Russia in Bible Prophecy

Introduction

Dr. John Hoole

Many years ago, there was a TV show called “Early Edition” (1996-2000). That was where a man would get tomorrows newspaper  today so he would know what is coming. He got the future in advance, and he knew what he needed to do in light of what the newspaper told him was going to happen tomorrow.

Prophecy is God’s “Early Edition” newspaper, telling you what’s coming tomorrow. He wants you to have the information about tomorrow today.

Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, said on His radio program, called The Urban Alternative:

“The Bible is the website – Jesus is the pass code, and if you really want to understand what is happening in our world and where we are going, you need to understand biblical prophecy.”

I agree completely with that statement. Predictive prophecy is God giving us history in advance. And the bible is full of prophecies – things that were predicted in advance, including the birth of Jesus, the fact that Jesus  would be born in Bethlehem, the fact that He would ride on a donkey on Palm Sunday a week prior to his crucifixion and would rise from the dead on the third day, all predicted 600 or more years in advance in the Old Testament before it ever happened in the New Testament.

God is impeccably perfect in His prophetic pronouncements.

Isaiah 46:9-10 NKJV

9  Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,

10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.'

And also, in Isaiah 42:9 NKJV

9  Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."

Anything God says is going to happen – you can bank your bottom dollar on it. And it will happen precisely as He says.

For the past almost two months, the world’s attention is on this war between Russia and Ukraine.  In many regards, it has been hard to watch. We applaud the resiliency of the Ukrainian fighting forces. And yet, even if Ukraine wins this battle, some of their cities have been turned into rubble.

But this is not the first time that Russia has attacked Ukraine. Between the years 1932 and 1933, Soviet Russia invaded Ukraine in what Ukrainians remember still today as HOLODOMOR.

I don’t speak Ukrainian. But, because the U.S. Airforce sent me to Syracuse University to learn Russian, I do have some understanding there. Ukrainian has the same root as the Russian and uses the same 33 letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.

The Russian word for “hunger” is GOLOD (голод). That first letter is usually equivalent of our English “G”. But there are times when it is actually pronounced in some words as an English “H.”

The Russian word for “GOD” is Bog (Бог) but that “G” letter in this word is pronounced like an English “H.” Also, our English phrase “Thank God” is pronounced SLAVA BOHU, and is spelled in Russian as слава Богу. Again, the “g” letter in this case is pronounced like an English “h.”

In Ukrainian, the word for hunger is spelled exactly the same as in Russian, but it is not pronounced with a “g” sound as it is in Russian, but an “h” sound. It is “Holod” (голод). That represents the first five letter of Holodomor.

The  “mor” on the end of “holodomor” means “extinguish” or exterminate.”

Holodomor translates in the Ukrainian languages as “murder by starvation.” It is remembered in Ukraine every year on the last Saturday of November.

In the 1930s under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, Stalin orders the food seizures and literally starved to death an estimate of between 4 & 6 million Ukrainian people. He literally cut off their food supply to starve them to death. It was pure genocide.

Today, an unprovoked attack by Putin has occurred against a sovereign nation. Now Putin would have you to believe Ukraine is not a sovereign nation.   Putin gave a speech on Feb 21st, in which he says:

Putin claims Ukraine was the creation of the Soviet Union under Vladimir Lenin, and that it is not a legitimate nation. He said it is a “fake nation,”  But that simply is not true.  That’s just propaganda to justify an invasion.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukrainians were given a choice whether or not they wanted to be independent or to still belong to Russia. When this national referendum was given to the Ukrainian people, 84% of the eligible voters went to the polls, and, of those, more than 90% of cast their ballots for independence.

Moreover, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994 in exchange for recognition of its sovereignty, and Russia signed the agreement.  You can look it up.  It is called the Budapest  Memorandum. Here is a photo of the signing by:

President Clinton of U.S.A.

President Boris Yeltsin of Russia

President Leonid Kuchman of Ukraine

There are some who think Putin is trying to revive the former Soviet Union. He already invaded Georgia in 2008 and annexed Crimea in 2014, and now its Ukraine.

In an opinion letter in the NY Times, written on March 6,2022, Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson wrote this:

“We have failed to learn the lessons of Russian aggression.  For too long, we have turned the other cheek.  No one can say we were not warned.  We saw what Russia did in Georgia in 2008.”

