This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel…” Ezekiel 37:21
For a moment, think about the events that have taken place in our world since I began broadcasting in 1963. Communism collapsed in the former USSR. The Berlin Wall came down, and the two Germanys that were divided by ideology and economy were merged into one very powerful country. Iraq invaded Kuwait, holding the nations of the world as hostage. The US invaded Iraq twice. India and Pakistan both produced nuclear capabilities and Iran is standing on the nuclear threshold.
And now in the 21st century, we have to ask ourselves, “What will happen in the near future? If things change as much in the next decade as they have the past one, could this well take us to the end of the age and the end of the world?”
One of the most interested players on the international chessboard where oil derricks, rather than knights and rooks, are players, is the nation of Israel traditional enemy of the Iraqis and Iranians. Ancient Babylon was the home of modern Iraq, and the Jewish people will never forget how their predecessors, under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar, laid siege to Jerusalem in 605 BC, and eventually destroyed the city in 586 B.C., plundering it and burning the temple, taking the finest young men in chains back to Babylon.
Read the Book of Jeremiah, where the prophet laments the sins of his people. To exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah says that God will restore His people after 70 years and then says,"'I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, `plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’" (Jeremiah 19:11).
Never was hope any lower or more desperate for the Jewish people than in the concentration camps of Europe, where six million Jewish people faced annihilation and death. Yet from the despair of the crematoriums a nation was again born, something that the prophets of Israel foretold long ago. Make a note of Isaiah 11:11, where God said that He would bring His people back into the land the second time, gathering them from the four corners of the world.
The re-establishment of the modern nation of Israel is one of the most significant prophecies which has been fulfilled in our day, when a nation was reborn against all odds. Today Israel, having fought for its very existence, is more than a disinterested observer in the present Middle East crisis.
When Israel felt that Iraq was about to begin production of atomic weapons, they neutralized the plant with well placed bombs. Now Iran poses a more formidable threat than Iraq ever was. When God told His people, "I know the plans that I have for you...” those plans included the descendants of those who heard those words, men and women who live today in modern Israel; and how those plans unfold will be completely a matter of divine sovereignty and direction.
No matter how chaotic the situation, God hasn't turned His back or forgotten His people, no matter where they are. Even though the hands on the doomsday clock are perilously close to midnight, God is still in control.
Through all of this, friend, do you have that confidence? That God, your heavenly Father, the King of kings and Lord of lords, is fully in charge, and no matter how desperate the situation, He has a plan for your life personally? When He is your Father, you can trust Him. Think about it.
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