The Roots of War, Part 3: The Steppes of History

From Koinonia House

Middle East > The Steppes Of History

In the last article, we examined the origins of the Scythians, the descendants of Magog who terrorized the southern steppes of Russia from the 10th to the 3rd century b.c. In this article, we will continue to review the colorful and stormy past of the descendants of Magog, so infamous for their disastrous nuclear setback that appears to be prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and which increasingly seems to be looming on our near horizon.

For the peoples living in the interior of the huge Eurasian landmass, consisting primarily of snow and ice, mountains and deserts, agriculture was virtually impossible. Within Inner Asia lies an almost unbroken strip of grassland, or steppe, stretching approximately 6,000 miles from Manchuria to Hungary in southern Europe. While the steppe is interspersed with semideserts and major mountain ranges, there are some passable routes along which people, goods, and ideas can travel. Necessity drove the peoples of this region to become nomads, wandering in search of food and pasturage. They became herders, shepherds and, of course, warriors.

The domestication of the horse increased the range, speed, and general mobility of the steppe nomads. Their movements often encroached on their neighbors’ pastures or on the borderlands claimed by the sedentary civilized centers. Practically every nomad with a horse and bow was a tough, ferocious, and resourceful warrior, whereas only a small percentage of the civilized population was equipped and trained for war. When a charismatic and ambitious chieftain formed a confederation of nomads, called a horde, large-scale military activity occurred. Such hordes not only dominated the steppe but also posed a serious threat to the civilized populations. The nomadic cavalry of the hordes was superior to the infantry units of the sedentary civilizations.

The Huns

The Huns were an aggressive nomadic people of great vigor and had developed considerable skill in the techniques of warfare, particularly in military horsemanship. Before the beginning of their recorded European history, one of their tribes was known in western China as the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) (206 b.c.-a.d. 8). Their power in the East was weakened during the following century, and they separated into two distinct camps, one of which went southward, while the remainder, after attempting to maintain themselves on the Caspian steppes (the areas north of the Caspian Sea), went west and northwest in search of new homes. They spread from the Caspian steppes to make repeated incursions into the Roman Empire during the 4th and 5th centuries a.d. Their attacks culminated in a series of wars under Attila, the most renowned of its leaders, which brought both parts of the Roman Empire, East and West, to the verge of destruction.

Of those who went northwest, a large number settled for a time on the banks of the Volga River. In the second half of the 4th century a.d., under a leader called Balamir, they advanced into the territories of the Alans, a powerful people dwelling between the Volga and the Don rivers, and in a battle fought on the banks of the Don routed the army of the Alans. Their next conquest was the country of the Ostrogoths, whose retreat they followed as far west as the Danube River. In the process they threatened and uprooted the Visigoths, who then sought the protection of the Roman Empire. A few years later the Goths revolted against Roman authority, and the Huns crossed the Danube to join them.

After Attila’s death in 453, however, the power of the Huns was broken, and they no longer played a major role in European history. Many Huns took service in the Roman armies, while others joined fresh hordes of invaders from the north and east, assisting them in their repeated attacks upon the Empire.

Khazars

The Khazars, a now-extinct Turkic people, flourished from about a.d. 200 to about 950, living at first in the region of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea and later on the steppes of southeastern Russia. But by the middle of 7th century, the expanding Muslim empire had penetrated as far northward as the northern Caucasus, and from then on until the mid-8th century the Khazars engaged in a series of wars with the Muslims, eventually penetrating south of the Caucasus into present-day Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Muslim counterattacks eventually compelled the Khazars to permanently withdraw north of the Caucasus. The Khazars’ initial victories were important, though, since they had the effect of permanently blocking Muslim expansion northward into Eastern Europe.

By the second half of the 8th century, their empire had reached the peak of its power – it extended along the northern shore of the Black Sea, from the lower Volga and the Caspian Sea in the east to the Dnieper River in the west. The Khazars controlled and exacted tribute from the Alani and other northern Caucasian peoples (dwelling between the mountains and the Kuban River); from the Magyars (Hungarians) inhabiting the area around the Donets River; from the Goths; and, from the Greek colonies in the Crimea. The Volga Bulgars and numerous Slavic tribes also recognized the Khazars as their overlords.

In the 7th century their Khakan, or sovereign, embraced Judaism, and a large part of the population converted thereafter. Some scholars link the Khazars with the sect of the Karaites, who would not accept the oral traditions of the Talmud but defended the Torah and the Prophets as the sole source for religious doctrine and practice and protested against the rigidities of Talmudic Judaism. Beginning in 8th-century Persia, it spread to Egypt and Syria, and later to Europe through Spain and Constantinople.

Khazar power came to an end when, after a series of wars, they were assimilated by the Russians. (It is interesting that in 19th century Russia, the Karaites had so distanced themselves from Talmudic (“Rabbinic”) Judaism that they were relieved of the double taxation, were exempted from military conscription, and were permitted to acquire land. The Leningrad Codex, the oldest complete Hebrew Bible, was acquired through their efforts.)

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Most Biblical students are familiar with the Roman Empire, which reached its peak during the 2nd century. After Commodus (180-192 a.d.), son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (featured in the recent movie, Gladiator), the age of leadership began to decline with the collapse of political institutions, weakening of the army, and economic disaster. Even under such perverse emperors as Caligula, Nero, and Commodus, the government of the empire had continued its normal functions of collecting taxes, protecting the frontiers, and distributing food. The insane emperors persecuted the senatorial elite, but they had limited effect on the population outside Rome.

However, after the murder of Commodus in a.d. 192, a civil war between rival claimants to the imperial throne penetrated every corner of the empire and changed all aspects of Roman life. Between a.d. 193 and 235 a series of rulers known as the Severan dynasty ruled Rome, but for much of that time civil war continued in many areas. The Severan dynasty stayed in power for several decades by indulging the troops, but the enormous cost became clear during the next half-century. For 50 years generals caused incredible destruction in their quest for power, but their efforts were largely in vain. Between 235 and 284, the troops acclaimed about 20 “emperors” and another 30 “pretenders,” although the two groups only differed in that the emperors briefly managed to control the city of Rome. Only one of these emperors died of natural causes, so the imperial throne was a dangerous prize.

The reforms under Diocletian included appointing a co-emperor to assist in the administration of the empire, which set the stage for its ultimate separation into eastern and western segments. He was succeeded by Constantine, who relocated the capital of the empire to the “New Rome,” Constantinople, on the shores of the Bosporus at the intersection of Europe and Asia. His Edict of Toleration legitimized Christianity, which was to emerge as the state religion a couple of emperors later.

Theodosius I (379-395) was the last emperor of the united Roman Empire. At his death he left the eastern portion to his 18-year old son, Arcadius, and the western portion to his 10-year old son, Honorius. A succession of child emperors weakened the throne, and no emperor ever again successfully controlled both East and West. For a number of reasons, including a much stronger economic base, the eastern “leg” of the Roman Empire endured 1,000 years longer than the western “leg.”

Seljuks

The Seljuks were a Turkish dynasty prominent in the Middle East during the 11th and 12th centuries. Originally a clan belonging to the Oghuz, a Turkmen tribe of Central Asia, they were converted to Islam in the 10th century and established themselves in the Iranian province of Khorasan in the early 11th century. The empire of the Seljuks was further extended into Syria, Palestine, and Anatolia. Their victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert (1071) alarmed the Christian world, and Seljuk aggressiveness was a major reason for launching the First Crusade (1096).

The main enemy of the Seljuks, however, was the Shia Fatimid dynasty of Egypt. Ruling from their capital at Isfahan in Iran, the Seljuk sultans used the Persian language in their administration and were patrons of Persian literature. They founded madrasas (colleges) to train future administrators in accordance with Sunni doctrine. After the death of Malik Shah, the empire gradually declined. A branch of the dynasty, the sultanate of Rum, survived in Anatolia (Central Turkey) until subjugated by the Mongols in 1243.

Genghis Khan

The Mongols emerged out of the shifting sociopolitical landscape of the steppes. On the harsh Mongolian plateau, pastoral Mongol tribes, led by a type of political-military aristocracy, fought each other as well as all outsiders. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols conquered and ruled the largest contiguous empire in recorded history. (See Map). The Mongol empire’s five great khans, with their goal of world domination, impacted all of the major Eurasian civilizations, severely disrupting some while revitalizing and globalizing others.

A unique document called The Secret History of the Mongols embodies early Mongol folklore and contains many pronouncements of Genghis Khan, the first great Mongol emperor. Apparently written in 1228, shortly after Genghis’ death, the document traces Mongol beliefs and folklore, such as their belief in their account of the impregnation of an early human ancestor by the sky god, Tengri. (This is most suggestive of the Nephilim of Genesis 6 and the subsequent Rephaim of Canaan.¹ )

The Mongols viewed themselves as a type of chosen people and felt they had a divine right to conquer and rule the entire world. As their national epic moved from myth to legend to true history, specific personalities emerged. One such personality was Yesugei, who reportedly fathered a son named Temujin, which means “smith” or “metal worker,” born in 1167. By 1206, Temujin was master of almost all of Mongolia, and that year a great national assembly declared him universal ruler with the title Genghis Khan. This charismatic leader was destined to unite all of the Mongol tribes and to unite most of Eurasia into a single, vast empire.

Under Genghis’ skillful guidance, Mongol aspirations extended beyond traditional nomadic pillaging to ruling over the entire then-known world. Acting under what they considered a divine mandate, Genghis and his Mongols dedicated themselves to an ongoing series of military campaigns and conquests – first against the Tibetan Tanguts and then against the Chin (Juchen) of North China.

Genghis’ most distant campaign, as well as one of his bloodiest and most devastating, was directed against the Khwarizmian shah in the area of northeast Persia. This expedition led to Mongol military victories and claims to north India and southern Russia. By the time of his death in 1227, Genghis Khan controlled most of the inner Asian steppe as well as parts of the Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern civilizations.

In addition to uniting his people and leading these early campaigns, Genghis made significant contributions to the efficiency of the Mongol military establishment, communications system, and legal structure. Genghis had a great military mind, and incorporated new tactics from the conquered civilized societies into the traditional nomadic military strategy. Instead of promoting people on the basis of blood ties, Genghis organized his followers by personal ability and experience. By sparing the lives of civilized artisans who later designed and built weapons for their captors, the Mongols learned how to break city walls with siege engines, sappers, catapults, and gunpowder bombs.

In this fashion, the flexible Genghis incorporated the siege strategy and tactics of the sedentary societies into his already powerful and mobile steppe cavalry.

To stay informed about his empire, Genghis introduced a communications system, called the yam, which relied on a series of postal relay stations that stretched across his vast empire. The 19th-century American Pony Express system was nothing more than a revival of this 13th-century Mongol practice. This period of relatively open trade and travel across Eurasia became known as the great Mongol Peace.

In accordance with Mongol custom, upon Genghis’ death, Bortai, his chief wife, presided over the division of his empire among his four sons. While each son and his heirs inherited specific parts of the empire upon their father’s death, Genghis’ third son and chosen successor, Ogadai, was elected by the Quiriltai in 1229 to be the next great khan. Ogadai was a calm and shrewd ruler who is credited with establishing Karakorum as the permanent Mongol capital city and with developing commercial links with China, Tibetan India, and Western Asia. After eliminating the last Chin resistance in North China, Ogadai aimed the Mongol military machine against the West. After conquering Russia, the Mongol army moved into central Europe, devastating Hungary, Poland, and the eastern parts of what is now Germany.

The Mongols could have marched right through Europe to the Atlantic. Fortunately for Christian Europe and Western civilization, however, the death of Ogadai in December of 1241 and the lack of adequate pasturage for the Mongol horses in the Hungarian Plain prompted the Mongols to withdraw their European campaign in 1242. Between 1241 and 1251, a period of uncertain leadership led to a lull in Mongol activity. Mangu, who was elected great khan in 1251, decided not to renew the attack on Europe, but rather to undertake two different major campaigns to complete the conquest of South China and the Muslim Middle East. Mangu sent his brother Hulagu to attack Baghdad and its caliph and his brother Kublai to attack China.

Hulagu easily ravished Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria. Baghdad fell in 1258, and all of its inhabitants were massacred. But in 1260, the Mongols suffered an unexpected reversal in Palestine as the Egyptian Mamluks defeated a nominal Mongol army at Goliath’s Spring. The death of Mangu in 1259 disrupted Mongol unity and was indirectly responsible for the Mamluk victory.

