Wednesday, December 11, 2024

The Middle East Turmoil And The Bible

by Charles Hiltibidal

What exciting times to be alive!  Prophecy of all kinds is being either fulfilled or being readied for fulfillment. It seems that every road of prophecy is rapidly moving along and carrying the students of the Word towards a convergence at an accelerating speed. When someone says the study of prophecy is not relevant, it causes me to wonder what world they are living in because this one is headed for the tribulation days and every day’s events bring us that much closer. I wonder if the trumpeter isn’t already clearing his throat and getting his breathing ready to sound out for our rapture!

Jerusalem

Zec 12:2-3 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.  (3) And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with

it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

For decades now, the majority of the world’s nations have been in opposition to Israel no matter what the issue might be.  The spirit of anti-Semitism has always existed, but in these last days, it is rising to levels equal to those of the days of WW II, not restricted to a few but to the greater majority of the world’s nations.

The recent decision of the president of the USA to move our embassy to Jerusalem, which should have happened many years ago, has the world rapidly coming into the alignment prophesied in these verses.  (…though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.)

Is it not amazing that it is this one city in all the world that is such a stumbling stone to the world? There are many cities that are much larger in population and have much importance to the world, but it is this one that has the entire world’s attention.

Could it be spiritual in nature – both the city and the world’s seemingly hatred? We know this is what God in His Word has prophesied would be the final status of this one city in the final days.

But could this be something that has been going on far much longer than the present scenario seems to cause us to think?  Could it be as simple as a choice that God made versus a choice that Satan as a fallen angel made centuries ago?

Usually the more complex a matter seems to be, its roots are more simplistic than one realizes. My mother used to knit and her skein of yarn would often get a tangle in it, and as you pulled on string after string, it usually became more entangled.  But when my patient father would take it, he would study it to locate the root of its tangle and often with a single pull the tangle was released.

Could this be part of the present situation? As the world leaders pull on their perceived problem, they tighten another part until the next pull by another is almost impossible to untangle.

If you stop long enough to study the situation and consult the Bible, you see how man and all his good or evil intentions will never resolve this issue for any of the parties involved.

The Palestinians,

who want to lay claim to Jerusalem, are not an indigenous people group. I know this seems to be a bold statement, but consider that it was not until after the final Jewish revolt in 132-134 AD and their destruction by Rome that the Emperor Hadrian and Rome declared this entire area of the Levant Palestine.

His intentions were to remove all physical evidence of the Jews presence in the land, so in 135 AD he destroyed all the physical structures in Jerusalem and its surroundings and then covered them with at least 15 feet of dirt that was laced with salt making it unfertile.

This helps to explain why the archeological digs in this area are so far under the present surface. During the dysphoria of the Jewish people, Arabs and other groups in the Middle East, such as the descendants of Lot, took over the land, yet the greater part of it remained a wasteland.

They took on the name Palestinians because they were living in the geography that was now known as Palestine. The truth is most of them are simply Arab by their DNA while others, including many in Jordan, are by DNA Moabites and some Ammonites. These are the descendants of the children of Lot’s incestuous relations with his daughters.  Gen. 19:30-38

So the Palestinian Cause is not a legitimate one. But the root is even deeper down than this. So pulling on these strings will not help unravel why this is such a tangled mess.

The Edomite Cause

The hidden agenda behind this present Palestinian movement is what is called the Edomite Cause. To get a little close to the root of this tangle, we need to understand what this entails.

In a nutshell, this is much deeper than a name change of geography. It stems from the thought that the descendants of Esau, i.e. Edomites, are the true inheritors of the land from earlier times.

When the twins were yet in the womb of Rebekah, the Lord in His omniscience knew the elder or first born Esau would despise his responsibility in the birth right and said the younger Jacob would be the chosen heir to the promise God had given his family in his grandfather Abraham.  The Abrahamic Covenant would pass to Jacob.

