Today the whole world is heading towards the climax of the ages when the Lord Jesus the Messiah will return to this earth in great power and splendour. We are told that every eye will see Him and that this will be an appointment that no one living in this world at the time will be able to avoid. As the apostle John writes; “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.” (Revelation 1:7) Before this event happens there are certain events to take place before He comes back. The main event that will usher in the return of the Messiah our Lord Jesus will be the end time invasion of Israel by the Islamic Antichrist and his armies. Already we see these armies being formed but as yet they have no leader but as we will see their leader will come from Turkey, not Europe.
Right now the nation of Turkey is involved in military conflicts in the Middle-East. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is working hard to resurrect the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It is clear he is positioning himself to be the supreme caliph of the Islamic world. We are told in the Book of Daniel that the Antichrist will arise out of obscurity. He is described as “the little horn that starts out small but grows in power.” In fact his empire becomes the final empire that challenges God Himself and persecutes His saints (Believers). (Daniel 7:8; 8:9-12) When one considers the rise of the man from Turkey his gradual rise is very similar to the rise of Adolph Hitler, who, like Erdoğan, had some setbacks and even did some jail time but came back with a vengeance and kick started WWIII
In Bible prophecy “horns” are kings or rulers over empires. As we will see the armies that attack Israel in these last days will be led by Turkey, not Russia. It will be a Time of Trouble for Israel unequalled in past history and never to be equalled again. (Matthew 24:21-22) Israel will be Centre stage in world affairs at this time and Michael the Archangel the great principality that protects God’s people will “go to bat” for Israel. (Daniel 12:1)
In Ezekiel Chapter 36 God speaks through His prophet reminding the people of Israel of their past sins and rebellion and exile due to their disobedience but also tells them He is going to restore them spiritually and nationally, not for their sakes, but for His own sake and for His own glory. (Ezekiel 36:22-23) God then tells them He is going to re-settle them in the Land of Israel again and prosper the nation, a prosperity that will be fully realised in the Millennial Messianic Kingdom on earth.
Then in Exekiel Chapter 37 we have Israel being regathered to the land of Israel but gathered in unbelief (Ezekiel 37:1-8) The “rattling noise” of the dry bones coming together again was heard around the world in 1948 when the nation was reborn in a day. (Isaiah 66:7-9) However, the bones had flesh and sinew on them but had no life (breath) within them. Ezekiel then goes on to prophesy that after the nation has been restored to the Land that in the Land they will be spiritually revived. (Ezekiel 37:9-14) This will happen when the Messiah returns again. (Zechariah 12:10-14) It will be a surviving remnant that will be saved but as through fire. (Zechariah 13:8-9) After the nation has been restored under the reign of the Messiah there will no longer be a division between the Northern kingdom of Samaria and the Southern Kingdom of Judah but they shall be one nation under His rule. (Ezekiel 37:15-27)
In the light of the rise of Turkey and Iran and other fundamentalist Islamic nations that are forming we now come to Ezekiel Chapters 38-39 where we have an account of the final assault on Israel and Jerusalem by the armies of the Antichrist being the little horn with his beast empire which will be terminated by God at the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. We also find in Ezekiel chapter 39 what will happen in the aftermath of the battle to end all battles. This Time of Trouble for Jacob (Israel) God will use to purify His people both the Jews and believing Gentiles (the faithful Church) who, by extension and inclusion, are part of the Commonwealth of Israel and co-heirs with Israel as inheritors of the promises made to Abraham, the father of faith and of all who believe. (Romans 4:11, 16, 22-24) (Ephesians 2:11-22) So then with these things in view let’s now begin with Ezekiel Chapter 38…
Ezekiel Chapter 38
(Vs.1) “And the word of the LORD came to me saying,”
This is the Word of God Himself (John 1:1) who came to the prophet personally and revealed to Ezekiel’s mind and heart what was to happen at the end of this present age when God’s people would be attacked one last time by the armies of Gog the Antichrist. Today as we review events in the Middle East we can see this coalition of nations forming that will attack Israel and that they are for the most part Islamic nations and are specifically named by the prophet Ezekiel.
(Vs.2-3) “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.”
