Global SITREP E7-14: Advancing Our Situational Awareness of 'Last Days' Wars

20 November 2014: SITREP E7-14 is a work in progress, and it is as focused an attempt as I can manage to advance our situational awareness of the wars that will occur in these 'last days'. This is one of the most important SITREPs on Eschatology Today. It is a one-post overview of five-part series The Prophetic Road to Revelation linked below. I define the phrase 'last days' as encompassing the time remaining between the present and the onset of Christ's Millennial Kingdom, how ever long that duration of time may actually turn out to be. As we approach what men have declared will be the year 2015 AD, I happen to believe these 'last days' could constitute a relatively short span of time, perhaps a decade and a half at most. I am absolutely certain these 'last days' will be shortened by the Lord in order to prevent the extinction of human life from planet earth. Within a microsecond at any point prior to the start of Israel's 70th Week the Bride of Christ will be taken from this earth in the Harpazo, otherwise known as the Rapture.

As a starting point I'll begin in the very near future, in a post-Psalm 83 world in which Israel will have vanquished those enemies with an 'olam ebah' ancient hatred of the God and people of Israel. These enemies are primarily Sunni and may well manifest themselves on this coming battlefield in the form of the newly declared Islamic State and its Wilayat (provinces). In this near-future world the situational awareness brief would hold that Damascus is a city which no longer exists as described by Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27. In this world there will have been effected a military 'one-state solution; there will be no such thing as a West Bank or a Gaza, there will only be Israel.  Israel will be territorially expanded beyond her present frontiers and, at the minimum, have military control to the north over the whole of Lebanon (Joshua 13:1-7), Syria as far as the Euphrates River to the northeast, western Jordan (Ezekiel 39:11), and the northern Sinai to the Wadi al-Arish and possibly even further south as indicated by Isaiah 19:18-25.

In this time, which is apparently still prior to the advent of the 70th Week (Daniel 9:20-27), Israel will be a an economic power doing robust mercantile business with the Arabian Peninsula and the European Union (Ezekiel 38:13) and other nations of the world. Israel will be at peace, living in safety and security (Ezekiel 38:10-11). By now you have discerned that I am referring to the time just prior to the attempt by a confederation of nations led by the resurgent Russia, its commonwealth of nominally independent, former Soviet states (the military alliance known as the CSTO in other words), along with a lesser group of military powers such as Iran, Libya and Sudan.

At this point we need to take a quick diversion to discover why the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the menacing, nascent nuclear threshold military power that the P5+1 and Israel are currently concerned about. The diversion takes us to Jeremiah 49:34-39 and the second sentence of that passage (verse 35) which states clearly and unequivocally, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might." I believe this verse is a direct reference to Iran's intended delivery system for the nuclear weapons the majority Shi'a Islamic nation is now attempting to arm itself with. The remainder of these verses detail what I have long interpreted to be a preemptive conventional military suppression of Iran by a coalition of nations who come from every direction of the compass.

While it is not known precisely when this fulfillment might occur, we can look to the recent past of the paragraph above concerning Psalm 83 to see that Iran did not play a role of belligerence and armorer of Israel enemies in the final fulfillment of the Psalm 83 war that it is currently casting itself in. There is a reason why Asaph did not itemize Persian participation in the Psalm 83 scenario. In sum, by the time Ezekiel 38/39 comes to fulfillment, Iran is a lesser military power that it is in late 2014, but Iran is not so weak that it cannot participate in the Ezekiel 38/39 attempt by Gog of Magog's confederation of forces invasion. This indicates the Jeremiah 49:34-39 in another prophecy of the end-times prophecies which goes through a process of literal fulfillment, not unlike Psalm 83 which is now in its 66th year of fulfillment process. We'll come back to this shortly.

At this point I will put a few key prophecies in a comparative spotlight.  The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel reiterate key points of the same prophetic word given to them by the Lord. I have often searched for Scripture to parallel what is written in Ezekiel 36-39. I believe that parallel exists in Jeremiah 30:1-7 regarding the restoration of Israel and Judah to the land and a point blank reference which ties this restoration directly to the time of Jacobs trouble (i.e. the final 42-months of the Megas Thlipsis). In this set of verses we see a period of time that literally holds within its context a minimum of 1947-48 to at least two and one half decades into the 21st century (according to the generational template of Psalm 90:10). Again, a process of fulfillment is maintained in the plain text of the prophecy.

