Watching the World Without Losing Peace

I had a subject in mind last night and early this morning that I was going to give, but with the notifications I got this morning and turning on the news, boy, everything seemed to change at the very last minute. And so you've probably seen the latest things that are out there with Operation Epic Fury. Wow! Have you been keeping up with any of that? You probably had at least a little bit. And when you see those notifications come across your phone, missile strikes in the Middle East, tensions all seemingly around Israel, retaliation from Iran, pretty natural to ask, how does this fit in Bible prophecy? How does this all come in line? Is this what we've been watching for? And as God's people, how should we view this? Well, one thing that's important to recognize, the United Church of God has always approached prophecy differently than the world. We don't come in speculating wildly about what's going on. We don't assign a headline to a verse in the Bible, and we don't set dates. We don't do those things. But we do ask, what does the Bible clearly say? You know, what structure has God revealed about what's going on, and how should that shape our faith? How should that shape our conduct? And if we keep in mind nothing else, remember, prophecy gives us perspective. Prophecy gives us purpose, and prophecy can give us peace as well. So as you begin to think about these things, there is no doubt. The Middle East definitely matters when it comes to prophecy. I mean, it's central. Why is prophecy central to the Middle East?

Because that's where Jerusalem is. Jerusalem is right in the center. If you turn with me over to the book of Zechariah, it points this out very specifically. Prophecy matters because Jerusalem is central to prophecy. And in Zechariah chapter 12, right near the beginning of this particular chapter, here God inspired Zechariah to record for us something critical, something that was absolutely important that we can begin to relate to what's going on in the world right now. Zechariah 12 too is where we'll begin.

And notice what it says, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. And when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall happen in that day, I will make Jerusalem a 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. And then down in verse 9 it says, It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Now it's interesting to note in this little section here, what's the scale that we're talking about? I mean, this is just an isolated incident? No, it says, all nations of the earth. All nations of the earth. In fact, if we turn the page, notice in chapter 14, verse 2. Chapter 14, verse 2, it says, I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. The city shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished. Half of the city will 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. Well, what's that talking about? Well, it's the return of Christ. Christ is returning. And Jerusalem is not central because of politics. It has nothing to do with that. It's central because that's where Christ will return. That's where Christ will stand. And then if you look down to verse 9, it says, the Lord shall be king over all the earth.

So what's the point? Well, prophecy is leading us that way. That's the culmination. And yet, if we look at the foundation, let's step back for just a moment and look at a foundational prophetic framework. And we can do that if we turn back to the book of Daniel. Let's look at Daniel 11. And beginning in verse 40, we'll see a couple of things that really stand out.

Before we get to this culmination that we read about in Zechariah, we can find circumstances in prophecy recorded for us that we can watch out for. And in Daniel 11, verse 40, we see some foundational prophetic framework that really lays that foundation so we can have a better perspective about, oh, what's going on right now? So notice what Daniel records for us, Daniel 11, verse 40. It says, at the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. Verse 41, he shall also enter the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown.

But these shall escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He'll stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. Also, the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. Now, there's a lot of things going on in this section, but there's a couple of things that really stand out.

What's the timing? Well, it says, at the time of the end. And then it describes these two great power blocks. We've got the south and the north, and that's orienting us in the direction of the Holy Land, the glorious land, Jerusalem.

North and south of Jerusalem is what it's recognizing here. And it's showing this whole area of the world, this region is a mess. It says, Egypt's involved. It mentions even those in North Africa, the Libyans, the Ethiopians. And we see it's not only a strategic area. Did you also notice something else? Treasures of gold and silver. Now we're talking about the economy, economic control. And all of it points to Jerusalem at the center. I mean, a power block, Jerusalem in the middle, this final clash of the Middle East. And what's on the horizon then?

