Jerusalem: Why
the Miracles Have Ceased
Focus on Jerusalem, in its
continuing endeavor to make available interesting and doctrinally sound articles
associated with Bible Prophecy offers this very insightful article on the
ongoing efforts by the world’s major spheres of world power to forge a peace
treaty between the Jews and the Arabs. FOJ hopes that this presentation will
inspire your further interest in the wonderful study of the amazing prophetic
world of the Holy Bible, and the glorious majesty of our Coming Lord.
(08-13-2007)
Jerusalem: Why
the Miracles Have Ceased
Enemies are
encroaching on the State of Israel. What has happened to the miracles the Jewish
state experienced for decades?
Not so many years ago, Israel was a terror to the Arabs and
the whole Middle East. Now radical Islam, led by
Iran—is a terror to Israel, as well as to millions of Arabs. Why this
alarming change in the volatile Middle East? Iran has been the number-one
sponsor of terrorism for many years. The Iranians are about to become a nuclear
power, which is going to add a horrifying dimension to this violent region.
However, in spite of this black and gloomy scene, God has plans for the region
too!.
Israel’s Birth
Let’s look back at Israel’s recent history. When World War
ii ended, there were many Jewish refugees with
no place to call home. Most of the world was sympathetic to these Jews. In 1948,
after a bitter struggle in the United Nations, these Jews (the modern
descendants of the biblical tribe of Judah—the name Jew is just a
shortened version of Judah) received a home when the land of Israel was
declared a nation. The Arabs attacked immediately. The Jews had no real army and
were losing the war after three weeks. Then the Arabs strangely agreed to a
temporary UN-sponsored truce. This is exactly what Israel needed to rearm and
train its weary troops, many of whom were nothing more than civilians with guns.
Shortly thereafter, the Arabs began fighting again. This time the Jews were well
prepared and soon won the war.
Many of the Jews acknowledged that this was a miracle
from God!
The Jews were determined fighters. This was their first sovereign nation in
almost 2,000 years. Only death could make them surrender their new and only
homeland. They had a strong faith in God. As a result, they experienced
bountiful miracles in the following years.
Will to Fight
There continued to be many problems between the Jews and Arabs. These became so
intense in 1967 that almost every nation in the world believed the Arabs were
about to attack Israel again. Egypt, Jordan and Syria allied to start a war. The
Soviet Union strongly urged Egypt to attack. Egyptian troops poured into the
Sinai and ordered UN forces out. War seemed imminent. The Jews felt compelled to
strike first. Jewish warplanes flew into Egypt and destroyed 300 Egyptian combat
fighters in three hours. The Jews then captured all of the Sinai, the Suez
Canal, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights in just six days.
Again, many Jews believed their nation had been saved by a series of godly
miracles. They were inspired and joyfully optimistic about their future. The
attitude in Israel today is very different. A majority of the Jews are
depressed about their future. Why the change? When did the miracles cease?
After the 1967 victory, Israel became prosperous and complacent. The Jews were
lulled into a false sense of security. Meanwhile, terrorists began to pour into
the nation. In late 1973, the Jewish military ignored serious intelligence
reports that the Arabs were again poised to attack. The assault occurred on
October 6, during the solemn Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The Jews won the war
in three weeks, with much aid from the Americans. Egypt was beaten, but not
humiliated. Once again Jerusalem had been miraculously
saved. Again, many Jews admitted that the Yom Kippur victory abounded with
miracles—especially since the war started on one of their holiest days of the
year.
But soon after, something dramatic changed in Israel.
Menachem Begin was elected prime minister in 1977. US President Jimmy Carter
persuaded him to give the Sinai back to Egypt in the late 1970s.
This was the beginning of the Israeli-Arab peace
process. The Jews gave up land for a piece of paper. At this point,
the course of their history took a dramatic and dangerous turn.
The Jewish nation was born and sustained by faith and
godly miracles. But the Jews’ faith is shorthanded and failing them
today, and so the miracles have ceased. Today, in spite of the fact that the
Jews gave the Sinai back to Egypt, an unparalleled gift, Israel enjoys no real
peace with Egypt. That should show us that giving away land does not buy peace.
The Jews continue to give land for empty promises of peace. In 1993 on the White
House lawn, the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat shook hands, and Israel surrendered bits of
that hard-won, strategically important land in the hope that the Arabs
could be simply bargained into giving up their goal of destroying the
Jewish nation. The Jews have also given Gaza, Jericho, Bethlehem and other West
Bank areas back to the Palestinians. It seems the world has forgotten that those
areas were won in a war where the Arabs were trying to annihilate the
Jews. This land-for-peace process is a formula for peace almost unheard-of in
world history.
The Jews have given back many biblical sites to the Arabs. America and Britain
have strongly urged them to do so, and today those two nations find themselves
the targets of the Islamic terrorists. Throughout this terribly misnamed “peace”
process,” Israel giving up land and seeing no appreciable drop in violence,
Palestinian leaders have consistently told politicians and media that they want
peaceful coexistence with Israel while simultaneously promising to their own
people that they will destroy Israel. Now, after years of gambling with its own
soil, Israel finds itself depleted of property and will. It has been terribly
weakened and bloodied by its own policies—yet even today, Jewish leaders say
they need to make still more concessions to the Arabs even if doing so will
endanger the existence of the Jewish state!
The Good News
The
Intelligence Digest, Oct. 4, 1996, said this: “The
principal delusion underpinning the Middle East peace process, is that
all problems can be solved by negotiation”. The
deadly delusion that “all problems can be
solved by negotiation” is going to lead Israel and the US to disaster! Adolf
Hitler almost conquered the world because so many nations had that same delusion
before and during World War II. Such a philosophy destroys nations.
No great nation has ever been built or sustained by
such a belief! Any good history book should teach us that. Bible prophecy
certainly does. It is a philosophy based on weakness.
The Arabs see land-for-peace deals as a glaring weakness in the Jews and
fully intend to exploit it! Any powerful nation that reasons from such weakness
is plummeting to disaster! Many of the leading politicians of the world are
trying to bring peace to the Middle East. But they can’t because they don’t know
how.
Very
soon there is going to be peace in Jerusalem. That
city is going to give birth to peace throughout the whole world! But,
before that day, you need to understand where the present peace process is
leading. It is said that it is darkest just before the dawn—and what a
dawn we are about to see, when Jesus Christ returns to Jerusalem!
|