The Turning Point

If you've been paying any attention at all to recent developments in the Middle East (and if you visit websites like this, I'm betting you have), you know that both Russia and Iran have been steadily building up a major military presence in Syria, a military presence that leads right to Israel's doorstep. Not only that, but the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) and Iranian forces stationed in Syria have been involved in several comparatively limited but worryingly escalating confrontations that are beginning to make a lot of people nervous.

I won't take the time here to recap the details of those skirmishes (I refer you to Commentary entries for 2/19, 4/16, and 5/14 of this year for a few of the particulars), but be advised that it very much appears that we are now officially in the run-up to the biblical conflagration outlined in Ezekiel 38–39, aka the battle of Gog-Magog.

The fuse has been lit.

Of course, that fuse will burn at a rate ordained by a sovereign God—a rate that is perfectly suited to carry out His perfect will. But like any type of fuse on any type of explosive device, this fuse is not going to burn indefinitely.

Fuses don't work that way.

As you might expect, the events of recent months in the country formerly known as Syria have given legions of prophecy buffs the screaming meemies—to listen to some talk you'd think the battle of Gog-Magog was set to go down any day now. And since many students of Bible prophecy (this writer included) are convinced that the Rapture must precede the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38–39, watchmen across the board have been sounding the alarm and shouting it from the rooftops.

Although Ezekiel 38–39 has become a hot topic as of late due to events in the Middle East, especially involving Russia, Iran, and Turkey, it strikes me that for many believers the battle of Gog-Magog is little more than a particularly odd-shaped piece of the prophetic jigsaw puzzle—one that might go here, but then again could go there. It seems that few people ever discuss the true purpose or nature of this monumental event, but rather gloss over it as if it were little more than a quizzical prophetic marker—something prophecy buffs were obliged to squeeze somewhere into their illustrated Tribulation charts and timelines, along with the Rapture, the treaty of Daniel 9:27, the abomination of desolation, the reign of the Antichrist, and the Second Coming.

Ever since I started writing articles for this website back in February of 2012, I've somehow managed to avoid writing much about the battle of Gog-Magog, partly because its timing in relationship to the Tribulation proper and the Rapture is somewhat controversial, and I guess I felt as if I didn't have any earth-shattering insights to contribute to the conversation. But the recent focus on Ezekiel 38–39 has set me thinking, and I felt that it might be worthwhile to step back and take a slightly broader look at what the battle of Gog-Magog is all about. In the process, I want to share with you a little scriptural tidbit I noticed recently that I had blown right by for many years that has made me even more convinced the Rapture must occur before the conclusion of this battle.

On a related note, I also thought I would use this article as a chance to toss in my two shekels on the popular theory that the attack by the so-called inner-ring countries immediately surrounding Israel described in Psalm 83 will occur first, followed at a later date by a second attack by the outer-ring countries described in Ezekiel 38–39. This theory was popularized about 10 years ago by Mr. Bill Salus, and is often referred to as the Salus scenario. Now, although I love and respect Mr. Salus as a brother in Christ and a fellow student of God's Word, I admit that I have long harbored a couple of problems with his theory, and I figured with all the current focus on Gog-Magog that this was as good a time as any to air them out.

Unhide-and-seek

To gain a somewhat better understanding of the nature and purpose of the battle of Gog-Magog, we need to go back the cross. We know that after Calvary, God placed a partial hardening on Israel because of their corporate rejection of Christ, thus making it possible for the Gentiles to be grafted into their New Covenant (Rom. 11). The Greek word translated "hardening" is porosis (hardness of heart, obtuseness). For the last two millennia, God has rendered the Jewish people hardened in the most obtuse manner imaginable toward the fact that their God fulfilled His promises and expressed His grace and mercy to them in the form of their prophesied Messiah, whom they rejected and had executed like a common criminal. And if you bring up the subject of Yeshuah Ha'Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah) with very many Jews, you will quickly see what I mean.

When God hardens somebody, He doesn't mess around.

