There are many prophecies about global and regional wars which will occur on the earth in the latter days. This blog is not intended to detail them. You can find them described in Daniel 11, Ezekiel 38, Joel 2, Revelation 16 and 19, etc. This blog is intended to remind us all that when these wars break out, all nations fighting these wars will assume “normal weather” and “climate conditions” will exist as they go to war. The volcano that has just erupted spectacularly in Iceland is an illustration how a weather or climate event can radically and unexpectedly alter the abilities of combatants to wage war. The nations have forgotten the Creator’s ability to intervene in any and all wars to influence or control their outcomes, and biblical prophecies assure us that the Creator God who inspired the Holy Bible is going to intervene directly in the latter days in a massive way.
The first link below details how dramatically just one volcano has altered the ability of airplanes to fly in a broad swath of Europe. One report I saw indicated that air travel has been shut down or hindered in twelve European nations. The second link shows the path of the ash cloud and how it is spreading across Europe and even into Russia. The last link below adds that military air operations have been shut down in the UK and that military flights to Iraq and Afghanistan can’t take their regular flight paths. Weather and climate events can radically alter the course of a war. The unexpected lull in bad weather (seen by the Allies but not seen by the Axis) over Normandy allowed D-Day to succeed in 1944.
When the Gog-Magog alliance goes to war against the nations of the Western world and their allies, they will do so assuming the earth will remain a neutral and constant “playing field” upon which they can wage war. However, God will intervene at some point in that war and radically alter the “playing field” on the earth. Ezekiel 38:22 prophesies that God will impede and kill Gog-Magog’s invading armies with overflowing rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone. The earth itself will make war against Gog-Magog’s armies. “Fire and brimstone” could be Divinely-sent fire or it could be God triggering volcanoes in certain areas where entire armies could be swallowed up with ash pouring out of volcanoes (much like the ancient city of Pompeii was buried quickly). How else might God alter the earth itself to change how wars are fought at the end of this age? Prepare to think outside the box.
We need to realize that the Creator God can do anything. This earth is his created terrarium and the very molecules of everything in/on the earth will rearrange themselves to implement the Creator’s will if he gives the order. Matthew 3:9 relates that God could change stones and rocks into people if he wishes to do so. When God was angered by a rebellion against Moses in the wilderness, he sent a sudden earthquake which swallowed up and killed the rebels (Numbers 16). Many are familiar with the fact that God opened the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to cross it while holding back the Egyptians with a cloud pillar which manifested itself visibly in the atmosphere (Exodus 14). Consider also a prophecy which all of us tend to “read over” and not realize what it could mean. Revelation 12 has alternate explanations about who the “woman” is who flees into a wilderness [Does this symbolize the Israelites, the Church, those believers “left behind”?]. Revelation 12:15-16 prophesies that the serpent (Satan and his forces) will pursue whoever is symbolized by the “woman” who is fleeing, and it states that “the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the flood which the dragon [had sent].”
Based on other New Testament usages of the Greek word which is here translated “earth,” it can mean the land of the earth, the entire globe or various other applications. When God uses the “earth” to help the fleeing “woman” in the latter days, he can use and transform any part of this “earth” that he wishes to use. The language in Revelation 12:16 implies that the earth itself will open up and swallow a flood of water or a flood of troops which is pursuing the “woman.” That would be consistent with what happened in Exodus 14. However, God can use any part of this earth (the ground, rocks, trees, etc.) to wage war against the forces of evil when these prophecies are fulfilled. This allows even for the possibility that some of the scenes in the Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia movies [where trees “came alive” and waged wars against enemy armies] might actually find some fulfillment when Revelation 12:16 is fulfilled. Mind you, I’m not foretelling that such a thing will occur. I’m trying to make us “think outside the box” and realize that nothing is impossible for the Creator God who made this earth and everything on it. When God commands the very “earth” itself to go to war against the forces of evil at the end of our age (Revelation 12:16), God can energize any part of this earth to join that war against the forces of evil. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were both devout Christians and biblical imageries in their fictional novels are easily evident to many. Maybe Revelation 12:15-16 inspired some of their fictional imagery as parts of the earth (trees and river waters) made war against enemy armies. My last thought on this subject for you to consider is that God is quite capable of doing things far more awesome than anything Tolkien or Lewis could have imagined when God decides it is time for the earth itself to “go to war.” That day will be a wonder to behold!
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-04-15-volcano-disrupts-europe-travel_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/map-ash-plume-iceland.htm
http://www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/160410.php
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/15/u-s-airlines-cancel-some-europe-flights/
