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THESE NOTES WERE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2021, DURING A 20-WEEK TEACHING OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL.

They’re being posted now, March 2022, as they are timely and pertain to some additional current communications. I hope and believe they will assist/inform readers as to how to see what is occurring on earth in these days, and how to pray. And how to stand strong in our God. He has the plan. It’s His world. Ps 2 – the nations indeed will be raging more and more until His triumphant and in fact violent return.

Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.'”
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. 

Below are my teaching notes, so please pardon some perhaps funky capitalizations, exclamation points, text color changes, etc. They were primarily intended for my own usage while speaking and teaching, and secondarily as follow-along writing for that teaching, which later was published as a podcast.

NOTES
Daniel Session 08 – CHAPTER 2 MOSTLY as it relates and introduces us to Critical Chapter 7

Here’s the 2021 podcast link (and once you are on the www.podbean.com site if you like you can locate, download and/or listen to the entire series if you like). Podbean also offers a free downloadable app for iOS and Android.   https://ez3728.podbean.com/mf/play/yisiph/Hebrews_Session_08_-_0320217hbqt.mp3

THE 2021 NOTES:
This is the third time I’ve taught the book of Daniel. I have never encountered more spiritual resistance to my teaching of any book of scripture, ever – and more so this time – because, I believe, the timeliness of this revelation can be life-changing in taking us into a place of deeper understanding, and more importantly, deeper resolve to be intimate w the Lord and His purposes. Our understanding of the things of God, and our increased intimacy w the Lord are two components of our faith that our adversary dreads, and therefore will resist.

Week Three of THIS series I taught on Daniel Chapter 02 – Daniel FIRST REVEALING and then INTERPRETING a troubling dream of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.

The DREAM centers around a magnificent yet frightening (Hebrew: “yare” – “awesome”) statue that Daniel interprets to be a revelation to the king about the empires that will follow afterward, and includes the then-current empire of Babylon, represented by the golden head.

WEEKS AGO – as I was preparing for that CHAPTER 2 teaching, I managed to get SIDETRACKED/BACKTRACKED – PRIORITY/FOCUS-SHIFTED by some commentary writings, and I presented to you WHAT MOST BIBLE TEACHERS typically offer as being the generally accepted as most accurate interpretation of the LEGS, FEET and TOES of the STATUE – and that most popular interpretation was and remains CONTRARY to what I HAVE AND DO believe to be accurate. So I not only want to go back and address the STATUE DREAM INTERPRETATION again, but I know that this teaching, positioned prior to addressing CHAPTER 7 – will actually provide for us a clearer view of the entire book of Daniel, as well as a clearer picture of God’s end-of-age revelation to us all.

This week as I prepared for chapter 7 teaching, I went back into my own notes from 2018 and
– I am seeing THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME when I got to chapter 7 in 2018, and AT THAT TIME I purposely went back to chapter 2 AS WELL!!!!! I believe these two chapters are clearly most effectively – and in fact likely INTENDED TO BE taught together.

THINK ABOUT IT – as far as THE PROPHETIC-MESSAGE is involved:
Chapter 2 is PROPHETIC
Chapter 3 is Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and their test of faith
Chapter 4 is God dealing w Nebuchadnezzar – and his “divine parking lot” experience and testimony.
Chapter 5 is about the handwriting on the wall – the collapse of the kingdom of Babylon, as the Medes-Persians invaded the empire and the first of the EMPIRE-TRANSITIONS occurred.
Chapter 6 is Daniel in the lion’s den – God rescuing the prophet and convincing the king of the Medes-Persians, re the sovereignty of the God of Israel.
Chapter 7 continues the PROPHETIC MESSAGE

