Israel, Hamas, and End Times: Gary Hamrick (Transcript)

One day before Terri and I were supposed to board an airplane to fly to Israel, on Saturday last week, Saturday, October the 7th, 2023, 1,500 Hamas terrorists penetrated the security fence around Gaza, came into Israel on motorcycles, jeeps, and paragliders from the air, and brutally, savagely murdered Israelis at this music festival in Re’im. And then they went on to raid several kibbutzim along the border there with Gaza, murdering, you’ve heard the stories. I don’t need to go over the details, but it was brutal and there’s nothing to describe it other than using the words pure evil.

This is a picture of the face of this war. This is a young couple, her name is Hadar, his name is Itay Berdichevsky, and they’re twin babies. They lived in a kibbutz called Kfar Aza, near the border with Gaza. Their kibbutz was stormed by Hamas terrorists, along with other kibbutz.

When they heard Hamas gunmen approaching their home, they quickly took their twin babies and hid them in a safe room in their home, and then came back out, engaged with these Hamas terrorists. And this young couple was brutally murdered.

Fourteen hours later, when the Israeli defense force took back Kfar Aza, they found those twin babies unharmed, alive. And they rescued those little babies who are now orphans because terrorists killed their mom and dad. Those parents gave their lives in defense of their children. This is the face of that war.

For the first time in 50 years, since 1973 and the Yom Kippur War, for the first time in 50 years, Israel has now officially declared war in response to Hamas terrorism. It is, as people are saying, Israel’s 9-11, but here’s what they’re not always saying, which is that when you look at proportionally the population of Israel, which is about 7.1 million Jews, compared to the population of the United States, which is around 330 million Americans, their 9-11, Israeli’s 9-11, proportionally the number of deaths compared to our 9-11 number of deaths on 9-11 is 30 times worse for Israel.

Let that sink in. Thirty times worse in terms of the numbers. I want to say from the outset that our church is unequivocally standing with Israel and the Jewish people. And I also want to say that just as there were in the 1930s and 1940s some sensible Germans who were opposed to Hitler and Nazism, there are also today some sensible Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas and Islamic terrorism and who believe also in Israel’s right to exist. And to those Palestinians we also say we’re standing with you too.

So I’m devoting the entirety of today’s teaching to try to answer these five questions. Number one, who or what is Hamas? Number two, why is Hamas so intent on destroying Israel and the Jewish people?

Number three, what is the history of the Palestinians and the land of Israel? Number four, why are so many American youth and young adults supporting the Palestinian cause today? Number five, how might any of this fit into Bible prophecy about the end times? So let’s start with the word of prayer, shall we?

Father in heaven, our hearts are heavy today as we are really so far removed from what is happening in Israel, yet at the same time because we love you and we love our Bibles, we also love the Jewish people. And we thank You for the redemptive plan for the universe that came through the Jewish people through a Jewish Messiah whose name is Jesus, Yeshua. And Lord, while our hearts are heavy, at the same time our hope is in You.

And we thank You for Psalm 121, that You who watch over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. So we pray for their peace, we pray for their protection, we pray for a quick end to this war. We know, Lord, that ultimately peace will only come when You, the Prince of Peace, come again. But Lord, until that time, we ask for You to be merciful and to intervene. And Lord, as Your word tells us in Psalm 122, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. So Lord, we do that and we ask You, Lord, please help, please intervene, please show Yourself strong on behalf of the nation of Israel. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and everyone said, Amen.

Here’s the first question, who or what is Hamas? Hamas is a terrorist organization made up of Sunni Muslims. Hamas, the name of the organization, is actually an acronym that translates from Arabic, the Islamic Resistance Movement. So it is an acronym that the group has used.

However, the word Hamas itself — it’s kind of a dual play on words, because Hamas in Arabic means zeal or strength. It’s interesting, in Hebrew — the word Hamas is also a Hebrew word spelled C-H-A-M-A-S, and Hamas in Hebrew means violence, violence, a more appropriate definition of what Hamas is all about.

The Hamas Covenant

Hamas does not care about anyone or anything that stands in the way of their one mission, which is to kill Jews and to wipe Israel off the map. I’m not saying this, this is what their own charter says. The Hamas Covenant, the Hamas Charter, which was adopted in 1988, in part says this. This is the opening paragraph, quote, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

And also Article 7 says, quote, “The day of judgment would not come until the Muslims fight and kill the Jews.”

