Tim Badger - Class 7: The Return of Jesus is Near

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Well, good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of the Thousand Oaks Christadelphians, we'd like to welcome everyone to our class this afternoon. We are going to be looking at the subject of clues that Jesus' return is near. And we have with us Tim Badger, all the way from Australia, who's going to be leading our class this afternoon.

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   And we'll begin, before we get started, we'll begin with a word of prayer. Please bow your heads. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We approach thy throne of grace at this time to thank thee for giving us this time to open thy holy scriptures and to consider the message that is contained therein.

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   We pray that thou would guide our understanding, that we would rightly divide thy word of truth and find the principles, the lessons, and the message that is contained therein for us. We thank thee for this time now, and we offer this prayer through the name of thy Son, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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   In conjunction with this class, Tim has asked that we read from Ezekiel chapter 38. And we're going to read the first 17 verses of Ezekiel chapter 38.

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   Ezekiel chapter 38. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee. And be thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited. In the latter years thou shalt come back into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste.

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   But it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely, all of them. Thou shalt ascend, and come like a storm. Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land. Thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God, It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought.

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   Thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates. To take a spoil, and to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods that dwell in the midst of the land.

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   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? Thou hast gathered thy company to take a prey? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? To carry away silver and gold? To take away cattle and goods?

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   To take a great spoil? Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God, In that day, when my people of Israel dwell safely, Shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come forth from thy place, Out of the north parts, Thou and many people with thee, All of them riding upon horses, A great company, And a mighty army.

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    And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, As a cloud to cover the land. It shall be in the latter days, And I will bring thee against my land, That the heathen may know me, When I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, Before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God, Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time, By my servants the prophets of Israel, Which prophesied in those days, Many years, That I would bring thee against them.

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    With that, We'll ask him to come forward, And deliver his address this afternoon, Title clues, That Jesus returns me. Well, thank you, Glenn, And good afternoon, Friends. The Christophians warmly welcome you here, To the Thousand Oaks area, Reading of the Christophians, To consider this Bible topic, With us, This afternoon. Now just before we get started, We just want to make sure, That everyone has a little handout.

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    And if you do, Or if you don't, Just put up your hand, And we'll get one to you. But possibly the best way to use this, This afternoon, Is to fold it in half, Down where that sort of center column is, Just so you can fit it on your lap, A little bit easier if you like.

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    And we're going to use that, As we go through. And feel free to write on that, And that's yours, You can take it with you. So the topic that we have advertised, For this afternoon, Is clues that Jesus' return is near. And as Christophians, We firmly believe, That the Bible teaches, That Jesus will come back to the earth, And set up God's kingdom on the earth.

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    Now the Bible also tells us, That there are clues, That we can look for and see, That tell us, When that time is soon to be. And we believe, As Christophians, That are Bible readers, And that believe, That the word of God is inspired, We believe, That the clues are telling us, That that day is, Really close at hand.

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    Now, One of the passages, In the Bible, That help us to see, Where we are, In terms of, How close we are to Jesus' return, Is this chapter here, In Ezekiel 38. And what it has for us, Friends, Is a few clues, That show us that, We are indeed close to that day, When Christ will be on the earth again.

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    And we want to show you tonight, How Ezekiel 38 paints that picture, And how it gives us those clues, That we can be certain, That we are, Our understanding is correct of these things. So, A little bit of background, About how this works. Ezekiel 38, Is a chapter found in this big book, Called Ezekiel.

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    He's a prophet of God, And he speaks on God's behalf. You'll see that in verse 1. See that? Ezekiel 38, Verse 1, The word of the Lord came to me, That's Ezekiel the prophet, Saying, Son of man, So he calls Ezekiel son of man, He says, Set your face against God, Of the land of Magog, And the prince of Rosh, Meshach, And Tubal, And prophesy against them.

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    Now, What are those names? Well, We're not going to try and dig into the detail, Of those names this afternoon, But you'll see the picture, What happens is, Ezekiel the prophet, Paints a picture of three groups, That are involved in a battle. Okay? So what happens is, Ezekiel paints a picture, Of a group that comes down, And attacks Israel.

