RSS FeedIsrael: Forty Years Later
Written by Peter Youngren on June 7th 2007This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Israeli - Arab war that dramatically changed the map of the Middle East, initially tripling the land governed by the nation of Israel. The conflict in 1967 was preceded by months of escalation of tension culminating on June 5th by the Israeli Air Force destroying 400 aircraft of Syria, Jordan and Egypt; most of them on the tarmac. Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula after four days of battle, and when Jordan and Syria joined Egypt, Israel counter attacked. By June 7th Israeli troops had captured Jerusalem’s old city and had taken control of the entire West Bank. By June 10th both Jordan and Egypt had accepted a cease-fire, while Israeli forces had also captured the Golan Heights. Syria accepted a cease-fire by June 10th. The war left 679 dead Israelis and an estimated 21,000 dead among the Arab nations. Thousands of others were injured.
The mood among the Jewish population in Israel was euphoric as the sacred shrines, most prominently the Wailing Wall were now under Jewish control, and many believed that peace would come. Among many evangelical Christians there was a similar euphoria and preachers were heard declaring that the rapture of the church would occur before summer’s end. Though I was myself a young boy at the time I have personal memories of prominent preachers declaring that the end was upon us “within weeks, not months”.
Unification of Jerusalem under a Jewish government was a fulfillment of the prophecy that the Gentiles would no longer trample Jerusalem. After some time everyone realized that the rapture may not be imminent, but most at the time suggested an absolute rapture deadline of no later than June, 2007, in view of the commonly held idea that a generation is 40 years, and that the generation which sees Jerusalem unified would be the “rapture generation.“ Let me assure you that I believe in the coming of the Lord and the rapture of the church [see my book, “The Final Sign“]. Here are however a couple of observations with 40 years hindsight.
First, there is no peace without the Prince of Peace. There is only one redemption for Jews or Arabs, namely what Jesus did on the cross, and as many as receive Him are saved. It is fruitless to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as if peace was a concept, separated from Him, who is the source of that peace. I encourage those, who are interested in making Jesus known in the Middle East to check the website of WAY OF PEACE, [www.wayofpeace.net], a ministry dedicated to Gospel Advancement in the Middle East.
Secondly, rapture prediction is a tricky, though commercially profitable, business. All along I have advised believers to be people-focused in their end-time eschatology. The end will not come until the Gospel is known among all people (Matt 24:14). The Gospel of Mark states, “And the Gospel must first be preached .....“. Paul writes that the fullness of the Gentiles must first be saved [Rom 11:25]. With about 2 billion, who have never heard the Gospel, we still have quite a job before us.
Finally, a little promotion! Why not plan now to join RoxAnne and I on our next Israel Tour in May of 2008. For more information, contact me at this website.
Wendy Eburne
My heart burns for Israel. I have never been there, but I know I will go one day. True peace is the Prince of Peace and there is no way I want to leave here before we see revival in the middle east. It has already started because of awesome evangelists like you Peter and intersessors like me. I heard an awesome message one time; Faith Changes Things, Grace Changes People. I pray for grace like rain to pour down in the middle east. We all have the ability to love a GOOD, GOOD GOD FULL OF GRACE!!!!
Charity
Sometimes pain or depression also make you want to see Jesus return quickly because you give up, you can’t take the pain anymore. When in the past, pain got hold of me and can’t control it, i want Jesus to come overnight and take me home. if you are having a good time living in the strenght of Jesus, do you really care when he comes back? you don’t care because he lives inside of you, you just beleive he will come, today or tommorow you trully don’t care because you know who’s you are and when he comes he will take you home. Those who predict the rapture either they do it for money or they have some serious illness they can’t bear anymore. i love bible prophecy and i thank God for given us warning before the time. this massage should be preach with simplicity and not scare people away after some have listen to prophetic teaching they may say ‘if this is the christian God i have nothing to do with him’. it is redicolous for some prophetic teachers to tell people to give up, they should just wait and do noting with their time and be waiting for Jesus, that is the message some are sending. not sure if those who set date really beleive it themselve,sometimes this question comes to my mind.
George Thomas
The world has heard so much about the ‘end time’ from the so called scholars of Bible. I don’t know whether God has given any special privilege to them to interpret the word of God according to their whims and fancies. What Bible says is that only God alone knows the exact time of the rupture and the end time and that too known only to one among the Holy trinity- the Father. Even the other two entities are ignorant about the exact time of the actual harvest. It’s so concealed, so secret. Then how can these end time prophets make such unauthorized proclamations, making the word of God an object of ridicule before others. However, Jesus the son of God has revealed to the world what all things he knows about the end time. He has narrated the symptoms that should forego the end time so clearly that people may come to salvation on seeing the happenings. He spoke this, as I believe, for those whose beliefs are based only on evidences, a common trait of today’s world.
Is it fair on the part of a true Christian to long for the end days, as being advocated by so many preachers? In my opinion, there seems to be a bit of selfishness in such a thought. Those who wish for immediate end time may be thinking that their position is bright and safe and it is better to have the end time as early as possible as it is very difficult to continue this life of dedication in this world of pleasures. They secretly wish for a sweet revenge against the sinners and pleasure seekers! The father is prolonging the end time so that more people may repent and be saved from the ultimate doom. A true Christian should also wish to prolong the end time so that he could save more sinners. I would say that Christians continue their faithful life winning more and more souls untiringly; with out bothering about when the end time would arrive. One may preach about end time based on Bible, but should never predict on when it would come as such teachings are against the spirit of the word of God.
Thank you, pastor Peter for bringing forth such a relevant topic for open discussion.