31 Undeniable Prophecies of the Apocalypse – Chapter 3: Russia

In The Book of Signs, Dr. David Jeremiah offers answers to questions including:

• What does the Bible tell us about the future?
• How much can we understand about biblical prophecy and its application in our lives?
• What signs and signals will precede the end of everything as we know it?
• Which of those signs and signals have already come to pass, which are we experiencing now, and which are still to come?

An epic and authoritative guide to biblical prophecy, The Book of Signs is a must-have resource for Christians seeking to navigate the uncertainties of the present and embrace God’s promises for the future with a renewed sense of hope and purpose.

Chapter three, Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped onto the swaying deck of a miniature submarine.
He squeezed inside the capsule and the craft descended into the Black Sea.
The purpose of Putin’s excursion, people were told was to view the wreckage of an ancient ship, but it soon became clear that archaeology was the last thing on Putin’s mind.
The craft leveled out and moved toward the Crimean coastal city of Sevastopol.
It surfaced near a waiting yacht which fed the Russian president to the seaport and deposited him on Crimean soil.
It was August 2015, less than 18 months after Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from its parent nation, Ukraine at the time of the takeover, Ukraine had been making overtures to the West with the possibility of joining the European Union to prevent such a move which would impede Putin’s ambitions for a reunited Soviet bloc.
He had not only annexed Crimea but also infiltrated Eastern Ukraine with Russian soldiers.
His purpose was to stir that nation already reeling from political turmoil into chaos.
It was his way of saying Crimea is Russian territory. I don’t need an invitation.
I can come here anytime I want in any way that I want moments after Putin landed in Sevastopol, a BBC reporter questioned the legitimacy of the takeover.
Putin replied the future of Crimea was determined by the people who live on this land.
They voted to be united with Russia. That’s it given Putin’s history.
This aggressive takeover and hard nosed attitude is not surprising.
He began his career as a Russian K GB officer in 1975 when Russia, the ruling nation of the US S R, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a major world power.
Second only to the United States.
Russia was feared around the globe for its massive nuclear armaments and threats of communist takeover.
Putin retired from the K GB in 1991 and entered politics rising to power under Boris Yeltsin’s administration when Yeltsin resigned in December of 1999 Putin became acting president.
He was officially elected in March of 2000 and subsequently held the offices of president from 2000 to 2008 and Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012 before being elected president again in 2012 and reelected to another term in 2018 at the midpoint of Putin’s rise to power, President Ronald Reagan’s policies brought down the Soviet Russian threat without firing a shot.
The fall of communism and the disintegration of the US S R must have been a bitter blow to the ambitious young politician.
Many believe that from that moment on Putin has been driven by his determination to restore Russia to its former glory.
The Russian awakening many of us remember the Cold War between Russia and the United States which lasted from 1947 to 1991.
During that period, the possibility of nuclear war loomed over the world like a dark cloud.
But that fear was moderated by us military might and strong Western alliances.
Now, in the absence of American will and the collapse of order in the Middle East.
What will keep the world’s old nemesis Russia from rising again?
It appears that Putin realizes this is his moment of opportunity and he’s taking advantage of it under his leadership.
Russia has become increasingly aggressive on the world stage and increasingly dangerous.
In March of 2018, a former Russian spy, Sergei Skrip Siple was found on a park bench in Great Britain.
His 33 year old daughter was found next to him.
Both had been poisoned by a nerve agent and both were hospitalized for weeks before being moved to a secure location.
British police later connected this attack with a similar poisoning involving a woman named Dawn Sturgis and her partner Charlie Rowley.
The Sturgis did not survive that attack having been exposed to a nerve agent after handling a contaminated perfume dispenser.
After an extensive investigation, British intelligence identified two men as the primary suspects in both attacks.
Both thought to be members of the G R U, which is Russia’s military Intelligence Service.
British Prime Minister, Theresa May said the attacks were almost certainly directed by senior members of the Russian government.
Putin obviously wants to be recognized as a world leader of a world power.
Where will his ambitions lead?
As much as we would like to think, Putin’s manipulations merely reflect the antics of an overreaching dreamer.
