Second coming

 

I really don't want to be one of those guys with the long beard walking around with a long robe carrying a sign reading, "The End is Near!" But, another facet to the current unfolding of events of the attacks on the United States' Embassies in Egypt and Libya which resulted in the death of four American citizens bears a striking resemblance to what we read in Zachariah 12 and is confirmed in the Revelation that God is going to save Israel from total destruction.

"12:1 The revelation of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: The Lord – he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person – says, 12:2 “I am about to make Jerusalem a cup that brings dizziness to all the surrounding nations; indeed, Judah will also be included when Jerusalem is besieged. 12:3 Moreover, on that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy burden for all the nations, and all who try to carry it will be seriously injured; yet all the peoples of the earth will be assembled against it. 12:4 In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with madness. I will pay close attention to the house of Judah, but will strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. 12:5 Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a means of strength to us through their God, the Lord who rules over all.’ 12:6 On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like an igniter among sticks and a burning torch among sheaves, and they will burn up all the surrounding nations right and left. Then the people of Jerusalem will settle once more in their place, the city of Jerusalem. 12:7 The Lord also will deliver the homes of Judah first, so that the splendor of the kingship of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not exceed that of Judah. 12:8 On that day the Lord himself will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like mighty David, and the dynasty of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. 12:9 So on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. 12:11 On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12:12 The land will mourn, clan by clan – the clan of the royal household of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the clan of the family of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; 12:13 the clan of the descendants of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; and the clan of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves – 12:14 all the clans that remain, each separately with their wives.”  (Zechariah 12:1-14)

Nations are going to surround Israel and the people groups of those nations will come against Israel with the intent to destroy them. Rather than a giant leap, the events happening right before our eyes is but a small step in believing the world is beginning its move against Israel.

 

We know the Palestinians have long since declared their intention to destroy Israel. The so-called "Arab Spring" has culminated in the toppling of leadership that either had peace with Israel (Egypt) or at least kept busy fighting each other to bother too much with Israel (Iraq and Iran). Now we see Egypt is governed by the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran is close to having nuclear capabilities, Syria is fighting for its independence but will likely remain tied to Muslim ideology, Libya has vowed to fight Israel, Iraq continues to be unstable with fighting factions of Muslims, Jordan and Lebanon want to see Israel destroyed and Saudi Arabia, as a Muslim nation, would join the forces of their neighbors and could not be trusted to stand for Israel.

 

Outside the immediate circle stands the army numbered in the millions from China; along with Russia who has supported Syria and Iran even now. Finally, even the United States has made overtures of backing away from support of Israel. The President most recently has rebuffed a meeting with Israel's Prime Minister in favor of his own campaigning for re-election. The President has also been heard to say from the audio portion of his book that if the tides turn against the Muslims he would have to join with them. Most recently too, was the attempt of the Democrat Party to exclude God from their Platform. Additionally, they wanted to omit the declaration of Jerusalem being the capital of Israel. Millions saw on television the three attempts to voice-vote God and Jerusalem's status as capital of Israel back into the platform with the Arab-Americans loudly voicing opposition. It was returned to the platform only because the Chair overrode the voice vote by declaring those in favor to be winners...the decision that was written on the teleprompter before even the first vote was taken!

So, if one wanted to speculate we might be living in the "last days" based on the movement of the world order against the nation of Israel, it might be difficult to refute.      

Jim Killebrew