If you look at ancient maps of the Middle-East you will see that Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal are all located in modern day Turkey, not in Russia. Ancient Assyrian writings, places the location of Magog in the land mass between Ancient Armenia and Media. The republics south of Russia and north of Israel comprised of Azerbajian, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Chechnya, Turkey, Iran and Dagestan. These regions today are all Muslim nations. Now we are told that Gog is the chief prince over Rosh, Meshech and Tubal located in modern day Turkey. Today we see the man from Turkey essentially calling for a Jihad, spurred on by his commitment to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and to the resurrection of the Turkish Ottoman Empire with a restored caliphate.
We always need to keep in mind in relation to Bible Prophecy that the whole Bible itself is a Middle-Eastern book and Bible prophecy itself is centred in the Middle-East and not in Europe or the west for that matter. Virtually all of the nations mentioned in the Bible related to prophecy are all Islamic today. It is not Europe rising in power but Islam and it will be Islam that will challenge and shake the very foundations of Europe. Already through Islamic migration and refuges from Muslim countries Islam has already established “a Trojan Horse” within the very gates of the European continent. These Jihad minded Muslims, who are already ensconced in ‘the Belly of the wooden horse’ of Europe, will be the ones that will open the gates as it were for the armies of Islam to assault Europe and the western democracies. Right now there are Muslims rioting in Europe.
It is clear that Gog’s hordes are already wreaking havoc on a global scale as we see fundamentalist Islamic terrorism escalating in the western democracies and in other countries but Gog’s army will ultimately gang up on God Himself at Jerusalem and so God will have the final say and destroy this insurrection in this war to end all wars. God Himself says what He will do with this invading Islamic army and other nations aligned with it that attack Israel. Gog himself is the Islamic Antichrist. And so we see that God Himself has set His face against Gog. This final battle will be a ‘face off’ between God and Satan and will see this war fought on earth between the Messiah and the Antichrist.
(Vs.4) “I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords;”
God Himself will draw these armies into the fiery cauldron of His wrath because they have defied Him and persecuted His people. We find throughout the Old Testament that when God’s people turned away from Him that He raised up foreign armies to judge the Israelites. We see this in 722BC with the Assyrians conquering the Northern Kingdom of Samaria. Then we see the same thing happening in 586BC with the Babylonians sacking Jerusalem and conquering the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Then in 70AD we see the same thing happening at the hands of the Romans. Even in the Book of judges we see that God raised up Israel’s hostile neighbours against them when they turned away from Him. Having said this we also know that once God has used these foreign armies and enemies for His purposes He then got rid of them. When His people cried out to Him in their extremity He raised up deliverers for them. We see this amply illustrated in the Book of Judges. At the end of this present age when it looks like Israel is finished, God will send the Messiah our Lord Jesus back to earth to deal with these armies once and for all.
Now this army Ezekiel describes is a vast army and the prophet Joel describes them as like a plague of locusts that cover the land of Israel. (Joel 1:4-7) These ‘locusts’ strip everything bare. Israel as a nation will be nationally ravaged by this army that God has sent against them, not to destroy them, but to bring them as a nation back to Himself and to their Messiah. God calls this army “My army” (Joel 2:11) We are also told that once God’s people have repented that God will drive this northern army far from His people, pushing it into a parched and barren land with its front columns going into the Eastern (Dead) Sea and those in the rear into the western (Mediterranean) Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.” (Joel 2:20)
Now Ezekiel describes this army as being made up of horses and horsemen, splendidly attired, a great company of warriors with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. If we look at this description in isolation from any other Biblical texts related to it we can see that it is clearly speaking about literal horses and riders with shield and buckler and swords. However, the same army described by John in the Book of revelation has a striking resemblance to 21st Century armoured vehicles and gunships that have awesome fire power and by which a third of mankind is killed. It is an Islamic army that comes across the dried up River Euphrates. These are the kings of the east. (Revelation 9: 13-19; 16:12-14) When we put together the descriptions of this army by Ezekiel and John related to the last days it is a modern day army. For the invading army to be using literal horses shields and swords would mean that somehow technology had been disabled and conventional weapons being the means of waging war would be in effect. We know that an EMP (Electro- Magnetic Pulse) bomb would disable microchip technology in combat vessels, naval vessels, armoured vehicles and weapons. The essential fact is that there will be an Islamic army that will attack Israel in the last days and it will be devastating to say the least. However, this army will be drawn into the winepress of God’s wrath. (Joel 3:1-3, 12-13) (Isaiah 63:2-3) (Revelation 14:17-20) (Revelation 19:15) Now let’s continue…
(Vs.5 -6) “Persia, Cush and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops -many peoples with you.”
