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Keypoints on this page
	Following the September 11 attack in America, the 'war on terrorism' continues in many parts of the world. Prominent in this war is a coalition led by America and Britain.
	The Bible predicts the same coalition will also oppose an attack on Israel by a group of nations at 'the time of the end'.
	The Bible tells us to expect war in the Middle East just before the Kingdom of God is established.
	With trouble in the Middle East getting worse, now is the time to obey the Bible's command to be baptised and have the hope of a place in the Kingdom of God.

New York World Trade Centre

The terrorist attacks in New York on September 11th 2001 and the global response have brought about a changed situation in world affairs.  Old animosities are being swept aside and new friendships forged in the so-called ‘War against Terrorism’.  There has arisen an almost unprecedented unity of thought amongst the nations of the world.  The leaders of Russia and China in particular have voiced support for America as she seeks to bring the perpetrators of the outrage to justice.  World attention is once again focused on the Middle East as a centre for conflict and war as an American led coalition attacks Afghanistan and Iraq in search of the alleged terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida network.

A religious element
Whilst national leaders have been almost unanimous in their condemnation of the terrorist strikes, the same cannot be said for the common people.  There were early scenes of rejoicing at the attack on America, amongst Palestinians on the West Bank.  There is unease too amongst the populations of many Islamic states that powerful western nations should attack an Islamic country.  President Bush in an early statement described the need for a ‘crusade’ against terrorism.  The historical and religious connotations of the term immediately caused alarm in the Muslim world.  (In the medieval period between 1095 and 1291 AD Europe had sent 'crusaders' against the Moslems to drive them out of the ‘ Holy Land’.)  Moves were quickly made to emphasise the more general meaning of the word ‘crusade’ but it seems that the actions of the western alliance were seen in exactly that light in certain quarters. 

The problem is compounded by the fact that Osama bin Laden is seen as a hero by many in the Islamic world.  He denies responsibility for the terrorist attacks but says that they were justified by the presence of American troops on ‘holy’ Saudi Arabian soil and by the support that America gives to Israel in their conflict with the Palestinian people.  In stating his cause in this way he immediately strikes a chord with Muslims worldwide.

Military action by wealthy western nations against a poor and starving country of Islamic faith is very unsettling to the minority Muslim populations in the western countries themselves, especially since the terrorists did their work in the name of the Islamic faith.  So keen have western leaders been to keep religious issues out of the conflict that both President Bush and the British prime minister Tony Blair have been at pains to emphasise that the conflict is not against Islam but against the perpetrators of terrorism.  Both leaders have found it necessary to say that Islam is a ‘religion of love’, and both have taken pains to be seen in company with Islamic religious leaders in their own countries.  President Bush has sought to show that the ‘true’ faith of Islam is not the version espoused by Osama Bin Laden and his associates but is a religion of peace.

Tony Blair in addressing the British Labour Party conference in October went as far as saying that both Christians, Muslims and Jews ‘were all children of Abraham.’  Who would have thought that the first conflict of the new millennium would be essentially a religious one?  For nearly fifty years there was a cold war stand off between secular western powers and atheistic eastern powers.  This seems now to have been replaced with a new division, at the popular level at least, between Islamic and non-Islamic peoples.  Where will it all end?

A Biblical perspective
We could at this point shrug our shoulders and say ‘Who can tell?’  We do not take that line.  We firmly believe that the Bible prophets give us reason to look at the events unfolding in the world today in a different way. The Bible describes a 'new world order' in the future that will replace existing governments and rulers with one Kingdom of God.  This Kingdom is spoken of in both New and Old Testaments as being founded on the ruin of the kingdoms of this world that will come to its end with a war in the Middle East.  Many of the players on the world scene today can be identified in biblical prophecies that speak of this time. 

There are several prophecies speaking of the 'end times'.  (eg  Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39; Daniel chapter 11; Joel chapter  3; Zechariah chapter 14; Matthew chapter 24, Luke chapter 21  and Revelation chapter 16)  We want to look particularly at the prophet Ezekiel chapter 38 which envisages a time when the Nation of Israel will be re-gathered to their land after a period of dispersion among the nations of the world. 

