What an amazing time to be alive! God’s word is unfolding right in front of us, and we desperately need to be ready.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at a joint news conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, announced that “Syria and Iran are united” in support of the Palestinians, and against Israel. In a statement where he called Jews “destructive microbes,” Ahmadinejad promised that the “shared principles and interests” of the Middle East Arab community is about to produce “victory.”
Of course, that shared “principle” is that Israel has no right to exist, and the shared “interest” is the elimination of the Jewish state, as has been stated many times by Ahmadinejad. This is exactly what the Bible predicts. In Psalm 83:4-5, we read,
The have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You.
This confederacy is headed up by Russia (Ezekiel 38:15) and invades Israel during the “latter days” (Ezekiel 38:8, 16, 39:1-2; Jeremiah 1:13, 10:22). Syria (Isaiah 17:1; Psalm 83:8) and Iran (Ezekiel 38:5) are among the nations mentioned as being in this cabal of hatred against the Jews. Syria also has renewed diplomatic ties with Lebanon, another nation that will be part of the Russian-led confederacy (Psalm 83:7).
According to a CIA report released in March, Iran is busy developing nuclear weapons to use in this assault on Israel, and they are further along in this pursuit than many want to admit. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday, Robert Morgenthau, who uncovered a Iranian scam to funnel billions of dollars through the US to buy nuclear and missile materials, testified that “we don’t have a lot of time to stop Iran from developing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.” Morgenthau’s statement came as the Committee released a report warning that the US is grossly underestimating Iran’s progress in developing these weapons. This caused Israeli President Shimon Peres to once again say that he will not rule out an attack on Iran to take out their nuclear facilities.
The race to bring peace to the region is heating up, with virtually every free nation on earth wanting to get involved. A US envoy is in Syria to reiterate the Americans’ commitment to peace, while Vice President Joe Biden was in Washington saying that a two-state solution is a must. Likewise, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that there is “no alternative” to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Everyone is putting their two cents in, but of all the potential peace-makers, the one to watch is the EU envoy. Speaking at a symposium in Jerusalem, Ambassador Michael Zantovsky from the current EU Presidency holding nation of the Czech Republic, said that strengthened diplomatic ties between Israel and the EU was “temporarily stuck.” This was an attempt to tone down the words of EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who said the process is “frozen” until Israel declares its committment to the two-state solution.
Tuesday, Peres said that Israel does indeed support the creation of a Palestinian state, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ready to “start to negotiate right away” on making it happen. This prompted EU Mideast Envoy Tony Blair to say that “a new framework” was in progress and the EU would unveil a peace plan within a few weeks.
When a peace contract is finally forged, it will come at the hands of a world “President” (the Antichrist of Daniel 9:27) and include a newly created Palestinian state with a divided Jerusalem (Joel 3:2; Zechariah 14:2). Interesting fact: Due to military conquests many centuries ago, the monarchy of Spain carries the title, “King of the Jews.” Satan wants to duplicate Christ in every way possible, including being raised from the dead, which he tries to mimic by taking over the body of the slain Antichrist (Revelation 12:12-13; 13:3-5, 12; 17:8, 11). I think that the coming Antichrist, whoever that may be, will somehow assume this title, either by birth (being from Spain) or by usurping it in some way.
Before anything can happen, Christians must be gone via the rapture. In 2 Thessalonians 2:6, we are told that the Antichrist cannot be revealed until the restraining force is removed. That restraining force is the church, for Christians are the home of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20). We are the “salt of the earth,” (Matthew 5:13) and salt is a preserving agent, keeping the world from going to a literal hell.
There are more passages that indicate a pre-tribulation rapture. Revelation 3:10 says that God will keep us from the hour of trial coming upon the world. In Luke 17:26-30, Jesus was talking about His return and related the stories of Noah and Lot–two men who were removed from the land before judgment fell because of their relationships to God. Note that they did not remove themselves, for the ark door was shut by God (Genesis 7:16) and Lot was forcibly brought outside of Sodom by angels (Genesis 19:16). Everything in the old testament has to do with the Lord Jesus, and these two stories picture of His protecting love for His saints via a rapture.
In Luke 21, Jesus is talking about the end times and the coming Tribulation. In the midst of this, Jesus said we should watch and pray so that we may be worthy to escape “all these things” (Luke 21:36). In context, “these things” are clearly the trials of the Tribulation.
