Prophecies About Israel and Ishmael

Brethren, what a contrast as we celebrated this feast of Tabernacles, whether here or around the world. 62 different feast sites. And it pictures peace in the world. When Christ comes back, there won't be any more sorrow or pain. But look at the contrast. What is currently going on in Israel. It's all over the news. Let's turn to Isaiah 2. This is one of the key scriptures about the Feast of Tabernacles. When Christ comes back, we won't have any more multiple religions. We won't have confusion. It says, verse 2 of chapter 2, it says, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days. That's always talking about the final time before Christ comes back and intervenes in world affairs. That the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills. And all nations shall flow to it. They're not flowing to it now. They're resisting or fighting. It says, Many people shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. So there's a different attitude. People will not be rebellious. They won't be stubborn. He says, He will teach us His ways and we shall walk in His paths. This is the attitude of humility, of submission to Christ. It says, verse 3, For out of Zion shall go forth the law. So the law has not been done away because here we see Christ enforcing God's laws.

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore.

That's what we're looking forward to. That's what was pictured at the Feast of Tabernacles. But before Christ comes, let's look at a scripture that is the opposite of what we have read. Did you know that there is a scripture which doesn't talk about turning swords into pruning hooks, but turning pruning hooks into swords? Let's go to Joel chapter 3, book of Joel chapter 3 verse 9.

This is talking about the end time period. God says, proclaim this among the nations. Prepare for a war. That's what's going to happen in the future. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. This is the time when soldiers are going to act. It says, beat your plowshares into swords. Instead of agricultural implements, they're going to have war instruments. And your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong, because they are rearming.

Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord. Let the nations be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. That's Jerusalem. For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

And so that's the final battle as they fight Jesus Christ Himself. The war in Israel began on that last great day, the eighth day of the feast, which was a double Sabbath. All throughout that area of Israel, stores close, people meet in their synagogues. They rest on that day, and of course the army's power is diminished at that time. And the enemy knows that.

And while they were resting and worshipping God, when their guard was down, Satan loves that. Knows the time is getting shorter for Him to rule and deceive the world. Hamas, a radical Arab terrorist organization which took over in 2007, had a devastating attack, unprovoked, and caught Israel by surprise. In Revelation 12, verse 12, we know Satan is behind all of this attacks, and of course Satan likes to produce war. It says in Revelation 12, it says, Therefore rejoice, O heavens! In other words, the angels are going to be happy. They are not down here on the earth. And you who dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, talking about all the islands where they are inhabited. For the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time before his power is removed. And so he wants to cause as much death and mayhem as possible. He hates the potential that humans have to one day be over the angels. The angels are not destined to rule that world tomorrow. Satan hates it, thinks it's unfair for them to submit to human beings. That's one of the causes of his hate.

Once before, the Muslims attacked Israel on a holy day called the Yom Kippur War, the day of atonement in 1973. It also caught Israel off guard. They had to scramble. They lost the first three days of that war. They were being surrounded by all of these hostile nations, and they got very close to being defeated. And so what did Israel do? They warned the U.S. We're running out of supplies. All of the Arabs from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and other parts, they were pushing inward. Israel was not able to hold them back. And so they told the President of the United States, we're not going to have another Holocaust where all the Jews yielded to the death, thinking it wasn't going to be that bad. And six million Jews perished, basically, hardly fighting back. He said this will never happen. And if need to, they warned the United States, if you don't come and supply us with more arms and planes, we will detonate atomic bombs. And they had already several, and they had them deployed. They said, we, like Samson, will knock down the pillars of this world, but we're not going down by ourselves. Well, at that time, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, his Secretary of State, they took that warning seriously, and they said, we will supply you with all that you need. And they started a big airlift. And with all of those supplies, Israel was able to push back and eventually win that war. But that's how close the world got. Israel called it the Samson option. We will have pulled the option that Samson did. And when he was there with all the thousands of Philistines laughing at him and mocking him, he asked God, give me that supernatural strength one more time. He took the pillars and he knocked them out, and he killed all the Philistines along with himself. And so that Samson option is still there today.

Let's go to Zechariah 12, because God prophesied that Jerusalem and Israel would be a heavy burden for the world to bear in the end time. Zechariah 12.

Starting in verse 1, it says, The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel, thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens. There are three things that God shows his power. He stretches out the heavens. He created the universe, which is expanding. Who lays the foundation of the earth. He's the one that created everything that we see on the earth, all living things. And who forms the spirit of man within him, gives us the intelligence, the ability to reason, all the things that the spirit of man is not in animals at all. He says, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. That's going to happen in the future. And it shall happen that 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. Christ is going to intervene. All those that again push Israel toward a wall think that they're going to have the upper hand. They will all be cut to pieces. Though all nations of the earth are gathered against them, we know, not very popular, to back Israel. And it talks about Christ returning and striking all of the armies that are against him.

