The Middle East and Bible Prophecy
Bible Light on Current Events
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The Land of Promise
From the very first book of the Bible the Middle East has been at the forefront of God's plan for mankind. More than 3,000 years ago, God called Abraham to leave his home in one of the great cities of antiquity, Ur of the Chaldees, to wander in Palestine as a nomad. Abraham obeyed because he believed and trusted God. He was to become the father of both Jewish and Arab nations.
God made promises to Abraham which were at the very heart of the Christian Gospel. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:8 that God
"preached before the gospel unto Abraham"! Those promises were about the nation of Israel, the land of Palestine and about one descendant in particular. God would give the land of Palestine to Abraham as an everlasting possession. The promise is contained in the words: "
all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever" (Genesis 13:15). This promise is yet to be fulfilled. Abraham is dead and buried. How could he inherit the land "for ever"?
It is at this point that we have to realize that the fulfillment of the promises rests upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, though Son of God, was also the descendant of Abraham through Mary his mother. He was the promised "seed", or descendant, of whom God spoke to Abraham. It was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to make possible the blessing of the forgiveness of sins by which men and women may have everlasting life. The Bible teaches that Abraham, because of his faith in God's promises, including the future "seed", received forgiveness of sins and will be raised from the dead. He will then be given everlasting life so that he may inherit the land of promise
"for ever".
The New Testament sets Abraham before us as the great example of how to please God-by believing what God has promised. Through Jesus Christ those same promises are today open to all people who share the faith of Abraham, whether they be Jews or Gentiles:
"So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." (Galatians 3:9)
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)
The Vision of the Prophets
After Abraham came the prophets of Israel and Judah who received visions of future glory; visions of the time when God's appointed King, the Lord Jesus Christ, will rule the earth in righteousness from Jerusalem, his capital city. Here is one example written 700 years before Christ:
"Out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem . . . nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:3,4)
There are many other similar prophecies which make up the Bible teaching of the Kingdom of God on earth. It was the Good News of this Kingdom which the Lord Jesus preached. During his ministry he demonstrated the way in which we can enter the Kingdom of God, and he made that way open through his death and resurrection. All who believe and are baptized into Christ and seek to follow their Master have the glorious prospect of an eternal place in that Kingdom. Not even death can stand in the way because when Christ returns to establish the Kingdom he will raise his followers, including Abraham, from the dead.
Israel: A Land Forsaken - Until . . .
But the Jewish nation rejected God's Son and consequently, in AD 7O, just 40 years after the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Christ, Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jews, was destroyed by the Roman armies. The vision of the prophets seemed shattered.
As the centuries rolled on the Middle East came under the rule of the Saracens and then the Turks. The land of Palestine lay neglected and waste. The Jews were scattered throughout the world and subject to brutal and remorseless persecution. To many it seemed that God's purpose had been abandoned in favour of the Christian world. Church theologians developed the doctrine that the Church itself was the kingdom of God on earth and that the Pope was God's appointed ruler.
But these long years of despair for the Jews were clearly foretold by the prophets-and by Jesus himself.
In Luke 21 the Lord Jesus Christ predicted that:
"They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (verse 24)
In these words the Lord summed up many Old Testament prophecies which were to come true in horrific detail. For example,
in the book of Deuteronomy, written before Israel entered the land of Palestine 1500 years before Christ, it was predicted of the Jews that:
"The LORD shall scatter thee among all people . . . and among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest." (28:64,65)
And yet in all these prophecies, as in the word of Jesus, there was hope. Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles "until . . ." God has never intended to cast off the Jews for ever. Through the prophet Jeremiah He said:
"Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee." (Jeremiah 30:11)
The Apostle Paul warned the Gentiles to beware of the conceit which said that the Jews were finished and that God was now only interested in Gentiles.
In Romans chapter 11 he asks:
"Hath God cast away his people?" and then answers
, "in no way". He goes on to repeat the words used by the Lord Jesus himself:
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." (Romans 11:25)
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http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/mideast.htm
