Some years ago I knew a man who belligerently professed that he knew the date of Jesus' return to set up His Kingdom Of Heaven, on earth. I tried, as did several others to convince him that this was unbiblical, as Jesus himself said, in Matthew 24: 36, that, " ...No man knows the day, nor the hour...but my father only." Jesus also said, in Acts 1: 7, that, "It is not for you to know the times (or years), or the seasons, which my Father has put in His own power." Yet he continued to spread the warning that Jesus was due on some date in, I think it was 2011! He didn't say much after that date, I guess because he, like the rest of us had apparently missed out on his "Rapture"!!! Thank God that Jesus is our Lord, and not him!!!
But, Jesus also rebuked the Pharisees for not recognizing the, "signs of the times" (also a Hebrew term, meaning "years"). I gather that we may not know the exact time of His return, but we can recognize the apparent drift in that direction, based on the secular conditions that surround us! This is the basis for my belief in the soon fulfillment of the Ezekiel: 38, and 39 prophecy. This prophecy was given by God about 2500 years ago, with the statement that it would be fulfilled in, "the latter days", which was a Biblical term meaning the general era that preceded the return of Jesus! This war in the Middle-East would be precipitated by Russia (referred to as Magog, an ancient tribe that settled first, in present-day Turkey, and later moved to the region around present-day Moscow, Russia).
It made sense to me that Russia would set up some sort of presence in the Middle-East, before such an invasion would begin. Russia has desired a "warm water" port since the Tsarist days, of the 19th century. They initially acquired one when they invaded, then "annexed" the port at the base of the Crimean peninsula, after a brief war with the Ukraine. But, not until the recent revolt against Russia's ally, Syria, have they been able to get a foothold in the Mediterranean region. Since coming to the "aid" of Bashir Assad's regime, they have been allowed to establish a port, and air base in northwestern Syria, from which I believe they intend to launch their invasion of the Middle-East.
They are also allied with Iran, (which was referred to by their ancient name of "Persia", in the prophecy) and which is prophecied to join with them in this invasion, and which has recently moved into the void left by the defeat of I.S.I.S., in Iraq. Iran has been saying for years that they want to destroy Israel, and that is probably fine with Russia, because Israel is the only power in the region that could interfere with their probable goal of capturing the Arab gulf-states' oil reserves. I have speculated that Russia wants those oil reserves so they can embargo all the Western countries, who have honored America's sanctions against Russia, for invading, and later annexing the Crimean Peninsula, of the Ukraine, into their own territory. Russia would then appear neutral, until Iran had completed their desired slaughter of every man, woman, and child in Israel!!! Unfortunately (for them), God has a little to say about that, as He has prophecied that He will help Israel defeat this invasion (by a disastrous earthquake?), causing a panic among the invaders, that He describes as, "every mans' sword (or modern weapon) will be against his brother (or comrade in arms)"!!! Perhaps this panic will cause the Iranian forces to try to retreat, before the Russians are able to invade the gulf states, and the Russians try to halt the panicked retreat. This might bring about the armed conflict between the "brothers", that God has prophecied will destroy 83, and 1/3rd% of the invasion force!!!
I admit that this is a lot of extrapolation by my imagination, but there has never been a time in those past 2500 years when these things have come together to possibly fulfill this prophecy! I find it hard to believe that God would cause these things to come together without using them to fulfill His prophecy!!! Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't believe so! Anyway, we should all know for sure, one way or the other, fairly soon!!!
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