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    So there's this group from the north, That comes down, In Ezekiel 38, And attacks Israel. And the third group, That's in this story, Is a group of nations, Or powers, That sits off to the side, And watches that happen, And they can't really do a whole lot about it, To intervene or stop it happening.

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    That's the summary of Ezekiel chapter 38, And we're going to see how that works. Because, We believe, That the Bible says, The events of this battle, This invasion of Israel, Actually happens right before Jesus' return. Let me show you why we think that. Have a look at verse 8, Of Ezekiel chapter 38.

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    There's a little phrase in there, In the middle of this battle description, That says when this will take place, When this battle takes place. Verse 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. So he says, Part of this battle is going to happen in the latter years.

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    Now, That same expression is used in verse 16. Just have a look there. Look at verse 16. You will come up against my people Israel, Like a cloud. This invading army is going to come up against Israel, To cover the land, And it will be in the latter days, That this will happen.

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    So, There's two little clues. Now friends, Ezekiel's prophecy was written somewhere near 2,500 years ago. And even Bible critics and Bible skeptics will admit that Ezekiel was written a very long time ago. Right? It's clearly written before the New Testament. And the details that we have in here have been treasured as part of the Jewish collection of scriptures for a long time.

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    Now, Now, The details in this chapter that we find have never taken place since Ezekiel wrote them. There has never been an invasion in the likes of Ezekiel 38 that has happened since he wrote this prophecy under inspiration by God. So, And it's like, Whoa, Really? How could that ever happen? But I want to show you and take you through the clues this afternoon that show us that the current setup in the political world that we see now is exactly the details of what Ezekiel was describing.

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    And we believe it is shortly going to take place right before Jesus returns. Well, What are the clues? Let's have a look at some of these. And let's see what Ezekiel is talking about and whether it matches the things that are happening today that tell us that Jesus is returning. This battle is near.

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    This battle is about to take place right before Jesus comes. Well, We want to look at these clues in a particular order. You can write them down on your sheet if you like, and then we can talk about them as we go. So, The first one we want to look at is actually over in verse 15.

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    What are the clues to tell us that this prophecy is about to take place now, 2,500 years later, after it was written? Well, The first clue that we can identify is about this invading army. In verse 15, Look what it says. We are told that you, or Ezekiel is saying, that you will come from your place out of the far north.

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    You and many people with you. All of them riding horses and a great company and a mighty army. So, The invading force in this battle, quite simply, is an invading force that's coming from the far north. Now, Ezekiel is talking to the nation of Israel. And he is from Israel. He's a Jewish prophet.

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    Right? And he's saying that the invading force is going to come from the far north. Now, look at this force. We'll just look at it because it's described in ancient names. So, let's come back to verse 2. This force is described as Gog, who seems to be some sort of leader of this invading force.

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    Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. And, what's going to happen is that group is going to be an invading force. And they're coming from the far north. And look what God says through Ezekiel the prophet about this invading force. In verse 4. I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws and lead you out with all your army.

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    Horses, horsemen, all splendidly clothed. A great company with bucklers and shields and all of them handling swords. And he's got other people with him. So, this group called Gog and Meshach and Tubal have other people with them as well coming down. Look at verse 5. Persia's there. That's kind of familiar to us at least a little bit out of all these names.

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    Persia is where modern day Iran is. Ethiopia, in verse 5, the next one, that's familiar to us, isn't it? Ethiopia and Libya. Libya is familiar to us today. Are all with them. So, Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are all part of this big group. Coming down from the north. Whoever they are. And you'll see in verse 6 that there's even more people with them.

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    This group called Gomer and all its troops, the house of Tugama, from the far north. And all its troops, many people are with you. So, our first clue, friends, from Ezekiel chapter 38, this battle that's going to happen in the latter days, before Jesus comes, is involving a group that's coming from the far north.

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    That's our first clue. Well, what's our second clue? Well, have a look at verse 8. This is where our second clue locks about how and when Ezekiel 38 is going to happen. This is what it says in verse 8. Here's clue number 2.

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    It says the timing of this invasion. After many days, verse 8, you will be visited. In the latter years, you will come into the land. And he's talking to the invading army. This is what they're going to do. They're going to 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.

