The Last Years

Ezekiel 38:7–8 (HCSB)

“Be prepared and get yourself ready, you and all your company who have been mobilized around you; you will be their guard. After a long time you will be summoned. In the last years you will enter a land that has been restored from war and regathered from many peoples to the mountains of Israel, which had long been a ruin. They were brought out from the peoples, and all of them ‹now› live securely.”

I am not a Hal Lindsey fan. Don’t know why… just not. But something I was reading this morning makes me wonder….

Ezekiel 38 and 39 describes a decisive battle that will take place in the land of Israel in the “last years” (38:8) [also “last days” (38:16)]. Who is this invader? Gog. Who is “Gog”? a descendent of Noah:

Genesis 10:1–2 (HCSB)

These are the family records of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the deluge.

Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Is it possible that Gog could be Russia? Consider this: there are 30 million Muslims in Russia. There are 2 ½ million Muslims in Moscow, more than any other European city. Islam is dramatically increasing in Russia—as it is all across Europe. Experts predict that by 2050 Muslims will account for more than half of Russia’s population. According to Paul Goble, of the University of Tartu: “Russia is going through a religious transformation that will be of greater consequence for the international community than the collapse of the Soviet Union” (San Francisco Chronicle, November 19, 2006). We all know how the Muslims feel about Israel.

Does this mean that Russia is Gog? Pinpoint accuracy may not be possible. But this much we know, God says the invaders will come from the “remotest parts of the north” (38:15 and 39:2). Look at a map: Russia and the former Soviet block is "a way up there" north of Israel.

What could be the reason for such an invasion? Two things: religion and oil. No one talks about oil in Israel, but there is speculation (and I think it is more than speculation) they sit directly above the richest oil deposits in the world. Russia is not green. Tyrannies care nothing about the environment. They need oil to survive. Remember, it was Japan’s dependence on oil that motivated their invasions and the start of World War II. The only way Russia can ever regain superpower status is to find massive deposits of oil. Israel has it, and there would be no love lost between Muslim controlled Russia and Israel. By the way, by 2015 Muslims will make up the majority of Russia’s military. What’s today’s date?

All this will happen in the last years. We’re there. I’d make two appeals to you. First, if we are living in the last years we need to stop focusing on the future and focus on the now. Pursuing earthly prizes are futile if we won’t be here long enough to use them.

Second, I am convinced the Gospel will be preached to the ends of the earth before the end will come. If the end is near then we need a sense of urgency greater than anything in the history of Christianity. We must—simply must—begin to make every effort to preach the Gospel to every creature—now!