Jerusalem
(March 19, 2009) In February of 2008 I wrote an article titled: (Why is Israel in the world news every day?) For more than 1800 years there was no nation of Israel. In 1948 the modern state of Israel was born. Ever since then Israel has consistently been in the news. The reason for this is because God declares in His word, “1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it…9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:1-3,9-10) In the last days Jerusalem will be at the center of God’s End-Times plans. This would have been unthinkable over the last eighteen centuries but in 2009 it is clear that this prophecy can be fulfilled. It has been a year since I wrote that article but Israel is still front and center on the world stage.
The global edition of the New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, has an article titled: (Is a global rebranding what Israel needs?) The premise of the article is that Israel is under constant criticism from the world for its actions over the decades and Benjamin Netanyahu’s election as the new Prime Minister will only exacerbate the situation. The article states, “Israel, whose founding idea was branded as racism by the United Nations General Assembly in 1975 and which faced an Arab boycott for decades, is no stranger to isolation. But since its Gaza war, and as it prepares to inaugurate a hawkish right-wing government, it is facing its worst diplomatic crisis in two decades.” It goes on to give some examples of international discontent with Israel, “Its sports teams have met hostility and violent protests in Sweden, Spain and Turkey. Mauritania has closed the Israeli Embassy. Relations with Turkey, an important Muslim ally, have suffered severely. A group of top international judges and human rights investigators recently called for an investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza. ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ drew participants in 54 cities around the world this month, twice the number of last year, according to its organizers. And even in the American Jewish community, albeit in its liberal wing, there is a chill.” The world is already predisposed to fault Israel for the troubles in the Middle East.
Rupert Murdoch, maybe the most powerful media mogul in the world, spoke to the American Jewish Committee about the current status of Israel in the world (I am not Jewish but…). The Jerusalem Post article gives a few examples of the problems that Israel faces: “MOST FUNDAMENTALLY, we see a growing assault on both the legitimacy and security of the State of Israel. This assault comes from people who make clear they have no intention of ever living side-by-side in peace with a Jewish state – no matter how many concessions Israel might make. The reason for this is also clear: These are men who cannot abide the idea of freedom, tolerance and democracy. They hate Israel for the same reasons they hate us.” He goes on to say, “THE FIRST HANDICAP is military. It’s true that Israel’s conventional superiority means it could flatten Gaza if it wanted. But the Israel Defense Forces – unlike Hamas – are accountable to a democratically chosen government. No matter which party is in the majority, every Israeli government knows it will be held accountable by its people and by the world for the lives that are lost because of its decisions. That’s true for lives of innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire. And it’s also true for the Israeli soldiers who may lose their lives defending their people. In this kind of war, Hamas does not need to defeat Israel militarily to win a big victory. In fact, Hamas knows that in some ways, dead Palestinians serve its purposes even better than dead Israelis.” The last point Murdoch makes is, “THE SECOND HANDICAP for Israel is the global media war. For Hamas, the images of Palestinian suffering – of people losing their homes, of parents mourning their dead children, of tanks rolling through the streets – create sympathy for its cause. In a battle marked by street to street fighting, the death of innocents is all but inevitable. That is also true of Gaza. And these deaths have led some to call for Israel to be charged with war crimes by an international tribunal. But I am curious: Why do we never hear calls for Hamas leaders to be charged with war crimes?”
Israel has become a “burdensome stone” to all the world. Now the world is wondering whether Israel will attack Iran or Iran will attack Israel with nuclear weapons. Another headline today deals with Russia and Iran: (Reports: Russia confirms Iran missile contract) The article states, “Russian news agencies cited a top defense official Wednesday as confirming that a contract to sell powerful air-defense missiles to Iran was signed two years ago, but saying no such weapons have yet been delivered. Russian officials have consistently denied claims the country already has provided some of the S-300 missiles to Iran. They have not said whether a contract existed.” This is important because of a prophecy found in Ezekiel which declares that a coalition of countries will attack Israel in the last days. Two of the countries listed in this prophecy are modern day Russia and Iran. You can read about this prophecy in my article (The Coming Invasion of Israel).
The fact of the matter is that Israel is in the news constantly. Biblical prophecy declared that this would be the case in the End-Times. The world will turn against Israel when it follows after the Antichrist. The Antichrist will rise to power when the world is in economic chaos just as Hitler rose to power during the financial collapse of Germany in the 1920s and the world in the 1930s. Recent events have shown just how quickly the world’s economic systems can fail. Whether or not the current global situation leads to the events listed in End-Times prophecies remains to be seen. It could be that some similar future events bring about the time of trouble that is coming upon the whole world as Jesus declared in Matthew ch. 24. We do know one thing and that is in our modern world events happen quickly so these things could come to pass in a very short time whenever God chooses to initiate them.
