Ezekiel 38–39 & Revelation 6: Russia's Invasion of Israel Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, it's always good to have everyone back, and we always love to get right into the Word. I'm going to even dispense with announcements this time. We'll pick them up again next program. But I'd like to have you come back where we left off in our last program, in Ezekiel chapter 38. We'd like our television audience to feel welcome and do as we do here, follow us in all these references at all possible, because as I've said over the years, I don't want anyone to go by what I say. We merely want you to see what the book says. And the only reason I teach is to help people better understand and enjoy their Bible. We have never intended to build a group or an organization. We just like to teach the Word, and we have people taking it into their various churches and Sunday schools and taking advantage of it. And again, we want those of you who have just tuned in, we're an informal Bible class. We just simply search the Scriptures, and we are presently, of course, coming out of the book of Revelation, where we were in chapter 6 in our last program, and we're studying the aspect of the red horse. And I like to tie it in with Ezekiel 38, be right or wrong. I've come to be very comfortable now putting this great invasion of Israel in the early stages of the tribulation. Now we know the first thing, as we pointed out last week, that will happen. The Antichrist signs the seven-year treaty. Israel will suddenly just drop her guard. She will suddenly realize that her borders are guaranteed by this treaty. She's going to be almost exalting in the fact that she no longer has to be taxed to death to maintain a tremendous army and air force. And so when you come to the language then in Ezekiel 38, I think it's so apropos that under those circumstances, with an outside power now guaranteeing their sovereignty and their safety, that it becomes what Ezekiel calls a land of unwalled villages. Now you always have to put history in perspective with the present. Back in the ancients, back at the time that Ezekiel is writing in 5-600 B .C., what for any community was the first line of defense? The wall, the city wall. And so when you speak of a land with unwalled villages, what does it tell you? Here's a land with no defense. Oh, they've been guaranteed a safety by some outside political and military force, but so far as the nation themselves, they're sitting there with no real visible defense. This Northern Confederation of Nations then, which we think will be headed up by Russia, immediately take advantage of this fact. Today hardly anybody dares attack the nation of Israel because they know that they've got a fight on their hands if they do. More than likely they'll get whipped. But here they now realize that Israel is complacent. Israel has finally gotten this almost Messiah-like atmosphere that they no longer have to fear their enemies. And you remember, if we ever get around to starting our, through the Bible again, beginning in the New Testament, I'm going to point that out in Luke chapter 1, when Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, suddenly had his speech given back to him. Do you remember he'd been stricken dumb? I always tell people, now you read his little dissertation after he gets his speech back in Luke chapter 1, beginning at about, I think, verse 67 or 68, and just read that carefully. And this is exactly what Israel is looking for today, that they could be safe from their enemies. See? It's not a spiritual thing, per se, it's physical. And that they might enjoy the safety and so forth, well, that's exactly what the Antichrist is going to promise, and they're going to swallow it hook, line, and sinker. All right, so now then, this northern confederation are going to suddenly realize that here sits a people with unwalled villages, dwelling safely. And then verse 9, picking up where we left off, "...thou shalt ascend," now this is God speaking through the prophet to the, I'm going to call it the northern confederation, because it will involve more than just the Russians, "...thou shalt ascend, and come like a storm. Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land." Now I don't think that just specifically means air power, but it's just going to be such a massive invasion army. "...and thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee." In other words, it's going to be a consortium of all these nations listed up here in verse 5 and 6. Verse 10, "...thus saith the Lord God, It shall also come to pass, that at the same time things shall come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought, and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages." Israel is now sitting there in relatively safe and secure. Now is the time for a surprise attack. All of them, continuing on verse 11, "...all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates." Now I was reminded by a listener a few weeks ago that periodically through the program I've got to let people know what book I'm in, so for any late viewers, we're in Ezekiel chapter 38. And then down to verse 12, they're going to take a spoil, to take a prey, to turn thy hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited. Now you see what a perfect picture that is of Israel, which has been a no man's land for years, and now since 1948 you might say it has just blossomed into a land of production. They're building highways, they're building apartment buildings, it's almost like being in America. Their