The apostle Paul explains that the duration of this hardening is limited, and is ordained by God to only last until a certain event takes place:

I've touched on this before, but I am fully satisfied that this idea of the fullness of the Gentiles coming in can be nothing other than a reference to the consummation of the Church Age at the Rapture. You'll never convince me otherwise—I am at a loss for any other sensible way to interpret it.

OK, so this is what will occur after the Rapture: The Jews' hardening will be removed. This is the idea I want to explore a bit, and to do it we're going to the book of Ezekiel.

In chapter 38, God refers to some of the nations that will come against Israel like a flood, and describes how He will destroy them in judgment. Not only that, but several times in this and the next chapter, God makes it quite clear why He will do this:

He will sanctify His holy name through what He does to the Gog-Magog coalition that attacks the apple of His eye, and the whole world will know who did it.

And that includes the apple of His eye:

God keeps hitting this idea again and again throughout both chapters 38 and 39, so it must be important:

In fact, Ezekiel starts in on this theme in the preceding chapter, making clear references to the coming Millennial Kingdom:

Although this process of Israel and the "heathen" knowing without a doubt that God is the LORD will find its ultimate fulfillment in the Millennial Kingdom, in the end-time scenario it will begin with God's miraculous intervention on behalf of His people in the battle of Gog-Magog. Both the Jews and the nations of the world are going to see what God did to save His people, and they will all know He is the LORD, the God of Israel.

And you don't mess with Him. Or His people.

As a result of Israel's transgressions, God has hidden His face from them (Ezek. 39:23–24), or temporarily turned His attention away from them—and thus it has remained for the last two thousand years. But here's that little scriptural tidbit I alluded to earlier that somehow managed to fly under my biblical radar all these years. Pay careful attention to what God says in Ezekiel 39:29 above, after He saves Israel from the Gog-Magog coalition:

"I won't hide my face from them anymore."

I've read this verse a thousand times, and it never hit me. Until now.

That's what God has been doing in regard to Israel for the last two thousand years: He's been hiding His face from them. The phrase in Hebrew is variously translated as "hide my face from them," "turn my face from them," "turn my back on them," "turn away from them," "hide my presence from them," etc. I believe this is the fundamental aspect of the hardening He placed on them after Calvary: He turned away or turned aside from them—He temporarily set them aside in order to (a) carry out the terms of His covenant with them by punishing them for their disobedience and the hardness of their hearts in rejecting the grace and mercy He expressed to them through their Messiah, and (b) inaugurate a period of time during which He would turn His attention to grafting the Gentiles into the New Covenant the Messiah cut for Israel with His blood at Calvary.

But according to the prophet Ezekiel, all that's going to change after God miraculously defeats the coalition of nations that comes against His people. After God stuffs the Gog-Magog gang in the hurt locker, it's gonna be a whole new ballgame.

He's not going to hide His face from them anymore.

In other words, it is clear from all this that God's intervention in the battle of Ezekiel 38–39 will be His way of turning His face, His attention, His presence back to Israel once again after two thousand years. This clearly speaks to the fundamental shift of God's attention from the Church back to Israel that Paul says will occur after "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."

Cha-ching. The only thing left to do is call it what it is:

It's the turning point.

I've mentioned before that I am of the opinion that the battle of Gog-Magog is the singular event that would mark God's turning His attention back to Israel and so logically the Rapture must precede its conclusion, but somehow I failed to notice until recently that Ezekiel provides all the scriptural support one needs to see that this is in fact the case.

After mightily delivering Israel from her enemies, God will turn to His people, and His people will turn to their God. They will turn to their God, but they won't be introduced to their Messiah until after they accept an impostor in His place and then have that impostor turn on them with a vengeance after he demands to be worshiped as God. Since the Jews strongly believe their Messiah will be a mortal man, that will clinch the deal for them that he's not the guy and they will finally realize they have been duped. It is only then that they will begin to have their eyes opened to the truth, and they will ultimately look upon the one they pierced (Zech. 12:10), and they will begin to realize that Jesus is in fact exactly who He claimed to be before their ancestors clamored for the Romans to crucify Him.

