The easier way

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Feb 15, 2015 at 09:11

Hi, Tovey

Another day, another opportunity to look into this Ezekiel 38-39 thing.

First of all, let's be clear that I am talking about the passage in Ezekiel, not the mention of "Gog and Magog" in Revelation. Bible interpreters often confuse the two, which are not related. Putting that aside, you said,

So, why would one consider that Russia could be the entity of Ezekiel's forecasting? How about the Abrahamic covenant; blessing those that bless and cursing those that have cursed the Children of the Eternal Sovereign, the apple of His eye? Tell if there be any nation that have had any participation in the holocaust of any Jewish era before, during and after the Diaspora that is not to be judged and the prophecies of those will tell the judgment is already made and merely awaiting the timing of its fulfillment.

I never said Russia would escape judgment., nor would any nation. In the end times, God will judge the nations that attack Israel. In the case of the Ezekiel 38-39 attack, those nations are spelled out geographically, corresponding to countries in Ezekiel's time: namely, Lydia (Beit Gog), Gomer, Mesheck, Tubal and Beit Togarmah (all in modern Turkey), Persia (modern Iran), Cush (modern Sudan) and Phut (prob. modern Cyrenaica, in Libya). These will, according to the prophet, attack Israel and be defeated. There is no mention of any nations beyond these receiving judgment: The lands across the Red Sea are designated as "Dedan and Sheba", which are today in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. They are described as mere onlookers in the battle, as are the Western Powers (the "Merchants of Tarshish", speaking of an ancient city in Spain).

Revelation speaks of another attack on Israel, the final one before Messiah's appearance. This corresponds to that of Zechariah 14, which says it will come from "all nations" -- a translation of which could the "The United Nations". Revelation says that the chief component of the attackers will be the "beast" that succeeds the Roman Empire.

There are several ways in which one can identify the remnant of the Roman Empire today. One is geographical, in which all the countries about the Mediterranean would be included, from Saudi Arabia to Germany to the UK to Morocco. That includes all the major members of the former Western European Union, and most of the former European Colonial Powers. It also includes much of the Arab World and Turkey. It does not include Russia.

A second possible remnant of the Roman Empire would be through a religious connection: Christianity was born in the Roman Empire. The Muslims subsequently conquered the southern and Eastern Christian countries, so we can safely ignore them. That largely leaves the "Roman" Christian churches, which came from the Roman Catholic Church, and the "Eastern Orthodox" countries. The latter obviously include Russia; but Revelation identifies the heads of the "beast", which seem to approximate the former Colonial Powers, as countries which would "fornicate with" the "Great Harlot" -- which has been identified by many as the fallen church. Russia might be included in this number; as indeed, the Russian Revolution attacked the church much as the French Revolution did over a hundred years earlier. It may be that in the coming days, Russia will join with the US and the Europeans in attacking Israel; but that attack cannot happen without connivance and leadership by the "little horn" that arose from among the Colonial Powers, namely, the US. At any rate, remember that this final attack is not connected with the one described in Ezekiel 38-39.

A third way to identify the remnant of the Roman Empire is by their writing system. The states of Western Europe became literate through Christian monks, mainly Irish and English monks during Charlemagne's time. They wrote with a script derived from the Latin script of the Romans. The Russians received literacy through monks commissioned from Greece; and they use a modified Greek script. Since Greece at that time was called the "Eastern Roman Empire", this could be claimed as a Roman heritage; but the better claim would be made by the West.

A fourth way to identify the remnant of the Roman Empire would be its legal system. The Islamic states, by and large, have adopted Sharia Law, which originated in west central Arabia. The English and their former colonies use Common Law. The rest of Europe, including Russia, uses a form of "Civil Law", which is derived from the Code of Justinian, a Roman Emperor. The whole world uses one of those three systems.

Another way of identifying the remnant of Rome is dynastic. The forged "Donation of Constantine" was used as justification for the Pope's crowning Charlemagne as the "Holy Roman Emperor", as the legitimate heir of the Western Roman Empire; and all the major houses of Europe (including that of Russia) are derived, on one line or another, from Charlemagne. The Eastern Empire also had a succession of Emperors, but that line has largely died out. Even the former King of Greece was from a branch of the House of Oldenburg, which had connections to the Carolingian kings.

However one figures it, the final, "United Nations" attack on Israel will come from the European Powers and their descendants, most notably the US (which is as powerful as all the rest of Europe, including Russia). They will all be judged, along with the "coalition of the willing" that comes with them, whether it be with troops or with drones. They will be judged for attacking Israel, not for the Holocaust or for any other sin of their fathers. Again, this is not the "Gog, in the land of Magog" of Ezekiel 38-39; this is the "United Nations" of Zechariah 14.

In a way, preparing for this attack makes our work rather easy. If Israel's enemy were merely Russia, we would need to consider fighting them, perhaps starting a nuclear war. Since the main enemy is us, though, we don't have to do anything at all. How can we fight against ourselves? We simply have to "look up", as it says, "for our redemption draweth nigh".

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".