Last Revised May 2008, entire text with footnotes inserted into parenthesis posted September 2, 2010

The loss of Christians who have truly believed in Christ at the Rapture will change the world since they have been the salt of the Earth.  As bad as the world now seems, it will only get significantly worse.  However, the paradox is, although it will be worse, it may be a time of celebration for a world that is tired of hearing those bearing the message of God.  The difficulty will be that many who are left behind, will have unenlightened explanations of why it happened.  Many false Christians or cults will still be here, masquerading as disciples of Christ. But, besides the imitators, there will be those who believe in something else other than the God of the Bible.  It will not be a difficult thing to deceive people, especially under some scenarios (One such scenario that deserves special attention has been written in a book titled: Alien Encounters, by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman.  This book draws parallels to events before the Flood of Noah and what may be hinted at in the Book of Daniel.  It is a must read to fully understand why the Flood was necessary and to why the Antichrist may have similar power over the world through his delusions.).

Clearly God’s focus changes from the Church to Israel at the time of the Magog Invasion.  This war occurs after Israel is gathered back into the land and then God’s attention becomes directed towards Israel as he delivers them.  At this point Israel becomes aware of God’s plan.  They know him.  So this war occurs at the dividing line of the dispensation of the Church and the resumption of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks.  The seven years to burn Magog’s weapons would therefore parallel the time of Daniel’s Seventieth Week.  

Those who relegate this invasion to the Gog and Magog War found in Revelation at the end of the Millennium would disagree.  But how could Israel only regain their knowledge of God and also regain the land at the end of Christ’s one thousand-year reign from Israel itself?  Or why would Israel then burn the weapons for seven years at the end of the Millennium when all is created anew?  Even with current events aligning themselves to Ezekiel 38 and 39, it would seem pretty apparent that this time is now.  Truly this war occurs sometime before the Seventieth Week, but still there are many details, and hence speculations concerning the events at this transition.

Since Daniel’s Seventieth Week begins with the covenant with the returned Roman Empire (or rather the nations that once composed it) and not the Rapture of the Church, there is some gap between the removal of the Restrainer and the revealing of the Antichrist.  Prior to this version of the book it seemed like the Rapture would occur four years before the possible start time of the seven-year Tribulation (Daniel’s Seventieth Week) in 2010.  This would have allowed more time for Magog to end and for the Antichrist to prepare.  But if the time of the Church does span 2007 360-day years from Pentecost to 2010, then the time from the Feast of Trumpets to the Tribulation start time would be only two months.  This would seem like a short time for the Rapture and the entire Magog Campaign to come and go before the covenant with death.

To compress the Magog Campaign into the two months to ensure that the Church is not involved would seem to be a tall order. After all, most believers would hope to skip that event entirely.  However, the point at which God becomes directly involved by sending victory to Israel seems to be the turning point after which the Church has been removed.  It is more likely that the Magog Campaign begins at some point prior to the Rapture.  In fact this may be the key element to why the Church is removed.  Though the Church has looked to the Rapture as deliverance from the wrath to come, the flip side is that the Church is also removed due to its failure, and here with regards to Israel.

That the Church will be removed due to its failure does seem to be implied in Scripture.  The final church of Laodicea is the rich materialistic church with Christ outside knocking to get in.  Christ is unsatisfied with the church and spews them out of his mouth.  Actually of the Seven Churches in Revelation, it is the last five that have references in their letters concerning the coming of the Lord.  Only those of Philadelphia are given the positive aspect of being kept from the hour of God testing those who dwell on the Earth.  Laodicea is rejected, Pergamos has Christ with a sword, Thyatira is placed on a sickbed to be thrown into the Tribulation, and Sardis is cautioned to watch for Christ’s return lest they be caught unaware.  The implication is that most of the Church has failed.

The failure of the Church also seems to be implied in Paul’s message found in Romans 9-11.  Here Paul distinguishes the Church from Israel, but that Israel still has its future.  Paul mentions how much easier it will be to remove the graft of the Church and reinsert the branch of Israel.  The Church is not to brag about its position because the reality is that it will be changed.  This would seem to imply a regrafting process requiring a similar removal, but this time around for the Church and not Israel.  This is because the ages usually end in the failure of those bearing the responsibility to make way for the others.

Therefore, the timing of the Magog Campaign at the close of the Church would seem to be at least part of the final test.  It would also seem to be the final indicator that the time has come.  The test is what to do with the land and the people of Israel.  Truly many believers support Israel’s right to the land, but this is not the overall reality even among those who read their Bibles or say they do.  The result is that Israel is being squeezed until it is only God that will rescue them when the invaders come to the land.  Indeed the salt will have lost its savor and seems to be the end result of the Church—and predictably so.

