An excerpt from Israel in Crisis: Her Future Wars and Final Peace
Why are people looking for multiple wars before the Rapture and before the Tribulation? Phillip Goodman, in The Psalm 83 Prophecy, sees the underlying assumptions by others that bring an incorrect future speculation about Israel’s wars being fulfilled before the Rapture and Tribulation. He looks into details about the Gog and Magog war and compares and contrasts it with Psalm 83.
Goodman notes the reasons speculators have suggested the Psalm 83 war precludes the Russian Invasion of Israel. Let us answer each objection with biblical clarity.
1. The nations listed in Psalm 83 are not named among the nations in the Magog invasion (Ezek. 38:1-7). Therefore, they cannot be part of that event and must represent another event.
These researchers propose that Psalm 83 mentions the inner ring of nations around Israel (Palestinians and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Arabs of the Sinai area, Arabs of the Gaza strip, and Iraq) while the Magog Invasion includes an outer ring of nations (Russia, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Turkey, Gomer [probably Turkey] and they are joined by “many peoples” (Ezek. 39:1-5). So, they are looking for a war that involves the inner ring of nations.
Yet, since the invading nations of the Magog Invasion are all Muslim nations except Russia, it stands to reason that the “many peoples” could include the other nearby inner ring of Muslim nations with the outer ring. So, logically, all these nations could be involved in the Magog invasion. The text does not mention them but includes “many peoples” so it is not possible to be definitive.
In the War of Armageddon, the inner nations are also mentioned in many Bible passages. Joel 3 mentions Tyre (South Lebanon), Sidon (Lebanon), Philistia (Gaza), Egypt, and Edom (Jordan). Isaiah 11 mentions Philistia, Edom, Moab (Jordan), Ammon (Jordan), Egypt, and Assyria (Syria, Iraq). And Zechariah 14 mentions the inner ring of “surrounding nations” and Egypt. Thus, Armageddon will include the inner nations and other nations of the world. Consequently, this is a better answer for the Psalm 83 war.
2. A prerequisite for the Magog invasion is that Israel must be “dwelling securely” in the land. Because of the danger of Israel’s surrounding nations, they must attack and defeat them to dwell securely.
This view presupposes that Israel is dwelling unsecured. Israel was in constant danger in her diaspora, and her people were persecuted and killed during most of the last two thousand years. However, after the infamous Holocaust, Israel gained their own homeland and built a land of unwalled villages where the people can dwell in relative security, so Israel views itself today as “dwelling securely.”
3. As a result of this Psalm 83 conquest of the entire Middle East (the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq), Israel will capture and secure boundaries for themselves across the entire Arab lands promised to Israel by God in Genesis 15:18-21. This would include all the lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. Some researchers believe they must capture the entire Middle East before the Rapture and before the Magog invasion.
When is the timing for the capture of the Psalm 83 nations? Here, Philip Goodman brings a solid biblical answer.
In Isaiah 11:11-15, Israel “swoops down” and captures the Psalm 83 nations. The passage says that this occurs when the Jews return a “second time” to the land of Israel. Is this second return the one of 1948? If so, Israel could conquer the Middle East nations at any time, as the Psalm 83 theory proposes. But this passage is actually describing events when Jesus returns at the end of the Great Tribulation.
Another solid Bible scholar, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, has informed us in his Israelology:
The regathering spoken of in this passage is the one in faith in preparation for the Millennial Kingdom. This regathering in faith is specifically stated to be a second international regathering. The first regathering is the one which will be in preparation for judgment (1948 to the Tribulation), the second regathering will be in preparation for blessing
Goodman then sees the timing of Psalm 83 and Isaiah 11 happening together: “Therefore, the events of Isaiah 11, including the conquest of the Psalm 83 nations, take place at the time of the Second Coming of Christ in preparation for the Millennial Kingdom.”
With this telling insight into the theory of pre-Rapture wars, it is obvious that the pre-Rapture interpreters such as Salus, Rosenberg, and others are looking for an almost complete takeover of the entire Middle East by Israel. They believe Israel must conquer these nations to bring the Magog invasion and to cause Russia and her cohorts to want to come to Israel to take a spoil. These commentators see this as an attempt by Russia and her allies to get the oil-rich land from Israel.
Yet, it is clear that Israel will not possess the greater Middle East until after the Tribulation period. Although she was promised the land as part of Abraham’s promise from God in Genesis 15 and the Land Covenant amplified this promise to Israel, she will not possess the entire land until the time of the Millennium.
In Footsteps of the Messiah, Dr. Fruchtenbaum again gives great insight: “Following the regeneration of Israel at the Second Coming of Christ, God will fully carry out the Abrahamic Covenant concerning the land. …For the first time in Israel’s history, she will possess all the Promised Land.”
As a result, we can see the primary reason for speculation about wars mentioned in the Bible is to deal with details of the Magog invasion and the supposition that Israel will possess all the land of the Middle East, possibly before the Rapture.
Yet, we have seen conclusively that these suppositions have been answered and that there is no war mentioned in the Bible to occur before the Rapture. And Israel will not possess their Promised Land until after the return of Christ at Armageddon.
There is no event mentioned in the Bible as a prerequisite to the Rapture, or as an earlier requirement for the Rapture to happen, because it is an imminent event. The Rapture could happen at any moment.
While future Middle East wars with Israel may occur, the biblical wars have either already been fulfilled in history (Jer. 49; Ezek. 32) or they will be fulfilled in the Tribulation period (Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 will occur with Armageddon.)
And because of the confusion about the timing of events such as when Israel possesses their land, there is sometimes confusion about their related events such as the individual judgments of the nations. Yet, when we see these events in their biblical chronology, we can be assured about the timing of other events such as the timing of military conflicts.
Thus, there are only four future wars for Israel and the Earth mentioned in the Bible: the Magog invasion of Israel (Ezek. 38-39; the World War I of the Tribulation beginning with the second Seal Judgment of Revelation 6:3-4; the middle Tribulation War in Daniel 11 (World War II of the Tribulation); and the Campaign of Armageddon in Revelation 19 (World War III of the Tribulation).
All other wars and conflicts mentioned in the Bible have already been fulfilled in history or will be folded into and occur with these other conflicts.
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