HERE’S WHAT I WROTE/TAUGHT IN 2018 – about this same conundrum:
“IMPORTANT AS WE GET INTO CHAPTER SEVEN – there’s something we need to circle back to from WEEK ONE (MY TEACHING IN 2018 WERE TWO HOUR SESSIONS – INFO OVERLOAD) “so that we don’t miss this most critical point of revelation – it may have gotten cloudy in some of my earlier accounting of commentary by some folks – AND it will become more and more critical in this study to understand what I believe to be a very accurate point of view regarding WHO and WHICH NATIONS will be leading the charge against God, and Israel, in the final days of this age.” THAT was in my 2018 NOTES!!!
AS WELL AS:
“A critical comment from David Pawson coordinates with a strong conviction by Joel Richardson – and something I am at this inclined to agree with – which I further think is not only CRITICAL to the accurate understanding of what is truly being revealed to us by our great God in these scriptures, and is critical to clarify and understand virtually all eschatological scriptures.”

ALL THAT IS BACKSTORY for the PROPHETIC STORY OF PERFECTLY-COORDINATED CHAPTERS 2 and 7 – that work in concert to take a praying audience into understanding of the purposes and plans of God. That praying audience would be the saints.

BACK TO RIGHT NOW – 7/10/2021 [the original date for these notes]
I want to backtrack into Nebuchadnezzar’s STATUE and re-address the legs and the feet.
In my earlier discussion of these “STATUE-BODY” components, we discussed them, BUT they need to be brought into more prominent light and clarity.

It requires somewhat of a DIRECTIONAL SHIFT from what most of us may have come to either ASSUME or ACCEPT regarding the fourth kingdom or the fourth beast – a creature that we’re told will play a huge role in the times just prior to the return of our Lord. Beast #4 may be off your radar right now, but we’ll see this evening Beast #4 was clearly on Daniel’s radar.

BUT BEFORE WE GO THERE – the entirety of the Word points to WAY MORE THAN TEN NATIONS (no matter which nations you might think will be “leading the charge” against Israel and the Jewish people, in the final battle to take place in Jerusalem:
Zechariah 12:1-3
1 The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:
2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.
3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though (NIV and NASB do NOT contain “though” – declaring w more certainty “ALL”) all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

AND:
Joel 3:1-2
1 “For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.

SO WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL, FOR US, RE: ARAB NATIONS or A REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE leading the charge?
ANS: Everything – as we keep our eyes on the work happening on earth in these days, and also because we are called to be LEARNING HOW TO READ AND UNDERSTAND the entire word of God. AND HOW TO PRAY.
The Word of God is purposeful in all that it says.

The spectacular nature of God’s plan is critical for us to understand so that we might pray w knowledge and understanding. And the more we know of God’s plans, the more amazed we will be w the glory of those plans as they unfold.

DANIEL is told this at the conclusion of his account – written to us (1 Peter 1:10-11):
Daniel 12:4
4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
WE HAVE HISTORY TO CONFIRM and ALSO TO REVEAL, as things progress on our watch.

BACK TO Daniel 2 – It has to do with WHAT “EMPIRE” is prophetically represented by the statue’s LEGS and FEET, and that gets more critical when we look into the FOURTH BEAST OF CHAPTER SEVEN – which we will get to shortly – although not today – but let’s read ONE OR TWO VERSES for our understanding this morning:
Daniel 7:7
7 “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

AND THEN: Daniel 7:21-23
21 “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them,
22 until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.
23 “Thus he said:
‘The fourth beast shall be
A fourth kingdom on earth,
(THREE CRITICAL DESCRIPTIVES THAT REQUIRE FULFILLMENT):
(a) Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,
(b) And shall devour the whole earth,
(c) Trample it and break it in pieces.

AGAIN IN 2018 – I HAD WRITTEN:
“…I am more inclined than ever to ascribe the MIXED FEET AS DESCRIBING an ISLAMIC/ARAB CONFEDERATION OF PEOPLES.

For the most part, the Western Church has been taught, and has accepted without much question, the idea that the fourth beast, and the legs and feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, point to a revived Roman Empire. There is SOME argument to favor a revived Roman Empire. I accepted that for many years. But I don’t any more. And in understanding this a little more clearly, digger deeper into scripture, AND with what is happening on earth in the past 100 years including right now, inclines me to see things through a different lens, and in fact allows me to focus my prayer and all that I do to be better in line w what I believe God is doing in these times. I appreciate you might be of different opinion re that.”

