Dennis Edwards
But what about the King of the North and the King of the South?
Daniel 11:40-45 KJV. “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon (the present day country of Jordan, a country essentially of refugees). He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Who is the “king of the south?” Who is the “king of the north?” Without understanding these key players it will be hard to interpret the prophecy. In the first part of the prophecy it says, “the king of the south shall push at him.” Who is the “him?” By going back to the previous verses we can find who “he” is, as a pronoun usually refers back to a preceding noun. From verses 36-39 we can see the “him” has the same attributes given in other scriptures to the “beast” or Antichrist or “son of perdition.” In verse 36 we read,
Daniel 11:36-38a. “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:”
The person whom the prophecy has been speaking about in the verses prior to verse 40 is generally considered by most Bible scholars today to be the Antichrist. Therefore, we can conclude that the “him” whom the king of the south pushes against in verse 40 is also the Antichrist.
The verse in Daniel continues,
Daniel 11:40b. “and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”
The King of the North is the Antichrist and the King of the South is Israel!
The question is, who is the “him” that the "king of the north" comes against? One famous Bible scholar, John Nelson Darby, stated that it seemed to him that the “king of the north” comes against the Antichrist in these verses. Darby assumed the "him" was the Antichrist. But then he was honest enough to add that it seemed that the "king of the north" in the rest of the chapter had all the attributes of the Antichrist. How can this dilemma be solved? Here’s a simple solution: if the “him” that the "king of the north" comes against is not the Antichrist, but the "king of the south," then the problem is solved. The "him," in this case, is referring back to the "king of the south" who had just been mentioned before hand in the previous section of the verse, which is how a pronoun is usually used. The "king of the north" is the Antichrist and he and his confederacy come against the "king of the south" and its confederacy. Who is the “king of the south”? None other than Israel and Israel’s allies, who are none other than the USA, Great Britain, and at this moment even Saudi Arabia.
Let’s substitute the names “king of the north” and “king of the south” for the pronouns him and he and see how this verse reads and if it makes better sense.
Daniel 11:40-41. “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south (Israel and her allies) push at him, (the king of the north, who is the Antichrist):and the king of the north shall come against him, (the king of the south, who is Israel and her allies), like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and he, (the king of the north, who is the Antichrist), shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He, (the king of the north, who is the Antichrist), shall enter also into the glorious land, (Israel), and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his, (the king of the north’s), hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. (These tribal names comprise the area of modern day Jordan which happens to be a country teaming with refugees from the recent wars in the Middle East and not a military threat to either side.) 
Does this make any sense? Is there anywhere else in Scripture where we see something similar happening? Any other confirming Scriptures in the Bible which show a similar scenario? Let’s continue our search.
Do we see any other prophets confirming what we’ve seen so far?
In Zechariah we see other confirming verses that show that God is going to judge Israel and the world in the last days which seem to verify what we have been discovering.
Zechariah 12:1-3. “The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
We remember that Ambrose of Milan mentioned in his writing that Jerusalem would be surrounded by an army:
“Truly ye shall see Jerusalem compassed by an army, and stormed…for the abomination of desolation is the abominable advent of Antichrist who…will defile the inner chambers of men’s minds, and will moreover sit literally in the Temple, usurping the throne of Divine power…. then will come desolation, seeing that most will fall away from true religion, and lapse into error. Then will come the Day of the Lord.”
Zechariah continues,
Zechariah14:1-2. “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
So we see in Zechariah that the Lord is saying that in the last days Jerusalem would be a problem for the world, a cup of trembling, a burdensome stone. He says all nations will gather themselves against Jerusalem. Will Israel be judged for her sins along with America and the luke-warm Christian Church who failed miserably to be light and salt to a dying world? God’s word says,
1 Peter 4:17. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God.”
God has judged His own in the past which we see in the history of the Jewish people, the Church, and with the nations of men. Is there any other place in Scripture depicting a similar invasion of Israel in the last days?
Ezekiel’s invasion of Israel from the north.
In Ezekiel we find a very interesting prophecy about the invasion of Israel from the north in the last days. Let us read from Ezekiel 38:1-3.
“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 say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:”
Some Bible scholars believe this prophecy is talking about the invasion of Israel by the “king of the north” in the last days. Some designate Russia as the possible home of Gog, Magog, Meshech and Tubal. Others suggest Turkey or Iran.