Hulagu immediately supported his older brother Kublai as successor for the office of great khan. However, their cousin, Berke, khan of the Golden Horde in Russia, opposed them. Berke had converted to Islam and was so outraged by Hulagu’s destruction of the Baghdad caliphate that he became openly hostile to his cousins. In response, Hulagu marched his powerful Mongol army into north Persia, leaving behind only a weak non-Mongol garrison in Palestine.

The Mamluk victory over this small force in 1260, the Mongol’s first military defeat, has been hailed as the critical event that saved Islam from total conquest. It also marked the beginning of the end of the Mongol Empire. Islam was unexpectedly saved by the death of Mangu in 1259, just as Christian Europe was saved by the fortuitous death of Ogadai in 1241.

In spite of this defeat, the Mongols still controlled all of the Middle East, except Egypt. Hulagu and his successors ruled the Middle East from Persia, where they established the il-Khanid or subject khanate. Caught between the hostile Golden Horde to the northeast and the Mamluks to the southwest, the Mongol khans of Persia repeatedly tried to form an alliance with Latin Europe to the northwest, especially with the Christian Crusader states in the Levant. Eventually the Mongol khans in Persia converted to Islam, and they ruled the Middle East until they were overthrown in the mid-14th century.

Kublai Khan and China

In the East, Kublai was bogged down in South China, where he demonstrated Mongol skill in large-scale strategic envelopment movements. The Mongols outflanked the Sung from the west and south as they traveled down the Yangtze River, virtually surrounding them and finally completing the conquest of South China in 1280.

At first, Kublai was fairly successful in balancing his Mongol steppe heritage with his role as a Confucian ruler. On the one hand, his ongoing military campaigns against Java and Japan demonstrated his efforts to maintain his basic Mongol warrior identity. On the other hand, Kublai was able to appear as a traditional Confucian emperor to his Chinese subjects. Most of Kublai’s advisers and officials were international in origin and orientation; his Tibetan, Muslim, and Confucian advisers played a significant role throughout his reign. He died in 1294 at the age of 80. Kublai’s successors ruled China as the Yuan Dynasty until they were overthrown in 1368.

The Four Khanates

The Mongol Empire was an amazing and impressive entity in the late 13th century. In addition to the Inner Asian steppe, the empire included the civilized centers of China, north India, the Middle East, and Russia. Nevertheless, by the early 14th century, this gigantic empire was already beginning to crumble due to overextension, assimilation, and internal dynastic rivalries.

The Mongols had overextended themselves in trying to expand their empire into the extremities of Eurasia. Despite their extraordinary speed, mobility, and communication system, the Mongols had difficulties ruling their vast empire. As they continued their military conquests, they were incapable of establishing centralized control of their far-flung territories. Consequently, the Mongols soon discovered that they could not effectively manage what they had already conquered.

Moreover, the Mongols were outnumbered and outclassed developmentally by their subjects. They were therefore prone to assimilation into the more sophisticated civilizations that they ruled. As soon as Mongol warriors dismounted to enjoy the spoils of their conquests, they began adopting the languages, religions, administrative structures, culture, and technology of their more advanced subjects. Once the Mongols were assimilated into the sedentary civilizations they had conquered, they lost their steppe heritage. Indeed, within three generations, they lost their identity and unity as Mongols.

Dynastic rivalries between the heirs of Genghis’ four sons added to the internal fragmentation of the Mongol empire. Irreconcilable splits within the royal family led to the emergence of regional khanates. One indication of this was Kublai’s relocation of his capital from Karakorum to Peking. In addition, Kublai, the last great khan, had no real authority outside of China. While he was becoming a Chinese emperor, the khanates of the Golden Horde in Russia and of the Jagatai khanate in inner Asia went their own ways. Rulers of the il-Khanid in the Middle East accepted Islam. Even the Mongols in Mongolia came under the influence of Buddhism. Mongol rule was in serious trouble everywhere by 1350.

The Mongol conquests impacted all of the Eurasian civilizations. But they had the most dramatic impact on the sedentary centers of China, the Middle East, and Russia, which the Mongols had ruled directly for more than a century. Since Latin Europe was the farthest from the center of Mongol power, Western civilization experienced the least amount of damage and destruction. This allowed Western civilization to catch up to their eastern neighbors after the end of Mongol rule. By adopting the new ideas and practices exchanged during the great Mongol Peace, as other Eurasian societies stagnated or turned inward, Europe eventually surpassed them.

The Myopia of the West

The Scriptures clearly indicate that the forthcoming world leader, commonly called the Antichrist, will emerge from the Roman Empire.² The common presumption of most of us is that this implies Western Europe. Most of us overlook the possibility that he may emerge from the eastern leg of that empire, which we happen to call the Byzantine Empire. This myopia will be explored in our next installment of The Roots of War.

I often quip, “Film at eleven.” In this case, we really have one: check out our 160-minute video, Roots of War.

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Sources:

Missler, Chuck, Roots of War.

Guzman, Gregory G. Monumenta Latina Rerum Mongolorum, a primary collection of Latin sources on the Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries. Also, “Mongol Domination of Eurasia,” Encarta Reference Library 2002.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Microsoft’s Encarta Encyclopedia.

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The Roots of War, Part 2: The Magog Identity

From Koinonia House

Middle East > The Magog Identity

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. . .And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horse-men, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: – Ezekiel 38:1-4

So begins this classic passage in which Gog and Magog, with their allies, are drawn into an invasion of Israel only to have the God of Israel use the occasion to show Himself strong by intervening on behalf of His people and destroying the invading forces. The apparent use of nuclear weapons¹ has made this passage appear timely and perhaps on our near horizon.

To understand this passage, it is essential to first determine who the players are. Despite the many controversies, these participants are surprisingly well identified. Just who are the people represented here by these ancient tribal names?

Why Such Weird Names?

Have you ever wondered why the Biblical prophets always seem to refer to various peoples by such strange names?  It’s actually our fault!  We keep changing the names of things. There once was a city known as Petrograd. For many years it was known as St. Petersburg. Then it was changed to Leningrad. Now it’s St. Petersburg again. What will it be named a few years from now? (My friends in Russia say that in Russia, even the past is uncertain!) The capital of the old world, Byzantium, was renamed Constantinople. Now that city is known as Istanbul. This occurs even in our own country.  How many of you remember when “Cape Canaveral” was renamed “Cape Kennedy”? Ten years later it became “Cape Canaveral” again.

But we do not change the names of our ancestors! So, if you were the prophet Isaiah and were called upon to speak of the Persians over a century before they emerged as an empire, how could you refer to them?  You would speak of them as the descendants of Elam, the forebears of the Persians.²

The Table of Nations

Did you realize that you and I are related?  All of us are descendants, not only from Adam, but from Noah. Noah and his three sons repopulated the entire Earth after the flood. Thus, we are all descendants of Noah’s three sons: Ham, Shem, and Japheth. We are all relatives.  (Perhaps that’s why we don’t get along any better!) The genealogical records of Noah and his three sons are listed in Genesis 10, and the 70 original tribal groups described there are often called by Biblical scholars, The Table of Nations. Specifically, to understand the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 – 39, we need some background on Magog and his allies.

Magog was one of the sons of Japheth³ and his descendants are often referred to by their Greek name, the Scythians. ⁴ One of the earliest references to Magog was by Hesiod, “the father of Greek didactic poetry,” who identified Magog with the Scythians and southern Russia in the 7th century B.C.⁵ Hesiod was, in effect, almost a contemporary of Ezekiel. Another of the major sources on the ancient history of the Middle East is, of course, Josephus Flavius, who clearly identified Magog:

Magog founded the Magogians, thus named after him, but who were by the Greeks called Scythians .⁶

Another first century writer was Philo,⁷ who also identified Magog with southern Russia. But most of our information comes to us from Herodotus, who wrote extensively in the 5th century B.C.

The “Father of History”

Herodotus of Halicarnassus is known as the “Father of History.”  He wrote the earliest important historical narrative, in which he described the background and the course of the great war between the Greeks and the Persians in the 5th century B.C. Numerous archeological discoveries have clearly confirmed Herodotus’ reports in general, and his Scythian accounts in particular.⁸

The tortuous path from the horseback archery of the early Scyths to the nuclear missiles of the Russian Federation includes many centuries of turbulent history. The various descendants of Magog terrorized the southern steppes of Russia from the Ukraine to the Great Wall of China.

The “Steppes of History”

The earliest origins of the area settled by the descendants of Magog, the extreme north and east, are clouded by the passage of time and war. Only faint traces remain, but enough to establish the critical identities. Our indebtedness extends from writers predating Ezekiel to the energies of the Russian archaeologists in more recent years. In the 9th century B.C. a number of nomadic tribes created a new state in the region of Lake Van in present-day Turkey, which immediately became a competitor of Assyria. The Assyrians called this state Urartu. The Urartean state quickly became powerful, and in the first half of the 8th century B.C. extended its rule over a wide area.

Assyria could not stand by indifferently as Urartu expanded and grew more powerful. During the reign of Argishti’s son, Sarduri II (764-735 B.C.), the Assyrians undertook two campaigns against Urartu, in 743 and 735 B.C. In the second, they reached and besieged the Urartean capital of Tushpa. Two groups are frequently referred to in Urartean and Assyrian texts: the Cimmerians and the Scythians. Both will figure prominently in subsequent identifications.

The Cimmerians

The Cimmerians are the oldest of the European tribes living north of the Black Sea and Danube, and whom we know by the name they used for themselves. The Cimmerian period in the history of southern Ukraine began in the late 11th century B.C. The Cimmerians were the first specialized horse-nomads to make their name in history.⁹ The earliest osteological evidence of the domestication of the horse occurs south of Kiev about 2500 B.C.¹⁰ Their nomadic lifestyle, including mounted warriors, fully developed between the 10th and 8th centuries. ¹¹

They are first mentioned in secular literature in The Odyssey and The Iliad of Homer (8th century B.C.), and in Assyrian cuneiform texts from the 8th century B.C. (before Ezekiel), and of course, in Herodotus (5th century B.C.). Herodotus indicates that the whole North Pontic steppe region, occupied in his time by the Scythians, belonged earlier to the Cimmerians. ¹² Homer¹³ associated the Cimmerians with a fog-bound land, perhaps the Crimean peninsula on the north shore of the Black Sea. Some scholars derive the name of “Crimea” from the Cimmerians.¹⁴ The Cimmerians surged into Asia Minor in the late 7th century B.C. They annihilated the Phrygian kingdom after destroying and looting its capital, Gordium. In 652 B.C. they captured Sardis and plundered the Greek cities of the Aegean coast and Asia Minor.  In the early 7th century, Cimmerian forces were checked and routed by the Assyrians who came to the aid of the Scythians. By the 6th century B.C. the name of the Cimmerians disappeared from the historical scene.

In the 5th century B.C., Herodotus¹⁵ related that the Cimmerians were driven south over the Caucasus, probably through the central Dariel Pass, by the Scythians in a domino-like effect as the Scythians themselves were pushed westward by other tribes. This can be correlated with Chinese records.¹⁶ The numerous references in the Talmud has left little doubt that these descendants of Gomer then moved northward and established themselves in the Rhine and Danube valleys ¹⁷

The Scythians

We know the descendants of Magog by their Greek designation as the Scythians (depicted in their legends as descending from Scythes , the youngest of the three sons of Heracles, from sleeping with a half viper and half woman). ¹⁸ The name Scythian designates a number of nomadic tribes from the Russian steppes, one group of which invaded the Near East in the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. After being repulsed from Media, many of the later Scyths settled in the fertile area of the Ukraine north of the Black Sea. Other related tribes occupied the area to the east of the Caspian Sea.

Herodotus describes them living in Scythia (i.e., the territory north of the Black Sea). He describes Scythia as a square, 20 days journey (360 miles) on a side. It encompassed the lower reaches of the Dniester, Bug, Dnieper, and Don Rivers where they flow into the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. ¹⁹

The Scythian language belonged to the Iranian family of the Indo-European languages.²⁰ The Ossetian dialect of central Caucasus appears to be a survivor.²¹ The original area in which Iranian was spoken extended from the mid-Volga and the Don regions to the northern Urals and beyond. From here, Iranian-speaking tribes colonized Media, Parthia, Persia, Central Asia, and as far as the Chinese border.