That's the way we know the world today. Many people that are young, I myself was born before all of these wars that have been going on in Israel. And I was born after Israel was founded in 1948. Now, anybody that remembers that period of time prior to 1948 knows that nobody was interested in Israel at that time. It was the Palestinian area with Arabs. It was a poor country. There wasn't any military or economic reason to focus. It was what they call a backwater area. But after 1948, it became a heavy burden for the nations, as we have just seen this past week. He says that it's going to be a heavy burden. It's interesting, the humorist Mark Twain, back in the late 1800s, early 1900s, Mark Twain said the following things. All are mortal, but for the Jew. All others' forces pass away, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? How is it that the Jews have not been blotted out after all these big empires have come, submitted it, fought them, and they're still there, and they're in charge now of that area of Israel? The answer is found in the Bible. Notice what it tells us in Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32, verses 9 and 10. Here's part of the period, part called the law of God. It says in verses 9 and 10, it says, For the Lord's portion is his people. He has chosen these people to give his portion to them. Jacob is the place of his inheritance. He found them in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness. He encircled him. He instructed him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. The apple of the eye is the inner part of the eye, which is very delicate. And he says that's a very delicate part. Other translations say the pupil, which of course you can't see if your pupil is damaged. So it's a very delicate part of the body. Zechariah chapter 2. Let's go back to Zechariah where we had been. Zechariah chapter 2, verses 7 and 8.

It says, Up Zion, that's talking about Jerusalem, escape you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the Lord of hosts, He sent me after glory to the nations which plunder you. For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. So God has preserved the Jewish people up to today.

So what is happening now there in Israel? It has a long history. He goes back to Genesis 3.15. That's where this struggle began. Notice Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. This is still in the area. They're still in the Garden of Eden. After they disobeyed God and defied him, chose Satan's way instead of God's. It says in verse 15, It says, It was Satan disguised. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, talking about the church and spiritual Israel, as well as the physical descendants of Abraham, and between your seed. So Satan has those that do his will and her seed, talking about Christ the Messiah. He, talking about the Messiah, shall bruise your head, which means he will crush it, and you shall bruise his heel. That was what he did when he killed Jesus Christ. They're crucified, but Christ was resurrected. So he continues to live on.

So this is where that struggle happened. The serpent trying to destroy the coming Messiah and his people. That's part of God's plan. Notice in Revelation 12, this is a condensed history of Satan trying to destroy the Messiah and his people. Revelation 12, let's start in verse 1. I love this, how the Bible can do such a thing to compress some 2,000 years into one chapter. To me, it is amazing. So it starts out in Revelation 12, verse 1. It says, Now a great sign appeared in heaven. This is the birth of Jesus Christ. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. This is talking, as you can jot down Genesis 37, 9-11. It talks about Joseph's dream. About the sun being Jacob, the moon being his mother, and the twelve stars, of which he was the one that was going to shine. So this is talking about the church and the people, because remember, not all Israelites are spiritual. Israelites. They're not converted. So it says, this woman, because Christ came from Israel, it says, And another sign appeared in heaven, Behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his head. He is the king of the earth. He said, all of these empires, each one of those represent different empires that he has guided. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven. This is talking about, he persuaded a third of the angels to follow him in rebellion against God, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. And we know he used Herod to try to kill Jesus Christ.

He did not succeed because God intervened, but Satan knew he had to destroy the Messiah as soon as possible. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. That identifies Jesus Christ. And her child was caught up to God and his throne. So here we have the birth. Comes, carries out the mission. And then, like the first message, talking about Christ being resurrected, and he's up there in the throne. No, because it's not talking about the history of Jesus Christ directly. It's talking about the church. And so Jesus Christ goes up. He's the head of the church. Notice what it says.

Then, the next significant moment in history for the church, it says, Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And so here we see, during these past two thousand years, the most important period of time that is related here about the church is when the church has to flee. And when does it flee? When the Roman Empire took over a false Christianity and tried to stamp out the true church.

And going through the day for a year prophecy, it would be twelve hundred and sixty years that the church would have to flee. Because once Constantine adopted the Catholic Church, they went after the true church, the Sabbath-keeping churches, the feast-keeping churches. And from 325 AD, that's when Constantine started persecuting actively the church with the Council of Nicaea, he cast his ballot. And he says the Sabbath-keeping churches, you cannot remain in the empire or you have to become a Catholic, a Roman Catholic.

