Order of Events

It certainly looks like war in the Mideast is inevitable. Every day there are multiple news items describing how Israel’s enemies are preparing. And the US government has been reinforcing the idea that Israel is on their own. This sense of isolation will make Israel more likely to act decisively with their nuclear weapons when they are forced to defend themselves.

So this might be a good time to review some of the prophecies that have been fulfilled by Israel and look at what is likely to be next in chronological order…

God enables the people of Israel to return to the Land of Israel… “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel’” (Ezekiel 37:12, NKJ).

God orchestrates circumstances to bring together Jews that have been in dispersion from all over the earth and rally them under their own national flag… “He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12).

God arranges for the ancient cities of Israel to be rebuilt and inhabited… “I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt” (Ezekiel 36:10).

God will revive the Hebrew language which was all but dead as a spoken language due to the Jewish Diaspora… “I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9).

God allowed Israel to meet Muslim/Arab resistance… “I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the people of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people, and made arrogant threats against their borders” (Zephaniah 2:8).

God arms Israel and establishes an army for their defense… “breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10).

God allows the ancient Muslim nations to confederate together against God and be committed to the destruction of Israel… “They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’ For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You” (Psalm 83:4-5).

God allows a war between the Muslim Confederacy and Israel enabling Israel to decisively defeat their enemies… “the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; together they shall plunder the people of the East; they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; and the people of Ammon shall obey them” (Isaiah 11:13-14).

God reshapes the geopolitical reality of the Mideast allowing Israel to expand their borders… “‘the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘That I will cause to be heard an alarm of war in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall be a desolate mound, and her villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance,’ says the LORD” (Jeremiah 49:2).

God allows Israel to dwell securely in their land… “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan: You will say, 'I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates'’” (Ezekiel 38:10-11)

The Rapture could occur at any point of these last several developments. As we see the stage being set for these prophecies to be fulfilled we know that “it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11).