The Seed Blog: The Scenes in the Middle East: Center Stage: Israel

Many times in the past, we have seen people predicting that the end of time was coming...  And obviously we are still here! And it tends to discredit the whole idea to honest believers...Making them leery and passive when they hear yet another person saying the same thing...But these instances in the past, have been because people saw one or two major events which seemed related to the End Time Scenario in their time...And they would try to build the Events spoken of in Scriptures ar [...]

Many times in the past, we have seen people predicting that the end of time was coming...  And obviously we are still here! And it tends to discredit the whole idea to honest believers...Making them leery and passive when they hear yet another person saying the same thing...But these instances in the past, have been because people saw one or two major events which seemed related to the End Time Scenario in their time...And they would try to build the Events spoken of in Scriptures around the events happening...And just because one portion of the many events and scenarios of Biblical Prophecy seems to be occurring...The rest of those many and detailed prophecies cannot be ignored or changed to fit the Times...
Until our GENERATION... And more explicitly...Until the last couple of DECADES...There has NEVER been a time in the HISTORY of mankind when a sincere believer, considering ALL OF THE FACTS FROM SCRIPTURES...Could possibly say, we were living in an End Times Scenario!
 
The situation which occurred a couple of weeks ago involving the U.S. and Iran, had us all holding our breath in anticipation for a brief time...And caused many to think this may be the shot heard around the world again...Plunging us into the Last Big War of Armageddon!
 
The situation in Iran is a far cry from the Scenario which Scriptures reveal as the Last Battle of Armageddon...BUT...These events... And many others today...DO TIE IN AMAZINGLY PERFECT...
To the EXACT description of nation alignments and events which MUST be present...For the ENTIRE SERIES OF END TIME EVENTS TO OCCUR in our generation!
 
And to show this to you beyond any doubt after all of the false claims in the past... We are going to take a different approach! But really... The ONLY approach that should have EVER been taken...
Rather than speak of a couple of current events, and how they fit into Biblical Prophecy...
We are going to instead... START with a look at ALL of the pieces of Biblical Prophecy which can be understood with clarity...And put ALL of these details together as a COMPLETE PICTURE...THEN... Look at the situation in the Middle East...And see how IT fits into the PICTURE THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DRAWN!
 
The media will never give us a completely accurate telling of WHAT is going on in the Middle East... And especially the WHY? Because we are too worried about being offensive or politically incorrect! But the reasons these countries are so brazen... So unafraid of the chaos and war their actions may cause...Is because they PASSIONATELY LIVE OUT THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS NO MATTER THE COST...And actually desire the war!
 
Their beliefs literally REQUIRE many of the actions & turmoil we currently see in that region of the world...So let's uncover some incredible and even unsettling BIBLICAL FACTS about today's headlines...So that you and I may see God's Hand at work...In unmistakable and exciting ways when we watch the daily news unfold!
 
Israel's Judgment And Jerusalem's Destruction...
 
Many of you have heard me talk about Israel in the Last Days several times before... So today, we will begin our journey here FIRST as well...Because Israel is absolutely God's Centerpiece and Timepiece for ALL that He does in this world throughout Scriptures! PLUS... For those that are not aware of all of the Prophecies involved in Israel's very existence alone today... It is imperative to see the wonder & accuracy of EVERYTHING WHICH HAS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL FOR 2000yrs! God has held a special purpose for Israel since beginning...To become His Instrument of Blessing... And Judgment! For the entire world!
 
Genesis 18:17-18 (NKJV)
 
To make a long Story very short... And skip many verses...
 
God uses Israel to bring His Word to all of mankind, and as a catalyst to spread the Gospel throughout the entire Globe! 
God uses Israel as the Nation through which He brings the Messiah into the world as its Savior! 
And God uses Israel as the Centerpiece to show His wrath for disobedience...  
As well as His power and protection over His own...
 
And God uses Israel as the Centerpiece to bring about the events leading to His Return... 
And God uses Israel as the Timepiece to inform His disciples of the Season in which He WILL Return... 
And God uses Israel as the Place of His Return in the End Times... 
And God uses Israel as the Place of His Dwelling for Eternity when He does Return! 
So you can see why it is SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT to understand where Israel is in the world today...  And how they got there... Before we can weigh the accuracy and trustworthiness of God's Word...And have a true picture of where we are in the End Times Scenario and timetable! Just before Israel even became a Nation for the very first time...God prophesied a time when they would reject Him entirely...And not only be destroyed as a Nation...But be chased from their Land entirely...And scattered, literally, all over the face of the earth...And listen... Persecuted mercilessly like no other race in history...Without a Land... Without a home... Without hope for many years!
 
