Clues to the Timing of Ezekiel 38/39 and other Insights

1 February 2012: I was immersed in serious Ezekiel 38/39 study into the wee hours this morning when new insights began to emerge that I'd not noticed previously.

Firstly, Ezekiel is the only prophet recorded in the Holy Bible to which God directly revealed the details about "Gog, of the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy concerning him."

None of the other prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel or Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi wrote so much as a single prophetic word about Gog of Magog. Zippo, Nada, None. The fact that the angel Gabriel said nothing to Daniel about Gog of Magog speaks volumes in my opinion. I would say the purpose of God the Father is inherent in this blatant omission. More on that in just a moment.

Secondly, when the angel Gabriel told Daniel (Ch. 11) about the kings of the south and north, that particular prophecy was fulfilled in the several wars between the Hellenic empires of Ptolemaic Egypt (south of Israel) and the Seleucid Empire of southwest Asia (north of Israel). These wars were fought over a period of 106 years (274-167 BC) and which culminated in the fulfilled prophecies about the precursor antichrist Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

There is no mention of the Antichrist or of Jerusalem or any existing Temple in Ezekiel 38/39. I believe these are indicators that the attempted invasion by Gog's confederation occurs during a period of time when Israel is dwelling securely (after Psalm 83, Isaiah 17 for example) but has not yet rebuilt the Temple. Like a time between right now and the start of Daniel's 70th Week and the revealing of the Antichrist with his 7-year "covenant among many."

Finally, getting back to the Lord's purpose in His prophetic word to Ezekiel. This is a really crucial point for us to consider. This coming great slaughter upon the mountains of Israel in Ezekiel 38/39 is not just to bring Israel back into faithfulness to God, but also, as the Lord declares in verse 16: (NKJV - emphasis added) "And thou hast come up against My people Israel, As a cloud to cover the land, In the latter end of the days it is, And I have brought thee in against My land, IN ORDER THAT THE NATIONS MAY KNOW ME, IN MY BEING SANCTIFIED IN THEE BEFORE THEIR EYES, O Gog."

Do you see that? God declares to Ezekiel - and to all of us living right now - that He will supernaturally reveal Himself to the gentile nations of the world through the overwhelming slaughter of Gog's entire confederated military forces and the fire He sends on the land of Magog.

First question: What purpose would there be to this for all of the gentile nations if it were not prior to the Harpazo?

And what does Ezekiel say occurs after the burial of Gog's confederate armies?

Israel builds the Temple.

Current Events: Russia and Iran

15 January 2012: The current conditions in Israel do not merit talk of the imminent fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39. There is much to be fulfilled prior to those conditions being met.

In fact, one need not bother to ask the residents of Sderot, Be'ersheva, Ashdod or anywhere in Judea or Samaria if any of the five following conditions are true as they are plainly evident as untrue:

1.) All Israel is not dwelling securely (yashab betach) at the present time;

2.) Israel is not a land of unwalled villages ('erets pĕrazah);

3.) Israel is not at undisturbed rest, dwelling without walls, bars or gates (shaqat yashab chowmah bĕriyach deleth) (Ez. 38:11);

4.) With no one to make them afraid (charad) (Ez. 39:26);

5.) Nor is Israel yet in possession of the valley of the passengers east of the sea (gay' `abar qidmah yam) (Ez. 39:11).

When ALL 5 of the above prophetic conditions are plainly evident, then talk about the imminence of Ezekiel 38/39 fulfillment will be appropriate.

The Psalm 83 War: The Final Phase

18 December 2010: Now it begins. Now that the last American combat troops have departed from Iraq and crossed the common border back in to Kuwait the nation of Iraq can resume its role in the war of attempted extermination of Israel as prophesied for these last days some 3,000 years ago by the Psalmist Asaph - the Psalm 83 War. Now the way is clear for the final and literal fulfillment of Psalm 83, and with particular respect to verse 8 (emphasis added).

¹Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

²For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

³They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

⁴They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

⁵For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

⁶The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

⁷Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

⁸Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

This specific aspect of the Psalm 83 prophecy, the military linking of Assur (Iraq) and the children of Lot (Jordan) has been one of uncertainty for the past couple of years. My interpretation has been that it is direct reference to the assistance rendered to the Sunni Arab armies by Iraq in the wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973.