Ezekiel 38:4-7. “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 armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.”
Ezekiel 38:8. “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 people, 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.”
It is only since 1948 that Israel has been a country once again after nearly 1,878 years since the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 A.D. Today’s Israel has been gathered out of many nations as the Jewish people have returned from the countries where they had been dispersed for nearly 2,000 years. The country laid waste in the hands of the Bedouin Arabs, but since the Jews have returned the desert has blossomed like the rose [Isaiah 35:1] and Israel exports fruit all over world [Isaiah 27:6], just like the prophecies of Isaiah predicted. Some believe it’s all a fulfilment of those prophecies.
In Ezekiel we see the northern confederacy of nations are coming against a restored Israel, dwelling safely. Is Israel safe today? Not absolutely safe, but relatively. She has dominated the Palestinians and their friends. Defeated Lebanon and Egypt and Syria in war. America defeated Iraq and Libya for her. Israel has a peace treaty with Egypt and is on good relations with Saudi Arabia. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia see Iran as a threat to Middle East stability, and therefore have a good working relationship. Syria’s recent war has left it devastated and no threat to Israel. So I would be so bold to say that Israel is dwelling safer today than she has been in the last 70 years.
If the Antichrist is the King of the North, who is the King of the South?
Ezekiel 38:9-12. “Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God ; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.”
Ezekiel 38:13. “Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?”
Who are Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish?
Sheba and Dedan are considered by Bible scholars to be the country of Saudi Arabia, which just happens to be a strong ally of America and Israel at this moment in time. The Saudis and some of their neighboring kingdoms are Sunni Muslims, while Iran, not an Arab country, is a Shi’ite Muslim nation. Iran is allied with Russia and Turkey and Saudi Arabia is allied with America and Israel. Egypt, also, has a peace agreement with Israel and receives massive financial aid from the USA. There is a division among the Sunni and the Shi’ite Muslims and especially between Iran and Saudi Arabia for the title of the most dominant Muslim nation. Russia has been backing the Syrian Shi’ite nation in the recent conflict in the Middle East. So in the prophecy we see Saudi Arabia and its allies questioning "Gog's" or Russia’s intentions in the Middle East. Russia also has built a naval base in Syria just north of Israel.
Concerning the “merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof,” there has been much debate about exactly who they represent. Some say Tarshish was Spain and therefore since the Spanish Empire reached to the Americas, the USA could be included in her “young lions.” Others push Tarshish up to England as tin was known to come from Tarshish and England was rich in tin. The British Empire reached even further than the Spanish Empire including North America, and Australia which would be considered England’s “young lions.” In either case, we can include America as part of the “young lions” which ally with Israel. Since England and America are greater friends of present day Israel than Spain, I am inclined to give the “merchants of Tarshish” to the British rather than the Spanish. The British proved far greater merchants than the Spanish and extended their empire around the world. Back to the prophecy of Ezekiel.
Why will God let the invasion of Israel take place?
Ezekiel 38:14-17. “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwells safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?”
It is at this point in time that Israel will be judged for her sins in sight of all the nations of the world. The Antichrist, the beast, the king of the north, shall come against Israel to judge her and her allies for their sins against God and man. All the world will know that Israel deserves it for the way they have treated the Palestinian people in captivity and for many other crimes perpetrated through their intelligence organization the Mossad which is the Israeli CIA.
Are there any other prophecies that confirm the conclusions we are making?
The prophet Jeremiah also spoke concerning the days of Israel’s judgment.
Jeremiah 30:3-7. “For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”
Jeremiah is predicting the return of the Jews to Jerusalem and Israel after its destruction. Often Scripture has intermediate fulfilment and then final fulfilment of prophecy. We have seen this with Antiochus Epiphanes and Titus in their placing the abomination of desolation in the Temple. Here we see it again. As Jeremiah’s prophecy could be considered fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem by both Nebuchadnezzar and Titus. However, many Bible scholar’s predict a third destruction and consider that final destruction: “Jacob’s trouble.” At the end of the chapter we read,
Jeremiah 30:23-24. “Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.”
Here we see God is going to judge the wicked in the latter days. He is going to judge Israel and ultimately judge the world, and judge the Antichrist who Apostle Paul called "the wicked one." [2 Thessalonians 2:8] In Zechariah we also have seen the same scenario. God judging both Israel and the world.