In the 7th century B.C. the Scythians swept across the area, displacing the Cimmerians from the steppes of the Ukraine east of Dnieper River, who fled from them across the Caucasus.²² It is provocative that even the name “Caucasus” appears to have been derived from Gog-hasan, or “Gog’s Fort.”²³

The hippomolgoi (“mare-milkers”) mentioned in Homer’s Iliad ²⁴ were equestrian nomads of the northern steppes and several authorities also identified these with the Scythians. ²⁵ [One of the delicacies I was presented with when I was being hosted by the Deputy Chairman of the Soviet Union was fermented horse milk!  These traditions may have a deep history, indeed.]

Tombs That Tell Tales

The fact that the Scythian culture extended more than 2,000 miles east from the Ukraine was demonstrated by the sensational discovery of tombs in the Chilikta Valley of East Kazakhstan, published in Russian in 1965:

…prove that Scythian material culture had spread to the Mongolian border as early as the 6th century B.C. ²⁶

Countless Scythian burials, ranging from the 6th – 2nd century B.C., have been uncovered in the areas to the north and east of the Black Sea, in many cases beyond the limits of what Herodotus demarcated in his day as “Scythia” proper. Soviet scholars have, of course, worked broadly in this region. ²⁷ More than 1,200 graves were investigated by A. Leskov in the Crimean area between 1961 and 1972.  Aerial surveys also have been employed.²⁸ Hundreds of Scythian graves from the 4th and 3rd centuries have been discovered since the 1930s by B. Grakow, A. Trenoschkin, and E. Tschernenko, in the Ukraine. One of the many implications of the Soviet finds is the authentication of the reliability of Herodotus as a source of knowledge of the Scythians. The leading authorities on the Scythians, T. Rice, T. Sulimirski, and others, all regard Herodotus as thoroughly vindicated.²⁹

Remarkable circumstances led to the preservation of otherwise perishable materials. The frozen conditions marvelously preserved textiles, remains of horses, human skin and hair, entrails, undigested food, etc., for more than 2,300 years! In July 1995, Russian archaeologists found a 2,500 year old Scythian horseman under more than seven feet of ice in Siberia near the Chinese and Mongolian borders.  More than 6,500 feet above sea level, the Ukok Plateau is blanketed by a thick layer of rocks that keeps the ground frozen year round.  The horseman had been given his ceremonial burial in his fur coat and high leather boots, alongside his horse in a log-lined chamber in the Altai Mountains. He also had his ax, quiver, and dagger.³⁰

According to Herodotus and archaeological evidence, the Scythians occupied territory from the Danube to the Don. The northern boundary extended beyond the latitude of Kiev. Near Olbia lived the Callipidae and Graeco-Scythians, and farther north, the Alazones.

Defense in Depth

One reason Herodotus gave so much detailed information about the Scythians was that he wanted to describe the people who had succeeded in defeating the Persian king, Darius. This was a most important element in the history of Scythians, and the memory of it remained with them for many years. In resisting the Persians, a provocative strategic tradition was born: Defense in Depth.  This unique strategy also would characterize these descendants of Magog in more recent times against both Napoleon and Hitler.

Darius I crossed the Bosphorus and invaded Scythia. The Scythians, however, had devised an unusual tactic for conducting warfare. The Persians expected to crush the Scythians in a decisive engagement, but the Scythians avoided such a battle. They retreated deep into their own territory, laying waste the region and wearing down the enemy by means of small raids.  In pursuing the Scythians, Darius soon came to appreciate the cunning of these “partisan” tactics. Reaching the Volga, Darius, acknowledging defeat, had to retreat from Scythia in shame.

As every student of military history knows, Napoleon and Hitler, each, in more modern times, encountered the same tactics from the Scythian descendants and yielding similar results. When Napoleon entered Russia in 1812, Field Marshall Kutuzov’s similar strategy, including the sacrifice of Moscow itself, resulted in reducing Napoleon’s Grande Armée from 453,000 to less than 10,000, and yielding the ignomious defeat now commemorated in Tchaikovsky’s Overture of 1812. In 1941, Hitler suffered a similar defeat from the same Scythian strategy: allowing a quick advance deep into the Russian interior only to have his Wehrmacht swallowed up in the harsh winter.

Decline

Greater Scythia disintegrated in the late 3rd century B.C., and the territory extended only from the Lower Dnieper to the Crimea.  There were several causes; the main one was apparently ecological.  Evidently the natural and climatic conditions of life on the steppe were changing. According to some experts there was a “desertification” of the steppe. ³¹ The population moved to more favorable areas, in particular southwards to the southern Dnieper. The Scythians finally succumbed to attacks from the Goths.

Scythians in the New Testament

The word Scythian occurs once in the New Testament. Paul stresses the fact that people from the most diverse backgrounds can be one in Christ:

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
- Colossians 3:11

These unsavory associations mean nothing to readers today but would have aroused a strong emotional response from Paul’s audience.  According to this passage, not only were all classes of society, civilized and uncivilized, one in Christ, but even those cruel, barbaric Scythians – the epitome of savagery in the ancient world ³² – were eligible for redemption through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Even as you and I are. No matter how barbaric or cruel our own history is, His redemption is available for the asking.]

More to Come

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Roots of War – Chuck MisslerOn September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists shook the world. This briefing will update you on the history of the Middle East since the fall of the Roman Empire Click for more information – Audio Cassette

1. Ezekiel 39:9-15.
2. Isaiah 11:11; 21:2; 22:6.
3. Genesis 10:2; I Chronicles 1:5.
4. Keil, C.F., & Delitzsch, F., Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1891, vol 2, p.157; Gesenius, Wilhelm, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Crocker & Brewster, Boston, 1872, pp.534, 626, 955, 1121; Scofield, C.I., ed., The Scofield Reference Bible, Oxford University, 1917, p.883; The New Scofield Reference Bible, English, E.S., 1967, p.881.
5. F. W. Gingrich & Frederich Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature,  Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago & London, 1957.
6. Josephus, Antiquities, 1.123; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 38:2.
7. F. H. Colson, G.H. Whitaker, & Ralph Marcus, Philo, Loeb Classical Library, London, 1929-1953.
8. W. Spiegelberg, The Credibility of Herodotus’ Account of Egypt in the Light of the Egyptian Monuments, Blackwell, Oxford, 1927; O. E. Ravn, Herodotus’ Description of Babylon, A. Busck, Copenhagen, 1942.
9. E. D. Phillips, “New Light on the Ancient History of the Eurasian Steppe,” American Journal of Archaeology 61, 1957, p. 274.
10. J. F. Downs, “The Origin and Spread of Riding in the Near East and Central Asia,” American Anthropologist 63, 1961, p. 1196.
11. K. Jettmar, “Die Entstehung der Reiternomaden,” Saeculum 17, 1966, p. 1-11.; E.D. Phillips, “New Light on the Ancient History of the Eurasian Steppe,” American Journal of Archaelogy, 61, 1957.
12. Herodotus 4.11.
13. Odyssey, 11.13-19.
14. Strabo 7.4.3.
15. Herodotus  4.11-13.
16. T. Rice, The Scythians , 3rd ed., Praeger, NY, 1961, p. 43.
17. Targum Yonasan and the Midrash: identification with Germania.
18. It is interesting to notice how frequently a woman is linked with a serpent: Genesis 3; the legends surrounding the birth of Alexander the Great, etc.
19. B.A. Rybakov (Rus: Herodotus’s Scythia ), Nauka, Moscow, 1979, p. 19.
20. See R. G. Kent, Old Persian, 2nd ed., American Oriental Society, New Haven CT, 1953, p. 6; J. Potratz, Die Skythen in Sudrussland , Raggi, Basel, 1963, p.17.
21. See “Scythian”(Rus: Great Soviet Encylopedia ), 3rd ed., 1979, vol 23, pp.259-260. Also, Herodotus 4.117, 4.108, 4.106.
22. Herodotus  4.12.
23. Dr. John Gill, A Commentary on the Old Testament, 1748.
24. Iliad, 13.5.
25. B.N. Grakov, Die Skythen , Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1980, p.4.
26. M. Van Loon, review of J. Potratz, Die Skythen in Sudrussland, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies , 29, 1970, p.71.
27. Rybakov, pp.104-168; T. Sulimirski, “The Scythian Age in the U.S.S.R.,” Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, London, 10, 1971, pp.114-131; V. S. Olkhovski, “The Scythian Catacombs in the Steppes of the Black Sea” Sovetskaia Arkheologiia, no. 4, 1977, pp. 108-128; “The Ancient Tombs of the Scyths According to Herodotus and the Archaeological Data,” Sovietskaia Arkheologiia, No. 4, 1978, pp. 83-97. A. M. Leskov, “Die skythischen Kurgane,” Antike Welt 5, Sondernummer; 1974.
28. A. M. Leskov, “Die skythischen Kurgane,” Antike Welt, 5, Sondernummer; 1974.
29. T. Rice, Scythians, p. 42; Rybakov, Gerodotova Skifiia, pp. 239-240; M. I. Artamonov, Treasures from Scythian Tombs in the Hermitage Museum, Thames and Hudson, London, 1969, p. 16; K. S. Rubinson, “Herodotus and the Scythians,” Expedition,  17, Summer, 1975, p. 20; T. Sulimirski, “Scythian Antiquities,” p. 294, citing works of C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, V. Struve, G. C. Cameron, and A. Baschmakoff in support of Herodotus. Also, J. Przyluski, “Noveaux aspects de l’histoire des Scythes,” Revue de l’Universite de Bruxelles, 42, 1936-1937, pp. 210ff.
30. “Experts struggle to preserve 2,500-year-old Horseman,” Orange County Register, Sept 1, 1995.
31. Some believe that orbital perturbations may have altered the Earth’s ecological balance in ages past. See Signs in the Heavens, Koinonia House.
32. i.e., II Maccabees 4:47; III Maccabees 7:5; Josephus, Contra Apionem 2.269.
33. The notorious exploits of Ivan The Terrible are hardly more shocking than the Massacre of St. Bartholemew’s Day or the methods of the Roman Catholic Inquisition. See Dave Hunt’s A Woman Rides the Beast, Harvest House, 1994.

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The Roots of War, Part 1: The Islamic Conquests

From Koinonia House

Middle East > The Islamic Conquests

As diligent Bible students, most of us are familiar with the emergence of the empires that were profiled, in advance, in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7: the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires. However, many of us are probably a little hazy about the tide of events subsequent to that period. As Part 1 of a three-part article, we will attempt to briefly profile some of the historical events that are now impacting our near horizon.

The Rise of Islam

Many had assumed that Islam was simply the militant imposition of the culture of 7th century Arabia on illiterate Third World tribes, with little relevance to the developed nations of today. However, the events of September 11, 2001, certainly have punctured the comfort of those naïve presumptions. Islam has been, from its inception, a militant warrior code with an agenda of world conquest. Now, with its possession of nuclear weapons, its agenda can no longer be ignored.

Mohammed was born at Mecca, Arabia, in a.d. 570, and his Islam quickly spread beyond the borders of the tribal groups of Arabia. The 7th century was startled with the rapid advances of his militant religion: Syria fell in 634; Jerusalem in 637; Egypt in 638; Persia in 640; North Africa in 689; and Spain in 711. Both Christians and Jews throughout Europe were terrified until the Islamic troops were halted by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, France, in 732.

A Trifurcated Heritage

By 750, the Roman Empire in the West had already disintegrated into fragments, leaving two other primary protagonists: Byzantium, the Eastern remnants of the Roman Empire, and the emerging caliphates of Islam. Of these three heirs to an agrarian, rural-oriented world, the Islamic caliphates were the most prosperous, with thriving trade and a large merchant and professional class. Like the Byzantine emperors, the caliphs were strong, centralized rulers, with a well-organized civil service and efficient methods of collecting taxes. This centralization reached its height at the end of the 8th century under Harun al-Rashid, who was one of the most powerful of the caliphs. From his capital city at Baghdâd (today the capital of Iraq), he ruled over lands that stretched more than 3,600 miles from east to west (about 1,000 miles longer than the length of the United States). He was a successful military leader and was enormously wealthy.

Byzantium’s economy was hurt by war and loss of territory but quickly revived. Constantinople remained an important center of trade, and the Byzantine countryside was productive. Its imperial administration was able to collect taxes from peasants without difficulty.

