The Middle East: The Biblical Background (prophetic eschatology)

What I wanted do today is to, first of all, give you a bit of biblical background on some of the prophecies which have taken place. Some of this will be fairly basic information.

So, if you come here regularly, you’ll have heard it before.

Then, we’ll look at what’s happening at the present time and, at the end, we’ll go back to some other passages from the prophecies and ask the question:

Where is all this going ultimately?

It’s going towards the Second Coming of Jesus of course. And, as we believe in the Bible, we do believe that what happens in the Middle East is significant.

It is significant because of these four reasons:

• Israel was the scene of the Bible history, of both the Old and the New Testaments. Most of the story is played out in and around the land of Israel.
• Secondly, the history of Israel is pre-recorded in prophecy, and prophecies are being fulfilled today: the restoration and the recovery of Israel as a nation as well as Israel’s victories in wars so far, including the war of independence in 1948, the 1967 6-day war, the 1973 Yom Kippur war. If you look at the background to those wars, one has to say that, in each one of them there was some kind of supernatural event which took place which enabled Israel to have the victory. Which at the same time tells us that God is involved in this situation
• Thirdly, the scene of the last days events is going to take place there, in the Middle East, in Israel. And the last war which will happen before the return of Jesus Christ will be fought over the status of Jerusalem and over Israel and the Middle East.
• Finally, the location of the Second Coming will be in Jerusalem, not in London, not in Moscow, not in any other city in the world but in Jerusalem. And Jesus will rule according to the scripture in Zechariah and other scriptures from Jerusalem during the time we call the Millennium or the Messianic Age.

Therefore, for these four reasons, you can say that what happens in Israel is significant.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean we’re not concerned about all the other sufferings and wars in the world, in Sudan, in Congo, in other parts of the world. We are concerned that people are sufferings in Afghanistan because of the Taliban rule and all of the terrible events taking place. They’re all on the heart of God and we’re all concerned about them. But, when we come to this one about the Middle East, it has a special significance because of its fulfilment of biblical prophecy.

We’ll look at one of two prophecies which relate to it now. Firstly, the prophecy which Jesus made before his death and resurrection and where he said in Luke 21 and verse 20:

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. ²² For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. ²³ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. ²⁴ And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:20-24

This is Jesus’ prophecy of the coming destruction of the temple in AD70 and of the dispersion of the Jewish people into the nations, and the fact that Jerusalem was going to be ruled or ‘trampled by Gentiles’ for a long period of time, all of which has happened.

But just the last part of verse 24 says Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The times of the Gentiles being fulfilled is actually the final event before the of the return of Jesus but, in the buildup to that, you’re going to see things happening which are relating to Jerusalem which also will imply that there will be a return of the Jewish people not just to the land of Israel but also to the city of Jerusalem.

Has anybody seen that happening in the last few years? Absolutely, this will be be coupled with events taking place in the world which are events of great distress and lead up to the Second Coming of Jesus.

Verse 25, carrying on from the previous scripture says,

²⁵ “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; ²⁶ men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:25-28

So, Jesus goes on to say there’s a connection between what’s happening there, in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel and a general state of distress in the world. He says it’s going to be like the distress of nations with perplexity.

I’ve said before but, ‘with perplexity’ is translated from the Greek aporia ἀπορία which means there’ll be a crisis with no way out. And looking at the world today, you have a number of crises which have no way out which are coming on the world.

Politicians are trying to solve them but we know that, in reality, they have little or no chance of actually solving the big problems which are facing the human race because they are prophesied in the Bible and they are the result of sin and rebellion.

The human race, unless we repent and believe the Gospel, is going away from God and therefore remains under the power of Satan, and Satan is driving the world in this direction, towards a time of Great Tribulation which the Jesus says will happen before His Second Coming.

He says,

when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.

Therefore, if you’re a Christian, when you see these things happening in the world, you shouldn’t get into a state of fear and panic because you know that Jesus is coming. And, if you’re a Christian, He’s coming for you, coming to take you to be with Himself and to give you a glorious and a wonderful future, praise the Lord!