DANIEL 2 – getting into the meat of the dream (we covered the dream occurring, the call and then the threat of the king, and the revelation-to-Daniel, etc. earlier)

(THIS IS AFTER the prophet Daniel identified Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold):

Daniel 2
39 But after you shall arise another kingdom (#2) inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom (#3) of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
40 And the fourth (#4) kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed (NOTE: ARAMAIC WORD OF MIXED: “ARAB” – the mixed people group) with ceramic clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
43 As you saw iron mixed (“ARAB”) with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”

DAVID PAWSON – beloved and respected bible commentator (he went home to be w Jesus in 2021) held to TWO THEORIES RE THE FOURTH KINGDOM – BTW Pawson was prior to Joel Richardson writing THE MIDEAST BEAST and agreeing w Pawson.

PAWSON THEORY #1 (most popular in the church world): “After that came the empire of Rome, and how symbolic it was: legs marching, trampling, crushing, and Rome marched through the world and extended the empire greater than ever before—such is the meaning”.

BEFORE WE CONTINUE W PAWSON’S THEORY #2 (RE ANOTHER INTERPRETATION) – let’s read some history from another commentator – Geoffrey King – who believes the two legs DO NOT represent the Roman Empire:
Geoffrey King (supporting THEORY #2) question THEORY #1 (revived Rome):
“….in A.D. 364 the Roman Empire split in two. There was the Eastern Empire with its capital in Constantinople and the Western Empire with its capital in Rome…..If you want to make two parts of the Roman Empire to be represented by the two legs, you are in difficulty because the Western Empire lasted only a few hundred years – (AUG 24, 410 – the Visigoths sacked Rome). The Eastern Empire lasted until 1453 (– until it was over-run by the Muslims.) You have to make this image stand on one leg for most of the time!”

NOTABLE IS THAT ALL OF THE DARK EMPIRES OVERTOOK THE DARK EMPIRE BEFORE IT:

Page 94 – “The Islamic Anti-Christ” – also by Joel Richardson – addresses 8 Beast empires (the eighth coming out of the seventh) also discussed in Rev 17:9-11.
COMMON FEATURES:
All ruled the Middle East.
All defeated, overcame, and replace their predecessor.
All ruled in Jerusalem.
Six (and at the time of John on Patmos during REV) were done, and one – Rome – was currently in place)
1. Egyptian
2. Assyrian
3. Babylonian
4. Persian
5. Greek
6. Roman – clearly A beast empire “is” (per Rev 17) during the days of John and Revelation
7. BIG QUESTION: Which “empire” took out the longer lasting Eastern Roman Empire? – Because THAT Empire, who is #7, will also be the empire from which Empire 8 will emerge.

History: In 395 A.D. the Roman Empire divided in two. East and West. Eastern became the Byzantine Roman Empire. Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, and continued until 1909, and in fact it was not until 1923 that the Islamic caliphate was abolished (by a Muslim leader Ataturk, w Western-culture leanings, he determined the Caliphate was “TOO RADICAL”.

The revival and return of the Caliphate was/is therefore awaited – it’s clearly having its own birth pains in our season.
Notable is that the Ezekiel nation list (chapter 38) – this is a companion prophecy to an end-time gathering of nations against Israel) focuses on Turkey – the birthplace of Gentile Christianity (and the season of the Gentiles, and also the centerpiece of the Turkish Ottoman Empire and core to the Islamic Caliphate.

