The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Sermons From the Holy Land: The Nine Wars of the End Times (Part 1 of 4)


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I have been to Israel 45 times, and every time my spiritual life has been enriched. I recently took a video cameraman with me and had him shoot on the fly as I led a pilgrimage group through the land. We began in Tel Aviv, and went from there to Tiberias in the north, and then back to Jerusalem.

I’ll continue to share some of the sermons I presented from that trip with you. As I do so, I think you’ll come to understand why a person once wrote, “A pilgrimage to the Holy Land converts the Bible from black and white into Technicolor.”

My fifth message was presented at the ancient fortress of Megiddo that overlooks the Valley of Armageddon. There we will survey the nine prophetic wars of the end times.

The Only War They Know

Most people have heard of only one war of the end times, what is normally referred to as the Battle of Armageddon. But, the Bible speaks of nine end time wars. I want to talk to you about the final battles of the end times.

Every time a war breaks out over in Israel, without exception Lamb & Lion Ministries gets calls and email messages all asking, “Is this the Battle of Armageddon?” The reason for that is because most people are only familiar with one battle of the end times, and that’s the Battle of Armageddon. So, every time a war breaks out, people want to know, “Is this the Battle of Armageddon?”

Most people know the name Armageddon, even people in the secular world. We’ve had movies named Armageddon. Secular writers talk about how we are in the time of Armageddon, and on and on it goes.

What I want to point out to you is that I believe that Bible prophecy mentions nine wars in the end times, and only one of them is the Battle of Armageddon. As you’re going to find out, the Battle of Armageddon is really no battle at all.

Let’s take a look for a moment at what those wars are that are prophesied to happen in the end times.

The First War of Gog & Magog — Ezekiel 38 and 39

The end time war that most people talk about is found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 — the War of Gog and Magog. There’s a man who has written a lot recently about this. His name is Joel Rosenberg. He’s a very fine writer and a great fiction writer. He is also a student of Bible prophecy and truly loves the subject. I’ve been with him on several podiums which we’ve shared at conferences. I’ve got to know him well, and he’s really a great guy.

Joel Rosenberg is the one who has really popularized the idea that the next major prophetic war will be Ezekiel 38 and 39. But, I think he’s wrong about that, because Ezekiel 38 and 39 says that it will occur at a time when Israel is living in peace and without walls. In truth, Israel is not living in peace today. It’s certainly is not living without walls. It has a wall that runs the entire length of the country. By the time it does all it zigzags, the wall runs 400 miles long. In some places it’s more of a scientific wall, in the sense a technological wall, because if you cross it sets off all kinds of alarms. In other places it’s a big tall wall. The wall’s been necessary to stop terrorists from coming into Israel. It’s been extremely effective in stopping them. And so, Israel is not living in peace right now.

Another thing that is interesting about the Ezekiel 38 and 39 War is it says that it’s going to be an invasion led by Russia with certain specified allies. All the allies are specified, and all of them are Muslim states today. The thing that is most interesting is not one single nation that’s mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39 has a common border with Israel. So, it begs the question, “Why is it that none of the states that have a common border with Israel are mentioned?”

The War of Extermination — Psalm 83

The person who has come up with an answer for that question in recent years is a man named Bill Salus, who is a good, personal friend of mine. Bill wrote a book called Isralestine. In his book he states that the first war of the end times in Bible prophecy is the War of Psalm 83.

If you read that Psalm, and it’s a short psalm, it talks about the fact that all the Arab states in the end times will get together and say, “Now is the time for us to annihilate the State of Israel.” So, we call it the Psalm 83 War of Annihilation.

An interesting fact about Psalm 83 is that it names the nations that are going to come against Israel, and every nation it names is one that has a common boundary with Israel today. Those names are Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. They are the ones that come against Israel to annihilate it, as Psalm 83 foretells. I think the Psalm 83 War is going to be the next great war in the Middle East.

Something interesting about Psalm 83 is that it doesn’t tell who wins the war, but we know who wins it, because Zechariah 12 says in the end times one of the miracles that God is going to perform is that Israel will have one of the greatest military forces in the world. As you know, Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world, but it is always ranked in the top four in terms of military power. Many rank it number one in the effective use of its power.

I think that probably the first war of the end times in prophecy is going to be the Psalm 83 War. That’s when the nations that have a common boundary with Israel will come against and try to destroy Israel. I also think that is most likely when Damascus will be destroyed, because two times in the Old Testament we are told that Damascus will cease to exist in the end times.

The Syrians have highly sophisticated missiles. They could put a missile right down the smokestack of any building in Tel Aviv if they wanted to, and they are only shooting them 125 miles, not thousands of miles. Syria also has all kinds of chemical weapons. If they were to attack Tel Aviv with chemical weapons, probably the only way the Israelis would be able to defend themselves is to use one of their tactical nuclear weapons to blow up the city of Damascus. So, it could very well be that that very first war of the end times is the one in which Damascus will cease to exist.

The Psalm 83 War is a war between Israel and all the inner circle of Muslim States that have a common boundary with Israel. I think that’s going to be the first war.

That makes the second war of the end times the one described in Ezekiel 38 and 39, when Russia comes down with certain specified Muslim allies. Those countries form an outer ring. None of them have a single common border with Israel.

I think what will happen is in the first war Israel will conquer all the states around it and will finally have peace. At that point the Muslim world will turn to its natural ally, Russia. The Russians will come smiling from ear to ear because they’ve always wanted to dominate the Middle East. What they really want is not so much the annihilation of Israel as much as they want access to all the Arab oil fields.