This coupled with all the timing of elements found in this book would seem to indicate that much of the Magog Campaign would occur at the end of the Church Age.  Clearly the battle preparations have been developed since the beginning of Israel in 1948.  As time has continued to this day, the enemies of Israel are clearly seen and the picture of the Magog Campaign in Ezekiel becomes more focused.  Since Russia is the main weapons supplier in the war to come, it is not coincidental that they have done so in the past.  The coming war is the crescendo of the overall conspiracy that is being played.  First there was the Six-Day-War of 1967, then the Yom Kippur War of 1973, then the Russian cache of weapons found in Lebanon in 1982, then the Gulf War of 1991, then the attacks on September 11, 2001, and then the recent Lebanon War of 2006.  It is all part of the Russian-Islamic chess game for control of the most strategic part of the world.  Once the United States and the West make the wrong move concerning Israel, the seeming checkmate is in a few moves.  Since 2006, Israel’s enemies have continued to test Israel and build up arms, and the Church has witnessed all of this.  All of this is the building stages of the Magog Campaign.

It seems reasonable then to conclude that the preparation portion of the Magog Campaign has and will be further seen by the Church.  However, the point at which God delivers Israel would seem to be the time limit of the Church.  The Rapture of the Church would also be destabilizing, allowing the total political breakdown seen in Ezekiel.  But it would seem that Ezekiel’s scenario would have to be in motion with the Rapture pushing things over the edge.  

This battle for the Middle East, and its real objective to defeat Israel will come to a decisive halt.  God will send fire that appears to be astronomical (or possibly nuclear) in nature to judge those nations attacking Israel, as well as those nations who fail Israel in its time of need.  At this time, the world and especially the Jews should see the hand of God in this deliverance.  Also, the U.S. and Britain will apparently lose their courage and fail to assist Israel in their time of dire need.

The future of the State of Israel will appear to be extremely dim at this time.  This war, described in Ezekiel, will be experienced by those in Israel who have seen the plan of God unfold in a short time.  With the Rapture occurring on their festival day of Rosh Hashanah, the message should be especially clear to the Israelites who read the Torah.  They will be paying attention, because they understand the Season of Repentance.  This generation of Jewish people will become one of the greatest generations in their history.  However, longtime allies of Israel will only offer verbal support, but God will deliver Israel.

The Rapture of the Church is the key event that allows for the revealing of the Antichrist.  If the scenario in this book is correct, this would give two months between the Rapture and the covenant with Israel.  If the destruction of Magog and its players comes shortly after the Rapture, then the Antichrist has a short time to organize.  This then would make it likely that the Antichrist is currently well positioned in politics waiting for his time in history—though determining who he might be beforehand is futile.

The concern is that the war found in Ezekiel, may seem like the long prophesied and discussed war of Armageddon, but it is not that war (This is one of the more difficult issues in Bible prophecy on where to place this war with regards to the Tribulation. The other view that seems possible with Scripture is that this war is part of Armageddon. In Ezekiel 39 there is the great feast for the birds that fits the culmination of the Day of the Lord as well as all of the Jews returning to Israel. However, this view has logical problems. It still must precede the final three and a half years since Israel will be not be dwelling confidently after the Abomination of Desolation. The invasion also has the great earthquake that knocks every building down, so this cannot happen with a rebuilt Temple before the Abomination of Desolation. Rather it would seem to make sense that the earthquake opens the Temple Mount to construction of the new Temple at the beginning of the Tribulation. But as Christ’s first coming proved difficult to the theologians of the day, so also is this issue. Just as Christ read Isaiah and stopped mid-sentence showing a gap in his coming to be revisited at a later date, it seems probable that there is a gap in Ezekiel. Either way there must logically be some gap with either view and it seems to make most sense to put it at the time before the Tribulation. The key, however, is to realize this and remain flexible once things become more clear as the time does arrive.) Ezekiel’s War may indeed be passed off as Armageddon, to help usher in a New Age of Peace and Safety as designed by the New World Empire under its coming ruler of false light—the Antichrist.  The pieces of the Roman Empire, that have spent all of these years fighting, will come together to form a New World empire of ten kingdoms (Daniel 7:23-24). Surely the European Union is already a start of it.  This new empire may contain the ten divisions of the world already outlined by the Club of Rome or it may be ten divisions of the former empire region.  The point to remember is that the world will have a new political atmosphere after the Magog War.  Europe and China would probably be the front-runners for world power, but the peoples of the old Roman Empire will dominate.  This will be the time when the Antichrist comes to power.  He will have to subdue three of the kingdoms to complete the ten (Revelation 9:16). The question remains if the three are global in nature or of the immediate context of the old Roman Empire.