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    They were brought out of the nations and now all of them down safely. So this gives us another clue about this prophecy. This invading force from the north is going to come against the mountains of Israel, but only after Israel has been regathered, after they've been scattered. Now, if you take any history at university that deals with Israel and modern day history, one of the most classic events in recent years has been the amazing reestablishment of Israel in the land of Israel.

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    And it's an incredible event from even a non-Christian point of view that a nation of Israel who had been scattered for 2,000 years when the Romans obliterated them were able to come back to the land of Israel and establish a nation. And there they are today. They're in the headlines of our paper all the time.

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    And Ezekiel 38 is saying this invasion, verse 8, is only going to happen after Israel had been regathered from years of being scattered. Now, that happened in 1948 when they were regathered. So, Ezekiel 38, this battle, happens in the latter days and it has to happen after 1948. Now, that's our second clue of when this would happen.

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    Now, along with that is this other clue that we've mentioned earlier. And that is that it will happen in the latter days. If you look there in verse 16, we've noted this phrase in verse 8 and 16. So, it will happen in the latter years. So, that gives us a time frame. It's got to be after 1948 and possibly 1967 when the Jews during the Six-Day War recaptured Jerusalem as well.

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    So, that puts it really close to our time. And indeed, we feel it is. Well, what's another clue? Clue number four that we can gather is in verse 2. And we've alluded to this already. The fourth clue about what's happening in this battle and when is in verse 2. Son of man, set your face against Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal, and prophesy against him.

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    So, part of this invasion, verse 2 is telling us, is that there is some sort of powerful political leader, influential, known here as Gog of the land of Magog, who's the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tugul. So, there's some sort of prince here, some sort of powerful political leader. We don't know who it is yet, but that is one of the clues that has to be there.

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    Amazing. That detail's in there. Well, what else do we know? The fifth clue. The fifth clue is that this is capable of a large military alliance force, this invasion from the north. Right? So, have a look at verse 4, and we've noticed part of this already as well. It says in verse 4, partway through, that he's with an army of horses and horsemen, and they're all splendidly clothed.

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    There's a great company with bucklers and shields and all of them handling swords. So, the fifth clue is that this powerful force has some sort of an alliance and military force behind it. that's what Ezekiel is telling us. It's coming from the north, it's after we, Israel's regathered, it's going to happen in the latter years, and it's a collective group, a powerful, collective military alliance that has power.

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    Well, we know more about this. Look at verse 10 for clue number 6. Clue number 6 is in verse 10. Look what it says. 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. Now, that's talking about this invading force that's headed up by this political leader named Gog, or described as Gog.

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    So, the sixth clue tells us a little bit about this group. They're not friendly, they're evil. And this leader, we are told, will be bold and have evil motives. He's not afraid to carry them out. That's what verse 10 is telling us, that evil thoughts will arise in this leader's mind and he'll carry them out, this evil plan.

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    So, that's the clue, that's clue number 6 about what's going to happen. Now, the seventh clue is in verse 11. What's Israel like at this time when this invasion comes down from the north that Ezekiel is telling us about? Well, we learn something about Israel. Look at verse 11. You will say, that's the invading force, I will go up against the land of unwalled villages.

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    So, this is the mountains of Israel that he's attacking. I'm going to go up against the land of unwalled villages. I'm going to go to a peaceful people who will dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither barn nor gates. So, this leader is going to go against a nation that feels fairly confident in itself.

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    And that's clue number seven. Israel will have to be in a position that will be confident in its own safety. Right. So, there's a fair set of clues so far. Two more to go. Let's look at number eight. What else do we know about Israel? Well, why is the person or this invading force coming?

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    Look at verse 12. They are going to come to take a plunder and to take booty to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are inhabited. Again, and against a people gathered from the nations, that's Israel, we gather, who have acquired livestock and goods and who dwell in the midst of the land.

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    So, clue number eight is telling us that at the time this invasion happens, Israel will be rich and prosperous. They have livestock and cattle and everything's there. Now, friends, this is an incredible thing because what we're going to do is show you that the situation in the political world right now fits exactly the description of Ezekiel 38's battle vision like no other time in history could.

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    The last clue is this. And remember that third group I told you about? There's another group of nations that sits off to the side and feels like they are powerless to do anything or it seems like they can't? Well, that clue is in verse 13. Look at this other group called Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all their young lions will say to you, have you come to take a plunder?

