The Watchman’s Call

Guest (Male): Standing at the intersection of the word and the world, there is a clear sound for uncertain times. Welcome to The Watchman’s Call. Join us as we stand on the ramparts of scripture to examine the intersection of biblical prophecy and modern culture. The headlines are changing, but the blueprint has already been written. Listen as Pastor Andy Woods uncovers the prophetic significance of the world we live in. The Watchman’s Call starts now.

Dr. Andy Woods: I want to welcome you to a brand-new series here on The Watchman’s Call. We are entitling our series that we’re going to embark on today "The Middle East Meltdown." As you probably have figured, the Middle East is a pretty dominant subject in the news cycle. Constantly we see things related to the news concerning the Middle East, the nation of Israel, Iran, the surrounding countries there surrounding the nation of Israel. It seems to be a recurring theme. There are always flare-ups in the Middle East, and you might wonder what in the world is going on in the Middle East. Most people are shocked and startled to discover that God's word speaks to that very subject.

God's word does so in two pivotal chapters of the Bible: Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. Before we get into an analysis of those chapters in this series, let me give you the big picture in terms of where those chapters appear in the totality of the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel is a prophet that wrote in the 6th century BC during the days of the Babylonian captivity. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Ezekiel had a vision. The vision in Ezekiel is recorded in his book, which is 48 chapters. There is actually a way to outline or divide the book of Ezekiel.

The first 24 chapters of the book are prophecies that Ezekiel made, most of which would be fulfilled against Judah, the remaining Southern kingdom, and would find their expression in the Babylonian captivity which followed. In Ezekiel chapters 1 through 24, we have judgment on Judah. Ezekiel is commissioned in chapters 1 through 3. His mouth is actually closed, meaning he can only speak when God allows him to speak. What comes out of his mouth in that first section is very important.

It is in that section that the Shekinah glory of God is personified or predicted as leaving the temple, which had been built by Solomon and was about to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Then you get to Ezekiel 33 through 48, which is symmetrical. It is like Ezekiel chapters 1 through 24, but in reverse. In Ezekiel chapters 33 through 48, Ezekiel has a ministry now that Jerusalem has fallen to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity for 70 years is well underway.

Ezekiel has a collection of prophecies dealing with the eventual restoration of Israel. Here Ezekiel is commissioned again, this time not to speak judgment as he did in the first part of the book, but to speak restoration. His commissioning is in chapter 33. His mouth, although closed in the first part of the book, is now opened. Now he is not preaching judgment on Judah, but blessing on Judah. It is in that section that the Shekinah glory of God is predicted as returning to the millennial temple.

Those two sections of Ezekiel are symmetrical, and the fulcrum that balances the two is his oracle of judgment spoken on the surrounding nations in chapters 25 through 32. We are going to be spending our time in that final section of the book of Ezekiel related to his prophecies of restoration for Judah. Let us look at the chapters that come right before Ezekiel 38 and 39 just to show you the context of those chapters.

Right before Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, we have Ezekiel 36. This is what it says in Ezekiel 36, verses 24 through 28. God predicts, "I will take you—Israel in other words—from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you back into your own land." Then, notice there is a sequence here, "I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean." It says down in verse 26 of Ezekiel 36, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you." There is a sequence here.

First, the nation of Israel is brought back in unbelief from the diaspora, which they have been scattered, the worldwide dispersion. As they are brought back in unbelief, then in a subsequent work of God, the Holy Spirit comes upon the nation of Israel. You see this same pattern one chapter later in Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 7 through 11. That is the chapter where Ezekiel sees a body formed. He sees the skeleton formed and the muscles formed and the skin develop around the body.

It says in Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 7, "So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them." It is a body without the breath. The word translated breath there is "Ruach," where we get the concept for the Holy Spirit.

Then Ezekiel 37 verse 9 says, "Then He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, "Thus says the Lord God, 'Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.'"' So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, "Our bones are dried up, our hope has perished, and we are completely cut off."'"

Notice this pattern again, the same one we saw in Ezekiel chapter 36. First, the nation comes together in unbelief. That is the bones assembling via a loud noise. Then Ezekiel is told to prophesy a second time, and when he prophesies a second time, the Ruach or the Holy Spirit comes into this body. Here is the pattern: first, the nation comes back to life politically but not spiritually. Then, at a later point in time, she comes alive spiritually. By the time you get to the end of the seven-year tribulation period, every single Jewish person living on planet earth will be born again or regenerated.

As you leave those chapters, the big question mark in the reader's mind is what is the mechanism? What is the instrument? What is the tool that God is going to use to take His elect nation, the nation of Israel, from unbelief to belief? Because first they are gathered in unbelief and then they are made to be born again. There must be some kind of instrument that God is going to use to bring them from spiritual death unto spiritual life. The answer to that is logically answered in the next two chapters, Ezekiel 38 and 39.

The nation is going to be put under tremendous pressure by an attack from a conglomeration of nations spearheaded by Russia from the north, who will put Israel under so much distress that she will have no choice if she wants to survive but to call upon God. Israel is placed in a predicament where she has no helpers other than God. Once she calls out to God, she will become born again. Ezekiel 38 and 39 becomes the catalyst used by God to take His nation from unbelief to belief.

With that background in mind, what we are going to be studying in this mini-series is Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 and how this fits into the modern-day situation in the Middle East in this series entitled "The Middle East Meltdown." There are a lot of moving parts when you talk about Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. What I am going to use as an organizing structure are six questions. In this series, we are going to ask and answer six questions to get a clear understanding of what Ezekiel predicts and how the situation in the Middle East is largely preparatory for the fulfillment of these prophecies.

