Britain SANCTIONS the Heartland of Israel

This Bible in the news is based on something from a couple of weeks ago now but is certainly significant when it comes to the mountains of Israel.

Christadelphians have typically believed for a long time at this point, that the Tarshish power spoken of in scripture, is a reference to the British Isles. We know from various Bible passages that this was a real place, accessible to the Mediterranean with ships, a merchant trading power, which acted as a source of tin in ancient levant. In recent times, there’s been more evidence of tin ingots coming from Cornwall dating back as far as the 13th-14th century BCE. Pretty amazing evidence that Britain was a key source of tin for Israel in Bible times.

In Ezekiel 38 (An armageddon prophecy), Tarshish is still an identifiable power in the latter days, who challenges the northern invader and his armies, when they sweep down into the land of Israel. Because of this challenge (found in Eze 38:13), it makes sense that Britain as latter-day Tarshish should stand separate from the European nations who make up the confederacy of nations that attack the Jewish people. The book of Revelation also pictures Catholic Europe as a latter-day Roman beast. The individual kings in this area willingly give their power to the beast (Rev 17). Britain has never really been true part of that system down through history, so it seems unlikely that this change in the latter days.

This is why Brexit was so exciting to many Bible readers - it was expected that Britain would move further away from the political union on Europe’s mainland. But all of that being said, a few weeks ago, Ed Miliband, the new UK foreign secretary announced targeted sanctions on Judea and Samaria, the so called West Bank. The Joint statement condemning the ‘West Bank settlements included the countries: UK, Canada, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden. Basically, with a few others, this was Britain acting against Israel in tandem with the EU. Britain placed a sanction on all good imported from the ‘West Bank region” - from the mountains of Israel. This action is partly symbolic, since Britain didn’t import that much from the region but it is still major on the world stage. Its probable that the reason Ed Miliband made the statement now, is because of a by-election coming up soon in the UK.

Looking at scripture, I think it would be fair to say that in the long run, we would expect a little more political distance between Europe and the UK. That’s why the rise of Reform on the UK right is so interesting. It looks more likely that the right of UK politics will deliver a separation that would be more in line with Ezekiel 38.

The Speech

So with these scriptures in mind let’s listen to a few segments of the speech that Ed Miliband made to Parliament:

“Madame Deputy Speaker, at the time of the Oslo peace accords in 1993, around 270,000 settlers lived in the occupied Palestinian territories. Today it is some 770,000. More settlements have been approved under the four years of this Israeli government than in the previous twenty years”.

Obviously, Ed Miliband is pointing out this explosion of growth as an appalling fact. However, to those who are familiar with Bible Prophecy, this has to be so exciting. The way he is talking, he might as well be paraphrasing Ezekiel 36. The UK foreign secretary is recognising that men have been multiplying upon the mountains of Israel and that the ancient wastes are being builded. Its not just the Christadelphians who are saying this. The facts on the ground testify to the truth that Bible prophecy is being fulfilled. And more than this, he also makes the same observation that has been made on Bible in the News many times over the past year or two. The settlement building has been speeding up over the last four years. We are living in the era of the latter days and we have seen so much building take place. To God’s enemies this a catastrophe as it is cementing Israel’s place in the mountains of Israel, which is precisely the wrong direction they wish events to go. However to those who look for redemption in Israel it is a beautiful thing.

“Ethnic cleansing is defined by the UN as ‘a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.’ The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank - perpetrated by settler terrorists. And all too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians”.

This is the part of the speech that is perhaps the most outrageous. When Hitler attempted to ethnically cleanse Europe of Jews the figures told the horrific story. Europes Jewish population went from around 9 million to 3 million in just 10 years. However when the statistics are examined for the Arab population of the so called “west bank” they do not tell this kind of story, or anything close to it. While it is sadly the case that many Arabs are used as pawns by the Palestinian Authority in a far bigger game and therefore living in awful situations sometimes, it is simply not true that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing against this population. The Arab population in these areas was 3.25 million in October of 2023 and is now nearly 3.5 million. The population hasn’t simply not been “removed” to quote Ed Milaband, but it has grown!  We look at these figures not to make a political point but simply to point out that nowadays, Ed Miliband’s rhetoric is not just accepted, but people expect their leaders to make comments like this about Israel. In many cases, they are under pressure to do so - that’s certainly true for the UK Labour Party. Around the world, the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age has become far more antisemitic

“And as part of this regime, we will go further. We will take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion. So to those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this, you will face the full force of UK sanctions. Settlements are illegal. They should not be promoted in our country”.

If he is wanting to ban the promotion of settlements perhaps he should also ban the prophet Ezekiel. And Isaiah - who heralds the arrival of the cities of Judah. And Zechariah as well. In fact Jesus talks about Jerusalem being trodden down of the gentiles until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled. But that would include east Jerusalem, which is also behind the green line - and therefore, illegal.

The Bible says that God is “for” the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 36:9). The Bible says that God will cause his people to return from exile and build again their waste cities in the mountains of Israel (Eze 36:10).

We can see that we are in the latter days, we can see the ancient wastes being builded, as the prophecies said. That means that Ed Miliband is directly condemning and sanctioning the very pieces of equipment (for e.g. he talks about construction) that God is using to bring about his purpose. When Ed Milaband condemns the settling of Jews on the mountains of Judea he is not outlawing the ambitions of the State of Israel but the declared purpose of the living God!

The bottom-line is that Ed Miliband may oppose God’s purpose with Israel, and he may justify this opposition with lies against God’s people, but ultimately there is no doubt God will prevail. The settlements will keep being built. And sadly, no doubt, antisemitism will continue to grow. Even in my pretty short lifetime, its clear to see that October 7th was a major turning point. Since then, everything changed, and the world turned against God’s people. God’s purpose will continue to march on and the question for us is whether we want to be a part of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, when the Lord Jesus returns to the earth, to re-establish the throne of David. Then, and only then, Israel will be the head of the nations and no longer the tail.

This has been Daniel Blackburn joining you for this week’s edition of Bible in the News.