traffic patterns are much the same as any major city here, and yet you have to realize that, well again, I had a gentleman who was in my class when we were still teaching in Iowa, he's gone to be with the Lord now, but he was stationed with an American group in Palestine during World War II. And I can remember his explaining the conditions, and it was a no man's land. He said, why in the world anybody would ever want that country, he said, I could never understand. He said, there's nothing there. Well that's not the case today. It's a vibrant country, it's producing, and they're just constantly coming up in production of agriculture, technology, medical, you name it. The nation of Israel is at the forefront of all these things. Now then, continuing on in verse 12, "...to turn your hand upon desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations," see now that's where the Jews have come from remember, every nation on the globe, "...who have gotten cattle and goods, and are dwelling in the midst of the land, Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lands thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil?" Now Tarshish I think either refers to Spain or Great Britain, I would probably say Great Britain, and some of the other nations involved there in the NATO alliance, who will of course be under the rule or the control of the Antichrist at this time. And all they're going to be able to say is, what do you think you're doing? Because this has caught them so by surprise that they won't have time to retaliate militarily, and so all they do is, I suppose they'll tell the media at a press conference, well, all we can say is, what do they think they're doing? And there's nothing we can do about it. All right, let me read on, "...Are you come to take a prey? Are you invading to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods?" In other words, to take a great spoil? That's about all the Western European nations will be able to do is ask some questions. But remember, God's going to intervene in short order. Verse 14, "...Therefore," God says to the prophet, "...prophesy and say unto God, thus saith the LORD God, In that day," when they invade Israel, "...in that day, when My people of Israel dwell safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts," now that means everything from Lebanon all the way, I think, to Moscow, "...and thou shalt come against My people of Israel as a cloud to cover the land. And it shall be in the latter days," that's the second time that word has been used, and that's why I have to feel it will be in the tribulation, "...and I will bring thee against My land, that the heathen," or the Gentiles, "...may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O God." In other words, when the rest of the world will see what a sovereign God can do even to a modern military force. Drop down to verse 18, "...it shall come to pass at the same time, when God shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that My fury shall come up in My face." Now you want to remember, Russia has been anti-God for over 70 years, and God hasn't forgotten. Remember God always is just, and when He pours out His vengeance, He has a reason. And I think Russia is still going to have to answer for all the millions that the Communists put to death for their ill treatment of the Jew, and all these things. And God says, "...My fury is coming up before Me, for in My jealousy," verse 9, "...and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel," as a result of this invasion. Now I'd like to have you, just for the sake of time, drop down to verse 21, and again watch the language very carefully. God says, "...I will call for a sword against him," that is against these invaders, "...throughout all My mountains," and a lot of people don't realize that Israel is mountainous. In fact, I was reading an article the other day of someone who was speaking to one of our head government people, I think in the State Department, and they didn't know that Israel was a mountainous country. Can you believe that? Now I know our younger generation hasn't been taught geography like I was, but there are people who are seemingly in places of high authority, and they don't even know simple geography. But yes, Israel is mountainous. The very center of the country is just a string of mountains and valleys. "...I will call for a sword against him throughout all My mountains, saith the Lord God." Now here is the very series of words that I tie with Revelation chapter 6. This is my reason for bringing them. I go by that basic rule of Bible study, always go to the place of first mention. In other words, when something is mentioned back here in the Old Testament, and the same words are mentioned in the New, see if they don't tie together. Now look at the language, "...every man's sword against his brother." You see that? Now flip back real quickly, flip all the way back to those verses we just read in Revelation, and I want you to see that comparison. Now of course I don't get dogmatic. If someone says, I can't see this, that's fine, this is the way I see it, and I wouldn't teach it if I wasn't comfortable with it. But back here now in Revelation chapter 6, verse 4 again, "...power was given to him who sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they..." That is the combatants, "...should kill one another." Not the enemy, but each other. Now that's what's so unique about this great invasion of Israel. Now flip back again to Ezekiel and compare the words. The Sovereign God