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This week we have seen Israel continuing to fight for their collective life with action continuing against threats from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the undermining US intelligence leak related to Israeli military plans, and most notably a direct Israeli attack on Iranian military infrastructure just yesterday. An incredible feat considering the distance, logistics and hostile neighbors to get around.
Unprecedented Israeli successes
Fear of war is announced from the front of many outlets, but the Bible is ahead of the news. Two things are clearly revealed to us in Scripture. First, Iran (or Persia as it was known when the territory was much larger) is to come into alliance with Russia and others and come against the mountains of Israel. Second, Israel will be there at the end to be redeemed by her Messiah and Saviour. Consider Ezekiel 38:1-5:“O Gog…I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:... Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet…”But as Ezekiel goes on to tell us in vs. 8, when Gog and Iran do come against Israel, it will be against the mountains that dwell SAFELY.
“…in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.And so in spite of the ever grinding cycle of hostilities coming from the nations that we would expect we wonder when we will see the peace described. How? Consider vs. 11:
"And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates."Quoting Nov. 7, 2007, these words remain true still today:
“Manipulate and stretch the words however you like--the plain sense of the passage does not describe the situation in Israel today. This is not just a lull in violence--it is "dwelling safely," and nothing less.”
“The words of Ezekiel require this situation to be in place at the time of Gog's invasion. The words are (Ezekiel 38:14),
"IN THAT DAY when my people of Israel dwelleth safely shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts..."
No, we just cannot escape the words of Ezekiel. Some form of peace--a "dwelling safely" must be in place when the northern power invades the Land.”We look for the makings of that peace. And perhaps the suffering, lonely Israel that is derided for everything that they do, while their people suffer horrific losses and continual bombardment, perhaps that Israel is coming out swinging to subdue their enemies for a time. The wars of David set the stage for the blessings of the peace of Solomon in times past.
“21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life…25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” (1Kings 4:21-25, AV)So we will also watch developments in the US election with great interest. Trump could be among those that see Israel’s enemies and help to isolate them, may just help to subdue them for a time. But it is possible that God might also use Harris in another way, yet unseen. We will watch with the Bible in mind. The thing that's interesting about Trump is how he wants to act harshly against supporters of terror and especially Hamas. I found an actual clip of him speaking because sometimes he is misquoted and taken out of context.
“When I am back in the oval office we will cut off every penny of money that we send to the Palestinians and the terrorists on day one. We will fully support Israel in defeating, dismantling and permanently destroying the terrorist group known as Hamas.”And he goes on...
“In addition we will aggressively deport resident aliens with jihadist sympathies, we have to. This isn’t like being Mr. nice guy. We have to or we’re gona have a country that’s going to be blown to shreds...”On that note, there's a man in Israeli politics who is gaining in popularity. Their polls go up and down, but at times he has been actually passing Netanyahu. That man is Naftali Bennet. He says something in a similar vein.
“First and foremost, before we talk about who replaces them, all Hamasnic terrorists are either dead or expelled to foreign countries. That’s what it means because if you still have Hamasnics, then you have not eradicated Hamas...”So Naftali Bennett defines eradicating Hamas as getting rid of all people who are Hamas. (Hamasniks are people that are part of Hamas.) So, in his mind they all need to be either dead or expelled. Now, such a policy with president Trump in power could be supported by Washington. It could also bring a kind of peace that many in the world would not be impressed with, but one that would be quite effective. But we also note the situation as described in Daniel 11:40:
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”America will clearly not be in a position of power as part of the king of the South that is overwhelmed in such a fantastic fashion as noted in this verse. And we can take note of the division and polarization across the nation, culturally and politically, besides financially.As we watch all these events unfold, we see the fingerprints of Him who foretold all for our benefit. Perhaps war lies before the peace, truly the nations are in turmoil, a raging sea, and so we must turn to His word for comfort and direction so that we might be found fit to stand before Him in the final triumph when the last battle has been won. Watch and pray, and Lord willing, tune in again next week for more evidence of the Bible in the News.