In summary so far: From what we can understand from the first section of our study of Ezekiel 38 and Daniel 11:40-45, it seems that God will use the Antichrist coalition to judge Israel and her allies. If we include some of the other prophecies about the end-time we can work the following scenario.
At some time in the future the world will establish a seven-year Holy Covenant or world agreement in which one aspect of will include the situation in the Middle East. Daniel 9:27a "And he [the Antichrist] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [seven-year period]." The agreement may temporarily solve the Palestine situation. It may give the Jewish people the right to worship and begin animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount, something orthodox Israel has desired to do for almost two thousand years.
Half way through the seven-year covenant, the Antichrist breaks the covenant, invades Israel, and takes control of the Temple Mount. Daniel 9:27b "In the midst of the week he [the Antichrist] shall cause the sacrifice and 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." He will place the abomination that makes desolate in the temple and proclaim himself God. Daniel 11:31. "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and place the abomination that makes desolate."
Jesus has spoken of that moment in Scripture where He said, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whosoever reads, let him undertsand)... 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.
We have seen that Turkey, and Iran are part of the Antichrist's coalition, along with a country to the extreme north of Israel. We are assuming that Magaog is Russia, and that Gog is the Antichrist and that the beginning of Ezekiel 38 could be the Antichrist's invasion of Israel to break the holy covenant at the three and a half year mark of the last seven years. However, it may be the Battle of Armageddon at the end of the tribulation period, but the beginning of the wrath of God. Or Ezekiel 38-39 could be compassing both these invasions and seeing them as only one when they are in fact two distinct battles in the same prolonged war. Remember, our musings are speculation and not written in stone. God's Word is sure, but our interpretation of Scripture is open to error.
Let’s get back to Ezekiel 38 where we see the same picture.
Ezekiel’s Prophecy Continues
Ezekiel 38:18-23. “And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
Where else do we see hailstones, fire, and brimstone in the Bible?
Let us note here the term “great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.” Do we see these terms used elsewhere in the Scriptures? In the book of Revelation we do. The first angel of sounded the first trumpet of tribulation and we see hail and fire mixed together.
Revelation 8:7. “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.”
The next place in the book of Revelation where we see “fire and brimstone” is close to the end of the tribulation trumpets. There are seven tribulation trumpets. The seventh is the “last trump” which Apostle Paul said would be when Jesus returns and the rapture take place. Let’s read from Paul’s writings.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Obviously, Apostle Paul is talking about the rapture or resurrection of the saints at the last day when Christ returns for His church. We see Paul designates it as the “last trump.” Apostle John reveals in Revelation that there are seven trumpets of tribulation.
Of course, I have called them the trumpets of tribulation because each trumpet pronounces a terrible plague upon the earth, although not as terrible as the “vials of wrath” which will be poured out later. The trumpets bring usually a one-third destruction: a one-third destruction of the trees, one-third destruction of the creatures that live in the sea, one-third destruction of the ships that sail the seas, a one-third destruction of nature’s light source, and a one-third destruction of mankind.
Let’s look at the sixth trump, the one before the “last trump,” and see what kind of destruction it foretells.
Revelation 9:12-18. “One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.”
So here we see once again the “fire and brimstone” helping to bring about the death of a third of mankind with some two hundred million men going to war. In Revelation, at this point, the seventh angel begins to sound and John is not permitted to share with us what the seven thunders uttered. But he does say the following:
What is the Mystery of God that Apostle John was not allowed to share?
Revelation 10:7. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”
Is Apostle John talking about the same mystery Apostle Paul noted in his letter to the Corinthians, the mystery of the rapture at the “last trump”? In Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians we read:
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
Matthew 24:29-31. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Sounds like a lot of noise with all those trumpets blaring.
If God is righteous, He has to judge the wicked.
God is going to judge Israel and her allies for their sins and he will use Antichrist to do it. Just as he used Nebuchadnezzar to judge Israel in 538 B.C. and just as he used Antiochus Epiphanes in 175 – 164 B.C. and the Roman leader Titus in 70 A.D., so will he use Antichrist to judge the nation of Israel, the Christian Church, and the world in the not too distant future. But it doesn’t stop there. God only let’s evil destroy and punish evil for a time. Then in His righteousness He must intervene and stop the evil, the Antichrist, and save those who call upon Him and those who believe in Him. That’s where the rapture takes place at the end of the tribulation trumpets which were being poured on the wicked. After the rapture comes the vials of wrath which are poured out upon the unbelieving world and the followers of the Antichrist. Let us continue to read from Ezekiel 39.