Because of the track record and what Putin is currently doing in Ukraine, the people of Estonian, Latvia, and Lithuania, Belarus (Russians are already in Belarus), the people of those countries ought to be very concerned – even afraid – because they also once were part of the Soviet Union.  If he gets away with what he is doing in Ukraine, what will stop him in these other states?  He will be emboldened.

There is a foreign ambassador to Russia who has connections with Cornerstone Church, in Leesburg, VA, pastored by Gary Hamrick.  A few days ago, He emailed a person on their staff to get a message to them from Moscow, where he is right now.  This is what he wrote about Putin.

“What scares me most is that I do not see a way out. I see an angry man who does not care about his people or his country’s economy.  He does not even care about his soldiers.  He just wants to bring Ukraine under his heal.”

Jack Hibbs, pastor of Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, CA, posted a YouTube video of a meeting he did with Dennis Prager. The meeting was called: “Ask a  Jew and ask a Gentile.”  They were hitting the issues of the day from both a Jewish and gentile perspective.Dennis Prager said something I can relate to.   He said this, talking about Ukraine and its conflict with Russia:

“I totally understand that we can’t send our own troops to fight this war, but I feel like I am a powerful man on a street and I’m watching a woman getting raped, and I am not doing a (darn) thing about it.”

I think that describes how a lot of us feel – helpless and wondering why something more isn’t being done? And what can be done?  Who will stop this madman?  Are sanctions enough?  Are they really doing much of anything?

General Jerry Boykin, former head of Delta Force and was also Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence for George W. Bush, said several weeks ago:

“We should be giving them every military artillery and aid and assistance financially and materially in every way we can to help the Ukrainian people push back this evil assault.”

What Putin is doing is pure evil.  Here is something that is interesting? In the Hebrew language, the word for a wicked man or evil man is RASHA. It is spelled differently in Englich, but, phonetically, it is pronounced the same as RUSSIA. That’s the Hebrew word for “evil man.”

More than 2500 years ago, the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel wrote that an evil Russian leader would be a primary player in the end times with regard to Israel. At some point, a Russian leader will gather a coalition of nations and they will converge against Israel. This leader will be an evil man with evil desires.

Ezekiel 38:1-2a NKJV

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,…

In future lessons we will examine these names, but, let me just say that GOG is the name or title of the leader of what we will come to learn as Russia. In verse 3, God says He is against this leader, called Gog.

Let’s also read verses 10 & 16

Ezekiel 38:10 NKJV

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:”

This is an evil man with an evil plan. Part of that plan is seen in verse 16.

Ezekiel 38:16 NKJV

16       You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days…

The “you” in this verse is commonly taught to represent whoever the president of Russia is going to be in the biblical “latter days.” Some Bible scholas are  wondering if Vladimir Putin could be the leader who leads this coalition.

CLOSING

After two years of global turmoil, people are starting to realize we aren’t ever going to “return to normal.”

We’ve endured a 1) global pandemic, 2) widespread social unrest, 3) vaccine mandates, and 4) compounding global supply chain issues. Now, we have a 5) major war in Eastern Europe, 6) fuel and food price inflation, 7) indications of a food shortage, and 8) rumors of an impending global financial crisis.  Everywhere you look, it seems as though the end is near.

Is it? What does the Bible say? How close are the end times, the Tribulation, and the rapture of the church?

Fortunately, we don’t have to guess. He has given to us the “Early Edition.” Jesus Himself told us how to recognize the general timeframe of His return.

When the disciples said, “Tell us the signs of your coming and the end of the age” (Matthew 24:3), Jesus told them a number of things to look for: Deception, Wars & Rumors of war, nation against nation and tribe against tribe, Famine, Pestilences, Earthquakes.

This means the #1 indication Jesus will return soon is when all the signs start appearing together. The appearance of just one is reason enough to take notice. But the arrival of one sign after another demands your attention.

This convergence of signs confirms our generation could  witness the Second Coming – not according to me, but according to Jesus.

So, Jesus said, “When you see these things begin to happen, freak out!”  No, he didn’t say that. He said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28 NKJV).

Here’s the bottom line and takeaway truth.  Bible prophecies are being fulfilled in our lifetime. It seems like we’re seeing more things happen in real time, closer together, as the Scripture said they would be.

What should we do? We should look up, and we should remember that God is in control.