I have been a student of biblical prophecy for many years and would be remiss if I never broached the subject in the Gleanings. In a short article such as this it is barely possible to scratch the surface of such a voluminous subject.
Consider tiny Israel, she occupies an area of land the size of New Jersey and only one half the size of Switzerland. Despite it's size, over half of the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations have concerned Israel. This astonishing fact can be explained only by prophecy and the fanatical hatred of Israel by the Warsaw Pact, the Arab nations and many Third World nations.
Zechariah prophesied thousands of years ago "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."
Zechariah further states, "He that touches Israel touches the apple of God's eye." God ultimately will bring glory to himself through His acts with the nations that will come up against Israel.
In Ezekiel, the thirty-eighth chapter, Ezekiel mentions the names of the nations that will come against Israel. They are Gog and Magog, (Russia) Meshech and Tubal, (Moscow and Tobolsk) Persia, (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan) Ethiopia, Libya, and- Gomer (Eastern Europe) plus Togarmah, (Southeastern Europe) also many other nations allied with Russia.
According to Ezekiel 38, when the invasion begins, the response of the Western nations is a diplomatic protest. "Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and the young lions thereof, (United Kingdom the United States and the Commonwealth nations) shall say unto thee, "Art thou come to take a great spoil? It will not be the western democracies that defend and save Israel as in the past; it will be the Holy God of Israel.
Ezekiel says that God will defeat these nations totally and completely in the greatest military disaster in history. Five-sixths of the armies will be annihilated upon the mountains of Israel. God will allow the greatest earthquake thus far in history, centered on the hills of Israel but affecting cities around the world. Also, the destruction will be completed by "Pestilence, overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone." There will be such confusion that "every man's sword shall be against his brother" The devastation and loss of human life will be so tremendous that "Seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them." According to Jewish custom the bodies must be buried so as not to pollute the earth. The captured weapons will be used for fuel by the towns and villages of Israel for seven years. Some Russian weapons are manufactured with lignostone, (a compressed wood product.)
References: Armageddon- Grant Jeffrey, Frontier Research Pub. P.O. Box 129, Stn. "U", Toronto, Ontario M8Z 5M4 and Zech. 2:8, 12:2-3, Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39. The Holy Bible