Israel will have come full circle. In the beginning, they gladly received His law and obeyed Him, and as a result He blessed them. Then they went through several cycles of disobeying Him and seeking after false gods, and He invoked the terms of His covenant with them and cursed them, only to bless them again when they repented and returned to Him.

But when God would drive the Jews from their land, which He has done on several occasions, they would profane His holy name among the heathen where they were driven by their spiritual whoredom and their overall sorry condition. The heathen would shake their heads and wag their fingers at them, and say:

"Look at those pathetic losers. 'God's people'? For crying out loud, what kind of sorry excuse for a God do those Jews have, anyway?"

Their reputation as God's people was known throughout the ancient world, but again and again it would appear to the casual observer that God didn't want anything further to do with them. But by flexing His mighty arm on their behalf and supernaturally delivering them from arguably the greatest single attack ever launched against them, God will bring all that to an end. No longer will the Jews profane His holy name among the heathen where they have been scattered. No longer will the name of the God of Israel be profaned by the heathen on account of the sins and hardheartedness of His people. After the battle of Gog-Magog, the name of the Holy One of Israel will be sanctified, never again to be profaned in such a manner.

One immediate result of God revealing Himself to Israel again after two thousand years will be that Israel will seek to re-establish their covenant relationship with Him. It'll be a bit like hide-and-seek in reverse—unhide-and-seek, if you will.

After God unhides His face from them, then they will seek Him.

But the only relationship with God that Israel has ever known is the one that was cut off two thousand years ago: their Old Covenant relationship.

When the Jews see the LORD their God miraculously deliver them from the hands of their enemies, they will fall all over themselves to re-establish their Old Covenant worship of Him. It's all they know.

But understand one thing: The Jews' Old Covenant relationship with and worship of their God absolutely requires a working temple—there's no way around it. They must be able to (a) make themselves ritually clean and (b) reinstitute the Levitical sacrificial system in a temple. So, they're going to need the whole nine yards: the red heifers, the priestly garments, the implements, the Kohanim...and oh yeah, a temple. This is why the Jews will finally demand the Third Temple be built, and a thoroughly whipped Muslim world will likely be too busy tucking their collective tails between their legs and licking their wounds to stop them.

And unless I miss my guess, a rising star on the world scene—a charismatic peacemaker—will be prepared to help them make their dream come true.

Until he becomes their worst nightmare.

Meanwhile, back in the Age of Grace...

So what does all this mean for us, the body of Christ, during the current Age of Grace? Well, let's recap what we know:

We know from Romans 11 that when Israel "stumbled" by rejecting Christ as their Messiah, their rejection opened the door to Gentiles being grafted into their New Covenant through faith in the Messiah. Thus the Church was conceived and the Age of Grace was off and running, a period of time during which God is building up a body of people who believe in faith in His Son's work of atonement for their salvation. So, for the last two millennia God's focus has been on building the Church.

We also know that as a result of their iniquity, trespasses, uncleanness, and transgressions, God placed a hardening or an obstinacy on Israel and temporarily hid or turned His face from them (Ezek. 39:23–24). According to Romans 11:25, this will last until the Rapture removes the Church from the earth and the Age of Grace comes to a close. Thus after the Church is gone, God will turn His attention back to Israel to remove that hardening He placed on them.

Then in Ezekiel 38–39, we read that God will miraculously save His people Israel from annihilation at the hands of the Gog-Magog coalition, and as a result of His mighty intervention on Israel's behalf, He will sanctify His holy name in the eyes of Israel and of the world, and He will no longer "hide His face" from His people. That is, He will turn His face, His attention, His presence back to them.

This much is reasonably clear and straightforward from Scripture in my opinion, although I am hesitant to take it too much further since doing so invites a certain degree of speculation. Having said that, however, I think it is safe to say that after God saves Israel from the Gog-Magog coalition and turns His attention back to them, they will seek to return to their Old Covenant relationship with and worship of their God, and that means they will demand the Third Temple be built. It must be built, because it is defiled at the midpoint of the Tribulation by the Antichrist (Dan. 9:27). It's notoriously difficult to defile a nonexistent temple.

