The war in Ukraine is influencing gas prices. Food costs have risen. Ukraine and Russia make up 30 percent of global exports of wheat.
Televangelist Pat Robertson has warned that end times are upon us, and Christians wonder if the Russia-Ukraine conflict will lead to a “Gog and Magog” attack on Israel?
“It should have been easy to predict that Russia was going to invade Ukraine,” says David Parsons, an attorney, ordained minister, and Middle East specialist. “It also was quite predictable that many Christians would instantly start connecting this conflict to the ‘War of Gog and Magog,’ the last days’ global confrontation described in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.”
Chapters 36 and 37 give prophecies of the great regathering of Israel in the last days.
“Ezekiel’s vision of the ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ in chapter 37 depicts it as if the nation is literally resurrected from the dead – which in many ways aptly describes the miraculous rebirth of Israel [in 1948] as a nation just three years after the nadir [lowest point] of the Holocaust,” he says.
So what is the War of Gog and Magog?
In Ezekiel 38, the prophet is told to deliver a warning to “Gog and Magog.” Gog is an individual and Magog is his land. (Other nations also will join in attacking Israel.)
“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 … ” (Ezekiel 38:1-4 KJV).
“Ezekiel is clear the attack comes from the north, and those supposing biblical prophecy is being fulfilled note that that Moscow is directly north of Jerusalem. Thus, it is claimed the Ukraine war heralds the beginning of the end times,” says Dr. Calvin Smith of King's Evangelical Divinity School.
Speculation about Gog and Magog has largely centered on Russia, or the former Soviet Union, and their allies coming against tiny Israel, Parsons says.
Some appear to think the move against Israel can happen any day now. Others combine the war of Gog and Magog with the Battle of Armageddon, arguing that they are the same conflict. Others place the Gog-Magog aggression at the end of the Millennium, relying on additional prophetic passages found in the New Testament.
“Chapter 39 continues describing this same battle against Gog [Israel against Gog], while adding that the victory at God’s hand will be so complete, Israel will need seven months to bury the dead and seven years to burn the weapons of warfare,” Parsons says.
Does the war in the Ukraine mean that events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 are about to happen now?
Parsons appears to believe that the “Gog and Magog” war may take place after the Millennium, “the thousand years mentioned in Revelation during which holiness is to prevail and Christ is to reign on earth.” In the Revelation to John, the names Gog and Magog are applied to the evil forces that will join with Satan in the great struggle at the end of time (Revelation 20:7–10), after the Millennium, he says.
7 “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 “And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:7-10 KJV).
Dr. Calvin Smith says, “Biblical prophecy has an important role to play in the life of the believer, demonstrating how God is in control of events and human history. … Yet the Bible is not a commentary on current affairs and attempts to utilize it in this manner are often sensational and false, turning many believers away from studying biblical prophecy. … It is best to avoid being dogmatic in identifying current events with biblical prophecy. We do not know how today’s scenario in the Ukraine will play out.”
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