From the Saturday message of January 13th 2023
In the News…
If we were to make a summary of all the signs we have covered up to now, one thing that stands out as the norm, is the constant talk of the upcoming major wars. Yeshua said that before the end, there will be wars and rumors of wars. This is confirmed week after week.
As for the rumors, they are becoming louder. For instance, this past week we learned that Russia intends to mobilize up to 500,000 men for a major spring offensive. They spoke of 300,000 at one point and now there are talks of another 200,000 more. All these will be trained and ready for the spring. That is a terrifying forecast for the lives of so many. But Russia’s war against Ukraine reaches way past their borders. It is not a war between two countries anymore but involves many states as well. It is really a war between the East and the West. NATO and Russia.
So far, western Europe with the U.S. and other countries have contributed around 100 billion dollars toward Ukraine’s fight by sending advanced equipment such as battle tanks, longer-range missile systems, helicopters, and explosive drones. This has clearly gone further than a two-country conflict. The time, the place, and the countries themselves cry out together from the Scriptures, pointing to the predicted war of Gog and Magog from the Book of Ezekiel. This war has, in many ways, already begun.
In this past year, we reached a very advanced point in Bible prophecies. What comes next would be a shift away from Europe and to the Middle East with Israel being the center point, a place where all biblical prophecies of the end times converge. What’s more, there is an ever-increasing sign of the times that continues to cry out louder and louder as we move forward. It is the worldwide increase of anti-Semitism. This is a topic we mention very often here at Beth Ariel, and I wish we could stop all talking about it, but it is relentless and expanding.
This past week the ADL, the Anti-Defamation-League, reported that in North America the number of Americans who believe antisemitic stereotypes has doubled since 2019 and is at its highest level in decades. The poll taken showed that 85% of people in the US agree with at least one racist slur or stereotype about Jews. It just takes one slur for now. We know how a little leaven can affect the whole lump. Another statistic from this poll indicates that 20% of North Americans believe that Jews have too much power, or that they don’t care about anyone other than themselves.
Jews are being isolated, as it has been throughout history, but we will see much more as we move toward the end. This was also prophesied, but even before the creation of the nation of Israel. It was through Moses in Deuteronomy 28:37, where the LORD said that towards the end, just before the coming of the Messiah,
… you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you.
An astonishment, samah in Hebrew speaks of something that promotes strong dislike. It is from the root word samem meaning to be desolate, appalled. That is what Israel is called in Isaiah 54 — the desolate. And it is how the Messiah will find her when He returns. Through Moses, we read that she is called a byword, seninah. It means a sharp word, a type of cutting remark. That is what Israel is to many today. Moses calls Israel a proverb, a parable, masal, something not easy to understand. While Israel provokes a feeling of dislike in many, she is a parable, for it is hard to figure out how such a tiny country can be so influential. According to another 2022 study that US News & World Report published this past week, Israel ranks among the of the most powerful countries in the world. She is also considered the world’s sixth most politically influential country.
How can we logically explain this? Israel is indeed as God said it will be today: an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations. All these signs indicate that we are in very close proximity to the great coming of our Lord.