Now, if one were given to speculation, one could speculate that the treaty of Daniel 9:27 could be a comprehensive peace treaty hammered out in the aftermath of Gog-Magog that would (a) outline the particulars of a two-state solution to deal with the Palestinians, and (b) give Israel permission to build their temple. This scenario would have the Tribulation proper kicking off after the conclusion of Gog-Magog, with the Rapture occurring some time prior to or possibly in conjunction with its spectacular climax.

On the other hand, the treaty of Daniel 9:27 could be a two-state solution implemented prior to Gog-Magog, and after God intervenes on behalf of His people and smashes the Gog-Magog coalition, Israel may be more like:

"Permission?! We don't need no steenking permission! Go ahead...try and stop us from building our temple!"

And build it they will, even though the treaty of Daniel 9:27 is already in force. This scenario would have Gog-Magog occurring in the early part of the Tribulation, with the Rapture occurring prior to the implementation of the treaty and so well before the battle of Gog-Magog even begins.

Lickety-split: Understand that the battle of Gog-Magog is not going to be some long, drawn-out military campaign—it's going to be over before it starts. As soon as the Gog-Magog coalition descends upon Israel, they are wiped out by God's hand in judgment. In reality, the "battle" of Gog-Magog is almost a misnomer—there basically is no battle. As soon as this coalition comes against His people, God crushes them like a bug...SPLAT! End of story. It could conceivably be a matter of weeks from start to finish.

The speculative argument could also be made that the battle of Gog-Magog must come after the Rapture because this is Satan's grandest power play to date against the Jews, aimed at wiping out Israel once and for all and staking his eternal claim to his position as god of this world—a power play that he has been "restrained" from attempting until after the "Restrainer" stands down, if you catch my drift.

Of course, the preceding is just what I labeled it as: speck-yoo-lation. Now, if you've read very many of my articles, you know I don't tend to spill a lot of ink with idle speculation. I'm not in this for the thrills and chills. That said, however, I will say this:

I am fully convinced based strictly on Scripture that
it makes no biblical sense for the Church to still be on
earth in the aftermath of the battle of Ezekiel 38–39.

Whenever that battle may occur. The Rapture simply must happen prior to (or at least in tandem with) the jaw-dropping finale of the battle of Gog-Magog. In my humble scriptural opinion, the pieces just don't logically fit together any other way. To wit:

• How many other ways can Ezekiel 39:29 be interpreted, anyway? When God says that after His miraculous intervention on Israel's behalf in the battle of Gog-Magog that they will know He is the LORD and that He will no longer "hide His face" from them, what else can that mean other than the fact that at that point He has turned His attention back to Israel (and away from the Church, hint hint)?

• And what else can that mean other than the fact that He will have begun to lift the hardening He placed on them two thousand years ago, when He hid His face from them because of their rejection of His grace and mercy expressed to them through Christ?

• And what else can that mean other than the fact that the fullness of the Gentiles must have come in (Rom. 11:25)?

• And what else can that mean other than the fact that the Lord has already descended with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ have risen first, and then we which were alive and remained were caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:16–17)?

I don't necessarily like to sound hyper-dogmatic about the timing of certain end-time events, but to be honest I scarcely see how you can spin this any other way without disrespecting the plain text of Scripture.

Wait, what about that Psalm 83 thing?

As I said, current events in the Middle East make it clear to anyone who is paying attention that we are plunging headlong toward the battle of Gog-Magog. Russia and Iran are forming ever-closer military ties as they turn Syria into a staging ground for an attack on Israel.

Not only that, but a related event of prophetic interest occurred just this month that barely registered a ripple in a liberal mainstream media suffering from an acute case of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).

The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held a special summit in Istanbul on May 18, convened by President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The conference was called for the express purpose of urging the Muslim world to unite in order to more strongly condemn and punish Israel over the killing of Palestinian protesters who tried to penetrate and/or damage portions of the security fencing along Israel's border with Gaza. Here's a timely quote from a speech Erdogan made to a large crowd in Istanbul the day of the summit:

"Muslims are way too busy fighting and disagreeing with themselves, and shy away when confronted by their enemies. Since 1947, Israel has been free to do what it likes in this region. They do whatever they feel like. But this reality can be undone...if we unite."

