Prophecy Update -

The Coming Collapse of Israel ~

Israel Today - April 1, 2002 - 19 Nisan, 5762

The Coming Collapse of Israel

by Gary Stearman

As this is written, the word in Israel is that Ariel Sharon has let his people down. When he was elected about a year ago, the old warrior came forth with the promise that his time-honored military skills would, at last, put the enemy to flight. Because of this promise, he won the hearts of even the most liberal Laborites.

On the eve of Rosh HaShanah 2001, he even led a cheering group of Israelis to claim their right to the Temple Mount. There, they declared the right of every Israeli to visit the holy site.

The violent Arab response to this action raised the intifada to a white-hot level that shows no sign of abating to this day. Instead, violence has escalated on a daily basis. It is now a “limited” war.

Sadly, despite all expectations to the contrary, Sharon did not launch a general campaign to wipe out the enemy’s ability to wage guerilla war. Instead, he continued Ehud Barak’s policy of peace through appeasement and retaliatory strikes at various PLO headquarters locations. These came only as responses to terrorist strikes.

His failure to stop the fighting has brought a widespread malaise that threatens to cripple Israeli society. On February 15th, the Jerusalem Post commented upon the year that followed his election:

“Indeed, one year later, the peace and security that Sharon’s election campaign repeatedly promised, could hardly seem more elusive. Worse yet, the economy is a shambles, and the political system a zoo.”

Israel is sinking, and sinking fast. Sensing the weakness and confusion of Israeli leadership, the enemy is intensifying his efforts. Terrorists are becoming more brazen in their actions. Israelis are suffering as never before in the modern history of their country.

Before these recent developments, Israelis and worldwide supporters of Israel alike had assumed that a victorious Israel would rise to supremacy. They rightly termed modern Israel, “God’s Time Clock.” They reasoned since it had begun to tick on May 14, 1948, the Jews would steer a direct course onward and upward, until the coming of the Kingdom. Of course, there were other intervening matters, like the prophesied battle of “Gog, the land of Magog,” the coming of the Antichrist and the Tribulation Period. But those were seen as following the Church Age, and lasting for a short time – only about seven years or so. Today, the picture is growing darker. With the Tribulation still ahead and the Antichrist nowhere in sight, Israel’s prospects are in a steep decline.

Israel Present

This raises a huge question concerning Israel in prophecy: Given its current course, what can we expect to see in Israel between now and the riding forth of the four horsemen of the apocalypse? Will Israel continue to thrive and prosper until the Tribulation Period, or, will Israel’s blessings fail prior to that time?

It goes without saying that for the last half-century, Bible-believing Christians have championed the Israeli cause. Typically, the leading friends of Israel have been those who believe that the founding of modern Israel is a prophetic signpost of the first magnitude. Time and again, this assertion has proven itself correct.

It has pervaded Christendom to the extent that the U.S. body politic has been persuaded to support the Zionist cause. Both financially and spiritually, America has been Israel’s greatest supporter. To the Middle-Eastern Arab mind, this translates to the thought that often becomes a public utterance: “Israel is the little Satan, but the U.S.A. is the great Satan.”

But Christian support for Israel is so zealous that it has often run to excess. Seeing in the Holy Land a view of the promised Kingdom, Christians tend to overlook the fact that prophecy is clear on their latter-day regathering. Their first return is in unbelief and leads to judgment. After that, a second international regathering will be defined by a national spiritual awakening.

Christians have often mistakenly seen the fulfillment of prophecy in the actions of modern Israel. A good example of this is seen in the common evangelical Christian interpretation of the Israeli capture of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. In the decade or so following this event, many prophetic writers directly linked this signal event to the statement made by Jesus with regard to the “times of the Gentiles.”

“And 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” (Luke 21:24). Following that victory, many declared that Jerusalem was Israeli territory, and would be, forevermore. No longer, they said, was the Holy City being trodden down by the Gentiles. On this assumption, their obvious conclusion was that the time of Gentile control of Israel had come to a close. No less a writer than Hal Lindsey, in his smash 1970 best-seller, The Late Great Planet Earth, said, “In March and April of 1967, I was lecturing on this subject at many college campuses on the West Coast. I said that if this was the time that I thought it was, then somehow the Jews were going to have to repossess old Jerusalem. Many chuckled about that statement.”

