(Through the Bible) Ezekiel 36-39 — Chuck Smith

Ezekiel 36: Restoration of the Mountains of Israel

So we turn in our Bibles now to Ezekiel 36 as we continue our study in this very fascinating prophecy. In chapter 36 Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy to the mountains of Israel. Now this is the second time he prophesied to the mountains of Israel.

The first time was back in chapter 6 and he was prophesying the desolations that would come to the mountains of Israel and to the cities because they had built the high places on the mountains and worshipped the false images, idols and gods.

And thus he spoke about the mountains being made desolate. That prophecy was fulfilled and the mountains of Israel remained desolate for 19 centuries. Now again he prophesies to the mountains of Israel but this prophecy has to do with a work of God in making now the desolate mountains inhabited.

And so there's quite a contrast between this prophecy in chapter 36 and the prophecy in chapter 6 where the desolation of the mountains was described and now the restoration from the desolation. Thus saith the Lord God, because the enemy hath set against you, even the ancient high places are ours in possession.

Therefore prophesy and say, thus saith the Lord God, because they have made you desolate and they have swallowed you up on every side that you might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen and are taken up in the lips of talkers and are the infamy of the people.

Therefore ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills and to the rivers and to the valleys to the desolate waste into the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey, a derision to the residue of the heathen that are roundabout.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, against all of Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with the despiteful minds to cast it out for a prey prophesied, therefore concerning the land of Israel, say to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers, to the valleys.

Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury because you have borne the shame of the heathen. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, I have lifted up my hand, surely the heathen that around about you shall bear their shame.

But ye, oh mountains, it took quite a while to get to the message to the mountains, but he finally made it. But ye, oh mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come.

For behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply men upon you, all of the house of Israel, even all of it, and the city shall be inhabited, and the way shall be built.

And I will multiply upon you men and beasts, and they shall increase and bring fruit. And I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginning, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

And so the restoration of the nation Israel is here being prophesied. And if you go over to Israel today, surely you can see the fulfillment of these prophecies. As the waste places are now inhabited, as they have built so many cities, as they have planted so many beautiful orchards and cultivated the fields, and this land that laid wasted and desolate for many centuries has now been reclaimed.

The marshy valleys have been drained and have become very fertile, fruitful fields. And so it's exciting to take this 36th chapter of Ezekiel in your lap and go over to Israel and see how God has fulfilled this particular prophecy concerning the mountains of Israel.

For thus saith the Lord God, Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations, therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave the nations any more, saith the Lord God.

Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God.

Israel’s Defilement and God’s Holy Name

Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, and now God is telling the reason why the land became desolate for so long, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings.

Their way was before me as uncleanness of a removed woman, wherefore I poured out my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries according to their way, and according to their doings I judged them.

And when they entered unto the heathen, whether they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of the land. But I have pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel have profaned among the heathen, whether they went.

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whether ye went.

Now the Lord is telling the reason why the dispersion took place and they were scattered is because of the blood that they had shed in the land, because of their worship of idols, and God had scattered them into the many different countries.

But God said when they were scattered, they profaned God's name. That is because of their actions and attitudes, they cause people to hate and curse God. They said, Oh, these are the people of God, and look at what they are doing.

And so you remember when David sinned with Bathsheba. When the prophet rebuked David for the sin, one of the indictments that the prophet made against him is he said, You have caused the enemies of God to blaspheme.

You see, these people were to be God's representatives. God intended that they represent him, but they misrepresented him. And thus people were cursing God because of their actions. You say, Oh, that's terrible, but wait a minute.

You are now God's representatives. You see, you go by the name of a Christian. And as a Christian, you represent God. But if you're out there ripping off people or cheating people, or you're out there lying or deceiving or getting involved in these kind of things, then you are misrepresenting God and people are cursing God and blaspheming God because of what you are.

You see, God has been so misrepresented by those people who were called by his name. All the way through, people have a false concept of God because people supposedly representing God have so misrepresented God that people say, Well, if they're a Christian, you know, then I don't want anything to do with it.

I don't need it. It is an awesome thing to realize that we are God's representatives and people are drawing their opinions of God from what they see in us. Now, as a representative of God, God holds me responsible for how I represent him.