Page 184 – RE THE TWO LEGS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S STATUE:
“Mideast Beast”:
“…..this is a perfect description of the global Islamic community, which from its beginnings has been divided between the two sects of Sunni and Sh’a Muslims. It is also a perfect fulfillment of the ancient prophecy declared over Ishmael, the father of the Arab (remember: Aramaic for “mixed”) people, who would forever be in conflict with other men and even his own brothers (Gen 16:12)”

Genesis 16:12
12 He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

AND BACK TO DAVID PAWSON – THEORY #2:
Now what do the feet mean? (first Pawson mentions the possibility of a European alliance – pointing to a lead-role by a revived Roman Empire and an alliance of nations that for the most have their roots in a ROMANIC CULTURE. But then he (wisely) says this (having written this years ago, before much of what is now occurring throughout the whole world, began it spread):

Pawson: “But there is another possibility….

“When Rome fell, it fell first in the West, but not in the East until a thousand years after Christ. Who took over from Rome? In the area of the world in which God’s purposes are worked out, the area that covers Babylon and Jerusalem, who took over? The answer is the Muslims took over; the Arab world took over. When you think in that direction, a new thought occurs: could it be that the Arabs descended from Abraham could be those who present the final challenge to the God of Israel? And could it be that we should look for ten nations of Arabs uniting together against God’s people and therefore against God, and presenting the final challenge to the world? An uneasy federation of countries, some of which would be the (LEG# 1) iron of dictatorship and (LEG#2) some the clay of democracy, but joined together in a federation to establish world power –could that be also? That again is human opinion.” (PAWSON WASN’T THAT SURE WHEN HE WROTE THAT, YEARS AGO. I BELIEVE WE CAN BE MORE SURE, NOW)

The concept of ARAB (Aramaic: “MIXED”) nations (and the religion of Islam being the fourth “KINGDOM” is presented by David Pawson, and that flies in the face of the classical, convenient and questionably Euro-centered WESTERN LENS OF INTERPRETATION that has proclaimed that a REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE will be the fourth “RESISTANT COMPONENT” – the fourth empire, the fourth beast of further scripture.

Suggestion: read Joel Richardson/ I’ve mentioned him before:
“ISLAMIC ANTICHRIST” – read pages 80-100. “MIDEAST BEAST”. ALSO: “MYSTERY BABYLON”.

Richardson says re Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Mideast Beast, page 65)
“The dream was not intended to reveal the future of America or Europe. Instead the dream was simply showing Nebuchadnezzar those kingdoms that would succeed his own. Let’s briefly review the history of the region”…..(and then he does exactly that).

Richardson contends (and I agree – and here’s the picture again, for convenience):
1. Head of gold – Babylon (most all agree)
2. Chest and arms of silver – Medes-Persians (most all agree)
3. Belly and thighs of Bronze – Greece (most all agree)
4. Legs of iron – Islamic Caliphate.

GOOD QUESTION THEN: WHY is there NO ROMAN EMPIRE portrayed in the Nebuchadnezzar dream statue?
According to Joel Richardson, the Roman Empire for the most part failed to overlay the region of the world dominated by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian rule, while all the others did, AND also the Caliphate state then, in rising up and taking out the eastern Roman Empire, did likewise.

This map contrasts the position of the Roman Empire (westward, primarily) to the other Empires (Babylon, Mede/Persian, then Greek that functionally OVERLAY each other in their positioning. That is notable when looking into Daniel 7’s vision and, per this study, considering the elimination of Rome as a prophetic participant nation empire in the plan of God (although it is definitely not out of the question that many more nations, if not even all nations, will be joining together in the final conflict, per scripture).

Page 67-68 Richardson: (the dream)….”is a Babylon-centered prophecy”.
“There are actually FIVE pieces of the statue:
1. HEAD: Gold
2. BREAST: Silver
3. BELLY: Brass/Bronze
4. LEGS: Iron (Pawson and Richardson – the historical Caliphate empire)
5. FEET: Part Iron, Part Clay (Richardson – the revived Caliphate empire)

A PRIMARY ARGUMENT AGAINST ISLAM BEING THE FOURTH EMPIRE OF DANIEL 2, OR BEING THE 4th BEAST OF DANIEL 7, is defeated by HISTORY:
Daniel 9:26 -the verse often used to argue in favor of revived Roman empire in last days.
The Arabs who hated the Jews comprised most of the army that attacked and destroyed Jerusalem.

