Tying It All Together:

The article below is lengthy but well worth the read. In fact, this evolving scenario is what I am watching right now with the greatest intensity - because we seem to be right on the threshold of Isaiah 17 --> Ezekiel 38-39. 

This is enormously significant.

The author gives us several good reasons to believe that the U.S. will be taken out of the picture prior to Ezekiel 38-39, and in addition, I would add that during the Church Age we believe by faith, not by sight. This idea has been reinforced by the fact that during the Church Age, we haven't seen the big, overt hand of God in action as during the Old Testament times. However, God supernaturally ends the invasion of Gog-Magog in a dramatic way and it will be obvious to the entire world that God's hand ended this invasion.  This scenario seems highly inconsistent with the Church Age (believing by faith not sight)...

This is worth reading and studying, and using the information to watch developments in the Middle East very closely. If we are indeed on the threshold of seeing Isaiah 17 followed by Ezekiel 38-39, then we may also be on the threshold of 1 Thessalonians 4:16. If you know what I mean...

Tying it All Together (Part 1)

Pete Garcia 

While we do not often see the three as interlinked, I believe the timing of the battle of Gog and Magog, is intricately linked with the Rapture of the Church and the opening of the Day of the Lord.

There are two major reasons why I make that statement. 

The first is the absence of any United States “like” nation anywhere in the Bible when dealing with the topic of the last days. The second reason is the Rapture of the Church. 

While the collapse of the US may be caused by any number of reasons (economic, natural disasters, war, pandemic, etc.), the Rapture of the Church will absolutely collapse the current structure of the United States. If you run the scenario where the US collapses, the second and third order effects involve a world thrown economically, politically, and militarily into massive upheaval.

Enter Gog of Magog. 

According to Scripture, there is a future, massive battle prophesied to occur in the latter days. Historically speaking, this war has not yet happened. Furthermore, the nations mentioned below have never been politically or militarily aligned in this particular configuration before…ever.

Ancient Name                                   Modern Nation

Rosh (Rashu, Rasapu, Ros, and Rus) -Russia

Magog (Scythians)                             -Central Asia and possibly Afghanistan

Meshech (Muschki and Musku)        -Turkey

Tubal (Tubalu)                                   -Turkey

Persia                                                  -Iran

Ethiopia (Cush)                                  -Sudan

Libya (Put or Phut)                             -Libya

Gomer (Cimmerians)                         -Turkey

Beth-togarmah (Til-garimmu or Tegarma) -Turkey

(Source: The Battle of Gog and Magog-Dr. Mark Hitchcock)

These forces come against Israel swiftly, and in such frightening numbers, the shock of it stuns the senses of the rest of the world. You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” Ezekiel 38:9

Russia sees energy, wealth, and Mid-East dominance. Iran sees the destruction of Israel and the return of the Mahdi. Turkey wants their old Ottoman Caliphate back. 

As to Libya and Sudan, it is hard to say other than they are acting as mercenaries for hire. This attack on Israel may also be in retaliation for (or because of) another prophecy found in Isaiah 17, in which Damascus is destroyed and ceases to be a city seemingly overnight.

Here is the conundrum.

This massive coalition attacks (or attempts to) Israel. Where are Israel’s allies? Although the United States is not mentioned specifically anywhere in Scripture anyway, the only time that it might be is through associative symbolism (Tarshish and all their young lions) found in Ezekiel 38. Moreover, in that symbolism, the United States is found not coming to the aid of Israel. This strikes me as extraordinarily bizarre, given the current closeness between our countries.

When I first wrote about this topic in March 2012 (Hook in the Jaw), the Syrian civil war was still in its infancy. The US president (and his administration) at the time were increasingly growing hostile to Israel. They reluctantly and flaccidly drew a “red line” on the ground that Bashar Assad simply skipped gleefully over. He knew we would not respond and thus felt no compulsion to change his tactics of using chemical weapons against his enemies.

In 2012, there were no US, Turkish, Iranian, nor Russians boots on the ground actively and openly fighting there.

Now they are.

In fact, so much geopolitical/prophetic maneuvering has occurred in just the past six years, it is hard to keep track of it all.

Russian forces, Iranian Quds forces, Hezbollah fighters, and Fifth Column elements have secured a land-bridge from Iran through Iraq, to Syria, and have inched ever closer to the Golan Heights. To date, numerous skirmishes with the US and Israel have/are occurring with increased frequency on Israel’s northern border.