Now other nations are mentioned by name and today they are all Islamic. Persia today is Iran, Cush is Ethiopia but some say it was a region associated with Egypt and a border nation to it. (Ezekiel 29:9-10) More likely this geographical region also includes Sudan. Put is Libya today but may include Algeria, Morocco and Tunis. Then you have Gomer being well known to the ancient world as Gimarrai of north central Asia Minor (Cappadocia). These people were also known as the Cimmerians. So then Gomer is Cimmeria or Cappadocia which is located in Central Turkey today. Then you have Beth-togarmah being the south-eastern part of Turkey. In the final analysis five of the eight nations mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 38 occupy modern Turkey and possibly includes some of the southern Russian regions near the Caucasus Mountains as well as some of the Turkic speaking nations of Central Asia. The other three nations mentioned: Libya, Sudan and Iran, together with Turkey form a perfect circle around Israel. Turkey covers Israel’s entire northern horizon, while Iran is east of Israel, Sudan is south of Israel and Libya lies to the west of Israel. Israel is surrounded on all four sides by the Islamic nations of the Antichrist’s empire. But let’s continue…
(Vs.7-9) “Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. “After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. “You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.”
When you look at Israel today the Jewish people are back in their land but Israel is far from living securely. There is no doubt that Israel has prospered and is a major leader in the areas of technology, medicine and scientific achievements. There is no doubt they have turned the desert wasteland into a fertile land which provides a generous crop of food for the people of Israel as well as exports to other nations. They have been a blessing to the nations and God has had His hand upon Israel since 1948 when Israel became a nation again after almost 2,000 years, and then the miraculous victory of 1967 which saw Israel retake the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Once again in the Yom-Kipper War of 1973 Israel defeated a huge army that had attacked the nation. A time will come when Israel will, to a great degree, come into a time of peace with their Arab neighbours.
The peace accord brokered by President Trump between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and now with Sudan has started to bring about a historic situation where Arabs and Jews unite. When the deal was done Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump when they were still in office were hopeful that other Arab nations would join the peace accord. It seemed that most of the moderate Arab states in the Saudi Arabian Peninsula wanted to have Israel as an ally because of the spectre of Turkey and Iran and the other fundamentalist Islamic nations that hate Israel and any nations that side with them even if they are Muslim nations. It may well be that there will be a major middle-east peace agreement between most of the moderate Islamic Arab nations with Israel at least for a time. However, it will be a false peace that will not last. Isaiah calls it “a covenant of death” or “a pact with Sheol” being the realm of the dead where disembodied spirits live. Israel will come to a place of security of sorts but it will not last.
Isaiah writes; “Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place. See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone; a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through. The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.” (Isaiah 28:14-19)
The only two covenants that count with God are the ones cut with Abraham concerning the land of Israel and confirmed by Moses in the Torah. The other covenant cut was with the Lord Jesus concerning the salvation of Israel, a blood covenant cut with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. (Jeremiah 31:31-32) The Lord Jesus is the cornerstone of salvation for Israel and by extension and inclusion the faithful Church and for the whole world. Any covenant Israel cuts with pagan nations will bring with it God’s judgement. As God Himself has said; ““Woe to the rebellious children, declares the LORD, to those who carry out a plan, but not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.” (Isaiah 30:1) In the last days God Himself will summon the Islamic Antichrist and his armies to invade Israel suddenly and without warning. This is Joel’s army. This army in Joel Chapter two is not the Church taking kingdom dominion over the nations as some are teaching today but is in reality the armies of Gog the Antichrist whom God drives into the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea resulting in a stench or smell that will rise up even into the heavens. (Joel 2:20)
(Vs.10-12) “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 spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the centre of the world.”
