Showing posts with label Ezekiel 36. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ezekiel 36. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Joel C. Rosenberg - Are there really ancient prophecies in the Bible that promised the rebirth of Israel in the “last days”?

israel

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

Are there really ancient prophecies in the Bible that promised the rebirth of Israel in the “last days”? As modern Israel turns 69, let’s consider this question.

by joelcrosenberg
(Central Israel) -- Today marks 69 years since the dramatic rebirth of the modern State of Israel in May of 1948. Israelis are joyfully celebrating independence, security and growing prosperity, but not everyone is happy. Sadly, there are many people in this region and around the world who despise Israel and seek her isolation, demise, and even annihilation.
Rather than address any of these (very important) geopolitical issues today, however, I'd like to address a question many people ask me when I travel and speak around the world: Are there really ancient prophecies in the Bible that promised the rebirth of Israel in the last days?
There are.
The most famous of these, perhaps, are found in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 36 through 39. Here, the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, writing more than 2,500 years ago, describes in great detail, in chapter after chapter, how “in the last days” (Ezekiel 38:16) the Lord will remember the Jewish people, resurrect the “dry bones” of the Jewish people who seemed left for dead (Ezekiel 37:1-14), remember the land of Israel, bring the Jewish people back to the land, cause the land of Israel to flourish again, and help the Jewish people rebuild the ancient ruins of Israel.
The prophet also describes how the Lord would help the Jewish people survive and multiply and be blessed again in a resurrected land of Israel—which Ezekiel describes as “the center of the world” (Ezekiel 38:12)—even though their enemies would repeatedly seek to destroy them.
Consider a few excerpts from these important passages:
  • Ezekiel 36:8-10—“But you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown. I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt.”
  • Ezekiel 36:22-24—“It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name. . . . For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.”
  • Ezekiel 37:1, 11-14—“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. . . . Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, “Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.” Therefore prophesy and say to them, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,’ declares the Lord.”’”
  • Ezekiel 38:8, 12—“After many days you [Gog, a key enemy of Israel] will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. . . . the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.”
That said, Ezekiel was by no means the only Hebrew prophet who foretold Israel’s miraculous rebirth and the Jews’ return to the Holy Land after centuries of exile. Consider several other key passages of Scripture:
  • Isaiah 66:8-9—“‘Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be bornin one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?’ says the Lord. ‘Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?’ says your God.”
  • Jeremiah 16:14-15—“‘Therefore behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when it will no longer be said, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.” For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.’”
  • Jeremiah 31:3-9—“The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! Again you will take up your tambourines, and go forth to the dances of the merrymakers. Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the planters will plant and will enjoy them. For there will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim call out, “Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.” . . . Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, and I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; a great company, they will return here. With weeping they will come, and by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, on a straight path in which they will not stumble; for I am a father to Israel.’”
  • Amos 9:11-15—“‘In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by My name,’ declares the Lord who does this. ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; when the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved. Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; they will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,’ says the Lord your God.”
In the New Testament era, Jesus of Nazareth repeatedly reaffirmed the teachings of the Hebrew prophets. Indeed, he challenged people for not having read r understood or believed the Hebrew Scriptures.
  • Matthew 5:17—“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
  • Matthew 19:4 (NLT)—“‘Haven’t you read the Scriptures?’ Jesus replied.
  • Matthew 22:29 (NLT)—“Jesus replied, ‘Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.’”
By reaffirming the truth and the value of the Old Testament Scriptures, Jesus reaffirmed the truth and the value of God’s promises to resurrect the people and the land of Israel in the last days.
What’s more, Christ specifically spoke of the rebirth of Israel in Matthew 24:32-33. Now learn the parable from the fig tree,” he said. “When its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.”
What is the “parable from the fig tree” to which Jesus referred? The fig tree repeatedly symbolizes the nation of Israel throughout the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 24, for example, the Lord referred to the Jewish people as figs—some good, some bad—as he promised to bring them back from captivity to the Promised Land. Hosea 9:10 says, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.” In Micah 4, in a passage specifically about the last days and people coming to Jerusalem to visit the Lord’s Temple, Micah writes that when it comes to the Jewish people in the last days, “each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree.”
When Jesus spoke of the “parable from the fig tree” in Matthew’s Gospel, he was referencing these and similar passages. He was saying that when you see the State of Israel reborn, and Jews coming back to the Holy Land, and the land of Israel turning green and flourishing again—and when you see this happening in the context of all the other signs, all the other “birth pangs”—then you should know we are in a special and distinctive moment in history, a moment unlike any other. At that time, while we won’t know the day or hour of Christ’s return, the Lord Jesus told us to “recognize that He is near, right at the door” (Matthew 24:33).
The apostles certainly believed the ancient prophecies about the rebirth of Israel would one day come to pass. In Acts 1:6, they asked the Lord Jesus after his resurrection if he was now going to bring the prophetic promises to fulfillment, end the Roman occupation, and rebuild the kingdom of Israel. It is reasonable to believe they expected Israel to be reborn as a politically independent state at any moment.
“Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” they asked. Jesus did not say that theirs was a stupid question. He did not say those prophecies about Israel’s future rebirth were inaccurate or irrelevant or canceled by Jewish unfaithfulness to God, or that his followers were misinterpreting those passages. Rather, he said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority” (Acts 1:7). For Christ and his apostles, it was not a matter of if the Father would fulfill his promises to Israel and the Jewish people, but when. And since the Lord Jesus knew the promises would not be fulfilled for more than 1,900 years, he mercifully chose not to give the disciples any details, for it may well have discouraged them.
The apostle Paul also repeatedly affirmed the truth and value of all the Hebrew prophecies in the Scriptures. In so doing he reaffirmed the rebirth of Israel and the re-gathering of the Jews in the last days.
  • In 2 Timothy 3:16, for example, Paul writes, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching.” That certainly covers all the prophecies in the Old Testament, including those describing the future resurrection of Israel.
  • In Romans 9:3-4, Paul writes about his deep love for “my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites” and explains that to the children of Israel “belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises.” When he speaks of “the covenants,” Paul speaks of all the covenants. He does not exclude the Abrahamic covenant, in which the Lord unconditionally promised the land of Israel to the Jews, his chosen people according to Genesis 12 and 17, among other passages.
  • What’s more, when Paul speaks of “the promises,” he speaks of all God’s promises to the Jewish people. He does not exclude the promises of Ezekiel 36, 37, 38, or any of the other promises of resurrecting the nation of Israel or re-gathering the Jewish people to Israel.
Indeed, the most definitive and conclusive sign that we are living in the era the Bible calls the "last days" was the miraculous rebirth of the State of Israel in May 1948, the return of millions of Jews to the Holy Land after centuries of exile, the wars and rumors of wars that have engulfed the Jewish state for the last half century and more, the rebuilding of the ancient ruins in Israel, and the increasing international focus on the nation of Israel as the epicenter of the momentous events that are shaking our world and shaping our future. Some Bible scholars have described the rebirth of Israel as the “super sign,” and I agree.
Many people did not see the modern resurrection of the Jewish state coming. Many thought it would never happen and shouldn’t. For centuries, world leaders had cruelly scattered and persecuted the Jewish people and denied their right to return to their ancient homeland.
Sadly, even many church leaders throughout history came to believe in a pernicious doctrine called “replacement theology,” which denied the veracity and legitimacy of Bible prophecies that said Israel would be reborn in the last days. Such replacement theologians, and the pastors and laypeople who read and followed their conclusions, said God had rejected the Jewish people and would no longer honor the ancient covenants to give the Jewish people the heretofore “Promised Land.” Unfortunately, many people in the United States and around the world also vigorously opposed the creation of the modern State of Israel. Indeed, most of the Arab and Islamic world was willing to use any means necessary, including war, to strangle the reborn infant nation in her cradle, as they demonstrated time and time again.
Yet those who were watching events through the lens of Scripture knew Israel would one day be reborn. What’s more, those who believed the ancient biblical prophecies were true and valid often did much to assist the young nation of Israel.
One last major point: There is a critically important passage of Scripture we must consider in this context of the prophetic rebirth of the State of Israel and its implications for the future of the United States.
"Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3
Later in the Bible, these promises to Abram were passed down to his grandson Jacob, who was renamed Israel.
"Then his father Isaac said to him . . . 'Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.'” Genesis 27:26, 29
Still later in the Bible, the Lord again explicitly repeats these promises. “Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel. . . . Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him,” we are told in Numbers 24:1-2. Then the Lord spoke through Balaam:
"The oracle of him who hears the words of God. . . . How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! . . . Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you." "" Numbers 24:4-5, 9
The Bible’s message is clear: God promises to bless individuals and nations who bless the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and he promises to curse those who curse Jews and Israel.
The "whole counsel of Scripture" commands us to love and pray for and bless Israel's neighbors, as well. It's not either/or -- it's both/and. We are supposed to love and bless Israelis and Palestinians, as well as all the others in the Middle East. That said, there are specific directives to the Lord's people to love and show mercy to Israel and the Jewish people, and we ignore these at our peril.
The good news is that America has been Israel’s most faithful friend and ally for the past seven decades, since helping to bring about the prophetic rebirth of the Jewish state. We have blessed the Jewish people here at home and around the globe. And in so many ways, the Lord has, in fact, blessed the United States of America as a result. If we remain faithful allies of Israel and continue to bless the Jewish people in real and practical ways—while we increasingly turn our hearts back to the Lord, who made this promise in the first place—then I believe God will continue to bless America and help us recover from our many challenges and our many sins. God made this wonderful promise, and we can depend upon him to be true to his Word.
But let us make no mistake: if the United States stops blessing Israel and the Jewish people and either abandons them or begins actively working against them, then we will no longer be eligible for the blessings of God. Rather, we will face God’s curse. This is a fate no nation can long endure. Certainly not ours. Indeed, given all the other enormous and existential economic, fiscal, spiritual, and moral challenges we face, I have no doubt that America will most certainly implode if we stop actively and consistently blessing Israel and the Jewish people.
God will not be mocked. One way or another, America will reap what she sows.
[This article is adapted from a chapter of my 2012 book, Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?]
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joelcrosenberg | May 2, 2017 at 6:12 am | Categories: Epicenter | URL: http://wp.me/piWZ7-7DC