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    Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take a plunder? So there's this other group of nations, Dedan and Sheba, the merchants of Tarshish, that are off to the side and they watch the invader come down into Israel and they stand and say, what are you doing?

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    Have you come to take a spoil? Are you coming to take a booty? And that's the end of the story. They didn't do anything. There's no counterattack or anything. They just stand off to the side. Almost like they're powerless to make a move and all they can say is like, whoa, what are you doing?

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    So that's clue number nine. Clue number nine is another national alliance, whoever it is, has little power to intervene. So here's our clues, friends, from Ezekiel 38. All of those that we can see there. And those are the key ones. Now what we want to do is actually look and see if we are in the latter days, do we see the descriptions and the clues that Ezekiel gives us actually taking place in our time?

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    Now I would suggest to you and we would, as Christa Dale can suggest, that's exactly what we see today. And this is the first time it's ever been true for 2,500 years since Ezekiel has written his message. Let's go to point number one. We're told in number one that that invading force would come from the north.

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    Well, if you get a map and you decide to draw a line straight north of Israel, which is what Ezekiel was prophesying from and that's what he was. He's saying the invading force is from the north. Here we are on a map. Here's Israel. And if you go straight up, only a few degrees off, you will exactly intersect the city of Moscow.

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    That's pretty much as far as you go north. The further you go, it gets snow and ice and nothing. Okay? The North Pole. So the furthest point north in terms of a power being north of Israel is none other than Russia itself. That's exactly what we see on the map. So that's our first clue that seems to be interesting, that there up in the north is a force that we know is called Russia.

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    Let's look at point two and three. How does this fit in terms of what we see today? Well, number two said that Israel had to be regathered. And there it is, 1948. The state of Israel is born after 2,000 years. There is no other nation on the planet that has gone through a story like that of being obliterated and coming back in the very same place with the same language that it had in ancient times.

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    And there is Israel regathered. And we're told that it is in the latter days which we feel is now because of all these clues. In fact, this is another topic but Jesus in the New Testament when he prophesied he said that in the latter days before he would return he also said that Israel would be regathered before he returned.

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    And that can be found in some detail in Matthew chapter 24. We can look at that a little bit later. So that's clue number two and three. Well, what do we find? That this powerful in clue number four he's told us that there is going to be a powerful and influential political leader.

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    Now friends, when we look to the far north and find the power of Russia that's all over the news in the last years they have come to be one of the most powerful forces in the world. And here is possibly exactly what Ezekiel is actually talking about. This power from the north he said is going to be a powerful and influential political leader.

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    And there he is. That news articles and these are all of recent times how Vladimir Putin became one of the most feared leaders in the world. Fifteen years of Vladimir Putin. Fifteen ways he has changed Russia and the world. Now let's make no mistake. The Bible does talk about politics in the relation to what's going to happen when Jesus returns and what the nations are going to be doing.

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    And here we believe is a fulfillment of exactly what Ezekiel predicted. And here we have a powerful influential political leader to the north of Israel. That little book there that's pictured the new czar is something I've read recently and it gives you tingles up your spine when you read the story of Vladimir Putin and how he came to be.

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    He's a force to be reckoned with. Interestingly just at the end of this past year this was the title page or the front cover of The Economist celebrating a hundred years after the Russian revolution. There he is Putin right on the front cover. A czar is born which is basically saying he's kind of the dictator and he's made himself the dictator of Russia.

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    He's powerful and he's influential. Well what about this? Here's another one that goes along with clue number four. Does Vladimir and Russia fit this picture of Ezekiel 38? Absolutely. Vladimir Putin was voted once again the world's most powerful person for four years running. Russia's president has exerted his country's influence in nearly every corner of the globe and that was not true 30 years ago but it is now of Russia.

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    From the motherland to Syria to the US presidential elections Putin continues to get what he wants. Unconstrained by conventional global norms his reach has magnified in recent years and so it goes on. There's the powerful and influential political leader. Does it line up with Ezekiel's message? It does friends and that's the exciting thing.

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    Well, what about being capable of a large military alliance force? This power to the north. And again, Russia fits the bill absolutely perfectly. Russia puts on show of military strength in the Crimea and other places and it continually does that to rile Britain and the US. Russia ships trying new anti-missile system in Syria.

