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01-Alignment of the Nations

As we approach the return of Jesus Christ, we are witnessing changes in the alignment of the nations. These changes, to the natural eye, may only seem as political and ideological side taking. But the word of God is the final answer. God said there would be wars and rumors of war between our Lord’s two advents. Since there will be wars among nations, there must be opposing sides. The Lord is allowing the nations to take their proper scriptural place for the world war of Daniel’s 70th Week.

Daniel 11:40,

“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him (north), and the king of the north shall come against him (south) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he (north) shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through.”

There will be four bases of power in the last days, two of which are mentioned here. The first is the king of the south, which is Biblically known as Egypt. Apparently Egypt will instigate the war by pushing or provoking the northern king, known as Syria. Are the peace initiatives of Egypt towards Israel, and the Camp David accords, the initial sources of irritation which will provoke Syria to attack Egypt and Israel?

The Camp David Treaty in March of 1979 isolated Egypt from its old allegiances with its Arab brothers. Syria believes Egypt has betrayed the Arab brotherhood and its united stand against Israel. Egypt’s treaty with America and Israel will eventually force Syria to join in the continuing talks for Middle East peace. A compromise solution will be found for the Arab-Israel dispute. However, the hate for Israel will still be in the hearts of the Arab leaders. Not only do the Arab leaders hate Israel, but are intensely hostile toward each other at the slightest provocation. The cruel assassination of Sadat of Egypt proves this to be true. This is why the peace covenant will not last.

Furthermore, it is really Russia who is the military power behind the hostile Arab cause. The atheistic leaders in Moscow will not quickly forget how Sadat of Egypt ordered the Russians out, and then sided with the United States. They will put the full force of their mighty army behind the Syrian confederacy at the invasion of Israel. Egypt will not escape. Russia and Syria will avenge themselves on Egypt and Israel. Ezekiel describes the Russian-Arab connection.

Ezekiel 38:1-8,

1)”And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2)Son of man, set thy face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3)And say, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog (Russia), The chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, 4)And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses, and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5)Persia, Cush, and Put with them; all of them with shield and helmet; 6)Gomer, and all its hordes; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all its hordes; and many peoples with thee. 7)Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. 8)After many days thou shalt be visited; in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste; but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely, all of them.”

The war Ezekiel describes dovetails perfectly with the one described in Daniel 11:40. Ezekiel identifies the specific allies assembled and guarded by Russia (Gog). They are Syria, Iran, Iraq (Persian Empire), Ethiopia (Cush), Libya (Put), Germany (Gomer), and Turkey (Togarman). Ezekiel indicates the reasons for the attack besides the revenge of Russia and Syria toward Egypt, is that Israel will be powerful and prosperous. This prosperity will come at a time when Israel is dwelling securely in her land.

The third base of power is the nations of the east. The scripture which identifies this power base is in Revelation.

Revelation 16:12-14,

12)”And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, Euphrates, and its water was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13)And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14)For they are the spirits of demons working miracles, that go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

These kings are undoubtedly the major oriental power of China, Japan, Vietnam and other far eastern nations. Some teach that Revelation 9:16 numbers the army of these kings at 200 million. It is interesting to note that when John wrote the Revelation there weren’t that many people in the whole world. But the word of God is true, for today China alone can field an army of 200 million men. These eastern armies will come to the Middle East allied with the antichrist or beast from America, to fight against Jesus at the end of Daniel’s 70th Week. This alliance is the truth because verse fourteen declares that all the kings of the earth will be united under the beast from America.

Please don’t confuse this war with the Russian-Arab invasion we studied in Daniel and Ezekiel. The Russian-Arab war takes place at towards the middle of Daniel’s 70th Week. This great war that the kings of the east are participants in takes place at the very end of the week. The Russian-Arab invasion of Israel and Egypt is World War III, where nation wars against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. This end of the week war is known as the Battle of Armageddon, where all the world’s armies gather together to fight against the Lord Jesus Christ and the armies of Heaven (Revelation 17:14, 19:19).

Obviously they will not believe it is Jesus they are uniting against. They will think aliens are coming to conquer the earth. They know “someone is out there.”

The fourth base of power is commonly referred to as the Neo-Roman Empire, the kings of the west. It is from this power base that the antichrist comes, which is the subject of this chapter. To begin a detailed study of the antichrist and his origin, we must point out that in the scriptures he is referred to by many names; man of sin (IIThessalonians 2:3), beast from the sea (Revelation 13:1), Roman prince (Daniel 9:26), and the little horn (Daniel 7:8), to name a few.

In fact, there will be two end-time personalities who can be called the antichrist, who sit on top of a whole world that is antichrist. Revelation 13 describes them as beasts, one from the political institutions, and the other from the religious. We will study the religious beast in Chapter 4, The Harlot Church.

Revelation 13:1, 11,

1)”And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy, 11)And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon.”