‘In the latter years ... the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel...but it is brought forth out of the nations.’  [Ezekiel 38.8]

Such a statement certainly fits the current situation of Israel as a nation in their Biblical homeland.  The Jews were ejected from their land and their state dissolved by the Romans in the year 70 AD.  Although there has always been a tiny Jewish population in the land, it was not until the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 that Jews could freely return to the land.

The prophecy as a whole is directed against a particular group of nations who launch an attack on Israel.

‘Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him.’  [Ezekiel 38.1]

The name Gog is a version of the name Agag, an ancient enemy of Israel.  We read that Agag was the leader of Israel’s first enemy attack on Israel [Numbers 24.20] and that Israel’s future king would overcome him; [Numbers 24.7,8] that God himself had declared war on his nation; [Exodus 17.16] and that God would ‘blot out their remembrance.’  [Exodus 17.14] 

Gog then is a representative biblical figure for one who opposes God’s purpose with Israel.  Such a person has yet to emerge on the world scene, but the nations he is to lead are clearly identifiable from the words of the prophet: 

‘ 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.’  [Ezekiel 38.5,6]

Identity of the nations
Ezekiel’s prophecy was given in about 450 BC and this must be remembered when looking at the nations to whom he refers. 

Map showing the location of the nations in Ezekiel 38

As can be seen from the map, this confederation of nations surrounds the re-gathered nation of Israel.  Together they invade from the North and sweep through the land.  Another association of nations challenges them as Ezekiel goes on to show:

'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?’  [Ezekiel 38.13]

Modern identification
These ‘merchants of Tarshish’ are rendered ‘Traders of Tarshish’ in the New English Bible.  In the Time of Ezekiel, ‘Tarshish’ referred to the extreme West of the known world.  It was a trader in tin, iron, silver and lead, a reference that points to the British Isles.  This being the only place in ancient times where all these metals were available.  The historian Bochart says that the Phoenicians gave the name Baratanic to the place, meaning The Land of Tin.  From here arose the Roman form Britannia.

For many years the merchants of Tarshish have been identified as referring to The United States and the nations of the old British Commonwealth.  The identification of the Traders of Tarshish with this group of countries has been thrown into sharp focus by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The United States and Britain along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand all play a part.  It is surely significant that it was an attack on the towers of the World Trade Centre that sparked off the present conflict.  These nations, if our identification is correct, are again to be together in the events of the latter days as a block to question the motives of Gog. 

The immediate future
We claim no special powers of prophecy or of interpretation but believe the Bible sheds light on the present situation.  The effect of terrorist actions in America illustrates just how quickly world conditions can change in a volatile Middle East.  The present crisis has precipitated a coming together of nations to confront the problems posed.

Ezekiel, who is speaking particularly about the situation of the nation of Israel, envisages a time of disarmament and security for Israel and her neighbours:

‘…them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.’[Ezekiel 38.11]

Just what form this will take we cannot be sure.  It is probable that peace between Israel and the Palestinians will exist.  The present crisis has already had the effect of causing a breakthrough in the peace process in Ireland for example.  It is notable that none of Israel’s immediate neighbours, (eg  Syria, Iraq or the Palestinians) who are at present so antagonistic are mentioned in Ezekiel’s list of Israel’s enemies.  Any peace that may exist is soon to be shattered by the overwhelming intervention of Gog and his company from the North.  Israel faces annihilation.

It is at this point that God will intervene on behalf of his chosen people.

‘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.’[Ezekiel 38.18,19]

This is the time of Jesus’ return to the earth.  His first work among the nations will be to ‘save the tents of Judah.’  [Zechariah 12.7]   Then follows the setting up of God’s Kingdom on the earth, the time of blessing envisaged by all the Hebrew prophets.  [Acts 3.21]

Personal appeal
The Kingdom of God is coming but who will have a part in it?  Christian religious sentiment today tends to assume that a future reward is available for all regardless of belief or way of life.  This has not always been so.  Previous generations did not view the situation like that.  Indeed the earliest Christians believed the words of Jesus.  He described a broad way and a narrow way.  The broad way, he said, leads to destruction and many people go down that way.  On the other hand he said:

‘Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.’   [Matthew 7.13]

If we wish to participate in the blessings of the future kingdom of God we must prepare for it now by seeking that ‘narrow way’ and walking in it.

  ‘He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved.’  [Mark 16.16]