Peace Today?

[Shammu]

Peace Today?

Regardless of efforts toward political peace, (which should be pursued) the ultimate possibility for true peace only exists through Jesus Christ. That is true today and it will be true in the Christ's 1,000 year rule. Only when Israel and the Arab nations experience a spiritual transformation will peace arrive. And ultimately, that will only fully happen when Jesus comes.

The Bible foretells that peace between the Arab nations and Israel will come. It will arrive when the Messiah Jesus, returns to set up His throne and reign over the kingdoms of the earth. Peace for the Arab world and the Jewish nation will be established.

To see what the future holds for the Arab states, it is important to recognize that the Bible speaks of the future of specific Biblical nations. By identifying which modern Arab countries exist in the same geographic places as those Biblical nations, it may be possible to discern what the future holds for these Arab states.

The southern area of the modern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was inhabited by the Biblical nation of Edom. Several Biblical prophets foretold the complete desolation of the Edomites, revealing the future of this part of Jordan.

Ezekiel 35:1-15 , God declared that the Edomites would be completely destroyed because they Ezek. 35:5 "Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:". The Lord assured the complete desolation of Edom Ezek 35:9 "I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD." Ezek 35:15 "As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD". The same promise is found in Obadiah, where God compared the house of Jacob to a fire and Edom to stubble. Edom would be set on fire "so that no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau". In Jeremiah, God proclaimed that Edom would become "a desolation, a reproach, a waste and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes" Jer. 49:13 "For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.". The future is bleak for the Southern area of Jordan. In the Messianic Kingdom, it will be completely desolate.

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold that Babylon, the great capital of the Babylonian empire, would be desolate for all time. Isaiah said that Babylon "will never be inhabited nor will it be settled from generation to generation; nor will the Arabian pitch tents there" Isa. 13:20 "It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there". Jeremiah confirmed Isaiah's words, comparing Babylon's destruction to that of Sodom and Gomorrah Jer. 50:39-40 "Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.". This destruction occurred in stages, so that by 20 B.C., the Greek geographer Strabo called Babylon a "vast desolation."

So, although the Bible does not explicitly state the future of these two nations, clearly Lebanon and parts of Syria will experience peace with Israel by being annexed into the Jewish State during the Messianic Kingdom.

The most encouraging news to be found in the Biblical prophecies regarding the Arab nations is that several of these will experience spiritual growth through Jesus. There will be some Arab states that will come to a genuine faith in Jesus and share in the worldwide blessings of the Christ's 1,000 year rule. This will be the way that they finally achieve peace with Israel.

The Biblical nations of Moab and Ammon were situated in what is now the central and northern parts of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The destiny of Jordan includes not only desolation in the south, but also hope of a remnant who will come to faith in the Messiah Jesus. In Jeremiah 48 and 49, the Lord first declares the future destruction of Moab and Ammon but then includes hope of restoration. These passages in Jeremiah look forward to the end of days, when a remnant of these two Biblical nations will put their faith in the Jesus and experience spiritual transformation. So, it seems that the Northern and Central parts of the modern kingdom of Jordan will find peace with Jesus and peace with Israel.


From the time of the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 until Anwar el-Sadat addressed the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) thirty years later, Egypt had been an implacable enemy of Israel. Today, there is a peace treaty that has been sustained for twenty years, even though many consider it to be a "cold peace. However, Isaiah foresees Israel and Egypt experiencing a friendly peace when they both will know the Lord.[/b]

Isaiah prophesies that Egypt Isa. 19:20 "will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them". At that time, Egypt will have an altar to the Lord and will worship Him. According to Zechariah, the Egyptians will also celebrate Sukkot together with Israel in Christ's 1,000 year rule Zech. 14:16-19. Egypt will be at peace with both her ancient enemy Assyria and Israel, with this threesome providing blessing to the whole earth Isa. 19:24-25.

What was once the land of Assyria today includes Northern Iraq and Syria. In the great prophecy of Egypt's future redemption, the prophet Isaiah also indicates that Assyria will know the Lord, and through this spiritual transformation they will be peace partners with both Israel and Egypt. Assyria will worship with Egypt and Israel, indicating that people in Syria and Iraq will come to know Jesus and enter in Christ's 1,000 year rule Isa. 19:23 "In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians". In that great day, Isa. 19:24-25  "Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria-a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance'"

MAy the Lord, grant you peace.
Bob

Ezek 47:2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.