Once I had satisfied myself that the Biblical chronology of prophetic events of the last days ( or "End Times") convinced me that God's "Rapture" of the Church of Jesus Christ will precede the seven-year period called the "Great Tribulation", which ends with the final battle of Armageddon, I became somewhat less concerned with the actual developments leading up to that final battle. My reasoning was that I have no intention of missing out on the Rapture, should I live long enough to see it, therefore it is somewhat irrelevant to me, personally; and terribly confusing as well.
The most confusing thing to me was that the Armageddon enemies of Israel who will be the main participants in the final battle which causes God's wrath to come against them in defense of His people ( Israel) seemed to be mostly European, and mostly western European at that; along with the "kings of the east". These "kings of the east" I had always presumed would be mostly China and other nations of mostly Oriental racial mix. But their motivation seemed to be rather obscure for me, so I just didn't concern myself with that which I can't understand, and which I believe will not effect me personally. Still, it nawed at my sense of curiosity. I am sure that many Bible-believing Christians have much the same attitude.
I had pretty much written off any significant Muslim element in connection with Armageddon, since the Gog/Magog invasion ( which I think may be called World War III) is prophecied to have 83% of the entire combined Russian and Muslim-nations' armies destroyed, "upon the mountains of Israel". One would logically expect that that kind of disaster would tend to discourage further hegemony in as little as seven years time. But I realized that one of the nations that could qualify as one of the "kings of the east" could be Indonesia ( which has the largest Muslim population in the world), and which is not mentioned as a participant in Gog/Magog. It could be that resentment towards Israel could drive them, and those of neighboring nations with large Muslim populations, to want to avenge the Muslim forces that perished in Gog/Magog. That combined with China's undiminished desire to conquer the world for their own purposes could fit the bill, in a sort of Oriental "Gog/Magog II" alliance. This will prove to be the ultimate exercise in futility as God doesn't reveal the percentage of their armies that will be destroyed, but He gives us a very graphic idea when he says that their blood will rise to the level of the horses' bridles. This is obviously meant as a measurement that ancient people would understand, not necessarily as a prophecy that horses would be used to transport the armies through the valley of Magiddo. Since most saddle horses' bridles would be roughly five feet above the ground, that gives us an idea of the level of blood that will be spilled when God destroys those who will come against His people in Israel. If the invading armies are not totally wiped-out, it seems that it must come pretty close to that.
Also the western European nations, especially France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are already struggling under the pressure of large Muslim populations several times as large, and twice as politically belligerent as our own in America. Could it be that Muslim anti-Semitism could become so "politically correct" in combination with that of old European anti-Semitic traditions that it could be the major reason for the Armageddon invasion itself??? That seems mind-boggling to me, but unfortunately quite possible!
After much reflection upon the likely consequenses of the Gog/Magog invasion of Israel, which I have written about in my previous posts, I have begun to formulate a possible scenario that makes sense to me logically, and I don't believe it does any violence to the Word of God's last days prophecies. However, some of what I'm writing should not be taken as "Gospel Truth", so much as another category which I might call "Gospel Possible", if you will. It's a matter of reasoning through logically between what is prophetically clear, and irrefutable, and what is prophetically unclear, but could develop in a certain manner based upon present-day circumstances. Obviously, if I've guessed wrong about the timing, which is the easiest mistake one can make with prophecy, then the circumstances could be dramatically changed by the time God decides He's ready to bring it all to pass. And He hasn't bothered to check with me lately about His timing! So, the best I can hope for is to make educated guesses now, and humble apologies later, if I have guessed wrong. But I don't think I'm way off base with my Gog/Magog analysis, or (hopefully!!!) my pre-tribulation rapture call. So, if I'm wrong about Armageddon, we should all be in Heaven by then, and we won't care much either way!!!
What do you think?
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