Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah, the day of the monthly new moon when from ancient times the people of Israel would consult the nevi'im (prophets) on matters which were of individual or national concern to them. This important day, set-apart in Yahweh' sacred calendar for the calculation of the new month and its sabbaths, continues to be of importance to both the New Covenant in Messiah and to the Remnant awakening and assembling for its end-time work. It is the responsibility of the local pastor, local nevi'im (prophets) and heads of families to assume that responsibility in our day. No commercial activity may be conducted though unlike the Sabbath day it is permitted to travel and do work.

As we were discussing yesterday on the sabbath day when we were discussing the history of the city of Smyrna, there is currently much messianic and apocalyptic fervour in evangelical and messianic circle. A lot of material is circulating the internet in particular and finding its way into local assemblies making out that prophecies in Ezekiel 38 and 39 are about to be fulfilled at any second because of the threat of war in the Ukraine that is potentially drawing the Russian Federation and NATO into conflict and the whole world into a apocalyptic war. Today we are going to resolve the question, at least in outline.

So we're going to begin this assembly by reading out aloud these two chapters and as we do I want you to ask yourselves whether what is being spoken here pertains to a time that:

• 1. Has already passed, that was fulfilled shortly after these prophecies were made;
• 2. Has already passed, that was fulfilled sometime afterwards yet before our day;
• 3. Is about to be fulfilled right now;
• 4. Is to be fulfilled in the next generation just before the Second Coming;
• 5. Is to be fulfilled at the end of the Millennium when Satan is briefly released; or
• 6. Is some multiple combination of two or more of the above.

For the moment let's just closely listen to the text and the the witness of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) to our minds and hearts and then afterwards we can talk about these passages in a little more detail. We can't do an in-depth study as there isn't time as that would require a sermon series all on its own. Bear in mind that these two chapters are a part of a single prophetic scroll [1] that covers Ezekiel 33:21 through 39:29 which cover a number of connected themes, namely:

• 1. An explanation of why Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC shortly before Ezekiel penned this revelation (33:21-34);
• 2. A word to the leaders of Judah and their responsibility for the disaster that had struck the nation (chapter 34);
• 3. A prophecy against Edom, the territory of Esau's descendants (chapter 35);
• 4. A prophecy to the mountains of Israel (chapter 36); and
• 5. The prophecies concerning the Valley of Dry Bones & Two Sticks (chapter 37).

Only then do we come to chapters 37 and 38 whose context is what came before. Therefore we must remember that these two chapters, which are being used by modern commentators to point to Russia and the Ukraine have as their context these other 4½ chapters - don't ever forget that or the useful interpreter's addage that "scriptural text without a context is a pretext for a prooftext". So remember, all of what we're about to read comes within the immediate context of a specific national distaster, the fall of Jerusalem, and the deportation of most of the population of Judea to Babylon 2,500 years ago.

I'm going to read from the New International Version (NIV) as this flows rather better than the New King James Version (NKJV) that we usually use. Pay especial attention to some special, if unfamiliar to most, place names as we must carefully located each of these to see if they fit modern claims. And finally, make a note of the kind of specific military equipment that is described in the Great Battle that is forecast to happen in the future:

38:1 "The Davar Elohim (Word of the LORD) came to me: 2 'Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince (Heb. rosh) of Meshech (the Moschi of the Greeks) and Tubal (the Tibereni of the Greeks); prophesy against him 3 and say: 'This is what Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD) says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince (Heb. rosh) of Meshech (the Moschi of the Greeks) and Tubal (the Tibereni of the Greeks). 4 I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army - your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. 5 Persia, Cush (modern Sudan) and Put (modern Libya) will be with them, all with shields and helmets, 6 also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops - the many nations with you.



7 "'Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. 8 After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. 9 You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

10 "'This is what Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD) says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, 'I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people - all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.' 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, 'Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?''

14 "Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: 'This is what Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD) says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? 15 You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. 16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself qadosh (holy, set-apart) through you before their eyes.

17 "'This is what Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD) says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by My servants the nevi'im (prophets) prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. 18 This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, My hot anger will be aroused, declares Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD). 19 In My zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD). Every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulphur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show My greatness and My holiness, and I will make Myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh (the LORD).'

39:1 "Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: 'This is what Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD) says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince (Heb. rosh) Meshech (the Moschi of the Greeks) and Tubal (the Tibereni of the Greeks). 2 I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. 4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. 5 You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD). 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am Yahweh (the LORD).



