷ So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. ⁹ And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: ¹⁰ So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. ¹¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. ¹² And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. ¹³ Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. ¹⁴ And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. ¹⁵ And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. ¹⁶ And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. ¹⁷ And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. ¹⁸ Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. ¹⁹ And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. ²⁰ Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God. ²¹ And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. ²² So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. ²³ And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. ²⁴ According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. ²⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; ²⁶ After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. ²⁷ When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; ²⁸ Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. ²⁹ Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

Notice several important things, precursors to the actual battle, things which are not in place for the war to occur, when they are read from Ezekiel 39 and 39:

• The land of Magog (the land where Noah’s grandson Magog settled: Gen. 10:2) must be ruled by a dictator (Gog is sometimes interpreted as the man on top or the dictator. The land where Magog settled is Russia.). Today we can see a strong identity for that dictator is Putin.
• The land of Magog must be North of Israel (Russia is directly North on a map, plus Russia, Iran, and Turkey have troops in Syria which is north of Israel).
• Russia must be aligned with Iran (ancient name is Persia) and Turkey (house of Togarmah) and they all have been aligned now for several years.
• The attack must be in the latter years and latter days, and those days have arrived (Ezek. 38:8, 16).
• The nation of Israel must exist again (and it does since 1948).
• Israel must have silver and gold, cattle, and goods (It does, and oil too).
• Israel must be dwelling safely (We can easily say that this condition is NOT in place yet).
• Israel must have unwalled villages (Many villages do not have walls but the “Occupied Territories are walled away from the rest of Israel).
• The birds of prey must return to Israel (They now migrate over Israel every year because of Israel’s growth and prosperity since 1948 – prior to that, the land then called Palestine was desolate).

Please note that the conditions for the coming war with Israel as the target is not quite ready to start. Could it happen very quickly, could conditions change rapidly? Of course. But those conditions are NOT in place as of this writing. War is not imminent, just very likely very soon indicating that Israel is still the center of the target that the enemy has always had in his sights since man was created.

So, when does the Bible say this war of Gog and Magog will take place, and how does this coming war fit into the rest of the predictions of the End Times, especially the Rapture and the Tribulation? Let’s look at key points that point to the timing of the coming War of Gog and Magog against Israel:

• Gog and Magog can’t take place in the last half of the Tribulation Period because the Jews in Judea will flee into the wilderness at the Tribulation Period mid-point (Dan. 9:26; Matt. 24:16), and those that flee won’t be there to burn weapons for seven years and bury the dead (Ezek. 39:12-15).
• The Jews that do not flee into the wilderness can’t be burning weapons and burying the dead during the last half of the Tribulation Period because the Antichrist will try to kill them (Rev. 12:17).
• Gog and Magog will probably not take place during the first half of the Tribulation Period because it will take seven years to burn the weapons (Ezek. 39:9), but the Jews can’t be burning weapons in Israel during the last half of the Tribulation Period (same reason as above; fear of the Antichrist causing them to flee to a place where God protects them from the Antichrist – Petra?).
• Gog and Magog will probably occur before the Antichrist rises to power because he is not mentioned in Ezek. 38 -39, nor could he rise to power until the radical Muslims of the world are removed (Ezekiel 39:2-5).
• It’s difficult to believe we will have a world government, and the most famous man on the world stage isn’t even mentioned.
• Gog and Magog will probably occur before the Antichrist rises to power because it is not likely that Russia, etc., will attack Israel if Israel is under the covenant with the Antichrist.
• Gog and Magog is NOT the Battle of Armageddon because Gog and Magog is a 10-nation attack on Israel, but Armageddon is an attack on Israel by ALL the nations.
• Gog is not the Antichrist because Gog will die on the mountains of Israel, but the Antichrist will be cast alive into the Lake of Fire (Ezek. 39:4; Rev. 19:20).
• Gog and Magog will occur BEFORE the Tribulation Period because the defeat of Russia, Turkey, Iran, and their Islamic allies will remove a lot of the opposition to the rise of the Antichrist over a world government. Russia, Iran, Turkey, and their Islamic allies are not likely to surrender to a European leader unless something major has greatly weakened them. For this reason, Gog and Magog will occur AFTER the Rapture (mainly because this war is settled by God’s Wrath and we, as Christians, are not subject to His Wrath (Revelation 3:10) which will cover “among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 39:6)

So, according to Scripture, God will God destroy a multitude of people and nations sometime in the near future when all the circumstances mentioned in Scripture are in place in order to set up the rise of the Antichrist. The question is just why will God do this? For His Glory, not just to allow the Antichrist to rise.

• “That the heathen may know me” (Ezek. 38:16).
• To get the attention of everyone and everything (Ezek. 38:20).
• To glorify and reveal Himself (Ezek. 38:23).
• To let people know He is Lord (Ezek. 39:6).
• To reveal His name to Israel (Ezek. 39:7).
• To let the lost know that Israel’s God is God (Ezek. 39:7).
• To let the world see His judgment (Ezek. 39:21).
• To let Israel know He is her God (Ezek. 39:22).
• To let Israel know it was God who regathered the nation (Ezek. 39:28-29).

Note that Israel has shown Iran that Iran is in great danger from a superior power (Israel). As a result of the attack on Sudan’s oil resources in which Israel’s jets flew 2,000 miles from Israel to destroy that facility, and Iran is closer to Israel than Sudan, that could explain Iran’s reluctance to attack Israel again directly. Also take into account the prophecy against Elam (Territory in Iran along the Persian Gulf) in which all people run away from that area because of a probably nuclear strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities (Jeremiah 49:34-39). This has not yet happened.

There is a crucial point about Iran’s current threat to attack Israel which they seem to continue to claim. Realize that these points come from Scripture, not political speculation:

• The Battle of Gog and Magog cannot take place if the U.S., EU, Saudi Arabia, etc., are protecting Israel (and they currently are doing so since about a third of the US Navy is in the waters surrounding the Middle East) because for the Battle of Gog and Magog to occur, those countries will question the attack but not help Israel (Ezek. 38:13).
• If the U.S. and others decide that they will not help protect Israel, that could initiate an Iranian attack on Israel which could turn into the Battle of Gog and Magog.

As an added observation, we can easily see Biden/Harris turning against Israel, or (God forbid) Harris/Wolz win (read cheat) in November, but it is difficult to see Trump turning against Israel. Consider all the possibilities – Gog and Magog could be before Trump takes office if he is elected. He may not be elected, or he may not be allowed to take office, so the powers that have been in control of our nation for the past three and a half years will certainly turn against Israel and the Gog Magog war will result. In any case, we KNOW the battle of Gog Magog WILL take place, likely after the Rapture but before the Tribulation. Not to worry! And, since this war seems so imminent, just how close are we to the Rapture? Praise God, we are going home soon!