Does Ezekiel 38 Prophesy of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine?

Is Ezekiel 38 a prophecy of Russians' invasion of Ukraine? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Obviously, the Ukraine situation on a lot of our minds right now, we would encourage you to continue to pray.

For the people in that country, and we are receiving questions as we'll get to that one about prophecy here in just a minute. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we would love to hear from you. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THECORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Now, you can also watch Adriel live in the studio right now on our YouTube channel and send us a message that way. You can post a message on one of our social media sites, and you're always welcome to email us at Christians at CoreChristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners named Travis. Obviously, you're considering marrying someone who is not a believer, not a Christian, and so you're wondering, well, does that mean I'm going to be cut off forever from the grace of God? Look, the first thing I would say is yes, you're absolutely right that we're not to be unequally yoked, and this is certainly a situation in which that's relevant. I mean, you think about what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, the words of the apostle Paul, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, brother, you are the temple of the living God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and you are called, if you're going to be married, and we're free to be married in the Lord, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, we are called to be joined to someone else who believes in Christ and loves the Lord, marriages itself, this picture of the relationship that exists between Christ and the church. And so I would just say, don't do what you know you shouldn't do, which is marry someone who is not a believer with the hope that maybe just after the fact, God will forgive you, that kind of a thing.

That's the wrong way to approach this. You need to be obedient to the Lord and to God's word, first and foremost. And if you're thinking, well, I can just do this and then God will forgive me, there are all sorts of issues. I mean, the apostle Paul says, should we continue in sin that grace may abound by no means.

May it never be. That's not how we're called to live. And let me just say, the reality will be is if you continue in disobedience, you get into a relationship that you shouldn't be in, according to scripture, that's just going to create all sorts of problems for you in your walk with the Lord. There's going to be a tension there because the two of you disagree on this most fundamental thing, who Christ is and what the gospel is about. And so if this is something you're considering, I would say, one, obey God first and foremost. Obey what God says in his word and seek to be faithful to the Lord. And if you're in this relationship, don't let the relationship progress at all, certainly not towards marriage if this person is not a believer. Now, if they come to faith, and of course, we've all heard stories where that happens in God's providence and we praise God for that.

Well then, yeah, it would be permissible to get married, but right now the answer is no. And I know that that's got to be difficult for you to hear, but really for your own good, obedience to the Lord, even when it costs us certain things, is always better for our joy, for our growth in grace, for our sanctification. And so, brother, obey the Lord in this. Thank you for your question and God bless.

Some great counsel, Adriel, a follow-up question for you. I was single until I was 40, and I knew a lot of older singles who participated in what you might call missionary dating. They would date someone who wasn't exactly close to the faith, and their hope was, well, they'll go to church with me, I'll kind of bring them along, and eventually they'll become a Christian.

Maybe not right away, but maybe once we're married. I'm wondering what you would say to a person who's considering that kind of missionary dating. Yeah, I would say, no, that's not one how missions work. In terms of evangelism, that shouldn't be the strategy as let me go date a non-believer and try to win them over to Jesus in that way. No, we can have friends and those kinds of relationships with people who are not Christians. In fact, this is something that's assumed in Scripture in places like 1 Corinthians 5.

But in terms of pursuing a romantic relationship, we have to make sure that we agree fundamentally on who Jesus is and what he's done for us and grow together in that first and foremost. You couldn't do that with somebody who is a non-believer. Even though God has worked in this way, and I've seen people come to faith in these kinds of situations, I praise God for that.

It's certainly not something that I encourage because I've also seen it go really bad in a number of instances. Thanks for that follow-up. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and today we are offering a free resource that focuses on a topic that we actually receive a lot of calls about. Yeah, Bill, on the program we get a lot of questions about what repentance is. What does it mean to turn from my sin and to cling to Christ? How do I put to death my sin?

This is what the apostle Paul talks about in places like Romans 8. Can I say that I'm truly a Christian if I still struggle with sins repeatedly over and over again? Did I really repent of that sin? These are questions that many people have, and so we've made a resource, 7 Things Everyone Should Know About Repentance, that's a free download over at corechristianity.com. It really gets to the heart of what repentance is, and so we want to help you in your walk with the Lord as you think about this really important subject, so head over to corechristianity.com to get a hold of that resource. Again, it's called 7 Things Everyone Should Know About Repentance. This would be great for you or maybe for someone you know who is struggling with that whole issue of repentance, and am I truly a Christian?

What is it all about? To get the resource for free, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, again corechristianity.com forward slash offers, or you can give us a call anytime for any one of our resources. Here's the phone number. In fact, you can call us right now if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, or maybe even a question about doctrine or theology. Here is the number. It's 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. We should mention we're also open to questions. If you're, maybe you consider yourself to be an atheist or an agnostic, and you've got questions or doubts about the Christian faith, Adria will be more than happy to talk to you about that as well.

So give us a buzz right now. Our phone lines will be open for the next 15 minutes or so at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to a voicemail that came in earlier this week having to do with prophecy.

