Revelation for Beginners

REVELATION AND THE MIDDLE EAST

April 4, 2011 on 2:40 pm | In REVELATION AND CURRENT EVENTS | Comments Off on REVELATION AND THE MIDDLE EAST

What’s going on in the Middle East these days? As I write this (April 4, 2011) two countries have already gone through turmoil and regime change (Tunisia and Egypt), another is in the throes of war (Libya) and there is unrest in several other countries as well. Where will this end? Does Revelation have anything to say about it?

First of all, if someone is expecting to find a blow-by-blow account of last day events in Revelation, documenting every war and uprising, they will be disappointed. Revelation does talk about the final war (Armageddon) but not every one preceding that. For example, we have had many wars in the last 100 years–WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and the Viet Nam war. In the Middle East itself, in recent years we have seen two Arab-Israeli wars (in 1967 and 1973), a war between Iraq and Iran, the Gulf War, and the Iraq war, not to mention the war in Afghanistan, the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Lebanon, etc. With each war there were some who thought this was Armageddon or leading up to it.

Jesus tried to prepare us for these events when He said, as recorded in Matthew 24:6-8: And you will year of wars and rumors of wars, See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” It remains to be seen just where all this current unrest in the Middle East will end up.

Two topics often come up when the Middle East is discussed in its relation to the end time events–Armageddon, and the role of Israel. I will explore those two in separate posts. A third topic often discussed relates to the antichrist. That is a more complex topic and I will get into that at a later date. I will also begin posting on the book of Daniel in the near future. If you are concerned or worried, keep in mind what Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:21: “He (God) removes kings and raises up kings.” So God has the last word. And no matter what happens, He will be with His people. And He is preparing something much better than what we have here. What a wonderful God!