Title:
IF -- IF -- THIS IRAQ INVASION IS GOD'S FINAL END TIMES JUDGMENT UPON IRAQ,
EVENTS WILL OCCUR ACCORDING TO THE PROPHESY -- ISAIAH 13:1, 4-22 Title:
IF -- IF -- THIS IRAQ INVASION IS GOD'S FINAL END TIMES JUDGMENT UPON IRAQ,
EVENTS WILL OCCUR ACCORDING TO THE PROPHESY -- ISAIAH 13:1, 4-22
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THE CUTTING EDGE
As you are reading this article, no doubt, the news will be flashing that the long-awaited invasion of Iraq has begun. Over 300,000 soldiers, airmen, and naval personnel are attacking Iraq with the full impact of our fearsome military machine. Some analysts are predicting a quick, easy war, as the sudden drop in oil futures and the sudden sharp rise in the Dow Jones Average testify. Other analysts can see great danger lucking beneath the surface, and are not painting such a rosy picture.
Christians who know their Bible should not get involved in such speculation, especially when Iraq is so clearly defined in Scripture, and its End of the Age demise so clearly spoken. Today, let us be like the noble Bereans, who searched their Scriptures to see if what Paul was saying could possibly be true; as we study the pertinent passages, you will also see the outlines of what other events might occur.
Let us begin our study, the text of which shall be Isaiah 13:1, 4-22. This prophecy is one which has both a "near and a far" fulfillment. Clearly, all of verses 1-3 were fulfilled when God brought the armies of the Medo-Persian Empire into Babylon to take it easily, quickly, and with great bloodshed, as recorded in Daniel, Chapter 5. Clearly, verses 17-22 also seemed to have been fulfilled at that ancient time. However, the indications seem overwhelming that an End of the Age "far" fulfillment is required.
Let us study this passage now.
REVIEW OF PROPHECY OF BABYLON -- IRAQ -- END OF AGE JUDGMENT
"THE MOURNFUL, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning Babylon which Isaiah son of Amoz saw with prophetic insight." [Isaiah 13:1; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary]
When God begins a chapter using this language, the reader is alerted that He is about to issue a terrible physical judgment upon the people mentioned in the prophecy. We see this language used consistently in the book of Isaiah, as God specifies final judgment for many different nations, some of whom are clearly End of the Age.
Here, God is telling of His judgment upon Babylon, a judgment He did carry out just as He said he would in verses 2-3, using the combined armies of the Medo-Persian Empire. In today's terms, the Medes would most probably be the Kurds and the Persians are definitely the Iranians. God used Darius the Mede to bring this original terrible judgment.
However, verse 4 begins a very different judgment, brought on by armies from a "distant country", and occurring at the End of the Age, as verses 9-13 so clearly demonstrate.
"Hark, the uproar of a multitude in the mountains, like that of a great people! The noise of the tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathering together! The Lord of hosts is mustering the host for the battle. They come from a distant country, from the uttermost part of the heavens ... even the Lord and the weapons of His indignation -- to seize and destroy the whole land." [verses 4-5; Ibid]
The army God is raising up against Babylon are gathering together like the "uproar of a multitude in the mountains". When a huge army assembles in the thinner air of a mountain, and they get ready for battle -- even shouting like warriors of old shouted -- their sound is seemingly amplified as it comes clearly through the thinner air, and can be heard for many miles. Certainly, the roar of the multitude of our armed forces getting ready to go to battle could fulfill this prophecy.
Then, notice that the armies are coming from the "kingdoms of the nations"; while President Bush is ordering this war without United Nations approval, he does have significant numbers of nations allying with him. Let us examine this fact:
NEWS BRIEF: "45 nations join 'coalition of willing' ", WorldNetDaily, March 19, 2003.
"In an effort to counter criticism that an invasion of Iraq represents a largely unilateral decision by the U.S., the State Department yesterday released a list of 30 countries that have agreed to be named publicly as members of a 'coalition of the willing' in support of the U.S. plan, while identifying about 15 others that have given their backing privately ... The 30 publicly-named governments, together with the United States, represent some 1.1 billion people, about one sixth of the total population of the world."
Thus, you can see that 30 nations have joined with the United States and Great Britain to assemble this force together for the attack.
Note also that these armies "come from a distant country, from the uttermost part of the heavens" to marshal for the invasion. When you realize that Australia is committing troops, you can realize how fully this prophecy is being fulfilled. Other "distant" countries supporting this invasion include Columbia, El Salvador, Japan, South Korea, Nicaragua, and The Philippines. Truly, God is mustering armies and supporting units from the "uttermost part of the heavens".
Finally, note that this coalition army will "seize and destroy the whole land." In the Gulf War of 1991, I thought this Scripture was being fulfilled completely, until President George H.W. Bush ordered US and Coalition Forces to stand down just as they were crossing the border of Kuwait - Iraq. I realized instantly that we were not going to "seize and destroy the whole land", so the final fulfillment of this prophecy awaited another day. But, today, our stated objective is to literally seize the whole land of Iraq.
