Recent news has reported increased pressure on Israel. From within and without, she is being pushed to accept a Palestinian State with her own borders drawn at indefensible lines. If we look at this situation through the lens of Bible prophecy, it’s not difficult to imagine that this pressure may force Israel into the false peace treaty needed for the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38–39.
On September 10, Ethan Bronner of the New York Times in the article, “Beyond Cairo, Israel Sensing a Wider Siege” wrote:
With its Cairo embassy ransacked, its ambassador to Turkey expelled and the Palestinians seeking statehood recognition at the United Nations, Israel found itself on Saturday increasingly isolated and grappling with a radically transformed Middle East where it believes its options are limited and poor.
The prophecy in Ezekiel 38–39 tells of nations launching an attack against Israel, possibly just after the peace of the first half of the Tribulation has ended (Daniel 9:27). The prophecy assumes two conditions: Israel would be in her land (already fulfilled), and there would be an assumed peace (possibly coming soon). As I wrote in my book Understanding the Times:
In contrast to the necessarily tense, ever-ready, and thoroughly prepared posture of Israel today, she will be caught off guard by this battle.
But doesn’t the recent news increase the tension Israel faces with her neighbors? Perhaps, but nations which have been more tolerant of Israel in the last several decades are becoming increasingly radically Islamic. Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Cairo was quoted in the Times article, “Egypt is not going toward democracy but toward Islamicization. It is the same in Turkey and in Gaza. It is just like what happened in Iran in 1979.”
With an increase in hostilities against Israel has come an increase in pressure on Israel, from without and within, to seek peace. Even the United States, Israel’s remaining international ally, has urged Israel to seek peace with the Palestinians—even if it means returning to pre-1967 borders. The pressure from within Israel is no less. Again from the Times article:
“The world is tired of this conflict and angry at us because we are viewed as conquerors, ruling over another people,” said Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a Labor Party member of Parliament and a former defense minister. “If I were Bibi Netanyahu, I would recognize a Palestinian state. We would then negotiate borders and security. Instead nothing is happening. We are left with one ally, America, and that relationship is strained, too.“
It’s not difficult to imagine—in today’s political climate—an Israel who desperately seeks peace at any cost. Her neighbors actively support the terrorist groups who seek her destruction. How long can a nation resist the calls for peace when her own people want it so desperately?
Since September 11, 2001, America has been blessed in preventing any additional terrorist attacks on her soil. The threat of attack is distant for most Americans; taking off our shoes at the airport is the most direct result most of us face. But what if our own neighbors sought our destruction? What if terrorists in Vancouver were firing missiles into the United States, and we were condemned by the United Nations for defending our borders? Any moral society cannot long stand to watch their people being killed, and their soldiers forced to fight against an enemy who hides amongst civilians.
The pressure is mounting against Israel to accept peace at any price. While it seems every recent U.S. president has sought to “solve” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Bible only offers promises for supporting one nation—Israel. The day will come when Israel has no choice but to settle for a false peace, but before that day comes we can—and should—still stand by Israel.
As the Bible prophesies, the world will turn against Israel. Nations will attack en masse the tiny nation, and God will deliver her. Why does God allow Israel to face this hostility and then come to her rescue when she faces total destruction? In it, all nations will know our God is the Lord!
Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. (Ezekiel 38:23; 39:21‚ 22)