So they are bold in making this declaration. This is not conspiracy, this is not false information. They have a desire to kill Jews and to wipe Israel off the map and to establish it as an Islamic state. And they will kill and destroy anything and anyone who stands in the way of that mission, and not just Jews. They also don’t care about Palestinians.

Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields. Hamas intentionally sets up rocket launchers at schools and hospitals and civilian apartment buildings, knowing that when Israel retaliates, it’ll be wonderful optics for Hamas when it shows innocent civilians killed in hospitals and schools, looking like Israel was targeting those things. No, Israel was targeting the rocket launchers that Hamas intentionally sets up there because they are using Palestinian civilians as human shields.

They’ve even prevented their own Palestinian people from exiting Gaza City. Have you been hearing this? Listen, by the way, what nation drops leaflets in the language of that nation and tells them in advance, you better get out, we’re coming in for the bad guys? But that’s what Israel’s been doing. They’ve been dropping leaflets from the sky in Arabic, telling Palestinian civilians, exit the northern part of the Gaza, go down to the south because we’re about ready to come in and destroy Hamas.

We’re coming into the northern part of Gaza first. We’re giving you advance notice. Do you know what the terrorists are doing? Hamas terrorists have actually kept 170,000 Palestinians from exiting Gaza City itself as a sign of solidarity. Stand with us. We’re forcing you to stand with us and to stay here. They don’t care. They don’t even care about, listen to this.

When that music concert was happening in Re’im, it was mostly attended to by Jews, but there were some Arab Israelis there who were killed as well. In Israel, you have not just Jews living in Israel proper. You have Arab Israeli citizens. These are Arabs who are either Muslim or Christians.

I just spoke to — I’ve had an Arab Israeli as a bus driver on our tours to Israel for the past 25 years. He just called me two days ago. His name is Munir Syed. Munir is an Arab. He’s a Christian. He became a believer in Jesus about 10, 15 years ago, and he lives presently in Nazareth. They live, they work, they raise families in Israel proper, and they peacefully coexist with Jews. There were some Arab Israelis at that music concert. Hamas didn’t care. They killed them too.

See, they don’t care. They will kill Jews. They will kill Palestinians. They will kill anyone and anything that stands in their way of the mission to kill Jews and to wipe Israel off the map, because Hamas is an evil, demonic ideology, and they want to advance their agenda at whatever cost, whatever cost.

Hamas’ History Timeline

So let me walk to the back wall here and give you a timeline of the history of Hamas. This is very brief. This is a brief summary.

1987, Hamas was founded in Gaza by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric, as an offshoot of the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood. In 1988, Hamas published its charter calling for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state in its place. I just read you a couple excerpts from their covenant or their charter.

Then in 1991, its military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was established. In 1993, Hamas began suicide bombings in Israel just prior to the Oslo Accords. The Oslo Accords was intended to bring some peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But you see, Hamas is opposed to the Palestinian Authority because they think the Palestinian Authority is too secular and Hamas is more violent. The Oslo Accords gave the Palestinian Authority autonomy and limited authority in Gaza and the West Bank.

So in 1997, Hamas was designated a terrorist organization by the United States and dozens of other countries in response to the group’s Iran-supported use of explosives and rockets along with suicide bombings and kidnappings to target Israel.

In 2000, they started their deadly intifada. This is actually the second intifada, that’s just an Arabic word that means uprising. It was a deadly intifada of Palestinians against Israelis. That’s when you started to see the Israeli government put up a fence to protect themselves.

In 2005, Israel evacuated all their troops and settlers from Gaza and built a security fence around Gaza itself for Israel’s national security. In 2006, Hamas won a surprise victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections and then seized full control of Gaza, overthrowing forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. As a result, much of the international community cut off aid to Gaza because they did not want to finance a terrorist-sponsored territory.

You begin to see all the suffering of the Palestinian people. Israel gets blamed a lot for that. Israel has been supplying, up until this war, electricity, humanitarian aid, food, allowing people from Gaza to come over for work. The international community realized when a terrorist organization begins to run a territory, we can’t continue to finance that, at least not at the same level.