God doesn't appreciate being misrepresented, as Moses found out. For when Moses went out before the people, angry, and struck the rock with his rod and said, Must I strike this rock again and give you water?

Though the water came, God said, Moses, I want to talk to you. Moses, I can't let you go into the promised land. Why, Lord? That's been the ambition of my life. Moses, you failed to represent me before the people.

You misrepresented me out there. You went out there all angry and a huff, smiting the rock in anger. I'm not angry with Moses. They think I am because of what you did. They think I'm upset with him and angry.

I'm not upset and angry with Moses. I know they need water. I want to give them water. But they think I'm angry and upset because you're my representative, and you went out there in the huff and did your little thing.

And so, Moses, I just can't let you take the people into the land. And Moses was robbed of his lifelong ambition because he failed to represent God there at the water of Meribah. Now, you are God's representative, and that's a heavy responsibility to be God's representative, but that's what we are.

And the people are drawing their conclusion of Christianity, of Jesus Christ, from what they see you do. That's heavy. God help us that we will be proper representatives of our Lord, that people will come to know that he is so loving, that he is so kind, that he wants to help, that he'll go out of his way to help, and let us, O God, be a true representation of what you are to the world around us who so desperately need to know the truth about God.

Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, You are my living epistle, and you are known and read of all men. People may never pick up a Bible to crack its pages. They may never read the Bible, but they're reading your life, and they're drawing their opinions of Jesus Christ by what they see in you.

Now, God said when Israel was scattered into the nations, they profaned the name of the Lord. They caused people to hate God. They didn't represent God in those nations where they were scattered, and so people were cursing God, and cursing the name of God.

And so God now declares, Look, not for your sake I'm going to bring you back. Not because you're so good, or you're deserving. But for my name's sake, I'm going to do it. My name that has been profaned among the heathen.

And thus, saith the Lord God, verse 22, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you've profaned. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

So he refers to this time when he will be sanctified in them before the eyes of the world. We'll get to that when we get to chapter 38. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all of your filthiness, from all of your idols, I will cleanse you.

Also, I'll give you a new heart. A new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. Jeremiah prophesied the day was going to come when God would no longer write his law upon tables of stone, but upon the fleshly tablets of our heart.

God is saying, I'm going to take out the stony heart. I'm going to put in a heart of flesh. That is, God will make his will known to us by planting in our heart his desires and his purposes. Now you know the glorious thing about serving the Lord and following the Lord?

That you find that this particular psalm is true. The Bible said, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Well, what that psalm doesn't say, but what is also true, that as you begin to delight yourself in the Lord, the Lord begins to redirect the desires of your heart according to that which he wants and according to that which he has purposed, so that doing the will of God becomes really the most glorious thing of your entire existence.

It becomes the fulfillment of your dreams and of your desires. And it's marvelous. Jesus said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. We see people going around talking about, oh, God laid this heavy burden on me.

The New Heart and the Spirit of God

I don't know if I'm going to be able to stand up under it, you know. Wait a minute. If you've got a heavy burden that's pushing you down into the ground, you better take a close look at that burden. It didn't come from him.

He said, my burden is light. We take upon ourselves many times things that the Lord didn't really put on us, or we let men put things on us and pressure us into things that aren't really of God. I think of all of the poor people who have been pressured by their churches in pledges.

Especially they say, let's make a faith pledge. That's even worse, because there are many people who are straining under a sense of obligation to God because I made a pledge, and they're straining and being pressed by it.

And it's become a heavy yoke on them. A heavy burden. It's not of the Lord. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. Peter said, let's not put a heavy yoke on the people, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.

And yet the heavy yokes that men will put on you. But when the yoke gets hard and the burden is heavy, know that it's not the Lord's. It's something that you've taken on yourself or if you allow people to put on you, but not really from God.

God puts his desires now in our hearts so that we can honestly say with Jesus, I delight to do thy will. I don't know how many times during the week, I just kick back and just start praising the Lord and thanking the Lord for all that he's done for me.

For the joy and the blessedness of the life that I have. It's just overwhelming to me. The goodness and the blessing of God and every once in a while I just go. Oh, no. And if anybody's around, what happened?

