THE ISRAEL WAR & PROPHECY
Rev. 12:1-5,13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
The Sunday School teacher asked her class of small boys how Solomon happened to be so wise. One little boy said, "That’s because he had so many wives to advise him."
B. TEXT
1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne….13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. Rev. 12:1-5, 13
C. THESIS
1. Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 with approx. 5,000 missiles and a ground invasion resulting in over 1,000 Israelis killed or kidnapped. In response Israel has mobilized 360,000 reservists and is trying to eliminate Hamas.
2. I’ve been asked my opinion by a number people about these events; “Is this war a fulfillment of Bible prophecy?” The title of this message is “The Israel War & Prophecy.”
I. BACKGROUND: IRRATIONAL HATRED OF ISRAEL
A. ALL THRU HISTORY, NATIONS HAVE TRIED TO EXTERMINATE THE JEWS
1. EGYPT. Pharaoh declared, “Kill the firstborn of Israel; throw all the baby boys into the River.”
2. HAMAN of Persia. “Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes” Es. 3:6.
3. ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES. “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws Dan. 7:25.
4. HEROD THE GREAT. “Herod…gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity” Mt. 2:16.
5. ROMANS. In 70 A.D. they killed and drove out the Jews making Jerusalem a non-Jewish city.
6. HITLER/STALIN. 6 Million Jews killed by Hitler, millions more by Stalin.
7. There have been seven wars by Arab states against Israel; 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, and 2006, 2023. The Yom Kippur War in 1973 involved the Arab nations of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and other Arab states. Into this traditional mix has been added Iran.
B. DEFINITION OF GENOCIDE
1. Genocide (def.) – “The deliberate killing of a large group of people, esp. those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” The Jewish people have been the most persecuted of any people on the planet.
2. “DESTROY ISRAEL” On Feb. 19, 2012, there were 24,400,000 hits. On Oct. 10, 2023 there were 608,000,000 GOOGLE HITS! It’s now 24X as many!
3. GROWTH OF ANTISEMITISM
a. Josef Schuster, leader of Germany’s largest Jewish organization, recently urged Jews not to wear kippas in Berlin’s public spaces. He suggested, instead, to wear baseball caps. “It’s become just too dangerous,” he explained (Associated Press).
b. “Today, entering a synagogue anywhere in Sweden requires airport-like security checks. Children at the Jewish kindergarten in Malmo play behind bulletproof glass” (New York Times).
c. In 2018, the U.K. logged a record 1,382 hate crimes against Jews, an increase of 34 percent. In the U.S., anti-Semitic incidents rose 57 percent, the largest increase ever recorded. [JewishVoice.org]
4. Rev. 12:1-5, 13 pictures the irrational hatred and genocide against the Jews. This desire isn’t physical – it’s spiritual in origin. Satan hates God’s elect people because God used them to originate the Bible and to birth the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
5. ANTICHRIST. Zech. 13:8 indicates the Antichrist will embark on a genocide against the Jews, "In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one third will be left in it." The Lord Jesus said (Matt. 24:22), "If those days had not been shortened, no one would survive..." Rev. 13:7 says, "[Antichrist] was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them."
C. CURRENT IRANIAN STANCE: DESTROY THEM
1. “The deputy head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, said that Tehran’s strategy was to eventually wipe Israel off the “global political map” and that “any war it starts will end with its elimination.” [The Times of Israel, Jan. 28, 2019.]
2. In 2014, Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, declared, “Wiping Israel off the map is not up for negotiation.” [Independent (UK) 4:1:2015]
3. Yesterday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, taunted Israelis (Oct. 10) on Twitter in Hebrew saying, "Zionist Tyrants: You will never arise from your defeat ...the 7th of October. You brought this calamity upon yourselves." Khamenei lauded Hamas for its brazen, multi-pronged assault that has killed more than 1,000 Israelis since Saturday. Khamenei has also called for Israel’s extermination.
4. It’s clear that Iran is dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish people.
II. THE PROPHETIC CLOCK IS TICKING!
A. JERUSALEM WILL BE THE FOCUS OF END-TIME ACTIVITY
1. It’s interesting how it always comes back to Jerusalem. The Bible predicted, thousands of years ago, that the end time events would revolve around Jerusalem. Not San Francisco. Not Los Angeles. Not Moscow. Not Paris.
2. But Jerusalem, this tiny little city, in this tiny sliver of land, will play a key role in the events of the last days. In Zech. 12:3, God says, “On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.”
B. SCATTERED, BUT REGATHERED
1. ISRAEL SCATTERED, WILL BE REGATHERED. The Bible tells us in the end times that Israel would be scattered and regathered. This has happened, and this really was the sign that set the prophetic clock ticking.