Then, for the past 20 years, Iraq had not been in a position to fulfill this role as it again is this very day - a position of being of militarily capable of assistance to Jordan and the Sunni Arab allies seeking to complete the military destruction of Israel. This news was first reported in English-language Arab media about one moth ago:

Jordan, Iraq to step up military cooperation ahead of US pullout

By ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA

Published: Nov 22, 2011 22:52 Updated: Nov 22, 2011 22:52

AMMAN: The commanders of the Jordanian and Iraqi armies on Tuesday expressed desire in boosting bilateral military cooperation as the US troops prepared to leave the neighboring violence-torn country, according to the official Petra news agency.

The remarks came during a meeting between a visiting high-level Iraqi military delegation headed by the Chief of Staff Gen. Babakr Zibari and a Jordanian delegation headed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mishaal Al-Zaben.

Zibari and Al-Zaben "praised the he distinguished standard of cooperation between the armed forces in the two brotherly countries and expressed desire in boosting this cooperation in all military spheres and in such a manner that fulfils the aspirations of the two armies", Petra said.

The talks were attended by the commanding general of the US forces in Iraq Lloyd J. Austin III, who has warned that violence could grow in Iraq after the US withdrawal.

The visit by the commanders of the Iraqi army and the US troops in Iraq stirred speculation that Jordan could be tasked again with the training of Iraqi troops after the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq by the end of the year.

The Jordanian Army trained tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and policemen after the 2003 US-led invasion of the neighboring Arab country that toppled the regime of President Saddam Hussein.

The training of the Iraqi Army is emerging as an extremely sensitive issue after Iraqi politicians voiced reservations over keeping US personnel to train Iraqi soldiers beyond 2011.

The government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki also reportedly turned down an Iranian offer to train the Iraqi Army.

So, here we are, yet again on the cutting edge of prophetic fulfillment.

The War on Iran

06 December 2011: The battlefield has been prepared and the war on Iran is on. November 12, 2011 is the day I believe this war transitioned from a covert action cyberwar (Stuxnet, Duqu trojans) to an overt action conventional war, which itself is an escalation in real kinetic terms, in a final attempt to preempt a regional unconventional war featuring missile-borne weapons of mass destruction.

November 12 was the day when, as seen in the image above, two United States Navy Nimitz-class nuclear-armed super-carriers, USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) steamed in unprecedented fashion side-by-side into the Strait of Hormuz choke-point at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. American aircraft carriers have transited the Strait of Hormuz hundreds of times over the past 32 years, but never in such a bristling array as this. The message to Tehran and Qom was unambiguous as unambiguous gets.

November 12 was also the day that a massive explosion all but destroyed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps solid-fuel missile production and testing complex at Al-Ghadeer. The Institute for Science and International Security posted a .pdf report on its website on 28 November that included before and after satellite imagery detailing the near leveling of the base and explaining why the funeral of the IRGC's missile chief, Major General Hassan Moghaddam and 36 other IRGC officers, was conducted in a closed casket procession. So powerful was the detonation that those caskets might well have been empty and of symbolic value only. Many of the production and testing buildings on the base were simply vaporized.

Another explosion at an IRGC weapons depot on the same day not far away also caused massive damage and death to the IRGC missile corps. Recall that a similar explosion occurred at the IRGC's Imam Ali Air Base Shahab-3 missile storage site in Lorestan Province a year earlier. And ten days later a secret weapons depot jointly run by the IRGC and Hezbollah in an area allegedly under the control of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was blown up not far from the coastal city of Tyre. That weapons depot was clearly in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, but, as usual, nary a word has been said about that minor detail.

Since November 12th the Iranian government has dispatched its Basij street thug militia, the same militia which beat down, imprisoned and murdered hundreds of Iranian student protestors not so long ago, to ransack and burn the Embassy of the United Kingdom and its diplomatic residences. Ambassadors were recalled, staff was sent home, offices were shuttered, you know, all the things that happen as war a between the countries is erupting. Christians who know their Bible should also realize how prophetic all of this is.