7 "'I will make known My qadosh (holy, set-apart) name among My people Israel. I will no longer let My qadosh (holy, set-aoart) name be profaned, and the nations will know that I Yahweh (the LORD) am the Qadosh (Holy, Set-Apart) One in Israel. 8 It is coming! It will surely take place, declares Yahweh Elohim (the Sovereign LORD). This is the day I have spoken of.

9 "'Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up - the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. 10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD).



11 "'On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east toward the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.

12 "'For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a memorable day for them, declares Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD).

14 "'Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land. Some will go throughout the land and, in addition to them, others will bury those that remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search. 15 As they go through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 (Also a town called Hamonah will be there.) And so they will cleanse the land.'

17 "Son of man, this is what Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD says): Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: 'Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls - all of them fattened animals from Bashan. 19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. 20 At My table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,' declares Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD).

21 "I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. 22 From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their Elohim (God). 23 And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid My face from them.

25 "Therefore this is what Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD) says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for My qadosh (holy, set-apart) Name. 26 They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward Me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show Myself qadosh (holy, set-apart) through them in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they will know that I am Yahweh (the LORD) their Elohim (God), for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. 29 I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Ruach (Spirit) on the house of Israel, declares Yahweh-Elohim (the Sovereign LORD)" (Ezek.38-39, NIV).

OK, that's a lot to take in, but having the overall picture is extremeløy important before we start looking at details and start isolating specific happenings. The immediate context is quite clearly the disaster of 586 BC and its immediate aftermath and how the exile of Judah in Babylon (and by extension the exile of Northern Israel too) is going to be finally resolved. Aside from the well-known nations of Persia (now Iran), Put (now Libya) and Cush (now Sudan), we know that Magog, Gomer, Meshech, Tubal and Togarmah were located in Anatolia, in what is modern-day Asia Minor and Turkey, and that this is the land that is to the 'far north' of little Israel and Judah. The evidence for this is overwhelming. If you draw a line north from Israel it passes through the centre of Turkey and just touches the edge of what is modern Russia (see the maps below).

All of these enemies from the immediate north are known to be descendants of Noah's son Japheth as we read in Genesis:

"The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim (Cyprus) and the Rodanim. (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language)" (Gen.10:2-5, NIV).

You will have noticed "Ashkenaz" is the forefather of the Ashkenazi or eastern Jews who predominate in the modern Israeli Republic and who pretty much control the political machinery of that mdoern nation. Note that Ashkenaz was not a Shemite (a descendant of Shem, the son of Noah, from whom Abraham, Isaac and Jacob came) or 'Semites' as we call them today. That is something you are going to have to factor into the riddle of end-time peoples and events. Anyway, the important thing to remember here is that 'Magog' is the Land of Gog or Mát Gúgi in the ancient language of the area) which is what would become Lydia in Anatolia or Asia Minor.

When people say that Meshech, for example, modern Moscow, Moskva or Muscovy, they are simply playing around with words because they sound vaguely similar. Moscow is not in modern Turkey! I know, I used to believe this nonsense myself decades ago when I was a young, uninformed believer immersed in the popular works of the likes of Hal Lindsey. The same is true of "Rosh", first mentioned in Genesis 46:21), a son of Benjamin, which the same pop theologians claim evolved into 'Rus' and then 'Russia'. You'll notice that 'Rosh' does not appear in Ezekiel 38:2,3 and 39:1 except in the ASV, NASB, NKJV, NEB & AmpV - it's not in the KJV or the more modern NRSV or ESV as it literally means 'head chieftain', 'chief prince', 'great prince', 'prince of the head', 'head prince', 'leader and head' (Peshitta) or 'head great one' because it is not here a tribe or a nation but a TITLE... the same word used in 'Rosh Chodesh' meaning 'head of the moon'. Likewise in the popular, sensationalist Christian literature, similar word associations are made between 'Tubal' and the modern Siberian city of 'Tobolsk'. Again, Tubal is located in modern Turkey.