Right or wrong as to Rebekah’s and Jacob’s actions, it had already been determined by God that the inheritance of the land in the promise to Abraham and the position of birth right would go to Jacob, who is later called by God Israel.

The push to remove the Jews from the land and Jerusalem for certain is the belief that the first born Esau and his Edomite descendants are the rightful heirs.

The Islamic Connection

The root of this problem is even deeper than the Edomite Cause. It goes back to the first born son of Abraham, Ishmael.

Ishmael would have been at least 17 years old or maybe 19, depending on the age of Isaac, when the story found in Gen. 21 of the weaning party for Isaac takes place.

Abraham’s son Ishmael is sent from his presence because he was not the promised seed through Abraham’s wife Sarah. Gen 21:11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

You see, the purpose for all this is for the redemption plan that God had initiated in the Garden of Eden when he pronounced the cures of sin, Genesis Three.  In truth, it had been His plan from the foundation of this world.  Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (emphasis added)

So the descendants of Ishmael never received the promised blessing of the first born and the next generation didn’t as well, so the root of this tangle is even deeper than just an Edomite Cause. Today the descendants of Ishmael, Arabs and the religion developed by them through Mohamed, want the land they believe belongs to them and not the descendants of Isaac.

An even deeper root

then the situation surrounding the right of the first born is a problem that goes back to a time before Abraham to a few years on this side of the flood of Noah.

In Genesis Fourteen, we catch a glimpse of this at its root. Before we examine this, we need to see the development of humanity as it multiplied after leaving the ark. Gen 9:19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

It will be the descendants of Ham that God draws our attention to with apparent character flaws as well as spiritual failure

Gen 10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

 11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

 12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

 13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

 14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

When God changes His mode of giving information, we need to stop and consider why.  He had simply been giving lineage and then stops and adds all sorts of information here.

We are familiar with the story of Nimrod and Babel. It is here at Babel that Satan will motivate a great majority of humanity to develop a religion in rebellion to God’s command.  Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (emphasis added)

God had instructed Noah and his three sons to scatter across the earth from leaving the ark. The reason seems to be that God wanted the future people of the earth to have a knowledge of Him and how to have a relationship with Him and properly worship Him.

God knew that within the next couple hundred years the earth would have a final division physically and wanted all humanity to have this relationship and worship of Him.

Thus, when they said “lest we be scattered”, they were saying lest we obey God. So, the motivation and urging of the devil on the fallen nature of humanity caused them in rebellion to develop a one world order and religion in rebellion against God. That is why their intention was to build it high in the sky, a symbolism of that rebellion.

The real root of this

problem is inferred to in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis. Gen 14:1  And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

 2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

The record here of the first battle happens after God had just promised this land to Abraham. Gen 13:14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

The devil and his crowd had made their choice of Nimrod and Babel, later called Babylon.  God shows us His choice in Abraham and the Promised Land. This battle is the devil’s crowd coming to take away the land promised to Abraham’s seed, future Israel.

So the root of this problem is that the devil wants to keep God from keeping His promise to Abraham and his seed with the title to the land deed.

It is in the next verse that we see God had already chosen Jerusalem as His city as the devil had chosen his, Babel. Gen 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Salem is this first mentioned name for Jerusalem, and God had His king/priest already there. I would not say I know who this Melchizedek is, but from the record of the genealogy of Abraham, Shem is still alive.  The oldest living patriarch was the priest of the family until God under Moses structures the law for the Israelites.

It would seem that the root of the modern day Middle East conflict goes back to just after the flood, when two persons and two cities were chosen and the struggle for supremacy over them began.

When will it end?  Only when the one city is destroyed and the other renewed. Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

When Jesus returns after Armageddon, He will rule the earth for the millennial reign from Jerusalem and Babel/Babylon will be forever destroyed and the issue will be resolved and not until then.

God will keep His promise to Abraham and his seed.

by Charles Hiltibidal

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