Oh, I just think about how good God is. Unreal. Beautiful. You know, my son said, dad, why don't you retire? You know, you don't have to keep going 16 hours a day. Why don't you retire? Kick back. Why don't you move to Hawaii and retire?

You can do it. I said, but what would I do? I love so much doing what I'm doing. My wife gets after me because I want to come out here on my day off. She says, you always figure out a way to go out there on your day off.

It's just such a joy. Such a blessing. For God has written his law in my heart. It's just the delight and the joy of life to be doing that, which God has in mind for you to do. No heavy burden, no big strain.

It's a delight. It's a joy. And so God says, I will write. I'll give them a new heart, heart of flesh. Take away that artist stone and I'll put my spirit within you. Cause you to walk in my statues and you shall keep my judgments and do them.

Why? Because God's spirit is in me. That power of his spirit to do his statues, to keep his judgments and you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God.

I also will save you from all of your uncleanness. I will call for the corn. I will increase it. I won't lay any famine upon you. I'll multiply the fruit of the tree, increase the field and you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God.

Not because you're so deserving, you're so good, but it's just God's grace. Be it known unto you, be ashamed and be confounded for what you have done, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities.

I also will cause you to dwell in the cities and the waste shall be builded and the desolate land shall be tilled whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that pass by and they shall say, this land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden.

Oh, the Sharon Valley, the Sharon Plains, the Valley of Megiddo, waste, desolate marshlands. They're like the garden of Eden. So lush and so beautiful. This prophecy is fulfilled. You can go over and just travel around Israel and see how verdant and productive that little land is.

The ruined cities are become fenced and inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places and plant that which was desolate. I the Lord has spoken it and I will do it.

Well, you can't get much stronger than that. And he did. He's done it. Thus sayeth the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. I will increase them as men like a flock as the holy flock and as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feast.

Ezekiel 37 and the Valley of Dry Bones

So shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men and they shall know that I am the Lord. Now in chapter 37. Again, a prophecy of the restoration of the nation of Israel, the rebirth of the nation.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and sent me down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones. So Ezekiel taken now by the spirit in this vision to this valley that was filled with these bones and it caused me to pass by them all around and behold, there were very many in the open valley and they were very dry.

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, you know. In other words, I don't know. I can't see it, but you know God. Again he said unto me, Prophesy unto these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live and I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

So I prophesied as I was commanded and I prophesied and as I prophesied there was a noise and behold, a shaking and the bones came together bone to bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them above but there was no breath in them.

Then said he unto me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army.

Now the Lord explained the vision. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, our bones are dried and our hope is lost. We are cut off for our parts.

They've been cut off and separated from each other. Little bands of Jews in Germany, in Europe, in France, in England, in the United States, in China, in Yemen, in Russia, all over the world. Little scatterings of Jews, but they've been scattered throughout the entire earth.

Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and ye shall live and I shall place you in your own land.

Then shall ye know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord. So the promise that God would give them national life again, that which had been dead for nineteen centuries would come alive and they would be a nation once more.

I'll bring you back into the land. A marvelous prophecy of the rebirth of the nation Israel. Then the Lord came again and said unto me, Moreover thou son of man, take thee one stick and write upon it for Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.

Then take another stick and write on it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions. And join them one to another into one stick that they shall become one in thy hand.

So he took the two sticks and then joined them together so they became just one stick. One was to be marked Joseph. The other was to be marked Judah. And when the children of the people shall speak unto you, saying, What are you trying to show us?

What do you mean by this? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.

And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land.

And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king unto them all, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall be they divided into two kingdoms any more at all.

Now, very obvious what God is saying. Extremely obvious. In fact, it's about as obvious as any scriptures can be. What the Lord is seeking to say to the people. When the nation is reborn, regathered, rather than being a divided nation as it was when they went into captivity, the northern kingdom with the capital of Samaria and the southern kingdom with the capital of Jerusalem, rather than being two nations, Judah and Israel, when they come back in the last days and are brought back into the land and made a nation again, rather than two nations, there will only be one nation, Judah and Joseph or Ephraim, the tribes of Israel, will be gathered together as one nation, no longer as a double nation.