The West was the poorest heir of the former Roman Empire. While a wealthy landowning class lived well, many cities of the West had become depopulated and the land was relatively unproductive. There were so many continuing conflicts among the numerous fragmented fiefdoms that it is rather surprising that by the end of the Middle Ages Europe emerged as a collection of strong, prosperous, aggressive competitive states, with explorers and traders launching expeditions to China, Africa, and, eventually, the Americas.

The Decline of Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire was the wedge that separated the Islamic world from the West and was in a vulnerable middle position. Although the Byzantines managed to survive the initial attacks of the Muslims, which began early in the 7th century, they always had to worry about new invasions – and not just from farther east. Hostility with the West had roots that ranged from disputed territory to religion. The pope resented Byzantine rule over the parts of Italy he thought should be his own. The pope and the Byzantine church also had long-standing religious differences concerning the nature of God and the organization of the church. These came to a head in 1054, when the agents of the pope in Rome and the patriarch in Constantinople excommunicated one another.

Further enmities between Byzantium and the West developed at the end of the 11th century. At that time a new Islamic group, the Seljuk Turks, began to ravage the Byzantine Empire’s eastern flank. The emperor asked for military help from the West, but he got more than he bargained for: The pope launched the First Crusade, a massive armed pilgrimage against the forces of Islam.

European fighters met with the emperor to coordinate strategy, but the two sides had very different interests. The Byzantines wanted to protect their own territory from Muslim invasion and saw the Crusaders only as reinforcements. The Crusaders, on the other hand, had a much larger goal – to recover from the Muslims Jerusalem and other cities Christians considered holy. The Europeans were interested in the Byzantines only if they could help the Crusaders achieve their goal. This conflict of interest increased hostility between the Byzantine Empire and the West.

On a later Crusade, in 1204, Crusaders from Europe invaded Constantinople itself, pillaging and destroying it. They set up one of their own leaders as emperor and divided up Byzantine territory among Europeans. Although the Byzantines recaptured the city in 1261, the empire never fully recovered. In 1453 it was taken over by the Ottoman Turks, another Muslim group that would prevail until World War I and which would set the stage for the cast of adversaries clouding our present horizon.

Islamic World

The fate of the Islamic world was much different than that of the Byzantine Empire. There remains a direct continuity between the state ruled by the caliphs in the 7th century and the Islamic states of today. Yet almost directly after Harun al-Rashid’s death in 809, the caliphs began to lose power to local rulers. This loss was the result of religious as well as military developments. After Mohammed’s death in 632, important men in two different family groups claimed to be the true successor. The supporters of the family group that won and gained the caliphate became known later as Sunnites. The other group would become known as Shiites. The followers of these two groups continue to be a source of tension in the Islamic world today.

In the 10th century a group of Shiites calling themselves Fatimids gained control of a region that included what is now northern Africa, Egypt, and Syria. They ruled independently of any caliph at Baghdâd and their hold was broken only with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks – the same Turks against whom the First Crusade was launched – who were Sunnites.

The caliphs also lost power because they could not control their armies. Most of the armies of the caliphs were made up of slaves who had been bought or captured and armed as soldiers. These slave armies had no loyalty to the caliphs. As a result, they soon became independent mercenaries, hiring themselves out to whichever ruler would pay them the most. Local governors in the Islamic world took advantage of this, collecting taxes and paying the armies what they asked in return for support. In this way, powerful local rulers carved out states for themselves.

The Seljuks

In the 12th century the Seljuk Turks put an end to this fragmentation by bringing order and stability to the various groups in power. They recognized the caliph but exercised influence over him. Similarly, they allowed independent kingdoms but expected them all to participate in an Islamic culture based on Sunnite beliefs and law and on the Arabic language.

The Seljuks also encouraged free and active trade throughout the Islamic world. Scholars and writers benefited from the resulting openness and prosperity, and important works of philosophy and literature were written in Arabic during this period. The works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, long forgotten, were recovered and translated from Greek into Arabic. This revival of Aristotle marked a major intellectual change, with important consequences both for the Islamic world and for the West: by the end of the 12th century, both cultures shared a common body of logical thought that served as the basis for new achievements in philosophy and science.

However, the Islamic world was under constant pressure from outside forces. In the 13th century, Seljuk rule in the eastern half of the Islamic world gave way to invaders from China, known as the Mongols. Other parts of the Islamic world were being conquered by Europeans. Islamic Spain, which had broken from the caliphs in the 8th century, was almost entirely taken by Christian armies by 1212. Sicily, occupied by the Muslims in the 9th century, was reconquered by Europeans in the 11th. Meanwhile, independent Islamic rulers continued to create and strengthen their own states. This situation persisted until the invasions in the 15th century by the Ottoman Turks, who unified much of the Islamic world under their rule.

Russia

Although the Byzantine Empire disappeared long ago, a descendant of it still exists in the modern world: Russia. Russia was created by Vikings from Scandinavia, who sailed down the river valleys that connected the Baltic with the Black Sea and conquered the Slavs living along the rivers. The Russians both traded and fought with the Byzantines. Eventually the Russians accepted Christianity from the Byzantines and adopted many of the empire’s customs and institutions. Yet, to put this in perspective we will need to explore the Mongol (Magog?) Invasions of the 12th – 14th centuries. [To be continued next month with Part 2.]

* * *

Roots of War – Chuck MisslerOn September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists shook the world. This briefing will update you on the history of the Middle East since the fall of the Roman Empire Click for more information – Audio Cassette

The Sword of Allah – Chuck MisslerIslam is the fastest growing religion on earth. Is Allah just another name for the God of the Bible? Find out about Islam’s roots and potential future. Click for more information – Audio Cassette

Jihad: America’s New War – Chuck MisslerThe Islamic agenda cannot be ignored. The attack on America’s sovereign soil was a wake-up call, and it certainly isn’t over. We are, indeed, at war. Click for more information – Audio Cassette

The Roots of War, Part 2: The Magog Identity – Chuck Missler

The Roots of War, Part 3: The Steppes of History – Chuck Missler

A Legacy of Hate: Jihad in America – Chuck Missler

Oslo Accord Update: A Middle East Christmas Carol – John Loeffler

UN Conference on Racism Israel and the Global Hate War – John Loeffler

The Modern History… Behind the Middle East Crisis – Chuck Missler

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Updated Briefing: Magog Revisited

From Koinonia House

Prophetic > End-Times > Magog Revisited

by Chuck Missler

Updated Briefing:

Magog Revisited

Next month, Part 2: Why we believe Ezekiel 38 and 39 describes the use of nuclear weapons and why we believe the Magog Invasion could happen at any time.

Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39 describe the occasion in which God Himself intervenes to quell the ill-fated invasion of Israel by Magog and its allies (Persia, Cush, Phut, Libya, Gomer, Togarmah, Meshech, and Tubal). This passage also appears to anticipate the use of nuclear weapons.

Why does the Bible use such strange names? It has to – we keep changing the names of things: Petrograd = St. Petersburg = Leningrad = St. Petersburg again. (My friends in Russia remind me that ”in Russia, even the past is uncertain!”) Byzantium = Constantinople = Istanbul. Cape Canaveral = Cape Kennedy, etc. But we don’t change the names of our ancestors!

The Magog Identity

Hesiod, ”the father of Greek didactic poetry,” identified Magog with the Scythians and southern Russia in the 7^th century B.C. (Hesiod’s writings precede the Book of Ezekiel.)

Herodotus of Harlicarnassus, known as the ”Father of History,” wrote extensively about the descendants of Magog by their Greek name, the Scythians, in the 5^th century B.C. Flavius Josephus records that Magogians were called ”Scythians” by the Greeks. Philo, in the 1^st century, identifies Magog with southern Russia.

Defense in Depth

One reason Herodotus gave so much detailed information about the Scythians was that he wanted to describe the people who had succeeded in defeating the Persian king, Darius. Darius I crossed the Bosporus and invaded Scythia. The Scythians, however, had devised an unusual tactic for conducting warfare.

The Persians expected to crush the Scythians in a decisive engagement, but the Scythians avoided such a battle. They retreated deep into their own territory, laying to waste the region and wearing down the enemy by means of small raids.

In pursuing the Scythians, Darius soon came to appreciate the cunning of these ”partisan” tactics: Reaching the Volga, Darius, acknowledging defeat, had to retreat from Scythia in shame.

In 1812, when Napoleon entered Russia, Field Marshall Kutuzov’s similar strategy – including the sacrifice of Moscow itself – resulted in reducing Napoleon’s Grande Armée from 453,000 to less than 10,000 and yielded the infamous defeat now commemorated in Tchaikovsky’s Overture of 1812.

In 1941, Hitler suffered a similar defeat from the same Scythian strategy: pressing a quick advance deep into the Russian interior only to have his Wehrmacht swallowed up in the harsh Russian winter.

Turkey

All the allies of Magog are in position, except one (watch Turkey!). Af-ter nearly two decades of waiting, Turkey has finally begun official negotiations for admittance into the European Union. The two largest impediments to Turkey’s EU membership are its predominantly Muslim population and its refusal to recognize the island nation of Cyprus (an EU member). This could push a wounded Turkey back into the arms of the nationalists and hard-line Islamic fundamentalists.

Russia Today

Modern Russian history dates from before the fall of the USSR – beginning with Yuri Andropov’s rise to power in November 1982. As someone who was in charge of the KGB, in a state where information was tightly compartmentalized, Andropov came into office knowing something that would not become apparent to the rest of the world for years: Not only was the Soviet Union losing the Cold War, but it was dangerously close to economic collapse.

The Andropov Doctrine

The West had long since surpassed the Soviets in every measure that mattered: from economic output, to worker productivity, to military reach. Andropov was convinced that, in time, Moscow would fall…barring a massive change in course.

Andropov’s plan was to secure money, managerial skills and non-military technologies from the West in order to refashion a more functional Soviet Union. But the Soviets had nothing significant to trade: they did not have the cash, they lacked goods that the West wanted, and Andropov had no intention of trading away Soviet military technology (which, even 15 years after the Cold War ended, still gives its U.S. counterpart a good run for its money).

In the end, Andropov knew that the Soviet Union had only one thing the West wanted: geopolitical space. So space was what he gave. This continued the traditional Scythian ”defense in depth” strategy!

Subsequent leaders – Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin after them – continued this as well. The one common thread uniting Russian leaders over the past quarter-century has been the belief that without a fundamental remake, Russia would not survive, and the only way to gain the tools necessary for that remake was to give up influence. Consequently, everything – from Cuba to Poland to Afghanistan to Vietnam – was surrendered, set free or otherwise abandoned.

This was the strategy for nearly 25 years, until the loss of the Ukraine raised the specter of Russian dissolution. The Russians have now stepped away from the Andropov Doctrine, abandoned the implicit bargain within it, reformed the government under the leadership of pragmatists loyal to Putin, and have begun pushing back against American and Western pressure.

Demographically, the country is in terrible shape: their population is growing simultaneously older, smaller and sicklier. The number of Muslims is growing, while the number of ethnic Russians is declining. Nearly all of the economic growth that has occurred since the 1998 financial crisis has stemmed from either an artificially weak currency or rising energy prices, and there are echoes of Soviet financial overextension as occurred after the 1973 and 1981 oil price booms.

The START Treaty

The treaty, which took force in 1991, obliges the United States and Russia to maintain no more than 6,000 nuclear warheads apiece. It expires in 2009, and the United States is not anxious to renew it.

Among American defense planners, there is a belief that the vast majority of weapons in the Russian nuclear program is nearing the end of its reliable life-cycle, and that replacing it would be well beyond Russia’s financial capacity. From the U.S. point of view, there is no reason to subject itself to a new treaty that would limit U.S. options, particularly when the Russia of today is far less able to support an arms race than the Soviet Union of yesteryear. The weapons that will be used in the Magog Invasion, or the Battle of Armageddon, may already be in inventory today.

Russia-Israeli Relations

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Russia helped Israel obtain arms to fight the contingent of hostile countries that included Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. However, after this initial cooperation, relations between the two countries quickly soured with Russia threatening to attack Israel during both the 1956 Sinai Campaign and the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Russia severed diplomatic relations with Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War, then aligned itself with Arab nationalist regimes and gave support to Palestinian militants. Russia also strongly opposed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Even today, Russia remains allied with Israel’s enemies.

Vladimir Putin

Since Putin took power in 1999, he has established unrivaled dominance of both houses of parliament; reasserted control over the country’s huge energy industry; forced the closure of the last independent national television network; strengthened Russia’s ties to its former communist allies; and, employed what he calls ”managed democracy.”

