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/ s i uââia a n Fifth in a Series of Prophetic Messages By Louis T. Talbot, D.D. land which at that time was a barren waste. But with the rapid development of the natural resources of that land, the pic ture is entirely changed today. I have told you before of the almost invaluable wealth hidden in the waters of the Dead Sea. Chemicals are stored there that would fertilize the soil for the produc tion of crops to feed the millions of Europe, chemicals that are vital to the munitions factories of the warring na tions, chemicals for which countries will battle to the death.
d é d z e h ie l
I N these prophetic messages, we have covered the thirty-sixth and thirty- seventh chapters of the book of Ezekiel, and have begun an exposition of the thirty-eighth chapter. So far, we have plainly seen a future alliance be tween Russia and Germany, with Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya participating in it, thus forming the Great Northern Con federacy. Lesser nations will be united with these great powers as explained in verse 6: “ And many peoples with thee.” We now come to the Invasion of Palestine The motive for the invasion of Pales tine by these great enemy hordes is ex plained in verses 8-12: A fter many days thou shalt be vis ited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from thé sword, and is gath ered 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. 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 o f 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 inhab ited, 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. These armies of “the prince of Rosh” will enter the land of Palestine “ to take a spoil, and to take a prey.” How significant all o f this is at the present time! This very prophecy was difficult to understand until a few years ago because it was only too clear that the land of Pal estine was not worth invading. A number o f years ago I was preaching on this pas sage of Scripture to my congregation in Minneapolis. At the close o f the service a university professor said to me: “ All this is very interesting, but why should any nation want Palestine? I visited that land a few years ago and found it but a desert, and absolutely valueless.” I must confess that it was a puzzle to me, too, to understand the reason behind the invasion of this huge army into this F E B R U A R Y , I 9 4 8
East and in Europe. I suppose that if the restrictions were to be entirely re moved, the number of Jews in the land would jump to five million by 1950. There may be a speedy settlement of the trouble there between the Jews'and Arabs and a much wider opening through which the Jews may pour into their land. And certainly before any of the events of the thirty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel can transpire, there must be many Jews established there. In fact, they must be dwelling all over the land in “ unwalled villages . . . having neither bars nor gates.” They must be dwelling “ safely,” “ at rest,” without fear of inva sion, and without fear of plunder. Recently I saw some pictures of the great co-operative farming enterprise of the Zionist Movement in Palestine. There are modern b u ild in g s , with farms stretching away from these centers in every direction. The villages are literally “ unwalled,” with no visible means of defense. And when we remember that the Jews are to return under the protec tion of the Roman prince who is to make a covenant with them and guar antee their national integrity, it is easy to see that God’s ancient people will turn their attention wholly to commer cial, agricultural, cultural, and religious pursuits, rather than to military pre paredness. The Northern Confederacy Will Descend "Like a Storm" Upon Palestine This northern confederacy will come upon the land “ like a storm.” There has lately come into the vocabularies of the world a fitting word to describe this kind o f attack. It is the word blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Here is God’s account of this type of swift, modern, mechanized warfare, described some 3,000 years ago. The war that is to be waged will be like an electric storm, and is compared to a. “ cloud” that covers the land. Of course, even ancient warriors could march in such great hordes that they could be said to cover the land like a cloud. But no tice how aptly this description fits mod ern sky warfare. With all his bands, Gog’s armies are to cover the land “ like a cloud.” Does this not mean that the aircraft factories of both Germany and Russia will be geared to a maximum speed, and will be sending forth literally tens of thousands of flying monsters, each one with scores of troops ready to open their parachutes and descend to earth as from a cloud? Do you wonder how these things have found their way into the Scriptures? We must remember that God knows the end from the begin ning. (Continued on Page 16) Pag© Thirteen
Palestine today. We do not need to stretch our imag inations unduly today to understand why many nations are already casting greedy eyes toward that land which the Spirit of God calls “ the pleasant land.” Without a doubt the governmental phi losophy of that day will be that the coalition of nations controlling Pales tine, with its minerals and oil, will also control the military destinies of the world. Because of the desperate need for the things that Palestine possesses, the northern confederacy will evidently de cide on a policy of taking what they want to secure these things. Certainly this does not seem entirely foreign to the events o f the past year. When these things come to pass, many Jews will be back in Palestine. In our former studies we have seen that the children of Israel are scattered to the four corners of the earth. Everywhere there are Jews. But God has promised to gather them again to their own land. And just as surely as God has scattered them, just so surely will He regather them. There are today some five hun dred thousand Jews in Palestine. Immi gration has been greatlv impeded by the unsettled conditions both in the Near
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