Question: If Russia gets involved in the present Persian Gulf
situation, could this turn into Ezekiel 38? 

Answer: Yeah, it could. And the reason for that is this. Turn to
Ecclesiastes chapter 1. The reason for this thing is, a thing
will repeat itself. And very often, what you see is a type of
something that's going to take place later, and then repeats
itself again. Here's the principle: Ecclesiastes chapter 1. 

And there's something else. If you've got a Scofield Bible, you
may have noticed in your Scofield notes in Daniel, that when he
gets along into that stuff about "the king of the north" and "the
king of the south"--remember that stuff over there in Daniel 10
and 11?--what he's talking about there and applying that,
Scofield's talking about the kingdoms of the Ptolemies and the
Seleucids. And the Ptolemies are down in Egypt, and the Seleucids
are in Syria. So, according to Scofield, the "king of the north"
is right there--and this one right here. So the bands that come
out of the north, can come out of there. They don't have to come
out of Russia. 

All right, Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verse 9: "The thing that hath
been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that
which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."
All right, two things: The thing that's been in the past, is
what's going to go on in the future. That is, the lesson of
history is, if you don't learn the lesson of history, you're
condemned to repeat it. And that which is done--going on right
now--is that which shall be done--the future, "and there is no
new thing under the sun." That is, things repeat themselves. 

Now, I'll give you an example of this. Here's Nebuchadnezzar
coming up against Jerusalem. He comes up three times. And he
comes up once in 606 and takes a bunch of them off to captivity.
Then he comes up again in about 596 and takes some more off. Then
he comes up about 589 and takes the final bunch off. Now that
thing there is Jehoiakim going to captivity, Jehoiachin going to
captivity, and Zedekiah going to captivity--three times that bird
comes in! 

Now, Jerusalem is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 589; that's B.C.
It's destroyed again in 70 A.D. by Titus. And it will be
destroyed pretty soon by the Antichrist--off in here. Three
times. So, when you're talking about the destruction of
Jerusalem, you find it once at the end of 2 Kings. You find it
again at the end of 2 Chronicles. And you find it again at the
end of Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 52. 

Three times. 

Past, present, future. 

That thing in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 could take place in the
middle of the Tribulation, at the end of the Tribulation, and at
the end of the Millennium. Three shots. It could go three times.