June 1967 – the phenomenal Israeli six-day blitz. I was personally puzzled as to the significance of it all, until the third day of fighting when Moshe Dayan, the ingenious Israeli general, marched to the Wailing Wall, the last remnant of the old Temple, and said, ‘We have returned to our holiest of holy places, never to leave her again.’”

Lindsey and the majority of leading dispensationalist prophecy teachers (myself included) came to the general belief that from this point, to the rebuilding of the Third Temple, would be only a short hop into the future. A few sentences later he declared, “If this is the time that this writer believes it is, there will soon begin the construction of this Temple.”

He was not alone in this belief. His dispensational colleagues shared the common belief that the Temple would soon be completed, probably before the turn of the millennium. However, political pressures forced a different course of events.

Geopolitical Reality

At eight-thirty on the morning of June 7, 1967, Colonel Mordechai Gur led three battalions of soldiers in a two-pronged attack that swept into the Old City and the Temple Mount. Supported by air and ground fire, Israeli forces moved southward from Mount Scopus and Jerusalem’s American sector. Writing in The Arab-Israeli Wars, Chaim Herzog tells of their climactic arrival at the site of the ancient Temples:

“Gur in his half-track now took the lead of the third battalion which, supported by a platoon of tanks, was approaching St. Stephen’s Gate, and led the entry into the Old City. He was rapidly followed by the three battalions of his brigade. From the wide, open area of the Temple Mount, Gur’s units spread out in order to mop up such areas of resistance as might remain, but, apart from occasional snipers, little resistance was encountered. The bulk of the Jordanian forces had withdrawn. Thus by 10.00 hours, [ten o’clock AM] the Israeli forces had reached the holiest of Jewish shrines – the Wailing Wall. A brief and very moving ceremony to mark what was considered by Israelis to be one of the great moments in a very long national history took place on this historic occasion. At this point, the Arab lay-leaders presented themselves to Colonel Gur and informed him that there would be no further organized resistance.”

To the world – and particularly to expectant Christians around the globe – it appeared that Jerusalem was at last under Jewish control. At first glance, their evidence seemed clear enough. Old Jerusalem had been brought under Jewish administration for the first time since the first-century Roman siege.

Sadly, the appearance was not the fact. The most precious bit of real estate in all Jerusalem – the Temple Mount with its gilt and tiled Dome of the Rock – remained under Arab control.

For about a day, from Wednesday, June 7th, to Thursday, June 8th, the Temple Mount was, in fact, under the control of the Israeli Defense Force. Then, a directive from the Israeli Minister of Defense, General Moshe Dayan, remanded custody of the ancient site to the Arabs. The Mosques of Omar and al Aqsa were left under the rule of Jerusalem’s Arab Muftis.

Why? Because at the conclusion of the Six-Day War, Israeli leaders immediately turned to the cause of securing what they believed would be lasting peace treaties with Jordan and their other Arab neighbors. For the first time in its modern history, Israel had developed a strong defense. To the south, the Sinai acted as a buffer zone. Control of the West Bank and the Jordan River kept the enemy at a distance to the east.

Historians note that General Dayan didn’t want to attack Syria, for fear of involving the Russians. His desire, as well as that of the politicians, was to seek the favor of King Hussein and other Arab royals. With its two mosques, the Temple Mount was offered as an appeasement to the Arab world.

From that time until today, the cold fact is that the Temple Mount has remained in the firm control of Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti. A politically-expedient solution postponed the prophetic development that had seemed for a moment to be fulfilled. the legitimacy of Arab domination was rebuffed on the ground that the Temple Mount had never been an Israeli holy site. In a series of speeches around Israel, Yasser Arafat had the gall to assert that there was no proof that an Israelite Temple had ever stood there. He declared that it had always been an Arab holy site.

The Jews call their beloved Western Wall the “Wailing Wall.” But Arafat consistently calls it the “al Buraq Wall.” His claim is based upon the fable that Mohammed’s horse, of the same name, had been tied there while awaiting his master’s command to fly to heaven.

