Middle East Update

With Israel refusing to renew the moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, many pundits are pessimistic concerning the endangered peace negotiations in the Middle East.  That is the very danger that we warn repeatedly against - that the daily ups and downs determine the "mood" of the observer.  The world is insistent that these negotiations culminate in a treaty that will provide the Palestinians a homeland, and end the violence between those two people.  There may be hurdles, never positive in nature, that will seem to kill the process.  But we know from the Scriptures that a treaty will be made, and the final seven years of Gentile dominion will begin.

Even if these talks break down completely, the pressure will mount rapidly around the world, with Israel being portrayed as the side that is recalcitrant.  We are already seeing the process being presented that way by all the world's media.  Netanyahu is risking his political life, trying to persuade his ruling coalition to accept Obama's new sixty-day deal.  The moderate wing of the governing coalition in Israel would all must vote in favor, as well as at least one member of the far right wing.

Israel will push as long as she feels that she has leverage to push, but that leverage is shrinking daily in the hearts of Gentiles all over the world, and also among many expatriate Jews.  The world sees Israel as having tried its patience long enough, and wants to see an agreement imposed if coercion is unsuccessful.  Obama is seen as weak by attempting to "lure" Israel into a moratorium of only sixty days by making unseemly promises of U.S. resources in exchange for such a brief time limit.  The world does not want America to "buy" Israeli cooperation, but to simply "make" this happen.

The world does not know what it is asking for, however.  The very agreement that it is on the verge of demanding is the treaty that will plunge the world into that day of great and terrible darkness that will mark the bloody end of "Gentile world dominion;" from Nebuchadnezzar's day, six hundred years before Christ came the first time, until today.  The Times of the Gentiles will end in a seven-year period of judgments by God upon a rebellious world - a world who thought it wise to take land that God Almighty has specifically declared to be His own and divide it up according to their own "reasoning together."

Those who eagerly await the coming of the Lord for His bride need not lose heart.  Endurance is called for.  Patient continuation in service to God until we hear that shout is called for.  Steadfast faith is called for.  Renewal of hope daily is called for.  The ministry of the word of reconciliation is called for.  And we are called to edify the saints with the Word of God.  Let us not be shy or afraid, but bold in our faith and in our confidence.