Divine intervention. God has to intervene. And so I think it paints a powerful picture. Scripture isn't giving us clickbait headlines. That's what come up on your phone. Those are the notifications that you receive. It gives us a structure. And that structure tells us something important. In the end time, the Middle East is not going to have a situation that's in isolation. It's going to be caught between these gigantic power movements. And that's informative. It should be helpful to recognize it's telling us history is not random. And it's moving along the very lines that God's described. And if you look at prophecy properly, I think a couple of things become very clear. And perhaps I can give you a little better picture. And imagine that you're standing at a construction site, a huge, big construction site where everything is going on. You hear the noise and the cranes are moving all over the place. Concrete trucks are pulling in and pulling out and steel beams are going up in the air. Workers are shouting instructions. And you look at all this activity. You feel kind of chaotic, like, what in the world is going on here? It doesn't seem like anything is very coordinated.

Unless you could look at the architect's blueprint. If you could look at the blueprint, you're going to have a whole different perspective than some casual observer. Because looking at those blueprints, you know the foundation was planned. You know the beams are measured. You know the structure has order. You know, even though it may look like chaos, there's direction. And prophecy is the blueprint. Prophecy is the blueprint. World events, that's all the noise of construction that's going on. And if you only look at the clickbait headlines, you only look at the missile strikes, you only look at the retaliation, you only look at the alliances that seem to be shifting. Wow, it can all seem to be a mess and chaotic and overwhelming.

But you know what, brethren? We've got the blueprint. We've got the blueprint. The blueprint, especially those directions in Daniel and Ezekiel and Zechariah and Revelation. We can understand by the word of God that this is not chaos. This is construction. And God is building toward the kingdom. History, it's not random. History is architectural. And when we have that perspective, do we have to be fearful? Do we have to be anxious? Do we have to be worried about what's next?

No, we've got the blueprint. We've got the blueprint. So, what about Iran? Well, let's think about that for just a moment. It's on our mind. It's going to be on our mind, it sounds like, for quite a while from what the president said. But we can recognize, yes, Iran appears in the Bible. If we go to Ezekiel 38, we can see Iran in prophecy.

Ezekiel 38 mentions Iran, not Iran by name like we would say, oh, there's Iran in the Bible. But it's called Persia. And ancient Persia is modern Iran. It corresponds historically in that way. And in Ezekiel 38, here we find Ezekiel prophesying by the inspiration of God with the words of God about Iran, about Persia. So, notice Ezekiel 38. Let's notice verse 2. God says, So, here's what God says.

So, here we see Persia explicitly named. And so, when you talk about prophecy, Persia, does it matter? Absolutely. Does Iran matter? Yes. But context also matters because there's something critical in this context. If you look down to verse 8, it says, Now, maybe that gives us just a little pause. Well, sure, it's talking about an Israel that's come back together, but how are they dwelling? Are they dwelling in fear? Are they worried about their iron dome?

No, it says, peaceful villages. It says there's a sense of security. That doesn't seem to describe what's going on in the Middle East right now. That's describing something a little bit farther down the line from where we are right now. Modern Israel does not dwell in unwalled villages. They don't dwell in safety. And so, that helps us to recognize we've got to be careful. Yes, Persia, Iran is definitely prophetically mentioned, but we don't want to force this conflict that's going on right now into Ezekiel 38. Ezekiel 38 is describing a time just before Christ's return. And ultimately, who's going to finish this battle? Well, if we read a little bit further, look at verse 18. It'll come to pass at that same time when God comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, that my fury will show in my face. And so, it begins to describe what's going to happen at that time. It says, end of verse 20, the mountain shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, every wall shall fall to the ground. I'll call for a sword against God throughout all my mountains. So, ultimately, it says God will bring judgment. He says He'll rain great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. In verse 23, I'll magnify myself and sanctify myself and will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they will know I am the Lord. So, where's that pointing? To divine intervention. It's pointing to the return of Christ. So, it's not just talking about, well, this is this regional battle that's taking place in the... No, this is talking about a worldwide engulfing the entire world, and it took... It's going to take a dramatic act of God to intervene. And so, no doubt, Iran matters, matters in prophecy. But we certainly want to let Scripture set the timing and the sequence, because when God intervenes at this level... Anybody going to need to interpret that? I don't think so. It's going to be very obvious. And so, when the context and the scale match Scripture, then we don't have to exaggerate. We don't have to speculate. We don't have to try to reverse engineer prophecy to fit the headlines, because the word of God will fulfill itself.