And then, of course, on October the 7th, 2023, Hamas terrorists penetrated the security fence around Gaza, and 1,500 terrorists enter Israel and attack, slaughter, and abduct Jews in the worst mass murdering of Jews since the Holocaust.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Palestinian people in Gaza have no one to blame except Hamas for their poor living conditions, for their isolation, and for now the defensive war that Israel is waging in that region. Hamas is responsible for the poor conditions that the Palestinians are experiencing in the land and the territory of Gaza.

These protesters in the United States who are holding up signs that say, Free Palestine, Free Palestine, it should say, Free Palestine from Hamas. Hamas is responsible for their suffering.

In 2006, when Hamas came to power through parliamentary elections, instead of taking finances that they had accumulated to help build infrastructure in Gaza, to help assist with humanitarian aid, instead of building factories, they took their finances and they built tunnels underground, hundreds of them. And they also amassed munition to target Israel. So they took all their resources and they devoted it to the destruction of Israel rather than helping to improve the condition of the Palestinian people that they supposedly represent.

Why Is Hamas So Intent On Destroying Israel

So number two, the question is then, why is Hamas so intent on destroying Israel and the Jewish people? There are ideological answers to this. There are political answers and even religious answers. But I’m going to give you the spiritual answer, the biblical answer.

Why is Hamas so intent on destroying the Jewish people and wiping Israel off the map? You really could trace it all the way back to animosity in the book of Genesis. Abraham had a son of the covenant, his name was Isaac. But Abraham, in a moment of flesh, slept with Hagar, a slave woman from Egypt. It was not part of the will of God, the plan of God, and a son was born, his name was Ishmael.

The descendants of Ishmael are the Arab people. The descendants of Isaac, the promise that was revealed through the child Isaac, Abraham’s son, are the Jewish people. There’s been animosity between the children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac since the book of Genesis.

And it is basically over jealousy of the promise, in a nutshell, that’s really what it is. But to be more specific, ladies and gentlemen, the vitriol, the animosity, the hatred of Hamas and others like them towards the Jewish people is plain and simple. It is incited by Satan himself because anti-Semitism is Satanism. That’s exactly what it is.

The hatred of Jewish people is something that Satan incites among individuals, nations, and groups of people. And why? Why does Satan do this? Listen to Revelation 12, verse 4. It says this, and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. What does that speak of? It speaks of a dragon, a woman, and a child.

In Revelation 12, verse 4, the dragon is a picture of Satan. The woman is a picture of Israel. The child that she gave birth to is the ultimate child of the promise, who is Jesus. Satan, the dragon, has always stood opposed to the redemptive plan of God. He has done everything he can to hinder, thwart, and to totally ruin, in whatever way he can, the redemptive plan of God.

That was revealed through a particular nation, and this is how God chose to do it. Humanity in its sinful condition needed a Savior to rescue all of us. God, in His providence, chose a single individual, Abram, who later God would change his name to Abraham.

Abram was a Gentile. He wasn’t a Jew. There were no Jewish people. Abraham was living on a map of what today would be Iraq. And God called this man and tapped him on the shoulder, and called him to come to a land that God would give him and his descendants, so that through the seed of this man, a race of people, a nation of people, would be born. The people of Israel, the Jewish people.

And that ultimately, through this race of people, would come one Jewish Messiah, who would be a Savior, not just for the Jews, but a Savior for the entire world, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

And Satan hates the redemptive plan of God, and because the redemptive plan of God was centered and located in Israel, which is where the Savior was born, died, rose again, ascended from, and is coming again to, Satan is doing everything he can to bring the attention of an evil world with all their hatred and animosity against this one location, because it represents the covenant redemptive plan of God.

And Satan has been inspiring nations and people and groups of people from the beginning of time to hate the Jewish people because they represent the ultimate redemptive plan of God. And God says in Genesis 12:3, I will bless those who bless Israel, and I will curse those who curse Israel. His eye is on this land, because He chose this particular location, and among these particular people, through which to reveal His ultimate redemptive plan for the sake of the whole world.

So if you’ve ever wondered why all the hatred for the Jews, why all the fuss over a little country smaller than the state of New Jersey, that’s where it comes from. Anti-Semitism is Satanism. This is a spiritual war that we’re seeing happening here. Well, sure, it’s being fought in physical ways, but this is a spiritual war inciting all of this. So that’s the real answer.

