When I first started to seriously look into Bible Prophecy, one thing I had to do a lot of, was to look at maps.  I will tell you right off the bat, that Geography is a subject that I truly either was so averse to in school that I practically blocked it out, or somehow in my schooling, I missed having much exposure to it, either way, I am very weak in that particular area of knowledge.  And so when my kids were little and learning all of that, I invested in a couple of good maps of the world and of the U.S. to hang on the wall.  But I still didn’t know much Middle East geography.  Do you know that in that funny way the Lord has of operating, I was crossing the alley behind my house, to go to my back-door neighbor’s one day, and found a pristine map of the Middle East folded and laying there on the grass like it was put there just for me?  It was like the Lord dropped it there.  I mean, it’s not that unusual in my neighborhood, for us to have to go around our yard picking up litter that other people dropped, but that was usually McDonald’s cups, soda cans, plastic bags, and the like.  Not a new fifteen dollar map.  Anyhoo, just an amusing  little backstory there.  It’s never too late to learn!

I came across a video this week that promoted the idea that the horses of Revelation correspond with the flag colors of the nations in the Gog/Magog alliance.  On the surface, I saw that there were some nations, maybe three, that have all four of those colors, who are definitely not in the alliance (Kenya, Western Sahara), and at first glance, nor did all of the nations expected to participate in the alliance actually contain all four of the colors (Turkey, Iran).  But when I dug further into the history of those nations, I did find those colors represented in previous versions of their flags.  So maybe there’s something to the theory!

Though some present-day parts of Russia are included in this alliance, Russia itself as the modern nation, doesn’t seem to me, to fit the profile of the nation likely to come against Israel in this battle.  However, Islamic peoples living in some parts of Russia, do seem to be included in the alliance by virtue of their ancestry. That actually makes some sense, as we are now seeing Muslims leave their homes in countries where they are a minority, to participate in war in other regions  such as Syria.

Russia has never attacked Israel, never been at war with Israel, and never directly threatened Israel. (Just coincidentally none of Russia’s flags were ever red, black, green and white either).  Turkey, on the other hand….

Turkey was a strategic partner (military/trade/security) with Israel up until recently, and really their only Muslim ally in the region. Then came Erdogan. First as Prime Minister, and the President as of 2014, Erdogan, wanting to be more of a power player in the region, used the Mavi Marmara incident to cool that relationship with Israel and move into a more “moderate” stance. This would serve to put Turkey in better standing with the U.S. and Europe, and also please Erdogan’s Muslim constituency. Turkey has every reason to be concerned about what happens in Syria, since they share a border.  All of those involved now in the Syria conflict have their own reasons for being there.

The more complex all of that becomes, the harder it is for us average Christian folks to follow the action.   So this really is not meant as a definitive statement in particular, but merely my own commentary an interesting observation about the color of the horses and if the flags representing the nations wherel the anti-Israel action seems to be centered.

So, here are the colors of the apocalyptic horses of Revelation:

• White Horse: Conquering and to Conquer
• Red Horse: Power to take peace from the Earth/Kill one another/great sword
• Black Horse: Famine
• Green/Pale Horse: Power over 1/4 part of the Earth, to kill with famine, sword, death, and the beasts of the field

O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal…. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, Gomer, and all his bands, Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and *many people with thee (* these are unspecified) -From Ezekiel 38: 3-6

If Gog is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, then if you notice in the map below of the areas where the descendants of Noah settled, Meshech was in the area we now call Turkey.  While Magog was a grandson of Noah, and his line went up into the area now part of Russia, between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.

Forget what these places are called now.  If you look at who settled these regions in the generations immediately after the flood, you will know which areas will be involved in the Gog/Magog battle.

Russia is only fourteen percent Muslim, however, a large majority of those that are Muslim, are in that same area between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, which is the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation.  So here is the verse in Genesis that gives us the names of those descendants of Noah.  Below that, is a map showing where they settled.  The next figure is a map of the same region, with ancient names as well as current names, that shows in green and darker green, the areas with Muslim majority.

Gen 10:1-3 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

• 

  Everything Green on this map is majority Muslim

Four horses, Red, White, Black and Green (pale is translated verdant or greenish). Now, look at the color of the flags of these nations.

 

Turkey’s flag is red and white only, but you will see a related flag further down the page that preserved the colors from the old Ottoman empire.  Yemen’s flag is Red White and Black, however, shown below is a previous version of the Yemen flag that included the green star:

The Caucasian Emirate is a self-proclaimed (unrecognized) Militant Islamic Emirate which seceded from Ichkeria, Chechnya.

 

This is the ancient Ottoman Flag which is still used by Western Thrace, the area of Northern Greece, just below Bulgaria, and across the river from Turkey.  Greece’s Muslim Minority descends from those Muslims who settled there under the Ottoman Empire.

So the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) flag is red and white, but this ancient Ottoman Flag is Green, black and white. Together they contain all of the four colors, and together they represent the old and new Ottoman Empire.

Below is the Iranian  (Persian) Flag represented with the Zorastrian Faravahar symbol, as Zorastrianism was the religion of ancient Persia.

 

Looks like if you go back in history, you do see some correlation between the representative colors of the flags of those regions which will be in the Gog/Magog war, and the colors of those horses of the Apocalypse!

Who knows, the other areas with the same four colors on their flag might even be some of those unspecified “other peoples with thee” mentioned in the passage!

Coincidental?  I don’t know, but clearly Islam is playing a major role and will continue to do so, up to the time they turn toward Israel to attack.  At that time, when God personally intervenes to preserve Israel, I believe Islam will cease to be the major force that they are now, and that they will be for a time leading up to the Gog/Magog war which I believe will be prior to the tribulation.  I think Damascus will be obliterated first.  Probably by Israel out of necessity.  Islam will not disappear altogether.  I think that radical Muslims will still play a role in the Antichrist’s global order, as enforcers, though I don’t think the Antichrist himself will be Muslim.  Unless he is a Muslim in the same way Obama is. (In name only in that “all things to all people” sort of way)  In other words, maybe part of his multi-cultural exposure and background.  It will all come out in the wash, as they say.