Hi, I just want to thank you all for what you're doing at CoreChristianity answering the tough questions. May God continue to bless you with wisdom, but my question is in regards to Ezekiel 38 to 39 where the prophet writes about Gog of the land of Magog rising up along with Persia, Cush, and Put, I think a few other nations coming down to come after Israel from the north. My question is, is Gog of the land of Magog considered a Russia? I know Persia is, modern day Iran, but I just want to know what your thoughts. And also real quickly, is this Ukraine invasion possibly the lead way of that to come?

Thank you again. Yeah, you know I wondered if we would get a question like this in light of everything that's going on just because it is so heartbreaking. Why don't we take a moment first to pray briefly about the situation going on in Ukraine and then I'll get right to your question. Father, once again today we cry out to you asking for you to bring peace, Lord God, an end to war. Praying, Lord God, in particular for the conflict in Ukraine, praying for the protection of those who are suffering, asking Lord God, especially for your church in that area, Lord God, that you would grant them boldness, a sense of your presence. And even, Lord God, that somehow through these circumstances you would do as so often you've done throughout history, Lord, in continuing to advance your Gospel. And I pray that your church would rise up at this time and meet the needs of those who are suffering, especially throughout Ukraine. And so would you please, Lord God, be with the people there? Would you grant peace? Would you grant your presence? In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Yeah, there have been, I've seen this, popular pastors and Bible teachers on television, on the radio, on Sunday mornings who, you know, they see these events and they open up the Scriptures in particular, you know, the prophetic literature and they say, oh, I think this is what Ezekiel was talking about in Ezekiel 38. Ezekiel was prophesying about Russia and the invasion of Ukraine, or the invasion of Israel, or an invasion of Israel.

Let me just read the text because it's so important for us to just get into the word. It says, Ezekiel 38 verse 1, The word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords, Persia, Cush and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet, Gomer and all his hordes, Beth Togromah, from the uttermost parts of the north, with all his hordes, many peoples are with you. What you have here is a coalition of these seven nations that are coming against the people of God. It's a picture of the final battle, if you will, the end times war, where all the nations are gathered together against the people of God to bring destruction against them. We read here from the uttermost parts of the north, and so some people have said, well, see right there, north of Israel, you have Turkey, you have Russia, even further there, so this must be a prophecy about Russia, and people will even say, in verse two, it talks about Meshech and Tubal. Well, that sort of sounds like Moscow. This is called an anachronism. We're sort of reading present-day things back into the text. Really, Meshech and Tubal are probably a reference to peoples from East Anatolia.

It would be modern-day Turkey. What we do have in this passage is a clear picture of this end times, eschatological battle against the people of God, and it seems to be like this all-encompassing, not just Russia, but one of the reasons I think you have seven nations here is because this picture of fullness, the whole world, if you will, coming against Israel, or the people of God there, as Ezekiel sees it specifically. Now, one of the really important, I think, principles of Bible interpretation, especially when we're thinking about Bible prophecy, is that we let scripture interpret scripture, and one of the places where what we see here in Ezekiel 38 is talked about or commented on is in the book of Revelation, in Revelation chapter 20, verses seven and following. Listen closely to what Revelation 20 says. When the thousand years are ended, that is, after the quote-unquote millennial reign of Christ, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. So right here, as John is prophesying, Gog and Magog isn't just a reference to Russia, this is a reference to the nations, all of them, right?

Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea, and they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they were to be tormented day and night forever and ever. So again, this is a picture of the final battle.

Now a couple of things. Throughout the history of the world, especially the last 2,000 years, I think people have seen these wars that have happened around them, they've wanted to sort of read those experiences in light of what the Bible says. And so I understand that, but I think we have to be careful that we're not twisting or misinterpreting scripture and not just seeing what we want to see there. Yes, there is a final battle, a final war that is coming.

Is this invasion of Ukraine the sort of beginning of that? I don't think that that's what we would get from Ezekiel 38, and in particular the focus on Russia that so many people have. But Ezekiel 38, Revelation 20, it really is not just one nation, it's the nations of the world gathered against the people of God.

But here's what you need to know. Here's, I think, the comfort that you can have from the scriptures is you know who's over all of this? It's the Lord himself. In fact, in Ezekiel 38, in verse 16, we read, You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against My land, that the nations may know Me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate My holiness before their eyes. Here's what you can't lose sight of, and so many people do when they think about Bible prophecy, when they think about the cataclysmic events happening around the world wars and so forth.

It's so easy to be discouraged, to be afraid. Here's what you need to understand. God is on His throne. Even that final eschatological end times battle is not something that's outside of His hands, but He's the one who's orchestrating everything somehow by His sovereign providence. For what purpose?

So that the nations might know His power, to vindicate His holiness before their eyes. And so here's what I want you to know. If you're worried about these things, if you're struggling, you see these things, know that the Lord is on His throne, and our job right now is to love those who are in need and to seek to support them in whatever ways that we can, especially those who are suffering through prayer, through any number of women supporting missions agencies that are out there seeking to provide humanitarian relief, those kinds of things. Those are really good things, and so I just want to encourage you, because like I said, a lot of people will take these verses in light of the things that are happening, and they'll just have this sort of doomsday perspective about everything.