Now, I will tell you that the populist answer, okay, the common narrative that you hear as to why Hamas has attacked Israel and why many Palestinians support what Hamas has done, is because they believe that Israel and the Jewish people are occupying land that belongs to the Palestinian people. And thus, a lot of times you’ll hear, especially among the protesters who are pro-Palestinian and anti-Semitic, they will say that Israel are the occupiers. You’ve heard them say that. They’re the colonialists, and so we’re just trying to take back our land.

So to many today, they believe that this conflict is really based on Israel’s illegitimate right to the land, and Hamas is trying to take it back for their own people and for Islamic cause. Which leads us now to the third question, which is, what is the history of the Palestinians and the land of Israel?

History Of The Palestinians And The Land Of Israel

So let me just say this, to just be clear from the beginning of answering this third question. The Jews are not occupiers. If you know your history at all, the Jews are the indigenous people of the land.

They are the indigenous people of the land. They were living in this land 2100 years before anyone was ever called or referred to as Palestinian. They were there 2100 years before anyone was ever referred to as a Palestinian. They were living in that land 2600 years before Islam was ever a religion.

2600 years before Islam was ever even a religion. Now for those who don’t want to embrace or believe the Bible as a historical record of the fact that the Jews were living there thousands of years before there was a Palestinian, thousands of years before there was Islam, then at least look at the archaeological evidence, okay? Because there’s an Egyptian stelae, which is basically a stone slab, which is an ancient slab with markings on it. There’s an ancient Egyptian stelae from the 13th century BC that speaks of Israel by name as the land.

There’s also a Canaanite stelae from the 9th century BC that refers by name to King David as king of the land of Israel. So if you don’t want to believe the Bible, then look at some of the archaeological evidence. Because for thousands of years, it has been a well-documented fact that the Jews lived in this land as God had given it to them.

But here’s what happened, and here’s why others claim, no, this is our land. It was from 586 BC, from when the Babylonians came and besieged Israel, until 1948 AD, when Israel reasserted its right to their homeland. For that time period, 586 BC to 1948, roughly 2,500 years, during that time period, the Jews were dispersed from their land, they were killed around the world, they were oppressed around the world.

And for the Jews who did manage to stay living in that land of their homeland, they were dominated by another world empire. Here’s the list, the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans, then the Byzantines, then the Arab-Islamic Empire, then the Catholic Crusaders, then the Mamluks, then the Ottomans, and then the British Empire.

So because of all these various empires coming in, taking over the land after Jews were dispersed, they were killed, they were oppressed, it’s no wonder that everybody’s like, no, it’s my land, no, it’s my land, no, it’s my land. We’ve got to look back at the history and realize that the Jews were there before any of this.

So where then did the Palestinian people come from? Where is that word derived from? Okay, here’s more history for you. Ready? AD 135. In AD 135, the Roman Emperor Hadrian, in order to quash a Jewish revolt, dispersed the Jews from Jerusalem. And then he renamed the entire region, in Latin, Palestina. Palestina, he named it because that’s the Latin term for the Philistines.

And why did Hadrian do that? Because the Philistines were the perennial enemies of the Jews. So Hadrian, as a way to dishonor the Jewish people, after this revolt that they tried to come against the Roman Empire, Hadrian quashed the revolt and said, now I’m going to take away Israel from the name of your land and I’m going to name it Palestina, for the Philistines, as a way of dishonoring you.

And from 135 AD, when Hadrian decided that, until 1948, when the Jews took their land back and gave it the rightful name that it had always been, from 135 AD until 1947 it was called Palestine. Because Hadrian renamed it. And thus, Arabs living in that land were known as Palestinians.

But listen, check this out, so were the Jews. The Jews were also called Palestinians until 1948. If you were born in Israel, say in 1947, or previously, when they were still issuing birth certificates, even if you were a Jew or an Arab, if you were born in that land in 1947, your birth certificate said Palestinian. There’s some Jews still living today with a birth certificate that says Palestinian. Why? Because you’re living in a land that Hadrian renamed in 135 AD.

So the Arab people living in that region are now known as Palestinians, taken from a false name that Hadrian gave the region in deference to the Philistines and in opposition to the Jews. So that’s where the name comes from.

But listen, God said in Genesis 15:18, “On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram saying, ‘To your descendants, [to the descendants of the child of the promise, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,] I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, to the river Euphrates.'”

