War in Israel – Part 1 of 2

Dave Lutzer: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and proctor of our faith.
Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Humans and conflict, they're inseparable. Terrorists attack anywhere, everywhere as the clouds of war loom. Prophets tell of a great war coming to Israel. While not yet Armageddon, this war lays the groundwork for that greatest of battles and it's sign number six that Jesus is coming soon. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is running to win with Dr. Irwin Lutzer whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Irwin Lutzer is in a series on seven signs of Christ's return. Today we turn to sign number six, war in Israel. Pastor, do people confuse this battle with the larger battle that follows it?
Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Dave, certainly prophecy is something that often times has been misunderstood. People with the very best of intentions have made predictions that have not come to pass. It's so easy for us to begin to identify what's going to happen in the future by what is happening today, but it certainly seems as if we're living at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise and hatred against Israel is expanding even to places where we didn't expect it. But at the same time, we need to realize that the Bible predicts that there's going to be times of chaos and difficulties. And that's why we're making available for you a book entitled when Jesus returns. And I want to emphasize that this is one of the last days we're making it available for you. What this book will do is to help you to put things in perspective. It is not a road map, but what it does do is discuss various themes that we know are going to happen. For a gift of any amount, we're making it available for you. Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com or you can call us at 1888 218 9337. One of the things that we are sure about is that when God wraps up history, Jerusalem is going to be in the center of it all. And yes, indeed, looking at history and looking at the future, we can see very easily how that can happen. At the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you that contact info again. For now, let us listen. As you know, this is a series of messages titled seven signs of Christ's return. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth. No question about it. Nothing could be more certain than that. As a matter of fact, he's going to come back to the Mount of Olives. He's going to come back to the city of Jerusalem, the scripture teaches. And when that happens, all people will see him. The scripture says every eye will see him. But also we believe that before that time, Christians are going to be snatched away in what is generally called the rapture. And the rapture is an event that could happen at any time. And I do hope that you're ready if that event should happen. But also the scripture would tell us that during that period of time between the rapture and the glorious appearing of Jesus in Jerusalem, there is a time of great tribulation and difficulty, a time of war and distress. Now, if you've been with us, you know that we've talked about various signs of Christ's return. Number one was that Israel was reborn. We spoke about the unification of Europe. That was number two, the rise of a world dictator, also the rise of one world religion, the temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem. And today we come to a mysterious war that is really fought in Israel and it's won by God. It is indeed an interesting passage of scripture that gives us this information and it is this war that eventually leads to the biggie which we're going to consider next week, namely the battle of Armageddon and the actual return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem. But the passage I have in mind is found in the writings of an old Testament prophet by the name of Ezekiel. Ezekiel and if you have your Bibles, I encourage you to turn there. I shall remind you that in context, Ezekiel is talking about the return of the Jews to Jerusalem and to Israel. And then he talks about what's going to happen once they are there. For example, in chapter 36, he says in verse 24, for I will take you from the nations, God is speaking, and gather you from the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you will be clean. You will be cleansed from all of your filthiness and from your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Now, do you think that that has happened yet? No, it has not. Certainly not happened to the nation Israel because Israel is a nation has not accepted Jesus Christ as Messiah. And you cannot have a new heart unless you come to God through Jesus Christ, the only mediator. As a matter of fact, I think though that when Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus and Jesus made the statement that one must be born of water and spirit, he probably had this old Testament text in mind, reminding us that way back in the old Testament, God was in the business of changing people and changing their hearts. But Israel as a nation has not yet experienced that. Now, it's in that context that we turn to Ezekiel, the next chapter, chapter actually 38. That's where we're going to concentrate our study today. Ezekiel 38. Ezekiel speaks of a great invasion in the land of Israel. And what I'd like to do is to tell you who the allies are before we talk about who it is, who is spearheading this entry into the land. Ezekiel 38. You'll notice he lists five different nations beginning in verse five, all of whom participate in this great military campaign. Who are they? Number one, Persia. Who is Persia? Persia in 1939, I believe it was, was renamed Iran. Iran is going to participate in coming up against Israel. Now, you know that the people of Iran are of course not necessarily in line with what the government of Iran is going to do. I mentioned that because we must always separate the people from the official policy of their government. Here at the Moody Church, we have many people from Iran. We have an Iranian ministry. And among those folks who meet together are many fine Christians and many others who are thinking about Christianity. But as far as the official policy of the country is concerned, the day will come when Iran will join in this great desire to exploit the land of Israel. Let's go on. Number two, it says Ethiopia. When we think of Ethiopia, we think of the Sudan. Again, another country where the Christians are being persecuted and where there is Islamic fundamentalism on the rise. We think then also of put. What in the world is put? Well, you know, if