Conclusion                   

This brings us back full circle to my opening salvo. Why does Israel’s closest ally, not come to her aid in her most dire hour? We are really left with only two courses of prophetic development.

1. If the battle of Gog and Magog occurs before the Rapture, it appears that the US is stricken by some calamity other than the Rapture that renders us unable, or unwilling to help.
2. If the Rapture happens before the battle of Gog and Magog, it will be because the Rapture makes the US (and by extension Western civilization) unable to come to Israel’s aid. The Rapture and the social, economic, and political upheaval this will unleash may be the “window of opportunity” Gog uses to finally attack and finish Israel.                                                                                                               

Here is what we know:

• We know this battle has NEVER occurred historically, yet the Bible emphatically states that it will happen. Thus, the only conclusion we are left with is to understand that Ezekiel 38-39 is still a future event destined to occur. 
• We know the battle of Gog and Magog happens and the US is nowhere in the picture. We know with our current administration, this would not be the case. It is either the Rapture, or some other calamity that makes us unable or unwilling to support Israel.
• We also know that at least three of the major players in the battle of Gog and Magog, are currently positioned to the north of Israel in what used to be Syria. Furthermore, with each passing day, they are amassing more and more troops and weapons.
• Currently, Israel is the most secure she has EVER been (apart from when Kings’ David and Solomon ruled the land). While living in “peace” and un-walled villages exists within Israel proper, she does maintain security between herself and other nations.

“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” Thus says the Lord God: “Are youhe of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them? Ezekiel 38:14-17

While the implication here is that in the latter days, God would once again identify the nation of Israel as His people and Israel as His land (My people, My land). This is not to say that God had forgotten or reneged on His promises to the Patriarchs (Romans 11). Rather, national Israel was set aside for a time, and her timeline put on hold for the dispensation of the churchto occur (Rom. 11:25-29, Eph. 1:3-6). This would be the Church, Christ Himself , would build (Matt. 16:18-19).

It stands to reason, that all of the major players are either already in position to the north of Israel, or could be very easily. We also see Israel dwelling securely in her land of un-walled villages. Furthermore, the United States and Israel are enjoying the closest relationship they have had since Israel’s rebirth as a nation. Therefore, this special relationship will not change unless something forces that change upon the status quo.

Lastly, the deliverance God provides Israel will be unmistakably supernatural. This overt, divine, rescue-mission will be the cause behind Israel’s drive to WANT to rebuild the temple.

 It will squash any political hesitation or deliberation on whether it should be done or not. I imagine in the process of this deliverance, God Himself will destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock to remove any delay in its construction.

…then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.” Ezekiel 39:28-29

The subsequent seven months, Israel spends burying the Gog-coalition in what will be known then as the Valley of Hamon Gog (Ez. 39:11). I suspect that during that time, the world is reorganizing (the rise of the Seven Heads and Ten Horns of Rev. 13), which results in one man (The Antichrist) rising to the top. He confirms the treaty with the many (Dan. 9:27) that officially initiates the start for the 70^th Week of Daniel seven months after Gog’s supernatural defeat.

Tying it All Together (Part 2)

Pete Garcia 

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive andremain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Last week we looked at where I believe the Rapture, the battle of Gog and Magog, and the start of the 70th Week occurs. This week, we will look at the aftermath and the seven months (or more) leading up to the 70th Week proper. First, let me add that the seven-months is just speculation on my part. I have always believed that there would be a gap between the Rapture of the Church, and the official starting of Daniel’s 70^th Week. That gap could be longer, or it could be shorter. No one knows for sure. No one will know either, until it comes to pass. Anything anyone has to say on this particular subject (gap or none), is speculating, regardless of their degrees, titles, or how many books they have written.

Assessment

What I have previously mentioned in numerous briefs, is how and why the Rapture of the Church politically, culturally, and economically reconstructs this world. You cannot remove millions of people in the blink of an eye from around the world, and not have that make huge geopolitical impacts. Centers of power will shift. Military forces will change their allegiances. Economies will be restructured accordingly. Just as it was concerning the time of Christ’s first coming, the conditions on the ground will be perfectly aligned for Bible prophecy to find its complete fulfillment. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law…Galatians 4:4

It has long been a goal of secret societies and powers to bring the entire world into a one-world system. To do this, they have organized the rise and fall of nations. 

They have financed revolutions. They have sown the seeds of economic and political disparity through socialist and Marxist (via universities and via media) doctrines. While they have been successful in steering the world in that direction over the past two centuries, what the Rapture (to them) represents, is the best of all possible crises.