TACITUS’ ACCOUNT:
at the beginning of the first century, Emperor Augustus made a series of sweeping reforms that led to dramatic changes in the ethnic make-up of the Roman armies. After Augustus’s reforms in AD 15, the only portion of the Roman army that continued to consist largely of Italians from Rome proper was the Praetorian Guard, an elite military unit whose job was to specifically guard the emperor and the tents of the generals. The remainder of the army was increasingly composed of anything but Italian soldiers. Instead, they were known as “provincials,” citizens who lived in the provinces—the outer fringes of the Empire, away from the capital of Rome. The “provincialization” of the army was true for all of the Roman legions of this time period, but it was most clearly and markedly the case for the Eastern legions that were used to attack Jerusalem.

“KNOWLEDGE WILL INCREASE” says Daniel.
We now have historical records telling us re TACITUS:

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was both a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire who wrote extensively concerning the specific period that we are now examining. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—have become vital sources of information from this period. Speaking of the Roman attack of Jerusalem, Tacitus detailed the specific legions and the peoples that primarily composed the attacking army: “Titus Caesar … found in Judaea three legions, the 5th, the 10th, and the 15th … To these he added the 12th from Syria, and some men belonging to the 18th and 3rd, whom he had withdrawn from Alexandria. This force was accompanied … by a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews with the usual hatred of neighbors.”

JOSEPHUS:
Later, Josephus also detailed the specific number of Arab soldiers who joined forces with the invading armies: “Malchus also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horsemen, besides five thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well horsemen and footmen, when all were united together, amounted to sixty thousand.”

TO OUR POINT OF OPINION: CALIPHATE ACTIVITY THIS WEEK IN JULY 2021:
(Jay Sekulow emailed this week [2021]):
This heartbreaking situation is really getting out of control. In fact, we just warned the U.N. that if no action is taken, it is turning a blind eye to “genocide.”
Defenseless Christians in Nigeria live in constant fear of deadly violence and unthinkable devastation. Christian children aren’t safe going to school.
One Christian teen, Leah Sharibu, was abducted in 2018 by the Islamic militia, Boko Haram, which threatened to murder or enslave her because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. 18-year-old Leah Sharibu just spent her 4th birthday in captivity, and gave birth to a SECOND CHILD of her captors.
YOUR BLOOD SHOULD BE BOILING.
Enough is enough. We have dramatically expanded our efforts to defend persecuted Christians in Nigeria. In fact, ACLJ Senior Counsel for Global Affairs Mike Pompeo, who placed Nigeria on a U.S. persecution watchlist when he was Secretary of State and credited our work for helping him make that determination, is directly working with us.
Jordan recently delivered an oral intervention to the U.N. And we also just made our 18th U.N. submission demanding action to save Leah and protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Pray for Leah’s safe return to her family, as well as for those babies currently in the clutches of evil, and pray for all of Nigeria’s persecuted Christians.
Be their voice. Take action with us.

Let’s read just a LITTLE from Ezekiel and then read what Joel Richardson tells us – which clearly aligns with what David Pawson theorizes re the “ARAB” (mixed people) component of the end-times warring army campaign.

AS I OFTEN SAY: Don’t get stuck on the mysterious name “GOG” – it appears no place except in scripture, in Ezekiel re end-of-this-age (which we are studying) and then again in Revelation re the end of the 1,000 year millennial reign. BOTH TIMES the terminology is God’s title for the demonic leadership of TWO DIFFERENT rebellions.

Ezekiel 38:1 – 39:9
1 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog (likely Syria – there’s purpose in that conclusion), the prince of Rosh (Hebrew for “head” so perhaps a leader-title), Meshech, and Tubal (both are in Turkey), and prophesy against him,
3 and say, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
4 I will turn you around (so we see Who is instigating things – it is God and His timing for this conflict and the settlement of all events of rebellion) put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
6 Gomer (central Turkey) and all its troops; the house of Togarmah (south eastern Turkey, near Syria) from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.