We will seize and destroy all of Iraq. Whether we do so with little or no casualties amongst our military remains to be seen. We might take significant losses if Russia is truly schooling the Iraqi military and providing them with satellite "real-time" surveillance data, as DEBKAfile Intelligence suggests. However, if we do take significant casualties, and if our conventional thrust is stymied, the US has already stated that, under certain circumstances, we shall use nuclear weapons [NEWS1765]! Use of nuclear weapons likely might produce the effect noted in 13:8, below:
"their faces will be aflame from the effects of the unprecedented warfare."
Now, let us review the next verse:
"Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand; as destruction from the Almighty and Sufficient One [Shaddai] will it come!" [Isaiah 13:6; Ibid]
One of the major indicators that an event will occur at the End of the Age is when you see this phrase: "Day of the Lord". Here, we see this phrase used here in verse 6 and then again in verse 9. Literally, the "Day of the Lord" refers to that entire End of the Age period relating to the appearance of Antichrist, his confirmation of the Covenant with Israel [Daniel 9:27], and the entire Tribulation Period. When the war begins that is the Final Birth Sorrows [Matthew 24:8] that will produce Antichrist, the End of the Age will commence; we believe this war with Iraq may be the beginning of that war.
"Therefore will all hands be feeble, and every man's heart will melt. And they [of Babylon] shall be dismayed and terrified, pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in childbirth. They will gaze stupefied and aghast at one another, their faces will be aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare]." [Isaiah 13:7-8; Ibid.]
This verse convinces me like no other that the warfare with which we are about to hit Iraq is exactly the kind of warfare foretold in this Scripture. The people of Babylon (Iraq) are going to be overwhelmed and totally aghast at the warfare to which they are going to be subjected. Their minds will be totally blown away! Let us quickly review the prophecy:
* all hands be feeble
* every man's heart will melt
* shall be dismayed and terrified
* pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them
* shall be in pain as a woman in childbirth - If this is the war to produce Antichrist, the wording here of "childbirth" is truly apt
* will gaze stupefied and aghast at one another
* faces will be aflame [from the effects of the unprecedented warfare
What are the unprecedented weapons with which we are about to hit Iraq? Listen
carefully:
""We have ground-based radars, endoatmospheric interceptors, exoatmospheric interceptors, airborne sensors, space-based sensors, chemically propelled interceptors, electromagnetic railguns, particle beam weapons, high energy lasers, all tied together by a massive command and control systems ... Massive systems. Electromagnetic marvels. Nuclear-pumped lasers of staggering power. Perhaps even x-ray and gamma ray lasers. Directed energy RF weapons. Stupendous railguns. Sensors everywhere. Giant webs of communications. Banks of computers and control systems." [Lt. Col. Beardon, "Fer De Lance", p. 331]
This is the unprecedented warfare about to hit Iraq and her citizens. Now, you can understand the impact of the next verse of our text:
"Behold, the day of the Lord is coming!--fierce, with wrath and raging anger--to make the land and the whole earth a desolation and to destroy out of it its sinners." [Isaiah 13:9; Ibid]
This verse contains probably the most stupendous insight of any verse in this segment. First, God is saying that He is coming upon Babylon (Iraq) with wrath and raging anger. In other words, these armies from the "distant countries" are God's instrument of wrath, anger, and Judgment. If this war against Iraq is this final war, then the armies from the 30 nations allied with the United States are delivering God's judgment. This fact explains why we may use nuclear weapons against Iraq. The effects of this unprecedented warfare would certainly fulfill the description of God's judgment: "fierce, with wrath and raging anger"
Now, to understand the danger we are in if God has chosen us to be His hammer of judgment against Iraq, you have to understand the pattern of judgment as revealed in the Old Testament. On numerous occasions, God used a more wicked nation as His physical arm of judgment against Israel; but then, in every case, once God had delivered his judgment against Israel, He then turned around and destroyed the nation He had just used against Israel. Bible scholars call this His "Pattern of Judgment".
Therefore, if America is being used to deliver God's judgment upon Iraq, He will then turn around and bring us into physical judgment. Is this the reason America is not specifically mentioned in Tribulation prophecy, while our enemies are mentioned? Is this the reason the Guiding Spirits of our Masonic Forefathers emphatically told them that our true national bird is the Phoenix Bird? [NEWS1259; NEWS1399; NEWS1493; and Seminar 2: "America Determines The Flow of History"]
Let me repeat the Biblical "Pattern of Judgment" -- Once God uses a nation militarily to come against another nation in judgment, He then turns upon that nation whose military He has just used, and brings that nation into full physical judgment, which usually means physical devastation.
This is Biblical reality, and should serve to sober us tremendously.
Secondly, note the rippling-out effect of the next segment of this prophecy. Listen to the segment again:
"to make the land and the whole earth a desolation"
Like the outward ripples caused by a rock thrown into a placid lake, this prophecy reflects an ever-widening ripple effect around Iraq. God is saying that, once He finishes destroying "the land" (Iraq), He is going to continue His End of the Age prophetic destruction to eventually cover the whole earth! Can you see this progression?
