Prophetic Perspective: Israel vs Iran

The middle east situation between Israel and Palestine is a very complex one that can be viewed from many sides. Whichever perspective you choose, there will always be an unresolved issue.

It is exactly a year that Hamas, a terrorist group in Palestine, dealt the biggest blow ever to the Israeli state, killing over 1000 Jews and abducting about 251. It sent a shock wave round the world. The October 7, 2023 attacks kick-started a war that has escalated to involve Lebanon, Syria, Qatar and Iran. Israel has gone all out attacking Palestine in a wave that many world leaders have been cautioning them to consider the civilians.

ORIGIN OF THE WAR

The origin of the war in the middle east can be traced back to the 1920s when Britain, in conjunction with the Arabs defeated the Ottoman military in Jerusalem and took the city as a colony of the British royalty.  It wasn't long before the British decided to release the land to the Arabs that fought alongside them. But, there was another set of people who needed land at that time to settle- The Jews.

The Jews had been scattered all over Europe since the days of the Roman empire in ~70AD. In 1917, the British declared that the Jews should be given land and be allowed to form a state in the conquered Ottoman region in the middle east. The land had few Jews and mostly Arabs. This decision was like a stab in the back for the Arabs who laid their life to fight off Ottoman empire.

The situation in Europe became less conducive for Jews with the rise of antisemitism which was as a result of the growth of Nazism. The Jews began a massive immigration into the land that was occupied by several Arabs. Living together was never an option as both parties felt that they were the owner of the land.

Israel's claim to the land is the age long biblical promise. They believe that God gave them that land as a promise to their father- Abraham. You would remember that this was the reason why Joshua fought several battles because the land had been occupied by the time the came from Egypt. The same situation is playing out today in the middle east where Israel is fighting off occupants of the land of Canaan.

With this, they have a confidence that they would pursue everyone in the land and take it all for themselves. They call it Zionism. Zionism is very annoying to the Arabs and this is why they so much hate the Jews. Moreover, in today's world, Zionism is somewhat illegal and unreasonable.

Historically, the Jews have a claim to the land because they owned the land in the days where wars was used to determine who owns a land. From the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, they have held ownership of the land. In fact, the map of Israel during the reign of King David stretches to Arabia. Today, most of their landmarks in history reside in that land.

Does these reasons make sense to the Arabs or to the man reading on the internet? No! This is the basis for the war. The Arab believes that they are the ones living in the land before the Jews came back and because of that, they should be given some parts of the land.

Britain chose to divide the land between them, giving the Jews 55%, but the Arabs would not agree to it. It led to a war that eventually gave the Jews more than 70% of the land. In 1948, the Jews declared the formation of the Israeli state. The following day, several Arabs nations declared war on them, but the Arabs lost the war.

In 1967, another war was declared comprising Jordan, Egypt and Syria. They all attacked Israel, but lost again. With every war, Israel expanded her borders and had since captured monumental locations like Golan heights from Syria, Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, Gaza strip and the west bank including East Jerusalem.

TWO STATE SOLUTION

When Britain could not resolve the matter between the Jews and the Arabs, they handed it over to the newly formed UN. The UN proposed a two state solution with Jerusalem under a special international government. This decision was firstly accepted by the Jews, but later rejected because they wanted Jerusalem to be with them.

This led to another complex situation as the Jews are hoping to erect their temple again which is at the heart of Jerusalem. But this site is now occupied by the third most important mosque to the Muslims- Al-Aqsa mosque. Built over 1000 years ago, Al-Aqsa mosque is sitting in the exact location of the temple mount of Solomon. This is why Israel is insisting on taking the whole of Jerusalem to themselves so that they can have the right to demolish that mosque and build the third temple.

