Is The Middle East War a Sign of the End Time? by West End Church of Christ

Higher Praise™

Higher Praise Christian Center™
higherpraise.com™ higherpraise.org™

Enjoy A Life Changing Experience

Is The Middle East War a Sign of the End Time? Mr. John Walvoord, chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, recently wrote in USA Today that the clock of prophecy is ticking in the Middle East. In a column in USA Today called "Inquiry" Mr. Walvoord averred, "Bible prophecy is being fulfilled every day. The Bible says that the Middle East will be the center of conflict, concern and world power in the end time. The Bible predicted that Israel ultimately would be restored to its land. This was contradicted for many years, but Israelis returned in 1948. Now the whole world is focusing on the Middle East exactly as the Bible pictures." (USA Today, January 19/20, 1991). My friends, with due respect, Mr. Walvoord is one hundred percent wrong. Stay tuned and learn why he is wrong and why what is happening at this very moment has nothing to do, at all, with Bible prophecy. But first, the West End Church of Christ presents these fifteen minute sermons each Sunday. We have only one reason for doing it -- we want to preach the truth of God's word without being restricted by human doctrines, creeds, and wisdom. That is why we repeatedly ask anyone who listens to communicate with us if you do not agree with what we teach on this program. This is not done out of a spirit of dare, or challenge, but in sincerity and in the interest of being absolutely right about the most important issue of this life and of eternity. We also want to invite you to attend our services. Bible study begins at 9 a.m. Sunday morning. We have classes for all ages in which the Bible is discussed and made relevant to living in this world today. At 10 each Sunday morning we assemble to worship -- we honor God in the reading and teaching of His word, several prayers, gospel songs, giving of our means, and partaking of the sacred memorial feast of the Lord's Supper. Sunday evening we assemble for worship at 6 p.m. and mid-week Bible study is each Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Is the Middle East situation the precursor of Armageddon and the end of time? Hardly. Only those with speculative infidelity toward the Bible would even suggest such a thing. Neither Mr. Walvoord, nor any other speculator, gives any biblical basis for such unfounded assumptions as, "The Bible says that the Middle East will be the center of conflict, etc." If the Bible says it, Mr. Walvoord would have done us all a great favor in providing the passage. In fact, if anyone who listens to this program, knows the whereabouts of any Bible verse that even slightly suggests what Walvoord assumes, please send it to me -- I will read it very slowly and plainly over our next broadcast. The truth is that no such biblical evidence exists. What happens in the Middle East now or in the future has no bearing at all on anything the Bible teaches. Mr. Walvoord's assumption that Bible prophecy was fulfilled in 1948 when modern day Israel became a nation has no Bible basis at all for it. But he is not alone in this unwarranted guess. Hal Lindsey wrote, "Some time in the future there will be a seven-year period climaxed by the visible return of Jesus Christ. Most prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled concern events which will develop shortly before the beginning of and during this seven-year countdown. The general time of this seven-year period couldn't begin until the Jewish people re-establish their nation in their ancient homeland of Palestine." (The Late Great Planet Earth, page 32). Another very respected author, Tim LaHaye expressed the same view. He wrote, "For hundreds of years, Christians and Jews anticipated a national miracle, the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in their ancestral homeland. The miracle occurred on May 14, 1948, when the United Nations officially recognized the State of Israel." (The Coming Peace in the Middle East, page 57.) It is somewhat ironic that Mr. LaHaye's book was published in 1984 and predicted peace in the Middle East rather than war. Apparently LaHaye did not take Saddam Hussein into account. The Middle East has had precious little peace in the last five decades. But again, here is pure speculation with no biblical evidence to support it. Notwithstanding the pure fact that the Bible never says that the Middle East is to be the center of conflict in the last days, many believe that this alleged "restoration" of Israel to their ancestral homeland is a miraculous fulfillment of ancient prophecy. But please look with me at this widely spread view. When these men speculate that Israel today is the fulfillment of prophecy, they confuse the Israel of the Bible and the modern State of Israel. The Israel of the Bible were God's covenant people, through whom He produced the Savior of all men, Jesus Christ. They were once "the apple of God's eye" (Deuteronomy 32:10). The Jews of the Bible date back to Shem, son of Noah, through Abraham, the ancient patriarch. To Abraham, God made three specific promises. In Genesis 12:1-3 we read, "Now the Lord had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation -- note: this is promise number one -- I will make you a great nation -- I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed'." -- Note: promise number two -- all nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. The third promise is found in Genesis 13. Beginning at verse 14, the Bible says, "And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him; 'Lift up your eyes from the place where you are -- northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever" (verses 14, 15). So, summarize with me: Promise number one is that Abraham's people would become a great nation. That was fulfilled as Israel came into being at Mount Sinai. Promise number two was that through the descendants of Abraham, all nations would be blessed. That was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who brought salvation to all nations. Promise number three was the land promise. Now, our premillennial friends opine that this promise remains unfulfilled. No one can deny that the first two promises are fulfilled, for if not, there is no salvation for anyone. But is the land promise a matter that God has left hanging for thousands of years? When the twelve tribes of Israel received the law at Sinai they became the nation of Israel. They later occupied Canaan under the military leadership of Joshua. After Joshua led the Jews to a successful campaign against the inhabitants of Canaan, the record is written as follows: "Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass" (Joshua 21:45). But notice more closely. Joshua said, "So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it, and dwelt in it" (verse 43). What land was given to them? It was the land God swore He would give Abraham for the nation of Israel. What promises did God make to Israel that He has not fulfilled? "Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass" (verse 45). We will leave it where divine inspiration left it. If God fulfilled all of His promises to the nation of Israel, and if you believe the Bible, then those like Walvoord, Lindsey, LaHaye, and dozens of others are promising things, in the name of God, to a people who are not even God's nation. The basic fallacy of speculators and the restoration of Israel to their ancestral homeland is that they fail to understand that there is absolutely no connection between the Israel of the Bible and the modern State of Israel. You see, friends, Israel in the Bible was God's covenant people, His holy nation. Please notice Peter's statement directed to the Jews of his day. "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities" (Acts 3:25-26). Also Paul speaks of his Jewish brothers in the flesh as, "Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises..." (Romans 9:4). When the Jews, as a people, rejected Jesus as the Messiah, they forfeited all their rights of the covenant. At the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the Jewish nation (the Bible Israel) ceased to exist as God's nation. Having fulfilled all of His promises to them, having offered them the first opportunity to receive His Son as the Messiah, and having been rejected, God cast off Israel as a nation. Through Christ, all (both Jew and Gentile) are offered salvation and a new covenantal relationship. Mr. Cornelis Vanderwall, a well respected Reformed Presbyterian scholar wrote, "In the period between Pentecost and the destruction of Jerusalem, Israel was still addressed as the covenant people. But there was a limit to that appeal, a limit imposed by God's impending judgment on His stubborn covenant people." (Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy, page 57. There is nothing in the Bible at all about what is taking place in the Middle East today. God's promises to Israel were fulfilled long before Jesus Christ came into the world. It is misleading and erroneous to hold on to promises long since fulfilled. I intend to say more about this same topic next Sunday, but for now, since time is about gone, please think about what has been said. If you have any question at all about this topic, or if you would like extra study materials on it, contact us. You can write us at West End call or write West End Church of Christ, 1609 Parkside Dr., Bowling Green, KY. 42101. Until the next time we have this opportunity to be with you by radio, may God richly bless you and yours. Good bye. Radio Sermon No. 48