We have the letter, it's still there, Constantine's letter of 325, where he told them that you are obliged to come in, to leave the Sabbath, adopt Sunday, the Easter, and all of those things. And so the flight of the church takes place at that time, goes to the outer confines of the Roman Empire, and for twelve hundred and sixty years, it has to be secretly and hidden away.

And so it was only, if you count from 325 AD, twelve hundred and sixty years, you'll come to the year 1585. What was so significant about 1585? That's when Queen Elizabeth I is able to face the Spanish Empire, which wanted to conquer England, so everybody would be under Sunday-keeping churches. And that's when the war between the British and the Spanish took place, and three years later, in 1588, the great Spanish armada came to invade, conquer Protestant England, and submit them all back to Catholicism. And as you know, there was a hurricane that took place.

It blew that big armada, plus the British ships were able to go into these areas miraculously with fire ships, disperse them, and broke the back of the Spanish Empire. And from then on, we have Queen Elizabeth that preaches more religious tolerance. The churches of God's seventh day begin to rise up in England. They started keeping the Sabbath now because there was tolerance, and eventually they moved to the United States and continued with the Sabbath keepers. But there was that 1260-year period where the church had to hide because the Catholic church was on them.

The Inquisition took place, torture, burnings. You have no idea. If you want to read some of that, read Fox's Book of Martyrs. It'll tell you a little bit about that. So, the woman fled. And what's the next significant moment in church history? Verse 7. And war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

But they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So again, they're punished. This has not happened yet. Because once this happens, Satan only has three and a half years left of his reign on this earth. And it says, So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, and he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with them.

And then it says, let's go to verse 17. And the dragon was enraged with a woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And it talks about the church in verse 14. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle. Just like her flight before, she's also going to be given the means to fly to a place of protection.

That she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and a half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So that's going to happen in the future. And so we have this condensation of two thousand years of church history, but looking at it from the perspective of the church. And so Satan would take advantage of the nature of Ishmael, the brother, in this case, of Isaac, half-brother, and his enmity, an envy toward Isaac, because of the loss of inheritance.

Remember, it was Ishmael that was first born to Abraham, but he was not the promised seed. He was not the one that was going to inherit. Let's go to Genesis 16. Genesis 16. Verse 6 talks about Hagar. It says, So Abraham said to Sarai, Indeed your maid is in your hand, due to her as you please. And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to shore.

So here's another theophany. It's called a Christophany because it's dealing with the word that appeared there, representing God the Father. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from? And where are you going? She said, I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai. Sarai, the angel of the Lord said to her, Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hand. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants, Exyni. Notice it's God speaking, but it wasn't the Father who was coming down from heaven.

It was the word who came and visited with Sarai. I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they shall not be counted for multitude. The angel of the Lord said to her, Behold, you are with child and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has heard your affliction. Ishmael means Yahweh has heard. He shall be a wild man. His hand shall be against every man and every man's hand against him.

And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. So here's Nelson's Bible commentary. It says, a wild man suggests Ishmael and his descendants would be unsettled. In other words, they will not settle into a particular place. Ever on the move, always be moving. You know, the Bedouins are part of that, always living in tents, going from one place to the other. His hand will be against others.

He suggests his descendants would often be at war. Still, these people would endure. Talking about Ishmael's descendants would endure all the way to the end time. They would dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

They would not finish their descendants. This has indeed been the case for Ishmael's descendants are the Arab peoples who populate most of the Middle East today. Very few of the peoples of the Old Testament world have survived to our day. For example, all ten nations mentioned in Genesis 15, 19-21 have ceased to exist. But two peoples survive. Israel, the Jewish people, descended from Isaac, and the Arabs descended from Ishmael. Those Ishmaelites would also mix with the Edomites, Esau's descendants.

And one of the descendants would be Amalek, the Amalekites, mortal enemies of Israel. Some scholars believe many Palestinians are linked to them, although they can't be 100% sure. But it took the rise of Islam in the 1600s to launch this region into a largely permanent state of war that spans centuries and continues to our day and played the key role in this recent war in Israel by Hamas. Yet, it's important to note not all Arabs are Muslims. Many are peaceful.

There are Christian Arabs in different nations that have a different mentality and are at times persecuted by the Arab Muslims. For instance, the war with Syria, where Syria came and invaded Lebanon. These were the Shiite Arabs that came and took possession of all these areas. Hezbollah is part of Arab Muslims that are persecuting Christian Arabs, trying to take over the entire nation.

Also, there are 57 nations that have a Muslim majority in them. 22 are Arab, so less than half. They comprise the Muslims, about 1.3 billion people. The Wahhabis, an ancient tribe in Saudi Arabia, started a fundamentalist teaching to go back to the 7th century Muslim religion and go strictly by it. From then on, it's been just one disaster after another, trying to raise up these groups. The Wahhabis. For instance, Bin Laden in Saudi Arabia, he came from the Wahhabi religion.

