God's Plans for the Middle East

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GOD’S PLANS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, Part I
Biblical insights to some future events in the wider Middle East.

The Holy Bible shows us God’s concerns for the Peoples of the Middle East.
Being in this central part of the world and being part of the diverse, yet gifted
Peoples, (stemming from very ancient roots), means that we can look on them, and their future with great hope and expectation of great blessings!

A special note. Just as we have tried to use names more acceptable to Jewish Believers in some of our articles, so we are doing the same here for our readers from a M.E. background. We also believe it is important to notice that transferring words to English means that there can be more than one way of spelling it! So we use ‘Isa’ for ‘Jesus’, which is His own, personal God given Name, meaning: “for He will save His people from their sins.”

However ‘Messiah’ is His title, (like ‘king’ or ‘prince’ or ‘president.) Sadly this is a title which as ‘Christ’ has often lost it’s meaning in the West, and also is more and more being applied to any ‘charismatic’ leader –as it will be by the False-messiah one day. So after asking our friends from the M.E. we are using the title ‘Maseeh’.For true Believers, it is precious to confess to Isa, as Peter did, “You are Maseeh!”

INTRODUCTION.
The nations that are mentioned in the Bible from very early times have been an integral part of God’s plans for mankind. God hoped from the very first pages of Genesis that mankind would spread out and develop and enjoy the wider blessings of the Earth. Therefore we read of His concern for nations, (as well as individuals) -and His plans for them as a whole. We read of His patience with them, His help for them in times of trouble and often His displeasure, and even judgements but also His great longing to bless every one.

Before the Flood. God waited a long time for the skills and privileges He had given to the first descendants of Adam and Eve to be used for good. But though those ancient people used their great God-given skills very well, (as archaeology has shown with great cities and even ‘indoor plumbing’ and good facilities, as well as art and music), it was all for selfish and godless aims. Sadly as it says, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness had become and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the Earth, and His heart was filled with pain.” (Genesis 6.) The resulting story of God’s choice of Noah, to arrange a way of saving innocent animals and birds and any people who would accept the offer during Noah’s patient 120-year building and preaching programme, is well known. (Genesis 6 –9.) In fact, in God’s dealing with nations, especially the word or concept of God’s patience comes through, time and time again!

After the attempt to build a Tower in Babel. We would think that in the years of living memory the lesson of the punishment of the Flood would have lasted! Yet it was Noah’s own great-grandson, Nimrod, (through Cush, son of Ham) who was a leader of this next revolt against God’s plans for mankind to spread throughout the Earth to enjoy and administer it well. So it was the beginning of the great divergence of tribes, languages and ethnic groups which developed, and the groups came to be both possessive of their own areas and aggressive to others, creating many ensuing years of racial and ‘land’ wars and strife. (Genesis 11.)
This has persisted to the present times, and will into the future…

God’s next plan was to choose one man, then one family and from them one Nation to honour His Name and His loving way of life.
So we have the Biblical narrative of God’s special dealing with the Nation of Israel, being the descendants, ethnically of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in a very deliberate set of events, such as miraculous births to mothers unable, without God’s help to have sons. [God also promised some blessings for his other descendants through Ishmael, the natural born son of Abraham.] However God confirmed His choice by wonderful Covenants and promises, which can be traced through all the Tanakh/ O.T. for Israel, descendants of Isaac. It is very, very important to remember that God never chose anyone simply for his or her own benefit. It was always so that they would teach and show the true relationship anyone could have with their holy, powerful and loving God! God’s way was “to bless you and make you a blessing.” Therefore, because even Israel often sinned against their special God, ADONAI Elohim, they were punished in love, but always with a view to blessing them. This is still God’s way! God loves all peoples. God loves you! Here is a poem by Roy Lessin:

“Just Think,
You are not here by chance, but by GOD’S choosing!
HIS hand formed you and made you the Person you are.
HE compares you with no one else- you are one of a kind!
You lack nothing that HIS grace cannot give you…
HE has allowed you to be here at this time in History,
For YOU to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.”
Psalm 138:8 says: “The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me.
Your love, O LORD endures forever.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOWEVER, THE BIBLE ACCOUNTS OF ALL THE OTHER NATIONS ARE IN RELATION TO ISRAEL -AND HER GOD.
Sometimes other nations were used by God to be a blessing, as Egypt was, for a period of at least 14 years, (using the Hebrew son, Joseph, especially to help them.)

