THE ARABS IN PROPHECY, PART 5 of 5
BY DR RICHARD BOOKER—
In our previous articles we have looked into the Bible and history to discover the beginning of the nations, the mother of all family feuds, the origins of the Arab people and the modern myth of Palestinians. In this final article we will see what the Almighty has to say about all of this. Will it be “Judgment or Blessings?”
God loves the Arab people, but He has a different plan for them than He does for the Jews. God will bless the Arabs if they will submit to His plans and purposes. He will judge them if they do not. Edom, another name for Esau, is a symbolic term representing the Arab people as a whole much like the word Israel represents the Jewish people as a whole.
Joel 3:19 reads, “Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of violence against the people of Judah, for they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation”.
Isaiah 17:1, “The burden against Damascus. Behold Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will become a ruinous heap”.
There are many prophecies in the Bible where God pronounces judgments on the Arabs for their hatred of the Jewish people and the God of Israel.
In His own time, God will end this conflict by giving Israel a great victory over her Arab neighbors. This will show the nations of the world and the Arab people that Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not Allah, is the one true God.
“In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:8-9).
Micah 4:11-12 adds, “Now also many nations have gathered against you, who say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, nor do they understand His counsel; for He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.”
Ezekiel 39 lists Arab countries as part of the end-time Russian confederation attacking Israel. God will destroy these armies and give Israel a great victory. Israel’s victory will cause a great spiritual awakening within the Arab nations as they realize the terrible deception of Islam. Many will turn to the one true God of Israel as the prophet Isaiah predicted.
“In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, who the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hand, and Israel My inheritance” (Isaiah 19:24-25).
This is an incredible prophecy of hope for Egypt, Assyria. But even then, God warns the Egyptians that if they do not go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, God will withhold rain as judgment (Zechariah 14).
Israel’s victory will also cause many Jewish people to return to their biblical heritage and seek the God of their ancestors as Joel explains:
“So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again” (Joel 3:17).
“I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. … And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the LORD God” (Ezekiel 39:21-22,29).
Furthermore, the nations of the world will realize there is a God in heaven who is active in world affairs and is moving forward the course of human history according to His own plans and purposes for mankind.
“Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 38:23).
While there is still much suffering ahead for the world since it refused to recognize the One True God, in the end He will accomplish His purposes. Israel will be the head of nations and all nations will recognize the sovereign plan of God to place salvation in Zion. As we learn in Psalm 22: 27-28, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the LORD’s, and He rules over the nations.”
Dr. Richard Booker is the Founder of Sounds of the Trumpet and the Institute for Hebraic Christian Studies and a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Connection. These articles are extracted from his book, “The End of all Things is at Hand.”For information about his ministry and teaching resources, see his web page at www.rbooker.com.