Then at Jeremiah 30:10b there is something that should be very familiar to all students of prophecy: "Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid." Compare this with Ezekiel 38:11 which says: "You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’" That these are things of the 'last days' is beyond question as Jeremiah writes, "In the latter days you will consider it." 

Jeremiah 30:16 reads, "Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey." Turning immediately to Ezekiel  39:10b the identical judgment is pronounced: "...Israel...will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord God."

Another prophetic parallel is found between Jeremiah 31:33-34, where it is written, "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”" This is clearly a direct reference to what the Lord says in Ezekiel 39:29, "And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God." 

Is there any doubt these things are specifically the Lord God's dealings with Israel that will be occurring during the 70th Week, the purpose of which the angel Gabriel informed of Daniel by saying:

"Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy."

Since we are looking at the 70th Week, I must now turn to Daniel 11:40 and make an important note that the "him," and the "he" in this verse are direct references to the Antichrist, the rest of the plain text is virtually self-explanatory. "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through." And where is "he" at this time when these armies from the south and the north attack him? I  think he  is in Israel at this time which gives us the point of reference for identifying the directions from which these enemies come against him.

Let me ask a question here.  Are there two invasions of Israel in the last days? Is Daniel 11:40 a different end time war than the one Ezekiel prophecies about with enemies coming from both the north and south of Israel? If so, then during what period of time would Israel have men set aside to mark and bury the dead in the Valley of the Passengers/Hamonah east of the Dead Sea or be burning the enemy weaponry for the subsequent seven years?

Before these questions are answered, I will pose another necessary question that needs to be addressed first. Does Israel currently dwell in all of the land the God promised to them “for all time”?

According to Joshua 1:4 (Joshua ben Nun) the answer is no, Israel does not yet possess all of the land God has promised to them for all time. That land includes the entire wilderness that Joshua’s feet have trod upon; plus Lebanon, and all of the land to the east as far as the Euphrates River, plus all of the land of the ancient Hittites towards the west where the sun sets shall be Israel’s sea coast border. Going back further to the Abrahamic Covenant, the land is detailed in Genesis 13:14-17 and in Genesis 15:18-21. 

During Joshua’s time the Hittites were in the era known as the ‘New Kingdom’ circa 1400-1200 BC. This Hittite territory was in what is today virtually all of central Turkey and extended in a strip of land westward to the Aegean Sea. The Hittites were the principle enemy of the Egyptian pharaohs.

When will Israel take full possession of the land God has promised to them “for all time”? That answer depends on which scholar of the Bible one makes such an inquiry.  However, based upon my studies it appears full possession of the promised land will occur in stages over a certain, and now decidedly limited, amount of time. It will also be conditional or dispensational to the time when Israel is fully within the new covenant relationship with God and Christ on the throne in Jerusalem during the Millennium. Everything that has happened to Israel over time, at the present and into the future is for the purpose of God fulfilling His covenant with Abraham, and the 70^th Week prophecy given by the angel Gabriel is without question the culmination of that promise. This is when Israel will take full possession of the promised covenant lands. 

I believe the ‘last days’ wars are key to the acquisition of the promised possession. These wars commenced with the Psalm 83 war and will conclude with the Magog war and the wars of Israel’s 70^th Week. As it is written in Jeremiah 30:16, thus says the Lord, “‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; Those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey.” So much for Turkey being a dominant force during the 70^th Week according to some theories.

Let’s return now to the questions I posed above.  

Are there two invasions of Israel in the last days? That depends on some specifics, such as if at the time of Daniel 11:40 the Antichrist in Israel with power and authority at the start of the 70^th Week. It occurs to me that for the literal fulfillment of John 5:43 his physical presence in Israel would appear to be a necessity. After all, it is this impostor of Moshiach ben David's 7-year covenant that Israel will accept in their misguided belief that he will be Moshiach ben David. I think the covenant he makes with the expanded great power that Israel will be at that time is a 7-year ‘partnership for peace’ between the Antichrist’s EU/NATO and Israel. 

Therefore, is Daniel 11:40 a different 'last days' war than the one Ezekiel 38/39 prophecies about with enemies coming from both the north and south of Israel?  I think not. While there is no mention of Temple worship and the associated rituals, that omission may merely be an indicator that the Temple structures complex on Mount Moriah (Zion) remains under construction or is nearly completed but unconsecrated at that time.

