It's Always Israel's Fault

As most students of prophecy understand, the future of the nation of Israel is bleak indeed. God takes pains to make it perfectly clear that as we approach the end of this age, the conflicts in and around Israel increase in scope and intensity until the whole world is against them. This week saw an attack on Israel where the terrorist organization Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, launched a new missile obtained from Iran into Israel. The response from Israel was both predictable and justified as they in turn destroyed targets in Gaza. What was also predictable was the response from the world to this event. The following paragraph was taken from the intelligence website Debka.com. You can read the entire article by following the link provided, but I wanted to direct your attention to just one paragraph which comes at the very end of the article.

Early Saturday, July 31, the Israeli defense minister met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York to discuss the rising threat from Gaza. Ban responded by calling on Israel to remove all further restrictions on the Hamas-ruled territory.
( http://debka.com/article/8941/ )

When I speak on the subject of the Middle East and Israel, I am often asked what I see as major signs we are approaching the end as predicted in the Bible. Rather than the obvious signs God has told us to watch for, and there are many being fulfilled before our very eyes, the one I like to mention is the feeling of hatred towards Israel from not just it's enemies, but from what we at best could describe as countries or organizations which we would assume to be neutral.
If we look closely we can see that no matter how justified Israel might be, they always seem to come out on the short end of the sympathy vote.

In the Olivet Discourse where Jesus' disciples question Him about the end of this age, Jesus says the following;

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
Matthew 24:9 NKJV

Two things are apparent in Jesus' answer here. One, the hatred for Israel is universal. Note that Jesus says "all nations". Not some, many, or even most. All. Second, this hatred is not a result of Israel's actions, but rather ordained by God for His "sake". In other words, God has a plan to reveal Himself to the world, and He intends to use Israel as a means to accomplish that. Consider the following verse from Isaiah;

Do not fear nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.'"
Isaiah 44:8 NKJV

You see, now, just as in the Old Testament, God will use the nation of Israel as His witness to the world.

If you are familiar with the Ezekiel prophecy concerning the Gog/Magog war found in chapters 38 and 39, you begin to understand then that God uses this opportunity to show the entire world that He alone is all the protection Israel needs, and nothing the world can do will change that. Even though Israel will be attacked by overwhelming forces, it won't be enough to overcome the protection God will provide. We are told by the prophet Zechariah that anyone foolish enough to try their hand against Israel is doomed.

The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah [and] against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
Zechariah 12:1-3 NKJV

The day is fast approaching where the entire world will rise against Israel. Signs of that universal hatred are already making themselves manifest today, and all that is left is the conflict that begins the process revealed in scripture. Every missile launched, every bomb exploded, every attack made, brings us that much closer to the event that starts it all.

Keep watching.