Deuteronomy 28 (NLT)
 
When that time in history was actually about to come...And Israel rejected Jesus, their Messiah...
Jesus Himself spoke of the coming Judgment that would follow His Crucifixion again... Listen closely!
 
Luke 21 (NLT)
 
And in case you are wondering about God's thoughts and feelings over this Judgment... It tore His heart out to do it... Listen again to Jesus' warning just before He died!
 
Luke 19 (NLT)
 
And notice He predicted that "Not a single stone would be left in place!" He repeats this astounding prophecy again to His disciples at another time!
 
Matthew 24:1-2 (NKJV)
 
So the Jews were to be scattered throughout the world...Hated and mistreated throughout history from that time forth...The City of Jerusalem crushed...And the Temple so destroyed that not one stone was left on top of another...
 
Not only did this happen down to the letter... But it happened... Of all times in history...Right after the Jews literally rejected and crucified their Messiah! (The one time event in all history!) The VERY GENERATION that fulfilled the prophecy of His rejection... Experienced this destruction and dispersion!!
 
In 70 A.D., Titus (Roman General) crushed the City of Jerusalem and destroyed their Temple...
And, then in A.D. 135 drove the Jews completely from Israel into all the world, banning them from even returning to the land!! From then on - they never had a homeland again. Hated, mistreated, killed by world. Labeled "Wandering Jews" (Holocaust) To show how incredibly accurate this prophecy was fulfilled...When Jesus said "there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down"…That is exactly what happened!
 
When the Romans burned the Temple in 70 AD, soldiers saw large amounts of gold melted into the crevices of the blocks...To recover it, they took the entire Temple apart, stone by stone! That is why there is not a trace of where the Temple actually stood today... Even though the stones ranged in weight from 2 to 5 tons (smallest)...To the largest, which is 46ft long, by 10ft high, by 10ft deep... Weighing an estimated 415 tons! (1) In comparison the stones used at Stonehenge (40 tons) and in the pyramids (15 tons)! (1)
 
(1) Biblical Archeology Society Online Archives, How Herod Moved Gigantic Blocks to Construct Temple Mount, Review 7:3, May/June 1981, By Murray Stein, Retrieved 1-18-20 from https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/7/3/3
 
THIS ALONE was an astounding, and a mathematically incomprehensible fulfillment of prophecy to the last detail! But even all of this was just the beginning of a multitude of even more bizarre prophecies to follow!!
 
Israel's Return!
 
God made another unusual and difficult to fulfill prophecy about Israel's Land... That was to occur during the Jews dispersion for many years...
 
Ezekiel 38:8 (NKJV)
 
The Greek word for desolate here is chorbah (khor-baw')...Meaning literally drought, desolate, decayed, destroyed, wasted away...So the land of Israel was to become wasted and barren before they returned home in the Latter Days...Well, let's simply let history speak for itself since we are now on this side of the events! Listen to these writings of people who visited Israel through the last 700 years!!
 
Nachmanides- 1267, great Jewish scholar -"Deserted & laid waste..."
 
George Sandys- 1610, son of Edwin Sandys, archbishop of York, was an English traveler, colonist, and poet- "...land was bare of trees. The country is a vast empty ruin."
 
Mark Twain, visited in 1867- “blistering, naked, treeless land.”,
"... given over wholly to weeds - a silent mournful expanse ... There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country."
 
So again, unusual and specific prophecies were fulfilled to the Tee... Proven in our history now!
But the really amazing part of these prophesies of Israel...Is what was suppose to happen to the dispersed Jews...

Ezekiel 37:12-14 (NKJV)
 
The interesting thing is WHEN this is suppose to happen... Listen again closely!
 
Ezekiel 38:8 (NKJV)
 
Luke 21 (NLT)
 
Hosea 3:4-5 (NKJV)
 
Never in history has a nation been completely demolished and dispersed...And returned to their own land again...With their culture, language, religion and heritage still intake! And THINK ON THIS... The poor Jewish people…Who had been without a home for 1900 YEARS...Had no political power or influence...No army of their own...Had been hunted for extinction by the
millions...Had no voice, position or control in any other country...They were simply abused, dwindled to nothing, helpless people, scattered aimlessly around the Globe!
 
And then it happened!!!...In 1948... The Jews were given their very Homeland AGAIN...AND ISRAEL WAS REBORN AS A NATION OVERNIGHT!
 
Isaiah 66:8 (NLT)
 
Against all odds...After almost 2000 years...A hopeless, homeless, powerless group of hunted vagabonds...Became a Nation again!!!  As prophesied!
 
