Is Iraq the Key to Peace in the Middle East?
A commentary by Roger Foster
Good News magazine Senior Writer, San Antonio, Texas
The hope that a democratic Iraq will exert a powerfully stabilizing
influence throughout the Middle East seems to be one of the driving motivations
behind current U. S. policy. And no doubt a peaceful, self-governing
Iraq would be a welcome addition to the world community of nations.
But the most persistent tinderbox in the Middle East is not Iraq, but
Jerusalem. This city has become the site of the world's tug-of-war
over the issue of fairness in international policy.
Fairness is viewed very differently—and with incredible passion—by
various blocks of nations. There is no acceptable standard of fairness
that all can agree on.
The key players in this tug-of-war for control of Jerusalem are the
Jews and the Palestinians, with the other Islamic states backing the
Palestinians. But of far greater consequence ultimately is the fact that
America and Europe come down on different sides of this struggle—with
America standing behind the Jews and Europe standing behind the Palestinians.
The intensifying danger of this deeply seated division between the world's
two greatest power blocks poses a much more sinister threat to world
peace than the success or failure of democracy in Iraq.
Biblical prophecy speaks very plainly on this matter. Jerusalem is prophesied
to become the center of all international tensions. Eventually these
tensions will erupt into the most destructive time of warfare the world
has ever experienced.
As Jesus Christ explained, "For then there will be great distress,
unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to
be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would
survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened" (Matthew
24:21-22, New International Version).
Concerning this time, God reveals: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem
a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege
against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will
make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would
heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the
earth are gathered against it" (Zechariah 12:2-3, emphasis added
throughout).
The present tensions over how to resolve the Jewish-Palestinian conflict
will grow ever more threatening until Jerusalem becomes the focal point
of international warfare. "For I will gather all the nations," says
God, "to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the
houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into
captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the
city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as
He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on
the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east" (Zechariah
14:2-4).
International tension over Jerusalem is to be the spark that ignites
the global warfare that Jesus Christ will have to end in order to prevent
humanity from annihilating itself. But notice how these battling nations
will respond to Christ when He returns to halt this madness.
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse,
whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes
war ... He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is
the Word of God ... Then I saw ... the kings of the earth with their
armies gathered to make war against the rider on the horse and
against his army" (Revelation 19:11, 13, 19, NIV).
The Scriptures reveal that this resistance to the returning Christ will
be orchestrated by "that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan,
who deceives the whole world" (Revelations 12:9). He will even
drag nations east of Iraq—through which the Euphrates River flows—into
this conflict. "Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl [of divine
intervention] on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up,
so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw
three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon,
out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the
kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the
battle of that great day of God Almighty" (Revelation 16:12-14).
  To
learn how Jesus Christ will sort out and resolve this chaotic and destructive
conflict, be sure to request or download now your free copies of our
booklets: You
Can Understand Bible Prophecy and The
Middle East in Bible Prophecy.
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