There are certain things we are all familiar with that tell us with certainty that something is coming in the near future. When a family begins boxing up all their belongings and stacking them in one room, you know there is a move coming in the future. When two weeks worth of clothes are being crammed into suitcases and loaded into the car, you know someone is soon leaving on vacation. There are also some other things that are a bit more ominous than these commonplace things. When troops begin to amass on the border or military equipment begins to move en masse, you know an invasion or military action of some sort is near. Luke 21:29-33 KJV – “And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” Jesus makes it clear that, as with everyday life, there are also prophetic precursors that tell us something is in the not too distant future. Today we see, for the first time in history, a coalition of nations working together that were identified by Ezekiel over 2500 years ago. Three of them, Russia, Turkey, and Iran, all have troops on the northern border of Israel, the very direction from which the Bible says they will invade. Ezekiel 38:15-17 KJV – “And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?” Ezekiel 39 tells us that God will destroy the invading nations with an earthquake, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. (Ezekiel 39:18-22) This will bring an end to Russia and the radical Islamic countries and pave the way for the beast of Revelation 13 to rise to power out of the revived Roman Empire. Three of the five nations of the Ezekiel war are already in coalition with the other two, Sudan and Libya. They are positioned on the northern border of Israel. The protesting nations to the invasion, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf States, are developing relationships with Israel. When you combine all these facts, it is like seeing your neighbors box up their belongings or load camping gear on top of the car. You know what’s coming soon. Europe is about to rise to power, and the man of sin will rise up from Europe. This, too, tells that something else is going to happen soon: 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 KJV – “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” When Jesus said in Matthew 24 that no one knows the day or hour of His coming, He meant exactly that. No one knows the day or the hour, but that doesn’t mean nothing can be known. We know that before the lawless one can be revealed, the restraining force of the Holy Spirit through the church must be taken out of the way. Then the Spirit will allow the lawless one to rise to power. If we are seeing the nations that the Lord will destroy gathered and poised to strike Israel from the north, the protesting nations developing relationships with Israel, and Western Europe rising to power, then we know what is about to happen, even though we don’t know the day or hour. We’re about to go on a trip to the Father’s house in a moment and a twinkling of an eye! Remember, the only thing you can take on this trip is other people. So, tell someone about Jesus today! Our new bodies and our forever being with the Lord is coming soon! Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
