Pastor's Page

What are the spiritual roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict?
Can the conflict be solved politically?

Crucial Questions

Why has God regathered the Jews to their homeland? What is the likely future of Israel? What does it all mean to the Church?

The Regathering
God has regathered the Jews from the four corners of the earth because He has a plan of redemption for a great remnant of them. His plan is to gather them to their homeland and bring all the nations of the world together against them over the issue of the control of Jerusalem. This will ultimately lead to another holocaust that will be worse than the one perpetrated by the Nazis. Zechariah says that two-thirds of the Jews will die (Zechariah 13:8). But out of that horrible experience, the Jews will be brought to the end of themselves, with no one to turn to for help except God. That’s when the remnant will repent of their rejection of the Messiah and will accept Him as their Savior (Zechariah 12:10 and 13:1). The apostle Paul taught this concept in the New Testament in Romans 9-11. He argues that a great remnant of the Jews (Romans 9:27) will turn to the Lord and be saved (Romans 11:25-26).

The Likely Future
There are some tough days ahead for the Jews of Israel. I believe the most likely scenario is a major war that will result in Arab missile attacks on Tel Aviv and Haifa. To survive, the Israelis will have to respond with nuclear weapons. This is probably the reason the Bible teaches that Damascus will cease to exist in the end times (Isaiah 17:1-14 and Jeremiah 49:23-27).

With the destruction of Damascus, the Arab world will be thrown into a panic. That’s when they will call for help from their natural ally, the Russians. The Russians will then send a great army to destroy Israel. The Russians will be motivated not only by their ingrained anti-Semitism, but also by their desire to seize all the Arab oil fields in the Middle East.

The Bible says the Russian army will be destroyed supernaturally on the hills of Israel in such a way that even the Israelis will know that they were not responsible for it (Ezekiel 38:17-23 and 39:1-6). At that point the whole world will be thrown into a panic, and that atmosphere of hysteria will provide the perfect opportunity for the Antichrist to step forward with the “perfect” plan for peace in the Middle East.

Next: Part 8 – The Meaning for the Church