Swaggering, bumptious Russian loud mouths

This article is spurred by the repeated and ridicules threats made by various Russian propagandists which have appeared on our news sites!

What they threaten is so defiant of God and His Word that I just had to respond.

I’m reminded of the wise word of a king of old. “Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off,” 1 Kings 20:11.

The Lord bless you richly,

Ivan Foster


SWAGGERING, BUMPTIOUS RUSSIAN LOUD MOUTHS

There have been many headlines on our news sites, of late, stating the ridiculous and arrogant claims by Russian political and media characters, whose names rarely mean anything to western readers. Their pronouncements are such that we are induced to use such truthful terminology regarding them!

They have urged the utter destruction of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland by means of the use of nuclear weapons, as the article below highlights.

“Russia’s chief propagandist urges Putin to ‘plunge Britain into the depths of the sea’ with underwater Poseidon nuke that would trigger a 1, 600ft radioactive TIDAL WAVE and wipe the UK off the map”

Such loud-mouthed oft-repeated calls as above draw attention to the insanity, endemic in the court of Communistic Tsarism!

Such stupid genocidal demands seem to forget that what is ‘sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander’! Such an attack (if indeed it is possible) would certainly bring retaliation most terrible upon Russia. As one somewhat wiser Russian commentator said, ‘Whatever else he may be, Putin is NOT suicidal.’ It would be suicide of a monumental scale to carry out such an attack.

However, we can never really depend ON how such men as Putin will respond to the utter contempt he has brought upon himself and his armed forces on the international stage by the drubbing they have received at the hands of the very much smaller Ukrainian armed forces!

In response to the unknown possibilities of what the madman in charge of Russia may do in the face of the daily humiliation he has encountered since his highhanded invasion of his much smaller neighbour, I turn to the Bible for enlightenment and comfort.

I can recall, half a century ago, a very well-known Baptist preacher telling a congregation of the information he had been given by a scientist/lecturer in Queens University, Belfast, how that there were nations who possessed bombs that if dropped on Ireland it would be no more!

Such a notion fitted in with the accepted idea of many as to how this age would end.

However, it was and is extremely wrong. Man will not bring this age to an end. It is the Lord Who will do that and it will not be by an atomic or nuclear bomb!

When Christ returns to this world it will not be to a nuclear wasteland! Yes, it will be a world wrecked by sin and apostasy but ‘physically’ intact.

Listen to these Holy Ghost inspired words of Peter.

“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men,” 2 Peter 3:7.

The words ‘kept in store, reserved’ indicate how that the Lord is ‘treasuring up’ and ‘watching over and keeping’ this earth until He deals with it in judgment in His time.

The time of that judgment is given us. It is ‘the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men’. That day is not the one spoken of in Revelation 19:11-21.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.  His eyes were as 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 The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, 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 unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

Glorious and apocalyptic as that day will be, it is not the day spoken of by Peter in the verse we have quoted above.

1. For a start, ungodly men will not all be judged and cast into perdition on the day of Christ’s return in glory.

The armies of Antichrist, the Antichrist and the False Prophet will indeed be cast into the Lake of Fire, and this is perdition. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone,” Revelation 19:20.

However, the rest of the ungodly in mankind will not so perish. Note the words of Zechariah. “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles,” Zechariah 14:16.

After His return the Saviour is established as earth’s King. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever,” Revelation 11:15. His kingdom thus established will last for 1000 years, at the end of which He will bring in the ‘the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men’. This is stated quite plainly in Revelation chapter 20.

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire,”verse 7-15.

When Christ returned in glory and great power there was the resurrection of the redeemed. This was the first resurrection. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection,” Revelation 20:5.

At the end of the 1000 year reign of Christ, there is the second resurrection, that of the ungodly. I repeat what I have already quoted. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death,” Revelation 20:12-14.

The Lord has wonderful plans for this earth which no Russian ’nutcase’ and his mindless underlings are going to spoil!

2. During the Millennial reign of Christ, the earth will enjoy wonderful times of restoration.

The Bible speaks specifically of the blessings the land of Israel will enjoy but they are blessings shared by the whole earth.

Physical restoration. “For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody,” Isaiah 51:3.

Isaiah goes on in chapter 61, verses 1-7, to expand upon the restoration Israel will enjoy at the Lord’s return.

“For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Moral restoration. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD,” Isaiah 2:2-5.

Spiritual restoration. This is wonderfully illustrated by the prophet Zechariah as he depicted the response that will be seen amongst the nations to the conversion of the Jews that will take place at the Saviour’s return. “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you,” Zechariah 8:23. The same prophet has given us a wonderful picture of the spiritual restoration of Israel at the return of Christ.

“In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness,” Zechariah 12:8-13:1.

These are God’s plans though I have given but a few references of His allusions to that glorious day. However, one word from the Lord more than offsets the haughty and daft mouthings of deluded braggarts in Moscow!

Take heed, take heart and rejoice Christian. The Lord is on the throne!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

May 2nd 2022