Carrying on then,

²⁹ Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. ³⁰ When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. ³¹ So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. ³² Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. Luke 21:29-33

Till all things take place. Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will by no means pass away. The sign of the Fig Tree, the parable of the Fig Tree. The Fig Tree could mean that, when you see all these things happening which Jesus is speaking about, then, that’s a sign that He’s coming again soon.

But when you see that process being reversed, when you see the Jewish people back in the land, back in a nation, then you’re seeing the fulfilment of the Fig Tree blossoming again and you know that this is a sign that Jesus is coming.

I’m going to go through this fairly quickly because, probably, some of you know this; most of you know this already. But, just to remind you, this fulfils a lot of prophecies in the Old Testament which speak about a worldwide restoration of the Jewish people.

Having been scattered, they will be returned to the land. Not just coming back from one direction of the compass, from Babylon, as happened in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah but now coming back from all nations as in Isaiah 43:5 which says,

⁵ Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth— Isaiah 43:5-6

They are going to see a process of bringing Jewish people back from the four directions: north, south, east, and west back to the land of Israel. That is a sign of the Second Coming of Jesus.

Jeremiah chapter 31 is a sign to the nations:

¹⁰ “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’ Jeremiah 31:10

So, if you’re in one of the nations and in the isles afar off, as you are, because this is an island which is afar off from the words of the prophets, you should pay attention to this. God has scattered Israel literally, and some people say He has gathered the church. Well, that doesn’t make much sense in terms of the prophecy. Here, the scattering was a literal scattering of Israel. therefore, the gathering will also be literal, with Israel going back into the land in the last days assigned to the nations. And He will also keep them as a Shepherd does his flock.

Now the scripture in Ezekiel chapter 36 tells you that the regathering of Israel will be in two stages. First it’ll be physical, then spiritual. Ezekiel 36:24 says,

²⁴ For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:24-28

There’s a process there if you can see it. First of all, God gathers them out of the countries and brings them into their own land. They’re born of the flesh if you like. Then He sprinkles clean water and they are born of the Spirit, they’re cleansed from their filthiness and from their idols.

This implies that, in the first stage of the regathering, Israel will still be in a state of rebellion against God and not be in a right relationship with God. So, there will be something wrong with Israel which God wants to correct. I’ll say a bit more about that later on.

Finally, God will put his Spirit within them and He will causing them to dwell in the land which I gave to their fathers to dwell in. Their fathers are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and God is going to cleanse Israel and bring them back to the land, and, ultimately, when the Messiah comes, He is going to cause them to live in the land in peace and safety.

First of all, there’s going to be a time of trouble. Jeremiah 30:4 says,

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 labor,
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 30:4-7

If you look at this in context, that’s said after the prophet talks about a restoration to the land which God gave to the fathers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he says following that, that there’s going to be this time of trouble unlike any that has been before or will be again like is said in Matthew 24. Jesus also spoke about a time of trouble at the end of days unlike any that has been before or will be again, a time of the Great Tribulation which will lead up to His Second Coming.

³ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:3-14

And He also says that, out of this time of trouble which will be painful, Israel will be saved.

Jeremiah also says ‘he [Israel] shall be saved out of it‘ Jeremiah 30:7. And, in the next few verses (we are going on to verse 10) it says,

For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your seed from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet,
And no one shall make him afraid.
¹¹ For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you;
Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,
Yet I will not make a complete end of you.
But I will correct you in justice,
And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’ Jeremiah 30:10-11

There is a corrective process which is going on. In this time trouble, God’s trying to correct something that Israel has got wrong and to bring them into a right relationship with Him.

If you look at the mainstream of Israel, both in the diaspora and in the land of Israel, there’s one major issue which Israel has got wrong. That’s the identity of the Messiah. Some are religious some are not religious but, whether they’re secular or orthodox, you’ll find that the Jewish people who, unless they’re Messianic Jews, agree that the Messiah is not Jesus / Yeshua.

God says Messiah is Yeshua and Yeshua is the One who is going to come back again. So, part of this process which is taking place in the last days is to bring Israel to recognize that actually Yeshua / Jesus is the Messiah who has come already and is coming again. That is a very important point there.

Okay, I’m going through this quickly because I want to say a bit about what’s actually happening now.

