The world does not understand the signs of Christ's return because it does not know about the 7000-year PLAN OF GOD. God has allotted approximately 6000 years for humanity to go its own way. These millenniums of human civilization are nearly over. God is about to intervene in world affairs by sending Jesus Christ. Not until He returns will we have 1000 years of peace. The pattern, for this little-understood plan is given in the first two chapters of Genesis. It is the WEEK of seven days. As God originally set time in motion, man is given six work days followed by a day of rest. In Hebrews 4:4, 11, the seventh day is mentioned as a type of the peaceful rest — 1000-year rest — that will follow the present age of human labor and futile struggle to master the earth. The millennium, then, is compared with a "day" of the week. Observe that after Christ's intervention the time of that peaceful rest under His rule is specifically termed "a thousand years" (Rev. 20:4). If the last "day" of God's 7000-year plan is 1000 years, then the preceding six days which He has allotted for mankind to work out his own ideas would amount to 6000 years. And this is exactly what world events are proving today! Look about you! It is obvious that this world is crashing to its DOOM! Now notice your Bible. Many Bibles are complete enough to contain chronological charts showing that human life was created around 4000 years before Christ. And almost another 2000 years have elapsed since — making nearly 6000 years of human civilization to date. In ocher words, the trend of world events is now proving we are very near the time the Scriptures have always said Christ will return — when the probability of world destruction would become a reality (Mat. 24:22). Six thousand years of human history have almost been completed. Here then is proof — double proof — that Christ is coming in our generation! The common assumption that man has lived on earth countless tens of thousands of years is an idle dream. Reason disproves it. Each new archeological discovery aids in disproving it. True SCIENCE disproves it! Strange as it may seem, the theory of man's evolution is not only unproved, but irrefutably disproved when we understand the facts. The apostles did not fully understand this PLAN OF GOD when Christ was yet on earth. They thought the kingdom would be established in their day — after only about 4000 years of God's plan had been completed. But before they died, the apostles knew God's plan. Peter said: "The Lord is not slack concerning the promise (of Christ's coming)... but is longsuffering" (II Peter 3:9). God is patient. He has refrained from intervening in world affairs for nearly 6000 years. Why? Because He will not intervene until humanity is forced to cry out to Him for fear of self-extermination. Recall that the day of Christ's intervention and rule is compared to "a thousand years" (Rev. 20:4). Peter also wrote the same thing — that a day in God's plan is as thousand years: and "a thousand years" of human civilization as ONE day in His planned week of SEVEN 1000-year days (II Peter 3:8). Peter knew that Christ would come at the close of 6000 years of human struggle and slavery — that God would send Jesus Christ to set up His government in the seventh thousand years, which will usher in a time of rest and peace — a sabbatical rest! How marvellous that in our day, at the very time that 6000 years have almost elapsed, the world is threatened with extinction of life. And Jesus Himself said that when we see this taking place HE WOULD COME AGAIN!
Does Ezekiel 38 and 39 Refer to Russia?
Nearly all Bible students believe that Ezekiel's amazing prophecy refers to Russia. Yet they totally misapply the time of its fulfillment. It is referring to an invasion of Palestine after Christ has restored His people Israel to Palestine. This has been amply proved in articles in The PLAIN TRUTH. But how can we prove that Russia is the leading nation in this prophecy? Notice that Gog comes "out of the north parts" — NORTH of PALESTINE! (Ezek. 38:15). Who is Gog and its allies? There is a basic KEY to understanding which nations in our day are mentioned in Bible prophecy. If we understand how to use this key, WE CAN KNOW IN ADVANCE EXACTLY WHAT THE NATIONS TODAY — Russia, Germany, Turkey, America and many others — WILL DO IN THE TIMES IMMEDIATELY AHEAD! This is vital to know in these end times. What is this key? The KEY is this: Modern nations are naturally descendants of peoples which existed in Bible times. Therefore, God used the names which they had THEN to foretell what they would do NOW! In more modern times the citizens of these nations have acquired other names. But such a small lapse of time has occurred between the bearing of their former names and their present ones that it is not difficult in most cases to pick up ancient history books and find what each nation's name — its BIBLE NAME — had been! By history we can trace these Bible-named nations right down to the place they occupy on the earth today. Thus, knowing a nation's BIBLE NAME and knowing the sureness of Gods prophecy, we can understand every important future move of the nations around us. We shall now see that God didn't intend us to guess about Russia's part in coming world events! Notice that it is Gog and Magog (Ezek. 38:2) which will come against the nation in which Christ's capital will be located (verse 16). Notice again that Gog and Magog come "out of the north parts" (verse 15) — where Russia is today. Can it be shown that Russia is the nation which will come out of the north to invade Palestine? "From the accounts found among the Arabians, Persians, and Syrians," we learn that these three nations used the names "Yajuj and Majuj" (note the similarity in the names Majuj and Magog) to refer to "all less known barbarous people of the Northwest and Northeast of Asia" — WHERE RUSSIA IS TODAY! From McClintock and Strong, article "Magog." Notice that Meshech and Tubal (verse 2) will be associated with them in this invasion. Can we prove these ancient tribes to be also the ancestors of the Russians of today? Remember, Russia has been formed by the association of a number of great tribes. Read what Professor Sayce says about Meshech and Tubal: "In the Assyrian inscriptions the names appear as Tubla and Muska, and they were known to the classical geographers (Greeks) as Tiberani and Moskhi." After the days of Nebuchadnezzar, the Greeks found them "further to the north than they had been in the age of the Assyrian monuments... they were forced to retreat northward towards the Black Sea, and it was in this region of Asia Minor that Xenophon and his Greek troups found their scanty remains." They had migrated NORTH into the land we know as RUSSIA today. (From The Races of the Old Testament.) Having CROSSED INTO THE PLAINS OF RUSSIA the people of Meshech, called Moskhi by the Greeks, became known as Muskovs. From this word "Muskov" the name of the modern city MOSKOW IS DERIVED. The descendants of Tubal gave their name to the Tobol River and the city of Tobolsk IN ASIATIC RUSSIA. Thus we have proved by these facts that the nations mentioned in this chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy are the Russians of TODAY! It will be atheistic Russia and her allies which will come against Palestine.