Russia
[Map from the Perry Castenada Library, Courtesy The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin]
Russia is the largest country in the world, and prior to 1991 it was even larger. It was part of the Communist Soviet Union since 1917. "The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives."
The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period" (originally from the CIA's World Factbook).
I've always found it very interesting that Mikhail Gorbachev has quite a significant birth mark on his head. It looks like a deadly wound with blood dripping down toward his eye.
Let's take another look at Russia, and see what it's shaped like:
Russia is shaped like an enormous goat!
Perhaps the most obvious thing about the Russian goat is that it has a
man's face. Here's a closer look:
In the following satellite image the eye isn't so sharp, but we'll have a closer look later on:
The shape of the mouth even looks like that of a bellering goat. I believe our heavenly Father is showing us the goat nation of Esau, brother of Jacob. Esau is connected to goats back in Genesis 25:
21 And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it be so, why am I thus?" And she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 And the LORD said unto her, "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." 24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Esau was born hairy like a goat. That's what his name means. The word 'hairy' in verse 25 is the Hebrew word saar (Strong's Concordance #8181). It comes from the same root word as sair (#8163) which is translated 'devil, goat, hairy, kid, rough, and satyr' (a satyr is described as a demon that is part goat, part man). Sair occurs, for example, in Genesis 27:
6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying,
"Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7 'Bring me
venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the
LORD before my death.' 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that
which I command thee. 9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good
kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he
loveth:
Here we find some more goats associated with Esau. Sair occurs in verse 11.
10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that
he may bless thee before his death." 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother,
"Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12
My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and
I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing." 13 And his mother said unto
him, "Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them."
14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his
mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took goodly
raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them
upon Jacob her younger son: 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats
upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
Rebekah even dressed up Jacob so he would feel like a goat, like his brother Esau. In so doing, Jacob was blessed by his father Isaac, but Esau was not.
In a previous chapter (25:31) Esau despised his heritage by selling his birthright to Jacob. Esau also married two Hittite women, and polluted his lineage
(26:34). One of those women was named Aholibamah. She had a brother named Dishon (36:25), and his name means
'wild goat'. She also had two
great-uncles named Dishon and Dishan; more 'wild goats' (36:21,24).
So Esau is definitely involved with the goats, and we learn from Matthew 25 that the goats are on the left:
31 When the Son of man shall come in His glory,
and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His
glory: 32 And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep
on his right hand, but the goats
on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, 'Come, ye
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world: ...
Jesus also told us what will happen to those on the left
in verse 41:
41 Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand,
'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels:
The left is also the side of communism and socialism, and Russia was under that bondage for over 70 years. During that time they tried to drive God out of the land, so they were definitely acting like goats.
In the following portions of this study we'll focus on various parts of the Russian goat, and see what else we can learn.
[Part 2]
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