The Spiritual View

To view both sides of the prophetic picture, there is a contingent of dispensationalists today, who believe that modern Israel has nothing at all to do with the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Their failure to understand is as erroneous, in its own way, as that of those who believe that every development in the life of modern Israel is a fulfillment of some Bible prophecy.

In fact, the capture of Jerusalem in 1967 did fulfill conditions that will in some way lead to the realization of biblical prophecy. Even though it was not a fulfillment of Luke 21:24, it was a significant step on the way toward its final disposition.

A House Divided

Prophetically, what shall we do with a modern Israel that is internally divided on religious issues? There is a growing chasm between Israel’s secular, leftist founders and the growing political bloc of observant Hasidic and Orthodox Jews. Already, their internal hostilities have grown to such an extent that, were it not for the external threat presented by the PLO, they would probably be engaged in some sort of civil war. Several non-observant representatives have stated in public that if religious Jews win a Knesset majority, they will leave Israel!

The rancorous proceedings of the Knesset area far cry from the internal unity that set a distinct tone in the Middle East’s only representative democracy. Since the beginning of the Arab intifada (uprising), there has been a steady degeneration in Israel’s political stability.

This rocky trail reflects the latest stage in a unique spiritual odyssey that sets modern national Israel apart from every other country. Born out of the fires of the Holocaust in World War II, Israel was miraculously granted permission to return to its ancient land.

Under the League of Nations mandate of the 1920s, Britain set about to grant a home for Israel, as originally stipulated in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. They soon realized that it would be necessary to placate the Arabs. As a result, they engaged in a perfidious series of diplomatic maneuvers designed to limit Jewish immigration into Palestine. Jews objected to the British stance. In the highly visible publicity of an ongoing series of attacks and counterattacks between the British and the Jewish underground, Israel was brought to the world’s attention. In 1947, a United Nations mandate granted Israel an independent state. The birth of Israel in 1948 was a miraculous victory for the Zionist movement that had begun half a century before. It must be stressed that the intellectual planners of Zionism were not deeply religious Jews. They were pragmatic social planners, whose academic backgrounds were secular and socialist. Their dream of a utopian Jewish society had its roots in collectivist thinking. They wanted a social democracy of the type seen in the parliamentary governments of Europe.

From statehood until today, the leftist Laborite movement has controlled the infrastructure of Israel. That is, their emphasis has been upon economic development, continued Jewish immigration and the development of lasting peace. On the latter count, they have done everything possible to appease an intransigent Arab brotherhood … to no avail. But until very recently, they have not viewed themselves as a religious people. Rather, they believe and teach that they built Israel with their own hands. Did God aid their development? As outside observers, Christians believe that He did. Jews tend to think that their own blood, sweat and tears did the job.

In the last couple of decades, however, religious Jews have gained continuously greater influence in the government. Various factions of Orthodox and Hasidic Judaism in the Likud and various religious parties, have arrived at the brink of controlling the Knesset. Non-observant Laborites have expressed their growing fear that religious Jews might gain enough power to create a religious state. As earlier noted, they are horrified at the thought.

Two International Regatherings

This brings us to a point of prophetic interpretation that must become the focus of our understanding about modern Israel. Israel was prophesied to rise again in unbelief in the latter days. Then, following a period of judgment, Israel would receive the Spirit of God, and rise the second time in faith. As we and other Christian writers (most notably Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, in his book, Israelology) have suggested, Isaiah 11:11,12 makes the obvious assertion that there will be two latter-day international regatherings of the Jews: the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

“And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:11,12).

The context of this passage makes it abundantly clear that it takes place at the initiation of the Messianic Kingdom. It features the taming of the natural Creation, and end of hostilities and worldwide knowledge of the Lord. The people themselves are seen as spiritually regenerated, with an internal peace between Judah and Israel.

It is clear, then, that this second recovering of the Lord’s remnant is the final one. Note that it is an international event, involving the entire earth. Also, the regathered remnant has arrived at a spiritually regenerate condition.