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    Russia is currently ranked as number two out of 133 countries considered for the annual GFP review. It maintains a massive strong index as being the most powerful country in the world. Second place. That's its current ranking. Second place out of 133 countries in terms of firepower and overall power. Well, when we look to relationships with other countries, look what else we find.

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    Putin's alliance with all sorts of other countries and we're told, just look at this one here, the impact of the Iran-Russia alliance and interestingly friends, this is just a little clue, we heard of Iran in Ezekiel 38. That was Persia, that's modern day Persia, is Iran and we are told that Iran or Persia will be with this powerful force that will invade Israel.

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    How relevant that is to the news that we see these days. Look at this one. Another news article, October 5th, 2017, Putin welcomes Saudi Arabia into his Middle East sphere of influence, Middle East sphere of influence, right where Israel is. Well, we're also told in clue number six, the leader will be bold and have an evil motive, not afraid to carry them out.

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    Does that fit Russia and Putin today? And almost everyone on the street would probably say, well, yeah, that kind of does. There's not a whole lot of leaders in his position that have his sort of approach to global politics. These sail up.

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    Perhaps this one is one of the most telling. For acting like Hitler acting? Who's acting? That's amazing, friends, to find that that, even in that political cartoon, is actually just got a little connection to the Jews themselves in casting Putin as a modern-day Hitler in his approach to global politics. There's a Facebook page pictured here that is dedicated to people joining and getting on and posting comments to stop Putin's aggression.

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    Facebook page, stop Putin's aggression. Amazing. That seems to fit so perfectly. Look at this. This is the Ukrainian politicians some time ago holding banners at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Corporation in Romania. 2008, Georgia, 2014, Ukraine. Who's next? Putin's stop. And it seems like no one can stop him. And that's part of the point.

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    Here's a bit more. Just to emphasize this sort of aspect of how Putin presents himself. Look at that cover of the New Statesman. Time to rearm. And you can see that the nations down here politically are being afraid of what's Russia up to? What's it doing? Do you notice where the arrows are going?

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    I mean, it kind of has to because they're up in the far north. But these arrows are coming right down into these countries that were part of the Soviet bloc and beyond. world. Well, that seems to fit amazingly with this prophecy. What about Israel? We're told, as a clue in Ezekiel 38, and we have to go with these clues, that Israel would be confident in itself.

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    Is that true? Is Israel confident in itself today? Well, a new study ranks Israel world's eighth most powerful country. Now, that's an incredible observation for a very, very teeny country in the world in the middle of all sorts of other Arab nations in the Middle East. It is the eighth most powerful country in the world.

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    Israel is among the world's most powerful countries according to a new study published by the U.S. News and World Report, ranking eight out of the 60 of the powerful category in the world. Look at this map. This is a map of wealth and prosperity in U.S. dollars from 2015, and it ranks all these various countries on a scale of color in terms of wealth, and clearly yellow is the wealthy countries.

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    You've got Australia and America and Canada and Europe and Scandinavia, and right in the middle is a little yellow Israel in the middle of a sea of green and blue. They're rich beyond belief for a country of that size. More to that, and this is going to be small, but I wanted to put the context up, but I'll read it to you.

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    You may not be able to read it from where you are, but look what this article says in Wikipedia about Israel itself. It says here, science and technology in Israel is one of the country's most highly developed industrialized sectors. The percentage of Israelis engaged in scientific and technological inquiry, and the amount spent on research and development in relation to gross domestic product is amongst the highest in the world for this little teeny country, Israel.

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    It also says here, despite its small population relative to other industrialized nations around the world, Israel has the highest number of scientists, technicians, and engineers per capita in the world, with 140 scientists, technicians, and engineers per 10,000 employees. In comparison, the same is 85 per 10,000 in the United States, and 83 per 10,000 in Japan.

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    That is an enormously disproportionate amount, and that shows you something of the richness and the prosperity that Israel has. You know, down here at the bottom, I come from South Australia, which is one of the states of South Australia. My head might be in the way, but just out of interest, Israel as a country fits into South Australia, the state of South Australia, 47 times.