God gave the title deed of this land to the Jewish people. Genesis 15:18. Okay, we’re talking 4,000 years ago. Let me just take you to the back wall and go over some things on a map so everybody can orient yourselves to what we’re reading there in Genesis 15:18.

Map of Middle East Region

This is a map of the Middle Eastern region. What we just read there, what God’s title deed to the Jewish people, Genesis 15:18, the land was to go from the Nile to the Euphrates River. God’s original intent for the Jewish people was to occupy a territory that looked roughly like this: 300,000 square miles.

300,000 square miles is roughly what God originally intended for the Jewish people to have. From the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River that runs through Iraq and Syria. Israel never occupied this much land. Even though God had deeded this to them, Genesis 15:18, the Jewish people never occupied this amount of land.

The largest the territory it got was under the rule of King David, and his territory looked a little bit like this. In fact, the Bible says that his territory extended up to the north into parts of what today is Turkey. This is the largest that the Jewish people ever occupied in terms of a national homeland.

Now, fast forward to more recent history. Because it goes from the Babylonians to the Greeks to the Romans, you have the Mamluks in there, you have the Ottoman Turks. The Ottoman Turks were occupying this land during World War I, and when Great Britain helped defeat the forces that were fighting in World War I, Great Britain defeated the Ottoman Turks. Great Britain took back this territory. It was part of the British Mandate.

And in 1917, the Brits enforced a doctrine called the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Because they understood that the Jewish people have been dispersed, scattered, killed all around the world, and they needed to be able to return to their homeland. And everybody understood this was Jewish territory for 4,000 years. So in 1917, under the British Mandate, they enacted the Balfour Declaration, and they determined that the homeland for the Jewish people should be this. This is the border of the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

But in 1922, the Hussein family objected. An Arab family, the Hussein said, we don’t like the Jewish people having that much land, what about us? And so in 1922, Winston Churchill was the Secretary of State over the colonies of Great Britain. He wasn’t Prime Minister yet, but as Secretary of State of the colonies, Winston Churchill took a crayon on a map and drew a line down the Jordan River, right about here.

And he just indiscriminately, in order to appease the Hussein family, reneged on the promise of the Balfour Declaration, drew a line down the middle, said the east side will be called Transjordan, because it’s the side across the Jordan River. The west side will be Palestine, still Palestine until 1948.

The Hussein family, by the way, still controls that territory, which was permanently named in 1946 Jordan, as it is today. King Abdullah is part of the Hussein family. King Abdullah’s full name is King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein. So that’s Jordan now on the east side of the Jordan River, and on the west side is Israel, which in 1948, when the United Nations recognized the homeland in 1947. Then May the 15th, 1948, the Jewish people reclaimed their land and occupied now what is just a fraction of what God originally intended.

This is what God originally intended. That was the land that they ended up with. And it’s gone back and forth. The borders have gone back and forth with different wars. I’m not going to get into all that. I just wanted to give you the background to all of this, because this is why I want everybody to understand when you look at history, the Jews are not colonialists. This is not a colony of any nation, and they’re paying taxes to some other motherland.

They are the indigenous people, and they are living in this land, and again, not just because Great Britain said you can have the western side of the Jordan River, but because God deeded this territory and much more to them in Genesis chapter 15.

Question number four, then. Why are so many American youth and young adults supporting the Palestinian cause today? Now if you haven’t already tuned me out, young adults, listen up, because you need to learn something. I’m about to school you. I’m going to encourage you first, and then I’m going to school you second, all right?

Here’s the encouraging thing. This generation of young adults is very concerned about humanitarian causes. You’re concerned about, quote, the underdog or the disadvantaged or people without a voice, and you’re to be commended for that. Don’t ever stop caring for people who are disadvantaged.

You because of your compassion for people, that’s why you are quick to jump on certain causes, and you’re passionate about these things. And so, you know, you want to end sex trafficking, and you want to, you know, end world hunger, and you’re concerned about the environment, and all these different causes, and all these different issues. And again, I just want to say, because you care about people, especially those who are disadvantaged, don’t ever stop caring for people. Your compassion is needed.

But now here’s the challenge. Know why you are a part of that cause, and get your facts straight. Because sometimes you are quick to jump on the bandwagon of the latest cause, the latest issue, the latest group that appears to be disadvantaged, and you don’t even know why you’re a part of that cause. And you can’t even intellectually defend it. And you end up looking silly.