If, as Isaiah prophesies, there is a second international regathering, then logically, there must have been a first. If it, too, was international in scope, then we must ask when the first one took place. In the sixth century B.C., the remnant of Israel and Judah were brought back from the Babylonian captivity. But this return did not involve the entire globe, and they were dispersed again, this time to the ends of the earth.

The first truly international regathering began in the nineteenth century, with a few immigrants from Russia and Europe. Then, in the twentieth century, Jews began to return from every country in the world. After Israeli statehood in 1948, the return took on serious proportions. It continues to this day, but largely on the level of unbelief. Downtrodden Jews from every country on earth can now find sanctuary in their homeland. But for the majority of them, it is political sanctuary, not religious. It has been the privilege of the modern church to observe this Jewish trek back to the Promised Land. It has also been our heartbreaking plight to watch Israel stumble. At key historical moments, its leaders should have relied upon the Lord. Instead, they relied upon Gentile political powers in the USA, Oslo, Madrid and England.

Today, we are still observing the first international regathering of Israel. Its end may be in sight. Judgment seems near. It must be remembered that Daniel 12:7 gives this as the primary reason for the Tribulation. “… when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.”

At that time, Israel will realize that they must trust in God, not themselves.

Israel’s Dependence Upon Man

An example of Israel’s misplaced faith can be seen in their reliance upon Egypt for security. Beginning with the Carter-Sadat treaty of 1973, and moving through the Fez Plan in 1982, Israel has attempted to forge a working relationship with Egypt.

Though Israel has consistently acted in good faith, the Egyptian government has never lost an opportunity to criticize Zionism and the leaders of modern Israel. One day, it will become clear to Israel that they have placed their reliance upon Egypt in vain.

Ezekiel 29 is a stark prophecy against Egypt. Its latter-day context makes it clear that the indictment against Egypt’s leaders involves something that they have done to Israel in contemporary times. Ultimately, they will let Israel down, and be punished as a consequence:

“And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

“When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand” (Ezekiel 29:6,7).

Here, Israel’s reliance upon Egypt is an example of misplaced faith. Israel, the man, is allowed to slip, fall and suffer injury. This event, still future, will wound Israel and bring severe judgment to Egypt. Egypt will be desolate for a forty-year period.

Ezekiel’s Prophecy

“As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

“And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

“And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. “Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.

“And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:

“And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 20:33-38). Here, we find a prophecy that plainly supports the assertion that Israel’s first latter-day international regathering will be in unbelief. When the children of Israel wandered across the desert to the Promised Land, the unbelievers with them rebelled and were purged from among those who finally completed the journey.

In Ezekiel’s prophecy, the Lord says that He will bring His chosen into a mixed multitude from every country of the world. These people are described as a “wilderness.” One could call it a cultural wilderness, with a mixture of Jews from every culture and belief system. What a perfect description of the last century!

Jews have come from every imaginable corner of the world. Some are spiritual, while some are merely seeking refuge and a place where they can function in freedom, unrelated to religious Judaism. Some will be judged, and some set aside. At last, an elect remnant will be selected to enter into the Kingdom, in much the same way that ancient Israel entered the land under Joshua’s leadership.

In Ezekiel’s well-known vision of the dry bones, the prophet sees the bones stand up, and he hears them speak, saying, “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts” (Ezekiel 37:11).After this revelation, the prophet is prompted by the Lord:

“Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

“And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

“And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:12-14).

Again, we see that Israel’s first international regathering is physical, geopolitical and practical. It is devoted to creating the new country and fighting its battles. This is the process of coming up out of the grave. This was the most important development of the twentieth century.

After that, the Lord brings the elect remnant to life, spiritually, as He fills them with His Spirit. Then, and only then, is the Abrahamic land grant brought to completion. Today, the land grant is still being actively contested.

Jeremiah and Jacob’s Trouble

In a similar prophecy, Jeremiah uses different words to describe the same events:

“For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it” (Jeremiah 30:3).

In this passage of Scripture, we can easily see that it is the first regathering of Israel that is in view. And so are the environmental conditions that will accompany that return. Instead of blessing and peace, Israel and Judah discover fear and uncertainty. They have come back to the land expecting peace. Instead, they find trouble:

“And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

“For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

“Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:4-7).

