Israel’s recent stunning victories in its fight against the Iranian proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas could be setting up exactly the conditions described in the Bible before a major end-times battle occurs.
Most have likely heard at least something about the Battle of Armageddon, when the nations of the world, led by the Antichrist, converge on Israel for a climactic battle at the end of the age.
But before that final apocalyptic showdown, others must happen first, including the Battle of Gog and Magog, described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Ezekiel was an ancient Jewish prophet who wrote about the upcoming battle likely around 575 B.C.
Jimmy Evans, author and founder of EndTimes.com, told CBN this past spring that the battle will involve a coalition of nations believed to be made up of modern-day Iran, Russia and Turkey, among others, invading Israel from the north.
“They’re all present and accounted for and Gog and Magog is unfolding right before our very eyes,” he said.
The credibility of what Ezekiel predicted about the war between these nations in chapters 38 and 39 is strengthened by what he wrote about in Ezekiel 36 and 37.
He saw a time — under divine inspiration, according to his account — when the Jews would spread throughout the nations of the earth, which certainly happened starting in the first century A.D.
Their exile would last until the latter days, when they would return to Israel and be a nation again, which took place in May 1948.
Presently, the alignment of Iran, Russia and Turkey against the Jewish State has only intensified after Israel’s successful operations taking out Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon last week and Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July.
Israel also made headlines with an apparent stunning espionage move that resulted in pagers exploding all over Lebanon, killing much of Hezbollah’s leadership.
Iran responded on Tuesday by firing approximately 200 missiles into Israel, most of which were intercepted. Israel has now promised to strike back.
Dallas Theological Seminary professor and end times expert Mark Hitchcock sees these developments as further confirming the Battle of Gog and Magog prophecy.
He noted on his weekly podcast “Marking the End Times” that Iran’s two direct attacks on Israel, first in April and now last week, were unprecedented. The Islamic nation had never directly attacked Israel in modern times.
“Israel’s response will be significant,” Hitchcock said. “Israel has momentum right now. I think they feel that. I think they feel the wind at their backs. And I think they are going to seize this opportunity to go on the offensive to try and once and for all get rid of Hamas, as they’ve already neutralized, Hezbollah, Iran, … [and] the Houthis down in Yemen.”
Possible targets in Iran could include killing its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or taking out the nation’s oil refining facilities or its nuclear weapons development sites.
And as Israel prepares for a possible all-out war against Iran, Turkey and Russia are drawing closer into the conflict.
Reuters reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday at the United Nations that the General Assembly should recommend the “use of force,” if Israel does not stop its fight against Hamas and Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Erdogan said that his nation will support Lebanon (Hezbollah) “with all our means,” adding that Israel “will be stopped,” according to The Times of Israel.
Hitchcock also pointed out that right after Israel took out Nasrallah, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his country’s prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday.
Hitchcock emphasized, “Ezekiel 38 says that when Russia, Iran, Turkey, their allies come into Israel in the end times, that Israel’s going to be at rest and living securely,” which certainly is not the case right now.
He explained that he had believed that the rest period would happen when the Antichrist makes a seven-year peace treaty with Israel that he breaks halfway through the time period, as described in the Bible’s Daniel 9.
But in light of recent events, he sees another scenario is possible if Israel is able to successfully neutralize all its surrounding enemies: Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthis, and perhaps deliver such a punishing blow to Iran, it puts the country back on its heels for a season.
“It could be that there is a peace in Israel. They’re at rest and living securely before the Antichrist even comes along to maybe confirm the peace that already exists. So it’s an interesting development,” Hitchcock said.
This would comport with end-times expert Bill Salus’ view. The author of “The Future War Prophecies,” told Evans on his “Tipping Point” podcast in the spring that he believes the current war Israel is fighting with Hamas and Hezbollah is the beginning of the war described in Psalm 83, which is a precursor to the Magog battle.
“Psalm 83 talks about a confederacy of the Arab states and terrorist populations within them that surround Israel. It was written about 3,000 years ago by the worship leader of King David, Asaph, who was also a prophet, we’re told in 2 Chronicles 29:30,” Salus said.
Salus listed Lebanon (including Hezbollah), Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians, among others, as members of the confederacy that will attack Israel.
Israel will win the war and will then dwell securely in its land, as Ezekiel describes. But the Magog battle will follow sometime thereafter, and further down the line the Battle of Armageddon, according to Salus.
Billy Hallowell, of CBN’s Faithwire.com, highlighted last year how astounding it is that events in the Middle East appear to be playing out just as the Bible predicted.
“If I were an atheist, I’d be looking at this and saying, ‘OK, it’s a little weird that all these things in Ezekiel, all these places that he’s talking about, thousands of years later are … the centerpiece of what we are talking about right now globally.’”
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