“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet,” Matthew 24:6.
Vladimir Putin has been spouting again!
Putin in chilling WW3 warning as he names the one thing that would trigger war with NATO
As one who is standing afar off and simply making the best judgment that common sense can arrive at, and considering this threat from the man whose army has suffered most severely at the hands of the much smaller neighbour, Ukraine, which he chose to unlawfully invade, I doubt if Putin’s Russia has the capability to tackle the armies of NATO!
A recent news report in the British daily newspaper, ‘The Express’, describes mass desertions by Russian troops, the shooting of officers who are trying to get them to attack Ukrainian formations, the very formations which have very successfully repelled such attacks, at a great cost to the attacking Russians.
Scepticism
One must read such reports with ‘a pinch of salt’ for propaganda in wartime is rife. However, I would be inclined to believe that there are substantial elements of truth in such reports. It is not the first time such accounts of trouble in ‘Russian ranks’ have been published by a number of news outlets.
Furthermore, surely even Putin is aware that attacks always bring responses! He ought to have learned that from his ‘expedition’ into Ukraine!
Again, back in the time of the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ — a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, American deployment of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by the Soviets placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. America demanded that such a deployment on its ‘doorstep’ be dismantled ‘or else’!
On 22 October, President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba.
The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.
An agreement was eventually reached between Kennedy and Khrushchev. The Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement not to invade Cuba again. The United States secretly agreed to dismantle all of the offensive weapons it had deployed to Turkey.
The blockade was formally ended on 20 November after all offensive missiles and bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba.
The compromise embarrassed Khrushchev and the Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey was a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, and the Soviets were seen as retreating from a situation that they had started.(See Cuban Missile Crisis – Wikipedia).
If anything, the USSR of 1962 was a militarily stronger nation than the diminished Russia of today. I doubted if there has been a total forgetting of that ‘forced backdown’ within the ranks of the Kremlin advisors!
No, we are not to be ‘troubled’ (troubled in mind, to be frightened, alarmed), even as the Saviour says and that is because, such a clash of titans as Putin is threatening, is not within the plan of God as it is revealed in Holy Scripture, to bring about the end of this age!
The end of this age, its timing, its exact circumstances are known only to God and not man. “But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD,” Zechariah 14:7. “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh,” Matthew 25:13.
However, while we have no ‘foreknowledge’ of that glorious event, we have abundant information regarding the circumstances that lead up the event. We are commanded to ‘watch’ for these events. Being commanded to ‘watch’ surely indicates that there will be events which we will be able to see and which accord with the information given us in Holy Scripture, otherwise it would be futile to ‘watch’!
Watching and considering end-time events carefully in the light of Holy Scripture is the Christian’s duty and, in so doing, he will not be caught unawares.
Paul’s exhortation
Paul’s exhortation is very, very applicable to us today!
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober,” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6.
By the Holy Scriptures, Daniel was able to know that the ending of the Babylonian exile and the return of the Jews to their land was about to happen.
“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem,” Daniel 9:1-2.
So we today may learn of the fulfilling of prophecy as did he, and “see the day approaching,” Hebrews 10:25.
That is why we ought to ever study systematically the prophetic Scriptures.
Close of this age
The closing events of this age will be staged within the borders of the old Roman Empire, the ‘prophetic earth’ as it is often termed. It will involve the ‘ten kingdoms’ of that territory that will emerge in the closing years of this age.
Russia and America do not feature amongst those kingdoms.
The actual return of Christ will ‘geographically’ take place on the top of the Mount of Olives, the place from which He ascended to Heaven about 2000 years ago.
“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east,” Zechariah 14:1-4.
From that time, Israel will become the centre of the world’s affairs as Christ sets up His throne in Jerusalem.
“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.
“Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD,” Zechariah 8:22.
That is the territory we should ever watch and observe! We need not be concerned about Russian or America or Ukraine, or any of places, near and far, which feature so regularly in the news.
Watch the events surrounding the two great cities of prophecy – JERUSALEM and BABYLON. That is where the final drama of the ages will be played out.
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird,” Revelation 18:1-2.
You may listen to, or download a copy of a message I preached in 1992 on the subject of The two Great Cities of the Bible, JERUSALEM & BABYLON.
Transcript and notes for this sermon:
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Tuesday 24th June 2025