Are Ezekiel 39, Revelation 19, and Zechariah 13 talking about the same event?
Ezekiel 39:1-4a. “Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee:”
This sounds like the destruction of the Antichrist at the Battle of Armageddon. What does the prophet mean by, “I will leave but the sixth part of thee?” Could this prophecy be related to Revelation 9:16 which mentions an army of two hundred million men? If so, and only one sixth part of them were left or around thirty-three million men, that would mean some one hundred and sixty-seven million men were slain in the invasion of Israel. That’s an awful lot of men.
In Zechariah 13 we read,
Zechariah 13:8-9. "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God."
Does that mean that 2/3 or 5.6 million of present day Israel of 8.5 million people will die under the judgments of God through the wars of the Antichrist? Does that mean only the 1/3 or 2.8 million in Israel will call upon the Lord during the wrath of God and accept Christ and therefore live through the wrath of God on into the millennium age?
Will We Have Nuclear War?
The prophecy in Ezekiel continues,
Ezekiel 39:4b-6. “I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
The imagery here could easily depict nuclear exchange between Magog whom we think we have identified as Russia, and “them that dwell carelessly in the isles.” Who are they that dwell carelessly in the isles which Magog would want to destroy as they invaded Israel? Probably Israel’s friends. Both America and Great Britain have been friends of Israel since its creation. The Balfour Declaration in 1917, the League of Nations assignment of Great Britain as the governor of Palestine after the war in 1947 and finally, President Trump’s moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem in 2017, all show how intimately Israel has been with America and Great Britain. Surely these are two of Israel’s greatest allies. Could the imagery of “them that dwell carelessly in the isles” represent Great Britain and her off-shoot or “young lion” America? If one-third of mankind is to die at this time, or some 2.3 billion people, wouldn’t it seem likely these death would occur around the Middle East. But, if a nuclear exchange occurred between Russia and America, then much of the northern hemisphere would also be affected and could easily end up killing 2.3 billion people, if not more.
Why would God allow those in the Northern hemisphere to suffer rather than those in the Southern hemisphere? It is the rich northern and western nations which have been blessed with the knowledge of God and His word and His will and have failed like Israel of old to obey His voice and His commandments which are not grievous. It is from the leading nations of the Europe, from Great Britain, from America, that many of the antichrist doctrines of today are being fomented and hoisted onto the rest of the world. Gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, molecule to man evolution, materialism, scepticism, atheism, naturalism are some of the false ideas and laws passed by man but contrary to the ways and laws of God. It is in the northern nations that the business of war and weapons of war has been developed. It is in the northern nations that men have forgotten God and worshipped the works of their own hands. In Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy we find Paul’s description of the antichrist future:
2 Timothy 3:1-5, 7. 8b, 12-13. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boaster, proud, blasphemer, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away…Every learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth…men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith…Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Bute vile men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
We could fill up various pages with similar prophecies from both Apostle Paul and Apostle Peter describing the antichrist world of their future and our present world. But as our focus is another area of Bible prophecy, I will simple leave some references in the following footnote for further investigation.[1]
Back to our main study on the King of the north and the King of the south. In Zechariah we read,
Zechariah 14:12. “And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.”
Those who experienced and lived through the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki confirm that nuclear bombs resulted in men’s eyes consuming away in their holes. In Isaiah we read a similar description of the “day of the Lord.”
Isaiah 13:5-13. “They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travails: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.”
If so many lives will be destroyed at this time, at least one-third of mankind, a man will be of more value than gold or silver. Again, although this prophecy was partially fulfilled with Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, the ultimate fulfilment will be with the invasion of Israel in the last days, the “day of the Lord,” the “day of Jacob’s trouble”? Jesus said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:22. In other words, if Jesus doesn't come back when He is scheduled to, there would be no flesh saved. That could mean that mankind would destroy itself, if Christ does not come back to stop them. In the next section we will look at the rest of Ezekiel 39 and what the world will be like after Armageddon. Back to Ezekiel 39.
What Will It Be Like After the War?