This is not serious linguistics which is why speculation is rampant about the modern identity of these places and peoples with some even proposing that 'Magog' is even China or Korea. This kind of wild speculation helps no one and just adds to the basket of confusion. Back in the 19th century the Hasidic rabbis speculated that the French invasion of Russia under Napoleon was the great war of Gog and Magog. You see, nobody knows, and everyone speculates based on what's happening in their own particular century. The idea that Russia is somehow 'Meshech' (Muscovy) was born out of the Cold War of the second half of the 20th century when it was assumed that the Soviet Union (USSR), which was then the 'bad guy', had to be the "prince of Meshech". This association has only persisted since the fall of the Soviet Union because the 'deep state' narrative to view modern Russia as still the 'bad guy' because that nation is its scapegoat, as the Jews were to Nazi Germany. Accordingly, extrapolating from the false 'bad guy' motif, the popular Christian press is forced to conclude that the final battle of Gog and Magog will have to be nuclear which would 'explain' all the bodies lying around for seven months awaiting burial because they are presumed to be radioactive and therefore untouchable. Russia has entered the prophetic picture only because, first, the Jews hated Russia for its Czarist pogroms, and second, because the Illuminati decided to make it the 'bad cop' in their Machiavellian 'good cop/bad cop' set-up. Rosh as Russia is therefore the product of the religious prejudices (Jewish) and politics of the 19th and 20th-21st centuries. It's the same reason you'll find Gomer being identified with Germany by some popular commentators because of the Nazis.

But does a nuclear war with missiles, tanks, aircraft and other modern weaponry sound like all those wooden bows, arrows and speers being burned for fuel for seven years? Read the text again carefully. Granted, some of the nevi'im (prophets) looking into the future would have been unable to describe modern weaponry and would have been forced to adapt terms from their primitive knowledge-base, and certainly some of the weird descriptions in the Book of Revelation, for example, might well indicate this particular problem, but there is no weird apocalyptic imagery in Ezekiel. Moreover, the navi (prophet) is quite specific: the discarded weapons are burned for fuel isntead of wood hewn from the forests of Israel. There's no getting around that. So either what is being described is actually about a pre-modern world with the kinds of weapons used that are described by Ezekiel or we are looking into our own distant future in a post-modern world where men have again resorted to primitive weaponry. Albert Einstein once famously predicted that a Third World War would be fought with nuclear weapons but a Fourth World War would be fought with sticks and stones. If still a future event, a post-World War 3 scenario is the only possible interpretation. I really can't see any other explanation for Ezekiel 38 & 38 without twisting and mutilating the text otherwise you are forced to conclude that these Israelites are cooking their meals on fires fuelled by tanks, missiles and machine guns. The last I heard is that metal isn't a very good combustible.

That leaves us with two possible explanations, in my view:

• 1. We're looking at a battle that has long since happened; or
• 2. We're looking at a battle in a time period in the future where modern techology is no more which might be describing, therefore, either a post-nuclear situation before the Millennium or a renewed world without modern weaponry at the end of the Millennium; or
• 3. We're looking at both in a typical prophetic repetition.

So let's be clear. The country to the north of Israel where these ancient peoples were once located is TURKEY, a Moslem nation today that currently is very antagontistic toward the Israeli Republic, its current leader, Erdogan, anxious to restore at least part of the Ottoman Empire and the ancient Caliphate (see The Hope of Today: Change and Meeting Tomorrow). If anyone is a candidate for a modern Gog and Magog, it is Turkey...assuming this prophecy even applies to our day, which I don't believe it does, which doesn't mean that Turkey and the Israeli Republic won't come to blows in the future, which is quite possible. That such a conflict would be the prophesied Battle of God and Magog is, however, a pretty big assumption, along with another huge assumption, namely, that the modern Israeli Republic is the restoration of Biblical Israel, which this ministry does not accept for reasons given in detail in our many publications on the subject [2][3].

My own belief, which I have stated many times over the years, is that the current Israeli state is but a temporary phenomenon and is due to be wiped out one way or another because it is a counterfeit of the true Israel, which can only be Messianic Israel, which the Israeli Republic manifestly is not. It is rather, as I have also claimed, an Edomite state, the now (since 1948) exercised birthright of Esau who was cheated of that birthright by his dishonest brother Jacob in the days before he was regenerated and renamed 'Israel'. Justice has to be done even for a carnal Esau because Jacob was dishonest. Esau claimed that birthright, was given it in 1948, to enable him to demonstrate to the world that he was not capable of exercising it in righteousness. The Israeli Republic is a hodgepodge state of Edomites (the assimilated peoples of Edom forcibly circumcised by the Hasmoneans/Maccabees), Ashkenazi (Khazar) Japhethites (eastern 'Jews'), Ethiopian Falasha Jews, and many other races, with a smattering of true Judah mixed in who are even now coming to Christ but are still a very small minority.