While the Roman Empire is rising, after Russia and America collapse from power, Israel will be recuperating from the war.  The cleanup of all the dead soldiers will take seven months.  If the seven months start within a month after the Rapture, then they would end at about the time of Passover given that 2011 has the thirteenth month of Adar 2.  This may be significant because Israel needs to rebuild the Temple before the Antichrist can defile and destroy it.  The Feast of Passover or Tabernacles has been the time for dedication in times past.  The earthquake that shakes the entire world during the war of Ezekiel may also make way for reconstruction efforts on the Temple Mount, but still it is also true that the outer court will remain in the hands of the Gentiles (Revelation 11:2). If Temple construction starts at this time, about three years would give the Jews ample time to rebuild the temple before the Antichrist would defile it in 2014.

The other key factor for the Jews is that they will be burning the weapons of Russia for seven years.  What then will be burning is anyone’s guess.  The future trampling of Jerusalem by the Gentiles proposed for 2014 was originally thought to put an end to this time when the Jews live in the cities and are able to burn the weapons.  However, Daniel’s Seventieth Week is now viewed most likely to be the same seven-year period from 2010 to 2017.  Not all people will heed Christ’s warning to leave the cities upon seeing the Abomination of Desolation, so the weapons can still be burning.  This then puts the time of the Jews solely into the seven-year period known as Daniel’s Seventieth Week.  This would seem to be a better fit to the parameters of Daniel 9.

After the war of Ezekiel, there will be three and a half years before the last half of the seven-year Tribulation, which is also known as the Great Tribulation.  During the first half, Israel rebuilds and the World Empire arises to set the stage for Armageddon.  Construction of Babylon will start and it will eventually become the “new” economic center of the world and capital for the Antichrist.  In fact, the Antichrist will originally come from the neighboring country of Syria (Isaiah 10:12 and 14:25). In the book of Daniel, Syria is the infamous king of the north.  

The Antichrist will enforce a treaty, or covenant, with Israel that will last seven years.  Jesus ends it when he returns with the saints.  The Antichrist will have caused strong delusion and the world will initially think the age of peace is upon them at the onset of the Tribulation (The Antichrist also has the False Prophet working with him to add to the dimension.). But after a short period of time, the world will go through hell, almost literally.  The Antichrist will initially be portrayed as the great peacemaker of our time.  He will seem to be a messenger of light.  He will be the media darling.

However, halfway through those seven years, the peace will come to a close.  At this time, Satan and his angels are thrown out of heaven and Satan comes to indwell the Antichrist.  Also, the Antichrist commits the act of the Abomination of Desolation at this time.  This would also seem to coincide with the time that the two witnesses are murdered by the Antichrist to then be put on display for the whole world to see and celebrate. (Revelation 11 is clear that the two witnesses prophesy for 1260 days, which is mentioned after the Temple is measured with the explanation that the holy city will be tread underfoot for 42 months. This is often thought to be the same time and therefore the latter half of the Tribulation.  However, the events of the two witnesses would seem to better fit the first half of the Tribulation while most of the Jews are still in the land and while it is possible to celebrate their death.  This is because it would be hard to celebrate at the time of Armageddon. It is also very possible that these 1260 days are a different time period in itself.  Time will tell.). The Jews will wake up and flee to the wilderness when the Antichrist starts his campaign to rid the world of Jews, along with those who do not worship him. Only those who will worship him and take his mark will be able to engage in legal commerce.  

Therefore, many Jews of Israel will flee to the wilderness—an area currently controlled by Jordan.  In Daniel, three nations, which occupy the present area of Jordan, are said to be the only nations who do not fall under the Antichrist’s control (Daniel 11:41). It will be the safest place on Earth.  God will provide for his people like in the days of their wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus (Revelation 12:14).

During this time, there will be Jews who will have active ministries in Israel and the world.  God seals 144,000 Jewish witnesses who cannot be harmed by the coming judgments. So, human history will see the greatest evangelism ever (Revelation 7:4-17). In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John could not count the martyred redeemed from the Tribulation.  However, he could count 200 million men coming from the kings of the east (Revelation 7:9 and 9:16).