I'll leave it to you to ponder just what Erdogan meant by the word "undone," but the tone of his remarks—indeed of the entire summit—veritably drips with the overtones of Gog-Magog:

The Muslim world is seething with rage and seeking to punish
Israel, and the message is that they must unite to do it.

And of course those 57 members of the OIC include nearly every nation mentioned in both Ezekiel 38 and Psalm 83. Oh, but there's more.

In Ezekiel 38:13 we are told that Sheba and Dedan along with the merchants of Tarshish and all their young lions (i.e. Saudi Arabia, the United States, England, and probably a few other U.S. allies) do nothing but protest what the Gog-Magog coalition is about to do to Israel (or attempt to do, I should say). Now, kudos to Gary Ray over at Unsealed for pointing this out, but in spite of the fact that the headquarters of the OIC is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Kingdom was a conspicuous no-show at this drum-beating conference. Which I'm sure has nothing whatsoever to do with fact that President Trump and his new BFF Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman are engaging in unprecedented levels of strategic diplomatic cooperation. Hmmm...

But as the world plunges toward the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38–39, a little voice may be whispering in your ear:

Hey, wait a second...what about that Psalm 83 thing? You know, Psalm 83...the Salus scenario, with the inner-ring and outer-ring countries and all that. Isn't Psalm 83 supposed to go down first, which paves the way for the coalition of outer-ring countries in Ezekiel 38–39 to attack Israel without them? Isn't that what we should be looking for?

With everyone's attention suddenly focused on Ezekiel 38–39, some people may be wondering if we should be looking for the attack of the so-called inner-ring countries immediately surrounding Israel first.

Now, please understand that I'm not trying to prove Bill Salus wrong—because he might be right. Maybe the attack described in Psalm 83 will occur first, followed by Ezekiel 38–39. Maybe these two attacks come in waves, with Ezekiel 38–39 following closely on the heels of Psalm 83 so that it's basically one big attack. Who knows.

There are three basic issues, however, that leave me unsatisfied with the arguments supporting the Salus scenario, which claims these are two completely separate battles fought at two different times by two mutually exclusive groups of nations. First of all...

The single, solitary flash of insight that inspired Bill Salus to develop his entire theory was the simple fact that all the players mentioned in the attack of Psalm 83 are conspicuously absent from the list of players mentioned in the attack of Ezekiel 38–39:

Opinions do vary, but most believe these ancient people groups include the modern-day nations of Jordan, Lebanon, *Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and the Palestinian territories. Some (such as Joel Richardson) dispute Egypt, but I won't get into that argument here.

*Note: Accurately tracing some of these groups is fraught with difficulty; but according to some sources, it is possible that the reference to the Ishmaelites here is really more a reference to Yemen than to Saudi Arabia.

In Ezekiel 38–39, however, an entirely different group of countries are specifically named:

As with Psalm 83, opinions do vary. However, these people groups are most typically identified with Russia, Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Libya, possibly Algeria and Tunisia, and possibly some of the former members of the Soviet Union such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, etc.

And not one nation from Psalm 83 is named.

According to the Salus scenario, the fact that the inner-ring countries of Psalm 83 are not specifically mentioned in Ezekiel 38 can only mean one thing: They have been defeated by Israel and subsumed into its territory. Thus, they're not even around to take part in the attack of Ezekiel 38–39.

But I can't help but notice the final words of Ezekiel 38:6—and many people with you. Many English translations read "peoples" or "nations," and the great majority of commentators agree that the Hebrew word used (ammim) conveys the idea of nations here.

In other words, Ezekiel lists the outer-ring countries by name, and then says they are joined by "many other nations." Well, who do you think they might be? What other nations in the region do you suppose would be anxious to take part in a massive attack on Israel? The countries that are specifically mentioned in Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 basically cover the entire region. Who's left? Are we to believe that a few European nations join in the Gog-Magog coalition? Spain? France? How about Germany? Perhaps a few Asian nations—India? China? Maybe Taiwan?

