Israel’s Strike – Part 2

So, I was wrong. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last. A few days ago, I posed a question about Israel’s Foreign Ministry strike, and though I had not yet said it in my blog, I wondered if this was a move on Israeli leadership to prepare for a military attack on Iran. Israel’s strike ended a couple of days ago, so my theory is a little flawed. While my interpretation of the Foreign Ministry strike was wrong, the basis for my theory is still as solid as Stone Mountain. I think we must read about current events with the perspective that God is working his plan, and if we are perceptive enough, we may be able to connect the dots of Bible prophecy with current events in real time. With that said, we must also acknowledge the fact that there is no way to know for sure, in real time, that our perceptions are exactly right. Most of the time, prophecy is rightly interpreted only after the dust has settled and current events have been moved into the category of history. When you wrongly misinterpret an event, do not quit studying and analyzing.

Here’s the Stone Mountain part of my interpretation. Israeli leadership has basically put the world on notice that they would disable Iran’s nuclear capabilities if the rest of the world did nothing to stop them. Other world leaders have only warned Iran with little hand slaps, so I think we can expect Israel to act – probably sooner than later. What does this have to do with Bible prophecy? Ezekiel 38-39 says that Russia (Magog) will be a prominent world power in the last days, and the Russian leader (Gog) will rally a coalition of five nations to attack Israel. Actually, there will be more than five, but five are named specifically. Ezek. 38:8 says that this attack will happen in “the latter years.” History confirms that this battle has not yet happened and scripture specially says it will take place in the last days. This attack, however, will fail as God will win the battle for Israel.

Note a few things about Israel before this attack takes place. Ezek 38:8 says “they are living securely, all of them.” Verses eleven and twelve speak to the coalition’s motivation: “I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder.” The thing I can’t get past is that Israel will be living securely in unprotected cities. Israel is far from being unprotected right now. They are threatened on their borders to the north and east by Syria, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups who hate the Jews. They are threatened by Iran, who has said they plan to “wipe Israel off the map.” When this mighty attack, prophesied by Ezekiel, happens, Israel will be caught by surprise. The only way this will happen is for the current threats to be non-existent. While it is impossible to predict the future with specific certainty, we can look at the Scripture and note that something must happen that leads Israel to drop their guard. That “something” must include removing the current threats. It seems to me (note I said “it seems to me” and not “the Bible says”) that the secure feeling could happen in response to a military strike on Iran that somehow cleans up that part of the world so as to provide security to Israel. The “cleaning up” could include the destruction of Damascus and the crippling of Syria. Isaiah 17 prophesies that Damascus will be destroyed: “At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are no more” (Isa 17:14). The Stone Mountain part of this blog is the Word of God. We can be sure God’s Word is true, so something is going to happen to Damascus and something is going to happen so Israel feels secure. Getting real specific is only conjecture, but I think we can agree that something must happen. It is the something that we must anticipate as we keep our eyes on the Middle East and our prayers going up for Israel.