The Israel War & Prophecy

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]