This chapter ends with the words, “… in the latter days ye shall consider it.” Without a doubt, these words tell us about the sequence of events. The pattern is once again seen with a measure of clarity. First, comes the assembling of the multitude, then comes judgment and finally, the redeemed remnant are saved, as they enter into the Kingdom.

A Frustrated Desire

Among the soldiers, who arrived on the Temple Mount on that June day in 1967, was a man named Gershon Salomon. Today, he passionately asserts that he and others heard the urging voice of God while they stood on that sacred ground. He believes that they were instructed to immediately begin the rebuilding of the Temple.

For many years, he and others have attempted to force their way through the gates and onto the Holy Mountain with a cornerstone, which they believe to be the cornerstone for the Third Temple.

Mr. Salomon is the founder and leader of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. His followers believe that it is mandatory that construction begin as soon as possible. They have suffered the laughter of the majority of Israelis, who believe them to be misguided fools, promoting the lost cause of a dead religious faith. The world media, when they bother to cover Salomon’s activities at all, ridicule his efforts. Yet he and others continue in the belief that the Lord will one day favor their efforts. In recent years, his group has suffered the same violent Arab response that forced Ariel Sharon’s group to leave the Temple Mount last year.

Equally involved in the effort to rebuild the Temple, is the Jerusalem Temple Institute, headed by Rabbi Chaim Richman. For many years, they have been busily designing and building the necessary tools for Temple worship. Their research department has probed the documents of antiquity and produced authentic reproductions of priestly garments, musical instruments and implements necessary to complete the holy sacrifices.

These men are joined by hundreds of volunteers in Israel, who are convinced that the time is near when their work will be allowed to go forward. Truthfully, however, commencement of this work now seems more distant than ever. The Arabs are literally “digging in” on the Holy Mountain.

Since that fateful June day in 1967, over three decades have come and gone. During that time, Israel’s enemies have systematically tightened their grip on Mt. Zion. Ironically, it is this mountain of the Temple that has given its name to the Zionist Movement. In the last few years, the Arabs have even initiated a subterranean excavation program. Using heavy equipment and working around the clock, they have hollowed out the south end of the mountain, creating a new mosque. Their stated goal is to use this huge facility as a pilgrimage center. Without a doubt, they are fortifying their position there. They intend it to be an international headquarters, with Jerusalem as the capital, after they have disposed of the Israelis.

The Temple Must Be Rebuilt

Simple observation of the present situation in Jerusalem would seem to tell us that the Third Temple is only a distant dream. However, Scripture is emphatic on the point that it will be rebuilt. With Arab authorities progressively increasing their control over the area, the question grows more and more perplexing. Does the Bible give us any help on the building of the Third Temple? There are many places in the Bible that speak of its existence. A prophecy given by the Apostle Paul provides one of the better clues:

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”

(II Thessalonians 2:3,4).

Here, the “temple” that is mentioned is translated from the Greek word, naos, meaning “sanctuary,” or “shrine.” The great weight of opinion suggests that it refers to the inner Temple, or Holy of holies. This being the case, the man described is sitting in the position that would normally exclude everyone except the High Priest. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the priest so ordained would offer the blood of sacrifice. And he was never allowed to sit, only to stand.

Sitting is used to describe the status of a monarch, who is seated upon a throne. In other words, the “man of sin,” usually referred to as the Antichrist, has placed himself upon the throne reserved for only one man: the Messiah. In so doing, he usurps both the Throne of David and the office of the High Priest. Therefore, the Third Temple seems to function for him as both Palace and Sanctuary.

How does he accomplish his coup? Perhaps more importantly, when does he do it? One important clue is found in the Scripture quoted above. It says that the man of sin is revealed before the Day of the Lord. He seats himself before the “time of Jacob’s Trouble” … the Tribulation.

From today’s perspective, something cataclysmic must happen between now and then. Given today’s Arab grip on the Temple Mount, time and events must combine in a way that will persuade them to give up their false claim. Somehow, they will be brought to the position of allowing the Temple to be rebuilt. Furthermore, we know that the Antichrist must be received by national Israel before he can rise to full power. While criticizing Jewish religious authorities during His public ministry, Jesus said, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43).

