Q&A: Are Current Israeli Wars a Sign of the End Times?

Question: Are the current three wars that Israel is dealing with a sign of the End of the Age?

It does seem that every time there is a conflict involving Israel, many see it as a sign of the approaching end times. The problem with this is that we may eventually tire of these ongoing conflicts and not recognize when true, prophetically significant events are occurring. So in some ways, conflicts in Israel are not necessarily a sign of the end times. However they are sign that Satan is hard at work trying to destroy God’s people. He believes that if he can do this, Jesus will not have a reason to return in an effort to save them. That's right, Satan is delusional, but he is also desperate not to be confined in the Lake of Fire for eternity.

When Abraham wandered into the land c. 2,000 B.C., there were already ten tribes ruling the area. Abraham was only able to eventually buy a small plot of land to bury himself and his wife Sarah (Genesis 23:2-4). And, he had to pay ten times the going rate for a small cave. His son Isaac and grandson Jacob did not fare much better. Thanks to the blessings of God, they had great herds of livestock, but were in constant conflicts with other tribes concerning grazing and water rights. It was when one million plus Israelites returned to the land from a 400 year stay in Egypt that the conflicts begin in earnest.

In c.1,500 B.C. Joshua defeated most of the tribes, and in 1,000 B.C. David defeated the rest making the land once called Canaan Land, named after the son of Ham, the land of Judah known today as Israel. But that lasted only eighty years and the kingdom split in a civil war that ended with invasions and occupations by the Syrian and Babylonian Empires. Then in 70 A.D. Rome completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem and scattered the Jewish population to the four corners of the world.

Scripture is clear that the Jews continue to be persecuted for three reasons. First and foremost, their religious leadership conspired to have Jesus executed. Second, the Jewish race continues to this day to deny Jesus as Messiah and refuses to consult Scripture for accurate information on this subject. Third, because Abraham illegitimately fathered Ishmael the father of the Arab race, God told him that the Arabs would always be enemies of the Jewish race (Genesis 16:12). For these reasons, the Jews have been constantly persecuted by Arabs and will never find a Safe City or City of Refuge until their Messiah returns (Exodus 21:12-14). It is true that the Jews were gifted the land of Israel in 1948, but the Arabs have been at war with them on this issue since that time. As a result, conflicts in Israel and the persecutions of Jews in general are not necessarily reliable indicators of the arrival of the End of the Age.

That said, the Bible does speak of two wars (one and the same) that are part of the end time scenario. They are found in the Book of Psalms chapter 83, and the Book of Ezekiel chapter 38. They prophesize that Israel will defeat its current surrounding enemies and expand its territory. The current wars between Gaza and Lebanon seem to fit this scenario. According to these prophecies, Israel will defeat both these Islamic terrorist controlled regimes and occupy the territories. They will do this in an effort to prevent these two countries citizens from electing and supporting future terrorist groups sponsored by anti-Israeli Arab countries such as Iran. Israel will not declare these countries as part of their nation. Instead, they will police these countries as they rebuild and establish democratic governments. This will then be the famous time of peace the Bible speaks of.

But it is also then that Israel will suddenly be attacked by a Muslim ‘army of the willing'. It will primarily involve the army of Iran, the war strategy with assistance of Russia and the weapons manufacturing capabilities of North Korea. Today North Korea supplies Russia with most of its military supplies. Bible prophecy states that God will personally destroy these invading armies, and Israel will further expand its territory to include portions of Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and possibly Jordan and Egypt. Israel controlled the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula from 1967 until 1979 when it was given back to Egypt as part of a peace treaty arrangement. It is this expansion that will cause the U.N. to create a 7 year Arab peace treaty with Israel in the hope of stopping further expansion into other neighboring nations. This is the time when we will see the rise of the Antichrist also known as the Word Leader or the Beast (Isaiah 28:18; Daniel 9:27). The peace treaty will allow Israel to rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15; II Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 11:1). Then, 3.5 years into the treaty, the Antichrist will break this covenant with Israel resulting in a worldwide persecution of the Jews (Daniel 9:27; 12:11; Zechariah 11:16; Matthew 24:21; Revelation 12:13). Israel will be invaded 3.5 years later, and in the final year of the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist will lead the "armies of the world" in an effort to completely annihilate the Jewish race from the face of the earth. This military effort is known as the War of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16).

On the final day of the Great Tribulation period, the Jews will finally repent of their prideful ways and beg God to send a redeemer (Zachariah 12:10; Hosea 5:15). It is then that Christ will appear followed by His Saints. He will instantly destroy the wicked of the world with only a word, and usher in a one thousand year reign of peace on earth and good will towards all mankind (Zechariah 12:10; Jerimiah 33: 8; Ezekiel 11:17; Romans 11:26). Israel will be regenerated, restored and regathered with Christ ruling the world from the Temple in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 33:8; Ezekiel 11:17; Psalms 2:6-9; Daniel 7:13-14; Romans 11:26; Revelation 11:15).

So, the ongoing war currently in the headlines could very well be the start of the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7). Israel is now fighting to permanently end the incessant bombings from Hezbollah to its north in Lebanon, from Hamas to its south in the Gaza Strip and from Iran to its far east. We also see Jews returning to Israel in greater and greater numbers to escape the ever increasing persecution in Europe and America (Deuteronomy 30:3; Isaiah 43:6; Ezekiel 34:11-13, 36:24, 37:1-14).

Here are the timing parameters. Israel became a nation on May 16th 1948, but did not control Jerusalem until the 1967 War. Jesus said that the generation that saw the rebirth of Israel would live to see the Second Coming also known as the Day of the Lord. The longest time given for a generation is found in the Book of Psalms and it is 80 years. So if we add 80 years to the year 1967 we get the year 2047. And if we subtract 7 years to allow for the Tribulation Period, we arrive at the year 2040. This date is probably the outer date for the Rapture to occur and the start of the Tribulation Period. Thus the Rapture would be expected to occur at any time during the next 15 years followed by the Tribulation Period. And it is the sudden Rapture of possibly as many as 4.5 billion Christians and children that will cause the world to enter a period of unparalleled chaos never before experienced since the time of creation (Matthew 24:21).