Christ, not communism, will ultimately rule the world, using biblical prophecy to explain Russia's future role. The passage analyzes Daniel chapter 2, highlighting the succession of world empires and noting Russia's absence as a distinct world empire, suggesting its ultimate defeat. Further examination of Ezekiel chapter 38 details a future invasion of Israel by Russia and its allies, which God will directly thwart with divine judgment. The sermon concludes by referencing Revelation chapter 19, emphasizing Christ's victorious return and reign, and urging listeners to embrace faith in Christ amidst global uncertainties.
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Little Willie asked me to teach this morning instead of preach, and that reminds me of the time I was in Honduras. One of my former students was there as a missionary. Brother Janet, one of the first remembrances I had with you was a student came up to you after class and said, Brother Janet, what's the difference between teaching and preaching? He said, I couldn't wait to hear you reply because I knew you didn't know the difference. All right, let's pray again. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the joy of the Lord in our hearts. Amen to thee, the nations of this.
As they go through the struggles there in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, that area of the world, Iran. Father, we commend to thee our presence, our leaders, the leaders of those nations, Russia, and ask for the sovereign Lord of all to do both and For these hours, in guiding our leaders, we get righteous and honorable before God. Guide us as we study the Word together. These days, minister to our hearts, we pray. Thank you. In these mornings together, we talk about Russia this morning, and then let's talk about Israel and talk about Egypt.
Very fascinating. subjects these days, so let's briefly go into the word and look at these areas today. The question this morning is, will Christ or communism rule the world? Russia is pounced at the door of Iran these days. I read in the press I think just yesterday on the way that the Chinese have a hundred thousand troops on the border of Vietnam and They stand ready. All right, in the end, who's going to win? And let's turn first to the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel, chapter two.
As we ask the question, will Christ or communism rule the world? Daniel two, verse thirty-eight. You remember this paragraph well. This is the dream. and we will tell its interpretation before the king. Remember, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and couldn't interpret it. Daniel is called to the scene to bring the interpretation, and this he does. Thou, O king, King Nebuchadnezzar, are the king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Verse thirty-eight. And wherever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the plows of the heavens, hath he given into thine hands, and hath made thee ruler of them all. Thou, Nebuchadnezzar, arched his head of gold. Of course we remember that great, great empire of King Nebuchadnezzar. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee. What kingdom was that? Medo-Persian. and another third kingdom of bronze which shall bear rule over all the earth. Historically, that was which kingdom? Greek, Greek, Alexandrian Empire, another world empire.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. And what was the fourth kingdom? Rome. Rome. That's history, so we know this was the case. Now verse forty-four. And in the days of these kings, and he's mentioned only four, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand hallowed forever. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Alexandrian Empire, Greece, Rome.
Number five, God's kingdom. All these are world empires. Five and only five. So as we ask the question, will Christ or communism rule the world? We already have our answers. Russia is not here, as they say in Swahili. Hallelujah. Right. It is a striking omission as the Holy Spirit gives direction through Daniel in interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream that there are only five world empires and Russia is not there.
That does not say that Russia won't reach out and do her best, does not say that there won't be brush fires all over the earth, as she won't quit doing, but it does say that Russia will never, never, never be a world empire. The prominence of Rome not Russia. Now the second chapter I want us to turn to is Ezekiel chapter thirty-eight, which specifically discusses Russia, as most of you know. Ezekiel thirty-eight.
The word of the Lord came unto me saying, says the prophet, Son of man sets thy face against God, apparently the leader, of the land of Magog, his land, the chief prince of Meshach and Tuba and prophesy against them. And if you have a new school field, you'll notice your margin there. The prince of Rosh, Russia, Meshach, Moscow, capital of European Russia, and Tuba, Tuba's the capital of Asiatic, Russia.
Verse three. And say, Thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I am against thee. Thank God. God's against Russia. And I'll talk about the Christians there. There's a great word of encouragement. I was in Miami just a couple of weeks ago in a missionary conference. And the folks who minister to the Russians by way of radio are greatly encouraged at the growth of the church behind the Iron Curtain. I'm against thee, O God, and again the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Duval. And I will turn thee back, God says. I'll put hooks into thy jaws. When I read this verse, I think of Khrushchev, who said he was going to bury us.
And I can see the hooks in Khrushchev's jaws. Oh. God says, I will put hooks into thy jaws. God is in control. And on this day with this news from the Middle East and the news farther east, God is still in control. I will bring thee forth, says God, all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. The inference being that our modern weapons may not be effective in that day. and they return to this kind of fighting.
