Israel: A Tinderbox in the Middle East

Israel today is a tinderbox in the Middle East. Furthermore, approximately 2600 years ago, a prophet by the name of Ezekiel prophesied that like the ancient Edomites, another Arab group would arise and seek to form a nation within the nation of Israel. We know this group today as the Palestinians. The Palestinians today believe that since they occupied the land during the time of Israel's dispersion that this makes the land theirs. In 1948 when the land was partitioned between Israel and Jordan, most of the people on the Israel side fled to Jordan and have been in refugee camps ever since. They have constantly asserted that the land belongs to them, through former PLO leader Yasser Arafat as well as the current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahminejad, and have sought to form two nations within a nation. Ezekiel writes and according to the Bible, "Because thou has said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the Lord was there" (Ezekiel 35:10 Holy Bible). This is exactly what the Palestinian leaders then and now seek to accomplish ---to swallow up Israel on every side with their enemies, and to take Jerusalem.

The prophet Ezekiel also writes that like ancient Edom, the Palestinians would seek "the ancient high places" which are none other than modern day Judea and Samaria. We see today as they demand these areas in their land for peace negotiations. However, Ezekiel writes in Chapter 35:10-14 that like ancient Edom, God will judge this nation and its people, because their secret intentions are evil. Another prophet by the name of Zechariah also wrote that in the latter days that God would make Jerusalem, Israel a "cup of trembling" and a "burdensome stone" for all nations" (Zechariah12:3). Is this not what we are witnessing today, as the nations of the world take sides on splitting Jerusalem once again. But what does God have to say concerning whose land it is and of Jerusalem?

The Bible tells us that God has promised the land to Israel. Of those nations that concern themselves with Jerusalem, God says "all that burden themselves with it shall be cut into pieces, though all people of the earth be gathered together against it." So it makes no difference what the United States, the European Union, or any other Arab nation wants, God has promised the land to Israel forever and His covenant is eternal and binding. God Himself says in Psalms 89:34 concerning His covenant with David and Israel, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Therefore, any nation or people who deem themselves strong and smart enough to outwit or fight against the sovereign will of Almighty God, please know it is a battle you cannot win. Once again, we see that which is past is present.