The Arabs will invite the Russians in, and surely they’ll come. But, the great horde of invaders will all be destroyed supernaturally upon the hills of Israel. They won’t be destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces like in the first war of Psalm 83. This time God will personally provide the victory, and He’ll do it in such a way that even the people of Israel will realize that God did it.

The result of God’s victory is that many of the Jewish people will begin to believe. I also think that includes many of our tour guides who have heads full of Scripture, but hearts that are cold to the Gospel, they will suddenly see God intervene and deliver the nation of Israel. Boom! They’re eyes will be opened.

To summarize, the first prophetic end times war is going to be the Psalm 83 War and the next one will be the Ezekiel 38 and 39 War, but we don’t know when these are going to occur. There’s lots of debate among prophecy scholars as to when they will occur. Some think it’s going to occur in the middle of the Tribulation, while some at the beginning of the Tribulation. Some think it will start before the Tribulation.

I tend to think these two wars are going to start before the Tribulation, because Ezekiel talks about the fact that when the Gog-Magog War is over, the Israelis are going to spend seven years cleaning up the battle field. We know that in the middle of the Tribulation the Antichrist is going to run the Jews out of the country. They are not going to be there to clean up the battle field after that. That’s why I think most likely the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will start 3.5 years before the Tribulation begins. Israel therefore will finish cleaning up the battlefields in the middle of the Tribulation.

In the second part of this sermon from the Holy Land presented at the ancient fortress of Megiddo that overlooks the Valley of Armageddon, we’ll survey the third and fourth of the nine prophetic wars of the end times.

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

9 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • Article: "There's lots of debate among prophecy scholars as to when they will occur."

    Actually, I would say it is more accurate to say there's lots of debate as to IF Psalm 83 is a separate event or a part of Ezekiel 38 and 39.

    I think they are part of the same "war". You could call Psalm 83 as more of a battle of Ezekiel 38 and 39. I don't see the Russians and it's minions sitting around for any length of time after an Israeli rout of their Arab allies. The Russians et al will jump in very, very soon afterwards.

  • Can anyone tell me why none of the wars Israel has fought ever figure into the equation.

    For instance the Six-Day War (June 1967) was – Fought between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The nations of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, and others also contributed troops and arms to the Arab forces. Following the war, the territory held by Israel expanded significantly ("The Purple Line") : The West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan, Golan Heights from Syria, Sinai and Gaza from Egypt.

    And the Yom Kippur War (October 1973) was – Fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973 by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel as a way of recapturing part of the territories which they lost to the Israelis back in the Six-Day War. The war began with a surprise joint attack by Egypt and Syria on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Egypt and Syria crossed the cease-fire lines in the Sinai and Golan Heights, respectively. Eventually Arab forces were defeated by Israel and there were no significant territorial changes.

  • There is no basis to say that Egypt is included in Psalm 83. The term "Hagrites" refers to a tribe that lived in northern Jordan. If you say that hagar was from Egypt, then you have to explain why you interpret Edom through her descendants and Hagrites through her ancestors. You cannot have it both ways.

  • My personal understanding is that Psalm 83 has been fulfilled either in the 1948-1949 war or the 1967 war.What I see that will soon take place is the rise of the beast of Revelation 13:1-3.The beast looks like a leopard,has the mouth of a lion and the feet is like that of a Bear showing us that the countries that will form this beast are countries geographically located in the ancient Babylonian,Medo-Persian and the Grecian empires.These countries are the modern Syria,Turkey,Lebanon,Irag,Iran,Pakistan,Afghanistan and some North Africa countries.These countries will form the revived Islamic Caliphate.They will be ten in number.We will soon witness the formation.After the formation,then the Antichrist will emerge and CONFIRM the covenant with many for 7 years.In the midst of this 7 year,he will break the covenant and invade Jerusalem.The battle of Armageddon will take place after the 7 year period.Jesus will set up his kingdom on earth for 1000 years and then Satan will be bound also for 1000 years.It is after this 1000 years that the wars of Ezekiel 38 and 39 takes place.So we can say that the next major war that will take place will be the THIRD WORLD WAR that will be started by the Antichrist after the rapture which is right in the middle of the 7 year covenant.

  • The Second Coming and the so-called Rapture are bound together, yes two things but surely found together in the Scripture revelation! (2 Thess. 2: 1)

  • Shalom Dr….don’t you think that war with the neighbors…Psalm 83 has already happened in the Yom Kippur war. Seems to me all nations it mentions already rose up against. And Lost. And we are in relative “Peace” here. People go about working and living as if in peace… just a thought.

  • Scripture states in 1 Thes. 2 & 4 that Christ comes IN THE AIR at the Rapture when the dead in Christ immediately followed by Christians still living will meet Christ in the AIR. At the second coming to the earth Scripture states that Christ and His armies descend to the Mt. of Olives at the battle of Armageddon. I believe these two comings are 7 years apart, and that the Church is taken out of the world prior to the start of the Tribulation period. One of MANY reasons is that there is no more mention of the Church in the book of Revelation after chapters 1 & 2 prior to Christ beginning judgment on the earth by opening the seals, trumpets and bowls. It is again mentioned in the last chapter praying for the soon return of Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I do realize that teachers differ on when the Rapture takes place: Prior to the Trib., At mid-Trib., and at the end of the Trib.

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