This so called ‘peaceful state’ will not last for Israel. A time will come when it looks like Israel finally has peace with its immediate Islamic neighbours and its enemies seemingly inactive but it will not last because Israel as a nation will still be alienated from their own covenants of promise and especially estranged from the Messiah our Lord Jesus. At present Israel is not a land of unwalled villages, a people at rest and living securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars and gates. When this changes for Israel the Antichrist will devise an evil plan to attack Israel when they least expect it. One thing is clear that the man from Turkey wants Jerusalem for Islam. It is a political agenda as Muslims do not seem really to care about Jerusalem. In fact when Muslims pray they bow towards Mecca with their backsides facing the Temple Mount. If Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can gain control of the Temple Mount he most likely would be hailed as the Mahdi of Islam and the leader of the whole Islamic world. Fundamentalist Jihad minded Muslims would flock to his war banner.
Historically, Jerusalem was the main focal point of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in its heyday. Jerusalem was the focal point of the crusades. Also we notice that Ezekiel speaks about the people of Israel who live at the centre of the world. In other words Israel possibly will be the most prominent and prosperous country in the world when the invasion happens. Ezekiel tells us that the Lord has set Jerusalem in the centre of the nations, with countries all around. (Ezekiel 5:5) Now let’s read on…
(Vs.13) “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?’ “‘
At present the moderate Arab states by and large have been Israel’s allies. Already we saw the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan enter into the peace accord with Israel and there was the possibility that other Arab nations states might join them. The Saudis are yet to join but seemed to be favourable at the time when the Accord was established towards joining the peace accord. Now with Biden at the helm in America the whole Islamic world in reality are “laughing up their sleeves.” However, will these Arab nations support Israel when it is attacked? According to Ezekiel they will be bystanders when the invasion occurs. Sheba and Dedan in Bible times were located in modern day Saudi Arabia. Tarshish most likely was located on the coast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea (scholars do vary on its exact location). “The villages” may refer to the other towns or cities located in Spain, a country which is part of the European Union today. Possibly there will be European nations that will also be bystanders and watch the invasion of Israel from the sidelines. At the end Israel will be left alone and it is them they will turn back to the Lord. Israel will be invaded. Also it is clear that plunder is also one of the reasons for the invasion even though from God’s perspective He has engineered this situation to bring Israel back to Himself and to display His glory to the nations. (Vs.16, 23) See also (Joel 3:2) (Zechariah 14:2)
(Vs.14-16) “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it? “You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples 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 shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.”
The invasion of Israel will come from the remote parts of the North. This will be the invasion of Israel by the last King of the North. (Daniel 11:40-41) As we have seen five of the eight nations mentioned that attack Israel are all located in modern day Turkey. From the geographical perspective if you draw a line true north from Jerusalem it dissects with Ankara, not Moscow. This army from the north will cover the land of Israel like a cloud. No army in the past will be like this army. (Joel 1:2) The prophet Joel describes this army as locusts. In a locust plague the insects strip everything from the trees and grass and leave the land totally desolate and wasted. Such will be the devastation of Israel by the armies of the Antichrist. Locusts even strip the bark off of the trees. The tree bark carries the sap that sustains the life of the tree. If the bark is stripped then there is no source of nourishment for the tree and it will start to wither and eventually die. Israel will be stripped of everything they have held onto for their security and their only way out will be to turn back to the Lord and to the Messiah who has atoned for their sins.
It will take this end-time invasion of Israel to bring about Israel’s spiritual and ultimate and complete national restoration. Israel’s national restoration is yet partial as they do not have all of the land promised to them. In the Millennial Messianic kingdom they will “possess their possession” from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River. Israel will be for the Jews “an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 15:17-21; 17:7-8) God is going to show the nations His splendour and supreme power and this He will do through defeating and destroying Gog the Antichrist and his armies.
(Vs.17-18) “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? “It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord GOD, “that My fury will mount up in My anger.
God will allow the invasion of Israel, and the ransack of the city and the rape of women and the captivity of Jerusalem with half of the city’s population going into exile while the other half remain in the city. (Zechariah 14:1-2) However after three and a half years by the Jewish calendar the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as He fights in the day of battle. His anger will be unabated against those who have dared to touch “the apple of His Eye.” (Zechariah 2:8) Jews will also fight at Jerusalem alongside their commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus. (Zechariah 14:3, 14) (Zechariah 12:6-9) It is at this time that Israel will have been spiritually renewed. (Zechariah 12:10-14) The Messiah will be back on earth and woe betide the nations that have attacked Israel and by extension and inclusion the faithful Body of the Messiah (the faithful Church) These armies of the Antichrist Gog will come to a fiery end on the mountains of Israel. (Ezekiel 39:6) And so we continue…
(Vs.19-20) “In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely * be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, 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 also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.”