Monday, October 12, 2015

Israel makes massive discovery of oil in the Golan Heights. Is this a prelude to the “War of Gog & Magog”? - Joel Rosenberg

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

Israel makes massive discovery of oil in the Golan Heights. Is this a prelude to the “War of Gog & Magog”? Here’s the answer, Part Two.

by joelcrosenberg
The table of contents of "Epicenter," from 2006.
The table of contents of "Epicenter," from 2006.
(Central Israel) -- It has been a dramatic month here in Israel, and we're only eleven days in.
At the moment, we're experiencing a rash of violence, including a series of stabbings by Arab terrorists, Arab rioting in various cities, and other attacks against Jewish people. Last night, terrorists in Gaza also fired a series of rockets at southern Israel. Fortunately, the Iron Dome system shot down one of the rockets and no one was injured by the others.

The Prime Minister has deployed additional police and soldiers to increase security. He has also deployed additional Iron Dome batteries in the south. Please pray for a restoration of calm. We're not worried. Life is going on nearly as usual here. But life is never dull here, and we need the Lord to move mightily to restrain the forces of evil.
That said, two much bigger stories have also captured people's attention here in recent days.
  1. THE EMERGING RUSSIAN-IRANIAN MILITARY ALLIANCE ENTERS COMBAT. The first story I've already noted on this blog, but it's importance cannot be overstated. We are witnessing a stunning move by Russia and Iran as they send military forces into combat in Syria. For the first time, these two nations -- historic enemies -- are operating together in a military alliance, one that will have profound consequences for the security of the region, and one that poses a grave danger to the security of Israel.
  2. ISRAEL MAKES MASSIVE DISCOVERY OF OIL. The second big story I have noted on Twitter but not yet on this blog. Israel this past week announced the discovery of a massive oil patch in the Golan Heights, along the border of Syria, that could make the Jewish state energy independent for decades to come. I have previouslyreported Israel's discovery of massive amounts of natural gas off the Mediterranean coast. But while there has been speculation about the presence of oil in Israel, a major discovery has never been confirmed until now.
"Energy geologists estimate that billions of barrels of crude oil are available in shale in the occupied Golan Heights, but will Israel be able to get to it? If it can, the field could make the Jewish state self-sufficient in oil for years," explains a news report from NASDAQ. "Afek Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of the U.S. company Genie Energy had been drilling in the southern Golan Heights for more than a year, and in September announced the discovery of the shale deposit. But the size of the field wasn’t confirmed until Oct. 7.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 News, the company’s chief geologist,Yuval Bartov, said, 'We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick, and what is important is the thickness and the porosity....On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is 10 times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities. The important thing is to know the oil is in the rock and that’s what we now know.'"
Consider, too, these headlines:
Readers of my novels and my non-fiction books will recall that in the past I have suggested such events will happen one days, and could set into motion the fulfillment of the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 and 39, what Bible scholars call the "War of Gog and Magog." For example, in Epicenter, I predicted the following future headlines:
  • "FUTURE HEADLINE: Israel Discovers Massive Reserves of Oil, Gas"
  • "FUTURE HEADLINE: Treaties and Truces Leave Israelis More Secure Than Ever Before"
  • "FUTURE HEADLINE: A Czar Rises In Russia, Raising Fears of a New Cold War"
  • "FUTURE HEADLINE: Kremlin Joins 'Axis of Evil,' Forms Military Alliance With Iran"
  • "FUTURE HEADLINE: Moscow Extends Military Alliance To Include Arab, Islamic World"
Given that we are definitely seeing such headlines, is it possible that we are also going to see the "War of Gog & Magog" happen soon? As I stated in Part One of this series, it is too early to draw such a conclusion. More would have to happen to convince me the prophecies are definitively coming to pass in our lifetime. But given the trend lines, we cannot rule out the possibility that Ezekiel 38 & 39 will come true soon. It's certainly possible.
