Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion and
will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called
the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy
mountain. Zechariah 8:3
What has happened, and
continues to happen, in our lifetime is no ordinary thing. Jerusalem is
not populated for no reason. Israel does not defend herself for no
reason. I'll go through many of the prophecies concerning Israel,
mostly what is in the Old Testament, and relate them to the present
day. Not every prophecy concerning Israel will be covered, but a number
will. And some of the things I'll say are speculation. Other things
are more certain. But you be the judge of that.
There's three main parts to this:
1) Israel leading up to the war
2) Israel during the war
3) Israel after the war
Israel leading up to the war
The
final chapters of Ezekiel provide us with a sort of timeline. At least
from chapter 36 on the order of events is chronological.
"And
you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O
mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Ezekiel 36:1
The prophecy is addressed to the mountains of Israel...
"But
you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield
your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home.
Ezekiel 36:8
The mountains of Israel shall prosper, and the people of Israel shall return to them...
"And
I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it.
The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. Ezekiel
36:10
Their numbers shall increase in the land of Israel...
"And
I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within
you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you
a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26
Israel is given a new heart and a new spirit...
Then
he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say
to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." So I
prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and
they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Ezekiel
37:9-10
The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is a
representation of Israel. The bones coming to life at the command of
Ezekiel are the Israeli People. It is in essence another way of showing
that the heart of stone is taken away and a heart of flesh is given.
This is a prophecy of the spiritual condition of Israel. Ezekiel gives
us the most thorough description of what has happened over the last 60
years. The Jews have returned to their homeland. The land of Israel is
prosperous. And more and more we see a new heart and new spirit in the
Israeli People.
"I will restore the fortunes of my people
Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make
gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and
they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given
them," says the Lord your God. Amos 9:14-15
And behold,
the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came
forward to meet him and said to him, "Run, say to that young man,
'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of
the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a
wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in
her midst.'" Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the
Lord. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens,
declares the Lord. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter
of Babylon. For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me
to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches
the apple of his eye: "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and
they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will
know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter
of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst,
declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord
in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst,
and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And
the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will
again choose Jerusalem. Zechariah 2:3-12
I always
loved the sense of urgency and excitement in that prophecy. God
establishing Israel again is an exciting thing. He is doing marvelous
things, and He shall do even more marvelous things. Consider also the
fact that He says many nations will join themselves to Israel in "that
day". Exactly what "that day" is, I'm not sure, but I think we can be
certain that this prophecy, as well as the ones in Ezekiel and Amos, are
not referring to the first resettlement of Israel. The language simply
does not match; the language speaks of "never again be uprooted" (the
Jews were uprooted by the Romans), and the glorious triumph of
Zechariah's prophecy does not match Israel's first resettlement. It is
possible, at least in part, that these prophecies speak of the final
resettlement of Israel, which will happen at the return of Christ (see
Revelation 20:1-6). I'll let you be the judge of that, but we can be
certain that these prophecies are not speaking about the first
resettlement and the second temple.
The war
When
we move into Ezekiel 38 and 39 there is a sudden shift. No longer does
Ezekiel prophesy Israel returning, but now he speaks of a great war.
Gog and many nations with him come against the resettled Israel.
The
word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, set your face toward Gog,
of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal,
and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I
am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will
turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out,
and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full
armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding
swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with
shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from
the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes— many peoples are
with you. Ezekiel 38:1-6
And what happens...
"But
on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel,
declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. For in
my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall
be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea and
the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping
things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face
of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall
be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble
to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains,
declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother.
With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him,
and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are
with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. So I
will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the
eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel
38:18-23
Do I need to add anything to that? I won't add
anything, except to say that Gog represents Turkey. Now there are other
prophecies that make perfect sense in light of this one from Ezekiel.
"Behold,
I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the
surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against
Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the
peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the
nations of the earth will gather against it. On that day, declares the
Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with
madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes
open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
Zechariah 12:2-4
Do you see the similarity? Look at what else is written:
As
in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them
marvelous things. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their
might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be
deaf; they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things
of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they
shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of
you. Micah 7:15-17
Does that not sound exactly like
Ezekiel 38? Does it not sound exactly like "and all the people who are
on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence"? Doesn't it
sound exactly like "I will show my greatness and my holiness and
make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know
that I am the Lord"?
