“I will
call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. “And I
will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on
him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding
rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. “Thus I will magnify Myself and
sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they
shall know that I am the LORD.” ’ Ezekiel 38:21-23 NKJV
The
whole purpose of the Gog Magog conflict is for God to reveal Himself, not only
to Israel, but the whole world as well.
God also tells us ahead of time in this passage exactly what the result
will be; “I will be known in the eyes of many nations”. It seems pretty clear that the credit
for this victory will go exactly where it should go and that is to God
Himself. Yet many might wonder if this
indeed is the case, and there is no question in the minds of the Jewish nation
who has given them the victory, why are we told in Daniel chapter nine that
they agree to a covenant of peace and place their security in the hands of the
antichrist?
“Seventy
weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the
transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To
bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to
anoint the Most Holy. “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth
of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks
and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in
troublesome times. “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but
not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the
city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And
till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a
covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring
an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one
who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured
out on the desolate.” Daniel
9:24-27 NKJV
I
believe the simple answer as to why Israel chooses to place their security in
the hands of the antichrist is that they believe he is their messiah. Now if that sounds strange to you, it is because there is an
important part of Judaism many Christians are not aware of. If we look closely at the thinking and and especially the words of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, we are told the real reason they were so intent on putting Him to death.
Therefore
the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the
Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with
God. John 5:18 NKJV
You
see, in Judaism, the coming Messiah is not divine, but simply a man whose
genealogy descends from King David of the Old Testament. He will be known as a man of peace, so when
he appears on the scene to confirm and enforce a peace that Israel has never to
this day enjoyed, they will accept him with open arms. Not only will this man
be embraced for bringing peace, he will do one other thing which cements his
authority and acceptance to the Jewish people and this is by allowing them to
rebuild their temple.
Of course, in
order to do this the Jews must have a desire to rebuild it knowing full well
what the response from the rest of the world and especially the followers of
Islam will think. Although the time is ripe
for this to occur with the efforts in Israel by the Temple Mount Faithful and
others, as yet it has not occurred. The past few years have seen not only the remaking of all the necessary pieces for the inside of the Temple itself, there is even a school where future priests are being taught the responsibilities of serving in the priesthood. So with all of this occurring, you would think the majority of the Jews would support the rebuilding, but as of yet, that is not the case.
Imagine
if you will, however, how that might change when the nation of Israel watches
God intervene on their behalf. It
appears that not only will Israel acknowledge that God is the author of their
deliverance, they will immediately desire to rebuild the Temple in order to reinstate
the Old Covenant worship of God. The
antichrist not only allows this as part of the peace agreement, but also
facilitates it. Unfortunately for
Israel, his motives for doing so are not for the purpose of allowing the Jews a
place to worship the one true God, but rather to prepare a place for an event which
will occur exactly three and one half years later.
Then he
shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He
shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations
shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is
determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”
Daniel 9:27 NKJV
The
seventieth week of Daniel begins with great joy in Israel as they see their God
deliver them from their enemies.
Unfortunately for them, it is in truth a period of time which will turn
from bad to worse with persecution the likes of which they have never
seen. The reason for this is simply
because they make the same mistake their forefathers did by not acknowledging
Jesus Christ as their true Messiah, and this mistake will cost them dearly. God
makes it very clear, though, that by the time the seventieth week is over they
will acknowledge that mistake and look to Jesus for their salvation.
“And I
will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit
of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes,
they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. Zechariah 12:10 NKJV
Keep
watching.
