Monday, November 28, 2011

The Mounting War against Israel

There is nothing more dramatic, exciting, and tension-filled than God's blockbuster end-times drama. As with any great story, God's gripping drama of Biblical prophecy contains conflicts, twists and turns, ironies, and exciting climaxes. (Yes, God's end-times drama contains more than one climactic point.)
There is a sense in which that end-times story has already begun, as God aligns events and positions characters for the final seven years leading to the return of Christ. Thus, conflicts are occurring and the tension is mounting toward a climax.
One of those conflicts involves a mounting war against Israel. As with most effective conflicts, this one contains adversaries of the protagonist.
The ultimate protagonist, in this story, is the Lord Jesus Christ, while His "sweetheart" is Israel. Enemies of the protagonist are revealed by their treatment of the Jewish nation.
At this point, Israel is not the faithful "sweetheart" it will be in the future; yet the Lord has a special love for Israel, sees the potential in her, and knows that the Jewish nation will one day enter into an eternal intimacy with Him. Thus, in the meantime, anyone who messes with Israel messes with Christ.
In that sense, the conflict of the story is building, as the Washington Times reported on Wednesday of last week that China has been supplying arms to Hizbullah. Hizbullah, the anti-Israel, Iranian-funded terrorist organization headquartered in Lebanon (bordering Israel to its north), seeks to eliminate the Jewish state. In its war on Israel in 2006, it fired Chinese-made anti-ship missiles at Israeli sea craft.
However, though the missiles originated with China, Iranian specialists manned the firing batteries and radars for missile guidance. Thus, two more adversaries enter the conflict.
Currently, Hizbullah has become the most formidable non-state military force in the world, and all of its 50,000 rockets are trained on Israel. An arm of Iran, it is awaiting the command from the terrorist regime to begin the war against the Jewish state. Thus, the tension rises.
To intensify the tension even more, God has allowed Russia to step into the fray. Russia has threatened to take out the U.S. missile defense system in Europe by taking out the command and control systems which are linked directly to Israel's missile defense network against Iran, Syria, and Hizbullah. Thus, in his warning last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev indirectly declared that Russia will not allow Iran to be prevented from missile retaliation in the event of an Israeli attack.
Iranian leadership is racing toward nuclear capability, in part, to destroy Israel. So should Israel launch a preemptive attack against Iran?
Former head of the Israeli Mossad, Danny Yatom, declared this past week that Israel cannot afford NOT to attack Iran. Not to do so is to live with the day-to-day stress wondering if this is the day that the Iranian leadership will drop a bomb on the Jewish state. In addition, Yatom stated, it is impossible to stake Israel's security on the confidence that it can deter Iran from striking. He acknowledged that if Israel launches a military attack, rocket would likely ensue from Lebanon and Gaza; however, he predicted that Israel's response would be "so painful and crushing that rockets will come to an end."
With indication from the U.S. State Department that the U.S. has removed from the table the military option against Iran, it appears that Israel is on its own. This heightens the tension even more, as the most capable military in the world has apparently bowed out of helping Israel. But can the Jewish nation go it alone against Iran?
Yaakov Katz, who covers the military for The Jerusalem Post, stated that from what he has learned from the Israeli Defense Forces, "there is a level of confidence that they have the ability to go it alone against Iran and to neutralize some of the key facilities that Iran has built up over the years." However, Iran's movement of its nuclear facilities—to a more fortified area (hidden deep underground and in mountainsides—appear to be somewhat alarming for Israeli leadership. Military leaders indicate that this "further fortification of [Iran's] uranium enrichment capabilities" could make the nuclear facilities "potentially immune to conventional military strike." This means, Katz declared, that "the window of opportunity is closing" for an effective Israeli military strike on these nuclear sites.
This may mean that British authorities are correct—that Israeli leadership may give the order to launch a strike by Christmas. But, in the final analysis, will Israel do it?
Bible prophecy shows clearly that Iran will not eliminate the Jewish state; in fact, it will not do significant damage to Israel. This would indicate that the current Iranian regime will be replaced before it obtains nuclear capability. In fact, that comports with world leaders proclaiming "peace and security" (cf. 1 Thess 5:3) at the signing of a seven-year treaty between Israel and ten national leaders, as terrorism will need to be defeated before leaders can believe "peace and security" has arrived. For that to occur, Iran, the biggest supporter and promoter of terrorism in the world, will need to be neutralized by the deposing of its regime.
Therefore, it appears Israel will, indeed, launch a strike against Iran; and it likely will be soon. Thus, God's exciting kingdom plan is building toward an exciting climax. While it will only be the first of others in God's end-times blockbuster, still, it will be an incredible one—one which will begin an amazing series of events to start the clock ticking on the final seven years leading to the return of Christ.

Written by John Claeys

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