Therefore, let's continue to look carefully at what the text really says. Here, then, is Part Two of our study:
  1. In Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, he Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel describes the rise of an evil military/political/diplomatic leader (Gog) from the land of Magog (Russia) who will form a military coalition with Persia (Iran), Cush (Sudan), Put (Libya & Algeria), Gomer (Turkey), Beth Togarmah (Turkic-speaking nations in Central Asian) countries in “the last days” (Ezekiel 38:16). In the days of Ezekiel, of course, there was no Islam. Today, we know that most of the nations Ezekiel mentions are Muslim-majority countries. We know that Russia is about 20% Muslim. And we know that Russia's leaders are increasingly allied with Iran and other Islamic countries.
  2. The Bible explains very clearly that the target of this military coalition in the End Times will be Israel.
  3. Ezekiel 38:8 says “in the latter years, you [Gog and his coalition] will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations and they are living securely, all of them.”
  4. Ezekiel 38:16 says that the coalition “will come up against My people Israel” and that “it shall come about in the last days that I will bring you [Gog] against My land.”
  5. Ezekiel 39:2 says that Gog will come “from the remotest parts of the north…against the mountains of Israel.”
  6. Clearly, then, the main pre-requisite for this prophecy regarding the “War of Gog and Magog” to come true is that the State of Israel has to be prophetically reborn in the last days. Indeed, this is what the prophecies of Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37 describe in detail.
  7. The Lord showed Ezekiel that Jews would living in exile,  scattered throughout the world because of sin and disobedience to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ezekiel 36:16-21).
  8. But solely because of His grace and mercy, the Lord promised to regather the Jewish people to the land of Israel.
  9. The Lord promised that “I will cause men — My people Israel — to walk on you and possess you” (Ezekiel 36:12).
  10. The Lord said that the ancient ruins and the “waste places” in the land of Israel will be "rebuilt" by the Jewish people (Ezekiel 36:10). [See also Isaiah 61:4, "Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations."]
  11. The Lord said that the land and “mountains of Israel” at that time would “put forth [their] branches” and bear fruit for “My people Israel.” (Ezekiel 36:8) [See also Isaiah 27:6, "In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit."]
  12. The Lord also indicates through this Scriptures that a prerequisite for the War of Gog & Magog is that Israel will not only be rebuilt but will be thriving economically in the last days. Indeed, the prophecy notes that part of the motivation (or perceived motivation) of Gog and his forces is "to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world." (Ezekiel 38:12)
  13. Furthermore, the text notes that, "Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you [Gog], ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?'" (Ezekiel 38:13) Sheba is the ancient name for Arabia, which is currently known as Saudi Arabia. Dedan is the ancient name for the region of the Persian Gulf, what we currently call the "emirates" (such as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, etc). Tarshish is the ancient name for the "Gold Coast" of Spain. Thus, "the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages" is generally thought of as the business and political leaders of Europe and the West. All this to say that the prophecy indicates that the Saudis, the Gulf states, Europe and the Western powers are not in a coalition against Israel, but are become worried by this Russian-Iranian coalition against Israel because it seems designed to capture the enormous wealth of the Jewish people in the rebuilt and thriving Land of Israel.
  14. Could these ancient prophecies be alluding to the discovery of massive amounts of oil and natural gas in and around Israel? Perhaps. In my first novel series (includingThe Last Jihad, The Last Days, and The Ezekiel Option) that concerns how the War of Gog & Magog might be set into motion and come to pass, I created a fictional scenario in which Israel discovers massive amounts of oil and gas, adding to the tremendous wealth she has already developed and acquired through her high-tech sector, banking and financial sector, and other lucrative elements of her economy. At that time, this appeared to be pure fiction. But since The Last Jihad was published in November 2002, Israel has in fact discovered oil and gas and is steadily becoming a very wealthy economic power in the region. I described some of these developments in my first non-fiction book, Epicenter, in 2006, but more and more gas and oil discoveries have been made since then, up to an including this month.
