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Who Will Warn Russia?

 

 

Scholars say that the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel was born in 627 B.C. and began his ministry 30 years later.  While captive in Babylon, along with most other Israelis of his day, Ezekiel received visions from the Lord that predicted future events.  He not only prophesied about these future events, he passed on information the Lord wanted people to know and understand concerning these events.  One such piece of prophetic information that Ezekiel heard from the Lord is found in Ezekiel 38:17 and 18.

 

In this particular vision God warns Gog of Magog by saying, "are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants, the prophets of Israe ? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them.  This is what will happen in that day; when Gog attacks the land of Israel, my anger will be aroused …"   For good reason, most conservative Bible teachers believe Gog of Magog is a political leader of Russia.

 

This passage presents a problem that some find hard to solve.  I pass along what some Bible teachers suggest is the meaning to this passage, and that which solves the problem.

 

This is the problem.  Ezekiel wrote this warning roughly 2500 plus years ago.  In this passage, the Lord speaks to Gog of Magog, or Russia.  He tells Gog that His prophets predicted many times in days past that Gog would attack Israel which would make Him very angry.  The problem here is that there is no Biblical evidence that states any prophet prior to Ezekiel actually predicted this attack by Gog.  Does the Biblical record leave out something this important?     

 

This problem can be easily solved.  The warning to Gog in this passage was not spoken directly to Gog 2500 plus years ago by Ezekiel.  This warning to Gog, or Russia, is in fact prophetic of a time future to Ezekiel's day.  This warning is either now being spoken to Gog, or soon will be.  A prophet, or prophets, are, or will, proclaim to a Russian leader that he and his nation will attack Israel, which will make God burn with anger.  This prophet, or prophets, will tell Russia that this warning "was predicted in former days by God's servants, His prophets of Israel", Ezekiel being one such prophet. Therefore, the prophets spoken of in this passage who spoke this warning in days past is Ezekiel himself, along with subsequent prophets who would have repeated Ezekiel's words.

 

This leads me to another passage found in Amos 3:7. It reads, "surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets."  This statement spoken by God is not hard to understand.  Simply put, before God initiates a plan such as Ezekiel 38 and  39, He will give advance notice to His prophets, who in turn will pass the information on to those who need to hear it.

 

From our standpoint today, the warning of Ezekiel 38:17 and 18 was prophesied "in days past" by Ezekiel.  As a matter of fact, God has revealed His plans to wrap up this age through many of the Biblical prophets.  Advance warning has been given.  It's now time to proclaim these prophetic warnings to those who need to hear them.  I think the day has come, or will soon come, when this particular prophetic warning will be fulfilled.  A modern day prophet, or prophets, will speak these exact words of warning directly to the Russian political leader of the day, as Ezekiel predicted.  Thus the meaning to this passage will be fulfilled as predicted.  The problem of interpreting this verse is thus solved.

 

Will the Russian leader receive this warning?  No.  Very few people in history have ever taken the prophets of God seriously, and Russia is no exception.  Still, the warning must be proclaimed to the appropriate person at the appropriate time, and it will be proclaimed.  You can count on that.          

 

I don't know if the warning of Ezekiel 38:17 and 18 is to be proclaimed by one or more designated prophets, or by countless servants of the Lord like you and I.  I do know that Russia will hear the warning and will attack Israel despite the warning.  Russia, and those aligned with her in the attack, will be forewarned because God does not initiate a plan without advance warning.  I suggest that in the spirit of prophecy, we proclaim this warning in whatever way possible.  I am doing just that in a very small way as I write these words.  Just maybe, some Russian leader might hear or read what you or I say or write, especially if we say or write these things  on the internet.   

 

Just in case you don't know, the nations that align themselves with Russia in this attack against srael as stated in Ezekiel 38 are already aligned with Russia.  The only thing left is an excuse for the attack, and it won't take much of an excuse.    

 

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