We have good reason to believe the Russian threat is real.
In fact, we have evidence that at some point Russia will ignite a world war like none other Russia’s aggressive moves today cast a long shadow into a future described by the prophet Ezekiel.
The Russian aggression approximately 2500 years ago.
Ezekiel predicted Russia’s return to power in the latter days in chapters 38 39 of his prophecy.
He described the invasion of Israel by 10 entities including Russia and a coalition of mostly Islamic nations, the nation we know today as Russia figures prominently in these scriptures.
In Ezekiel’s list of 10 names.
The third name Rash identifies the nation ruled by the leader of the coalition that will attack Israel.
We have at least two strong reasons for believing that Rash and Russia are the same. First.
It is not hard to see the phonetic similarity between Rosh and Russia. Doctor John F.
Walford says in the study of how ancient words came into modern language.
It is quite common for the consonants to remain the same and the vowels to be changed in the word Rosh, if the vowel O is changed to you, it becomes the root of the modern word Russia.
Second, the Bible refers to the location of Israel as the middle of the earth.
Thus says the Lord God, this is Jerusalem.
I have sent her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. Ezekiel 55.
So whenever we find geographical directions in prophecy, they are given in relation to the position of Israel, the prophet Daniel described the ruler who would lead an attack against Israel in the latter days as the king of the North Daniel 11 5 to 35 Ezekiel’s prophecy says the invading armies will come to Israel from the far north Ezekiel 38 6 and 15.
So only one country occupies a geographical position in the far north in relation to Israel.
That nation is Russia whose land mass stretches from the Baltic to the Bering Seas, the Russian alliance.
Now that we have identified Ezekiel’s Rash as today’s Russia, we will turn to the other nine names listed in his prophecy names, then identify the leader and the nations forming the alliance that will attack Israel, the commander of the alliance.
The first two verses of Ezekiel 38 read the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, set your face against God of the land of Magog, the prince of Rash, Msha and tubal.
Unlike the other names in this prophecy, God refers not to a nation but to a person.
The word God means high or supreme.
And some scholars believe that God is not a personal name, but a title like the title president or pharaoh.
God is the leader of the armies that will invade Israel.
And God commands God to be a guard or commander for these nations, prepare yourself and be ready.
You and all your companies that are gathered about you and be a guard for them.
Verse seven, the countries in the alliance.
Here’s what we know about the countries named in this future coalition who will attack the nation of Israel.
Magog. According to Genesis 10 2, Magog was the second son of J FTH and the grandson of Noah.
Most scholars identify the land that Magog founded as the domain of the Scythians who lived in the mountains around the Black and Caspian Seas.
I like to identify this area as the homeland of the Stan countries which are all states of the former Soviet Empire, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and perhaps Afghanistan.
According to Bar Hitchcock, these nations today have one thing in common Islam and within their borders, they have a combined population of 60 million, Misha and Tule.
Msha and Tule were the 5th and 6th sons of Ja fifth and therefore grandsons of Noah Genesis.
10, 2, the descendants of these men established cities or territories bearing their names C I Schofield identified Misha as Moscow and Tubal as Tok.
Other scholars identified them as territories in modern Turkey Persia.
According to Ezekiel, 38 5, Persia will also participate in Russia’s invasion of Israel. Persia.
Changed its name to Iran in 1935 and then in 1979 changed it again to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran and Russia will be the leading forces in this final attempt to wipe Israel off the map.
Today, Iran is wielding its malevolent influence, not only in the Middle East but in the West as well.
Ethiopia. This is the first of two North African nations named as part of this coalition.
Ethiopia was founded by Kush, the grandson of Noah through his second son Ham.
When Ezekiel made this prophecy, Ethiopia was the land south of Egypt today.
That region is the modern country of Sudan along with Iran. Sudan is one of Israel’s fiercest enemies.
Libya Libya is the land west of Egypt, the only country on Ezekiel’s list that retains its ancient name like Ethiopia.
It was founded by a son of Ham in this case, put Genesis 10 6, today’s Libya along with Iran and Syria is another of Russia’s friends among the Islamic states.