Persia! What's modern Persia? Iran. Or the Ford with Russia. So the Vino surprises Russia crossing their border, right? Push and put, or as your margin says, Ethiopia and Libya there in North Africa, with them, all of them were shield and helmet, Gomer, Germany, all this horde, a house of Tsogarma, the area around Armenia, the north borders, all this horde, many peoples with thee.
It's no secret that Russia as many people do. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a garden to them. After many days, thou shalt be visited in the latter years. We're there, aren't we? Thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword. It is gathered out of many peoples, notice against the mountains of Israel. Russia and her hordes coming against the mountains of Israel, which have been always weak, 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 know all thy hordes and many peoples with you. 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. Can you imagine Russia thinking an evil thought? And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages, Palestine. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell faithfully, all of them dwelling without walls and having either bars nor gates.
to take a spoil and to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, and they're going back, aren't they, in unbelief today, but returning to the land. These who have gotten cattle and goods who dwell in the midst of the land, Sheba and Gidan, as we understand it, the Arabic peoples and all the merchants of Tarshish over there in Spain, with all its young lions. So say to thee, art thou come to take a spoil? Russia is never going to confess that, of course. Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
There must be something terribly significant about the land of Palestine for all the world to have its attention on that land. Dead sea with all its billions upon billions of dollars of minerals. And now a land beginning to blossom as a rose, eh? Well, tell me what happened when God, before God gets the rich. And who knows how much of that liquid gold is underneath there, eh? They know some of it's there. Therefore, and then let's not forget that it's the cradle of the earth. The way that land that joins Europe and Asia, and Africa.
A great story. Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto God the leader, Thou shalt have the Lord God. In that day when my people of Israel shall dwell safely, notice, shall thou not know it? Indeed they do. And thou shalt come from thy place out of what part? The north part. Russia and her horde. north of the land of Israel. Thou in many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army, and thou shalt come up against my people of Israel. Like a cloud to cover the land, it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land.
Notice, God says, I will bring thee Russia against my land. Notice the sovereign Lord is in control. And he says that the nations may know, Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O God, before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God, art thou he of whom I have spoken of old by my servant the prophet of Israel, who prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them, and shall come to pass at the same time when God shall come against the land of Israel. said the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
God's getting red in the face. The image right here is that God is saying, I've had it. I'm fed up. It's time for action to speak against such a wicked, atheistic, diabolical people. For in my jealousy, notice, and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel. So the fish of the sea, the clouds of the heavens, the beaks of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth shall shake at my presence. The Lord is dealing with Russia firsthand. And the mountain shall be thrown down, safe places shall fall, every wall shall fall to the ground, and I will call for a sword against him throughout all the mountains.
That's the Lord God. Every man's sword shall be against his brother. Notice they're fighting each other like the days of Midianite. And I will enter into judgment against him, says Jehovah, with pestilence, with blood. I'll reign upon him and upon his hordes, upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. But will I magnify myself and sanctify myself and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know what? That I and the Lord."
Chapter thirty-nine goes on to say, it takes seven months to bury the dead, and seven years to get rid of the rest. When will this take place? We ask. I'll see where I can see. Here's the cross. Here's the church age. This dispensation of the grace of God, as Paul called it, in Ephesians. Then that next event on God's calendar, thank God, the rapture, that any moment return of our Lord Jesus Christ, followed by seven years of awful, awful, unprecedented judgment upon the earth, the tribulation period of Revelation six to nineteen, Jacob's trouble, as Jeremiah calls it, that awful seven-year tribulation period on the earth, and then the repairing of our Lord Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of the Lord's terrain in that wonderful, millennial reign of Christ as Revelation speaks of it in chapter twenty.
The millennial reigns right. Where do we put this chapter, Ezekiel thirty-eight, into this picture? Bible students disagree a bit on it. Brother Willie can straighten you all out after I leave town. But my suggestion to you is this. That it happens here in the middle of a tribulation period. And my reason for saying that, first of all, is that Russia finds Israel at rest. Now, as you know, the earlier half of this seven-year tribulation period, the judgment is much lighter, much easier, according to the Book of Revelation, than the great tribulation of the last three and a half years of that period of judgment.
So, the fact that Israel, the land of Israel, is at rest, this place of unwalled cities and villages, suggests the earlier half of the tribulation period. Furthermore, you'll notice here, unlike other portions of Scripture, you do not have other nations gathered together here. You do not have, as we see elsewhere, China over here in the east, and the King of the South down here, Egypt coming up upon the land. You do not have the Antichrist over here and so on, Russia in the north coming down. You don't have that setting. that you have in Joel chapter two, when all the nations of the earth are gathered there against Palestine.
