Psalm 83 then into Ezekiel 38

post 2:

Here's the verse itself in the ESV translation:

O God, Do Not Keep Silence
A Song. A Psalm of gAsaph.
83 O God, do not keep silence;

hdo not hold your peace or be still, O God!

2  For behold, your enemies imake an uproar;

those who hate you have jraised their heads.

3  They lay kcrafty plans against your people;

they consult together against your ltreasured ones.

4  They say, “Come, mlet us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

5  For they conspire with one accord;

against you they make a covenant—

6  the tents of nEdom and othe Ishmaelites,

pMoab and qthe Hagrites,

7  rGebal and pAmmon and sAmalek,

tPhilistia with the inhabitants of uTyre;

8  vAsshur also has joined them;

they are the strong arm of wthe children of Lot. Selah
9  Do to them as you did to xMidian,

as to ySisera and Jabin at zthe river Kishon,

10  who were destroyed at aEn-dor,

who became bdung for the ground.

11  Make their nobles like cOreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like dZebah and Zalmunna,

12  who said, e“Let us take possession for ourselves

of the pastures of God.”
13  O my God, make them like fwhirling dust,1

like gchaff before the wind.

14  As hfire consumes the forest,

as the flame isets the mountains ablaze,

15  so may you pursue them jwith your tempest

and terrify them with your hurricane!

16  kFill their faces with shame,

that they may seek your name, O LORD.

17  Let them be lput to shame and dismayed forever;

let them perish in disgrace,

18  that they may mknow that you alone,

nwhose name is the LORD,

are othe Most High over all the earth.

post 3

It's interesting that none of the nations mentioned in Psalm 83 are also mentioned in Ezekiel 38.  Also all of the 83 nations are ones that directly border Israel.  They all also happen to be nations that contain proxy groups for the big backer nations (i.e. the real players in this current conflict) while all of those big players are involved in Ezekiel 38.

So it sets the stage where a victory in Psalm 83 would completely eliminate any bordering threat to Israel.  They might truly be a nation of unwalled villages, living in peace and security, and unsuspecting of an imminent attack.  This has always puzzled me as how could the nation of Israel ever really feel that way in order for Ezekiel 38 to take place when it knows that the nations listed in that attack are present and hate them as they currently do.

I think the key here is that God never sets a time limit on how long Israel has to be in this state of peace, just that it happens to be the current state when the Ezekiel 38 war takes place.  Two things that would lead to that taking place though are a complete victory over all of it's surrounding neighbors in Psalm 83 leaving no one left to immediately fight even if that's only for one night.  (as in having just bested all of these proxy fighting forces, the last thing Israel would expect is for the backing nations to jump right in as well) and one global key even taking place completely changing the paradigm of power globally...

The Rapture

The way I potentially see if playing out is immediately after Psalm 83 happens or even towards the end of Psalm 83 the rapture happens.  This allows several things to happen all at once:

1. Iran, Russia, Turkey, and the arab world are at full strength and angrier than ever having just lost all of their proxy units in Psalm 83 against Israel

2. The US military is devastated with enough people being raptured out of it that it stands in confusion unable to act

3. God has now turned the clock on the age of grace and now will act in a visible direct manner destroying Israel's enemies in Ezekiel 38

So now a map of Ezekiel 38:

You know what I love most about these verses and maps, none of them are new!  They've been around for thousands of years and based upon the sovereignty of God they are absolutely going to come to pass.  (albeit maybe possibly in a way far different than what I've laid out above)

So now with the Church gone, the US completely distracted, Israel in peace, and the Arab nations basically fully intact they think their final chance to destroy Israel has come and it completely would be save for God stepping in and declaring that yes, HE is still GOD!

Interesting to note that out of this Ezekiel 38 conflict the only remaining powers will be the EU and the one world government lead by the antichrist and the kings of the east led by China perfectly setting the stage for what players we see present during the tribulation.  Also the world will be so terrified of what just happened in Israel and so scared of war in general that a 7 year peace will easily follow.

Which leads to a grand delusion that ties in ever so nicely with all of the above that many have discussed on here.  The antichrist will claim that it wasn't a rapture nor was it God intervening in Israel, but that it was aliens that stepped in to remove the Christians and stopped the aggression from the north.  The Christians because the aliens knew that we are the only group that wouldn't follow and cooperate with the new world order and the aggression from the north taking place because there must now be peace and cooperation in this new world order.

I honestly believe that we are watching the Psalm 83 war beginning now and that the timeline between it and our Rapture will be a very short one, with an immediately following Ezekiel 38 war the moment we leave which will kick off the 7 years tribulation with a peace treaty in Jerusalem.

See you all soon Maranatha!

Joel, you said the following above:

For Him to supernaturally step in would be to remove faith from the equation and would effectively end the age of grace.

Very good point!

Something to note also is that if this is the Psalm 83 war it would seem likely that Israel would deplete much if not all of her Iron Dome defense missiles and ammunition given the campaign they had to wage against their enemies. So that would be taken into account by the Ezekiel coalition when deciding to strike and then ONLY God could truly save Israel.

an opposite view from an author I really like that states that Psalm 83 isn't a prophecy like Ezekiel 38 is.

Definitely worth a read either way.  He quotes Amir Tsarfati in it quite a few times:

https://www.alittlestrength.com/articles/2023/2310-where-is-this-going.htm

Excellent article, thanks Joel. I hope everyone reads it. At the risk of sounding haughty, I've read Psalm 83 umpteen times and every time I thought it can't possibly be a prophecy of a future war. Of course, I didn't have the courage of my conviction to say so publicly, for fear of being labelled argumentative and being jumped on like a chicken on a June bug.

As for Damascus, the writer has a good point. However, there's is nothing to stop prophecy being fulfilled more than once.

The lesson here for all of us, myself especially, is to stick to the Word and what it actually says. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand it. Sometimes, in my experience, that understanding comes quickly and sometimes it doesn't. We don't see the bigger picture as clearly as He does. At times I've received answers to that request years after I've prayed it.

I think it has something to do with the level of our spiritual maturity. We are also hampered by believing  popular, or mainstream doctrines. The beauty of this forum is that we can help one another. I think we should acknowledge that we all make mistakes -- I know I do -- and that we should have the confidence and the assurance that we won't be treated like the village idiot when we do.

Even the best of the best commentators and outstanding students of the Word have been wrong about some things. I've learned so very much from people like Derek Prince and Chuck Missler and many others, and yet they were not infallible. My theory is that some of these scriptural truths are revealed on a schedule and we are fortunate to be living in a time when many of them are being revealed to us now.

Our responsibility, I think, is to be receptive.

Amen Paul!  And thanks for the Lauer article, Joel.  I mostly pass on Psalm 83 discussions, but the subject does tend to rile me up some, especially given the certainty many people attach to their interpretations.  I just try to go back and remind myself what the Bible actually says... and what it doesn't.