Role: Executive Director of The Pre-Trib Research Center |
Dr. Ice is Executive Director of The Pre-Trib Research Center. He founded The Center in 1994 with Dr. Tim LaHaye to research, teach, and defend the pre-tribulational rapture and related Bible prophecy doctrines.
Dr. Ice has co-authored about 30 books, written hundreds of articles, and is a frequent conference speaker. He has served as a pastor for 15 years. Dr. Ice has a B.A. from Howard Payne University, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. from Tyndale Theological Seminary, and is a Doctoral Candidate at The University of Wales in Church History. Dr. Ice lives in Justin, Texas with his wife Janice and is a member of the Chafer Theological Seminary faculty.
Now that the participants have been identified in verse 2, I now will look at what the Word of the Lord says about them. We have already seen in the first part of the verse that Ezekiel is told to set his face toward the direction of the coalition nations. Such a statement implies that they are a real, historical group of peoples. We learn at the end of verse 2 that Ezekiel is to "prophecy against him." The "him" refers back to Gog, the leader of the invasion.
As we look deeply at this prophecy we see that God will put hooks into the jaws of Gog, who is the prince of Rosh, which we have seen is a reference to modern day Russia. Thus, Gog appears to be a Russian individual who will lead the Russian nation and her allies in an attack on regathered Israel. This is the basic situation that we see today as we scan the geo-political landscape. The stage is already set for just such an attack.
As we continue to look at the description of the weapons and mode of transportation that will be used by Gog and his invading force, we must let the text tell us what it means. "A vivid picture is given of the actual attack of the Russian forces," declares William Hull. "Great tanks, mechanized troop carriers, huge guns and all the latest in war equipment move as a mighty wave across the land," he says. Hull concludes: "Ezekiel describes this as: All of them riding upon horses. Here again Bible students have been lead astray by placing the emphasis upon what they are to be mounted on, rather than the fact that they are to be mounted." ...
Verses five and six complete the allies that will attack Israel with their leader Gog. The identity of the first ally appears to be very clear since its ancient name is widely known down through history, even in our own day. Persia refers to the Persian people who make up a majority of the modern country of Iran. There is consensus among futurists that historic Persia clearly refers to modern Iran. "The name Persia, which was written all over the pages of ancient history, was changed to Iran in foreign usage in March 1935," notes Mark Hitchcock.
There is one final entity listed as among those going down to attack Israel with Gog. Beth-togarmah is the last nation listed...