On second thought, I have doubts about that last one. People here in Taiwan only care about what happens in Taiwan. I strongly suspect most couldn't find Israel on a map.

All levity aside, my point is this: Is it really so difficult to believe that those "many other nations" Ezekiel refers to include some (if not all) of those inner-ring countries of Psalm 83 (who, by the way, are all Muslim countries that hate Israel) but that Ezekiel simply doesn't mention them by name? Why is that such a stretch? Why does the fact that Ezekiel mentions "many other nations" but leaves them unnamed mean we must restrict the Gog-Magog coalition to only those nations he did specifically name?

Why are we obligated to totally blow off Ezekiel's reference to "many other nations"?

It doesn't make any sense to me. In fact, it makes about as much sense to me as the following:

The Four Crucifixion School of Biblical Interpretation

The FCSBI maintains that by carefully comparing Scripture with Scripture, it can be conclusively shown that Jesus was not merely crucified once, as traditionally taught. We can prove from Scripture that He was crucified a total of four times! So, get out your Bibles and follow along as we only look at exactly what the Bible says.

In Matthew's account of the scene at the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" (presumably Mary mother of James) were present (Matt. 28:1). No other women are specifically mentioned, thus we can logically assume they were the only women at the scene.

In Mark's account, however, Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James are again at the tomb, but this time they are accompanied by Salome (Mark 16:1). Since Salome is not specifically named by Matthew, this must be a different empty-tomb scene and so must logically follow a second crucifixion, distinct from the one described in Matthew.

In Luke's account, Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James show up again, but this time they are accompanied by Joanna—Salome isn't mentioned (Luke 24:10). Although it does say that "other women" were present, they are not specifically mentioned by name and thus we can logically assume they do not include Salome. So, since Salome is not mentioned and a different woman Joanna is mentioned, clearly Luke is describing an empty-tomb scene that differs from that described by both Matthew and Mark—one that must logically follow a third crucifixion.

Finally, in John's description of the events at the empty tomb we have Mary Magdalene showing up all by her lonesome (John 20:1). John doesn't mention Mary mother of James, nor does he mention Salome or Joanna, nor does he mention anyone else. Since no other women are specifically mentioned, we can logically assume Mary Magdalene was alone, and so this clearly cannot be the same event described by Matthew, Mark, or Luke, and we are forced to logically conclude that this empty-tomb scene follows yet a fourth crucifixion.

OK, that's enough. Pretty silly, right? Yet as silly as this is, this is precisely the same logic Salus uses in concluding that the inner-ring countries of Psalm 83 cannot be part of the Ezekiel 38–39 coalition because they are not specifically mentioned by name. Hence his conclusion that Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38–39 must be two different battles, fought at two different times, and involving two mutually exclusive groups of countries.

With all due respect to Mr. Salus, you'll just have to color me unconvinced.

First, let's look at what those reasons are:

The reason for the attack in Psalm 83 is to completely annihilate Israel—to wipe the Jewish state off the map so they will be remembered no more.

And the reason for Gog-Magog?

The stated purpose of the attack of Ezekiel 38–39 is to take a spoil. According to the Salus scenario, these objectives are mutually exclusive; they are sufficiently distinct that we are justified in concluding that these are two completely separate battles.

Mutually exclusive?! Are you kidding? They go hand in glove! Do you actually believe that the inner-ring countries of Psalm 83 are going to mount an all-out attack on Israel and then say:

"Take a spoil? No no no, we're just here to wipe Israel off the map—we're not here to take any spoil or anything. That 'take a spoil' thing comes later. Haven't you guys ever read Psalm 83?

Or do you suppose the coalition that attacks Israel in Ezekiel 38–39 will descend upon Israel and say:

"Destroy Israel?! Who said anything about destroying Israel? We're just here to take a spoil, that's all. Oh, you must be thinking of that Psalm 83 thing—try reading Ezekiel 38–39 some time, ya know?"

You don't have to be a five-star general to understand that conquering a nation and appropriating its wealth are two sides of the same coin. Not only that, but stop and think for a moment about what kind of spoil we are most likely talking about in this case.