Do you see a common thread here? Either GEOGRAPHICAL OR SPIRITUAL? Yes to both. These are the nations currently surrounding Israel. These are Muslim nations. These are nations that have chronically and consistently been the enemies of Israel since the beginning.

7 “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.
8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
9 You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”
10 “Thus says the Lord God: ‘On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:
11 You will say, “I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—
12 to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
(ADDITIONAL NATIONS JOINING THE ASSAULT – and of course there are even verses that point to most if not EVERY nation coming against Israel in the final battle):
13 Sheba (Ethiopia), Dedan (Saudi Arabia), the merchants of Tarshish (Lebanon), and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ ” ’

Turkey, Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Shinar (Iraq – mentioned in Zechariah), and then there’s catch-all phrases like “other nations with you”.

Meanwhile Israel is situated squarely within the growing land mass of Islam.

“THE ISLAMIC ANTI-CHRIST page 92: Joel Richardson says re the nations of Ezekiel’s prophecy:
“Thus in the final assessment, five of the eight nations mentioned by Ezekiel occupy modern Turkey and possibly some of the southern Russian regions near the Caucasus Mountains, as well as some of the Turkic nations of central Asia. Obviously, the Lord directed Ezekiel to significantly highlight Turkey”.

(I’VE BEEN SAYING “KEEP YOUR EYES ON TURKEY” for years)

OF NOTE TO US IS THAT TURKEY is where the Gentile church was fundamentally birthed – the seven churches of the book of Revelation are all there. The failure of that church, the backslid nature of that geographic region, inclines itself to a national fulfillment of this warning to every saint:
Matthew 12:43-45
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

In light of Matt 12:45 you can imagine the dark void that the “withdrawal” of Christianity has created within the region of Turkey.
BACK TO RICHARDSON:
“The other three nations mentioned – Libya, Sudan, and Iran – together with Turkey form a perfect circle around Israel finds herself surrounded on all four sides by the Islamic nations of the Antichrist’s empire”.

NOW BACK TO EZEKIEL 38:
16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”
17 Thus says the Lord God: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?

18 “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord God, “that My fury will show in My face.
19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,

21 I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
22 And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed (re Zech 12-14); I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’

The LEGS and FEET of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue MIGHT to some small degree, be equated to ROME and even to the rest of the nations who have joined forces for the final battle INITIATED BY GOD.

BUT WE NOT WANT TO MISS THIS CRITICAL POINT AS WE GET TO DANIEL 7:
7 “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

The DIFFERENCE between the first three kingdoms and the fourth beast kingdom is that all the others are Geo-Political, inspired and satanically motivated.
BUT….
The FINAL KINGDOM was, is and will be a SPIRITUAL DEMONIC KINGDOM, overtly and blatantly religious in nature, comprised of the MIXED (ARAB) PEOPLES and then joined up w other (perhaps even all) nations:

Zechariah 12:1-3
The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:
2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.
3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

PETER ASKS US THIS, IN LIGHT OF THE DESTRUCTION THAT HE PROPHESIES IN THE TIMES OF THE APPEARANCE OF MESSIAH – which:
2 Peter 3:10-13
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

There is way more to this ongoing story.
1. God loves the Muslim people. Their roots are from Abraham and there were and remain promises to them because of that bloodline. So we pray for those people, pray they will encounter, in biblical truth and accuracy, their one and only Messiah, Jesus – which will require a supernatural revelation to divorce them from the counterfeit presentation of “Jesus” from the quran.
2. The scriptures (above and elsewhere) containing blanket statements like “all nations” points to a worldwide confederacy of hatred and animosity towards Israel (which is yet another reason we are told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
Psalms 122:6
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.

That peace will only finally come when the Prince of Peace is welcomed in, by His Jewish people.

Here’s a sobering image comparo: The illustrated beasts of Daniel’s vision, compared to the recently installed statue outside the United Nations in New York City:

All scripture NKJV

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