Putin has manipulated elections, silenced critics, and gradually tight-ened his grip on the nation. He is a former KGB officer and reports estimate that one in every four of Putin’s government has a background in the military or security services.

In recent months, Putin has faced growing criticism for restricting democratic freedoms and concentrating his presidential powers. Once thought to be a growing capitalist ally, Russia is now returning to its Soviet roots. Putin has called on Israel to withdraw ”from all the occupied Arab lands back to the June 1967 border” and stressed the necessity of a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

Growing Anti-Semitism in Russia

During the Soviet era, more than a million Jews fled Russia to escape state-sponsored anti-Semitism, and in recent years there has been a dramatic resurgence of anti-Jewish sentiment. In 2005, following a string of racially motivated attacks on Jews, a letter with several hundred signatures, including those of 19 members of the Duma (the Russian parlia-ment), was sent to Russia’s prosecutor-general. The letter claimed that the Jews themselves were responsible for inciting anti-Semitic violence and accused them of vandalizing and burning down synagogues to garner sympathy. It also called for Jewish organizations in Russia to be investigated and banned.

The Palestinians

Russia has further earned Israel’s ire by announcing plans to provide the Palestinian security forces with two reconnaissance helicopters and 50 armored vehicles. Russia has also sent its military experts and security personnel to Gaza to help train Palestinian security forces. After Palestinian terrorists fired rockets from Gaza into southern Israel recently, the Israelis found missile fragments belonging to a Russian designed BM-21 rocket. For the last four years, Palestinians had been using homemade Kassam rockets. This was the first time a factory-made rocket had been fired into Israel by the Palestinians.

Allies in the Middle East

After losing the Mid-East foothold provided by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the Russians have been building a new axis of power based on ties with Turkey, Iran and Syria. Russia is now Turkey’s second-largest trading partner, with a volume of $10 billion in trade per year; Russia strengthened ties with Iran by supplying it with nuclear-related technologies; and, Russia and Syria have made plans to increase diplomatic and military cooperation.

Syria

Russia has since written-off nearly 75% – approximately $10 billion – of Syria’s Soviet-era debt. Russia also intends to proceed with plans to sell SS-26 and SS-18 missiles to Syria, despite U.S. and Israeli opposition. The SS-26 is a highly mobile missile that uses satellite guidance systems to attain maximum accuracy. With a range of 180 miles, it can carry a 1,000-pound warhead to most targets inside Israel; the SA-18 missiles are some of the most sophisticated shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles on the market and Israel is concerned the weapons may fall into the hands of Palestinian terrorists.

The SA-18 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile uses its enhanced seeker to hit aerial targets, such as jet fighters, head-on. They have a relatively short range of 5.2 km and a maximum altitude of 3.5 km, but they can be used to destroy planes, helicopters and low-flying unmanned planes.

Syria is on the U.S. State Department’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism. It gives ”substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, ex-plosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid” to terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas and other radical Islamic and Palestinian organizations, many of which are headquartered in Damascus. Many experts believe that a large-scale confrontation between Syria and Israel could be on the near horizon, which makes Syria’s growing relationship with nations such as Iran and Russia even more concerning.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet

Russia may be planning to move its Black Sea Fleet to the Syrian port of Tartus. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet currently uses a range of naval facilities in the Ukrainian region of Crimea under a 1997 agreement that allowed Russia to continue its presence in its neighboring former Soviet republic for rent of $93 million per year. The fleet is not scheduled to withdraw until 2017, but the Ukraine has demanded that a new agreement be signed and negotiations between Russia and the Ukraine have stalled. Russia has started dredging at the Syrian port of Tartus, where it maintains a logistical supply point with a possible eye to turning it into a full-fledged naval base. Russia has also launched a modernization project at the port of Latakia, 90 km to the north of Tartus.

An anonymous source at the Defense Ministry indicated that Moscow was planning to form a squadron led by the Moskva, the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship missile cruiser, within the next three years. The squadron would operate in the Mediterranean Sea on a permanent basis.

Iran

Russia intends to sell Iran up to 30 Tor M-1 surface-to-air missiles, worth $700 million. Russia has been the beneficiary of multiple lucrative contracts to help Iran develop nuclear energy and has also been helping Iran build its nuclear reactor at Bushehr. Russia, which has veto power on the UN Security Council, has also threatened to block any attempt by the U.S. to impose UN sanctions on Iran.

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The Magog Invasion – MP3 Download – Chuck MisslerDoes the Bible really predict the use of nuclear weapons? Chuck Missler examines the reemergence of Russia as a nuclear superpower in light of Biblical prophecy. Click for more information – MP3 Download

Source: Zeihan, Peter, “Russia: What Now?” Stratfor, 7/06/06.

The Roots of War, Part 1: The Islamic Conquests – Chuck Missler

The Roots of War, Part 2: The Magog Identity – Chuck Missler

The Roots of War, Part 3: The Steppes of History – Chuck Missler

Roots Of War – Profiling the Middle East

Why is there so much turmoil in the Middle East?

In this comprehensive overview of India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Russia, China and Israel, Chuck covers the background of each country as well as their military strengths, political agendas, historical roots, religious affiliations and the roles they each play in Bible prophecy.

The Magog Invasion – Russia’s Strategy

Once thought to be a growing capitalist ally, Russia is returning to its Soviet roots. With a renovated nuclear force, a renewed sense of nationalism, and fresh alliances with other communist regimes, Russia is once again at the forefront of international politics.

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What is Prophecy?

From Koinonia House

Prophetic > End-Times > What Is Prophecy?

Beyond ”Crystal Balls”

There is more than simple curiosity that lies behind man’s attempt to perceive the future. Practical business requires forecasts and an understanding of what Peter Drucker calls the ”futurity of today’s decisions.” Forecasts underlie all decisions, whether they be market planning, inventory management, establishing cash flow requirements, or staffing an enterprise. Managers solve problems; executives anticipate them.

National security depends on threat assessments – strategic or tactical. Empires have been established – or destroyed – on the basis of anticipated implications of technology and other changes.

Our personal decisions about education, careers, and raising a family, or buying a new home, all rely on our perceptions – or more precisely, our presumptions – about the future.

Banks dealing with loan decisions are, in effect, predicting both the experience encountered with the specific application as well as the anticipated credit climate that lies ahead.

Non-Linearities

One of the problems is that we all make linear assumptions in a non-linear world. We tend to assume linearity: that tomorrow will be like yesterday; that next week will resemble last week; next year like last year, etc. Linear extrapolations can be blinders.

Natural non-linearities can occur, such as an earthquake, tornado or hurricane. Medical non-linearities can include a stroke or car accident. Financial non-linearities can emerge from a bankruptcy, a lawsuit, or a wife visiting a shopping mall. Our most critical crises arise from non-linearities.

Sound management requires a broader, long-term perspective, an accurate assessment of the environment, and an awareness of the impact – and likelihoods – of non-linearities. It is disturbing to the informed that most crises could have been anticipated through diligence. Those that anticipate the non-linearities survive them. That’s what the insurance industry is all about.

Biblical Prophecy

We don’t take prophecy seriously because it is in the Bible. We take the Bible seriously because of the track record of its prophecies! The Bible also lays out a detailed scenario of the final climax for mankind on the Planet Earth. It also provides testable reference points to determine just where we are in that scenario.

But there’s far more than just a few historical episodes involved. The Bible has anticipated our most advanced discoveries on the very frontiers of our sciences!

High Technology Statements in the Bible

It is remarkable to discover the technological perspectives in the Bible. There are many technology statements that the average reader takes for granted: The idea that the earth is round,¹ the fact that the solar system itself migrates throughout the galaxy,² and the fact that space itself has properties that transcend our three-dimensional understand-ing of reality.

Many of the recent insights of modern medicine are anticipated and are in stark contrast to the myths and superstitions of the ancient cultures of the past.

Furthermore, Jesus warned of a day in which ”unless those days be shortened, no flesh would be saved.” A statement like that would seem fanciful if studied over a century ago: in the 1860s we couldn’t imagine the world wiping itself out with muskets and bayonets. But today the nuclear cloud hangs over every geopolitical decision on the Planet Earth.

Ezekiel speaks of a battle that will be resolved by hailstones of fire, and in which the leftover weapons provide all the energy needs of the nation Israel for seven years.

Further, that professionals will spend seven months clearing out the remains, burying them downwind. (And he even indicates that a traveler, passing through the battle zone and finding something the professionals have missed, he doesn’t touch it. Rather, he marks the location and leaves it for the professionals to deal with. Surprisingly contemporary procedure for nuclear-biological-chemical warfare.)³

Zechariah describes the unique properties of the neutron bomb.⁴ Jeremiah speaks of smart weapons, in which the intelligence and perception is in the arrow rather than the shooter – arrows that can’t miss.⁵

Perhaps most profound are the perceptions of the properties of the universe itself.

Most of us assume that the vacuum of space is empty. It is surprising to discover that space itself has properties: zero point energy, permittivity, and impedance. And that it has more dimensions than the three we are familiar with.

The Bible describes the ”firmament” as a solid, which can be rolled up, stretched, and ”torn.” This is all quite a contrast to the fanciful conjectures of the ancients.

What may be a surprise to many is that the more you know about the frontiers of modern science, quantum mechanics and astrophysics, the more comfortable the creation account in Genesis appears!⁶

Two Discoveries

Bible prophecy suffers as much from its enthusiasts as it does from its detractors. Too often, prophetic studies suffer from inadequate scholarship, fanciful conjectures, and contrived conclusions. However, my particular view springs from two astonishing discoveries:

1) That the collection of 66 books which we traditionally call ”The Bible,” even though penned by over forty authors over a period of several thousand years, is an integrated message system. Not just thematically, but the various texts evidence a skillful craftsmanship in which virtually every place name, every detail, even the hidden structures lying beneath the texts, bear testimony to an overriding systematic design; a design which vastly transcends the insights of the individual contributors.

This integrity of design yields the second discovery:

2) That the source of this message system had to originate from outside the domain of time itself. We find history written before it happens. Allusions throughout the Bible reveal an anticipation of pivotal events long before they are realized. And the presence of these passages raises profound insights about the very reality we live in. Setting aside many controversial points of view, it appears that we are presently being plunged into a period of time about which the Bible says more than it does about any other period of history – including the events of the New Testament.

New Book This Fall!

This fall, Thomas Nelson publishers will release my newest book, Prophecy 2020: Profiling the Future through the Lens of Scripture. Look for details in the September issue of Personal UPDATE, or visit your local Christian book store.

1. Isaiah 40:22.
2. Psalm 19:1-6.
3. Ezekiel 38 and 39.
4. Zechariah 14:12.
5. Jeremiah 50:9.

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Hanukkah Prophetically: The Final “Week”

From Koinonia House

Prophetic > End-Times > The Final ”Week”

How did the birthday of Antiochus Epiphanes result in a celebration that is still honored throughout the entire world today?

December 8th on our calendar is the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, the first day of Hanukkah. Many Christians have no idea why this is also significant for them and that it was even validated by the Holy Spirit by a reference in the New Testament.¹ We thought this reminder might bring some additional appreciation over the coming holiday period.

Last month we summarized the first 69 “weeks” of Gabriel’s famous prophecy to Daniel, which still remains as one of the most powerful apologetics demonstrating the deity of Jesus Christ and authenticating His identity as the Machiach Nagid of Israel.² And we also summarized the interval which intervenes between the 69 “weeks” and the final 70th “week.”

However, we left off detailing the final – and pivotal – verse that is still future and one we may be approaching more quickly than most people realize. In fact, it was this very verse (Daniel 9:27) that Jesus specifically pointed to in His confidential briefing on His Second Coming to His disciples.³

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Daniel 9:27

The Personal Identity

The first thing to clearly identify in this remarkable verse is just who is referred to as “he,” the one confirming (or enforcing) the covenant. The grammatical antecedent of the pronoun is “the Prince that shall come” in the preceding verse, whose people destroy the city and the sanctuary.⁴ (Some try to identify him with the Messiah also mentioned earlier in that verse, but that is grammatically incorrect, and also ascribes the abominations to him, etc.)