People used to joke that Moses led the children of Israel to the only place in the Middle East that didn't have any oil.

In case you haven't noticed, nobody cracks that joke anymore.

Within the past decade, Israel has discovered a couple of huge deposits of natural gas off their coast, chiefly the Tamar and Leviathan deposits (10.8 and 22 trillion cubic feet, respectively). These and a number of other recently discovered deposits that altogether contain an estimated 123 trillion cubic feet of natural gas have endowed Israel with the potential to not only meet their own energy needs for many decades, but also become one of the top energy exporters in the entire Middle East. Make no mistake:

All of a sudden, Israel is sitting on a gold mine—and everybody knows it.

Q. What powerful world leader seeks to control the flow of gas and oil throughout Russia, Europe, and even the Middle East?

A. Put...in. Putin. As in Vladimir Vladimirovich.

(And excuse me while I attempt to dislodge my tongue from my cheek...)

If that's not the "spoil," then what is? Galia melons? Here's my point: Those staggering natural gas deposits are in Israeli territory, under the sovereign control of a sovereign nation. You can't steal them like gold or silver. You can't haul them away like cattle or goods. If someone is going to take them, they have to take control over them.

Q. How do you take control over natural resources that are controlled by another sovereign nation?

A. Simple—you attack and defeat that sovereign nation.

It seems clear that in this case, the only way to "take a spoil" from Israel as per Ezekiel 38–39 is to "cut them off from being a nation" as per Psalm 83.

Hand in glove.

Don't believe me? Let's compare:

Psalm 83 results in the coalition of attacking nations, and presumably the whole world, knowing without a doubt that the LORD, the God of Israel, is the "Most High over all the earth."

Hmm...that sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?

Oh yeah, that's where. The battles described in Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38–39 apparently both end with the nations of the world knowing without a doubt that God is the LORD. Now, this isn't proof that the Salus scenario is wrong; it's not a scriptural knock-out punch. But it just nags at me:

Q. If the world gets the message in Psalm 83 that God is the LORD, and I think Scripture makes it clear they do, then why would God need to repeat that object lesson to the world a second time in a second battle?

I'm sorry, but I just don't get it.

And so as far as the Salus scenario is concerned, I just don't buy it.

The bottom line is this:

ZZZZZ: As you see the Ezekiel 38–39 scenario coming together, don't let yourself be lulled to sleep waiting for some other battle to happen first just because some prophecy bestseller said so.

Which way will you turn?

When God miraculously intervenes to save Israel from being wiped out in the battle of Ezekiel 38–39 and the nations of the world see that God fights for His people, it will be the turning point.

The turning point for Israel, that is.

That's when God will turn His attention back to them and begin the process of restoring them to a right relationship with Him and ultimately with their Messiah, Jesus Christ. And that means He's already turned His attention away from the Church because He's already taken us home in the Rapture.

As far as the Church is concerned, that's our turning point. We will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and all our suffering and sorrow on this earth will come to an end and our roles as the elite in the Millennial Kingdom will be about to begin.

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxiously looking forward to that.

On a personal level, however, our real turning point came the moment we felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit working on our hearts, and humbly asked a holy, just, loving God to forgive our sins, and believed in faith that His Son died to pay our sin's penalty and rose from the grave to offer us the free gift of eternal life.

And we turned.

From death to life.
From condemnation to reconciliation.
From being a slave to sin to being set free from sin.

In a sense, the Rapture will be a turning point for everyone—we just won't all turn the same way. The Church is turning north, toward heaven—we're turning toward an eternity of unimaginable bliss and fulfillment that we can't possibly earn and certainly don't deserve. It is a free gift based on our faith in Christ's finished work of atonement for our sin.

But for the billions left behind, it will be a turning point of a decidedly different nature. They will be turning to a world where people will be vexed with unprecedented deception, as well as unprecedented destruction and upheaval. Those who do ultimately come to a saving faith in Christ will have to hold onto what they have spiritually for dear life. And for many, that's exactly what it will cost them.

So, there's only one question that counts:

Which way will you turn?

Greg Lauer — MAY '18

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