Israel after the war
This
war has a profound impact on Israel. What is prophesied to happen in
Ezekiel 38 and 39 - what will happen, I believe, before this decade is
over - first causes Israel to mourn.
"And I will pour
out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of
grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him
whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for
an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a
firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great
as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. Zechariah
12:10-11
Who is the firstborn son that they mourn for? It
is Jesus. This is the day that the Jews realize they were wrong for
nearly 2,000 years. In some way, I'm not exactly sure how, God will
reveal that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, and Israel will know
it. And they will mourn bitterly. Following that...
"And
those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the
Lord. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of
the Lord your God." Zechariah 6:15
The third temple is
built! It will be built by Jews and Christians together, by those
living in Israel and by those that are far off. And look, what do we
find in Ezekiel chapters 40 and on? A description of a temple that has
never before been built! And as for the Dome of the Rock, that will not
be an issue; remember what happens in the great war of Gog? There is
an earthquake that brings down every wall in Israel, which will include
the Dome of the Rock. So the Temple Mount will be bare and prepared for
its third temple. Following that...
"For thus says the
Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the
heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake
all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I
will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver
is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter
glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of
hosts. Haggai 2:6-9
Riches will come from all over the world. The third temple will at the very least rival Solomon's Temple, if not surpass it.
"Thus
says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of
every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go
with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Zechariah 8:23
All
of the nations will know that God is with Israel. There will be a
temple in Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be the capital of all Christendom.
And people will come from all the nations to seek God in Israel.
There
might be some that will say that these prophecies apply to the
millennial reign. And they might be right. I've found that it is
difficult to distinguish between the descriptions of the second
resettlement and subsequent events and the resettlement that happens at
the second coming of Christ and subsequent millennial reign. I could be
confusing the two, at least in part. It also could be that things
which are about to happen are a foreshadowing of things that will happen
at the second coming of Christ. If that's the case, it would explain
why they have such similar descriptions. I'll let you be the judge of
that.
A couple other prophecies
Here
are a couple more prophecies that certainly relate, though they might
not exactly fit into any of the three main parts I mentioned. You can
place them in the timeline however you think they fit. But I do think
they relate, and it should be fun to cover them.
"Behold,
you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did
not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the
Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Isaiah 55:5
Is
it possible that this nation is the United States of America? Not only
is it possible, for a number of reasons, its highly likely.
1) The United States has run to Israel. By anyone's estimation the US and Israel have an ironclad bond.
2)
The US is a nation that Israel has not known. For one thing, the US
has only existed for the last 240 years. And the US is no where near
the land of Israel. All of the nations that Israel has historically
known are middle-eastern, European or African.
3) But the woman
was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from
the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be
nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Revelation 12:14
^^The
woman in Revelation 12 is Israel, which is clear from verse one. I
shouldn't have to tell you what I think the wings of a great eagle
represent.
4) Find a one dollar bill. Look at the back of it.
Look at the great eagle. What is directly above its head? This is, by
the way, the Great Seal of the United States of America.
Then
those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid
attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before
him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. "They shall be
mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my
treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who
serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the
righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does
not serve him. Malachi 3:16-18
I included this last
prophecy because its possible that it relates to us. Who are the
God-fearing people that speak to one another? Unlike a number of
people, I hate to give general meanings to passages like this. I
believe that these God-fearing people are a specific people at a
specific time, and not some general reference to God-fearing people who
speak to each other. And here's what I wonder: could it be referring to
our time? I don't know. But I do think that its possible. And what's
cool is that we, who do fear God, are speaking to each other. We are
speaking to each other over the internet; really, to an extent that
Christians have never communicated before. I think this is a wonderful
thing. Just think, maybe - its quite possible - a book of remembrance
is being written about all the things that we say to each other. In
other words, its like God is taking notes. And isn't that so cool? God
would actually care that He would pay attention to the things that we
are saying, as if what we say matters? We can't say for sure if this
prophecy is speaking of our own time, but it is possible and we should
keep that in mind. Speak well, my friends. And keeping speaking to
each other. It is crucial that we share with one another our thoughts
and feelings. We are one body, one church, and of one Spirit.
I pray that this at least causes some interest. I pray that it helps in some way. May God bless you.
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