After the death of Nero, General Galba was recalled to become emperor. A conspiracy had him assassinated. After Galba, Otho was made emperor; but he was unfit and committed suicide. After revolution and political instability, the general-in-command of the Roman- Israeli expedition was recalled to restore order and to become emperor: General Vespasian. His son, Titus, remained the general in charge of the siege in A.D. 70. Just a few days before the final assault on Jerusalem, Vespasian was crowned Emperor of the Roman Empire, thus making Titus, literally, a prince.

Since it was the Roman legions that “destroyed the city and the sanctuary,” and thus, the “people of the prince that shall come,” scholars have long anticipated that the final world leader would ultimately emerge from the Roman Empire-somehow revived in the end times. It is, however, myopic to assume this necessarily implies that he will emerge from Western Europe. The eastern leg of the Roman Empire outlasted the western leg by 1,000 years; and Micah, Isaiah, and other passages indicate that this final world leader will be an Assyrian .⁵

We believe that “the Prince that shall come” is one of 33 designations in the Old Testament (and 13 in the New Testament) for the Coming World Leader, commonly called the Antichrist.

The Week Defined

This “70th Week” of this prophecy is defined by the duration of time – seven years – during which this coming world leader commits to confirming (or enforcing) a covenant.⁶ (He doesn’t necessarily “sign a treaty”; he may simply enforce what is commonly called the Palestinian Covenant: Israel’s right to the land.

In the middle of that seven-year period he apparently violates that commitment and “causes the sacrifice and oblation to cease,” implying that his commitment had included (but was not limited to) Temple worship. (This is one of the several reasons we know that the Temple will have been rebuilt by then: Jesus, John, and Paul all make reference to it in this context.⁷)

The Pivotal Event

A major event divides the seven-year period into two halves and is the most specifically documented period of time in both the Old and New Testaments. Each half is referred to as a half-week, 3 ½ years,⁸ 42 months, and 1260 days.⁹

Jesus Himself points to “the Abomination of Desolation” as the key event in His briefing to His disciples.¹⁰ This allusion had a specific history two centuries earlier when Antiochus IV (“Epiphanes”) desecrated the Temple in 167 B.C. In his zeal to offend the Jews, he made reading the Torah a capital crime and slaughtered a sow on the brazen altar in the Temple. (If you know how the Jews feel about pork, and how they venerate that altar, you can imagine how that went over.) But that was not the coup d’gras. On his birthday he erected an idol in the Holy of Holies .

Any form of idol worship is, in the Bible, referred to as an “abomination.” However, the ultimate insult is to erect that idol on the most holy spot the Planet Earth: in Jerusalem, in the sacred Temple, in fact, in the Holy of Holies. That event so incensed the Jews that a priest named Mattathias, and his son Judas “the Macabbe” (“the Hammer”), led a revolt that ultimately threw off the yoke of the Seleucid Empire and ushered in the period of the Hasmoneans.

On the third anniversary of the desecration of the Temple, they destroyed the contaminated vessels and made new ones and then rededicated the Temple. This rededication is celebrated every year on the 25th of Kislev and is also alluded to in the New Testament.¹¹

The Great Tribulation

It is from this background that, two centuries later, Jesus warned His disciples that:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Matthew 24:15-21

There is a technological prediction in this: if the Holy of Holies is a place that only the high priest can enter-and only once a year after great ceremonial preparations-how can “them which be in Judea” see an event going on inside? (On CNN, of course!) This apparently will be a major political event and this remark assumes global television. Paul also alludes to this pivotal event:

…that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4

Both Daniel and the Lord Jesus warn that “then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”¹² (Notice that this period is 3 ½ years, not seven. Many assume the “Great Tribulation” is seven years – referring, of course, to the “70th Week” of Daniel. But Jesus Himself labels the last half of the week with this quote from Daniel 12.)

This period is also called “the time of Jacob’s trouble,”¹³ as it is the very focus of their repentance predicted by God in Hosea:

I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.

Hosea 5:15

(In order for God to “return to His place,” He must have left it!)

Differing Views

There are many who have different views of what we have presented here. We have discovered that a person’s views of eschatology (study of the last things) will derive directly from his hermeneutics (theories of interpretation). See the chart.

There are many who don’t anticipate a literal rule of Christ on the earth (despite Gabriel’s prediction to Mary¹⁴ and many clear promises in both the Old and New Testaments). These are known as “amillennialists.” There are also many who believe that the church will also go through the Great Tribulation, known as “post-tribulationalists,” etc.

However, the more strict your rules of interpretation, the more likely you will be driven toward the “literal” side of the chart. To hold many of these other popular views one has to be quite willing to treat the many texts as only allegorical, or symbolic, rather than literal, etc.

We treat all the texts with profound seriousness and believe that God means what He says and says what He means, and that He expresses it with great precision and attention to detail:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Matthew 5:17

(A “jot” is one of the 22 Hebrew alphabet characters that you and I might mistake for an apostrophe or a blemish on the paper. A “tittle” is one of the little decorative hooks on some of the Hebrew characters. The phrase Jesus used is the Hebrew equivalent of our saying “the dotting of an ‘i’ or the crossing of a ‘t.’” We feel that Jesus’ admonition is a call to take the text very seriously and very precisely.)

So these differing views of eschatology should not be a basis of division or lack of fellowship, but it is exciting to see world events clearly heading to the ultimate climax. I believe we are heading into a period of time about which the Bible says more than it does about any other period of time of history – including the Gospel period of the New Testament! To challenge that preposterous statement you must do two things:

1) Find out what the Bible says about these things (not what any popular teacher might happen to believe); and then…

2) Find out what is really going on around the world. (That used to be difficult, because you won’t find out on the 10 PM news! But with the resources available today it is a must.)

The more you know about both of these things the more it will become apparent that a climax is coming! What a fabulous time to really study your Bible and do your homework!

Daniel’s 70 Weeks – MP3 Download – Chuck MisslerChuck Missler examines some of the most provocative passages in the Bible – the Messianic and end-times prophecies in the book of Daniel. All new updated version! Click for more information – MP3 Download

1. John 10:22.
2. Daniel 9:24-27.
3. Matthew 24:15.
4. Daniel 9:26.
5. Micah 5:5,6; Isaiah 10:24,25; Isaiah 30:30,31; Ezekiel 31:3,6, et al.
6. This may be the “Covenant with Hell,” Isa 28:15; Zech 11:15-17, etc.
7. Matthew 24:15; Revelation 11:1, 2; 2 Thess 2:3,4.
8. Daniel 7:25; 4:16, 23, 25. (“Times” = a dual: times + time + half = 3 ½).
9. 3½ years, Daniel 12:7; 42 months, Revelation 11:2; 13:5; 1260 days, Revelation 11:3; Daniel 12:6; ½ “week,” Daniel 9:27.
10. Matthew 24:15.
11. John 10:22.
12. Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1.
13. Jeremiah 30:7.
14. Luke 1:32.

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This Generation Shall Not Pass… Your Questions Answered

From Koinonia House

Topical > This Generation Shall Not Pass…

Q: Who is Jesus referring to when he says, “…this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled”?

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. -Matthew  24:32-36

This passage has given rise to more conjectures and still stimulates much confusion even today.

Israel as the Fig Tree?

It has been popular to presume that the “fig tree” is a reference to Israel.  That view was further popularized by Hal Lindsey’s best seller, The Late Great Planet Earth,¹ and Ed Weisenant’s 88 Reasons that Jesus would return in 1988.  The idea was that since Israel was restored to statehood on May 14, 1948, and that a generation can be defended as 40 years, that 1988 was the year to watch.

(Hal Lindsey’s book remains a classic in its field; Weisenant’s book, I suspect, is available at rather deep discounts.)

Jerusalem as the Fig Tree?

Some have further suggested that the vine was the symbol for Israel, and that the fig tree refers to the city of Jerusalem.  Around this conjecture, some suggest that June 6, 1967, is the key year when, as a result of the Six Day War, the Old City of Jerusalem returned to Israeli control.  This would make the year 2007 a year to watch.  (That may well be true for other reasons.)

Terminus A Quo?

The starting point for “this generation” is a key part of the enigma.  The presumption that the idiom of the “fig tree” uniquely refers to either Israel or Jerusalem seems specious.  The parallel account in Luke includes, “…and all the trees,” which would seem to dismiss any specific metaphorical significance to the fig tree itself.² Attempts to identify any really consistent specification of the fig tree as a denotative metaphor seems rather fanciful.

The direct clue to the real issue is the immediately following verse:

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.  -Matthew 24:36

That would seem to have in view the Harpazo, or “rapture” of the church,³ which is the principal event that is distinctively without precedent prerequisite events.  It appears to be the trigger to the entire scenario.  The removal of the church is also the event which removes the present blindness of Israel:⁴

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.      - Romans 11:25

This would also seem to be consistent with apparent “Jewish-ness” of the entire Olivet Discourse, of which this parable is a part. ⁵ The mutual exclusiveness of Israel and the Church is intrinsic to the structure of Gabriel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy to Daniel. ⁶

(Much of the confusion among prophecy buffs is over ecclesiology rather than eschatology.)

The “Second Coming” is preceded by a “week” of seven specific years which even include a “mid-course” correction in the midst of the week. ⁷ From a careful exegesis of 2 Thessalonians 2, we learn that the removal of the church is a prerequisite condition to the appearance of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. ⁸ Thus, the sequence appears as follows:

1. The Harpazo, or “rapture,” of the church; ⁹

2. The public appearance of the Man of Sin.¹⁰

3.  His coming to power sufficient to “enforce the covenant” with Israel for seven years;¹¹

4. The Second Coming of Christ, which terminates the seven years. ¹²

Conclusion

The Parable of the Fig Tree seems to indicate that the generation which sees the beginning of these things will see them all.  But the triggering event may well be the Harpazo, the only prophetic event that is distinctively both unspecified and imminent.

Since there is a definite seven-year period immediately preceding the Second Coming, it would seem that there could be up to as many as 33 years (40 – 7) between the Harpazo and the beginning of the seven-year period for the Man of Sin to appear, rise to power, and position himself to enforce the covenant that Isaiah calls the “Covenant with Hell.” ¹³

These intervening years could also include the rebuilding of the Temple, the rebuilding of Babylon, and other anticipated positionings for the final climax.

To the extent that there are geopolitical and other signs on the horizon which suggest that the circumstances anticipated for the seven-year period are moving into position, these certainly support the view that the Harpazo is getting closer and may be on our very immediate horizon.

This should, indeed, intensify our priorities to immerse in the Word, reexamine our commitments to our Coming King, and seriously address each day which remains with a high degree of urgency.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. -Matthew 24:44

Are you really ready?  Do you really take Him seriously?

Prove it.

1. Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth , Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI 1970, p.53-54.  This book, published in over 35 languages, resulted in Hal being named as “The Author of the Decade,” in 1980, by the New York Times.
2. For an amusing use of allusions to the fig tree and others, see Abimelech’s speech in Judges 9:6-15.
3. 1 Thessalonians 4:17.   “Caught up,” (Greek harpazo: to seize, carry off by force; to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly; to snatch out or  away.)
4. This blindness was declared when they failed to recognize Christ’s presentation of Himself as Messiah the King at His “triumphal entry,” Luke 19:37-44.  Note verse 42.
5. Matthew 24:16, 20.
6. Daniel 9:24-27.
7. Daniel 9:27.
8. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8.  For a detailed review see our Expositional Commentary on the Book of Thessalonians .
9. 1 Thessalonians  4:15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.
10. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8.
11. Daniel 9:27.
12. Matthew 24:22.
13. Isaiah 28:15, 18.

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Will We See Christ’s Return? The Last Generation

From Koinonia House

Prophetic > End-Times > The Last Generation

We know from the Scriptures that the first generation began with Adam and Eve.  Noah was the tenth generation.  Which generation do we represent?   And, which generation of people was Christ talking about that would see His return when He said:  “…This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Mt  24:34)?  The answer to this elusive, 2000-year-old question may be closer than we think, if the many prophecies we see converging on the horizon continue their march towards fulfillment in the 21st century.

The Generation of  His Coming

Perhaps the most intriguing and controversial prophetic Scripture passage found in the Bible is contained in the Olivet Discourse.  This dynamic “end times” message by Jesus, contained in Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21, describes major events that will impact the Jewish people just before the Lord returns to set up His Kingdom.

