Echoes Of Ezekiel 38 - Putin Looks To Cement Ties With Iran & Turkey

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to the Middle East this week, demonstrating Russia is fully committed to countering US alliance building efforts on the global stage.

Putin's move comes on the heels of US President Joe Biden's trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia. As the world media covers Biden's visits to Jerusalem, Jeddah and Riyadh, Putin is set to visit Tehran on July 19. He will be joined in Iran's capital by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to meet with Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, nicknamed "the butcher of Tehran" for having sentenced tens of thousands of people to death over the years.

Putin has met with the leaders of these two nations several times over the last few years to solidify ties, increase trade and find common ground on issues such as Syria.  The main item on the agenda of their meeting will to broker an end to the 11-year Syrian civil war which will detail the role each will continue to have in the country and surrounding areas. 

Both Iran and Russia have already been in the news this last week showing their deepening co-operation as Iran announced it will supply Russia with hundreds of drones and train Russian forces in how to use them. Previously, such drones had only been in the hands of Hezbollah and Hamas. Now, they are undoubtedly headed for Ukraine. 

Russia in turn is lining up behind Iran diplomatically. Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian recently visited Russia, and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said he is committed to seeing the removal of all sanctions on Tehran and the restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Despite being a part of NATO, Islamic Turkey has been drifting into Russia's orbit for years and every year gets a little closer as it feels rejection from the European Union and diplomatic disputes with the US.

Each of these developments are significant in the world of Bible Prophecy.

Six centuries before the crucifixion of Jesus, Ezekiel foretold of a future invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). He said it will occur in the last days (Ezekiel 38:16). It will come from north of Israel (Ezekiel 38:15; Ezekiel 39:2), and it will involve a coalition of nations led by Russia (Ezekiel 38:2). The nations Ezekiel cited include:

Rosh = Russia

Magog = Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan

Persia = Iran

Cush = Sudan

Put = Libya

Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah = Turkey

For years an alliance between Russia, Shiite Iran and a Sunni Turkey seemed very unlikely - but that has all changed as evidenced by this weeks meeting.

Is this a mere coincidence? Never in history have these three nations formed an alliance. Now, all three have troops stationed directly to Israel's north just over the border in Syria.

We also have Afghanistan back in the camp of Islamic nations thanks to Bidens diasterous pull out... which lines up with Ezekiel.  One of the few nations to protest the invasion of Israel in Ezekiel is a reference to "Sheba & Dedan" launching a verbal protest but nothing more.  

Many Bible scholars link this area to Saudi Arabia and coincidently Saudi Arabia is in the news this week for warming ties with Israel and clearly putting itself in the anti-Iran camp however it's fear of Iranian ambitions would lead to nothing more than verbal protest.  No one comes to Israel's aid but God Himself. 

The Bible indicates that in the "latter days" the Lord will put a "hook in the jaw" of these nations listed and according to the prophet, "you shall ascend and come like a storm; you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you." (Ezekiel 38:9)

Some speculate that "hook in the jaw" could be Israel's newly discovered oil and natural gas riches which directly affect the Russian economy as it uses oil & gas to choke European support for Ukraine. 

Other analysts believe Russia's alliance with Iran could be a "hook' if Israel pre-emptively attacks Iran's nuclear program, resulting in retaliation by Iran and the ensuing conflict draws in Russia.  Some reports even this week have Iran on the verge of a nuclear breakthrough with Israel promising they will never let Iran progress to a full weapon.  It seems inevitable that conflict between Iran & Israel is coming.

For now we see the alliance of nations forming exactly as Ezekiel described.  Now we await the "hook".