THE THIRD TEMPLE

The third temple plays a very significant role in the end times. The first temple was built by King Solomon, but destroyed by the Babylonian. Upon their return from slavery during the days of Nehemiah and Ezra, a rebuilding started, but was not completed. It was King Herod the great who expanded and completed the rebuilding of the temple few years before Jesus Christ was born. This is known as the second temple. This temple was destroyed by the Romans in ~70AD.

The time for the rebuilding of the temple is currently being debated in several quarters. Some believe that it would be rebuilt during the millennial reign of Jesus while others believe that it will be rebuilt as a major sign of the end times just before Jesus returns.

I belong to the second school of thought that the third temple will be rebuilt as a major sign of the end of this age. This is as a result of many scriptures:

1- 2 Thes 2:3-4: In this scripture, Paul talks about the Antichrist sitting in the temple and claiming to be God. This means that there will be a temple in the days of the Antichrist which is before the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

2- Matthew 24:15: Jesus, sharing about the signs of the last days, talked about a period that there will be an abomination of desolation in the temple, quoting Daniel 11:31-32. In that scripture, Daniel takes it further by saying that the Antichrist will remove the daily sacrifices from the temple. Showing another activity in a temple.

3- Acts 3:21: This profound verse says that Jesus would not return to the earth until Israel is fully restored. To restore Israel fully, the temple must be rebuilt because that is the greatest monument/symbol of the Jews.

If all these scripture points to the need for Israel to rebuild her temple, does it mean that the Jews will eventually take over Jerusalem and demolish Al-Aqsa mosque? The entire Arab nation is already gathering together to see how they can stop Israel this time. This is why all of the terrorist groups are coming together to support Hamas of Palestine. Hezbollah of Lebanon and Houthi of Yemen are already embroiled in the situation. Iran has fully committed themselves by sending 180 missiles to Israel.

Other Arab nations like UAE and Saudi Arabia are still cautious because of a certain uncertainty- American Election. Why is America a force to reckon with in the land situation of Palestine? Why is this 2024 election crucial to what happens in Palestine?

AMERICA 

The American nation is a major force to reckon with in any world matter because of their military and financial might. No country wants to be in the black book of the nation which means that what they want has a huge influence. The relationship between USA and Israel has been since the inception of the Israeli state.

USA is known to a loyal ally of Israel since the inception of the Israeli state. The reasons are in two ways: the founding fathers of USA were men who had a high regard for the God of the Jews, infact, they regarded USA as a God's own country. This has a great sway in the decision of presidents to give support for Israel.

Secondly, Israel provides a succour to USA in the middle east as a base for surveillance of the region and even Russia. There is also a great partnership on bio-technology, military technological inventions and agricultural breakthroughs.  USA finds this partnership very enriching as the Jews seems to have a very high rate of success in this areas. 

The support of USA is therefore a great threat to the enemies of Israel. However, the current state of USA gives a grim hope to the Arabs with the fierce battle between Democrats and Republicans. During Obama's administration, his diplomacy seemed to favour the Arabs against Israel, which could be as a result of his strained relationship with the Israeli PM- Benjamin Netanyahu.

Donald Trump's time brought a great relief to the Jews as he placed heavy sanctions on Iran and even announced Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017. This is why someone like me would always root for him despite his many imperfections. Joe Biden, on the other hand didn't seem to have much interest in the middle east matters as he even pulled out American soldiers from Afghanistan, returning the nation back into the hands of terrorist group -Taliban.

If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, it will be bad news for the Arabs, but if Harris triumphs, we may see the indifference of Biden's tenure continue. For me, I have little faith in USA being able to finally resolve the the matter. I believe that it would be that antichrist that will do that job.

THE ANTICHRIST 

The Antichrist, in scripture, is regarded as the man of sin who will embody sin as Jesus embodied righteousness. He will not be a full Homo sapien as his DNA will carry heavy demonic elements. Just like in the days of Noah when we had other humans that weren't Homo sapien, we will have them in this last days too. The Antichrist will be one of them.

