The world around us certainly is a dark place and a scary uncertain place without the light of God’s word. The western world has largely turned away from the once Biblical basis of their societies. There is no longer any moral foundation to society. Having turned against their own roots, these nations are in a process of decline and self-destruction. Having no God to trust in and no rock to stand on in the crisis of Corona virus, societies have turned to government to look after them, these governments have demonstrated that they have no idea how to guide people through this crisis, but are unstable, driven by the wind and tossed about with every new variant.

In Ezekiel 38 when Russia and Europe are prophesied to invade the Middle East, the objectors, called Tarshish and her young lions — which we understand to be the latter-day trading nations, Great Britain, America, Canada, Australia, etc. are unable or unwilling to halt Gog’s progress. As we observe these nations today, from a Bible perspective, we can easily see how this will be the case.

The Corona virus continues to shape government policies and destabilize society. Its impact is so great that we now see a distinct line in the past which represents life before and after corona virus. This virus has weakened world economies and brought more totalitarian government every where. The image in Daniel chapter 2, is totalitarian in the iron parts of its feet. This iron is mixed with earthy clay. Daniel 2 emphasizes that the iron and clay do not mix. It is quite interesting then as we see protests across Europe against governments becoming more authoritarian. Daniel says of the image that, "the form thereof was terrible”, the ESV reads, "its appearance was frightening”. While we don’t enjoy seeing the emerging, terrifying, totalitarian image empire, it is a sure sign of the coming Kingdom of God.

 This image will stand in the latter days, to be broken by the stone power of the kingdom of God. It is broken to pieces together and so therefore must stand together. The image's origins are in Babylon, but its later-day form comes from the remnants of the Roman iron legs. Both the western leg of the Roman empire and the eastern leg. It is therefore always useful to take notice of the relations between the two legs of the image, The European Union in the west and Russia in the east. With this in mind it is therefore with great interest that we take note of Russia massing its troops on Ukraine’s border. The National Post in Canada reported, "Russian invasion likely at ‘the end of January,’ warns Ukraine defence minister” The article began, "Ukraine is ready to fight back against the more than 94,000 troops massed by Russia near its borders, said Oleksii Reznikov"

Turning to Iran, the newest round of nuclear talks are on the rocks, which to the sceptical were always expected to lack any real teeth. I am a sceptic of this diplomacy to deal with Iran. In Ezekiel 38, Iran or Persia is in alliance or with Gog — the invader of the land. So diplomacy or not, the reality is that Iran ultimately will still be the enemy of Israel and dream of exterminating it. Meanwhile the situation remains volatile, with  an ongoing low level war between Iran and Israel, involving proxies, espionage, cyber attacks and so forth. Just today there was an explosion at an Iranian nuclear facility the cause of which remains unclear.

In the East, there is the prospect of China invading Taiwan, which could easily lead to a world war. On November 24, “The Hill”, covering Congress, Politics and Capitol Hill, put forward the opinion that, "America must prepare for war with China over Taiwan”. On October 5, The U.S. Sun reported that, "CHINA has said war could be triggered "at any time" in a chilling warning to the West over rising tensions in Taiwan. Beijing launched into a tirade against the US and its allies after 56 Chinese warplanes crossed into Taiwan's air defence zone on Monday.”

Ezekiel 38 describes the returned, restored Jewish nation as being in state of peace and prosperity. It is therefore quite fascinating that amongst all the instability and prospects of war, the Abraham accords continue to progress. On Friday, Israel National News published an opinion piece saying that the "Abraham Accords momentum isn’t fading; it’s soaring”. The article goes on to say that, "Even under a Biden administration that has at times shown reluctance to perpetuate a Trumpian agenda, unprecedented agreements continue to be forged in this new era of economic prosperity, security cooperation and cultural exchange that we cannot ignore.”

The world is very unstable, with many prospects for war and uncertainty. Yet when viewed from the perspective of the “sure word of prophecy” everything is on course. Take heed then, to this light shining in a dark place because the great morning of righteousness will soon arise. Thanks for listening to Bible in the News at www.bibleinthenews.com — this has been David Billington with you.