According to the prophecies, the central point of the trouble in the last days is going to be the status of Jerusalem. Zechariah 12 says,

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 12:2-3

In other words, something’s going to be happening about the status of the city of Jerusalem: who does it belong to? Does it belong to Israel, to Palestine? Should it be divided between the two? Should the UN take it over? Who should rule Jerusalem?

And it says that this is going to be a issue not just for the people in the land and the surrounding lands, but even for the whole world. So, all the nations of the earth are going to have something to say about it.

Look at the agenda of the UN they’ve got more resolutions on the status of Jerusalem and Allied issues than any other issue in the world.

The UN equals ‘all nations of the world’.

Going on in Zechariah 12, he says,

¹⁰ “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. Zechariah 12:10

Who is the One who has been pierced? Who is the One they’re looking to? Who is the only Son? Yeshua!

So, somehow, out of this time of crisis, they’re going to be looking to someone who’s going to save them who is Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. That’s going to be the correction which God is going to make to bring Israel to Salvation.

And this concludes with Zechariah 14 where we read,

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
² For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

³ Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
⁴ And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east. Zechariah 14:1-4

In other words, there’s going to be a gathering of the nations against Jerusalem. There will be a temporary fall of Jerusalem and then, the Lord will come in power to fight against those nations which are coming against Jerusalem.

This passage, I think, in Zechariah, is the same one as that describing Armageddon in Revelation chapter 16 through to 19 and speaks about the Messiah Himself coming at the height of a battle over the status of Jerusalem.

¹² Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. ¹³ And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵ “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

¹⁶ And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. Revelation 16:12-16

Zechariah goes on to say,

⁹ And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The Lord is one,”
And His name one. Zechariah 14:9

This means that there will be the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom following the return of the Messiah during this a battle over Jerusalem.

Now, if you think about that, from God’s point of view and from Satan’s point of view, can you see why Jerusalem and the situation in the Middle East is such a big deal?

Because it’s leading up to the event which is going to climax this history, this time in history which is the Second Coming of Jesus.

There are a few things which are going to happen first. There is one quite difficult and enigmatic scripture in the Book of Daniel which says in chapter 9 verse 27,

²⁷ Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9:27

It says “he”, and I take that to be not God or the Messiah, but “he” meaning the Anti-Messiah who comes at the end of days or the Antichrist.

In other words, at some point in this process, one will come and will make some kind of a peace agreement with Israel which will be for one week (meaning a 7-year period) which will be broken halfway through and will lead to the consummation which is the end of the age and the Second Coming of the Messiah.

Something we can watch out for in the coming days is some kind of a peace agreement, some kind of a peace settlement which will be a false peace and won’t bring real peace. Also, sometime in the end times, there is going to be the event which we know as the war of Gog and Magog in which a great power to the uttermost parts of the north, led by Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal comes with allies from Persia, from Ethiopia, Libya and other countries to attack Israel.

If you want to take a very literal approach to this scripture, it’s most likely speaking of Russia, though some say it speaks of Turkey and its allies with, certainly, Persia and other countries which come against Israel in the last days.

Ezekiel 38 verse 7 says,

⁷ “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. ⁸ After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. ⁹ You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” Ezekiel 38:7-9

It goes on to describe this battle as they come and make a plan against the land of Israel and plan to take plunder. Other nations speak against them and God intervenes to destroy this army as it comes down on the mountains of Israel.

This takes place in the latter days, after the people have been gathered back from the nations. Certainly nothing like Ezekiel 38 has ever happened in history. So it speaks about the latter days.

Most people assume it is something which is yet to come. Many rabbis today are saying that, actually, this is what is what begun on October the 7th 2023, that we’re on the way, that this is part of the the process which is leading to the war of Gog and Magog. It could be, it’s not necessarily the case right now, but, certainly, this is something which is going to happen sometime in the latter days.

One of the interesting things which we’ll look at in a moment is that the prophecy speaks about Israel being in some kind of a security situation, dwelling safely which, again, doesn’t seem quite like what’s happening at the present time. And all of this leads up, ultimately, to the war of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus.

Okay! So, that’s a very brief run through I hope you managed to get something of the picture from that.