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    Now, that's just the state of South Australia, and Israel is like a little toenail, the little sliver of a nation, and for such a small size friends, we are amazed to see the words of Ezekiel actually true, that in the latter days they would be prosperous, and that's against what everyone would have predicted.

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    They should be blasted off the map by now, but here they are as one of the most powerful and rich countries in the world, in the middle of huge opposition. Here's just another little chart to show you where the wealth is linked to in some degree. Improved reserves of natural gas in Israel.

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    Look what's happened since 2010 in the findings of major reserves, and that is a source of jealousy to other nations, including Russia, who prides itself. Now, I want to show you something, and hopefully this will work. We'll just take a couple minutes to watch a snippet of this. This is Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations Assembly, and if we're just looking at clues seven and eight about its confidence and its prosperity, you listen to the words of Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to the world at the United Nations, and if you know anything about the United Nations, the United Nations hates Israel for all intents and purposes.

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    Most of its bills and resolutions that it passes is against Israel. Well, just have a look at how confident and prosperous they think they are. Let's see if this works. I'm just going to play a couple minutes of this to impress you of where they think they are. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, what I'm about to say is going to shock you.

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    Can everyone hear that? Yes. Israel has a bright future at the UN. Now, I know that hearing that from me must surely come as a surprise because year after year, I've stood at this very podium and slammed the UN for its obsessive bias against Israel.

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    And the UN deserved every scathing word for the disgrace of the General Assembly that last year passed 20 resolutions against the Democratic State of Israel and a grand total of three resolutions against all the other countries on the planet. Israel 20, rest of the world 3.

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    And what about the joke called the UN Human Rights Council, which each year condemns Israel more than all the countries of the world combined?

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    As women are being systematically raped, murdered, sold into slavery across the world, which is the only country that the UN's commission on women chose to condemn this year? Yep. You guessed it. Israel. Israel. Israel where women fly fighter jets, lead major corporations, head universities, preside twice over the Supreme Court, and have served as Speaker of the Knesset and Prime Minister.

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    And this circus continues at UNESCO. UNESCO, the UN body charged with preserving world heritage. Now, this is hard to believe. But UNESCO just denied the 4,000-year connection between the Jewish people and its holiest site, the Temple Mount. That's just as absurd as denying the connection between the Great Wall of China and China.

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    Ladies and gentlemen, the UN become as a moral force. It's become a moral farce. So when it comes to Israel and the UN, you probably think, nothing will ever change, right? Well, think again.

92. 39:09

    You see, everything will change. And a lot sooner than you think. The change will happen in this home because back home, your governments are rapidly changing their attitudes towards Israel. And sooner or later, that's going to change the way you vote on Israel at the UN. More and more nations in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, more and more nations see Israel as a potent partner.

93. 39:49

    A partner in fighting the terrorism of today, a partner in developing the technology of tomorrow. Today, Israel has diplomatic relations with over 160 countries. That's nearly double the number that we had when I served here as Israel's ambassador some 30 years ago. And those ties are getting broader and deeper every day. world leaders increasingly appreciate that Israel is a powerful country with one of the best intelligence services on earth.

94. 40:31

    Because of our unmatched experience and proven capabilities in fighting terrorism, many of your governments seek our help in keeping your country safe. many also seek to benefit from Israel's ingenuity in agriculture, in health, in water, in cyber, and in the fusion of big data, connectivity, and artificial intelligence. That fusion that is changing our world in every way.

95. 41:03

    Well, I think the speech goes on, but that gives you an insight into where Israel thinks it's at. Some of that might be a little bit of bluff from a point of view, but it's clearly a nation that considers itself to be secure in one respect and also prosperous. And that's exactly the picture that we find in Ezekiel chapter 38 when Israel is invaded.

96. 41:28

    Now friends, what about the next clue? The clue number nine. I'm just going to skip that one and have a look at this. We're told that other national alliance that was there in verse 13 seems to have little power to intervene. Now, the Christadelphians think, based on trying to read the word of God and see what it says, that that other national alliance is very likely powers like the U.S.

97. 41:56

    and Britain. And what we're finding today is that there are countries that are feeling completely weak in the face of Russian political moves. Look at these political cartoons that say so much. That's back from Obama days. Here's the same sort of thing with Trump and also the issue to do with the athletes.