The Rapture is going to happen and it will happen prior to the beginning of the 70^th Week of Daniel. How do I know this? There are many reasons, but the main one I keep coming back too, is that the 70 Weeks (as given to Daniel), only concerns the nation of Israel. 

The Church is not found within the first 69 Weeks, it only makes sense we are not in the last week either. However, in order for the last Week to be only seven years in length and still accomplish everything Revelation chapters 4-19 says has to happen, then the political, technological, economical, and religious groundwork must be in place prior too.

Why then do I believe a gap must exist between the Rapture and the 70^th Week? Primarily, because the Bible does not directly connect the two. We know each must happen, yet they do not have a direct cause vs. effect (or causality) relationship. The causation will be indirect (or second order effects). Put plainly, the Rapture only opens up the possibility for this “New World Order” to come about. However, the Rapture is only going to occur in the “fullness of time” so that the geopolitical (et. al.) outcomes happen according to Scripture. Politically speaking, the world has been in this “primed” position for the last seventy-years since the end of World War II.

So what was lacking?

Technology.

Revelation 11 and 13 could not come about (as the world was then) because of these two chapters (in particular 11:9 and 13:16-17) which could not be fulfilled to the letter. The technology to use and enforce these mechanisms simply did not exist until just recently.

Still, these technological limitations do not directly correlate to the Rapture; yet, you can see the cause vs. effect situation the Rapture would have on the world. It could be that if the Rapture had occurred in the 1960s, or 70s, or even 80s, that the gap between the Rapture and the start of the 70^th Week would by necessity be longer. Given where we are today and how interconnected the world is technologically and economically, that prophetic gap seems to be shrinking.

Therefore, in the aftermath of the Rapture and the restructuring the world will go through, a revived Roman Empire (the Beast) must still contend with one final geopolitical obstacle. That is the competing/threatening Russian alliance to the north and east. This is where the battle of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39) comes into play. Once God supernaturally destroys these invading armies on Israel’s northern border, the world experience another major tectonic shift in power.

Imagine the European Union experiencing the reverse wealth-transfer from the US after the Rapture. Europe had surrendered much of that wealth, technology (people/systems) to the US before, during, and after WWII. Imagine them now, no longer having to compete with the US as rivals, and no longer facing an immediate threat to their east (namely Russia). They would by default (aside from China), become the major power player in the world.

Let me caveat on this real quick. I know the position of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is in large measure, predicated on imminency. I do not seek to diminish that by saying the Rapture is predicated on anything other than God’s timing. Yet, here we are 2,000 years later. 

If the Rapture could have occurred at any moment over the past two millennia, and it has not, there must be a reason for this. We should not dismiss this out of hand. Where I believe imminence plays a factor, there is nothing scripturally that makes the Rapture dependent on something else for it to happen. To which I agree. Below is a plausible scenario given that the gap is seven-months. Granted, this is a gross-oversimplification of what could happen. I do not possess the time or space to list out every possible scenario or detail.

The Rise of the Beast

Without the US taking the role as the world’s superpower, the world looks to another powerful nation(s) to take charge. What rises in the midst of the chaos both in the Americas and in Eurasia, is a reenergized Europe. Although Europe does lose Christians and children to the Rapture, their loss is dramatically less destabilizing than what has occurred in the US. Since the EU military is still in its infancy, the NATO leadership structure converts to the long sought after European Defence Force.

Because the battle of Gog and Magog significantly drains much of the military-aged males in Russia, Eurasia, Turkey, and northern Africa, the EU’s borders will significantly increase without much effort. Without a looming threat to the east (Russia), NATO is repurposed to act on the new global stage. This means securing the Mediterranean and what was western Russia and Turkey.

Israel (now larger) remains a friendly, yet potential contender in the Mediterranean. She has nuclear weapons, a functioning government, and a powerful military. In fact, from the EU’s perspective, Israel remains the only “potential” threat to the EU’s unlimited expansionistic ideas. While other nations in the Middle East remain relatively intact (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc.) none possess the strength Israel has regarding energy (natural gas), weapons (Iron Dome, nuclear weapons, F35’s, etc.), and experience to repel both immediate and far threats to their sovereignty. At some point, the EU’s hot/cold relationship with Israel would need to be cemented into a mutual defense contract/covenant to prevent either a future clash, or existential threat.

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9:27

Next Week, Tying it All Together: In the Midst