In this prophetic word, Jesus allowed us to know that on a future day, national Israel would accept the credentials of the false leader who would claim godhood for himself. In order to do this, he must necessarily prove himself to them. Elsewhere, it is said that he will have the power to display signs and wonders. When Jesus walked the earth, His followers desired national liberation. Jewish opinion was that the Messiah would rise up and win a political victory over the pagan world. Those close to Jesus were no exception. It was very difficult for them to accept the fact that He must die, in order to rise again for His people. They constantly urged Him to exercise the power necessary to bring Israel to headship over the nations.

On this point, Jewish belief has not changed. Today’s religious Jews still speak of Messiah as the one who will come as a political liberator. Logically then, for the Antichrist to seat himself in the rebuilt Temple, he must show himself as that “knight in shining armor.” Apparently, when he comes to power, he will overthrow the Gentile powers, which traditionally suppress Israel, even as they do today. Having proven himself in that battle, he is then accepted by them as the supernaturally-empowered man they have always expected to come. In other words, a war must be waged and concluded, bringing with it, a new global power structure.

In this conflict, the Antichrist will rise to power, apparently standing up for Israel in the process. Then, and only then, will they receive him as their messiah.

This is precisely the picture we have in Daniel 7:24:

“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”

As we have stated in the past, the global government – the “New World Order” – that is now being formed will find itself involved in an internal struggle. Their internal political struggle will most certainly involve warfare, exemplified by the horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation 6. There, the Antichrist is seen riding forth on a white horse, accompanied by the red horse of world war.

The nine verses in Daniel 11:36-44 show him coming to power amid a series of assaults by various kings to the south, east and north. Finally, he manages to establish his headquarters in Jerusalem, on the very mountain that is the center of global conflict today:

“And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Daniel 11:45).

We have already seen what he will do, once he establishes himself there. Having won the confidence of Israel’s leaders, he will announce himself as the supreme leader of the world. Soon, they will discover that they have appointed Satan as their leader! At that point, the horror of Israel’s elect must be literally beyond description. Daniel 7:25 graphically depicts their plight:

“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”

Will the Antichrist Build the Temple?

As difficult as it is to face this question, we must nevertheless, ask it. And the answer seems to suggest that the Antichrist, himself, will be the builder of the Tribulation Temple. The verse above, from Daniel, describes his action, as he “plants” the buildings of his headquarters on the Temple Mount.

The Hebrew verb, natagh, “to plant,” also means, “to establish or set up.” Thus, it is not too difficult to conclude that on the heels of a global power struggle, the Antichrist appropriates the Holy Mountain for his offices and shrine.

In the process, the Arab brotherhood is subjugated and Israel becomes convinced that he is their long-awaited messiah.

It is a sad prospect for Bible-believing Christians to realize that their beloved Israel must experience a wrenching downfall. But we realize that it is in God’s divine plan. The Apostle Paul put it best:

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

“For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:1-3).

Yet, he added:

“Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?” (Romans 11:12).

Indeed, Jerusalem will continue under Gentile domination, until their “riches” have been made complete in the Gentile world. At that time, the enrichment will turn back toward Israel.

As stated earlier, the “times of the Gentiles” have not yet been fulfilled; Israel has not yet experienced the prophesied fullness of its downfall. As lamentable as this may sound from our perspective, it is nevertheless, God’s plan for the redemption of the world. Speaking again of latter-day Israel, Paul wrote:

“For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15).

It was Paul’s great desire that the body of Christ understand that Israel had not been cast away forever. Rather, Israel’s fall and rising again is to be seen as a necessary part of the Lord’s plan to redeem a lost mankind.

“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.

“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:25,26).

Do not be dismayed at Israel’s plight. Her collapse is only a stage in her ultimate rising again. When they face certain genocide, Christ will come to the rescue!

Subj: Prophecy Update -

The Coming Collapse of Israel - 3/29/02

From: rthomas@bak.rr.com

YBIC-Randy

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