Modern Libya was ruled for 41 years by notorious dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Even now Gaddafi’s legacy continues to haunt Libya, which is still racked by civil war and street violence as militant Islamists buy for control.
What’s more the Libyan government has been renewing ties with Russia in hopes of purchasing military armaments.
Goar Gomer was the first son of Jaf and the grandson of Noah Genesis 10 2.
Because of the similarity between the words, many have taught that Gomer was the founder of the nation that is now Germany believing that Goar represents modern Germany.
John Phillips wrote of the death and chaos that nation has inflicted in the past.
A United and greater Germany goar and all his bands had come within a hair of winning World War Two.
It had taken all the combined might of the British Empire, the Soviet Union and the United States to fight Germany to a standstill.
What if a United and anti Semitic Germany were to seek its future fortunes while allied to an anti-semitic.
Russia. Toma.
Toma was the third son of Gomer, son of JP Genesis, 10, 3, and the great grandson of Noah Ezekiel located this nation for us, the house of Tuma from the far North and all its troops.
Ezekiel 38 6. Some commentators identify Togar with Turkey noting a possible etymological connection between the name Togar and the names Turkey and Turkistan.
These are the nations that will form a coalition and march against Israel setting the stage for this gigantic world war focused on the holy land.
Though the northern armies of Russia and Turkey will lead the coalition, they will be joined by Iran from the East Sudan and Libya from the South and possibly Germany from the West in the form of a revived European coalition of nations to darken the picture for Israel.
Ezekiel added that the nation will have many peoples on its side.
Verse nine, the Russian attack after listing the Russian allies, Ezekiel described the invasion of Israel chapter 38 verses seven through 17.
As you listen to this section of scripture, remember that this is a prophecy against Russia and the invading nations thus says the Lord God behold, I am against you.
Verse three, the term you refers to Russia and the terms they and them refer to Israel in this section.
Why will Russia and its allies attack Israel? What is the purpose of this invasion?
Ezekiel gave us three answers that spring from the evil hearts of Israel’s Attackers.
There’s 1/4 answer that springs from the heart of God himself that will be revealed later in this chapter.
Let me try that again. First, the Russians will go to seize Israel’s land.
I will go up against a land of un walled villages to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited.
Verses 11 and 12. 2nd, the purpose will be to steal Israel’s wealth, to take plunder and take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take the great plunder versus 12 and 13 third, the great army from the North will seek to slaughter Israel’s people, you will come up against my people.
Israel like a cloud to cover the land.
Verse 16, we have already noted the hatred of Israel, a hatred that has existed since Abraham exiled.
Ishmael Genesis 21 8 to 19. That hatred can only be satisfied by the annihilation of the Jewish nation.
Where will the invasion occur?
Ezekiel identified the country to be invaded as the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel.
Ezekiel 38 verse eight, at least five times in chapter 38 Ezekiel affirmed that Israel will be the target of the Russian coalition.
This fact alone makes Ezekiel’s prophecy amazing because Israel is one of the smallest nations on earth, Russia is nearly 800 times larger than Israel.
Yet Israel is at the center of one of the world’s final global wars.
The target of a massive coalition led by a world superpower. When will the invasion occur?
Ezekiel prophesized that three events must take place before Russia invades Israel.
Two of these events have already occurred in history. The third is yet to be fulfilled.
First, Israel must be present in its own land.
Ezekiel tells us repeatedly that the dispersed people of Israel will be reg gathered to their original homeland twice in 38 verse eight and then in 38 12, 39 25 27 28 he also recorded this promise of God in a previous chapter, I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land.
36 24. Obviously, Ezekiel’s prophecy could not have been fulfilled prior to 1948.
For the Jews had not yet reg gathered to their ancient land.
Ezekiel added one more item concerning Israel’s occupation of its land before the Russian invasion.
He told us that gag, the coalition leader gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel which had long been desolate.
Chapter 38 verse eight. Not only will the Jews return to their homeland, but they will also occupy the mountains of Israel.
Mark. Hitchcock explains how this prophecy has been fulfilled before the six day war.
