I have learned a lot from your website and have another question for you.
With all of the events happening in Israel right now, do you think this is the ‘beginning of the end’ and that we should be following it closely? I have heard people say that it will set off the end time course of events. What is your take on this? Will all of this blow over or is this something that is quite serious with end time prophecy?
Thanks for your time and all you do!
We don’t know yet. As long as the fighting is focused on Hezbollah , it will be brought to an end and will turn out to be another of the birth pangs Jesus mentioned in Matt 24:8. But if the war is widened to include Syria, we could see the fulfillment of Isaiah 17.
The battle that officially brings about the End Times scenario is the one from Ezekiel 38-39. I don’t think the current flare up will expand into this battle because conditions are not yet ripe. Although the major combatants are allied against Israel, some of the others, like Turkey and Eastern Europe, have yet to come on board. And Israel is certainly not yet a “peaceful and unsuspecting people in a land of unwalled villages.”(Ezek. 38:11) Depending on the outcome of the current crisis, we could see a brief period of false peace that would bring about such a condition, but that’s not the case today. I also don’t think anyone would dare to mount a full scale attack on Israel while the US is still a willing and capable ally.
The war in Lebanon was started by Syria and Iran to distract the world from stopping Iran’s nearly complete quest for nuclear power. I think it’s also a test of Israel’s capability, so those planning for Israel’s future demise could see if it’s possible to defeat them yet. In that sense, it’s important to see how this progresses, because it’ll give us clues as to how close we might be.