Israel is a Nuclear Superpower

2 November 2011: Succinct and to the point. Israel has apparently tested an upgraded version of its Jericho III missile this morning. The Jericho III, a/k/a the YA-4, is a full-fledged ICBM capable of putting a 1,650 lb nuclear warhead onto a target 4,350 miles away. A slightly smaller warhead or pair of warheads could be delivered via low earth orbit anywhere on the planet. The Jericho III is also road mobile.

Israel is a nuclear superpower.

Hal Lindsey Report: Fortress Syria

The Hal Lindsey Report

Focus on Ezekiel 38:5 - Kuwsh

UPDATE 07 September 2011: An enlargeable map of the world circa the 10th century BC that is also quite useful in locating ancient Kuwsh can be accessed HERE.

2 September 2011: In this post I hope to provide some Scripture-based insight to correct a long-held misidentification of the land of Cush. This is an important distinction that directly relates to current events and what will shortly transpire, I believe, following the fulfillment of Psalm 83 and just prior to the commencement of Daniel's 70th Week.

To begin with, who was Ezekiel? Ezekiel was born in Jerusalem around 622 BC, he was a Kohanim Judean priest of Yahweh and was His prophet. Ezekiel was inspired directly from God. Therefore, Ezekiel directly and infallibly spoke the LORD God's prophetic word.

What we know as the country of Ethiopia is not mentioned whatsoever in Ezekiel 38:5. I believe the naming of Ethiopia in this context is a long-standing interpretive and eschatological error.

Ezekiel 38:5, written in the original Hebrew, is as follows: "Persia (Parac - pronounced Pah-rass), Cush (Kuwsh - pronounced Koosh), and Put (Puwt - pronounced Poot), with them, All of them [with] shield and helmet."

These peoples are, firstly, the original eastern Persians, as opposed to the Elamites who lived just east of Mesopotamia, or the Medes who lived to the north. We also have the Puwt who are the North Africans to the west of Egypt all the way to present day Mauritania. Yet it is the Kuwsh who are our focus here, and they are the direct descendants of Ham's son Kuwsh, the grandson of Noah. Isaiah 18:1 tells us where they lived "along the rivers of Kuwsh" which are located in the modern-day nation of Sudan directly to the south of Egypt. The "rivers of Kuwsh" are: (see map below)

1.) the Nile River,
2.) the White Nile River
3.) the Blue Nile River

Again, at present time there is a direct anti-Israel military connection between Iran (Persia), Sudan (Kuwsh) and the newly emergent Islamists of Libya (Puwt), Tunisia and Algeria (North Africans). We don't have to wait for anything to occur in Ethiopia as the southern branch of Gog's military alliance already exists today.

In ancient times this land was also known as Nubia (as seen in the map at the top) and in many respects was as advanced as the Egyptians of that ancient era. The Nubians were allies of Israel as proven by Isaiah 37:9-38 and 2 Kings 19 which both are a record concerning the invading Assyrians and the alliance between King Hezekiah and King Tirhakah of Kuwsh.

This is the ancient land of Kuwsh (Cush) identified in Ezekiel 38/39.

UPDATE 5 September 2011: In these last days is it not an obvious manifestation of the LORD God's Divine will that this land has been divided into two distinct nations? Of course it is, but how many have made note of this occurrence? It came about after the course of events of the past 55 years, with active armed rebellion and resistance between 1955 and 1972, and from 1983 to 2005. The LORD's will became manifest just about two months ago, on 9 July 2011.

The northern part of Kuwsh, a land divided by the three rivers identified above, is an Arab Islamic-ruled abomination which fervently seeks Israel's destruction, as mentioned above and ultimately to be manifest in the prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39.

The southern part, now known as "South Sudan" with a population of over 8 million souls and its capital city further to the south at Juba, is a fervent supporter of Israel. This nation is largely the product of Christian missionaries - Christian soldiers - who over the past century of time literally executed the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And now another relevant and obvious question for us all to consider:

1.) Does this new fact in our world not have a direct link and provide new insights to the prophecy of Isaiah 18? Is the harvest spoken of in Isaiah 18:3-5 a reference to the Harpazo/Rapture?