Ezekiel 39:7-16. “So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand-staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God . And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon–gog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. And the passengers that pass through the land, when any sees a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon–gog. And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.”
In these verses we see it will take more than a seven month clean up job to bury the dead bodies of those that fell in that tremendous battle.
Ezekiel 39:17-20. “And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God.”
Do We See the Imagery of Birds Eating the Flesh of a Defeated Army Anywhere Else?
Where else in Scripture doe we see similar imagery? That’s right, in the book of Revelation chapter nineteen after the destruction of Babylon the Whore. We see Jesus coming back to “judge and make war.”[Revelation 19:11b] “And the armies which were in heaven followed him.”[Revelation 19:14a] Let us read from Apostle John’s writings.
Revelation 19:15-21. “And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND Lord OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”
The imagery is the same, therefore, we have good reason that they are describing the same event.
Returning to Ezekiel’s prophecy:
Why Does God Let His Judgments Fall?
Ezekiel 39:21-24. “And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.”
Here God is explaining why this happened. It has happened because God’s people, both the Jews and the Christians failed in the message they were to bring to the nations. They failed to be lights shining in the darkness and used God’s blessing to their own advantage and failed in their mission as God’s emissaries, as God’s ambassadors of love and peace. God in righteousness had to judge them for their wilful disobedience. All you need to do to see that this is true is read the Bible. It is the greatest condemnation of the Jewish people and their rebellion and disobedience to God. If there is any antisemitic book in the world, it’s their own Scriptures, the Old Testament.
Is there any place else in the Scriptures where we see God’s predicting judgment?
We see in the many of the psalms prophetic glimpses at the future when God shall judge the world. Psalm 2 is a notable psalm that speaks of these things as does Psalm 46 and many others in part speak of the day of judgment for the wicked. Let’s take a moment to look at these two psalms.
Psalms 2: God’s Judgment and Victory Over the Wicked
Psalm 2:1-12. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
Ultimately the world is rebelling against God and will be judged accordingly.
Psalm 46: God’s judgments make the nations acknowledge Him.
Psalms 46:1-11. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”
The above psalm seems to present a picture of the world after the destruction of the last days, when Christ shall reign on earth a thousand years. God indeed shall be exalted and righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. In Isaiah we read of the millennium period which begins immediately after the great destruction at the time of the “day of the Lord.”
What will the Millennium be like? 
Isaiah 11:6-9. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
In the book of Revelation we also read of the millennial period after the Battle of Armageddon.
Revelation 20:1-4, 6. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”
When will the remnant of the Jews be saved?
Jesus will reign on earth for a thousand years. During the beginning of the millennium, or the end of the tribulation, or during the wrath of God many Jews will come to Christ. In Zechariah we read:
Zechariah 12:9-10. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
So it seems and many Bible scholars believe that many of the Jewish people will find repentance during the horrible period of the last days. It will be at this time, under the mighty hand of God’s judgments that both unbelieving Jews and Gentiles turn to Christ. Then shall the words of Apostle Paul be fulfilled,
Romans 11:25-26. “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. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”
We return to the prophecy of Ezekiel which talks of the same event.
Why Does God Let It All Happen?
Ezekiel 39:1-29. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.”
Israel, and the disobedient Christian Church, and the world will know that God wants to reign in the hearts of men. All will see that God is righteous in His judgments, that He does not willingly afflict the children of men and has no pleasure in their death.
Summary without verses.
It certainly does seem from today’s current events that we are moving closer and closer to the “day of the Lord.” God wants us to acknowledge Him in our lives. He sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might believe His message which His children, the Jewish people, failed to propagate. God is love and in Him there is no shadow of darkness. He created each one of us with a spiritual void in our being so that nothing in this life could ultimately satisfy our heart except Him alone. He longs to love us intimately. He longs to be our friend, our brother, our father, our mother, our lover. He longs to be the anchor of our soul, a strong tower in days of trouble, a shoulder to rest on, strong arms to depend on. Won’t you accept Him into your life and take up your cross and follow Him.
But some might ask, Dennis, where is the destruction of Babylon the Whore in this scenario? You didn’t mention her at all. Can you explain where she fits into these end time events? Let me see if I can clarify her position without writing another thirty pages. But we will leave that for our next subject.
Notes:
[1] 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Acts 20:28-30, Romans 1:18-32, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, 2 Peter 3:3-7, 1 John 4:1.
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