The Two Sticks and the Rejection of Mormon Interpretation

Very obvious. It is almost laughable. It is so ridiculous and idiotic for Joseph Smith to claim that his name is in the Bible and he was prophesied in the book of Ezekiel for the stick of Joseph was to be the book of the Mormon that God would give to him and joined together with the Bible would be the continuation of the Bible and God's word for man in these last days.

That is so completely far-fetched that a person would have to lay his brains on the shelf to accept any kind of an interpretation of the Scripture that way. I mean, God told us what He was talking about.

God said these two sticks are the two nations and when they come, join them together because there will only be one nation when they come back into the land. Now, I would have to say that anybody that can interpret that into the Scripture, I would not want to be following their biblical expositions or trust myself to their teaching.

When you can gather that kind of stuff out of this Scripture, you can make red read green. I mean, that's as far-fetched as anything could ever be. And if you're a Mormon here tonight, it's just straight from the shoulder.

Look at it. And question in your mind the things that you're being taught. For you know that they have taught you that this stick with Joseph on it was actually a prophecy concerning Joseph Smith. But if you can find that in this verse or in this passage or in its context, then you can find snow in hell.

I mean, it's just not there. So God plainly declares, I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore at all.

Neither shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I will save them out of their dwelling places wherein they have sinned and will cleanse them so shall they be my people and I will be their God and David, my servant.

This, of course, goes into the future when Jesus Christ comes to establish the kingdom and he will sit upon the throne of David to order it and to establish it in righteousness and in judgment from henceforth even forever shall be king over them and they all shall have one shepherd, the good shepherd, and they shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them.

And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob, my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt and you shall dwell therein even they and their children and their children's children forever and my servant David shall be their prince forever.

Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them and I will place them and multiply them and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore.

My tabernacle also shall be with them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. So God is going to dwell amongst his people. I will tabernacle among them. My tabernacle or my dwelling place will be there so Christ living here upon the earth in the kingdom age and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore.

Ezekiel 38 and the Invasion of Israel

Now when we get to chapter 40 he begins to describe for us the sanctuary that is to be built. Now in chapter 38 the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man set your face against Gog the land of Magog the chief and the word translated chief is the word Rosh and most Bible scholars say that the Rosh translated chief should be translated in modern English Russia for Rosh is a reference to the modern Russia.

The word chief there. So the land of Magog the prince of Rosh Meshach and Tubal Meshach is the ancient name for Moscow Tubal of Tobolsk the Russian cities and say thus saith the Lord God behold I am against the old God the prince of Rosh Meshach and Tubal and I will turn thee back and put hooks into thy jaws and I will bring thee forth and all of your army horses and horsemen all of them clothed with all sorts of armor even a great company with bucklers and shields all of them handling swords along with Persia, Ethiopia and Libya with them and all of them with shield and helmet Gomer and all of his bands the house of Turgarma of the north quarter and all of his bands and many people with thee so now the prophecy turns and is directed towards Magog which is the ancient name for those people who lived in the area of the Caucasus and the mountains north of the Caucasus which is the present day area of Russia along with Meshach and Tubal which people were the ancient Scythians that inhabited the area known as Russia today along with Persia which of course Russia is part of Russia is a part of the ancient Persia along with Iraq and Iran Ethiopia and Libya along with Gomer which is Germany but mainly eastern Germany and Poland along with Turgarma which are your Balkan states Turkey and Yugoslavia Romania.

Be thou prepared and prepare for thyself thou and all of your company that are assembled unto thee and be a garden to them. For after many days now here's the time of the prophecy after many days thou shalt be visited in the last latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel which have always been waste but is brought forth out of the nations and they shall dwell safely all of them.

Now God is predicting that when Israel is gathered back into the land that there will come an invasion by these nations combining themselves together in a massive invasion of the land of Israel Russia, Eastern Europe the Balkan states Iraq, Iran, Libya and Ethiopia.

Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm. Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land. Thou and all thy bands and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God it shall also come to pass that at the same time shall things come into thy mind and thou shalt think an evil thought and thou shalt say I will go up to the land of unwalled villages or into a land that really is not able to defend itself against my great power.