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory…Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. -Matthew 24:30-36

This remarkable prophecy of future events, given by Jesus on Mount Olivet after leaving the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, was in response to three questions from His disciples:  “When shall these things be?  And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world” (Mt 24:3)?  The generation that will be living on the earth when Christ returns is alluded to in this discourse.  The belief that the generation Jesus was talking about was the generation that passed away in 70 A.D. does not fit within the context of a literal return of Christ back to earth, as described in the Scriptures preceding and following the parable of the fig tree.  Two questions one might raise about this unique generation and other generations described in the Bible are: 1) How long is a generation?  and 2) Which generation was Christ talking about?

The Generation Question

One of the most perplexing and sought-after answers among students of Bible prophecy is the length of a generation.  There is much disagreement among both secular and religious writers concerning the length of a generation.  Is the length of a generation 40 years?  When Israel became a nation in 1948, some believed that Israel’s birth date marked the beginning of the generation that would see all the events leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. This theory was based upon the generation alluded to in the parable of the fig tree, in which the fig tree was symbolic of the nation Israel. (For a more detailed study of the fig tree in Biblical history, see Judg 9:8-15; Jer 24:1-10; Lk 13:6-9; Mt 21:17-21; Mk 11:11-14, 20-21; Lk 19:41-44; Rom 11:1,2,25-27; Isa 66:8; Mt 24:32-51; Mk 13:28-37; Lk 21:29-36; and Rev 6:13.)

When 40 years passed in 1988 without fulfillment of any of the events surrounding the Second Coming of Christ, the 40-year generation theory fell into disrepute.  Either 1948 was not the starting date for the generation described in the fig tree parable, or a generation must be longer than 40 years, according to the theory.  Additional arguments put forth claimed that 1967, the year Jerusalem was captured, or some other future date could be the birth of the generation that would see the return of Christ.

Some proponents of the “end times” generation theory questioned whether 40 years was actually the length of a generation today.  Is there any evidence to suggest that the length of a generation is longer than 40 years?  A few sources hold that a generation is now 20 to 30 years in length (but this better represents a generation “gap”).  Other opinions range from 40 to 100 years.  Just how long is a generation today?  Is there an answer to the generation question?

The Longevity of Mankind

A generation, as described in the Bible, begins at conception and ends at death (Gen 17:6-9; Ps 22:30; Jer 1:4,5; Act 13:36; Josh 24:29-31). The length of a generation is not an arbitrary period of time that occurs within the life span of an individual or group of people.  Joshua’s age at the time of death, 110 years  (including 9 months gestation), was the length of the generation he represented.  Some of his generation died before him and some after him.  Consequently, the average life span of a group of people living at about the same time constitutes the length of that generation.

The length of a generation has not always been constant since the days of Adam and Eve.  Before the Biblical flood, the average life span of man was over 900 years.  Today, if a person lives to be a hundred years old, it is a special occasion in which the person is accorded celebrity status.  In order to understand how long a generation is today, it will be helpful to know what the length of a generation was before the Flood and what happened to the life span of man immediately following the Flood. Has man’s life span increased, decreased or stayed the same down through the centuries?

[This chart]¹ shows that the average length of a generation was about 930 years for those living before the Flood but decreased to around 120 years by the time Moses crossed the Red Sea and ended his 40-year sojourn in the wilderness of Sinai.  Since there are not very many 120-year-old individuals walking around today, it is apparent that the average life span is no longer 120 years.  Eli, a High Priest and Judge of Israel whose life bridged the 13th and 12th centuries B.C., died at the age of 98 years (1 Sam 4:15).  According to the Scriptures, he was considered to be a “very old” person at the time of his death (1 Sam 2:22).

The Wilderness Generation

Perhaps the most widely held belief for the length of a generation is forty years.  A 40-year period was required for the disobedient generation of Moses’ day to die off in the wilderness.  Those who hold to the forty-year generation concept do not take into account the total age of those who had sinned against the Lord.  The curse was to be against the men who had reached twenty years of age  (Num 32:11-13, Ps 95:8-11, Heb 3:7-11). After the 40-year judgment period was completed, there were no men left older than 60 years of age except Joshua and Caleb.  Although Joshua was not a descendant of Moses or Aaron, he represented the succeeding generation that was to enter the “Promised Land.”  Joshua and Caleb were the only two males permitted to live after the Lord cursed the rebellious generation that would not return and retake their land in Canaan.  So forty years could not have been the length of that generation, but it was the time God allotted for that generation to die off.  Most of the recorded life spans during this time were well over 40 years.  Aaron was 123, Moses 120, Joshua 110, and Caleb was over 85 when their generations died off.

A View from the Psalmist

Disregarding untimely or unnatural deaths due to epidemics, famine, and war, there is evidence in the Scriptures and in recent history to support a 70 to 80 year life span for the past 3000 years.  The evidence for a 70 to 80 year life span was present during the 10th century B.C., during the reign of King David (c.1010-970). As David approached the end of his life, he was considered to be an old man by those living at that time. The Scriptures reveal that David served his generation and was seventy years old when he died (1 Chr 23:1; 2 Sam 5:4; 1 Kgs 2:10; Act 13:36). Perhaps the most significant declaration in the Bible for the life span of man is given in Psalm 90. The Psalmist states that the life span of man is seventy years, with eighty years being the upper range of normal life expectancy.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:  We spend our years as a tale that is told.  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off and we fly away. -Psalm 90:9,10

If 70 to 80 years still represents the length of a generation, as described in Psalm 90:9,10, one would expect the life span of those living today to be close to that figure. The life expectancy of those living in the United States in 1850 was less than 40 years but increased to 47 years by 1900 and then mushroomed to 77 years (1999) by the end of the 20th century. ² According to the 2002 World Almanac and Book of Facts, the average life expectancy in the United States is 77 years (74 years for males and 80 years for females).  For Israel it is 79 years (77 years for males and 81 years for females).  The average life expectancy at birth for Israel is projected to be 82 in the year 2025.³

Which Generation was Christ Talking About?

With Israel back in their land after almost 2000 years of dispersion (the Diaspora) and other end time prophecies coming into focus, the Jewish people now living in Israel could very well be the generation Christ was talking about.  Luke’s version of the fig tree parable, which mentions the fig tree (Israel) and all the trees (nations of the world-see Judg 9:8-20; Dan 4:26; Ps 2:1-12; Mt 25:31,32), states:

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.  -Luke 21:29-33

If the length of David’s generation, Christ’s generation, and the average life span of those living today in Israel is between 70 and 80 years (a 3000-year span), it would be reasonable to conclude that the generation Christ was talking about in the parable of the fig tree will also be 70 to 80 years in length. If the fig tree in this parable represents the nation of Israel, as many prophetic scholars believe, and the generation that is described has a life span of 70 to 80 years, then recent events such as the rebirth of Israel as a nation (Isa 66:8), the Jerusalem controversy in the “end times” (Zech 12:1-3), preparations for rebuilding the Jewish Temple (Rev 11:1,2), and the ongoing negotiations for a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians (Dan 9:27) are strong indicators that the generation Christ was talking about has already been born, and the return of Jesus Christ to establish His reign for a thousand years is close at hand.

The Most Significant End Time Prophecy

The “end time” events described in the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation could not take place without Israel back in their land.  Israel’s return to the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the 20th century is the most important event that signals the soon return of Jesus Christ.

…I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime…And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for  ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. -II Samuel 7:10-16

Israel’s rebirth as a nation has also served as a catalyst for other “end time” prophecies that are beginning to converge on the world scene (Dan 2:42-22; Ezek 38-39). The Apostle Paul told us “…that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim 3:1-7).  Jesus said there would be a time of worldwide conflict and wars that would be “the beginning of sorrows” (Mt 24:8).  Christ said, “except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved…” (Mk 13:20).

The ability of man to destroy all flesh on the earth became a real possibility for the first time in the history of the world during the second half of the 20th century with the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The 21st century will witness an unprecedented increase in surveillance and eavesdropping as the global government “big brother” system wraps its tentacles around every aspect of human life, while promising “peace and security” to those who relinquish their freedoms (Rev 13:16-18; 1Thess 5: 3).

Christians who take the Bible seriously should be actively watching the prophetic shadows that are appearing in today’s headlines.  And as we entertain the possibility that we may be the generation Jesus was talking about in the fig tree parable nearly 2000 years ago, we are admonished by the Scriptures to watch and be prepared (Mt 24: 37-51).

As stated clearly by Jesus in Matthew and Mark, no man knows the day or the hour of his coming, but the Father only.  The same Jesus, however, was very angry with the Pharisees and Scribes for not discerning  “the signs of the times” (Mt 16:3) and not knowing the “time of their visitation” (Lk 19:44).

One day there will be a generation of Christians that will escape the grip of death and be ushered into Heaven, the “final frontier” for believers (1 Thess 4:13-5:11). The generation that is “left behind” will face the ruthless tyranny of a global dictatorship (Rev 13:11-18). The world stage is now being set for the closing act of this dispensation, and the climax of world history (Christ’s return) is drawing near. As God’s children, we may very well be the generation that is chosen to “escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Lk 21:34-36). That possibility is certainly worth pondering!

*  *  *

This article was excerpted from “Earth Trek: The Last Generation,” by  J. Michael Hile, a chapter from the book, Prophecy at Ground Zero, copyright ©2002, edited by William T. James, Starburst Publishers, P.O. Box 4123, Lancaster, PA 17604. Used by permission. To order, call 1-800-441-1456 or order online at www.starburstpublishers.com. Chuck Missler is also a contributing author to this book.

1. Adapted from The Biblical Flood and the Ice Epoch: A Study in Scientific History, Donald Wesley Patten, Pacific Meridian Publishing Company, 1966.
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics.

Your Questions Answered By Chuck Missler This Generation Shall Not Pass… – Chuck Missler

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The Precision of Prophecy: Daniel’s 70 Weeks

From Koinonia House

Prophetic > End-Times > Daniel’s 70 Weeks

As we reflect on the outcome of this year’s election, let us all remember that, fundamentally, we are neither Republicans nor Democrats: we are Monarchists and we look forward to our Coming King… Question: when did Jesus ever present Himself as a King?

Irrefutably Documented

To fully appreciate the remarkable significance of the following article, it is essential to realize that the Book of Daniel, as part of the Old Testament, was translated into Greek prior to 270 B.C., almost three centuries before Christ was born. This is a well-established fact of secular history.¹

The Septuagint

After his conquest of the Babylonian Empire, Alexander the Great promoted the Greek language throughout the known world, and thus almost everyone – including the Jews – spoke Greek. Hebrew fell into disuse, being reserved primarily for ceremonial purposes (somewhat analogous to the use of Latin among Roman Catholics).

In order to make the Jewish Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) available to the average Jewish reader, a project was undertaken under the sponsorship of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.) to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Seventy scholars were commissioned to complete this work and their result is known as the “Septuagint” (“70″) translation. (This is often abbreviated “LXX” and is so shown on the diagram.)

The Book of Daniel is actually one of the most authenticated books of the Old Testament, historically and archaeologically, but this is a convenient shortcut for our purposes here. It is critical to realize that the Book of Daniel existed in documented form almost three centuries before Christ was born.

Gabriel’s Zinger

Daniel, originally deported as a teenager (now near the end of the Babylonian captivity), was reading in the Book of Jeremiah. He understood that the seventy years of servitude were almost over and he began to pray for his people.

The Angel Gabriel interrupted Daniel’s prayer and gave him a four-verse prophecy that is unquestionably the most remarkable passage in the entire Bible: Daniel 9:24-27.

These four verses include the following segments:

9:24 The Scope of the Entire Prophecy;
9:25 The 69 Weeks;
9:26 An Interval between the 69th and 70th Week;
9:27 The 70th Week.

The Scope (Dan 9:24)

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy Place .

Daniel 9:24

The idiom of a “week” of years was common in Israel as a “sabbath for the land,” in which the land was to lie fallow every seventh year.² It was their failure to obey these laws that led to God sending them into captivity under the Babylonians.³

Note that the focus of this passage is upon “thy people and upon thy holy city,” that is, upon Israel and Jerusalem. (It is not directed to the Church.)

The scope of this prophecy includes a broad list of things which clearly have yet to be completed.

The First 69 Weeks (Dan 9:25)

A very specific prediction occurs in verse 25:

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

Daniel 9:25

This includes a mathematical prophecy. As we have noted in previous articles, the Jewish (and Babylonian) calendars used a 360-day year;⁴ 69 weeks of 360-day years totals 173,880 days. In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days.

