Is The Middle East War a Sign of the End Time?
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
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Children's NT Studies
