NUCLEAR WAR IN
THE MIDEAST
PART 3
(GAZA)
by Steve
Ashburn
The Bible predicts
that there will be a nuclear war in the Middle East, in
Psalm 83, Amos 1-2, and many other books and chapters in
the Old Testament, followed by a third US-led coalition
invasion of Iraq. I believe this war will take place by
2030, resulting in global disruption of trade, the
deaths of hundreds of millions, and the restoration of
Israel to her ancient boundaries of the land of Canaan.
These prophecies
have been ”sealed” (not widely understood) up until now,
but in this series of articles I am going to prove to
you, painstakingly and through extensive quotation from
Scripture, exactly what the Bible says about this war.
This event begins a 40-year period known as the “end
times,” which includes the rapture, the Ezekiel 38-39
Russian invasion of Israel, and finally the tribulation
as its last seven-year segment.
The Bible must
devote as much text to describing this nuclear war in
the Old Testament as it does in Revelation! Therefore,
it seems that God really wants us to be aware of this
event, which marks the beginning of the end times, as
much as He does the events of His second coming 40 years
later.
Understanding all
this is crucial to having a properly developed end-times
thesis, including the definition, timing and sequence of
events of this great time period, scheduled to begin in
the near future!
Having said that,
I now want to focus your attention on one of the nations
involved in this Arab invasion of Israel, and that
nation is: Gaza.
Modern-day Gaza is
populated by descendants of the ancient Philistine
people, amalgamated with Bedouin Arabs, Edomites
(descendants of Esau), and Jordanian Arabs (descendants
of Moab and Ammon). The land was largely uninhabited
until the return of the Jews to their homeland in the
twentieth century, and the subsequent economic
prosperity that resulted. The present-day Arab
population of Gaza largely consists of immigrants from
surrounding Arab nations who recently migrated to the
area to find employment, and because of the higher
standard of living. Although God promised the land of
Canaan to Abraham (Genesis 15:21), Israel never fully
possessed this land.
After World War I,
Gaza was administered under the British Mandate, then
after the 1948 Israeli War for Independence, by Egypt.
It was captured by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967,
and in 1993 was transferred to Arab control. Gaza
presently is governed by the Palestinian Authority,
whose main political faction is Hamas. In Hebrew, the
word hamas means “violence,” and true to their
name, Hamas today seeks the violent overthrow of the
Jewish state, with frequent rocket barrages and other
terrorist attacks against their neighbor.
Although Israel
has never fully possessed the land of Canaan, this will
finally be accomplished after the war which begins the
end times. After decades of constant terrorism, murder
and threats, the attempted military invasion by the
nations which surround her will give Israel the impetus
to fix “the Palestinian problem” once and for all.
Thus Israel will
possess the complete land that God promised to
Abraham—the Mediterranean coast from Zarephath (north of
Tyre) southward to the “river of Egypt” (Genesis 15:18,
easternmost delta branch of the old Nile terminating at
ancient Pelusium, near present-day Suez Canal)—thereby
including the Sinai Peninsula; thence from the Gulf of
Aqaba northeastward through present-day Jordan and Syria
to the Euphrates River; and thence southwestward to the
Mediterranean Sea near Zarephath (Genesis 15:18–21;
Exodus 23:31; Numbers 34:1–12; Deuteronomy 1:24; Joshua
1:4).
God’s judgment on
Palestine is set forth in Ezekiel, Isaiah, Obadiah, and
Zephaniah. It makes sense for the Palestinians in Gaza
to be judged at the same time as Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and
other nations surrounding Israel since these nations
together will launch an attack against Israel at the
beginning of the end-times period. They also are
inveterate enemies of Israel and the source of much
present-day terrorism. Ezekiel 25 describes the judgment
against Palestine:
Thus saith the
Lord God;
Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have
taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it
for the old hatred; Therefore thus saith the Lord
God;
Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the
Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and
destroy the remnant of the sea coast. And I will execute
great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they
shall know that I am the
Lord, when
I shall lay my vengeance upon them. (Ezekiel 25:15–17)
The timeline here
is indicated by “to destroy it for the old hatred,”
meaning the ages-long hatred of the Palestinians for
Israel. Isaiah 14 also gives an account of this battle.
