The present and coming events on planet earth center on the nation of Israel. They are the focus of God’s activities, even when His attention seems to be on the nations of this world. This is so because Israel is the only nation with whom the Sovereign God has made an everlasting, unconditional covenant. This covenant, which remains unfulfilled, will be fulfilled because the Lord God has sworn that He would completely fulfill it. This covenant will not be fulfilled with the Church, but with the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And it is through this covenant that all of God’s advertised purposes connected with this planet will take place. No detail will be overlooked.
God’s Unbreakable Purpose. God has not left mankind in the dark about His goals. It is His intention to restore and to reconcile all that was lost back in Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. At that moment in time, God could have destroyed everything and started over again. However, He chose to restore and to do so through an unbreakable covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It would be through a physical descendant of Abraham, Jesus Christ, that this covenant would be fulfilled. A key part of this Abrahamic covenant was a “sub-covenant”, which is commonly referred to as the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). This New Covenant focused on dealing with sin and restoring Israel (and the gentiles) back to God. By means of His death on the Cross, and bodily resurrection from the dead, the greatest problem of sin was completely taken care of. But when Jesus came to earth, the covenant people rejected Him. This amazing act of unbelief on the part of Israel made it impossible for God, at that time, to fulfill His covenant promises. But eventually, He will fulfill them. Jesus was clear that the end time events, including the establishment of His kingdom on this present earth would not take place until Israel accepted Him as their messiah and savior. In Matthew 23:39, Jesus said, “…from now on you shall not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” A future generation in Israel will turn to Jesus Messiah. The salvation of national Israel was, and is, a key to God’s planned restoration and reconciliation.
The nation of Israel spiritually here in the 21st century seems quite similar to Israel in the 1st century. After all these centuries, they still have not come to recognize Jesus as their messiah. However, that is going to change. The coming Tribulation, along with the Gog/Magog war (Ezek. 38-39) will tear the spiritual blindfold off of national Israel and they will come to Him in unprecedented numbers. Note carefully the testimony of the O.T. and N.T. scriptures.
“For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the gentiles has come in: and thus, all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’ ‘And this is My Covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’” (Rom. 11:25-27)
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David, a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness’.” (Jer. 23:5-6)
“Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…and I will be their God and they shall be My people…for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34)
“And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.” (Zech. 12:10)
During the coming Tribulation, Israel will come to Jesus and these promises will be fulfilled. And then in the Tribulation, Israel will become what they were always supposed to be; a marvelous light to the gentile nations. And the result will be that gentile people, from all the nations, in great numbers will come to receive the forgiveness of sins promised in the New Covenant (Rev. 7:9-14). God’s promises and purposes will come to pass completely.
Today’s Events and God’s Purpose. God certainly does not waste any events as the world is moving along in these end times. While that terrible war with Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023, is not specifically found in Scripture, the student of the Scriptures understands that this surely is part of the preparation for the end time events that are described in the Bible. There are two things of note. First, this war has brought renewed preparations on the part of Israel’s enemies. While Hamas is likely going to be completely defeated, Syria, Iran and Russia continue to pour armaments into a close proximity to Israel, as they also accumulate a great deal of intelligence. Eventually, all these will probably be part of the Gog/Magog battle. And the second matter related to the present war is the impact that the Hamas war has had on the Jewish people. They were, and are, shocked by the brutality and evil of October 7th. It was holocaust-like. The result has been, according to a variety of sources, that many of the hearts of the Jewish people have softened and become more open to spiritual things. And, in my opinion, this is part of the preparation for the spiritual awakening of Israel, when that spiritual blindfold is finally and completely removed from their eyes.
The Future War with Gog/Magog. Most Bible students are quite aware of the prophesied war that Ezekiel 38 and 39 talks about. It is a massive invasion of Israel by Russia, Iran and a whole group of Islamic nations (but not Egypt). As this huge force invades Israel, God will intervene and bring about a terrible destruction of these invading armies. Space does not permit a detailed look at this coming battle, but there are four points that need to be made.
This war is led by a nation from the far north of Israel.
Over the centuries, Israel has regularly been invaded from the north, whether that was Babylon, Assyria, or others. But Ezekiel is clear that this invasion will be led by a nation from as far north as one can go. Russia is the only nation that fits this geographical statement (Ezek. 38:6, 15; 39:2). And so, the present filtering in of Russian troops and armaments into the area of Syria, just north of Israel, is noteworthy.
This war is a certainty. This is an important war in bringing about the fulfillment of God’s purposes. Ezekiel 39:8 declares: “Behold, it is coming and it shall be done, declares the Lord God. That is the day of which I have spoken.” No one, including Satan, will be able to back out of this coming war. Even if the Evil One understands the spiritual significance of it, he cannot keep it from taking place. And those nations, blinded by their deep hatred of Israel, will surely want to invade and destroy the Jewish people.
This war is initiated by the Lord God. We often are awed by the apparent power and intelligence of leaders and nations. It appears that they are in charge. However, Ezekiel is quite clear that the Lord will force the hand of Putin (or whoever is leading Russia) and his colleagues to invade Israel. It almost seems that they are somewhat reluctant to attack. God has His timing and He is going “to summon” Russia in the “latter days” to invade Israel (38:8). And Ezekiel 39:2 adds: “and I shall turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel.” It is quite clear who is calling the shots here. It is not man or the Devil, but the Lord God. We must never forget that it is the Lord God who is sovereign over all men and all nations (note Psalm 2).
This war triggers Israel’s returning back to the Lord. Of the greatest importance is the purpose for this battle, as it is revealed by Ezekiel. In 39:22, the prophet states: “and the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.” When God destroys this large invading force in that war, Israel’s secularization and atheism will begin to evaporate. This will begin the process which will, in the Tribulation, bring millions of Jewish people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their messiah and savior. God will bring a complete fulfillment of His covenant commitments.
As we continue to observe unsettling events in our world, and especially in the middle-east, we need to remind ourselves that the Lord Jehovah, God of Israel, is all-knowing and all-powerful. His will is good and perfect and He will bring all things to completion just as He has promised.
All the pieces may not be exactly in place at the moment, but all the pieces are lying on the table and can be quickly assembled. It does appear that the direction is moving towards the biblical end times. God’s timing is always perfect; as He is never too early and never too late. “In the fullness of time” these events of the end times will unfold. The “season” does seem to be here, and this is another reminder that we should number our days and maximize the opportunities in our lives to serve the coming King Jesus.