  15. The Lord said, FIRST, the physical restoration of Israel and the Jewish return to the Land would be set into motion (Ezekiel 37:4-8)
  16. After the physical restoration of the State of Israel began, then SECOND, the spiritual restoration of the Jewish people would be set into motion (Ezekiel 37:9-14).
  17. Then, once Israel was reestablished as a State, and the Jewish people were being regathered to the Land, and the Lord was drawing the Jewish people back into a relationship with Him, and Israel was living securely in the Land (Ezekiel 38:8) with a degree of prosperity even (Ezekiel 38:12), then — and only then — would the Russian-Iranian coalition be set into motion to rob, kill and destroy Israel and the Jewish people.
  18. It should be noted that Ezekiel does not describe Israel having “peace.” Rather, twice Israel is described as “living securely” (Ezekiel 38:8 and 38:11).
  19. I recognize that these verses can be difficult for some Palestinian Arabs and some Israeli Arabs to read, whether they are born again Christians or nominal Christians (raised in churches but without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ). These passages concerning the rebirth of Israel in the "last days" are also especially difficult, frustrating -- even infuriating -- for Muslims to read. Yet the Bible clearly teaches that God will set into motion the rebirth of the geopolitical nation state of Israel in the End of Days. Further, the Bible indicates that Jews will be a sinful, unredeemed, worldly people when they are brought back into the Land. Only after they return, the Bible teaches, will the Holy Spirit be poured out upon the Jewish people in an increasingly significant way (Ezekiel 39:29 and Joel 2:28-32 — or Joel chapter 3 in Hebrew Bibles). At that point, a growing number of Jewish people will repent and return to God and discover a personal relationship with the Lord that will transform their lives and attitudes and behavior in a powerful, supernatural way. In the meantime, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 that there will be “wars and rumors of wars” and “revolutions” and “lawlessness” in the last days. Certainly, the rebirth of Israel — while prophetic and God-ordained — has come with wars, rumors of war, revolutions, sins, and even crimes committed by Arabs as well as some Jews. The Bible doesn’t teach this period of the last days will be easy, and the Bible is right.
  20. That said, we would be not be honest to the Word of God if we were to ignore, deny or try to explain away the plain meaning of these verses. The Bible told us well in advance that Israel would be reborn and the Jews would come back to the Land, and this has come to pass. Genesis 12:1-3 tells us that the Lord will bless those who bless the children of Abraham, and He will curse those who curse the children of Abraham. Those who have cursed Israel have, sadly, found themselves facing great pain and suffering. Sometimes Bible truths are difficult to accept, but they are true nonetheless and we must accept them by faith.
  21. That said, while the Bible clearly explains that the Lord will bring the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel and allow them to reclaim their God-given ownership of the Land, nowhere in the Bible are Jews (or any group of people) given a license to commit injustice. To the contrary, the Bible teaches that Israelis are commanded to love their neighbors (Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 19:19). The Bible also teaches that Israelis are commanded to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44). The Jews do have rights to the ownership of the Land, but they also have responsibilities to govern justly and compassionately, in accordance with the Scriptures. In Leviticus 19:33-34, for example, the Lord says: “When a stranger [non-Jew] resides with you in your land,  you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to  you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”
