We all just witnessed the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. In less than two weeks, over $30 billion spent by Iran to prop up Assad and gain strongholds in Syria to use as a means to destroy Israel has literally gone up in smoke.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted this fact in a recent message addressed to the Iranian people:
People of Iran: As we see history unfold before our very eyes, I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now.
Your oppressors spent over 30 billion dollars supporting Assad in Syria. Today, after only 11 days of fighting, his regime collapsed into dust. Your oppressors spent billions supporting Hamas in Gaza. Today their regime lies in ruins. Your oppressors spent over 20 billion dollars supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon. In a matter of weeks, most of Hezbollah’s leaders, its rockets and thousands of its terrorists went up in smoke.
The money your oppressors stole from you literally went up in smoke.
You must be furious imagining the new roads, schools, hospitals that could have been built with the tens of billions of dollars your dictators wasted backing terrorists who lose over and over and over again.
Do you know why Iran’s oppressors keep losing? It’s not only because they are incompetent and cruel. They are. It’s because they seek to conquer other nations, to impose fundamentalist tyranny on the Middle East – on the entire world.
The only thing Israel seeks is to defend our state. But in so doing, we’re defending civilization against barbarism. The historic events we witness today are a chain reactionโa chain reaction to the pounding of Hamas, the decimation of Hezbollah, the targeting of Nasrallah, the blows we delivered to the Iran regime’s axis of terror. And all this came as President Trump pointed out this week, ‘because of Israel and its fighting success.’
I want to make clear. Israel wants peace. We want peace with all those who truly want peace with us. And I have no doubt that you, the People of Iran, know this. I know that just as we want peace with you, you want peace with us. But you suffer under the rule of a regime that subjugates you and threatens us.
You know what this regime is truly terrified of? It’s terrified of you, the people of Iran. And one day, I know that. One day this will change. One day Iran will be free. Women, Life, Freedom Zan, Zendegi, Azadi. That is the future of Iran. That is the future of peace. And I have no doubt that we will realize that future together โ a lot sooner than people think. I know and I believe we will transform the Middle East into a beacon of prosperity, progress, and peace.
The Prime Minister is correct. Not only have we witnessed the fall of the Assad regime in less than two weeks, but we have also seen the ruins of Hamas and the destruction of Hezbollah commanders, along with over 80% of its missiles. Billions of dollars spent by the Iranian regime to fund terror with the intent of destroying Israel have literally gone up in smoke. Imagine, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, what could they have done for their own people with all that money?
Of course, Israel wasted no time in destroying Assad’s strategic military capabilities to prevent them from falling into the hands of radical rebels. Israel destroyed chemical weapons sites, Syrian air bases, weapon depots, and weapon production sites. According to the IDF, the airstrikes further eliminated “many long-range projectiles, scud missiles, cruise missiles, coast-to-sea missiles, air defense missiles, fighter jets, helicopters, radars, tanks, hangars and more.”
That is incredible, to say the least. But you may be thinking: What now? Where is this all heading? The more important question is, what does God’s word have to say about what we see today?
All Who Seek To Destroy Israel Will Fail
In the Bible, it is clear that those who seek to destroy Israel will never succeed, as we have seen proved over millennia. Those who have tried fail again and again. Jeremiah 31:35-36 is a verse I have often quoted in my articles. In this passage, we read, “Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.”
God is also truthful to His promise in Genesis 12:3, where He says: “I will bless them that bless thee [the Jewish people], and curse him that curseth thee…”
Over thousands of years, all those who have tried to destroy Israel and the Jewish people have failed miserably. Why? Because God said that they would not succeed. Instead of launching missiles into Israel, Iran would have been better off having taken its projectiles and that of all their terror proxies and aimed them at the sun, moon, and stars. According to the words God delivered to the prophet Jeremiah, as long as they’re intact, Israel will always exist.
A Stepping Stone To The Ultimate “Peace” Agreement
This is also another stepping stone for the pursuit of peace amongst Israel and her neighbors. The world is pushing hard for the Jewish State to make peace, even with people who desire the eradication of Israelis. And indeed, Israel wants peace. They are tired of war.
The pursuit of peace is moving the world closer to the ultimate “peace deal” coming, which we read about in Daniel 9:27. This verse describes the rise of a world leader who will confirm a covenant/peace deal with the House of Israel for seven years. According to Scripture, that will commence the “70th week of Daniel,” also known as the “seven-year tribulation period,” that we read about in the Book of Daniel and Revelation.
Though such a peace agreement may sound like a “God-send,” the Bible warns that it will be a false peace. In Isaiah 28:15, God refers to this agreement as a “covenant with death and hell.”
This is where everything is ultimately heading. The world is preparing itself, including Israel, for this coming world leader that the Apostle John calls the “Antichrist.”
A Perfect Opportunity for Revenge
We also see the stage being set for what may be considered the “perfect revenge opportunity” for Iran and other bad actors. Tehran wants revenge against Israel. Turkey is in the same boat, brimming with disdain for the Jewish State. Israel is a key ally of America, which has placed them on the receiving end of Russia’s hatred.
Russia, Iran, and Turkey may not like each other, but they’re friends today because they have a common hatred, and that is Israel. This shared derision presents a perfect opportunity for them to unite militarily in their desire for revenge. That is what we read in Ezekiel 38-39. An Alliance will form between these nations, and together, they will one day attempt an invasion of the Jewish State.
Like in times past, it will also not fare well for this group of armies that seek to destroy Israel. This time, however, the failure won’t result from the IDF, the United States, or any other world power that could come to assist in the battleโit is God, alone, that will intervene and utterly destroy this coalition of nations.
The verse in Genesis 12:3, referenced above, is one reason why God will destroy this coming coalition against Israelโthe Lord will curse those who curse Jewish people. There is also another reason detailed in Ezekiel 38:23. In this passage, God says, “Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
God is trying to get the world’s attention. God wants the nations to know Him. He is going to use the future Ezekiel 38-39 war, intervening to destroy Israel’s enemies, to showcase to the world that there is only one true Godโand it is the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The End Of Israel Hatred
The nations are never going to give up in their attempts to destroy Israel. They will continue all the way to the end of the seven-year tribulation in that final battle of Armageddon. Truth be told, the battle of Armageddon isn’t much of a battle. Israel’s Messiah returns, and just like He created this world in six literal 24-hour days, He will, by the word of His mouth, destroy Israel’s enemies.
When Jesus returns, He is going to physically and spiritually save Israel. Might I add that He is returning with all His saints. Believers will not be here during the tribulation period, but we will be returning with Him.
The things that we are witnessing today are indeed setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled. Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Bible Prophecy And A Call To Salvation
We’re not called to a blind faith. We walk by faith, but it’s not a leap in the dark. One of God’s greatest signatures outside of creation that proves His existence and that His word is trustworthy is Bible prophecy. I think of Isaiah 42:9, where God says, “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” In other words, God alone predicts the futureโand with 100% accuracy.
Bible prophecy isn’t there to scare us; it’s there to prepare us.
We need to get right with the Lord. We have all sinned against the God of this universe. Yet, despite the fact that we are wretched sinners, God loves us. In Isaiah 45: 21-22, God says, “Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me. Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
God has made the only way to get right with Him, and it is through His Son, Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah. John 3:16, a verse familiar to probably everybody reading, reads: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” You are not going to find a better offer on the table.
In Acts 16, a Phillips jailer asked Silas and the Apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” What was their response? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
For those wondering, why hasn’t Jesus returned yet? Let me remind you of 2 Peter 3:9, which reads, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