The “Messiah the Prince” in the King James translation is actually the Meshiach Nagid, “The Messiah the King.” (Nagid is first used of King Saul.)

Bull’s-Eye!

The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 B.C.⁵ (The emphasis in the verse on “the street” and “the wall” was to avoid confusion with other earlier mandates confined to rebuilding the Temple.)

During the ministry of Jesus Christ there were several occasions in which the people attempted to promote Him as king, but He carefully avoided it: “Mine hour is not yet come”.⁶

The Triumphal Entry

Then, one day, He meticulously arranges it.⁷ On this particular day he rode into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, deliberately fulfilling a prophecy by Zechariah that the Messiah would present Himself as king in just that way:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Zechariah 9:9

Whenever we might easily miss the significance of what was going on, the Pharisees come to our rescue. They felt that the overzealous crowd was blaspheming, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah the King.⁸ However, Jesus endorsed it!

I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

Luke 19:40

This is the only occasion that Jesus presented Himself as King. It occurred on April 6, 32 A.D.⁹

The Precision of Prophecy

When we examine the period between March 14, 445 B.C. and April 6, 32 A.D., and correct for leap years, we discover that it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day!

How could Daniel have known this in advance? How could anyone have contrived to have this detailed prediction documented over three centuries in advance? But there’s more.

The Interval (Dan 9:26)

There appears to be a gap between the 69th week (verse 25) and the 70th week (verse 27):

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Daniel 9:26

The sixty-two “weeks” follow the initial seven, so verse 26 deals with events after 69th week, but before the 70th. These events include the Messiah being killed and the city and sanctuary being destroyed.

As Jesus approached the city on the donkey, He also predicted the destruction of Jerusalem:

For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Luke 19:43-44

The Messiah was, of course, executed at the Crucifixion…”but not for Himself.”

The city and the sanctuary were destroyed 38 years later when the Roman legions under Titus Vespasian leveled the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, precisely as Daniel and Jesus had predicted. In fact, as one carefully examines Jesus’ specific words, it appears that He held them accountable to know this astonishing prophecy in Daniel 9! “Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

The 70th Week

There is a remaining seven-year period to be fulfilled. This period is the most documented period in the entire Bible. The Book of Revelation, Chapters 6 through 19, is essentially a detailing of that climactic period.

The interval between the 69th and 70th week continues, but it is increasingly apparent that it may soon be over.

The more one is familiar with the numerous climactic themes of “end-time” prophecy, the more it seems that Daniel’s 70th Week is on our horizon.

Have you done your homework? Are you and your family prepared?

As the holiday season approaches, share with your family and friends this incredible demonstration of just who Jesus really is, and what the significance of all this is to every one of us!

Amazing grace, indeed!

* * *

For a more complete exposition of this amazing passage, see our newly recorded briefing package, Daniel’s 70 Weeks. This briefing is also available for the first time as an automated multimedia slideshow download!

Sources:

Anderson, Robert, The Coming Prince, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1894. The classic work on the Seventy Weeks of Daniel.

Daniel’s 70 Weeks – MP3 Download – Chuck MisslerChuck Missler examines some of the most provocative passages in the Bible – the Messianic and end-times prophecies in the book of Daniel. All new updated version! Click for more information – MP3 Download

1. Encyclopedia Britannica , Volume 10, p. 642.
2. Leviticus 25:1-22; 26:3-35; Deuteronomy 15.
3. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21.
4. Genesis 7:24; 8:3,4; Revelation 11:2; 12:6; 13:3,4; etc.
5. First identified in Sir Robert Anderson’s classic work, The Coming Prince, published originally in 1894. Now available in any Christian bookstore.
6. John 6:15. Always in control: John 7:30, 44; 8:59; 10:39.
7. 7. Luke 19:28-40.
8. 8. Luke 19:39.
9. 9. Luke 3:1: Tiberias appointed in A.D. 14; 15th year, A.D. 29; the 4th Passover occurred in A.D. 32.

Prophecy 101 in MP3 on CD-ROM – Chuck MisslerThe Bible contains 8,362 predictive verses – yet prophecy is one of the most neglected subjects in the Church today. Understanding prophecy is essential, but where do we start? Click for more information – MP3 on CD-ROM

Learn the Bible in 24 Hours – Textbook – Chuck MisslerWhether you want to explore some of the less-discussed nuances of Scripture or you need a comprehensive refresher course on the Bible’s themes and stories, this study is a great guide. Click for more information – Textbook

The Precision of Prophecy Daniel’s 70 Weeks – Chuck Missler

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks – The Triumphal King In Prophecy

In this study of Daniel’s 70 Weeks, you will discover this amazing prophecy in the Old Testament predicted the very day that Jesus presented Himself to Jerusalem as the Meschiach Nagid, the Messiah the King.

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Ezekiel’s 430 Days

From Koinonia House

Bible Study > Old Testament > Ezekiel’s 430 Days

Prophetic Simile

The Prophet Ezekiel was called upon to undertake a number of strange performances, one of which was to lie on his side for a total of 430 days. ¹ Each day was expressly to represent a year of judgment against the nation.

A number of commentators acknowledge a difficulty which appears when one attempts to apply this specifically to Israel’s history. Seventy of the years would seem to be accounted for in the Babylonian Captivity, but that leaves 360 years (430 minus 70) unaccounted for. ² The 360 years do not seem to fit any period of their history.

Leviticus 26

It has been suggested by some that there might be a clue in Leviticus 26, where God indicates that:

…if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. -Leviticus 26:18

(In fact, this commitment is reiterated four times in that chapter for emphasis.³ )

It has been suggested that multiplying the “problem” 360 years by seven yields 2520 years, which is “approximately” the duration of time from the exile through the Diaspora.

This seemed rather contrived. Furthermore, it had bothered me since I never like to use the term “approximately” and “God” in the same sentence! I felt that if it was meant to fit, it would fit precisely.

Calendar Reconciliation

Sir Robert Anderson, in his classic work The Coming Prince, ⁴ noted that the Bible uses 360-day years in both Genesis and Revelation.⁵ However, I noticed that no one seemed to try to apply this insight to the 2520 years potentially suggested in Ezekiel Chapter 4.

In attempting to reconcile the 2520 360-day years to our Roman calendar, one is faced with the discrepancies between the sidereal year and the solar year. (The Julian year is 11 minutes and 10.46 seconds longer than the mean solar year.)

In 1572, it was recognized that errors had accumulated to 11 days too many, and adjustments were required. In the Gregorian Reform, September 4th was declared September 14th, and the formula for leap years was changed to exclude centuries unless divisible by four (and millennia by 400). Thus, 2520 360-day years contain 907,200 days, which are accounted for on our current calendar as 2483 years, 9 months and 21 days:

Great. But what do we do with this? Where do we begin to apply it?

Terminus Ad Quem

Another problem occurs when we examine more closely the “Babylonian Captivity.” There are two different periods that are candidates: “the Servitude of the Nation,” and the “Desolations of Jerusalem.” Each of these was prophesied to be seventy years in duration and many assume they are synonymous of each other; however, they are not.

There were actually three sieges of Nebuchadnezzar upon Jerusalem. The first siege began the “Servitude of the Nation” and was prophesied to last 70 years. (And it did, to the very day.⁸ When Cyrus conquered Babylon he encountered the amazing letter written to him by Isaiah a century and a half earlier, which addressed him by name, highlighted his meteoric career, and predicted that he would free the captives. His astonishment resulted in his releasing the Hebrew captives to return to Judea to rebuild their temple.)

The vassal king that Nebuchadnezzar left later rebelled; a second siege resulted in his uncle, Zedekiah, being appointed to the throne. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel both went on to warn that if they persisted in rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. Yet Zedekiah ultimately yielded to the false prophets and rebelled.

A third siege resulted in the destruction and desolation of the city of Jerusalem. The “Desolations of Jerusalem” also lasted 70 years, until Nehemiah ultimately succeeded in getting the authority to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. This, too, was precisely 70 years. To which of these two periods should we apply the 2520 years?

The “Servitude of the Nation”?

The 70 years of servitude, to be consistent, should be reckoned as 25,200 days, or two days short of 69 years on our Roman calendar. The first siege of Nebuchadnezzar, in 606 B.C., began the “Servitude of the Nation,” which lasted until the summer of 537 B.C. If July 23, 537 B.C. was the time of their release:

-537^y 7^m 23^d
+1 (no year “0″)
2483^y 9^m 21^d

1948 5 14

On May 14, 1948, the nation Israel was reestablished on the world scene. A remarkable coincidence. Isaiah appears to have highlighted this very restoration:

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. -Isaiah 11:11, 12

Yet, there is another alternative application of the 2520 years:

The “Desolations of Jerusalem”?

The third siege of Nebuchad-nezzar, in 587 B.C., began the “Desolations of Jerusalem,” which lasted until 518 B.C. If August 16, 518 B.C. was the completion of the walls of Jerusalem, then:

-518^y 8^m 16^d
+1 (no year “0″)
2483^y 9^m 21^d

1967 6 7

On June 7, 1967, as a result of the Six Day War, the Biblical city of Old Jerusalem was restored to the nation. Another remarkable coincidence!

It should be borne in mind that the “starting” dates are not known precisely to the day. More research needs to be done. But this certainly seems provocative enough to ponder.

Whence Jerusalem?

Zechariah predicted that the day would come when the entire world would be against Jerusalem, and that it would prove intractable to resolution. ⁹ Even as this goes to press, a climax is in the making.

Yassir Arafat has announced that Jerusalem will be the declared capital of a Palestinian State on September 13th of this year. Ehud Barak has indicated that he would annex the “West Bank.” President Clinton has called for a meeting at Camp David in the hopes of bringing this to a “permanent resolution.”

Many are optimistic that some kind of permanent peace can be arranged. Most of us know, from a Biblical perspective, that no real peace will occur until the Prince of Peace intervenes. In fact, the enforcement of a seven-year covenant, by a coming world leader, is the very definition of the “Seventieth Week” of Daniel.¹⁰

The current “piece (sic) process” is virtually a guarantee of war because it is built on a false premise: it’s based on the assumption that the Muslim interests can be appeased by reducing the borders of Israel.

The Muslims, however, have made it very clear – before, during, and subsequent to the Oslo Accords – that they will be satisfied with nothing less than the extermination of Israel. They are insisting on what Israel cannot give. All we can do is watch the unfolding drama.

Let us remember that:

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. -Psalm 121:4

Perhaps an ostensible peace treaty will emerge on the international scene; we’ll be watching with intense interest. It certainly does seem that we are moving along the classic Biblical scenario. What a critical time to prioritize your Bible study time and do your homework!

Ezekiel – MP3 Commentary – Chuck MisslerStudy the book of Ezekiel verse by verse and explore some of the most incredible prophecies in the Bible. Now in one, self-contained CD-ROM. Click for more information – MP3 on CD-ROM

1. Ezekiel 4:1-8.
2. Failure to keep the sabbath of the land was the basis for the 70 year’s captivity:  2 Chronicles 36:19-21.
3. Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28.
4. Sir Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince, originally published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, in 1894.
5. The “70th Week” of Daniel is the most precisely authenticated period of time in the Bible:  3½ years (Daniel 12:7); 42 months (Revelation 11:2; 13:5); 1260 days (Revelation 11:3; Daniel 12:6); ½ “week” (Daniel  9:27); “Time, times, and the dividing of time” (Daniel  7:25; 4:16, 23, 25); ["times" = a dual, later lost in Aramaic].
6. Subtract from the total leap year days three excess days every four centuries.
7. Eleven leap year days were accounted for in the Gregorian Reform.
8. Jeremiah  25:11, 12; 29:10.
9. Zechariah 12:2, 3.
10. Daniel 9:27.

Daniel’s 70 Weeks – DVD – Chuck MisslerChuck Missler examines some of the most provocative passages in the Bible – the Messianic and end-times prophecies in the book of Daniel. All-new updated version! Click for more information – DVD

Daniel – DVD – Chuck MisslerChuck Missler’s updated commentary on the Book of Daniel now for the first time on DVD! Click for more information – DVD

The Precision of Prophecy Daniel’s 70 Weeks – Chuck Missler

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks – The Triumphal King In Prophecy

In this study of Daniel’s 70 Weeks, you will discover this amazing prophecy in the Old Testament predicted the very day that Jesus presented Himself to Jerusalem as the Meschiach Nagid, the Messiah the King.

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