  22. Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ need to teach sound Bible doctrine regarding Israel and the Palestinians. We need to love both, bless both, pray for both. Moreover, we need to stand with and encourage our brothers and sisters in the Messiah, whether they are Jewish or Arab. The Bible gives us no freedom to ignore, deny, or oppose our brothers and sisters on either side. Rather, Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). We need to be pro-actively building relationships with Israelis and Palestinians and being ambassadors of Christ and agents of reconciliation whenever and wherever possible.
  23. We do not have to agree with everything that our brothers and sisters believe, especially if those beliefs are unscriptural. But we are commanded to love them unconditionally and sacrificially. After all, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
  24. Now, back to the prophecy and its analysis: It could be reasonably argued that Israel is more prosperous and is living more securely today than at any other time in its 67 years. The Israeli Defense Forces are widely considered the strongest and most effective ground fighting force in the Middle East. The Israeli Air Force is widely considered dominant in the skies. Israel has peace treaties with two major neighbors, Egypt and Jordan. Yasser Arafat is gone. Saddam Hussein is gone. Osama bin Laden is gone. Palestinian suicide bombings are not a daily part of Israeli life since 2004. Israel now has the very effective "Iron Dome" system to shoot down rockets fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza in the South or from Lebanon and Syria in the North. Meanwhile, Israel has submarines, ballistic missiles, and first-rate intelligence services in her defense. Israel has also enjoyed decades of a close strategic partnership with the United States (though this is fraying), has a strong and vibrant economy, and is widely believed to have defensive nuclear weapons, though the government maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the subject, neither confirming nor denying the existence of those weapons.
  25. Could Israel currently be secure enough to fulfill this prophetic prerequisite? Perhaps. Certainly this month Israelis feel somewhat on edge due to a rash of Arab stabbings, riots and other attacks. Perhaps events soon will lead Israelis to being and feeling even more secure. But there is no question that even with emerging new threats on the horizon, overall, Israelis feel more secure today than ever before its their modern State’s existence.
  26. Given the fact that the major End Times prophecies of Ezekiel 36 and 37 have largely come true in our lifetime, does this mean that we will see Ezekiel 38 and 39 come true in our lifetime as well? At the moment, I believe it is too soon to say so definitively. Certainly we are seeing geopolitical events unfold in recent decades and in recent years that are strikingly consistent with what the Bible describes as preparations essential for the “War of Gog and Magog.” The presence of Russian and Iranian military forces fighting in an alliance together in Syria -- just miles north of the mountains of Israel -- is a development we have never seen in the 2,500 years since this prophecy was written. So we should be ready. And we should be prepared — not caught off guard — if events accelerate in the near future. But we must also remember that the Lord in His sovereignty could also decide to delay events for quite some time for His own sovereign purposes.
  27. That said, it should be noted that when the Russian dictator finishes building his military coalition in Israel and begins to move his forces to surround Israel in the “last days,” Ezekiel gives us no indication that any country will come to Israel’s defense. There are no indications that the United Nations, or the European Union, or NATO will defend Israel. Nor is there any indication that the United States will defend Israel. Rather, Israel will be — and will feel — all alone in the world.
  28. Today, Israel is increasingly isolated from the international community. And U.S.-Israeli relations have become deeply strained during the Obama-Biden administration. God could change the heart of American leaders to once again become more pro-Israel. And/or a new President could come to office in 2017 or beyond that repairs the U.S.-Israeli alliance. But in the end, the Scriptures are clear that Israel will be abandoned by all nations. That would have to include the United States. How soon that will happen I cannot say. But we need to be aware that this will happen and not be surprised when it does.
Next, I will describe what the Bible tells us will happen to the forces of Gog and Magog.
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joelcrosenberg | October 11, 2015 at 11:49 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-3nq