The Taliban teach the Wahhabi religion. ISIS, less than a decade ago, tried to take over that whole area to establish that type of radical Islam teaching. The Shiites in Iran are also radical Muslims. In Hamas, the latest attacker is an Ashu of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt and are fanatical Muslims. In 2007, they took over the government in Gaza and constantly have had clashes with Israel.

The Arabs, before they were a lot of these smaller nations and didn't have much money, but about a century ago, they discovered oil. They've become very powerful. You look at the Arabs, they've still got their garbs, their camels and tents.

They're adjusting. They became so rich. Remember, they bought some of these B-37s that were built over here in the area of Long Beach. One of these Arab sheikhs was so rich that he bought one of these huge B-37s that you could put tanks inside for him to take all of his luxury cars and all of his wives and children. It was a personal jet for him. I remember Jerry Spitz worked on one of those.

So, let's go now to the final battle that will take place in Daniel 11. Now we're going into the future. Daniel 11, verse 35. It's very important to analyze this. Daniel 11, verse 35, it says here about the prophecy God revealed. He says, And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end, because it is still for the appointed time. Then the king shall do according to his own will, and this is the king of the north, which is the European head.

He will exalt and magnify himself above every god. He's talking about the antichrist and also the political leader. And shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished, for what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall exalt himself above them all.

Satan will possess this person. You'll have very great powers. But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses, and a god which his fathers did not know. He shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. And we know there's going to be a false prophet that will accompany him. Almost sounds like they'll have artificial intelligence working here, a god that his fathers did know. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge this false prophet, and advance its glory.

And he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain. At the time of the end, the king of the south, talking about these Arab countries, they're talking about all these nations to the south of Israel, all of these that are Muslim, as far as we know. It says, shall attack him, talking about the king of the north. So you're going to have a clash between the Middle East and Europe at that time.

And the king of the north shall come against them like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall enter the countries, overwhelming them, and pass through. There will be an invasion of the Middle East. He shall also enter the glorious land. That's part of the Middle East, Israel. And many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people in Ammon.

That's the area of Jordan, tiny Jordan. And there's a place there called Petra that could be the place where the church flees to. We're not 100% sure, but here is another evidence that somehow God says, don't touch this area of Jordan. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

That's part of the king of the south. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, including all the oil in that whole area. Also, Libyans to the west, and Ethiopians to the south, shall follow at his heels. They all fall. So we see the king of the south consists of all of these Muslim countries. But news from the east and the north, this is talking about the area of Russia and China, shall trouble him. So they're not going to stay behind. Therefore, he shall go out with great fury, talking about the king of the north, to destroy and annihilate many.

And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. This is talking about Jerusalem. Yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. That's revealed Revelation 17, 18, and 19, when that all takes place. So let's go to Isaiah 19 as I wrap up here. Isaiah 19, 21 through 25. When will there finally be peace in the Middle East? Here it describes Isaiah 19, verse 21.

Christ comes back. It's not going to be before that time. And it says in chapter 19, 21, It says, Then the Lord will be known to Egypt. They believe in Islam now, but they will know the Lord, the true religion. And the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and will make sacrifice and offering. Yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. They will recognize God. And the Lord will strike Egypt. He will strike and heal it. First punish and then heal it. And they will return to the Lord and he will be entreated by them and heal them. In that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria.

And the Assyrian will come into Egypt. This is part of Assyria now that went all the way to Europe, became part of the German Empire, will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria. And the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians in that day. Israel will be one of the three with Egypt and Assyria, symbolic of what ends up being the king of the south, the king of the north and Israel. A blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, blessed is Egypt because they've been converted.

My people and Assyria, the work of my hands and Israel, my inheritance. As we already heard so many times during the Feast of Tabernacles, Zechariah 14, 16-19, that was the first hymn about the nation's coming, Israel being taken, and then Christ intervening. That's what is pictured and portrays that peace that is coming. So finally, peace will be in the land. All will be keeping God's laws. There won't be any more deception, no more false religions. And we will be involved in the conversion and the education of all of those nations. How would you like to do that? To bring peace and to heal and to be Christ's instruments and servants at that time.

No more deception. Brethren, I have an assignment for you. Please read this booklet, The Middle East in Prophecy. This is such a good booklet. I read it yesterday. So a little over 60 pages. It'll take you about an hour to read it, but I tell you, it is so good and so instructive of what's going on. We also have it in Spanish. El cercano oriente la profesia bibliica. So we have it too. So that's an assignment for all of you to do. And now we know more about the prophecies about Israel and Ishmael.