Many believers are trying to understand the sudden outbreak of war in Israel, with half of the Israeli families hiding in bomb shelters. These believers are wondering if this is different from the previous wars Israel has been forced to fight. Let’s look at this from three different time frames:THE LAST YEAR: The flurry of peace agreements that Israel signed with several Arab nations, with the full support of Saudi Arabia, came with the aid of the previous American administration. Those pacts demonstrated the willingness of Arab nations to make peace with Israel even though the Palestinian question remains unresolved. This was a new development that sidelined and angered the Palestinians and gave support to the growing terror group Hamas with its calls for violence against Jews throughout Israel and the destruction of Israel as a country. Beneath all of this is the thousand-year dispute between the two factions of Islam, the Sunnis represented by Saudi Arabia, and the Shiites led by Iran. These are also separate ethnic groups as the Iranian Shiites are Persian, not Arabs. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are competing for the leadership of the Muslim world, with the Saudis now willing to talk peace but the Iranians promoting conflict. Iran is recruiting young militants by paying men to agitate within Muslim communities and harden their stand against Israel and any Arab who would cooperate with Israel. Iran ordered the recent violent riots on the Temple Mount and smuggled over 1,000 rockets into Gaza which were fired into Israeli homes this week. Iran believes the new American administration will not intervene.THE LAST 100 YEARS: With the growth of the Jewish community in their ancient homeland and the reestablishment of the state of Israel, even skeptics are acknowledging that the Bible had this predicted from the beginning. While the current state of Israel is not the same as the Messianic Israel of the millennial kingdom, in short, the actors are assembling on the stage for the final drama of the last days, and the return of Messiah as promised.ETERNITY: Messiah Jesus told us: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Mt. 24:6-8). That is the time we are now in. In the midst of this run-up to the final drama, an unseen spiritual war is taking place. The good news of salvation through faith in Messiah is going out around the world with power, and particularly so within Jewish and Arab communities. The enemy of our souls is angry about this and continues to stir up human conflict to thwart it. We need to pray now for PEACE for Israel and the surrounding nations, understanding that ultimate peace will only come when the PRINCE OF PEACE returns and both Jews and Arabs place their faith in Him.For a full and detailed treatment of the chronology of the last days, we recommend: “The Footsteps of the Messiah” by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum.
