January 20, 2024 - A. V. Rauf
Wars & Rumors of Wars
As we have entered the year 2024, it seems as if there has been an escalation in hostility between several nations. As I write this ,the nation of Somalia is threatening to go to war with Ethiopia, North Korea continues to threaten war against South Korea, Venezuela threatens war with Guyana in South America. China continues to be a threat to Taiwan and rumblings of an invasion are ever so imminent.
Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Lebanon, Yemen, the United States, the United Kingdom Israel, Syria and Iran ALL appear to be in anticipatory stages of war.
In Matthew 24:6-7 Jesus said the following:
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
That being said what we see happening in the Middle East as Israel has passed the century mark in number of days being in a continued warfare with HAMAS, what is currently unraveling must be noted as we understand eschatology.
If you have been studying Bible prophecy, you would clearly discern that God has started to position Israel regarding her destiny. When you read your Bible, you will find that approximately 5/6th of the Bible one way or another pertains to Israel .
As a matter of fact, 73 out of 78 verses regarding Israel refer to Israel as a nation.
Ezekiel 5:5 :Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
Israel is the center of the world.
Jerusalem is the center of Israel.
The Temple Mount is the center of Jerusalem.
There will be amount in time before the return of the LORD when the entire world will focus on these points:
- Israel identified as a race of people who descended from Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.
- Israel is identified by territory:the boundaries of the piece of land in the Middle East.
- Israel is identified by a language spoken by the patriarchs and the prophets.(When this nation was “reborn,” in 1948, Hebrew was eventually restored as its official language.
- Israel is identified by a holy place designated as the Temple Mount on Mt. Moriah.
According to Matthew 24, the generation that will see the coming of the LORD will also witness God raising the nation of Israel to the place of international prominence. Keep in mind that whereas WWI prepared the land of Israel for the Jews, WWII prepared the Jews to enter the land, WWIII will ultimately see them scattered until old a remnant remains.
As for the current war between Russia and Ukraine, we know that Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022. Currently as Russia continues to advance, and the U.S has been providing billions of dollars in Military Arms, A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin warned that any Ukrainian attacks on missile launch sites inside Russia supplied by the United States and its allies would risk in a nuclear response from Moscow.
It is now being reported that Europe is preparing for Russian President Vladimir Putin to expand his country’s war in Ukraine and attack NATO ally countries next year, according to leaked documents published in German newspaper Bild.
According to the outlet — which obtained the classified military information from the German Ministry of Defense — the country’s armed forces are gearing up for a “hybrid” Russian attack in Eastern Europe that can include the use of nuclear weaponry.
This year will be a very pivotal year as far as national elections are concerned. It has been stated that over half over the entire world in various nations will be holding elections. We knew what happens in the U.S with presidential elections remains to be seen. However, I want to bring to your attention what happened in China this past week. Taiwan held an election which may determine whether China and Taiwan, let alone China and the U.S. go to war. One of the candidates in the election, Lai Ching-te, who is heavily opposed by the Chines government actually won the election! This means that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan has become more likely.
I have only mentioned two wars with scenarios that have become real. Now, let’s circle back to what is happening in the Middle East and examine it through the Word of God:
As the war between Israel and HAMAS continues, Many left-wing Israelis who once considered themselves “more Palestinian than the Palestinians” now view all Palestinians as a potential threat. According to a GALLUP report nearly two-thirds of Israelis now oppose a Palestinian state, given what Hamas did to them, and to Gaza — and given the pro-terror sympathies of the corrupt Palestinian Authority, which governs most Palestinians in the West Bank.
The United States is now pushing Israel to make new peace agreements contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state.
The age of the Church will end and the Time of Jacob’s trouble and the salvation of the nation of Israel will become the central element in the purpose of God on earth. Israel and the Jews will be in the worst turmoil ever and the surviving remnant of the Jews and Gentiles will enter the Millennial Kingdom after the Day of the LORD comes to pass.
The Day of the LORD is not a 24 hour day, but rather a series of events in which the wrath of God is poured out on those who are not raptured, including the persecutors of the true Church and the haters of the nation of Israel. It will also culminate in God’s prevailing justice of the kingdom of AntiChrist.
Amos 5:16-20—Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord. 18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Each day that passes by we see the nation of Israel becoming more alienated from the rest of the world. Several nations that once were considered allies are no longer supporting her. Israel is beginning to find that she has no allies. This was all spoken of in the Bible.
Joel 3:1-2—–For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
Did you see that? This isn’t about diving land rather it is parting the LORD’s land. Did I hear “Land for Peace” deals?? I just mentioned to you that Israel is being pressured to make new peace agreements contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opposed to this and has gone on record to say that he opposes a Palestinian state in any postwar scenario.
Zechariah 12: 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. 4 In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. 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.
Our responsibility is to continue to pray for peace in Jerusalem and to pray for the leaders of the world. That being said, know that what God spoke in His WORD thousands of years in advance MUST and WILL come to pass according to the prophetic Scriptures.
Once again to put it into simplest terms, when the LORD comes and removes the faithful Church and unleashes His wrath on this earth and on the kingdom of AntiChrist, He will be intervening in the strategic conflict against the nation of Israel. This is the Day of the LORD. It is now very obvious to discern what is about to take place in the Middle East. In the map below the little red portion is Israel. The green portion is all the countries that are Islamic and are not too fond of Israel:
2 Corinthians 6:1-2—We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) ——-tomorrow may be the day of wrath.
A major contributor to Israel’s distress over another Holocaust is the ongoing threat from the Iranian regime, which has openly and repeatedly declared its desire to wipe out the Jewish state. This is the one thing that many factions of ultra-orthodox and especially the Shi’te faction of Islam agree on.
In the meantime, protests continue to take place in the Temple Mount as HAMAS, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah are all raising their flags and chanting on the Temple Mount.
Antisemitism has reared its ugly head and has been Antisemitism has rising dramatically on a global scale since the pandemic began.
It very well could that we are on the verge of witnessing the prophetic fulfillment of Psalm 83:
1 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.
14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord.17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.
Remember that the time of Jacob’s trouble is the exact same event Jesus Himself mentioned in Matthew 24 where He prophesies about the coming time of great tribulation that will target the entire world in general, and the Jews in particular.
Matthew 24:20-21–But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Historically, Israel was destroyed in 70 AD, and the Jews were scattered across the nations according to Bible prophecy. In 1948, they were miraculously regathered in exactly the same place from which they were dispersed. But their regathering was a physical one, not a spiritual one and there has been a mass “Aaliyah,“ or return of Jews from the Northern, Southern, & Eastern parts of the world. Now Jews from the West have been returning to Israel in massive numbers.
God’s covenant with Israel and the Jews is eternal, just like His covenant with the Church is eternal and it cannot be broken, and God is not going to leave them in their fallen condition. The time of Jacob’s trouble is going to be the means by which He restores His chosen people back to a right relationship to Himself.
Hosea 5:15-–I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
Is God about to return to His place and and is the stage being set as we speak???
Stay tuned and Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.