When the Lord Jesus comes back to judge the nations of the world there will be a huge earthquake in Israel that will affect all of the nations of the world. It will be the earthquake to end all earthquakes! Everything and every structure that God has not established will be thrown down. It will affect the constellations in the heavens and the sky itself will be rolled back like a scroll to reveal the Messiah our Lord Jesus coming in the clouds in great power and glory. At the very site of this the unsaved people of the world will tremble at His appearing and people from every walk of life will try to hide from His presence. It will be the day of God’s wrath! (Isaiah 24:1-3) (Revelation 6:12-17) Also at this time when the Messiah’s feet touch on the Mount of Olives the mountain will be split from east to west forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. This valley will be a refuge for the surviving remnant in Israel. (Zechariah 14:3-5) As King Solomon wrote; “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10) Today there is a fault line in the Mount of Olives that runs from the east to the west. This shaking will affect the nations of the world and announce to the world that the Lord Jesus has come back. After this the Lord Jesus will reign in his Messianic glory and splendour for all to see. (Isaiah 24:1-3, 17-23) And so God’s challenge is further levelled at Gog the Antichrist.
(Vs.21-22) “I will call for a sword against him on all My Mountains,” declares the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. “With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.”
Now notice that God calls Israel’s mountains “My Mountains” because God owns everything on earth. (Psalm 24:1-2) (Psalm 50:12) (Acts 17:25) This fiery judgement from heaven will see the Gog the Antichrist and his armies swept away in the flames of God’s fury. The apostle Paul describes it in this way when he wrote; “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9) And again Paul writes concerning the destruction of the Antichrist; “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendour of His coming.”(2 Thessalonians 2:8)
Pestilence will strike these armies and in the winepress of God’s wrath their blood will flow for around 180 miles as high as a horse’s bridle. (Revelation 14:20) We are told that the Messiah’s robes will be splattered with the blood of His enemies when they go into the winepress of God’s wrath in wholesale lots. (Isaiah 63:1-3) (Revelation 19:13, 15) The nations whose armies go down into the pit of Hades are named and they are all Islamic nations today. (Ezekiel 32:17-32) God will cleanse the land of Israel from of all defilement. This cleansing actually will take seven months to complete after the Messiah has come back. (Ezekiel 39:12-14)
Now the effect of this judgement on the armies of the Antichrist will be such that their soldiers will turn on each other. There will be no place to hide from the sword of the Lord for the armies of the Antichrist. In Chapter 39 we will see this judgement on Israel’s enemies described in more detail including what happens in the aftermath of the final battle. And so we see the purpose of this end time invasion of Israel and their deliverance as a nation. And so God Himself says…
(Vs.23) “I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD.”‘
God Himself said through the prophet Isaiah; “I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8) It is going to take the wrath of God shed upon all of the armies of the nations gathered against Jerusalem to reveal His absolute sovereignty over everything He has created and that for His glory alone. God created a special people in the earth, being Israel and by extension and inclusion into the Commonwealth of Israel, the faithful Church, to be the reflectors of His glory, holiness and righteousness. God will be glorified in His holy people when the Lord Jesus comes back. (2 Thessalonians 1:10) We know that the Antichrist is coming and that he will oppose God and His saints. The Antichrist will bring with him a devastation of this planet unprecedented in past history and never to be repeated again. It will last for three and a half years and then God will cut those days short for the sake of His elect people and for the survival of the world. (Matthew 24:21-22) It will be the Time of Jacob’s Trouble also called the Time of Great Tribulation and Israel will be centre stage. It will be a time of trouble for the world, for the Church and for Israel but God’s people will be saved out of it even though they have gone into this time of the Great Trouble. After the dust of battle has settled over the land and all opposition has been crushed and annihilated by the rider on the White Horse accompanied by the armies of heaven, The Messiah our Lord Jesus will reign from Jerusalem and His reign (rest) will be glorious to behold. (Jeremiah 30:1-10) (Isaiah 11:10)
