Up until now, the primary focus of this blog has been the many, many prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled in his first coming. The purpose has been to point to Jesus Christ, to build faith in who He is and the salvation He offers to each individual on the earth, to the end that people would be born again into his kingdom.
Due to the war, and in the interests of peace, I am compelled to try to bring a little understanding, as I understand it, from many years of study.
It is necessary to understand that the overarching structure that everyone in this world is under is a relationship to the Word of God and the truths it teaches. God created this world. There are natural laws that govern it. The law of gravity is operating wherever you live on the planet. We are all subject to that and other laws. There are other laws written about in the Bible we are subject to, whether we know them or understand them or not. You don’t have to know anything about gravity to be subject to it.
Before going on I must emphatically say that I am against this war in Iran, and also the war in Ukraine. However, history is history so I need to explain a little.
The nation of Israel was originally created by God to be the nation to carry the knowledge of God to the rest of the world as well as be the nation through which the promised Messiah of Genesis 3:15 and Isaiah chapter 53 would come. There are multiple other prophetic scriptures pointing to Jesus and those prophecies are regularly posted on this blog.
Israel was not perfect. There were 12 tribes. Eventually the nation was split into a northern kingdom of Israel (10 tribes) and a southern kingdom of Judah (2 tribes). Eventually the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom. Judah was captured by Babylon for 70 years and then returned. There is much more history but this is a simple sketch to make a point.
In the Bible, God says he divorced Israel for its disobedience. The people were “lost”, or so it is said, after being conquered. God said in Amos 9:9 that the house of Israel would be sifted among the nations.
So how does this relate to the war?
There are probably two major camps of prophetic timelines. As time goes on, I may try to slowly get into more details but the point of this post is to give the birds-eye view.
A prophecy was given to Daniel, who was exiled to Babylon during the Babylonian captivity. He was given a timeline towards the end of the Babylonian captivity. It involved 490 years.
There are two camps. One says the 490 years was split with a final week at the end of time. The other camp says the 490 years has already been fulfilled. I am of the second camp which is the minority position, at least in the United States.
So why does it matter?
It all comes down to the understanding of “Israel”, who Israel is and what is required to fulfill the covenant to Israel.
My position, and that of others who have studied this out, is that Jesus Christ fulfilled what is necessary for Israel to come to the Lord. Basically, it is a “come to Jesus” moment for Israel. Jesus has provided the new covenant. Receive it.
But remember, Israel was divorced by God.
Israel was divorced by God, and “lost”. Well, not actually lost, those descendants lived on in history and assimilated and so the descendants are known to God, whether or not they are aware themselves.
So why does it matter? It matters because of the law. Israel was subject to the law in the Old Testament. There are blessings for keeping the law. There are curses for not keeping it. These are covered in Deuteronomy chapters 28 & 29 and Leviticus 26, among other places. Over and over God says that curses will come if the law is not obeyed. Just because the descendants of Israel are sifted among the nations, and just because time has passed, does not mean that those laws have ceased to exist any more than gravity ceases to exist with the passing of the centuries.
Jesus did come to redeem us from the curse of the law. But that only applies to those who have received him, are born again, and learn to walk in the Spirit or follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Obedience has never ended. Under the law man could not keep it. With the help of the Holy Spirit there is progressive sanctification.
Just because Jesus has made a way of escape does not mean the majority of people in the earth have taken it.
So we have a prophetic stream that is focused primarily on events of the last 70th week, as they understand them. And there is dispute among that camp.
One of the points in Leviticus is that if the nation did not listen and follow and heed and obey, then curses would fall and if that did not reform the nation, then 7X curses would fall, and 7X more and more. I would say we are at that point.
If you realize that the whole world is responsible to come under the requirements of the Word of God (if you want the blessings anyway), then that will take you a different direction than war. If you realize the problems come due to disobedience then we focus on our own relationship with God as well as the leadership humbling itself and following the Word of God instead of foolishly clamoring for more war.
This whole war was started unConstitutionally. Only Congress has power to declare war. And there are many exhortations in the Bible to wisdom or humility…the humility to say we are wrong. We repent. This war should never have started. We are stopping this war now. If our leaders can have humility and say that, all that would go a long way to simply ending the war.
In my opinion, having studied this for a long time, the powers-that-be which use mind control and propaganda, prefer the lone 70th week prophetic stream. They use the ignorance of people to push them into political blocks so the powers-that-be can manipulate events in the direction they want. If people think they are serving God with a 70th week they may end up doing things they might not otherwise do.
I don’t believe any of that is necessary. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. He said to share the gospel, the knowledge that the relationship with God could be restored. He said to love your enemies, not bomb them.
It was a bit of a challenge to pull this information into something simple for those who have no background in this topic. Much more could be said.
Again, there are two camps, so you have to make up your own mind as to which you will follow.
I hope that you will align yourself with the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Blessed are the peacemakers.