It has become a normal practice in our day for people to identify themselves via their heritage and their homeland. Many refer to themselves as African-Americans or Mexican-Americans, etc. But there is one place and people where the practice cannot be engaged in. That would be Israel.
Exodus 32:13 KJV – “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.”
Israel is a people who descended from Abraham and Isaac and that have been given a land as an everlasting inheritance. That means it is a misnomer to call anyone an Israeli-Arab. Arabs descended from Abraham through Ishmael, and Israel descended from Abraham through Isaac. Though related, they are distinct people groups.
Today we refer to the Israelites as the Jews, a practice that began at the time of the Babylonian captivity. This marks the beginning of the time of the Gentiles, because the vast majority of the captives were from the tribe of Judah. While it is true that Israel separated into two kingdoms for a time, what God has done cannot be put asunder. The point of all this is that when you talk about the Jews today, you are talking about a people and a land. When you talk about Israel today, you are referring to the Jews and their land.
Ezekiel 36:22-24 KJV – “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. 23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.”
The whole of the last days prophetic scenario centers on the Jews and Israel – both the people and the land God has given to them. This tells us that when we see antisemitism growing against the Jewish people and global calls for dividing the land God gave them, we know we are watching prophecy being fulfilled.
There are a myriad of other prophetic elements in our world that are more global in scope; things like digital currency, AI, wars and rumors of war and so on. But the reality is they are all leading up to one thing:
Zechariah 12:3 KJV – “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
Zechariah 12:10 KJV – “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
Zechariah 14:3-4 KJV – “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”
There is a progression here that was once not possible. The Jews had been outside their homeland. There was no Jerusalem to be gathered against by the world. Now, however, there is. The people and place known as Israel is alive and well. That means the prophetic wheels have been moving toward the outpouring of God’s Spirit on His people, and the Lord has been fighting as He fights in the day of battle for over 75 years now. This took a giant leap forward on October 7, 2023, when antisemitism lifted its ugly head in a way unseen since the Holocaust.
All of this tells us that it is more likely now than ever before that the fulfillment of the destruction of Damascus and the Ezekiel War and the 70th week of Daniel and the words above from Zechariah are on the near horizon. And that means something else is also very near:
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 KJV – “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
We are watching events develop that will be fulfilled during the Tribulation. This can only mean that the unknown day and hour of the Rapture of the church is more likely now than ever before.