God advises Palestine not to rejoice because “the rod of
him that smote thee is broken” (indicating Israel during
the Diaspora—the time period just preceding Ezekiel’s
account), since they will return as a powerful nation
(“a cockatrice”). A cockatrice is a legendary, venomous
serpent that could kill just by its glace, and which
emerges “out of the serpent's root” (the military power
of ancient Israel).
Isaiah here refers
to the deadly force of the modern IDF. The timeline here
is when “firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy
shall lie down in safety,” indicating a time of peace
for Israel which results after Palestine is “dissolved.”
This period comes after a time when God “will kill thy
root with famine”; this probably refers to the two
thousand years of drought in Palestine during the
Diaspora. Many people tried to settle the land during
this time, but were largely unsuccessful because of the
drought.
Afterward, the
modern IDF “shall slay thy remnant” in the Psalm 83
war:
Rejoice not thou,
whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee
is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come
forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery
flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor shall
feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will
kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy
remnant. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole
Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the
north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed
times. What shall one then answer the messengers of the
nation? That the
Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his
people shall trust in it. (Isaiah 14:29–32)
Isaiah says “there
shall come from the north a smoke,” suggesting a great
number of troops, probably Israeli. In addition, the
“fiery flying serpent” which comes out of the cockatrice
seems to allude to nuclear missiles, especially with
enhanced-radiation warheads. A neutron bomb detonating
over Gaza City, for example, would “fry” the entire
population while leaving buildings intact—sting of a
“serpent,” indeed. By this display of extreme military
force, the population of Palestine would be “dissolved”;
the Hebrew word translated “dissolved” here (namowg)
actually means “melted”—an accurate description of
thermonuclear destruction.
In addition,
aircraft of the IDF—which shoot “fire” out of their
engines while using the afterburners (and also from
rockets), and launch deadly guided (Sidewinder?)
missiles from their wings—also could be described as
“fiery flying serpents.” However, the sense in which
Isaiah uses this term denotes widespread, sudden,
violent death (“dissolved”), indicating nuclear rather
than conventional force.
Later, Israeli
ground troops could sweep in to mop up whatever is left;
thus Palestine would be “dissolved”—physically and
politically. It appears at this time that the
cat-and-mouse game Israel has been playing with
Palestinians in Gaza is over at this point in our
narrative. Egypt cannot help the Palestinians, since
they have been destroyed along with many cities and
nations surrounding Israel.
Since Palestinians
also live in West Bank and Jordan (ancient Moab, Ammon
and Edom)—and they are as equally malignant as their
brethren in Gaza—Scripture addresses their destruction
also. Obadiah 1 describes an attack by Israel upon
Edom—the present-day West Bank and southern Jordan,
which includes also Palestine:
And the house of
Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle
in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any
remaining of the house of Esau; for the
Lord hath
spoken it. And they of the south shall possess the mount
of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they
shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of
Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. And the
captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall
possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and
the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall
possess the cities of the south. (Obadiah 1:18–20)
This attack
apparently occurs at a time when “the day of the
Lord is
near,” which is a code phrase for the beginning of the
end times (since the day of the Lord begins with the
rapture), according to verse 15: “For the day of the
Lord is
near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall
be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine
own head.”
The end-times
attack on Israel by a coalition of Arab nations
apparently includes the Palestinians in Gaza as well as
Jordanians who occupy ancient Edom (the biblical land of
Esau). Obadiah indicates Israel will destroy Edom with
overwhelming military force (Obadiah 1:18), and
presumably, this includes the Palestinians in Gaza as
well (Obadiah 1:19).
It long has been
the hope of Arab nations that a blitzkrieg attack
against Israel would be successful, but as in past
attacks (e.g., 1967, 1973), it quickly becomes clear
that their hope is in vain. Unlike previous wars,
however, this time the fix is permanent. Israel begins
several decades of peace and prosperity, as indicated by
Ezekiel 28:26: “And they shall dwell safely therein, and
shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall
dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments
upon all those that despise them round about them; and
they shall know that I am the
Lord their
God.”
We’ll cover more
about this Mideast war in Part 4 of this series,
including the description of Gaza as “the nation of the
Cherethites” (“running assassins”), and the deportation
of the surviving Arabs to other nations, basically as
slaves. So stand by for Part 4!
I provide more
details of this and many other end-times prophecies in
my recently published book, END TIMES DAWNING: Get
Ready! (available from
www.endtimesrecord.com). Please read it! Also if you
would, please leave a book review on Amazon!
Yours in Christ,
Steve Ashburn