Weekly update: Teeth of iron, and nails of brass
Israel & Christians Today Weekly Update | 6 September 2019
Israel & Christians Today is a ministry of Christians for Israel, to promote understanding of Israel and world events from a Biblical perspective.
The Lord reveals through the prophet Daniel that the Anti-Christ “shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
We are living in a time when the powers of this world are aligning to “speak great words against the most High” and “think to change times and laws”.
Never before has there been such coordinated action to defeat the revealed purposes of God as He prepares to usher in His Kingdom.
A small but telling example: yesterday the Security Council almost passed a resolution putting Israel and Hezbollah on an equal footing, following the recent clash. No condemnation of Hezbollah’s aggressive activities. It is a small example of how the world refuses to accept the justice of Israel’s existence, and the immorality of those who vow its destruction.
It is not that Israel is perfect. It certainly is not. But it has a right to exist, and a right to protect itself. The world is turning a blind eye while Iran’s leaders continue to prepare the destruction of Israel.
Thankfully we know that the “most High” has all things in His hands, and that His saints will have the ultimate victory. But first, there will be a time of great tribulation as has never been seen before.
Israel’s continuing war with Iran and its proxies
The Israeli military remains on high alert after Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli military vehicles in Israel close to the Lebanese border Sunday 1st September. Hezbollah has indicated that the missile attack was in response to an airstrike by the IDF last month in Syria that targeted an Iranian-led plot to bomb northern Israel with armed drones. Several Iranian operatives, including two Hezbollah members, were killed in the strike.
No Israelis were hurt and the IDF responded by attacking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The tit-for-tat had the potential to escalate as both sides vowed not tolerate fire, but a tense calm returned to the north Monday.
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Prior to Sunday’s exchange of fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had issued a warning to both Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the Lebanese government, cautioning them to “be careful what you say and be more careful what you do.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri says that Hezbollah is a regional problem. He told CNBC that he was unable to control the group, which has been implicated in the murder of his father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah is a major force in Lebanese politics and its representatives sit in the country’s parliament.
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The creation of an Iranian military/terrorist axis along Israel’s northern and southern borders, comprising Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, lays the groundwork for the long-term multi-frontal attrition of the Jewish state.
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Hillel Frisch explains why Hezbollah has limited power in Lebanon – because it is a strictly Shi’ite organization, and this population is dwindling. “Not only is the Shi’ite community relatively small, between a million to a million-and-a-half souls, it is suffering from a rapidly declining birth rate very much similar to the declining fertility rate in Iran, the only large country with a Shi’ite majority.”
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The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
A controversial former security official and Abu Dhabi-based political operator, Muhammad Dahlan, has lurked for several years in the shadows of Palestinian politics. It is possible that he will emerge in an attempt to pave the way for US president Donald Trump’s much maligned “Deal of the Century” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Netanyahu: “Hebron will not be judenrein”
This year is the 90th anniversary of the Hebron massacre, in which Arab rioters murdered 67 of their Jewish neighbors in the ancient city.
“Jews will remain in Hebron forever”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday during an historic visit to the West Bank city that threatened to spark a religious war – and failed to ensure the right-wing support needed to secure his re-election in two weeks.
Read article..
Further reading/viewing:
“War is, the Torah implies, inevitably destructive. That is why Judaism’s highest value is peace.”
Read Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s latest weekly reflection. This week it is on the mandate to protect the environment – even in times of war.
Happy reading, and Shabbat shalom,
Andrew Tucker
Editor-in-Chief –Israel & Christians Today
Scripture for the week: Daniel 7:15-28
“I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.”
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