But now these poor people had come home to a land that we have already established had become desolate and worthless!!! With no economy, no military, no government...What would happen now?
How would they make it in this land? How long would it take them to possibly take root and survive?
Again... Scriptures gave one of the most astounding prophesies yet...Of an amazing transformation that would occur when the Jews came home!
 
Ezekiel 36:8-9, 29-30, 34-36 (NKJV)
 
Isaiah 41:18-20 (NKJV)
 
Isaiah 27:6 (NKJV)
 
Let's just allow modern day agricultural and forestry reports speak for God's Work here: Even though more than 1/2 the land is desert, with improper climate and water... (2)Israel has become so agriculturally blessed that it can live off of 2/3 of it's own production!! (2)And export the remaining 1/3 to the world!! (2)Agricultural production has expanded 16 times, three times more than population growth. (3)
 
(2) Urban Agricultural Notes, Agricultural Development of Israel, Retrieved on December 1, 2012 from website http://www.cityfarmer.org/Israelperiurban.html
 
(3) "Agriculture In Israel", Retrieved on December 1, 2012 from website http://www.israel-embassy.org.uk/web/pages/agrisrel.htm
 
In the 1800's had less than 1000 trees in whole land...Today over 300 million trees (fruit and forest)
Only country in world to enter 21st century with net gain of trees!!! (4)
 
(4) "Forestry and Ecology," The Jewish National Fund,
http://www.jnf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Forestry_and_Ecology, accessed April 28, 2006
 
We have seen areas of the world go from fertile to wilderness in our time...  (Sahara Desert grows in Africa) But we have never seen wastelands turned fertile!!! Here is part of a recent summary about Israel's economy IN GENERAL, just one generation after becoming a Nation...
 
"Israel is one of the most resilient and technologically-advanced market economies in the world.... The country ranks 1st in availability of scientists and engineers, number of start-ups per capita, and venture capital investments per capita... Over the years, Israel has experienced a high average rate of growth. Given its small consumer market domestically, Israel has strategically turned beyond its borders to sell its products and offer its technologies." (5)
 
(5) Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest San Francisco, The Israeli Economy Today, Retrieved on 1-18-20 from  https://embassies.gov.il/san-francisco/AboutIsrael/Economy/Pages/The-Israeli-Economy-Today.aspx
 
THIS is an objective description, from today’s headlines…Of a country made up of desperate fugitives returning to a desolate and barren land just 70 years ago!! You tell me... Did God miraculously fulfill His prophecies about Israel's return of a fertile land or not?!  YOU AND I ARE SEEING PROPHECY FIRST HAND!
 
But in all of this... There was ONE MAJOR PIECE of the puzzle still missing! Many of the most important End Time Prophecies involved Jerusalem...Israel's prized City of David! And it was still owned by an enemy neighbor, Jordan! But something happened in 1967…Which was literally, nothing short of a miracle!! In 1967, only 20 years after becoming a Nation... (Infant stage militarily!) Israel was attacked with the intentions of wiping it from the earth by THREE larger, more powerful countries simultaneously! (Egypt, Syria & Jordan!) In just six days... Israel not only defended itself successfully...But pushed back the attackers...Taking back it's Ancient Capital of Jerusalem in the battle!! In a victory that was nothing short of totally miraculous...Israel now has it's Ancient City back... Just as Prophesied!!
 
History.com described the loss this way:
 
"It was later estimated that some 20,000 Arabs and 800 Israelis had died in just 132 hours of fighting... The leaders of the Arab states were left shocked by the severity of their defeat." (6)
 
(6) Six-Day War, History.com Editors, Aug 21, 2018, retrieved 1-18-20 from https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/six-day-war
 
Zechariah 12:2-3 NKJV

Every facet of Israel's…
 
Destruction,
Land Desolation,
Re-gathering against all odds,
Re-flourishing of their land,
Return of Jerusalem, and
Divine Protection…
 
Has been WITNESSED by ONE generation!!! AND CAN BE CONFIRMED IN HISTORY! WE HAVE NO EXCUSE TO DOUBT GOD'S WORD…EVEN IF THIS WAS OUR ONLY EVIDENCE!! ISRAEL IS EXACTLY WHERE GOD SAID SHE WOULD BE IN THE END TIMES... LOOKING LIKE HE SAID SHE WOULD LOOK... OVER 2000YRS AGO! AND THIS IS JUST ONE PIECE OF THE PICTURE!
ONE ACTOR ON THE STAGE!
 
Wait until you see the entire performance!!
 
What are you waiting on?