The general character of the passage, the nature of the war, the invasion when it comes, and the outcome is, however, perfectly clear. What significance does it have to the modern scene? First of all, if we understand the passage correctly, Russia, instead of being a nation which is going to dominate the whole world, is headed for a tremendous military defeat. It is not possible to predict what is going to happen between now and the time this battle takes place, but the Bible seems quite clear that there is no room for a Russian-dominated world empire. The Bible prophesies only four world empires. The empire of the great tribulation period which will come as a form of the revived Roman Empire, is the final form of the fourth empire of Daniel, not a Russian Empire. This, in turn, will be succeeded by the millennial reign of Christ.
The passage seems to confirm that Russia, instead of becoming a world power that is going to dominate the whole world, is instead headed for an awful defeat, a judgment from God because of its blasphemy and ungodliness. If this becomes true during the time of the seventieth week of Daniel, it may explain something that otherwise might be difficult.
We know that in the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week there will be a world government headed by the ruler of the Mediterranean confederacy. The question is, how does he forge this world empire so quickly and so easily, and apparently without fighting for it? We learn in Revelation 13:4 that the question is asked, “Who is able to make war with him?” i.e., with the Beast. The answer is that nobody is able to make war with him. It should be obvious that if Russia and her satellites are destroyed as military powers, the other side of the balance of power, represented by the Mediterranean confederacy, is then in a position to dominate the whole world. Nobody is able, for at least a time, to contest their right to rule.
The destruction of the Russian army may be the preface to the world government which will sweep the world during the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week and be in power at the time Christ comes back to establish His millennial kingdom. These two portions of Scripture, while they concern themselves with a future war, are of tremendous significance as we face the present world scene and the dominance of Russia as a military power. We can trust that God, in due time, and perhaps sooner than we think, will bring these Scriptures to their sure conclusion and fulfillment.[1]
APPENDIX 3
COMMON QUESTIONS RELATED TO RUSSIA, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND THE END OF DAYS
Just days before he died on the cross Jesus said that the end times will be punctuated by military conflict: “You will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6-7).
Since the United States and Russia are the two most powerful military machines in the world and have engaged in a seventy-year standoff, it’s reasonable to wonder whether these two powers will come to blows in the future. Inquiring minds want to know.
We’ve seen in this book that Russia is referenced in Scripture in Ezekiel 38–39. Russia will be a part of the first main war of the end times—the War of Gog and Magog. America, on the other hand, is not mentioned in the Bible, at least explicitly. All agree that the words America or the United States are absent from Scripture, but some believe they’ve discovered symbolic references to the US in three main texts: the unnamed nation in Isaiah 18:1-2, Babylon in Revelation 17–19, or “the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions” (KJV) in Ezekiel 38:13. One other view is that America is the ten lost tribes of Israel.
Ezekiel 38:13 and its reference to “the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions” (KJV) is the only one of the four views that could possibly refer to the United States. The others are tenuous at best.
The words “young lions” are employed in Scripture to refer to energetic rulers, so this could refer to leaders or the nations that have come out of Tarshish.[1]
Tarshish in Ezekiel’s day was in the most distant western region of the known world. In Jonah 1:1-3, when God called the prophet Jonah to go east to preach to Nineveh, Jonah went as far as he could to the west, to Tarshish, a Phoenician colony likely in what today is Spain.
We discussed this briefly in chapter 4. The young lions and the merchants of Tarshish could be a reference to the lands that emerged from Spain, including the nations of South and Central America. Some contend that ancient Tarshish was actually in England. If this view is correct, the “young lions” could represent “the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other present-day western democracies.”[2] This would be a clear biblical reference to the role of America in the end times.
In any event, nothing in this passage refers to a war between the United States and Russia. Ezekiel 38:13 presents Tarshish and the young lions as sitting on the sidelines when Russia attacks Israel, not engaging in battle. So even if the merchants of Tarshish is a veiled reference to the United States, it points toward Russia and the US once again avoiding an all-out showdown of forces.
Russia and the United States may square off militarily at some point in the future, but the Bible doesn’t speak to this issue one way or the other.
The dawn of the nuclear age in the 1940s ushered in a staggering new reality—humanity’s ability to blow up this planet. Since that time, fears have mounted that the world will end in a nuclear nightmare. This fear was palpable during the tense days of the Cold War. Anyone growing up in the 1950s through the 1970s remembers the tangible threat of nuclear war. Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nukes, followed closely by the United States. During the Cold War, the threat of a nuclear exchange was a sum-of-all-fears scenario.
In the last twenty years, the proliferation of nuclear weapons has changed everything. Pakistan, India, and China have nuclear weapons. North Korea and its bizarre leader have the bomb, and the world watches as Kim Jong-un conducts ballistic missile tests in an effort to obtain a missile that can deliver a nuclear payload to the United States. Terrorist states like Iran are waiting in the wings to join the nuclear club.
With this many nuclear players on the scene, and with Russia as the leader of the pack, many people want to know if the Bible predicts the use of nuclear weapons in the end times. In today’s volatile international environment, it’s reasonable to wonder whether the Bible addresses this critical question.
Three main biblical passages are cited in support of the view that a nuclear exchange is prophesied in the latter years:
The LORD will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
By the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed…. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment…. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.
1
John Walvoord’s original chapter on the king of the north goes on to describe “The Emergence of a World Religion,” but it does not pertain to the subject of this book, so I’ve ended the chapter here.
1
Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum,