Tag: Armageddon

The Golan Heights Have Always Belonged to Israel

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As I am writing this, Israel is firing rockets into the Gaza Strip in retaliation to a rocket attack by Hamas.  This comes right on the heels of President Trump signing a formal declaration that the Golan Heights is now Israel land.

Actually, it has always been Israel land.  In fact, the land that God gave to Abraham and his descendants makes the current borders of Israel look like Vermont compared to Texas.   The land that God set aside for the children of Abraham extends from  the Nile up to Turkey, down through the middle of Iraq to Kuwait and across west back to Egypt and the Nile River. 

biblical-boundaries

“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates; the Kenite and Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and Cannanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”  Gen. 15:8

In the illustration above, #3 is the Nile River (River of Egypt) and #4 is the Euphrates River.  All of the land between these two rivers was given to the children of Israel.  This is the space that Israel will occupy during the Millennial Kingdom.  The promise to Abraham will be entirely and completely fulfilled when Jesus returns and reigns from Mt. Zion.

“And you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land which I swore to give to your forefathers.”  Ezek. 20:42

The Biblical land mass granted to Abraham includes approximately two thirds of what is today’s  Syria.  The Golan Heights is a speck of land between Israel and Syria that Israel captured from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967.  In 1981 Israel unilaterally annexed this land.  Until today, Monday, March 25, no other nation has recognized the Golan Heights as belonging to Israel.

Of course, the anti-Israel, anti-Bible factions are condemning this act by the President as a threat to world order.  These condemnations simply give voice to the satanic forces that hate Israel as a symbol of the truth of the Bible and the reality that the God of the Bible is the one true sovereign Most High God.  This is the essence of the political war that is being waged by the nations and the military war that is building by the Islamic terrorist states against Israel.

What happened today is just another warning bell sounding an alarm of the imminent  second coming of Jesus Christ.  It is a simple reminder that Israel is a focal point of the spiritual war that is raging and that will climax at Armageddon when Jesus returns. (Zechariah 12:2, 14:2)  Also, see my previous posts “The Gog-Magog War IS Armageddon”, “Jerusalem”, and “The Greatest Sign”.

One last thing…notice that the boundaries form what looks like a mountain.  We know that God’s holy mountain is Mt. Zion, but Ezekiel 20:40 says this: “For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel”, declares the Lord God, “there the whole house of Israel, all of them will serve Me in the land; there I shall accept them, and there I shall seek your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things.”

I just find it interesting that God drew the boundary of Israel to look like a mountain., where the whole house of Israel will serve the Lord.  “And many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’.”  Isaiah 2:3

Jerusalem

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Jerusalem

“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the people around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.  And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured.  And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”  –Zechariah 12:2-3

Today I watched with amazement President Trump’s press conference where he declared that the United States formally recognizes Jerusalem to be  Israel’s capital, and will move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  It truly is a historic moment.

It is also a relevant moment in terms of Bible prophecy.

Now, I am not saying that this move by the President specifically fulfills Zechariah 12.  In fact, it does not.  Zechariah 12 is referring to a time immediately preceding the return of Jesus – this is the context of the passage.  It is talking about a time when all the surrounding nations and more will attack Jerusalem to destroy it.  You must continue reading the chapter through the next 2 chapters.

Zechariah 12:3 says all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it and God himself will save Israel (vs. 12:7-9).  Then Israel will ‘look upon Him who they have pierced and they will mourn’ (12:10). 

Who will they mourn? 

It is Jesus who has returned to earth to save the remnant.  (see my posts “The Gog-Magog War IS Armageddon” and “Every Eye Will See Him“) 

They will see Him and mourn over him as He is coming in the clouds.  They will mourn because they realize He is the Messiah whom they crucified. 

But many will also cry out ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’, as Jesus prophesied when He told Israel they would not seem Him again until they recognize Him (Matthew 23:39). 

Zechariah 14 elaborates on this event. 

God will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured.  But Jesus will ‘go forth’ and fight against those nations as His feet set down on the Mount of Olives and He will be victorious.  Thus He will begin the 1000 year reign of the Millennial Kingdom. 

So this is the context of Jerusalem being a ‘cup that causes reeling’ to the whole world.  What we are witnessing is not the precise fulfillment of Zechariah 12.  What we are witnessing is a foreshadowing of what is coming.

“The whole world is against it.”  …Turkish Prime Minister

This quote from the Turkish Prime Minister referring to President Trump’s  declaration may be a bit of an overstatement, but it illustrates the level of consternation in the world as a result of the President’s move. No doubt there will be uprising and increased violence in the region as a result.  It is also safe to say that the world in general holds a great deal of animosity towards Israel and that it is going to increase as we draw closer to the Day of the Lord. 

The President’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and re-locate the embassy is good and right.  It should have been done a long time ago.  But God has ordained it to take place now, or at least declare it now. 

God continues to signal that time is growing short.   Israel will continue to be the focal point.   Maranatha.