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Israel Boosts Ties with Middle East Nations
The Bible is clear that just prior to Armageddon there will be a period of peace in the Land of Israel
As Bible believers we know that prior to the Battle of Armageddon there will be a period of peace in the land of Israel. This peace is to be throughout the whole land, but particularly upon the “mountains of Israel”. This is most clear in Ezekiel 38 which describes a future event where the northern confederacy of nations comes against a land known as “the land of unwalled villages”. The returned of Israel are described as “dwelling safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bar nor gates”. The text is very clear that “they shall dwell safely, all of them”. This is not “some of them”, but “all of them”. It has been suggested that what is being described to us is a people simply “dwelling confidently” (which some renderings of the word safely can be consistent with”, however the text is clear that not only are they dwelling with confidence it is without walls, bars and gates.
We have to be up front with the fact that what we see in the land today is not this. This should not be of surprise to us as what is described here is the situation at the time of the Battle of Armageddon, and so it is quite possible that we may be called to judgement years before this piece of the puzzle falls into place. While Israel isn’t at peace today, we believe that it will happen, and it will be a situation at the time when the evil thought comes into the heart of Gog.
Today in the land, particularly on the mountains of Israel the settlements are gated. They have security fences running around them and will have a manned gate at the front to protect the community from terror attacks. Even in the safer areas of Israel, for small communities it is quite common for the town to be fenced and gated again for security. For example on October 7th Ein HaBesor was a community which used its fence and gate to hold the terrorists out of the settlement despite being surrounded by terrorists, until the IDF were able to reach them.
Today Israel does not dwell safely, nor without walls, bars and gates. We look for this to be fulfilled.
Some progress on this has already come about. In 1979 Egypt shocked the Arab world by making peace with the Jewish State. In 1994 Jordan followed suite, and more recently in the Abraham Accords UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. When Egypt recognised Israel in 1979 just 80 countries recognised Israel worldwide, today it is over 160 (out of 193).
This week in the news we see that despite the war in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza more of Israel’s neighbors seek to make peace with Israel. Al Jazeera, in an exclusive interview with Syria’s president al-Sharaa, reported that Syria - one of Israel’s most bitter historical enemies - is indeed seeking a security deal with Israel. He also stated that his government firmly support the Lebanese government in preventing Hezbollah from holding weapons and returning the decision of war and peace to the state. This would be a huge boost to Israeli security as Hezbollah’s missile arsenal has been of great concert to Israel for decades.
In a separate report from the Times of Israel we see a report from an Israeli official saying that “Israel was in contact with countries in the region - countries that understood the danger posed by the Iranian regime. Dialogue with those countries is continuing and growing stronger”.
In a third report, this from the Jerusalem Post reports that there are potential for Israel and Egypt to be forced to world closer together to counterbalance the power of Turkey, which some in Israel’s government see as “the new Iran”.
And so while we see conflict and fear at a high in the land today, there are true tectonic shifts in the political landscape of the Middle East. The Middle East that will emerge out of this crisis will be unrecognisable from the Middle East of October 6th 2023.
So until that time our prayer is for the peace of Jerusalem, the peace that will not be temporary, but the true peace which will only be when Christ rules in Jerusalem in peace and righteousness.
Bible in the News provides a weekly analysis of world politics and events
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