The mountains of Israel were in the hands of the Jordanian Arabs with the exception of a small strip of West Jerusalem.
Only since that war have the mountains of Israel been in Israel. Ezekiel 36 37.
The chapters preceding the description of the Russian invasion predict the re gathering of the nation of Israel which has already occurred.
Ezekiel 40 to 48. The chapters that follow Ezekiel’s description of the invasion is about the millennium which will be the time of Israel’s spiritual rebirth, the invasion of God and May God will take place between the national and spiritual rebirths of Israel.
Next Israel must be prosperous in its land.
Ezekiel further prophesized that when the Jewish people have returned to their homeland.
God will bless them beyond anything they had previously known.
I will make you inhabited as in former times and do better for you than at your beginnings.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
The reestablished Israel will become extremely wealthy and the envy of the hostile nations surrounding it today.
Israel has the third most NASDAQ listed companies in the world just after the US and China, it has earned the moniker of startup nation mostly because it has the largest number of startups per capita in the world.
Israel is also home to 18 billionaires and more than 105,000 millionaires.
The prosperity of today’s Israel is beyond question.
This is the second of the three conditions that will exist before the Russian invasion is in place.
The third condition of Israel that will be in place before the Russian invasion is peace.
Ezekiel told us that the northern coalition will descend on a people whose peace is so secure that they do not maintain weapons or take defensive measures.
God boasts, I will go up against the land of un walled villages.
I will go to a peaceful people who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, having neither bars nor gates.
Ezekiel 38 11. This is one condition that has not yet occurred.
There has never been a time in Israel’s existence when it has not been concerned about its defense.
Israel has always been surrounded by enemies even today.
Israel is threatened from all sides by extremely hostile neighbors, many times its size.
It has already fought numerous wars in its brief modern history and Israel’s close neighbor, Iran is eager to annihilate it.
Israel is not at peace or anywhere close to it.
That means the Russian invasion is not imminent a time is coming.
However, when Israel will be at peace in its land, the prophet Daniel told us how this peace will come about.
He the antichrist shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.
Daniel 9 27 when the anti-christ appears, one of his first projects will be to settle the Arab Israeli dispute on behalf of the European coalition of nations, he will make a covenant with the Jews to guarantee their safety.
This covenant which will be contracted for a period of seven years.
Verse 27 will cause Israel to let down its guard and turn its attention toward prosperity.
Israel will for the first time be a nation of un walled villages and therefore a ripe target for Russian aggression.
Thus, we have the time of the Russian invasion of Israel pinpointed.
It will come after Israel returns to its homeland after it has become highly prosperous.
And after the implementation of the seven year peace treaty with the antichrist, the Russian annihilation, Israel has always been outnumbered in its wars, but in this instance, it will be so grossly mismatched that there will be no human way for the nation to survive.
Here is Ezekiel’s description of the coalition’s advance, then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, you will come up against my people.
Israel like a cloud to cover the land as a cloud covers the land with its shadow.
So the massive armies of the Russian alliance will cover Israel.
But when all hope for Israel’s survival is gone, God will intervene and it will come to pass.
At the same time when God comes against the land of Israel says the Lord God that my fury will show in my face for in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath, I have spoken verses 18 and 19.
Remember that when we were outlining the three reasons for Russia’s attack on Israel, I alluded to 1/4 reason that overrides the others.
That reason is to set the stage for God’s punishment of Russia and its allies for their history of rebellion against him.
Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the holy one in Israel 39 verse seven.
God will use the evil tendencies of these allied nations to goad them into attacking Israel so he can execute his judgment against them for their history of human oppression.
Ezekiel described four calamities that will descend on the invading armies when God intervenes to protect his people, monumental convulsions.
The first calamity. Ezekial prophecy was a great earthquake in the land of Israel 38 19.
This earthquake will be like none ever seen on earth.
It will register completely off the Richter scale towering buildings and even mountains will come crashing down.
Though Israel will be the epicenter. Every living creature on the earth will feel the effects of this colossal quake.
Military confusion, the movement wreckage and clouds of dust and smoke from the quake will generate mass confusion among the invading armies.