Friday, October 9, 2015

“What is the War of Gog & Magog?" - Joel Rosenberg

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

With Russian & Iranian forces now engaged in combat in Syria, people are asking, “What is the War of Gog & Magog?” Here’s the answer, Part One.

by joelcrosenberg
Standing in front of the famed Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
Standing in front of the famed Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
(Istanbul, Turkey) -- With Russian and Iranian military forces now cooperating together and engaging in combat in Syria, just miles north of the border of Israel, people are asking me a lot of questions. Among them:
  • Is there any significance to these developments in light of Bible prophecy?
  • Do these events have anything to do with the prophecies found in Ezekiel 38 & 39?
  • Are recent events setting the stage for the fulfillment of what Bible scholars call the "War of Gog & Magog" that is supposed to take place in the End of Days?
Last Friday night, I addressed the topic of Apocalyptic Islam at a conference in Toronto, looking at how Shia and Sunni extremists see the prophetic trend lines in the Middle East. On Saturday evening, I then taught through Ezekiel 38 & 39, addressing these specific questions in light of Jewish and Christian eschatology. From there, I flew to Istanbul to meet with several Arab Christian leaders on a range of matters. But sure enough, these questions certainly came up.
The short answer is this:
  • It is simply too early to draw any conclusions regarding the Biblical significance of Russian and Iranian combat forces operating in an alliance in the Syrian theater, so close to the northern mountains of Israel. More would have to happen to convince me beyond the shadow of a doubt that these are prophetic events. And I urge Christians to be cautious and not jump to conclusions. Time will make things more clear.
  • That said, there is cause to believe these events could be preparatory for the commencement of the "War of Gog & Magog." We can't rule out the possibility that prophetic events have been set in motion.
  • Put another way: the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 & 39 could be decades off, or more. However, these recent events -- and numerous other regional trends -- do appear consistent with what would have to happen to set the stage for Ezekiel's prophecies to come to pass, and the Church needs to consider the possibility that such prophecies could unfold sooner than many people expect.
  • The central fact to remember first and foremost is this: The prophecies of Ezekiel 36 & 37 have already largely come true. That is, the geopolitical nation state of Israel has dramatically been reborn in our lifetime. Jewish people are returning to live and work in the Holy Land after centuries of exile. The Jews are rebuilding the ancient ruins and making the deserts bloom, just as the ancient prophets said they would. We are also seeing a growing number of Jewish people coming to faith in Jesus as Messiah, consistent with Ezekiel 37's prophecy that as the nation of Israel would be physical reborn in the last days, so too God would breathe His Holy Spirit into the Jewish people and more and more of them would be spiritually reborn in the last days, as well.
  • Therefore, given the fact that Ezekiel 36 & 37 have largely come true, we must ask ourselves: Isn't it remotely possible that the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 & 39 could soon come to pass, as well?
WHAT IS THE “WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG”? Part One
For the next several days, I will lay out a point-by-point analysis of the prophecies found in Ezekiel 38 & 39. It's too much to explain all at once. So we'll take it piece by piece.
Today, let's start by defining “Gog” and “Magog," when Bible indicates this prophecy will take place, and what countries will be participating in the coalition against Israel:
  1. The Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel lived in Babylon (Iraq) more than 2,500 years ago and the Lord gave him a vision of events that would take place in the future.
  2. Ezekiel 38:16 specifically tells us these events will take place in the “last days” — that is in the End Times before the Messiah comes to set up His kingdom on earth.
  3. Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37 set the stage for the “War of Gog and Magog” by describing that Israel will be reborn as a country in the last days, the Jewish people will come back to the Holy Land from exile all over the world, the Jewish people will rebuild the ancient ruins and make the deserts bloom again. These things have all happened, and this suggests we are getting closer to the fulfillment of the next set of prophecies.
