The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1301-J, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 12." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1980. All Rights Reserved.
Question
There’s a group of people today on the radio that are contending that
Daniel 7’s description and Ezekiel and various others all tie together with
today’s world powers, the Russian Bear and various others. And I’ve been
studying back through chapter 7 of Daniel, and I don’t see what they’re alluding
to. I can see they’re taking something out of context, because the last part of
chapter 7 explains the vision and it doesn’t fit with what they’re saying. And
I’m wondering why their taking this view at this time.
Answer
The answer to that is this. I feel that Russia does appear in
prophecy—territorial Russia, Gog and Magog, Rosh, the Prince of Meshech and
Tubal in Ezekiel 38. And Russia also appears, I believe, and we’re going to get
to that this Sunday night--the king of the North of Daniel chapter 11. And it
describes Russia invading Israel, which by the way, is not too far off. Do you
know what the big stress now, the big pressure in Russia is? They need a
Mediterranean port. The only ports that Russia has are ports on the east in the
Bering Sea which is frozen so much of the time. They would like a warm water
port; that’s one of the reasons they want the Persian Gulf so badly. They could
control 40% and above of the earth’s oil, and they would like to have a
Mediterranean port, so they’re looking at Israel. And I think that fits both
Ezekiel 38 and Daniel chapter 11; however, there is no indication at all that
Russian appears in any way shape or form in Daniel 7.
Now they also go so far as to say that America is in all of this; and they use the prophecy about the lions and the young lions, and they say the lion is Britain, the UK. You know, we all know that the symbol of the British kingdom has been a lion and so forth. And that we are the young lions or the whelps that the United States and all the various colonies, and so forth. And I’m asked frequently how I argue against that Biblically, and the answer is, you can’t argue against it because it isn’t there. The burden of proof is on them.
They do the same thing; for example, Charles Taylor came out with a book on Revelation 18 in which the whole book says that Revelation 18 describes the United States of America, and the vast economic system of the United States of America. The burden of proof is not on me to argue against that; the burden of proof is on them to prove that because it doesn’t say that. And they’ve got to be getting it in the white spaces because it isn’t in the words. So it’s very difficult. If you go to the 7th chapter of Daniel, it tells you; you have these four great world powers; it names who they are. You go right through from Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. I don’t see Russia there at all, and I certainly don’t see the United States in prophecy.
It’s been very interesting to me to see that the closer we get to the time of the return of the Lord, at least in the immanency of this hour, the more diminished America becomes in terms of a force in the world. In the first place, we’re too far away from the point of conflict, which is in the Middle East. I think the issue over there, as you find it in the book of Daniel—we’ll see it this Sunday night, is that the West, the coalition of the European states, the East, the great army of the East of 200 million and the North, Russia, all those parts of the puzzle fit. Because Russia’s greatest enemy in the world is not the United States, Russia’s greatest enemy in the world is Red China. And that whole thing will precipitate Armageddon.
But I just feel the burden of proof is on them, and I’ve thought a lot about
that since you mentioned it Sunday, and in trying to come up with a way to argue
against that, I’m at a loss, because there’s no way to prove that, to say that
the young lions are America, to say that the lion is Britain, you know, it could
be Ethiopia, because they took a lion as their motif. But I mean that’s not a
valid approach. But you have to be careful of that highly speculative approach;
a kind of a sensationalizing of Biblical prophecy. You have to be discerning.
Question (continued)
One last question, Do you see the United States as being a part of the sword
that is brought against Russia, to destroy Russia when they come against God’s
people?
Answer (continued)
Well, prophecy-wise, the United States doesn’t appear at all. All you have in
the theater of prophecy is this little country Israel in the middle, and what’s
north of it, east of it, south of it, and west of it, that’s it. I mean,
Argentina’s not there, Alaska’s not there, Hawaii’s not there, Australia’s not
there, you know, South Africa--just that little tiny area. Now it may well be
that the United States is involved in some kind of an alliance with the western
powers. That’s a very real possibility. If we’re to block Russia’s power, I can
see us making some kind of treaties and building a coalition with Western powers
in Europe, the reformed Roman Empire. But in terms of specificity, the United
States being involved, there’s no way that we can say that because the Scripture
just doesn’t give us that liberty.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986