Russia in the Latter Days

Basis: Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39

The Prophet Ezekiel speaks of a nation…
–“from the remotest parts of the north.”  (38:6)     “…come from your place out of the remotest parts of the north.” (Ezekiel 38:15) What nation would that be?

THAT WOULD BE RUSSIA!

RUSSIA’S PURPOSE: “…to seize spoil and carry off plunder…

ANOTHER RUSSIAN PURPOSE: “…to assail inhabited places…and [to assail] the people who were gathered from the nations who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center (navel) of the earth.” (38:12)

What people have been gathered from the nations?

THAT WOULD BE ISRAEL!

When is this to happen?  “After many days…” (38:8); “In the latter years.” (38:8)

Where is this to happen?: Israel: “A land restored from war, a land where people were gathered from many nations, which had long lain waste.” (38:8a) REPEAT: “Its people were brought out from the nations and now are living in safety.” (38:8b) “…who live at the center (navel) of the earth.” (38:12)

THAT WOULD BE ISRAEL!

“You [meaning the nation from the remotest parts of the north] will devise an evil scheme.” (38:10) 

THAT WOULD BE RUSSIA!

People with them: “Many peoples are with you.” (38:6c) “In the latter days, I will bring you [Russia] against my land,” says the Lord God. (38:16) Yes, it is the Lord God’s land given to the Jewish People as part of His covenant with them.

And yes, God at times uses a relatively godless nation to serve His purposes. He will get the glory through His defense of His Chosen People in His/their land.

QUESTION: Is Russia really a relatively godless nation?

ANSWER: Some facts about that question–
Anne Garrels in Putin Country. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2016 speaks of one Russian woman who honestly confessed that “there is a war against us, not with weapons, but a kind of spiritual war from the outside perhaps because we are so vulnerable, but we are guilty too because we give in to the worst influences—to moral degradation.”

All during the Communist reign, atheism was the official belief, taught and enforced by the government.

Today, the Russian Orthodox Church is closely allied with the corrupt and all-powerful government. When Putin successfully ran for a third term, Orthodox Patriarch Kirill described his victory as “a miracle of God.” Garrells cites polls showing that about two-thirds of ethnic Russians now say they are Orthodox, though many of these same people also testify that they don’t really believe in God. (p. 122) This is a people who are unwilling to acknowledge God and to recognize evil even when it strikes them in the face.

QUESTION: Where faith in God is absent, how much respect for law and for one’s neighbor would be present? You can answer that.

REMEMBER: Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union “the Evil Empire.”

REMEMBER BACK FURTHER: The Soviet Union has a long history of repression. Tens of millions of Russians were imprisoned, exiled or murdered by Joseph Stalin and his henchmen. Many who disappeared were thrust into the gulag—the forced labor camp system begun by Lenin and not closed until the 1950’s. They labored under the threat of execution or starvation in frigid climates. There were hundreds of these camps with 2,000 to 10,000 prisoners in each one.

This Russian Orthodox Church finds it difficult to criticize Josef Stalin; it chooses to dwell on what they call his positive achievements.

REMEMBER BACK EVEN FURTHER: The pogroms. This word “pogrom” literally means “to wreak havoc.” These occurred in Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries.  Settlements of Jews were attacked by gangs of Russians, with looting, gang rapes of the Jewish women, the destruction of homes, killing the residents and pillaging the stores owned by Jews. All this was done by gangs of hundreds or thousands of Russians. Sometimes it was done with the government’s blessing and others by local men who were never held accountable by that government.

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Russia, this nation, predominately godless and in great part immoral, has recently moved into Syria, making it more difficult for the U. S. and Israel to establish peace and order in the Middle East.

Russia has threatened to jam the satellite navigation, airborne radar and communications systems of combat aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean with their most advanced anti-aircraft missiles.

Russia is thus working to gain a strategic advantage over NATO through its new capabilities.

The European countries have always been fearful about Russia moving into the Middle East. And now,
Russia is moving in with the intent to remain, right on Israel’s border. Yes, on the border of Israel!

It looks like Ezekiel’s prophecy is onto something.

Netanyahu….Beware of Russia.

To all people of Christian faith: Consider Ezekiel’s statement that such a development will occur in “the latter days.”

QUESTION: Why then is God sending Russia down to invade the land of His Chosen People Israel?

ANSWER: To get glory for Himself, vindicate His Chosen People and punish the nation that has persecuted them from time immemorial.

SCRIPTURAL ANSWER:
“In the latter days I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I display my holiness before their eyes.” (38:16”

​NOTE: I did not use the names Gog and Magog, on which there is a difference of opinion about the identification of the name and location, since I’m keeping these blogs limited to a certain length. There is a difference of opinion on their identification.