Once Iraq is destroyed, God's prophetic Word says that His judgment will grow and grow, eventually encompassing the entire earth! Thus, once Iraq is destroyed, God's destructive judgments will ripple outward to the rest of the nations in the Middle East, and eventually outward to the entire earth! This is the sequence we should look for as our destruction of Iraq is completed.
Finally, notice that God's intention is to destroy the sinners out
of both Iraq and the entire world! Never miss sight of this reality: God's ultimate
goal in the End of the Age Tribulation is to prepare the world to accept the
return of Jesus Christ and His 1,000-Year Reign, and one of the most important
ways in which the world is to be prepared is to destroy all the sinners throughout
the world. Therefore, the sinner in your neighborhood will eventually -- probably
within a few years -- will be subject to this prophecy just as the poor people
about to be killed in Iraq.
"For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened at its rising and the moon will not shed its light." [Isaiah 13:10]
This wording is startlingly like similar wording in other passages that are distinctly End of the Age. Consider these other verses:
* Matthew 24, especially verse 29
* Mark 13:24-25
* Luke 21:25-26
* Isaiah 24:19-23
This verse, above, really nails down the reality that this verse is End of the Age context.
"And I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their guilt and iniquity; I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible and the boasting of the violent and ruthless. I will make a man more rare than fine gold, and mankind scarcer than the pure gold of Ophir." [Isaiah 13:11-12]
The startling revelation in these two verses is that God will kill so many people that mankind will be more rare than "fine gold". Scarcity is the reason fine gold is so precious. Therefore, this verse literally means that the numbers of man shall be so very, very few left in number, at least in the regions singled out for military judgment.
"Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth shall be shaken out of its place at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of His fierce anger. And like the chased roe or gazelle, and like sheep that no man gathers, each [foreign resident] will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. Everyone who is found will be thrust through, and everyone who is connected with the slain and is caught will fall by the sword. Their infants also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished." [Isaiah 13:13-16; Ibid.]
Once again, this verse contains the End of the Age language used so commonly for this period of time, to describe God's furious judgments pouring down upon a wicked world.
This verse may also apply to the last judgment upon this poor land, when God brings the Medes against the land of Babylon. The modern day descendants of the Medes may be the Kurds, who are right now caught in the middle of this conflict, but who are very eager to destroy Iraq in revenge for the terrible atrocities inflicted upon them by Saddam Hussein. Easton's Illustrated Dictionary lists the Medes as part of the Assyrian Empire, which covers the area of today's Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. This area borders on the mountainous border of Iran (Persia). Remember, the army that destroyed Babylon in Daniel 5 was a combined army from Medo-Perisa.
If the Kurds are going to be turned at the very end of the age against the now hapless Iraqi citizens after their destruction by American-led forces, then the description of this destruction in the following verses makes a lot of sense.
"Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and thus cannot be bribed]. Their bows will cut down the young men [of Babylon]; and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb, their eyes will not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. [Babylon] shall never be inhabited or dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arab pitch his tent there, nor shall the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. But wild beasts of the desert will lie down there, and the people's houses will be full of dolefully howling creatures; and ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats [like demons] will dance there. And wolves and howling creatures will cry and answer in the deserted castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. And [Babylon's] time has nearly come, and her days will not be prolonged." [Isaiah 13:17-22]
As the world enters into the Tribulation period, the emphasis will be on Israel and Antichrist. Little attention will be paid to the annihilation of the few survivors of Iraq, as the Kurds may finish God's judgment.
One interesting footnote is in order here. When God says that Babylon shall not be inhabited anymore, I wonder if the reason for it is the atomic contamination by either our nuclear warheads or from the titanium shells that will remain after Baghdad is pummeled? We shall just have to wait to see how events are really going to occur.
CONCLUSION
This prophecy has both a "near" and a "far" fulfillment. However, her destruction by the original Medo-Persian army will pale to insignificance to the destruction with our modern weaponry. When Iraq's final judgment comes upon her, she shall be completely devastated and her land seized. It is so interesting that God gives a "rippling-out effect" from Iraq to the rest of the world, rippling outward just as ripples occur in a quiet lake surface once a stone is thrown into the water (Verse 9). This verse seems to be indicating that Iraq shall be but the first of the End of the Age judgments!
From Iraq's judgment, the other judgments in the Middle East and around the world shall begin. Is it any wonder that, in the early 1950's, the Illuminati chose the US invasion of Iraq to be the trigger event that will set the Middle East afire? Is it any wonder this invasion of Iraq was then planned to be the first battle of this World War III to produce Antichrist?
While we shall have to wait to see how events are going to play out, it surely seems that this war may be the beginning of the planned World War III to produce Antichrist. Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you accept Him as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually.
If you would like to become Born Again, turn to our Salvation Page now.
We hope you have been blessed by this ministry, which seeks to educate and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order -- Kingdom of Antichrist -- in their daily news.
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