You look silly. Most young people, in fact a lot of adults, don’t even know the history of the land of Israel I just shared with you. And so young adults are believing this false narrative: the Jews are the occupiers, the Jews are the colonialists, this is our land. You know, look, you can have compassion for the Palestinian people, fine, you should.

But don’t forget what happened October the 7th, 2023. And stop trying to accuse the Israelis of being the ones who are the bullies. There are 22 Arab states, 52 Muslim states, one Jewish state. Who’s the bully? You tell me. Who’s the bully?

Now look, I’m not defending everything that the Jewish people have done since 1948. Returning to their homeland was messy. It was met with resistance, there was war, and whenever there’s war, it is messy. And unfortunately, the way they went about trying to repossess the land was messy. And there were Palestinian families who were displaced from their homes, and that created animosity even within the current generation of Palestinians against Jews.

I’ve been up on the Temple Mount, hearing young Arab children chanting in Arabic, death to Israel. They’re teaching their children to hate the Jews, and that will continue to happen until finally someone realizes, this is the enemy, this is evil, this is wicked.

So I’m not defending Israel on everything they’ve ever done, but to say that the land belonged to the Palestinians and that the Jews had never been there until they stormed in in 1948 and took it by force, that is simply intellectually dishonest, and it isn’t true.

And in addition, I’m going to say this to you young people too, I’m not done, listen. What feeds many young people, particularly those who care about humanitarian causes, what feeds a lot of times your desire to jump on to the latest humanitarian cause is because it makes you feel good.

It makes you feel good. We all have a guilty conscience, and the only way to really assuage a guilty conscience is to go to God and have forgiveness through Jesus. But what happens is some people in order to assuage a guilty conscience, they take up good causes. And young people are involved in something that is today referred to as moralistic therapeutic deism.

What is that all about? In 2005, a Harvard doctor who now teaches at Notre Dame, Dr. Christian Smith, coined that term, moralistic therapeutic deism, to describe the young adult generation that is making a God out of humanitarian causes. The moralistic part is, I want to do good, fine.

But then when you do good, you feel good, that’s the therapeutic part. And then you make a God out of it, that’s the deism part. And it’s a dangerous place to be, because again, you start to jump on the bandwagon of the latest cause and the latest humanitarian thing, and you haven’t done your homework, and you don’t know your facts, and you can’t intellectually defend it, and you end up looking silly.

So instead of trying to get your feel-good from this sense of humanitarian help, get your feel-good from Jesus and get a relationship with God and stick close to Him, and then you’ll know what is good and right and pure.

How might any of this fit into Bible prophecy about the End Times?

I’ll end with question number five. How might any of this fit into Bible prophecy about the end times? Go to Ezekiel chapter 38. Ezekiel chapter 38.

There’s a lot of discussion right now about, you know, is this the end of the world and how does this all fit in, and what does this mean? Anytime you see activity in Israel, especially when there’s war, you should wake up, you should take notice, and you should look at your Bibles to try to understand what is going on.

And in Ezekiel chapter 38, I’ll read the first six verses, and then I’ll share my thoughts on how this does or does not relate to current events.

Ezekiel 38:1-6, ‘Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” You see, circle in your Bibles, Gog. Gog is a title. It means prince or lord, small l, or czar, and he’s the prince of Magog over certain cities, Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

And God says to Ezekiel, prophesy against that guy. Verse 3, “and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north, and all its troops — many people are with you.”

The prophet Ezekiel goes on to say that these nations form a confederation, and they advance from the north down to Israel, and they attack Israel. The question is, are we seeing what is happening today a fulfillment of Ezekiel 38? I would say yes and no. Here’s what I mean.

First of all, it speaks here about Gog, who’s the prince of this region, Magog. The ancient historians, Tacitus, Pliny, Josephus, they all said about Magog, it was the land of the ancient Scythians. When you look at a map, the land of the ancient Scythians was just north of the Caspian and Black Seas. We’re talking Russia.

This is a prophecy about Russia. And then there are five nations that join with Russia in this confederation against Israel. First on the list, verse 5, is Persia. Iran was called Persia until 1935. Iran’s always been referred to as Persia historically until 1935. Iran was also an ally of the United States and Israel until the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. The Shah of Iran was selling oil to Israel. But all that changed in 1979 when Shia Muslims began to influence the whole country and thus influence and inspire Hamas and Hezbollah.

