Middle East Flames

(For those of you who weren’t able to attend the Steeling The Mind conference in Denver on October 5th, here’s a written version of the presentation I gave there.)

Over the last few months I’ve wondered how much of what I’m about to say would still be prophecy by the time this conference started. But as of today it still is, so let’s begin.

Much of the discussion about Israel in the end times revolves around the battle of Ezekiel 38-39. So let me start by offering my opinion as to why Ezekiel’s prophecy is not on the verge of fulfillment and cannot be the next battle on Israel’s horizon.

I think three verses from Ezekiel 38 support my conclusion.

(Ezek. 38:8) After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety.

(Ezek. 38:11)You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.”

(Ezek. 38:14)“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it?”

This is not the case today. By no standard of measure can Israel be described as living in peace. They are surrounded by enemies sworn to their destruction. They are under constant threat of attack, and have had to build a giant wall along their border to protect themselves. On any given day they could wake up to sirens and a barrage of rockets, and instead of being times when they can relax with family and friends their holidays are especially dangerous. They know that the day they let down their guard could be the day their enemies strike. They learned this in the fall of 1973 when for one of the few times in their history they did let down their guard and were almost overrun. So what will it take for these three verses in Ezekiel to become effective?

For Israel to believe that they are living in peace and are not subject to attack first requires the belief that they have nothing to fear from their next door neighbors. These neighbors are currently being used by Israel’s greater enemies to keep Israel on the brink of war. They will have to be neutralized to create the illusion of peace.

 Zechariah 12-14 is a three chapter overview of the end times that begins with two statements that I think bear closer inspection in that regard.

(Zechariah 12:2) “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup of trembling that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.” Note the phrase “surrounding peoples”.

Then in Zechariah 12:3 the Lord said, “On that day, when all the nations of the Earth are gathered against her I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all nations.” Note the phrase all the nations of the Earth.

I think even though these two verses are adjacent to one another in the text, they describe two seperate operations that are at least 7 years apart. First, the surrounding peoples will be sent reeling, and sometime after that all the nations of the Earth will come against Jerusalem. These two verses are not part of the same thought and don’t even belong in the same paragraph.

I think Zechariah 12:2 will set the stage for Ezekiel 38and the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week,  whileZechariah 12:3 will take place at the end of Daniel’s 70th Week, just before the Lord’s return.

Between these two verses there will be over seven years of almost continuous warfare in the Middle East. Time does not permit us to go into any kind of detail in describing this entire period so I’m going to concentrate on just two prophecies, Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83.

These two prophecies provide the commentary onZechariah 12:2, the events that send the enemies surrounding Jerusalem reeling. There are also the two prophecies that are in the forefront of every one’s thinking tonight.

Isaiah 17

Most of us agree that Isaiah 17 was given as a prophecy for our time. But I think like several other end times prophecies it combines a partial historical fulfillment with a complete future fulfillment. When this kind of staged fulfillment is the case, the partial fulfillment confirms that the complete fulfillment will also happen. I don’t think God leaves anything half done.

Isaiah 9:6-7 is a good example of this.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

The Child was born, the Son was given, and the titles you see here are used by many in reference to the Lord.  But He’s never run a government, we don’t have peace without end, and He never sat on David’s throne. However, the fact that the first part of the prophecy has been fulfilled is confirmation that eventually it will all be fulfilled.

So as we go through Isaiah 17 we’ll see parts of it that were fulfilled in history and parts that are still in the future.

Isaiah began his ministry in 740BC. He was a contemporary of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. He died in 681 BC when according to Jewish tradition he was sawed in half. Hebrews 11:36-37 seems to confirm this.

Speaking of the great men and women of faith, the writer said,

Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— (Hebrews 11:36-37)

In Matt. 23:37 Jesus complained about the way Israel treated God’s prophets and He was justified in doing so. By and large they were not treated well at all, and some were even executed. It was not an office to which a normal person would aspire. But only Isaiah was sawed in two.

Now let’s read Isaiah 17.

An Oracle Concerning Damascus:

(Isaiah 17:1-2) “See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.

Because of the language here it’s obvious this prophecy was only partially fulfilled when the Assyrians defeated the Arameans and overran their capital, Damascus, in 732 BC. This was only one of the times the city of Damascus has been conquered. Throughout its history Damascus has been conquered by the Israelites (1000 BC), the Assyrians (732 BC), the Babylonians (606 BC), the Persians (530 BC), the Greeks (330 BC), the Nabateans (85 BC), the Romans (63 BC), the Byzantines (634 AD), the Mamelukes (1250 AD) and the Ottoman Turks (1516 AD). But the city itself has always survived and is now claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Its current population is close to 2 million, yetIsaiah 17:1 indicates that it will one day cease to exist. So that part is definitely still prophecy.

Some believe the phrase “cities of Aroer” refers to an area east of the Jordan around the Arnon River, which flows from the east into the Dead Sea in southern Jordan. However, the Jewish Encyclopedia claims that this phrase is probably translated incorrectly  because the geographical distance from Damascus to the Arnon River is too great (over 300 miles).  While they say it’s possible that there may have been another Aroer near Damascus, it is more likely that the passage should be rendered “the cities thereof shall be deserted.” That makes more sense to me.

(Isaiah 17:3-5) The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,” declares the LORD Almighty. “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away. It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm- as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

This segment speaks of the defeat of Aram in 732BC and the destruction of Samaria, the capitol of the Northern Kingdom, 10 years later (722 BC).  Damascus continued to exist as part of the Assyrian Empire and is still here today, but the ruins of Samaria have only recently been excavated out of the sandy soil of Israel.

The systematic relocation of the ruling class to various places in the Assyrian Empire is also in view here, symbolized by the fat of Jacob’s body wasting away.  This was standard Assyrian policy. Separating the leaders from their people reduced the likelihood of a subsequent rebellion among their conquered nations.   Jacob and Ephraim are alternate names for the Northern Kingdom.

(Isaiah 17:6) Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

Not all the people were dispersed.  Farmers were left behind to tend the crops and prepare the harvest for their new rulers. They were joined by refugees who were brought in from other parts of Assyria and their combined descendants were known as the Samaritans in the time of Jesus.

(A quick reading of 2 Chronicles 11:16 shows that all the faithful from the 10 northern tribes moved south at the time of the civil war that divided the nation after King Solomon’s death 150 years earlier.  From then on, all 12 tribes were represented in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, so the 10 tribes from the North weren’t totally lost.  The Lord has always preserved a believing remnant from all the Tribes of Israel.)

continue article at RaptureReady.com:

http://raptureready.com/featured/kelley/jack294.html