Many believe we are entering the end of the end times. With that some wonder what countries, if any, will have a role to play.

In recent years, Russia has been in the news from its brutal attack on Ukraine to more recent concerns about the possible release of a plague from one of its biological laboratories.

The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute located in Siberia was constructed under the old Soviet Union to create bio weapons. The lab continues to function with Russia claiming it is now focused on fighting plagues.

According to reports, a 28-year-old lab worker by the name of Darya Shipilova accidentally broke a test tube and caught what some believe was the pneumonic plague.

Pneumonic plague is a severe lung infection caused by the Yersinia bacteria and can be spread between people. A person can die within 24 hours without treatment.

Shipilova died within days of her hospitalization.

The Kremlin responded that there had been no accident at its facility.

As a result of this breach, five hospitals and 200 people were put in isolation. These actions suggest a serious breach at the facility.

I think the old saying “Don’t believe anything a politician says, until it has been officially denied” may be at play here.

Israel365 News is an orthodox Jewish site. Though they don’t accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, they believe a Messiah is soon coming.

As part of their end times theology, they believe that God will unleash plagues similar to what took place in Egypt in the Book of Exodus.

“In Egypt, the fifth plague was dever, a pestilence that swept through Pharaoh’s herds and left the empire’s wealth dead in the fields,” writes Adam Berkowitz in his article for Israel365 News. “Centuries later, the prophet Ezekiel used that same Hebrew word for the weapon God will unleash on Gog, the invader from the far north whom generations of Bible readers have identified with Russia.”

He was referring to one of the ten plagues mentioned in Exodus 9:3 and Ezekiel 38:22 which described a plague that God will unleash on Gog as part of God’s judgment on the nation.

Jesus also warned of apocalyptic plagues stating, “and there will be massive earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrible sights and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:11).

Notice how Jesus said that these plagues will show up in various places, meaning it will not all be concentrated in the Middle East.

But what is concerning is that there is evidence that our most recent world-wide plague from 2020 was man-made. Though, there were initial denials, it is now basically accepted that Covid escaped from a communist China laboratory in Wuhan. Some believe the laboratory had manipulated a bat virus enabling it to infect humans.

It seems that both Russia and even China have a role to play in end times events.

Perhaps the clearest reference to Russia’s role is found in Ezekiel which speaks of a nation called Gog that will play a role in Armageddon, the last end times battle against Israel.

One verse even provides the geographical location of Gog stating it is in the “remote parts of the north” (Ezekiel 38:15). The ASV describes Gog as being from the “uttermost parts of the north”.

The verse suggests that Gog is located in the farthest north that a country could be from Israel. From Israel’s perspective that is a region presently occupied by Russia.

Of course, it wasn’t named Russia 2,500 years ago when Ezekiel prophesied. It probably wasn’t even a country at that point, but rather a conglomeration of tribal divisions.

But Ezekiel, who received visions, was seeing how it would appear centuries in the future. If it was Russia, he had to find or make up words in Hebrew that would resemble what he was seeing or hearing in Russian.

“Ezekiel identifies the enemy as “Gog, of the land of Magog, nesi rosh Meshech v’Tuval” (Ezekiel 38:2), which some read as “the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” writes Berkowitz. “The 19th-century Hebrew scholar Wilhelm Gesenius linked Rosh to the Russian people and Meshech to Moscow.”

Daniel was another Jewish prophet who had visions of the end times. He also saw countries but described them using animals.

One country had the appearance of a bear that would devour many nations.

⁵ And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’ (Daniel 7:4 NASV)

The bear has long symbolized Russia and the old Soviet Union. We see it used during the 2008 Euros, when Russian supporters unfurled a massive flag emblazoned with a bear and the words “Forward, Russia” as a show of support for the Russian soccer team.

And keeping with the theme of animals, in the Book of Revelation a ‘dragon’ features prominently throughout the book. Dragons have long symbolised China. Of course, this is not a description of the people themselves, but rather an oppressive government.

But it leaves people wondering if these two nations will have a role to play in end times events?