  4. Ezekiel 38:2 tells us that the war will be led be someone known as “Gog.” This is not a personal name. We’re not looking for someone named David Gog. Or Ahmed Gog. Or Dmitri Gog. Rather, “Gog” is a title, like a “Pharoah” or a “Czar.” Through the prophecy, this Gog is described as a military leader, a political leader, and a coalition builder. In Ezekiel 38:10 he is described as developing an “evil plan,” we know this is an evil man, a tyrant.
  5. The Hebrew prophet gives us more clues. This “Gog” is going to be from the “land of Magog.” One has to do some historical detective work to determine what Magog is, but it is possible. Flavius Josephus, the first century Roman historian, wrote in his famous book, The Antiquities of the Jews, that the people of Magog are the people whom the Greeks called “Scythians.” This is a critical clue because we know from history that the Scythians were a people group that migrated from the Middle East northward and settled north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the region we know today as Russia and the former Soviet Republics.
  6. There are other interesting clues, as well. Ezekiel 38:15 says that Gog “will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north.” Ezekiel 39:2 says Gog will come “from the remotest parts of the north” and come “against the mountains of Israel.” The country that is farthest to the north in relation to Israel is Russia.
  7. Thus, we can determine that a Russian dictator will build a diplomatic and military coalition to surround and attack the State of Israel in the End Times.
  8. The question then is what other countries will be part of the coalition?
  9. In Ezekiel 38:5, we learn that the first ally Russia will have is “Persia.” Until 1935, of course, Persia was the legal name of the country we know today as Iran. So we know that Russia and Iran will build an alliance in the last days to attack Israel.
  10. Ezekiel tells us that another country in the alliance will be what many English Bible translate as “Ethiopia.” The Hebrew word, however, is “Cush” and Cush is the upper Nile region that we now know as Sudan. While the current state of Ethiopia may also be involved in the war, the focus is really Sudan, which today, of course, is a radical Islamic Sunni state closely allied with Iran and Russia and deeply anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
  11. Next, Ezekiel says a nation called “Put” will be part of the alliance. Josephus identifies “Put” as “ancient Lybios” — the territory that today we call Libya and Algeria. Interestingly, both countries today are deeply hostile to Israel and closely allied with Russia.
  12. The next country mentioned is “Gomer.” When one does the historical detective work, one learns that Gomer is what we now call Turkey. For much of the past 80 years, it didn’t make sense that Turkey would turn against Israel. Why? Because Turkey was a NATO ally, and a friend of Israel, the U.S. and the European Union. But in the last few years, the Turkish government has swung dramatically away from the West, towards Russia and Iran, and become deeply hostile towards the State of Israel.
  13. The next country Ezekiel mentions is “Beth Togarmah.” This is the Turkic-speaking peoples that spread out from Turkey across the Causasus, and across Central Asia. We can’t be certain precisely which modern nation states from this area will join the anti-Israel alliance, because these are almost all Muslim countries with close links to Russia and Iran.
  14. Interestingly, Egypt is not mentioned by Ezekiel as part of the Russian-Iranian alliance against Israel. This is interesting because Egypt has been such an historic enemy of Israel and the Jewish people. That said, perhaps Egypt’s non-involvement in the War of Gog and Magog could be explained by the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979. This treaty is now in danger of unraveling, but at least for the near term Egypt is still unlikely to be in a position to strategically threaten Israel.
  15. Iraq — whether under its biblical names of Babel, Babylon, Babylonia, Shinar, or Mesopotamia — isn’t mentioned in the prophecy either, yet it, too, is an historic enemy of Israel. Still, given the liberation of Iraq in 2003, the subsequent violence, and the rebuilding now going on, Iraq is not likely to be a threat to Israel in the near term.
  16. Syria and Lebanon are not mentioned by named in the prophecy either. However, Ezekiel tells us repeatedly that the main military force that will be coming against Israel will be coming from the north, which means they will be coming through Lebanon and Syria.
In my next posting, I’ll explain what this coalition does and how the “War of Gog and Magog” will unfold.
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joelcrosenberg | October 8, 2015 at 5:58 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-3nl