So how will this prophecy of Ezekiel fully play out? I have given you my interpretation which I believe takes into account all the scriptural and known historical facts. There are those who, like us, understand that the Israeli Republic is not true Israel but who nonetheless believe the Israeli Republic is somehow fulfilling biblical prophecies about the true Israel. I can't go along with that. The counterfeit may well be mentioned in the Bible somewhere, probably in prophecies about Edom, or it might conceivably even be a part of a modern "synagogue of Satan" (Rev.2:9; 3:9) as we discussed yesterday, but it cannot be fulfilling prophesy reserved for true Messiah-believing and Torah-implementing Israel which isn't about race anyway. Israel is the fellowship of overcomers in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) from all nations to whom the Promised Land will be given when Yah'shua (Jesus) returns. There is only ever one people of Elohim (God) at any one moment in time and not two as the Zionists claim.

So what has Russia to do with any of this? Nothing. The constant demonisation of Russia by the Western globalist élites ought to be a red flag to any intelligent person. Russia may not be a true democracy (but then neither is the West any longer) but it, almost alone (apart from Hungary and Poland) is promoting family values, which our satanic rulers loathe, and is blessed for that reason and has sought to bring stability where the élites have sown chaos and made aggressive war. It seems to me that Russia is simply the demonic scapegoat in the false narrative of the Deep State which promotes Rothschild Zionism, a Marxist idea in its conception. And gullible Christians have fallen for the deception which is why they have most of their prophetic markers all wrong. They are reading biblical prophecy through the lenses of the very élites they claim to despise. And as I have also said, Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is our modern-day Cyrus, not ex-US President Donald Trump. The Russian semi-totalitarian régime and its leader may not be angels but then neither are the Western nations any longer.

With the globalist Covid-19 narrative failing, the élites are being forced to turn to war again. Their power-base is under threat and they are being forced to do what all dictators do - find a distraction, what I call the 'Galtieri Gambit', named after the late Argentinian dictator whose régime was failing and he needed a distraction - the invasion of the Falkland Islands to stir up popular nationalistic support. The Western Élites have been blame-shifting their crimes to Russia ever since Trump but they have flogged that horse to death so that nobody is believing them anymore. They're even blaming the current trucker revolt in Canada on Russia. Let us pray that there is no war in the Ukraine. (For more on Russia, the West, and the Ukraine, see The 2014-16 Judgments of Yahweh on the Penultimate Judgment website).

There are lots of complex things going on in the world day and we'll never be able to fathom the many layers of evil and deception because at base it's supernatural - there is the demonic narrative and there is Yahweh's, both of whom employ supernatural agencies. The bottom line is heavenly powers. Beyond a certain point, the conflict is purely a heavenly war where it will be finally resolved too. We have done, and continue to do, our part in truth-telling. Our Elohim (God) will do the rest. This is the year of Penultiate Judgment and things are coming to a head. Yahweh is in control. We will continue truth-telling and peaching the Besorah (Gospel, Good News) and let Him bring matters to a conclusion.

I don't think we know enough yet to be able to fully interpret Ezekiel 38-39 because it's still future. This may not be a very satisfactory answer for many of you who want something sensational in the here-and-now but I feel it is the only honest one, and I refuse to speculate beyond what is known, namely, that Gog and Magog are ancient places and tribes in what is now modern Turkey and that Russia does not factor into Ezekiel's prophecies. Indeed, when the future aspect of these prophecies is fulfilled, modern-day Turkey and Israel may not even exist any longer. Turkey avoided partition in 1922/3, committed attrocities, and is today oppressing minority groups within its border. It has not owned up to, or repented for, its crimes against the Armenians, Greeks and others, which means it too, like the rest of the unrepentant nations, must face judgment. I ought also to mention in passing that many Turks claim to be descended from Togarmah.

We shall doubtless return to Ezekiel's prophecies again some time but for now let us deal with reality as it is and the facts which we know. I have really nothing to add to the admonitions I have been making over the years other than to urge you to get right with Elohim (God), repent of, and forsake, your sins and turn to the Saviour of the world, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) for your salvation and deliverance. That is, in any case, our main business. Everything else is but commentary. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See The 13 Scrolls of Ezekiel: How Wrong Ordering Has Led to Wrong Eschatology, Containing the Whole Book of Ezekiel Arranged in the Correct Prophetic Sequence
[2] See the Zionism website
[3] See the important 5-part series, Jacob's Trouble questioning the Zionist narrative about modern Israel

Comments from Readers

[1] "Thank you brother, very good!" (PB, Canada, 2 Febuary 2022)