A subtle change has occurred in Middle East news. Israel is waning as the focus of conflict. The Muslim world is mired in struggles for hegemony between Sunni and Shi’a. Europe struggles to stem the tide of refugees from the Mediterranean while trying to blunt the effects of Britain leaving the European Union. Palestinians are losing on all fronts. Hamas has lost its funding that supports its terrorist activities. The U.S. is ambivalent about an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal with the P.L.A. as it deals with North Korea. Even the Israeli news is focused on corruption charges in the Netanyahu administration and Israel’s improving foreign relations rather than the Palestinian conflict. Are we on the verge of a new attitude to live and let live? Not at all.
The world is approaching the prophecy in Daniel eleven where two major powers engage in a serious war that changes the hegemony of the entire Middle East. Daniel two and seven tell of four nations that rise in the end-time culminating in the return of Jesus. Three of those nations are rising, China, Russia, and Iran. The fourth nation rises out of the war between the two major powers identified in Daniel eleven, Turkey and Iran (Daniel 11:1). The antichrist rises from that upheaval and then the destruction of Israel will once again become the focus of the world (Daniel 11:21-45). The difference for Israel then is that there will not be a strong U.S. to prevent the prophesied invasion and occupation.
It’s difficult to be convinced that the tribulation and the rise of the antichrist is approaching. The passing of time isn’t fully comprehended when reading end-times prophesies. In reality, the fulfillment may take years as stated in Daniel eleven. In addition the news is inundated daily with the posturing between the major world powers further desensitizing the saints to the events that signal the approach of the tribulation.
Still, Daniel eleven begins with the defining event that signals the approach of the tribulation; the reign of the fourth Supreme Leader of Iran (Daniel 11:2). As of today Iran is ruled by its second Supreme Leader and it will continue to gain in wealth and hegemony until the reign of its fourth and last Supreme Leader. It may take a few years before Turkey and Iran engage in their world changing conflict but the saints need to remain aware that their conflict signals the beginning to the end.
May God bless you in your study of His word.