98. 42:16

    The U.S. army doesn't seem real sure it could stop a Russian invasion of Europe. Oh, that's interesting. Look at these ones too just to take it a step further. other ones depicting exactly the sense of what you find in Ezekiel 38, that there's nations watching what it's doing but can't do anything about it.

99. 42:37

    And this is on our news in our headlines today. Look at this one that I just found just the other day from Newsweek on the website. War with Russia would be suicide for the U.S., a Russian senator declares. That's what Russia said about U.S. and saying if there is any war it would be suicide for the U.S.

100. 42:59

     And reading that article shows you that the fear is definitely there and nations feeling they cannot stop Russia. Look at this recent news article as well. Ominous signs, now this is significant from the context of Ezekiel 38, ominous signs that the next war in the Middle East is coming and it won't be pretty.

101. 43:19

     Now, as Bible readers, friends, as Christen Alphians, we look at those news articles and we say there is something amazingly paralleled to what the warnings in Ezekiel 38 are telling us that will happen in the latter days before Christ comes. So by way of summary on those points, we see number one and number two and all of these clues that we've looked at seem to have a definite probable fulfillment in what we can see in the world around us with Russia and Putin and all of these are clues that Ezekiel is saying will happen just before Christ returns and there it is.

102. 43:59

     So the question is now what and why does the Bible then mention Russia and paint this picture? What does that tell us friends? What should we be left with? If these are the clues that are telling us Christ's return is near, why is that the case? Why does Ezekiel do this and why are we given this prophecy for our time?

103. 44:20

     Well, this is what 2 Peter 1 19 says. Moreover, we possess the prophetic word like Ezekiel and other prophecies as an altogether reliable thing. 2 Peter 1 19 And he says, you do well if you pay attention to this, as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns.

104. 44:50

     So, friends, this is our view of prophecy in the Bible, and we find it absolutely exciting, that these words of Ezekiel are telling us, like a light that's shining in the darkness for us, to show us the way, that we are really close to Jesus' return. It's like a light that's shining and showing us, despite the darkness and confusion around us.

105. 45:11

     And the message of the New Testament writer is saying, pay attention to these words that give you the signs that tell us that that day is coming. It's kind of like this for me, and this might seem odd at first, but I'm going to put this on the screen. This is when I lived at another location in South Australia, and it just made me think of why these prophecies are relevant to us.

106. 45:36

     That's a screenshot of the shipping sort of tracking. Most people might have gone through that before. You order something from online and you get a tracking and you can track it almost every day, and you click on it and say, where is it up to, somewhere in China, and you're like, come on, it needs to be going to the next airport.

107. 45:51

     Well, this was my new Mac laptop, and I was watching it as it was in shipment, and it had gone through Shanghai and Pudong International Airport, and it's one of those things you check every day because you want to see how close it is to delivery, right? And I was excited because it was a new laptop, but friends, why I show you that is because in a sense, Bible prophecy is our tracking of the return of Christ.

108. 46:18

     That's an analogy that we can use that shows us why prophecy is useful and important to us. And I would suggest to you, friends, and we would suggest to you, that what the Bible is doing is giving us updates all along as Christ's return gets closer and closer and we can see. We don't know the day or the hour, that Jesus will stand in the earth, but we can certainly see that it's getting closer and closer and closer.

109. 46:43

     And rather than checking for my laptop, I probably would have spent better time looking for the signs of Christ's return and realizing that I need to do something about it. So, friends, what we're saying this evening is that the Bible does give us clues that the return of Christ is near and we see it happening in our day.

110. 47:01

     And the message that the Christophians and indeed the Bible itself is leaving you with this afternoon, is if that is true and Christ is about to return, then you still have time to respond to the gospel message and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and follow him so that when he does come, which will be so soon, he will find you as one of his followers in truth.

111. 47:27

     God bless you and so, friends, we appeal to you tonight or this afternoon that we are more than happy to chat to you about the gospel and what Jesus has called us to and even more prophecies in scripture that show us that Jesus is really clear, even at the door. So we encourage you to look further into those things and we're more than happy to chat to you after tonight.

112. 47:47

     Thank you for listening. Thank you.