These are the basic journalistic questions. Number one: who was involved? Number two: when is this invasion going to occur? Number three: why are these nations coming against Israel? Number four: what is going to be the outcome of these things? Number five: how is our world today being set up for a fulfillment of this prophecy? And then number six: so what? Why does it matter? Why should a Christian give themselves to studying this section of the Bible? How does what we are studying on Sunday affect our lives on Monday? We will be dealing with that question last by way of application.

Let us jump right in here and start with the "who" question. I am going to read to you Ezekiel chapter 38 verses 1 through 7 so we can get a flavor for this prophecy. Ezekiel writes, "And the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Son of man, set your face towards Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, Tubal, and prophesy against them, and say, "Thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws. I will bring you out and all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. Persia, Ethiopia, Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet. Gomer with all of its troops, Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all of its troops and many peoples with you. Be prepared and prepare yourself, you and all your companions that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.'"'""

To get a flavor of all the nations involved in this, jump down to verse 13. It says, "Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all of its villages will say, 'Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, and to capture great spoil?'" What we have just run into here are about 13 strange-sounding names.

You pick up your newspaper today and you won’t see these names. But they are Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Togarmah, Rosh, Magog, Persia, Cush, Put, Sheba, and Dedan. And of course, the most important, they are coming into the land of Israel. Ezekiel 38, verse 18 says, "It will come about on that day that Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord God, "the fury will mount up in my anger." If these are strange-sounding names, how in the world would we interpret these various names? There is actually a procedure for doing this.

The procedure that we are going to embark on here is objective and scholarly. Here is how to identify these strange-sounding names and equate them with modern nations. You will notice these same names are in Genesis chapter 10. Genesis chapter 10 is a part of the Bible that we call the "Table of Nations." It is a record of where Noah's descendants settled following the flood and following the issue at the Tower of Babel.

You will see those same names there. What we can do is consult scholarly sources and figure out where these ancient people groups settled. The modern nations containing those people groups are the very nations that will invade Israel in the last days. We can look at Josephus, a first-century historian, in his "Antiquities." We can look at a historian named Herodotus who wrote "Histories." We can consult a leading Hebrew lexicon, sometimes abbreviated BDB.

Let us try to figure out where these people groups settled. As you do this exercise, you will be shocked at how God has set up this prophecy for near fulfillment. All of a sudden these countries that we are seeing in the newspaper, it will start to make sense why they do the things that they are doing against the nation of Israel.

Let us start with Magog. Josephus in his "Antiquities" tells us that Magog founded the Magogites, what are called by the Greeks the Scythians. The Scythians migrated from Central Asia to Southern Russia in the 7th century BC, right around the time of Ezekiel's writings. We believe that Magog represents the nations of Central Asia. Those would be what we call today the "Stans": Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan.

You might remember recently our president pulled us out of Afghanistan in a very sloppy way and left our armaments to the Taliban there. It is almost as if America armed Afghanistan for the invasion that we are speaking of here. But that is who Magog would represent. Then one of the names mentioned is Rosh. There is a man named Gesenius. He is the father of modern-day lexicography. Based on his study, he concluded that Rosh is none other than Russia.

What is interesting is he made this conclusion in 1842, long before the Communist revolution in 1917. Russia was not going to invade anybody; she was just basically a Christian Orthodox nation. This is what Gesenius writes in his Hebrew-Chaldee lexicon. He says of Rosh, "a proper name of a northern nation mentioned with Tubal, Meshech... undoubtedly the Russians who are mentioned by the Byzantine writers... dwelling to the north."

I am comfortable with identifying Rosh as Russia because when you go over to Ezekiel chapter 39 and verse 2, it says, "I will turn you around, drive you on, take you from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel." This power that is going to invade Israel in the last days doesn’t just come from the north, but it comes from the remote north. If you go directly due north on a map from Jerusalem, the remote parts of the north is none other than Russia.

Another name mentioned here is Meshech. Josephus identifies Meshech as the Cappadocians. The Cappadocians may ring a bell to you in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 1. They are part of a group that Peter addressed. We know where that population was in existence. That would be North Central Turkey. So we believe that the Cappadocians represent Turkey.

After Meshech is Tubal. BDB identifies Tubal also as Cappadocia. Meshech and Tubal would represent modern-day Turkey. Then Ezekiel also mentions Persia. Persia was the power that overthrew the Babylonians in Daniel chapter 5. It was under the Persians that the nation of Israel was allowed to return to their homeland.

We have something in archaeology called the "Cyrus Cylinder." It is the boasts of the Persian Cyrus as he conquered Babylon and allowed the Jewish nation to return to their homeland. Cyrus, a Persian, is called out by name 200 years before he was born by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 45 predicts this man Cyrus would be raised up by God and he would allow the nation of Israel to return to their ancient homeland.

Persia in the time of Ezekiel was one of the good guys. Persia continued as a modern nation, and the name of Persia was changed to Iran in 1935. Something happened in Iran in 1979, where the Shah was toppled and replaced by the Ayatollah. You might remember all of that happening during the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter. Iran became the Islamic Republic of Iran, a Shiite Islamic theocracy.

I hope you are enjoying this journey as we have been answering the "who" question. Magog would represent the nations of Central Asia, Rosh is Russia, Meshech and Tubal are Turkey, and Persia is Iran. We will pick it up with Cush and Put in our next show together. We are trying to identify modern nations that Ezekiel predicts in God's end-time scenario. We will see you in our next show. God bless you.

Guest (Male): You’ve been listening to The Watchman’s Call, exploring the intersection of prophecy and culture. This program is a ministry of Sugarland Bible Church, a place where the Bible is taught and the times are discerned. Visit this Sunday in person or connect with them anytime at slbc.org. That’s slbc.org. Until next time, may the Lord give you a spirit of discernment in the week ahead.