If the year 2010 is the kickoff of the Tribulation for the Jews, then 2014 will be when there is a dramatic turn for the worse.  The Abomination of Desolation would occur on the Feast of Firstfruits (Easter) of 2014.  It would be at this time the Jews would flee, if they are to live (Zechariah 14:2. Half of the city will go into captivity so there is absolutely no time to waste in fleeing as Jesus has said.). The destruction of the third Temple would take place on the 9th to 10th of Av--a mere four months later.  The dramatic events of the Book of Revelation would continue with the many judgments.  At the end, the armies of the world would sweep into Israel in a last attempt to kill the Jews.

This war of evil will escalate as Satan tries to defeat God.  Is it possible for him to win? It is not, but he thinks if the Jewish race is extinguished, God’s promises to them will only become lies, and therefore something God cannot do.  Satan’s last hope is to make God a liar.  This is why anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head in times past, but this time will be the worst, because Satan’s days are numbered.   Human choices, with the help of Satan, will demonstrate the result of wickedness—utter ruin.  However, God in His timing will save the world like in the days of Noah but it comes at a price—no more time left for the unbelievers to change and believe in Christ as their Savior.

Jesus will come back to annihilate the armies, who are assembled to attack Israel at a place called the plains of Meggido, which is also known as Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). When Christ descends with the saints, the war briefly turns toward Jesus.  But Christ causes the blood of the enemies to flow to the heighth of a horse’s bridle for about two hundred miles (Revelation 14:20). It will be the Day of Atonement.  Christ will then descend onto the Mount of Olives and begin his earthly reign on Earth for a thousand years.  Jesus Christ will again “tabernacle” among us and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (The word for “dwelt” is actually the Greek word for tabernacled in John 1:14. Zechariah 14:16.).

Those who have not come to a saving faith since the Rapture will find out that they cannot enter into this New Kingdom.  It’s the time of the judgment of the sheep and goats, and only the sheep will live another thousand years on a restored planet Earth (Matthew 25:31-46). The resurrected saints, who returned with Christ, will rule with Christ during the Millennium. So, it is not the end of the world, but a new beginning with the real Prince of Peace.  If Christ had not returned, humanity with the help of Satan would have destroyed the planet.  However, the end is actually a new beginning.

The prophecies of this New World exist throughout the Bible and speak of a glorious time.  The environment of the world will be restored to its former glory and the nations will war no more for a thousand years (Isaiah 2:1-4 and Micah 4:1-7). However, there is one minor problem. Sin will continue on with those mortals who go into the Millennium, although everything else is perfect.  Even perfect conditions cannot reform the soul of the mortal man.  Eventually, an organized rebellion will again rear its ugly head in the descendants of the human race a thousand years later (Revelation 20:7-10. This is actually the second war involving Gog and Magog to not be confused with Ezekiel’s war of Gog and Magog.). There is also a hint of rebellion in the fact that those nations who do not celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles during the Millennium will be judged by not receiving rain for their crops (Zechariah 14:16-18).

This time of the Millennium will be glorious and what every man, woman, or child has longed for and had dreams about.  In fact, all of Creation hopes for that day (Romans 8:19-23 and Psalm 96). Not only will there be peace, but also perfect environment.  Deserts will bloom and even children could play with bears or lions (Isaiah 11:6-9). A person who dies at one hundred years will be considered a child, relatively speaking (Isaiah 65:20). It will be unbelievable to those of us who have seen the world under the full sway of the curse.  Leadership by the Lord Jesus Christ will also bring about prosperity only now found in the imagination.

For those of us who are now saved, we will be raptured, later returning with Christ to help rule in the Millennium.  After the Rapture, and until the end of the Day of the Lord, those who believe in Christ and are killed will also be resurrected and live and reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4). The believers that physically survive the Day of the Lord will enter the Millennium and repopulate the Earth.  To be in any of these groups will result in great blessing.  But it is prudent and better to believe now and be part of the bride of Christ—the Church.

However, those who don’t believe in Christ will enjoy none of these things.  Those who are preoccupied with themselves and who do not acknowledge what God has done, or what He will do, are extremely short sighted, if not blind.  If one could see the true end result of the world through understanding the Bible, to remain in unbelief is utter foolishness.  Not only is there the Millennium, but ultimately there is the restored New Earth after the Millennium ends (Revelation 21-22). Whoever sold us on the idea of eternal clouds and harp playing has not read the Bible.  After the Millennium there is eternal life on Earth and in the universe.  An Earth that is familiar, but better and without corruption.  A place we can call home and do what we could not accomplish in this present life.  Imagine all the possibilities. And it all hinges off one decision we will make in this life.  That’s right—one.