John Ecob
Throughout the Bible there are many promises of a Kingdom of God that will be established on earth when wars will cease and there will be universal peace. Jesus taught His disciples to pray for that day to come in what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer”. He said to pray,
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt.6:10).
The history of the world from the beginning of time is the story of wars and rumours of wars. Each war ends and after a short space of time another begins. The Old Testament is the most accurate record of human history since God created man and woman to inhabit the earth and the first child born, Cain, murdered Abel.
Throughout the history of Israel wars were an annual event. After harvests were reaped, marauding nations tried to capture the harvests and kings had to raise an army to defend their food supply.
As world population increased wars increased and were fought for other reasons. There were wars to expand a country’s territory and there were religious wars. Today we have Islamic terrorists warring to spread the evil teachings of Islamism and we have Communist countries seeking to dominate the world to establish an atheistic political regime. There are many reasons for war and it is legitimate for nations to raise an army to defend their freedoms when they come under attack.
The loss of life in wars over the 6,000 years of time has been incredible and has increased with the modern weapons available. The only thing we can be sure of is that it will continue until God steps in and places His King on the throne to rule this world. That King will be Jesus Christ and He will reign from Jerusalem. His officers will be the Jewish race and all nations will go up to Jerusalem to pay homage to Christ.
Ever since God chose Abraham and his descendants to be His witness in an evil world the Jews have been hated because God has an adversary whose name is Satan and he has sought to destroy God’s witness on earth. He has done this by sending evil nations against them to occupy their land and he has worked to corrupt them and cause them to turn away from God.
When God the Father sent God the Son to earth as the King of the Jews to establish His kingdom, Satan stirred the Jewish people to crucify Him but God raised Him from the dead and made forgiveness available through His sacrifice for all who would believe in Him.
As we view the world scene over the past 2,000 years we see enormous amounts of blood shed as wars have raged and men have sought through conquest to settle their differences. In the 20th century, in WWII, somewhere between 35 and 60 million died. Now we have all the nations feverishly arming with the most sophisticated high tech weapons that could wipe out the entire human race of not 60 million but 8 billion. If it were not for the promises of God that one day peace will reign over the entire earth we might all dispair. However God has promised that there will be a Kingdom of God on earth at the end of the age and that a day is coming when men will
“beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: : nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa.2:4).
The Lord’s prayer will be answered and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven but not before Satan has his final fling and seeks to totally wipe out God’s witness on earth by exterminating every Jew on the face of the planet. If Satan can totally eradicate every Jew he will have proven himself victor over God and will have shown himself capable of frustrating the purposes of God.
From earliest times Satan tried to destroy Israel in the land of Egypt and Pharaoh ordered every male child to be cast into the river Nile but he failed. Forty years later God brought Israel out through the Red Sea and drowned Pharaoh and all his army.
In the land of Canaan Israel came under constant attack but God gave them the victory. Satan caused them to turn away from the Lord and this brought them under the judgment of God but God is faithful to His promises and covenants. He will not fail to have mercy if Israel will only seek the Lord.
Just before Moses died at the age of 120 years he addressed the nation and reminded them of all that God had done for them in bringing them out of Egypt; giving them the law; feeding them for 40 years in the wilderness and supplying them with fresh water in the desert.
Moses warned Israel not to forsake the Lord but he said that if they did they could still repent and God would have mercy upon them. He said:
“But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swear unto them” (Deut.4:29-31).
Moses was a prophet. God spoke with him face to face (Exod.33:11; Deut.34:10) and he told Israel that in the latter days, when they were in the great tribulation He would have mercy upon them but they would have to seek the Lord.
So what is God waiting for? Israel must seek the Lord but we know that will not happen until she is in great tribulation. Jeremiah called it “the time of Jacob’s trouble” and added, “he shall be saved out of it” (Jer.30:7).
Isaiah wrote about that time:
“Before she (Israel) travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.(Christ). Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God” (Isa.66:67-69).
Before Israel enters the seven years of great tribulation Isaiah said she would bring forth a “man child”. This undoubtedly was the Lord Jesus who was born in Bethlehem in fulfilment of Micah’s prophecy (Micah5:2). But then in a future day the nation would travail and bring forth “born again” children who trusted in the Lord.
Jesus described the first half of the Tribulation in Matthew 24:7-14 and He said that this was Israel’s “beginning of sorrows”. The word “sorrows” can be translated “travail”.
Israel’s conversion in the last days will be sudden; “in one day…”at once”; “as soon as Zion travailed”.
We know exactly when this will occur. Ezekiel states that it will occur when Russia and Islam invade Israel in the first half of the Tribulation.
“So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward. And the heathen (nations) shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me therefore hid I my face from them” (Ezek.39:22).
When Moses concluded his final address to Israel he recorded the Palestinian Covenant that God made with the nation in Deuteronomy chapters 28 to 30. He stated that if Israel obeyed the Lord, God would bless them in the land and they would be victorious over all their enemies. If they turned away from God they would be overrun and cast out of the land. However if after they were cast out among the nations, they turned back to the Lord, God would have mercy and restore them to the land.
Today we see Israel re-established in the land but still living in disobedience and rejection of Messiah. Ezekiel prophesied that there would be a return to the land in unbelief before the nation repented
(Ezek.37:8) and that is what we saw in 1948. Antisemitism is increasing and will increase more and more until after the Church is Raptured Israel will enter her final seven years before they “finish the transgression” and “everlasting righteousness” is established (Dan.9:24).
What is God waiting for? He is waiting for Israel to acknowledge her sin of rejecting Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the seven year Tribulation is all about. It is determined on Daniel’s people and his holy city Jerusalem (Dan.9:24) to bring the nation to repentance.
The Church won’t be here in Israel’s last seven years before Christ returns to destroy Israel’s enemies and establish His kingdom. Only then will the prayers of millions be answered:
“Thy kingdom come…thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”