Ancient Armenia
11 October 2009: In the news this weekend is the historical geo-poltical and prophetically significant accord establishing the required protocols for full diplomatic relations between the ancient Armenian and Turkish peoples. The significance of this accord underlies the eschatological position of Eschatology Today that Armenia is without question one of the nations identified as belonging to the Gog military confederation to become existent in the 'last days" per the Spirit-inspired prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39.
Armenia (see map above) is one of the nations named by Ezekiel which many eschatologists have thus far erroneously applied in an interpretation of Ezekiel 38:6 as being modern eastern Turkey. Armenia is, in Biblical fact, a nation descended from and identified as both Gomer and Togarmah!
"Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you."
In historical point-of-fact, the Armenian nation predates by a few thousand years the establishment of a Turkish state in Asia Minor. It is in ancient Armenia, historically centered around Lake Van, that Noah's ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat after The Flood. The Armenian's have for millennia held the belief that they are the direct descendants of Noah's son Japheth through his son
Gomer through one of his descendants known by the name of Haik. Haik (pronounced
"high,") is name the Armenians use to identify their own nationality). Haik was the son of a man named
Togarmah. Also in ancient times Armenia was known as Urartu (Arartu) by the peoples of this northern Middle Eastern regions, and as the Kingdom of Ararat in the Old Testament. The Kingdom of Ararat was named in
Jeremiah 51:27 along with the ancient nations of
Minniy (a part of Armenia) and
Ashkenaz (a nation in the same region also descended from Japheth).
The Armenia of the 21st century is a country overwhelmingly populated (98.7% according to the
CIA World Factbook) by "Christians" (Armenian Apostolic and other Christian denominations) and is a full member of the Russian-led military alliance known as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) discussed in the
Eschatology Today entry of one week ago. Ratification of the normalization of relations treaty, pending Armenian withdrawal of its troops from the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in overwhelmingly Muslim Azerbaijan; the status of roughly 600,000 Armenian and Azerbaijani refugees, as well as the issue of Ottoman Turkish responsibility for the genocide of over 1 million Armenians at the end of WWI will be the final step in this very prophetic development prefacing the literal fulfillment of Ezekiel's war of Gog/Magog and the ultimately full restoration of Israel to the land given it in the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant of the Lord, as described in Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:18-21.
We are truly a blessed generation to be witnessing the literal fulfillment of Bible Prophecy. We are the generation of whom our Messiah spoke in Matthew 24. Despite all the seemingly apparent odds against and the seemingly impossible conditions to be overcome - as our Lord said, "these things must take place."