2. END-TIME PROPHECY ABOUT MAGOG & IRAN. The regathering of Israel is pictured in Ezek. 37, the bones all coming back together. In the next chapter, 38, God pictures her being attacked from the north by a major power, accompanied by many allies. Gog & Magog have been identified with as Russia with her middle east allies: Persia (Iraq, Iran, Afghans); Cush (Egypt, Sudan); Put (Lybia); Gomer (Countries around the Black Sea) and Togarmah (Syria, Turkey).
3. This current attack on Israel is NOT the fulfillment of the Ezek. 37-38 prophecy, but it is a forerunner of it.
III. WHAT’S COMING NEXT?
A. A WIDER CONFLICT
1. THE WAR WILL SPREAD (EAST & NORTH). Max Abrahms says, “The war will most likely spread. It will spread into the West Bank. And it could spread into Israel’s northern border.” A war with Hezbollah may open on Israel’s northern front, Abrahms says. It could cause an “enormous amount of destruction” in southern Lebanon and Syria.
2. Saudi Arabia and Israel share the same adversary in Iran. Saudi Arabia, like Israel, has been struck by Iranian backed terrorists. “If this does become an open conflict between Israel and Iran, it could actually strengthen Saudi ties.” Abrahms says he doesn’t see Israel requesting U.S. military support – unless the war widens to include conflict with Iran. [Cynthia M. Hibbert, Northeastern Global News]
B. A STRIKE ON IRAN
1.The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 8 that “Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel Over Several Weeks: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gave the final go-ahead last Monday in Beirut.” Other news agencies have verified this.
2. Iran’s primary goals are: to prevent a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel (Abraham Accords) and to sow disarray throughout the region. Another goal is to marginalize the Palestinian Authority and elevate Hamas, thus making a two-state solution impossible. It’s not Hamas and Hezbollah calling the shots in terrorism, it’s Iran.
3. The only way to stop Hamas and Hezbollah is to treat Iran as the attacker and punish it. Alan Dershowitz & Andrew Stein suggest that the best deterrent to Iran is the destruction of its nuclear-weapons program. This also might weaken the government and could lead to regime change. This could slow the middle East nuclear arms race for many years.
4. The international community would publicly criticize such a military action, but many world leaders, including in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, would understand and even welcome it because it’s better the terrorist state of Iran doesn’t have a nuclear arsenal.
5. Dershowitz and Stein allege: Iran is a legitimate military target for Israel, because through its surrogates, it has waged war on Israel. Under international law, Israel has the right to retaliate militarily. The preemptive strike would prevent the mullahs from obtaining nuclear weapons they have threatened to use against Israel. This would lead to peace.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUS.: JESUS IS COMING BACK; ARE WE READY?
1. There is a lesson peach farmers tell about the right time to pick a peach. If you grab a peach and you have to pull as though that peach is holding on for dear life, it’s not ready to be picked and you can damage the limb that it is attached to. But if you grab another and it has little resistance, but comes off without pulling the limb too far, then that peach is ready to pick and put for sale on the fruit stand. The less the resistance in picking it, the readier it is to go.
2. There’s a spiritual parallel to that: if Jesus were to come back today, would we be ready to let go of this world? How attached to it are we? Would it be a struggle? Or would it be no problem to let go?
B. ILLUS.: “YOU CAN HAVE MY HOME, JOHN”
1. There was a Christian doctor in London who wanted to get the attention of a servant in his household. One night the doctor explained to him that "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout" (1 Thess. 4:16). After he explained the rapture and how all believers in Christ would be removed to heaven he said,
2. "When the Lord comes, you can have my home, John." The young man was surprised and suddenly excited. Then the doctor added, "And you can also have my Mercedes car and all the money in my bank accounts!" The young man could only gasp, "Thanks!"
3. But later that night alone in bed, John began to think. "If the doctor and all the other good people have gone to heaven and I be left out, what good will his house or car or all the rest do me?"
4. Finally he woke up the doctor and explained that he would rather go in the rapture than to have all the doctor’s assets. And before the next morning, John also was one of those waiting for the Second Coming of Christ! Are you?
C. ALTAR CALL
1. Things that float. Some things float and some things don’t. The things that didn’t float in Noah’s time are the same things that are weighing this world down today. Sin, selfishness, disobedience, ungodliness, greed, violence – all these sank the world of Noah’s day. They will sink yours too.
2. The ark of Noah was the ONLY way that one could be saved from the coming judgment due to sin. Christ is our ONLY way to be saved from the coming judgment due to sin.
3. PRAYER
[QUOTES FROM: Alan Dershowitz & Andrew Stein, “The only way to deter terrorist attacks on Israel is to punish who’s responsible: Iran,” Oct. 8, 2023, NY Post; “War in Israel: A Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy?” Greg Laurie on Oct 9, 2023; “Hamas attack on Israel is a ‘major strategic mistake’ for the Palestinian cause, expert says. Will it escalate to war with Iran?” Cynthia McCormick Hibbert & Max Abrahms Oct. 7, 2023, cssh.northeastern.edu]