Here in Ezekiel chapter thirty-eight, only Jehovah. He comes down and does it himself. And like the days of Midian, as we suggested, he gets them fighting against each other. No record here in Ezekiel thirty-eight of other nations involved. So for those reasons, I suggest to you with others, that this probably is in the middle of the tribulation period, and in all probability true, that's the reason why the Antichrist breaks his covenant with the nation Israel here in the middle of that tribulation period. Put that together, and my own conclusion is, and the Lord can straighten me all out if it works out another way chronologically, at least the text is very, very clear to say, it's not going to deal with Russia's revenge.
It is fire. like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, hail stones, brimstone, that kind of thing, when God is red in the face, when God says, I'm going to deal with Russia and her company firsthand. All right, we have seen, first of all, the prominence of Rome in the prophetic picture, not Russia. Here we've seen in Ezekiel, thirty-eight and thirty-nine the destruction of Russia. And now turn to Revelation chapter nineteen. and we will see the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation chapter nineteen, and here the picture is right here.
Revelation nineteen, the second coming of Christ, here not for the church, but with the church as Christ comes as King of Kings. I read verse eleven of Revelation nineteen. And I saw heaven open. Behold a white horse. He that sat upon him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he just judged and made war. His eyes were like a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called what?
The word of God. And the armies that were in heaven followed him. upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And if you're a born-again Christian this morning, you're in that verse. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them. Notice, he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he credit the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his side a name written, what is it? King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God, that he may eat the flesh of kings.
This is the supper. The flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them. and the flesh of all men, both free and enslaved, both small and great. And I saw the beast, this is the Antichrist of the tribulation period, and the kings of the earth, their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And notice how it comes out. The beast was taken, with him the false prophets that wrought miracles before him, that second beast of Revelation. And with him he deceived them that received the mark of the beast, them that worshipped his image, these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
And the remnant were slain with a sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the powels were filled with their flesh. What's missing? not a word about Russia. What's happened during the tribulation period? In the first half of the tribulation period, Revelation chapter seventeen, the great harlot, the false church, in America we call it the ecumenical movement, the World Council of Churches, that movement across the world today, focused in the harlot, And so here, the first half of the tribulation period, the harlot, according to Revelation seventeen, is in league with the Antichrist, so the harlot is sitting upon the beach.
But in the middle of this period, you'll remember the harlot is destroyed. There's another reason why we suggest this is when Russia comes down. The Antichrist is scared silly, and so he breaks his covenant with Israel. And according to Revelation chapter thirteen, the Antichrist is the world's dictator in the last half of the tribulation period. The Antichrist, who comes out of the old Roman Empire, who comes out of that confederacy of Western Europe. We call it today the European Common Market, the revived Roman Empire, as prophetic scholars have called it for many, many years. So you have the Antichrist in part in the first half of the period with the false church.
He is the world dictator and insists that he's the only God in the second half of the period. And then the King of Kings and Lord of Lords descends. At this point, The nations of earth are gathered together. Joel chapter two. The Lord brings them together. And as they come there against Palestine, the king of kings and the Lord of lords descends. With the rest of his mouth, everything is lost. And Revelation nineteen says the only people the Lord has to deal with in a special way.
are the Antichrist and the false God. Not a word about Russia. Not a word about Russia, except she apparently is among the nations of the earth. Will you turn to Psalm Two with me? A great song for this morning. Psalm Two. Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us.
He who sitteth in the heaven shall watch from us. Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his great displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of them. That's the last chapter. As you suggested already, there it is. Brother Willie, we need a carcass here right now. And we need a great chorus. And we need to sing the hallelujah chorus. King of kings, Lord of lords.
King of kings, Lord of lords. And he shall reign how long? And ever. And ever. And ever. And ever. And ever. Whatever happens in the meantime, what will not happen is that Russia will be... the world empire. We thank God. Now that brings peace of mind to my heart. And here today, having heard the news at the breakfast table, I went to my knees, as you did, to ask God the sovereign Lord to keep his hands on everything over there.
We don't think we need a war with Russia right now, right? Over there in Iran? Secondly, May I suggest very strongly that the issue these days, my dear fellow Christian, is not anti-communism. The best way to handle communism is to preach Christ. The best way to deal with a communist is getting converted. And that's our task as believers make disciples of all nations, and that includes Russia, and that includes China, with her billion people now, just about one quarter of the Earth's population.
Our great role is to continue with a great path of world evangelization. And should someone be in our group this morning who does not know the Savior, you have just seen how it's all going to come out. And I suggest you better be on the Lord's side. He is going to become the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and He is going to put down all enemy. He is going to be the victor. If I were you this morning, I wouldn't let this day go by without coming to know the Savior first year.
The Lord could come today. He could come before we pray. The next event on God's calendar is a rapture. Look up, so as we see the attention in the Mid-East, more and more focusing upon Israel, on her land, her people. Look up. In the meantime, be steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.