Boy, right now, it sure looks like things are going to escalate. What's going to happen? I mean, it's serious. No doubt about that. But should it be surprising?

I mean, hopefully none of us are surprised by this. If you turn over to Matthew 24, Christ prophesied long ago, a couple of thousand years ago. Look what He said in Matthew 24, verse 6. Matthew 24, verse 6 gives us additional context. Here we have that section of Scripture sometimes called the Olivet Prophecy. So here's Christ speaking. Verse 6, now, I shouldn't be surprised. Here's what Christ said, You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Now, did you notice something pretty important here?

Yeah, wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled. See that you're not troubled. He didn't say, throw in the towel, it's over. He didn't say, you better be anxious and worried about what's coming. No, he's saying wars are a part of the times that we live in. And they're not automatically the instant precursor to the return of Christ. Now, we certainly don't want to say, well, it's no big deal, because it is a big deal.

Maybe we could put it in a little bit different context, maybe picture something else that could help our thinking on this a little bit. I mean, if you think of going to a symphony concert, anybody ever been to the symphony? Okay, a number of us have. Well, what happens before the concert? Well, you might come into the hall and the orchestra is warming up. You hear the brass going through their scales, the violins are tuning away, the percussion beating the timpani's and the bass drum and the snares are all going, and everybody's doing all of this all at once. And what does it sound like?

A mess. A mess! And if somebody that wasn't a musician walked in at that time, they say, this is out of control. This is ridiculous. This is terrible. But if you're a musician, you know tuning up is not the performance. What is it? It's the preparation.

What's going on in the Middle East right now? Things are getting tuned up. Things are tuning up. It's positioning. It's alignment. It's preparation. All preparation for the ultimate act, the return of Christ, which won't be subtle, won't be guesswork. It will be absolutely obvious. And if you look down to verse 30, it says, then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all tribes on the earth will mourn. They'll see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. So nobody's going to mistake that. But until then, until then, we don't want to confuse the orchestra tuning up with the appearance of the conductor. Because once things are all tuned up, who walks out onto the stage? Jesus Christ, the conductor comes out. And if we put it in the perspective, yeah, we're certainly moving that way. We're getting closer and closer all the time, no doubt. But have there been other conflicts in the Middle East? Yeah, the Church of God has watched wars in 1948, 1967, and 1973, the Gulf conflicts, not all that long ago. What went on in Iraq, what went on in Syria, Gaza just began two years ago. Yeah, those things are there, and every generation looks at this, even much like the generation we see in the first century, that it must be the final moment. But what a great reminder, prophecy is on God's timing. It's not on ours. And so maybe it begs the question, well, why prophecy at all? Why at all? Well, if we turn to 2 Peter chapter 1, it gives us some insight. 2 Peter chapter 1, notice verse 19. We can dig just a little bit deeper as we look at this prophetic foundation, and Peter gives us an interesting aspect to prophecy. So let's notice what Peter was inspired to write for us, which really gets down to the purpose of prophecy. The purpose of prophecy—is it just a set of dates so I know when Christ is going to return? Is that what it is? Well, no, that's not it at all. And Peter emphasizes a specific purpose. Notice verse 19, 1 Peter chapter 1. He says, And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

So for us, what is it telling us about prophecy?