Verse 21 Doctor Walford explains in the pandemonium, communication between the invading armies will break down and they will begin attacking each other.
This event will be similar to one from Israel’s history but on an exponentially larger scale, see second chronicles chapter 20 verses 22 through 25 God will protect his people in the future as he has done in the past major contagion.
God’s third weapon against the Russian coalition will be an epidemic breakout of disease.
I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed, unburied, dead bodies will lie everywhere, causing a malignant plague to infect the land.
Thousands more of the invaders will die multiple calamities.
A deluge of fire and brimstone will also fall on Russia and its allies just as God rained fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Verse 22 these God inflicted calamities will extend to the Magog homelands as well.
I will send fire on Magog and those who live in security in the coast lands.
Then they shall know that I am the Lord Ezekiel 39 verse six.
Those who remain in Magog will not escape punishment.
The Russian aftermath, God’s supernatural intervention to protect Israel and bring judgment on the Russian coalition will leave all of Israel’s fields, mountains, plains, gullies and lakes strewn and piled with the invaders bodies.
It will be a grisly testament to the ignoble end of those who defy God, the disposal of these corpses can be summed up.
In these words, birds, beasts, burning and burials just as Ezekiel 38 details. The destruction of the Northern armies.
Chapter 39 describes their disposal. The birds and the beasts.
Ezekiel recorded God’s invitation to all the birds of the world and the beasts of the field to come to Israel and devour the thousands of bodies that will be scattered across the land.
God calls it a sacrificial meal for the scavengers that will do his bidding and clean up the land for his people.
Chapter 39 verses 17 to 20.
The burnings not only will the failed Russian invasion leave masses of bodies but it will also leave the coalition’s military equipment, littering the landscape.
How will these now useless weapons be discarded?
Ezekiel says, those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears and they will make fires with them for seven years.
Verse nine, the burials, the vultures and scavengers.
God will invite to devour the bodies of the fallen invaders will leave a residue of bones and other inedible parts.
It will be necessary for the Israelis to bury what the scavengers leave.
God says I will give God a burial place there in Israel for seven months, the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
The fact that it will take seven months to bury all of the dead gives us an indication of the gigantic size of this invading army.
Only when the burials are complete, can the land be declared ceremonially clean?
Again, numbers 1911 to 22 the Russian application in Ezekiel 38 39 we find a compelling prophecy about the ultimate destruction of Russia, a nation that has long been antagonistic toward God and disruptive to the world.
Today, we can see the historical character of that nation asserting itself again as it seeks to expand its power and disruptive influence, especially in the Middle East.
It is merely a matter of time before Russia stretches its claws toward the rich and free nation of Israel.
But God has promised Israel a glorious future.
And as these two prophetic chapters show, he will keep that promise in a spectacular and satisfying way, the whole world will marvel at how God brings down a powerful enemy while preserving His people.
When this happens, the world will stand in awe of the name and power of God.
Thus, I will magnify myself and sanctify myself and I will be known in the eyes of many nations.
Then they shall know that I am the Lord Ezekiel 38 23.
I can understand why people shudder at today’s headlines.
The daily news shows an alarming disintegration of world order and security.
We see growing disorder now and chaos ahead and we wonder whether God has turned his face away from us.
Some years ago, the late pastor Ray Demon was scheduled to speak at a conference in England.
Each session of the conference began with a song service one night, the leader led the worshipers in the chorus.
Are God Reigns. Steadman glanced at the song sheet which had been prepared by the church staff and what he saw caused him to smile someone intending to type out the title as our God Reigns had actually typed out our God resigns.
Let me assure you that our God will never resign.
We who trust him have no reason to fear. As I have read Ezekiel 38 39.
The one thing that stands out is the sovereignty of God. He is in control.
God orchestrates this scenario to demonstrate to his people, Israel that he is their God and worthy of their trust.
Israel has no hope without God and God will win the battle for the nation. Godless.
Russia is no match for the king of kings.
The God of Israel is also our God, which means whatever we fear is also no match for the king of kings.
When it looks like there is no hope. Hope is just waiting for the proper moment to show up.
God can be trusted chop.