The  start of the 70^th Week is precisely 42 months prior to the Abomination of Desolation. It should be obvious that those  42 months amounts to a very short, finite amount of time; just enough for one great world war centered in the Middle East around Israel, but not two.  I have come to think that these Scriptures indicate the Magog Confederation invasion occurs when Israel is living in a false sense of peace and security during the first 42 months of the 70^th Week (the Thlipsis). God supernaturally destroys five-sixths of those enemies and send fire upon Magog Confederation's homelands and those dwelling securely in the coastlands. However, Antichrist is there with his False Prophet and all the attendant signs and lying wonders to usurp full credit of the miraculous defeat of the Magog Confederation's forces. And the people will believe this lie, as can be seen in the great overview of this period given to us by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11, with particular respect to verse 11.

Then there's the second 42 months of the 70th Week, the Megas Thlipsis, and I believe Daniel 11: 41-45 are a brief overview of that period of time, with verse 44 directly related to the gathering Antichrist's forces at Harmagedōn (a/k/a Armageddon) to square off against a remnant army from the north and the approaching massive army of the kings of the east (image at the top) for whom the Euphrates River has been prepared for their passing over. But instead of fighting each other these forces square off to wage war upon Jesus Christ and His Saints at the Second Coming.

This now leaves one final question I posed above:  During what period of time would the fulfillment of Ezekiel 39:11-16 occur where Israel has men set aside and employed to mark and bury the dead soldiers  of the Magog Confederation in the Valley of the Passengers east of the Dead Sea? When would Israel be burning the enemy's weaponry for a subsequent seven years of time? Could this activity not be occurring at the start of the Millennium? I think the answer here is an affirmative.

This has been an attempt to advance an understanding of the ‘last days’ wars in consideration that there does not appear to be enough time left with the outside limit set by Psalm90:10 for all these prophetic things to take place and in consideration of the Lord cutting short those days into order that mankind survive the Megas Thlipsis.  Do not consider this to be chiseled in stone doctrine or dogma; it’s an interpretation of many inter-related Scriptures which I pray will lead to increased Bereanism by all.

Addendum: An Eschatological Clarification

 Daniel chapter 10 and 11 are the angel Gabriel's instructive narrative to the prophet Daniel of world events - primarily warfare and conflicts waged by European kings and their kingdoms in the Middle East across a great span of time totaling 27 centuries (6th century BC to the 21st century AD).

These two chapters are an indispensable key to unlocking and understanding 'last days' events; primarily leaders, battles and wars, and the future of Israel across this great expanse of time to the 'last days'.

The prelude to this entire narrative (Daniel 10:1-9) by the angel Gabriel occurs when Daniel is lying beside the Tigris (Hiddekel) River, in present-day Iraq which was at that time under the control of the Medo-Persian Empire (the second great world empire) and Daniel has an incredible vision of Gabriel in all of his angelic glory.

Gabriel begins the narrative by relating to Daniel how there are angelic contests involving Gabriel and Michael against other angelic beings which determine which kingdoms on the earth rise and which fall.

Gabriel begins this narrative be describing when the rise of the Macedonian-Greek king Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) and his world empire would occur (the third great world empire).

From Alexander the narrative of Gabriel traces a bloodline, a genetic lineage of kings to the forerunner of the Antichrist, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Antiochus wars against the Macedonian-Greek kings of Ptolemaic Egypt are vividly described, as is his all important encounter in 168-67 BC with the rising fourth great world empire, the Roman Empire. The details of this are found in Daniel 11:29-31.

There is a seamless transition in Daniel 11 between the forerunner Antichrist Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the future Antichrist of Israel's 70th Week. This evokes the bloodline, a direct genetic link between the two. I believe this transition, a literal leap forward in time of more than 2,100 years plus a generation (this generation) occurs in the empty space between verses 35 and 36 of Daniel 11.

In Daniel 36 through 39 the angel Gabriel foretells the coming Antichrist's exploits in the near future and his rise to power, his takeover of entire nations at the start of the 70th Week.

Daniel 11:40 therefore is a battle which occurs during the early part of the 70th Week. I think this could well be the same battle as the Lord had Ezekiel prophesy about in chapters 38 and 39.

Then in Daniel 11:41-43 there's the European Antichrist's retaliatory military campaign of conquest throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.

Finally, Gabriel ends the narrative at verse 44 in what I believe is the intelligence report Antichrist receives informing him of the approach of massive armies - a remnant army from the north and the army of the kings of the East heading for the Euphrates River which has been dried up for their crossing. This is the stage setting for the final battle of Har Megadone (Armageddon) at the end of the 70th Week.

We all know what happens next.

Marana'tha!