It creates a lot of fear and concern, and oftentimes it's not really the right approach to these passages. So appreciate your question, and may God bless you and be with you and be with the people who are suffering right now in Ukraine. Some great words of reassurance. Thank you for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we're going to be taking calls for an additional program today. We're going to be recording a second Core Christianity show after this one goes off the air.

So if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine or theology or maybe how your Christian walk intersects with what's going on in today's culture, feel free to give us a call for the next 35 minutes or so. Here's the phone number. It's 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. You might want to make a note of that. We'd love to hear from you. Feel free to call us for the next 35 minutes. We'll go to Steve in O'Fallon, Missouri. Steve, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes.

Hi, Adriel. My question is about repentance. I heard you guys were going to be talking about repentance. I'm somewhat confused about the word repentance. I get different responses from different people.

It depends on who you're talking to. Some people say you're supposed to do a 180. Just absolutely stop sinning, which you should be doing if you're a Christian, but so many people call themselves Christians and then keep on sinning and then you're a hypocrite. And then other people say you're just confessing of your sins.

Just put your faith and trust in Jesus. I'm just somewhat confused. If you can answer that for me, I'll hang up and question your response. Thank you. Yeah.

Steve, thank you for the question. Well, the word repentance means to change one's mind, if you will. It's a change of mind, the word in the New Testament. Of course, with that, you also have, I mean, you think of when an individual changes their mind about something or they confess their sin, there's fruit of that.

There's evidence of that, right? I mean, John the Baptist, when he's talking to the religious leaders, calling them to repentance, he's saying bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And so there's nothing wrong with viewing it as a 180 or a change of mind. One thing that I would want to say to you, Steve, is repentance in this life is always imperfect, meaning it's this daily thing, right? When we can genuinely repent of sins and still struggle with those same sins down the line, even the very next day, even the very next hour, we can sincerely confess our sins to the Lord.

And we're still in this battle. The entire Christian life is a life of repentance. One thing I think that has encouraged me is thinking about the life of the Apostle Peter. You remember when Jesus was being crucified, what Peter was doing. He was cowering in fear, hiding, you know, just a total coward, denying even the Lord. Why was he denying Jesus?

Well, it was the fear of man. It was the fear of what would happen to him if he was associated with Jesus. And then, of course, you know, Jesus restores Peter, and Peter goes on to preach an amazing sermon on the day of Pentecost. And boy, he's just this amazing witness of the resurrection of Jesus.

But you know what? Throughout his life, he continued to struggle with the fear of man. And the evidence of that is found in Galatians chapter 2, where Paul says, When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles, but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas," or to Peter, before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" In other words, later in his life, years later, Peter is still struggling with the fear of man. If Peter the apostle struggled with the same sins throughout his life, what makes us think that we're going to have them all conquered, that we're never going to struggle, we should be through with this? I mean, that's how we feel, man. Like, I shouldn't wrestle with this anymore.

Yeah, I get it. But we have to recognize that the Christian life is, you know, the Christian walk is really a limp. We're limping towards God receiving his grace, growing in repentance, in truly putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, as Paul says in Romans chapter 8, and that's ultimately only a work of the Holy Spirit. But what I'm wanting to communicate to you is that struggling with sin, and even the same sins, doesn't mean that you haven't truly confessed them and received God's forgiveness. And we continue to confess and to bring those sins into the light. I think that's so key in terms of growing and actually, over time, having the kinds of victories I think that God says are possible by the grace of the Holy Spirit through Christian community, through the gospel and what God has done. But it is this process.

Sanctification is this process. And I think all of us wish we were further along than we are, but we rest in the grace of God and what he's done for us. And so that's some of how we look at it. Repentance is a change of mind. We are turning away from sin, but it is this daily fight, this daily battle. Now, one thing I want to read for you from 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 10 through 11, is, Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness, Paul says to the Corinthians, this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment.

At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. In other words, Paul makes this distinction between godly grief over sin, over having disobeyed the Lord, which leads to repentance, and worldly grief. Maybe just, you know, oh man, I'm bummed I was caught, that kind of a thing, but I really don't care to repent. And I have an article over at corechristianity.com that really unpacks the difference between those two things, true versus false repentance.

It's called What's the Difference? You can head over to corechristianity.com to check that out. And such an important topic, isn't it, Bill, this topic of repentance?

Without a doubt. And I'm so glad you touched on the godly grief or godly sorrow that Paul talks about, because there's a big difference between truly being sorry for our sin and wanting to repent and then just feeling guilty because we got caught, as you said. So by the way, we have a great resource on this topic. It's free and we make that available to you. It's called Seven Things Everyone Should Know About Repentance. You can find that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. And just a reminder, we're going to do a second program right now, Adrian, so we can take some more calls.

Yeah, absolutely. Give us a call over the next 30 minutes and we'll look forward to hearing from you and answering your questions about the Christian faith. Once again, God bless you and thank you for joining us. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.