is going to fight this battle here on the hills of Israel, and of course it happened before, where you remember when Samaria, I think it was, had been encircled and was under siege, and they were starving to death. And then the Lord gave them a prophecy that by tomorrow night at this time you'll have more food than you know what to do with. And you know the Syrian army was suddenly put into a route because in their confusion they were killing each other? So it's happened before. Now look what Ezekiel then says again in comparison with the red horse statement in Revelation, that "...every man's sword shall be against his brother." In other words, they're going to be annihilating themselves. Verse 22, God of course is also going to come in with His own power, and He says, "...I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood. I will rain upon him and his bands and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing rain of great hailstones, fire, and brimstone." Which of course is the same language of Sodom and Gomorrah, if you remember. "...Thus will I magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." In other words, that Russian or that northern army will be defeated not only by its own confusion, but by a tremendous power of God, and it's going to be utterly destroyed on the hills and mountains of Israel. Now then, we've got to go into chapter 39, and the few moments we have left, because these two chapters tie together. "...Therefore," verse 1, "...thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee." Now that would be awful to have God just simply tell America, for example, straight out, I'm against you. I'm afraid the day is coming, but so far it hasn't happened. Now then, verse 2, He says to this invading force, "...I will turn thee back." God will. Now remember, He brought them down. This is the way God deals with nations when He judges them. He brought them into the nation of Israel. He destroyed them there, and now He says, "...I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and bring thee on the mountains of Israel." Verse 3, "...I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and cause thy arrows to fall out of thy right. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, and the people that is with thee I will give thee to the ravenous birds." Now some people think this is Armageddon, and I just cannot agree with that. This is not Armageddon. This is a separate war, a separate battle within the seven-year time frame, but it is not Armageddon. Then verse 5, "...Thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God." And then look at verse 6, underline it if you have never had it before, "...And God says, I will send a fire on Magog, and them that dwell carelessly." In other words, the homeland of Russia, as well as the homeland of all these accompanying nations that have consorted against the nation of Israel. Now the language is different than it is with the destruction of the army in Israel itself. There God is going to do it by sending pestilence, and hail, and brimstone. That's God. But here in chapter 38, verse 6, I think God is using an outside force to destroy the Russian homeland. Now I hope I have enough time left, but I'm going to speculate, and I want to make sure that people understand this is only speculation. I can't prove it from Scripture, but I can certainly, what shall I say, wet your thinking and just consider the possibilities, logically. Now I know God doesn't have to work in the terms of logic, I know that. But on the other hand, many times He does. Logically now then, I've put it before my classes over the years for a long time, and I've never had anyone ridicule the concept at all. Logically, if you were sitting in a place of authority, whether it's in the Kremlin or some other place in this northern confederation, and you were getting ready to invade the little nation of Israel, I think you would all realize there's only one nation on earth that might oppose you. And who would that be? America. We are the only friend that Israel has in the world. And I think the Russian leaders would understand that if we invade Israel, America will probably come to her defense. Now I mentioned my last program, Time Magazine just stated it again a couple weeks ago, that every missile that has ever been pointed at America before is still sitting there, still pointed to the American target. Now, speculate, project, that's all I can do. If you were the commanders, what would you do? Well, I know what I'd do. I'd say, let's unload everything we have on North America. They're the only possible enemy that we have. And that's what I think will happen. I think that the Russians will unload everything we have and will utterly knock the western hemisphere out of the rest of prophecy, because there's nothing for us in prophecy. Then, when it says that God will send a fire on the Russian homeland, we know that we have submarines all over the oceans of this world with ballistic missiles on board. And so after we have suffered that initial attack, I think our military will still have enough left over that they'll give the command to unload all our submarines in the Russian homeland, which will destroy it. Now, I say this is all speculation, and I don't say it to arouse fear or anything like that, but this is just a common sense. Because you want to remember, we're now in tribulation, and events are going to start taking place that are so beyond human understanding. And that's why I think it's logical to teach it, that when America retaliates