Prophecy is light. Prophecy is not fear, because what does light do? Well, it reveals. It reveals. In this dark world, you flip on the light of prophecy, and it brings clarity. And once you recognize that, that should calm our fears, because it reminds us, who's in charge? God's in charge. Nations will rise, nations will fall. There will be wars and rumors of wars. But it all falls under the sovereignty of God. And ultimately, God will intervene, and that will bring ultimate peace. And so it's possible. It's possible to be watchful and not overly anxious. So what do we do? What do we do? How do we respond to what's going on right now? Well, if we turn over to Luke 21, this gives us just a little bit different perspective, some details that we don't find in Matthew 24. But Christ noted an interesting action here in Luke 21. He tells us how to respond. What am I supposed to do with all this confusion going on in the Middle East? What's next? Well, Luke 21, notice verse 28. Here's Christ speaking. And He tells us a perspective to have what we can do. Luke 21, notice verse 28. Christ said, now when these things begin to happen, and He's talking about all these events He's predicted that are leading up to the end time. This time that we're in right now. He says, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. Yeah, we're certainly closer than ever before. No doubt about that. But what do we do? He says, look up. Don't bow down in fear. Don't obsess in anxiety. You don't have to have the news channel on 24-7 to know what's... No, you don't have to do that. We don't want to obsess over this. He says, lift up. Look up. And He adds a warning. If you skip down to verse 34, He warns us, take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all of these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. So is the danger missiles? The danger rockets or nuclear warfare or... No. What's the danger? He says, spiritual dullness. And He's pointing out the fact prophecy is meant to wake us up. Wake us up. Not to alarm us in that sense, not to cause overly anxiousness. The danger isn't the missiles. It's losing our spiritual awareness, our spiritual sharpness. Prophecy and these events need to wake us up to repentance, to prayer, to urgency, to put on the character of Christ now more than ever. And as we consider what Christ was teaching us, it helps us to begin to understand we don't have to fear. We don't have to fear. We need to be ready, and we better be ready. We don't want to be found, as He describes here. We need to be ready for that time, but not fearful. And there's a beautiful psalm that is such a great reminder in this regard. If you go back to Psalm 46, notice Psalm 46. Oftentimes, we'll sing this hymn at services. Psalm 46.

See if you recognize it as we get there. Psalm 46, right at the very beginning of that psalm. These words look familiar.

God is our refuge and our strength. Yeah, that's it right here. A very present help in trouble.

Our reaction? We're living in times of trouble. No doubt about that. But God's our refuge. And what does He say? Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, even though the mountains be carried in the midst of the sea, though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. No matter where this conflict leads. Well, look at verse 10. Be still. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. And what a great reminder. That's where events are leading. That's where prophecy is leading. And yes, we stand in faith. We will not fear. Now, that's not denying reality. Not at all. It's interpreting the reality through the power of God. Because ultimately, what's going to happen? Well, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And that will be that time when He will reign forever and ever. And that's the ultimate ending when Christ reigns. And what a time we're looking forward to. And so, as we think about how God instructs us on the proper perspective to have at this time, absolutely, we need to be informed. We need to know what's going on, but not consumed by it. Yes, we have to be watchful, but don't be anxious. Yes, we have to be aware, but not alarmed. Because God's already sorted out the end from the beginning. These things are in His hands, and He's not reacting. He's not surprised. He's not adjusting His plan. He's told us empires will rise, alliances will form, conflicts, they're going to flare up. But none of that changes the fact that Jesus Christ will return. The kingdom of God will be established. We as saints of Jesus Christ will reign with Him. And so what do we do? We strengthen our prayer. We deepen our study. We encourage one another. We grow in the character of Jesus Christ because prophecy is not given to frighten the church. It's given to focus the church. And the Middle East is going to shift. It's going to rise. It's going to fall. There's going to be unbelievable things, and the world will tremble. But our calling?

It's unmovable. Unmovable. The world hears the chaos. We see the blueprint. The world hears those instruments tuning up, but we know the conductor holds the score. The world sees instability. We see the steady hand of God unfolding His purpose. And the headlines are going to intensify. Nations are going to align and posture themselves. Leaders are going to come to power. Kingdoms. Yes, rise and fall. But the kingdom of God? It's not fragile. It's not threatened. It's not delayed. Christ ultimately will stand on the Mount of Olives. He will establish His government. He will bring peace where there's been turmoil and war. And He's going to bring justice, even though mankind only sees conflict. And you know, the greatest part is, we're not just spectators. We're not just spectators of that amazing future. God's preparing us to be a part of His kingdom. So no wonder He says, lift up your heads. Strengthen your faith. Deepen your commitment. Because everything that's going on in this world right now is temporary.

But the return and reign of Christ is certain. So ultimately, that certainty brings us peace. Well, it's been great being with you today. We certainly look forward to the food and the fellowship afterwards. So...