We’re going to look now at some of the things happening in Israel and the Middle East relating to the Second Coming.
A number of verses in the scripture speak about a time of trouble which will centre on Israel and the Middle East before the return of Jesus the Messiah.
Jeremiah chapter 30 verse 3 says:
For behold, the days are Coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’” 4 Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah. 5 “For thus says the Lord: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labour with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labour, And all faces turned pale? 7 Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.
Jeremiah 30.3-7
The passage goes on and, at the end of chapter 30, it says:
24 … In the latter days you will consider it.
Jeremiah 30.24
Therefore, in the last days, you’re going to see a return of the Jews to the land of
Israel and also a time of trouble unlike any that has been before or ever shall be. And Israel will be saved out of this time of trouble.
In the Book of Ezekiel chapter 38 you have a passage which speaks about an army coming down against Israel from the North, involving countries at least three of which we can identify: Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Verse 1 says:
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.
Ezekiel 38.1-6
Don’t worry too much about the horses because he’s talking about an army coming and, in his day, he didn’t know much too much about tanks and missiles.
He’s speaking about what would be considered an army coming against Israel, coming from the North, led by a great power to the uttermost parts of the north which, if you know your geography, can work out as Russia, now present in Syria. Also, with an alliance with Iran or Persia and Togarmah which is, most likely, Turkey, with some other countries thrown in.
When this army comes against Israel, the Lord is going to intervene and save Israel from what should be certain destruction as this army comes against them and reveals Himself as the Lord to the people.
Also, by the scripture in the Book of Zechariah chapter 12 it says that Jerusalem is going to be the burdensome stone. Zechariah 12 says:
The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
Zechariah 12.1-3
In other words, something can happen which is going to bring Jerusalem into the frame of world attention again in the end times, when nations will come against Jerusalem to battle.
And those who come against it are going to come up against the Lord and find that it will lead to the Second Coming of Jesus. That is when, in Zechariah chapter 14, the Lord comes and stands on the Mount of Olives at a time when the nations are gathering against Jerusalem, puts an end to the war, and sets up the Messianic Kingdom.
12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: …
16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain.
Zechariah 14.12 & 16-17
A time when, as Psalm 102 says:
… the Lord shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory.
Psalm 102.16
Therefore, when you see certain things happening in the Middle East these, again, are a sign of the Second Coming of Jesus the Messiah, and, according to my understanding, these things are again in the process of coming to pass.
So, we’ll have a look now at some of the things taking place in the political realm in Israel, in the countries around about it, and see whether this is the case.
In the last edition of Light for the Last Days magazine which came out in April, I had a lead article entitled ‘Israel in the last days: war or peace’.
One month after publication, Israel was being bombarded with rockets fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
Around 4,500 missiles were fired from Gaza, most of them intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system with some falling inside Gaza, killing Palestinians and some getting through to their target and killing Israelis.
Israel responded with aerial attacks on Hamas launching sites, tunnels, and terror infrastructure.
Israel gave notice of these attacks, warning civilians to move out of the way before the attacks happened.
Nevertheless, Israel was widely condemned by the world which seemed to expect Israel to sit back and let itself be hit by terrorist missiles and make no response.
In addition to the missiles from Gaza, Israel faced the added danger of violent attacks on Israeli Jews incited by Hamas throughout the Muslim month of Ramadan.
Arabs began violent attacks on Jews which they filmed on social media. Palestinian extremists used the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to stockpile weapons and launch violent attacks with firebombs and rocks against Jewish worshippers and the Israeli police.
When the Israeli police did intervene, images of the police action on the Temple Mount were beamed around the world with the accusation that this was an attack by Israel on the third holiest Muslim place during Ramadan, which added to the condemnation of Israel.
This time also, there were a series of attacks on in mixed Jewish Arab towns like Lod, Haifa and Akko, causing deliberate burning of synagogues, homes, businesses, and cars.
The mayor of Lod, a town in central Israel compared the attacks to Kristallnacht which was the beginning of the Nazi programme of attacking the Jewish population in 1938 which set off the process towards the Holocaust.
As Israel faced world criticism, its Ambassador to the U.N. called Gilad Erdan asked delegates what they would do if missiles were fired at their capital cities: Moscow, Beijing, Paris or London. He said Hamas had built a huge network of terror tunnels inside Gaza underneath schools and homes, that it was hiding thousands of missiles ready to fire at Israel in the midst of its civilian population which it uses as human shields.
Hamas stated that its objective was the destruction of Israel, that Hamas’ Charter’s guiding principle says that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”
So, the charter actually calls for the obliteration and the end of Israel.
Much of the world appears to applaud this intention. There were demonstrations around the world following this, including cities in Europe and North America, calling for the end of Israel with the slogan “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free.”
That actually means the end of the Jewish state of Israel in the territory between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea.
Jewish friends of ours reported an alarming rise of anti-Semitic attacks at this time. There were appalling scenes of anti-Semitism in cities across Europe, including in our area of London where Jewish people were subject to violent calls for the “killing Jews and the raping of Jewish women”.
So too in the United States, there has been a growing anti-Israel movement as people. Particularly the youth turned to support the Palestinians during this time.
Hamas gave thanks to Iran for its role in helping develop its arsenal and the use of the missiles Iran has supplied Hezbollah in Lebanon with about 150,000 missiles aimed at Israel.
Fortunately, Lebanon did not get involved in the crisis because Lebanon itself, at the present time, is in a state of economic and social collapse.
It is possible that Iran could use the current crisis to take over Lebanon completely and then utilise it as a base from which to attack Israel.
Israel has warned Hezbollah and Lebanon that if it launches missiles at Israel, they will counterattack with immediate force and destroy all weapon sites in Lebanon which, they say, they know where they are.
That could bring devastation on Lebanon. Israel doesn’t want to do this because they would rather be friends with Lebanon.
In fact, Israel once had a peace treaty with Lebanon before Hezbollah came in and messed all that up. Israel today has offered to help Lebanon if it’s willing to change and make peace with Israel.
If they were to do so, it could actually do good for Lebanon because they could enter into the alliance of nations which includes: Israel, Egypt, Syria, and Greece which are exploiting the gas reserves in the Mediterranean off the coast of Israel and also go across the coast of Lebanon.
Therefore, there is a possibility of peace between Israel and Lebanon if they would accept Israel’s advances, although it is unlikely that they will do unfortunately.