and knocks out the whole Russian homeland, then you see between those two annihilations, North America out of the picture for the most part, the Russian homeland out of the picture. Now I want you to come back to Revelation once more, and you can even stop on the way to Revelation again at Matthew 24, because I told you that Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 are direct parallels. So you might as well stop on your way back in Matthew 24, and you come down to verse 7. Remember I stopped in the middle of verse 7 with regard to the red horse? All right, now let's go to the last part of verse 7, which will tie us to the third horse of Revelation, and that is, that after the wars and so forth, there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. Now, flip back to Revelation chapter 6, verse 5, where now John writes, "...and when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third creature say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse! And he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four creatures say, A measure of wheat for a penny, three measures of barley for a penny." And then we'll comment on that last statement if we have time later. All right, what does the black horse indicate if you're going to have to ration the food supply? Famine, see? Now, come back to my premise. If indeed the great production areas of the North American continent, I don't care whether it's the Great Grain Belt to the north, or whether it's our citrus groves and other areas that are of vast food production, California, what have you, you knock out the great food production area of Russia, the Ukraine, what does that do to the world's food supply? It almost annihilates it. And so what will the rest of the world suddenly find themselves in? No food. It's going to be so limited. And so you're going to have absolute famine. Now, the language in this verse is such that what it boils down to, a worker, the average field worker, for example, will have to work a full day from sunup to sundown just to earn enough money to buy enough bread to work the next day. Now imagine, it's going to be runaway inflation caused, of course, by a shortage of goods. You're going to have a tremendous decrease in the production of foodstuffs. And whenever you have famine and the amount of death, as we've seen in Africa and Somalia and so forth, what accompanies it? Disease. It just goes hand in glove. All right, now then, lest you think I'm stretching the point, come on down then to the fourth horse in verse 7, because these all tie together now. The fourth horse is the pale one. I guess I mentioned pale a moment ago. But the black horse spoke of famine, the drop in the food supply. Now we come as a result of that famine, as a result of that great demise of two great power structures, that now he sees this pale horse. And on him was death, and hell followed with him, and power was given over them to kill with the sword and what have you what portion of the world? One-fourth. Now whether it's one-fourth of geographical area or whether it's one-fourth of population, either one. But this is tribulation. This is just the beginning. See, now flip back quickly, if we have a minute or so, to Matthew 24 again. In fact, I guess you could almost just put a mark in it, because we'll be flipping back and forth. But now in Matthew 24, you see, after these four horsemen have made their appearance. Now remember, these are merely symbolisms. This isn't actually someone riding on a horse and announcing that the world is going to have famine or anything like that. But they are symbolic of these events that are going to come on the planet. And then Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 24, following verse 7, that there would be famine and pestilence and earthquakes in diverse places. Now look at verse 8. All these are the beginning of travail, is a better word. The King James uses sorrow. Your newer translations may have the word travail, because Jesus is speaking in terms of a delivery. Remember when we were back in chapter 5 in Revelation, I spoke of the scroll, which was a paying off of a mortgage. And it was also the delivery of the earth from the curse that was instituted back at the garden. Now this is what Jesus is referring to, that all these events that are going to come on the planet, beginning with these horsemen of Revelation. This is just the beginning. This is just like the mother about to deliver. Her birth pains at first are relatively mild, far apart. And that's what we have here. As great as we see this is going to be, yet it's mild compared to what it's going to be at the end. And so He says these things are just the beginning of travail. This is the beginning of the delivery process. Now you also have to remember, if I've got time, let's go all the way back to Jeremiah. One verse. Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30. Probably going to run out of time. Only have a few seconds left. But Jeremiah chapter 30. Drop down to verse 7. Then I'm going to ask everybody, whether you're here in the studio, or whether you're out in television, or whether you're watching a tape, or whether you're reading a book or whatever. Verse 7 of Jeremiah 30. "...alas for that day is great," that is this tribulation, "...so that none is like it. It is even the time of..." Whose trouble? Jacob's trouble. "...the nation of Israel, but he shall be saved not." So these things will have their vortex upon the nation of Israel. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.