The prophesied end-time state of the nations — or what we call the Sign of World Politics — is coming into alignment. In Part 1, we looked at what the Bible prophesies concerning the European Union. Next we will look at what the Bible prophesies concerning Russia and the United States.
02. Russia will re-emerge as a major threat
In the 2012 Presidential campaign, Republican Mitt Romney asserted that in spite of the subsided Cold War, Russia was a rising threat to America and the world. President Barak Obama scoffed at him, responding, “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War has been over for 20 years.” Just four years later, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would claim that Donald Trump was colluding with America’s most formidable foe: Russia.
Clearly, rumors of the Russian Bear’s demise were premature.
Of late, Russia has again been denounced as a pariah state led by an unmitigated despot. The scorn heaped on Russia is greater than anything Ronald Reagan voiced — and he is the one that labeled the Soviet Union an “evil empire.”
Students of Bible prophecy knew in the early 1990s that declarations of Russia’s pacification were premature. While it was nice to hope that American and Soviet militaries were reducing their hair-trigger nuclear forces, the perestroika and glasnost (Russian for reform and openness) that broke out was short-lived.
Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 describe an end-time configuration of nations that participate in what he calls the “Gog-Magog War.” Gog is the name or title of a leader from a nation located “in the remotest parts of the north” named Rosh. That nation was populated by ancient Scythians and is known today as Russia.
Ezekiel 38:12 describes the motive that will compel Gog: he will come down from Russia leading a coalition of nations to plunder Israel’s wealth. This axis of evil will include Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, Put, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah (Ezekiel 38:3-6). The modern nations that comprise the ancient territory of Magog likely includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and possibly Afghanistan. Turkey, along with Azerbaijan and Armenia lie where Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah once lay. Persia obviously became modern Iran, ancient Ethiopia now includes Sudan, and Put has become Libya and possibly Algeria and Tunisia.
The unifying feature of the nations that will align with Russia is that they are Muslim. What Israeli wealth might motivate this motley crew? Today it could be energy in the form of massive quantities of natural gas or cutting edge technology — both of which Israel has become well-known to possess. Ezekiel is very clear. The invasion will be thwarted by a supernatural intervention by God. On the mountains of Israel, He will personally defeat this massive army, humiliating Israel’s antagonists and making His Holy Name known in the midst of Israel and the nations of the world (Ezekiel 38:1-7).
This demonstration of the providence and protection of the God of Israel will further discredit Islam, likely pushing it aside as a threat to the world.
03. What about American power?
Throughout the previous discussion of Gog and Magog, there was no mention of the United States. At present, America is Israel’s strongest ally (although that relationship is quite strained under the current Biden administration). So, where is the USA as Israel faces an existential threat from the north? Absent from the scene.
Many people are surprised to hear that America does not play an apparent role in Bible prophecy. Given our superpower status for the past 75 years, they wonder how we could disappear so quickly or be so inconsequential to end times events. Some people even assert that when Revelation 12:14 tells of the woman (Israel) fleeing from the dragon on “two wings of the great eagle,” that must refer to America because the bald eagle is our national bird. I simply point out that 26 nations have an eagle as their national symbol, including Albania, Mexico, Poland, and Zimbabwe. No, John’s prophetic reference to a great eagle ties back to Deuteronomy 32:11, where Moses poetically describes God “like an eagle… that hovers over its young” and spreads its wings to catch, carry, and guide them.
I absolutely believe the United States is in a state of decline. The dramatic degradation of our power may come over a period of time like the Roman Empire and so many others that have risen and fallen before us. Or, it may come very quickly following the Rapture of the Church from the world.
Either way, the other nations of the world will sit idly by as Gog-Magog descends on Israel — perhaps motivated by growing antisemitism. And, as the power of the United States ebbs away, there is another predator nation poised to ascend to world dominance.
In the third and final part of this series covering the end times sign of world politics, we will look at what the Bible prophesies concerning China, Israel, and the coming one-world government.
