Today, I woke up thinking about the fact that God is in control of the rapidly changing events in our culture and world. This reminded me of the events in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Our president inadvertently left many of our mass weapons of destruction of war at our military bases there.
Now the Taliban has control of those fierce resources. Was that a blip in presidential planning, or part of God’s greater plan for the beginning of the Great Tribulation? I believe it is the later. Those committed to Islam in the Middle East, are descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s handmaiden (Psalm 83:2-4).
Sarah and Abraham eventually gave birth to Isaac, the son of God’s promise to them. These sibling rivalries live on through the continued races of Esau and Jacob. There is a perpetual resentment and competition between these two people groups that also fuels the Middle Eastern hatred against Israel.
Even the decision made by Sarah and Abraham to conceive a son through Hagar did not take God by surprise. He knows the end to the beginning, and His plan has unfolded since Creation, through the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, even into today and the future.
God, speaking to the leaders of nations through the prophet in Ezekiel 38:4 KJV, said: "And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen..." He continues in Chapter 38 and goes on in Chapter 39 describing a war when the Middle Eastern countries and Russia attempt a joint assault against Israel.
In the Abrahamic covenant, God promises His protection over Israel. He pledges that a Chosen People will come through Abraham (Genesis 22:17–18), through Isaac (Genesis 26:2–4), and through Jacob (Genesis 28:14), and that God would give them the Promised Land (Genesis 15:18; Joshua 1:4).
God is not a liar, nor does He go back on His promises – they are all “Yes and Amen” (1 Corinthians 1:20). He planned for Jesus to come even before the Trinity created the cosmos (Genesis 1:26-28; Ephesians 1:4-6). The tiny baby born in an obscure stable in Bethlehem is the Savior of the whole world (Matthew 1:18-25), and believing in His birth, life, death, and soon return is the only way that we can spend eternity in God’s family.
Prayer:
Father God, You gave prophetic Biblical books to us to prove the validity of Your Word, inform us of Your plans, and to keep our hearts from failing us for fear during these tumultuous times in which we live. You are just setting the stage for the last act of the “drama” You planned and that has been unfolding all these thousands of years (Ezekiel 25-27, 37:10; Jeremiah 49:1-6; Obadiah). You bless all those who bless Israel for Your name’s sake. You are gathering Israelites from the ends of earth and returning them to the land that You gave to Abraham centuries ago (Genesis 12:3; Ezekiel 36:22,). You are our amazing God, a generous and provisionary Protector, and a glorious and magnificent Father.
You planned that very soon King Jesus will return to put His Kingdom in place on the earth and to reign supreme throughout eternity. In fact, Your Word tells us through all Your prophets that You are actually in charge. King Jesus is definitely coming again (Matthew 24:36), and He will rule and reign over the cosmos soon and very soon. We are so thrilled to realize that this event is a day closer today than it was yesterday. However, we will only benefit from this good news if we already repented of our sinful lifestyle, trusted Jesus as our Savior, and live in submission to Your will for us.
Thought for the Day:
It is my surmise that the USA military weapons left in Taliban control in Afghanistan just may be part of prophecy’s fulfillment (Amos 3:7). Twenty-five percent of the Bible is prophecy when it was written, and is very accurate both in our modern translations and even through the original manuscripts, which were written over 3,000 years ago. Archeology has found copies of ancient manuscripts periodically over the years, and the translations we have from the original Greek and Hebrew languages of God’s Word today are fundamentally the same as these ancient copies.