The relevance of the antichrist will be highly pronounced by his success in settling the age long war between the Jews and the Arabs. He will bring peace to the middle east so much that the entire world will hail him as the ultimate leader. He will achieve this by striking a deal that will please the Jews 100% and be highly spoken of by both the Jews and the Arabs (Dan 9:27).

This deal, is however a deception as he would reveal his real plan after three and a half years. He would spend the next three and half years tormenting the Jews so much that they will cry out for the messiah, who would then come and save them in what we know as the second coming of Jesus. Note that the second coming of Jesus is not to be confused with rapture. Rapture would have taken place. This is where many people mix things up and the simple explanation to all of these is the seventh weeks of Daniel.

SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL

Daniel was interceding for the Jews while they were in captivity in Daniel 9. He had found out from the writings of Prophet Jeremiah that they ought to have been freed from their bondage. So, he began to pray for their deliverance. Then Angel Gabriel appeared to him to explain some things to him.

Angel Gabriel told him about a 70 weeks period that is divided into three parts: 7+62+1=70. The arch Angel told Daniel that the 70 weeks will be the timeline to watch for finishing transgression, making an end of sins, making reconciliation for iniquity, bringing in everlasting righteousness and sealing up vision and prophecy. (Dan 9:24).

He further explained that the first 7 weeks will start when there is a pronouncement to start the rebuilding of Jerusalem. After which the 62 weeks would start and end with the cutting off of the messiah. Lastly, Angel Gabriel explained that in the last 1 week, the prince of the people shall make a deal and half way into the week, he shall go back on his deal.

The word used as weeks in this scripture refers to 'seven sevens' or 'seven years' which means that 1 week equals 7 years. So the entire 70 weeks is 70 multiplied by 7 which gives us 490 years.

The first division (7 weeks= 49 years) started when King Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah the permission to go and rebuild Jerusalem. That was around 444 BC. This period took 49 years. If you subtract it from 444, you will be left with 395 BC. The second stage of the 70 (62 weeks = 434 years) weeks started from that time. If you remove 434 years from 395 BC, you will end up in AD 39. History, however says that Jesus was killed in AD 33. The 6 years gap could be as a result of an error in the exact year Artaxerxes gave the order to Nehemiah or an error in the exact year Jesus Christ was crucified.

Whichever way, the second phase of the 70 weeks have cone and gone. One would expect that the third phase of the 70 weeks which is the last 1 week to come immediately, but this is why the Jews missed it. There is a gap between the 69th week and the 70th week known as the church age. Paul explained this very well in Romans 11; stressing the fact that God will still come back for the Jews.

The catching up of the saints in what we know as rapture will bring an end to the church age and begin the 70th week that will involve the antichrist.

TYING IT UP- MARANATHA 

There is a direct connection between Israel and the church. Israel is the physical representation of what the church looks like  spiritually. It means that what ever is happening to the physical Jews is happening to the church. This is why the building of the third temple would mean that the church have grown fully into the temple of the Holy Spirit.

As Israel is agitating for Jerusalem, it means we are edging closer to rapture. The war is a direct indication of how close we are to the close of this age. Like I have pointed out, the war will not end until rapture. The Jews and the Arabs will remain at loggerheads until the Antichrist comes in to the situation.

You should know that the popular 7 years tribulation period is the same with the 70th week of Daniel which means that the tribulation is for the Jews. It doesn't concern you living in Africa or Europe or America. The signs of the end times given in Matthew 24 are already fulfilled. The wars, famine, pestilence and earthquakes. The army if the Lord is already being recruited. Stop waiting for one dramatic event again.

It is my hope and prayer that despite the war, the Jews will be able to build their temple. But they won't be able to build their third temple if the church has not fully assumed that posture of the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is not the building that would bring the church into her calling. It is the church entering her calling that will reflect on the natural Israel being able to build the third temple.

As we watch the war unfold, begin to put your house in order. Jesus Christ is coming!

Maranatha!