“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 rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder…” (Ezekiel 38:10-12). The Iranian president said on Friday there would be no room for Israel in the region after the formation of a Palestinian state, and that once the state is established; the liberation of all Palestinian lands should follow. He is quoted as saying to Israel, “There is no room for you in the region.” Such diatribes are nothing new from Mr. Ahmadinejad. In 2005 he stated Israel would soon be, “wiped off the map.” In 2006 he said, “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.” Interestingly enough, Ezekiel prophesied, “You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land” (Ezek. 38:9). When one considers Ezekiel’s prophecy speaks of an Iranian led, Russian equipped coalition of nations that come against Israel in the last days all of Ahmadinejad’s statements take on a whole new meaning. Add to that Iran’s feverous pursuit of nuclear weapons and the situation becomes dire, indeed—or so it would seem. But remember, appearances can be deceiving.
When considering Ezekiel’s prophecy in light of current world events there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, when it comes to predicting the future, Ezekiel bats one thousand—in other words, one hundred percent accuracy one hundred percent of the time. His prophecies concerning Israel’s return to its ancient homeland (Ezek. 36-37) have largely been fulfilled. The Palestinians are attempting to take all the land of Israel just as Ezekiel prophesied: “Because you have said, ‘these two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them’” (Ezek. 35:10). And now we see Persia—Iran of today—rising to prominence in the Middle East. Furthermore, Russia has entered into economic and military alliances with Iran and other nations mentioned in the Ezekiel 38-39 coalition. Furthermore, Ezekiel tells us Russia’s purpose for equipping and supporting this coalition—although reluctantly—will be to take spoil (Ezek. 38:12). What spoil has Israel that Russia and other nations might desire? In recent years huge natural gas fields have been discovered in Israel’s territorial waters. Furthermore, explorers suggest it’s only a matter of time before huge quantities of oil are discovered in Israel. Imagine how a massive Israeli oil discovery might upset the petroleum economies of the Middle East and the world. But that’s not all. We must also consider other biblical prophecies concerning the last days—the alignment of nations, apostasy in the church, the rise of the European super-state and Mediterranean Union, worldwide economic turmoil, preparation for the third Jewish Temple, arguments over Jerusalem, and the push for an elusive Middle East peace. To see all these things transpiring together suggests only one thing. Daniel’s Seventieth Week—also known as The Great Tribulation—is closer than most are willing to believe. And closer than that is the Rapture of the Church.
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