we took out the time to look up all these names, we discover that most of them occur in the 10th chapter of the book of Genesis. And we would learn that put is actually ancient Libya. Put was the third son of Ham. And if you trace the table of nations, you discover that it was Libya and it may include other areas and other countries. And we all remember, do we not, Muammar Gaddafi? The next one is Gomer. This is more difficult to identify verse six. What is Gomer? Ancient maps of Germany, the southern part of Germany at least was called Gomer. And it may be southern Germany. It also may be parts of Turkey. They are going to be involved in this campaign against Israel. And then Togarmah or Togarmah, depending on where you put the emphasis. You'll see here it is in verse six. It will come from the remote parts of the north with all of its troops and many people with you. Togarmah, according to the ancients, is eastern Turkey. We don't know exactly where the border ends, but these are the nations that are going to come together, unite together, and they are going to march into the land of Israel. But the $64 question, and an even more important question is who's going to be the leader of this invasion? And for that now, we go back to verse two. It says son of man, God is speaking to Ezekiel, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog. What in the world is Gog and Magog? Once again, if we were to look at the table of nations in the book of Genesis, we discover that we are not totally without a clue as to who this is because in that listing we would discover that Magog and Gog are also now sons of Japheth. Now, I need to pause here just for a moment. You remember Joseph, or rather I should say Noah, he had three sons, Shem, which turned out to be the Jewish people, Ham, whose descendants went primarily into Africa, and by the way, the sons of Ham were not cursed. There was one son of Ham that was cursed, whose name was Canaan, and that curse was fulfilled in the extermination of the Canaanites under Joshua. But African Americans are not under the curse as some people have misinterpreted the scriptures to say. And then you had Shem, Ham, Japheth who are the Europeans. So we can see so far that the people who are going to be involved are the sons of Ham. We've looked at some of those, but also the sons of Japheth. That's who Magog and Gog are. According to Josephus, these are the people that migrated and settled down near the Black Sea in the area of what we call Russia today. And then it goes on to identify these. It says Meshech and that happens to be the fifth son and Tubal who is the sixth son of Japheth. Now, all that to simply say this, there is only really one country that can fulfill this requirement and that is Russia. I mentioned that not only because of the identification that we've made and some people interpret the word Rosh. Now, if you have an NIV, it will translate that word chief prince, but other scholars believe that it refers to a territory and it is the word from which we get the word Russia. There's several reasons why Russia, I believe, is going to be the one who will lead this particular invasion. First of all, because three times in this passage it talks about a nation from the remotest part of the north. Notice in verse six, Gomer with all of its troops and then it talks about Togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all of its troops. You'll notice again the same expression occurs in verse 15 and you will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many people with you. And then we notice in chapter 39 verse two speaking of the same event, giving more details. And I shall turn you around, God says, and drive you on and take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. You say, well, how do we know that this hasn't already happened? Well, there are two reasons. First, because it says that this is going to happen in the latter days. That's what my translation says. I'm reading from the New American version, New American Standard, in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword. I notice that the NIV translates it future years, but either way, this is something that Ezekiel was prophesying that was in the distant future. But there's another reason and that is that these events, as we shall see, simply have not yet happened, remarkable events. Why do we believe that it is Russia? First of all, because as I mentioned, the text says that it's going to come from the remotest part of the north. Now, all that you need to do is to get a globe and then look at the land of Israel and run your finger along the globe to the Arctic Circle and you will go directly over Moscow. There seems to be no other country that fits this description. There's another reason also because it was the Soviet Union which now of course has broken apart with Russia giving the lead that was the most systematic nation in the world that promoted atheism and the destruction of everything religious. And as you think about all that the Russian people have endured and all of the persecutions and all of the people that have been put to death most assuredly in the past at least, Russia represented the most godless nation upon the face of the earth. Now, of course, that isn't true today and that 's why I emphasize again we must always distinguish between the government and its own people. My wife and I have been to Russia and it is there that we have met some of the most wonderful, sensitive, faithful Christians on the face of the earth. And our own Women's Ministry is actually developing a relationship with another Women's Ministry in Russia and in Moscow so that there might be able to be communion and so that we can help them in what they are trying to do there. But nonetheless, it appears to me that Russia will be the lead invader. Now, enough of that. The question is what's going to happen and the best thing we can do here is pick it up at verse 10. Thus says the Lord God, it will come about on that day that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan and you will say I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates. To capture the spoil, to seize the plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited and against the people who have gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world. That's an interesting phrase because ancient maps had Jerusalem as the center of the world. And I guess it is because here Israel, Jerusalem is spoken of as the center of the world. And what happens? Verse 15, you will come out from the place, the remote parts of the north, you and many people with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army, and you