Okay, listen, Hamas is fully funded, aided, and assisted by Iran. There’s no question about it. In fact, Hamas has said that October 7th was directed by Iran. Hezbollah has said the same thing. Iran itself has said the same thing. They’re behind October 7th. Why it is that our own federal government cannot say that Iran is behind October 7th when they believe the Russian collusion stuff without even any evidence, but they can’t believe this, is a mind-boggling mystery to me. It’s mind-boggling.

I will hasten to say, however, as I said Wednesday night, give honor where honor is due. President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have made very strong statements in defense of Israel, and I’m very thankful for that, very thankful for that. You know, the Secretary of State is Jewish, so it helps to be Jewish and care about the Jewish people. They’ve made strong statements.

But you see a Russian-Iranian confederation coming together right now like never before, and Ezekiel prophesied it thousands of years ago. Could this be what we’re seeing? Here’s why I say yes and no. This battle is in the south. It’s coming from the south. It’s not coming from the north. That’s what Ezekiel says. Ezekiel also says that no one comes to Israel’s defense, but we’ve come to Israel’s defense.

Other countries have come to Israel’s defense. We got the USS Gerald Ford in the eastern Mediterranean ready to help in whatever way is needed. We’ve already released munition we had on site in Israel, the United States had. We’ve released these missiles as part of the Israeli defense system, the Iron Dome, so they have missiles that can target the rockets that are coming over from Gaza, more than 6,000 now.

So we are involved. Ezekiel 38 says no one comes to Israel’s aid, and the forces come from the north. But here’s how this could possibly be what we’re about to see unfolding of Ezekiel 38. If you start to see Iran getting involved and telling Hezbollah from the north to start to fight as they fired a few rockets just to kind of show Israel they’re there, if they start to engage, if Russia starts to send troops, okay, then it could be Ezekiel 38.

But wait a minute, we’re still helping. No one comes to Israel’s aid. Here’s the scenario under which I think the United States could pull out. Right now, again, we’ve made strong statements in defense of Israel.

However, notice the language very carefully right now you’re starting to hear. The United Nations refuses to acknowledge Hamas as a terrorist organization. The UN has already been pushing back on Israel, as other nations have. Be careful now, so you know, don’t go in there too harsh. You know, watch what you’re doing. You know, be nice. Be nice. You know, that’s what they’re starting to say.

Even some among our government officials are starting to code word those kind of things. Like, be careful Israel. Like, you know, watch out. Don’t, don’t be too harsh. If other nations, including our own, begins to think that Israel is going in too harshly, they might pull out. We might decide we’re not going to support Israel anymore.

And here’s other more frightening scenarios. Because of our ongoing efforts in supplies to Ukraine, and perhaps needing to get involved in China’s potential assault against Taiwan, and here’s even what is more of a potential.

We have terrorists coming over our southern border in the United States. And on our own soil, there are these cells that we might end up having to fight. And if we have to end up engaging our own military here and there and everywhere, I’m not, I’m not making a statement whether all that is right or wrong. I’m just saying, if we get stretched too thinly, the United States might very well wave at Israel and say, we’ve got our own battles to fight. Sorry, we’re not going to help you anymore. If you see those kind of things aligning, this could be Ezekiel 38.

And let me tell you what happens between Ezekiel 38 and 39, the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church. So all that to say, all that to say, be ready. Always be ready. Jesus said, lift up your heads and look up, your redemption draws near. Jesus is coming again.

So get right with God, get your hearts right with Him, and in the meantime, pray. Pray for Israel. Pray for the Palestinian civilians caught in the crosshairs. Pray ultimately for the Prince of Peace to come and rule and reign Himself, Jesus our Messiah. Amen.

Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You, Lord, that we can look to You. We don’t have to be afraid. We can trust You and know that You’re coming soon. We ask You, Lord, in the meantime, to bring this war to an end quickly. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray for innocent Palestinian civilians who are opposed to Hamas, who believe that Israel has a right to exist.

So many people, Lord, who are being butchered and killed. We pray for grieving families. We pray for the Israeli troops. We pray, Lord, that many Jews and Muslims both would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Turn their hearts towards You, Lord, and until You come again, help us, Lord, to guard our hearts, knowing that You are our soon-and-coming King. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray, and everybody said, Amen.

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