Prior to October 7, the future seemed so bright for Israel.
We had just signed our sixth Arab-Israeli peace and normalization agreement.
We seemed to be on track to sign a seventh agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Our economy was booming, tourism was hitting record levels, and Israel was building increasingly close and warm ties with nations and governments all over the globe.
But October 7 and the war that ensued changed everything.
Israel is now in its darkest hour since the War of Independence in May 1948.
And the world is increasingly turning against us.
Indeed, the situation has gone from bad to worse in recent weeks, as I’ll describe in a moment.
But the big question is this: Are Israelis just going through a bad patch and our fortunes will brighten again soon, or are we beginning to see Bible prophecies unfold in which the entire world turns against Israel and Jewish people in the “last days”?
WHAT I SAW WHILE TRAVELING OUTSIDE OF ISRAEL
I’m back in Israel now after six and a half weeks traveling throughout the United States.
During that time I was speaking at churches and the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB( Convention, giving interviews to various media outlets, and meeting with a range of Evangelical leaders.
In the course of responding to hundreds of questions – and listening to the observations and concerns of so many people – one thing has become painfully clear.
After six months of fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip – and against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon –Israel may be winning on the military battlefield but it is most definitely losing the global public relations battle.
Consider a few examples:
South Africa has put Israel on trial at the World Court in The Hague, charging the Jewish state with “genocide,” and few nations or world leaders are coming to Israel’s defense.
The United Nations is consistently and overwhelmingly voting to condemn Israel.
The President of the United States recently refused to veto one such anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council, instructing his ambassador to “abstain” instead, allowing the resolution to pass.
President Biden is openly opposing Israel’s planned military operation in Rafah – the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip – to finish off the final group of Hamas forces pinned down there.
President Biden is openly and repeatedly castigating how the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are fighting in Gaza and defending Israel from future October 7-style invasions, calling the IDF’s operations and tactics “over the top.”
President Biden is also openly blasting Israel’s prime minister with obscenities, calling Benjamin Netanyahu – the only truly democratically elected U.S. ally in the Middle East – a “f*ing bad guy” and an “a-hole.” By contrast, Biden never speaks so brazenly or crudely about enemies of the U.S. like Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, other countries – including Canada and Turkey – are beginning to impose military and trade embargoes on Israel.
And the global media – especially TV news programs around the world – keeps painting Israel as a monster that destroys the lives and homes of innocents in Gaza and tries to starve millions of Palestinians, as well.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE PROPHET EZEKIEL TELL US?
Throughout the Bible, there are repeated prophetic warnings that when we get to the eschatological season known as the “last days,” the entire world will turn against the nation of Israel.
For example, in the Old Testament – in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39 – it becomes painfully clear that no nation comes to Israel’s defense when the “War of Gog and Magog” begins in the “last days” (Ezekiel 38:16).
Many pastors and Bible scholars believe that Ezekiel is describing a Russian dictator who will lead the attack on Israel in an alliance with the military forces of Iran, Turkey, Sudan, and several other Central Asian and African nations.
Yet, the prophecy makes it clear that when such an invasion comes, Israel will be all alone, utterly abandoned even by its closest friends and allies.
In the writings of the ancient Hebrew prophet Zechariah, we find another Old Testament example of all nations turning against Israel in the End Times.
Consider this passage from Zechariah 12:2-3.
“Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, ‘Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.’”
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