will come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will come about in the last days that I shall bring you against my land in order that the nations may know me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, oh Gog. Now, first of all, we're struck by the fact that these ancient methods of warfare are a problem to us. You say, well, surely this has happened because Russia wouldn't be using horses today and shields. Well, there are two ways to interpret this. One is symbolically. After all, when Ezekiel received this vision from God, he had to have a way to communicate it to his people. He had to be able to speak in terms that the people of those days could understand. He could hardly be expected to talk about tanks and laser weapons and chemical warfare. So he speaks in the language of the ancients and maybe that's the way we should interpret it. Other people have looked at it and said, well, we need to understand that because peace will have been in the land as we shall see in a moment that maybe these conventional methods of warfare might work and maybe there's a reason why Russia today in its army still has a cavalry. Maybe there's the possibility that they will revert back to some of the ancient methods of warfare, particularly if the peace movement gains some strength and weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed. We're not sure. But here is what we need to know. The reason that these nations gang together on Israel is for two different reasons. Number one, Israel is not expecting an invasion. You'll notice it says you will go verse 11 against the land of unwalled villages. And I, he says, will go against those who are at rest that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates. Israel will be in a period of peace. Well, if you know anything about Israel today, you know that it is not a country of peace. It is armed. When you go into the Tel Aviv airport, there you see guards. When you go outside, there are guards. There are checkpoints along the road. This Israel today is in a state of readiness, high alert all the time, not knowing when the next attack will come. So it can't refer to this period of time. What would the period of time be that Israel would have so much peace that its villages would be unarmed and people would be able to march in? Well, I'm not being dogmatic on this, but just think about it. You remember I told you how Antichrist is going to sign a peace treaty with Israel. What if he has so much power as that great European leader? What if he can sign a peace deal, he can bring all of the Arab nations under his authority and he can believe that he will have achieved peace and he will guarantee the security of Israel so Israel will not have to worry about the problem of war. And it can take all of its resources that are being used for defense today and take that money and invest it in its economy. And that might mean that Israel would then be in a position to gain a tremendous amount of power, a tremendous amount of wealth. And that also would be now a reason why these nations gang together. Why? Because the text says in verse 12 to capture the spoil, to seize the plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places. And Israel, as we know, in the Dead Sea itself, it is said that there are trillions of dollars worth of minerals. And of course, the Arab nations that are involved in this, they want to exterminate Israel anyway. So they come up against Israel. Well, question is though what happens. This is one of the reasons why we know this has never, never happened in history because if you do not know what happens, you're going to be shocked and surprised because God is personally going to defend his people. And the Bible tells us exactly how he's going to do it. You'll notice it says in verse 18, it will come about on that day when God comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God. God is speaking and he says, my fury will mount up in my anger and in my zeal and in my blazing wrath I declare on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. And the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beast of the fields, all the creeping things that creep on the earth and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at my presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, every wall will fall to the ground, and I will call for a sword against him on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his neighbor and with pestilence and with blood I shall enter into judgment with him and I will reign on him and his troops and on the many people who are with him. A torrent shall reign with hailstones, fire, and brimstone. And I shall magnify myself, sanctify myself, and make myself known in the sight of many nations and they will know that I am the Lord God. Takes your breath away. Earthquakes, hail, pestilence, fire, brimstone. God is going to reign on all of these armies and destroy them. In fact, the destruction is going to be so bad that we read in the next chapter it's going to take Israel seven months to clean up and to bury all the dead people.
Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, this is Pastor Lutzer. Of course, it's very difficult for us to grasp all this because we often times think that God is a God of love and certainly he is, but he's also a God of justice. He's a God of judgment. And what we need to do is to fear him. So as you look around the world and you see evil in various parts of the world and of course really everywhere, always be reminded of this that in the end God is going to win. The question is will we be on the winning side? For a gift of any amount, we're making available for you a book entitled when Jesus returns. As a matter of fact, this is one of the last days that we are making this offer. We believe that it will encourage you and give you hope. Yes, judgment is coming, but so is God's mercy, God's grace, and God's deliverance. Here's what you do. Go to rtwoffer.com. Did I say that too quickly? Go to rtwoffer.com or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1888 218 9337. We exist to encourage you and of course to spread the gospel around the world. And so many of you help us. And for that we are deeply grateful. But right now, go to rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1888 218 9337.
Dave Lutzer: You can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Irwin Lutzer with part one of war in Israel. Sign number six in his series seven signs of Christ's return. Next time, more details on a great war that will lead to the greatest war of all. This is Dave Lutzer. Running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church.