I will go to them that are at rest that dwell safely all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates to take a spoil and to take a prey to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations which have gotten cattle and goods that dwell in the midst of the land.

Now at the time of the invasion Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all of the young lions thereof shall say unto thee art thou come to take a spoil. Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey to carry away silver and gold and to take away the cattle and the goods and a great spoil.

Sheba and Dedan are Saudi Arabia. Tarshish is England. The young lions could conceivably be the United States, Canada, Australia are going to object to this invasion. Now the interesting thing to me is that Saudi Arabia is one of those that objects to the invasion of Russia.

Big flap recently over the sale of these AWACS to Saudi Arabia. Israel sought hard to lobby against the sale of these radar geared planes to Saudi Arabia. I really didn't get troubled or involved in the issue because knowing the scriptures I know that when the real showdown comes Saudi Arabia will be an ally of sorts to Israel.

So Israel really doesn't need to be worried or concerned about the AWACS sell to Saudi Arabia. And if they'd only read their own Bible they'd discover that so that there will be an objection to this invasion by first of all Saudi Arabia England and the young lions thereof which again could conceivably be the United States.

Therefore son of man prophesy and say unto Gog that is the chief prince of Magog thus saith the Lord God in that day when my people Israel dwell safely shalt thou not know it. And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts.

Now take the map look at Israel and go straight north from Jerusalem and you find you come right on into Russia and Moscow lies almost due north of Jerusalem. 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 it take place 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.

Oh God before their eyes. Now let me say that there is nothing been taken place in history that can be related to these particular prophecies so that no man tell you that these prophecies have already been fulfilled in some historic experience of the past.

For there is nothing in history that can be fitted into these predictions. But the very fact that it says that in the latter days when Israel has become a nation again and is dwelling in the land puts it in the days in which we presently live.

Thus saith the Lord God verse 17. 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. And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel saith the Lord God that my fury shall come up in my face.

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel so that the fish of the sea the fowls of the heaven the beasts of the field and all of the creeping things that creep upon the earth and all men that are upon the face of the earth shall shake at my presence.

And the mountain shall be thrown down the steep places shall fall every wall shall fall to the ground and I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains. Saith the Lord God every man's sword shall be against his brother.

Very interesting prophecy. There will come an internal revolution in the Russian forces. Now we know that there's a lot of problems presently in some of the satellite countries of Russia Poland real problems Hungary Czechoslovakia.

And the prediction here is that part of the destruction will come from a civil war as men begin to turn their swords against their brothers. But then God said and I will plead against him with pestilence with blood.

I will reign upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him. And overflowing rain great hailstones fire and brimstone God has wiped out enemies of Israel in the past with the same types of weapons reigning upon the enemies of Israel the fire and brimstone from heaven.

You remember Joshua the battle at Ajalon where God rained down these rocks and fire from heaven upon their enemies. Thus will I magnify myself and sanctify myself. And I will be known in the eyes of many nations and they shall know that I am the Lord.

So a tremendous earthquake a great shaking civil war or internal discord along with this heavy rain hailstones fire and brimstone God will destroy this invading army. Will it involve atomic warfare. Will the United States be involved.

This could only be speculation. We don't know. Could the fire and brimstone the rain of fire and brimstone be atomic warfare. Possibly could it be that there will be an atomic exchange between Russia and the United States.

Quite possibly it could be that he is describing the effects of a nuclear holocaust. And it is quite possible that there will be a massive exchange of nuclear weapons between Russia and the United States.

The Bible doesn't say that that's only speculation. As far as yes it is possible that that would take place. I do believe that the rapture of the church is going to be taking place simultaneously with these events as we will point out as we get into chapter 39.

It would be very interesting indeed if there was a nuclear holocaust and the church was translated out of the earth during the time of the nuclear holocaust they would surely be able to explain the disappearance of many people in a very natural way without causing really too much great alarm.

Something to think about. The Bible doesn't say it is only speculation and something to consider. Something to think about. However it happens by whatever means it takes place. These will be the events a great shaking even the mountains and the steep places being shaken so tremendous avalanches this heavy rain great hailstones the fire in the brimstone plus the civil war and thus God will deal with this great invading army of Russia.