Sometimes God used other nations to punish Israel. The prophet Habakkuk had to understand that this was sometimes God’s way.

Sometimes God waited hundreds of years for a nation to turn to Him. We can remember the almost 400 years of God’s patience with the Amorite people and their neighbours, as God explained in the special vision He gave to Abraham. (Genesis 15: 12 –19.) “In the fourth generation,” (after Abraham),“your descendants will come back here,” (to the ‘Promised Land’) “for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” It is wise to notice that God did not give the Land, “from the River of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates” – without due notice of the peoples Israel would replace. Even among them, when there was one man who respected God as Melchizedek did, God noted and recorded it in His Word. But God was patient!

Later, God, through Obadiah foretold the destruction of Edom, (descendants of Esau), as did other prophets, but it did not finally happen until hundreds of years later. In fact it was a descendant of Edom, Herod, no less, (also called an Idumean), who adopted a form of Judaism and paid Rome to be allowed to administer the Land of Israel as ‘the king of the Jews’ around the time of Jesus. Yeshua/ Isa was the true ‘King of the Jews’ and died for that claim, because Satan was behind the tragic events of His death, but allowed by God for our salvation! See Isaiah chapter 53.

Sometimes God sent prophets to warn Nations to repent, as Jonah and later Nahum did for Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Obadiah warned Edom, and God used even Jewish Captives like Daniel and Mordecai and Esther to make God and His ways known to the Nations of the Babylonians and later the Medes and Persians. Ezekiel, also a captive in Babylon, gave serious warning to many of Israel’s neighbours. You can read about them in Ezekiel 25 to 32, serious, and sad, and meaningful!

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE A GOOD COMMENTARY WHEN YOU READ THESE PROPHECIES, BECAUSE MANY OF THEM HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED.

This is true of all the Prophetic books, because often the warnings of judgement did actually take place B.C, or shortly after the New Testament times, to 100 A.D.

Some prophecies could be only partly fulfilled -with part of the message still in the future. Therefore it is very important to ask, “has this ever actually happened?” If all the information indicates that it has not happened in the past, then, of course, because it is the Word of God it will happen sometime in the future.

See later notes on the words that were used often by the Prophets: -
“In that Day’ or ‘on that Day,’ about 75 times in the Old Testament!

So what nations are we referring to in this study of ‘God’s Plans for the Middle East’?
THE NATIONS THIS ESPECIALLY APPLIES TO are all the Peoples of the Area– NOW CALLED ‘THE MIDDLE EAST’ – including the non-Arabs by origin, such as: BEDOUIN, DRUZE, EGYPTIANS, HASHEMITES, KURDS, LYBIANS, PERSIANS, (in Iran), SYRIANS & TURKS. True ARABS by origin, (now spread in various other Nations, such as Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf States) are PALESTINIANS, YEMENIS, and SAUDI ARABIANS. There are many tribal groupings among them all.
(Non-Jews are also called ‘Gentiles’.)
They number in the hundreds of millions, now, and cover a huge geographical area of land, from Syria across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the ‘Gulf States’, & Yemen.

GOD’S PURPOSES FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE EAST.
“GOD IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH”.
It took 10 years for Peter, the close friend and disciple of Isa Maseeh (after the wonderful ‘Day of Pentecost/ Shavuot’) to really understand that God wanted even ‘Gentiles’ to come to Him. “God, Who knows the heart, showed that He accepted [the non-Jews] by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them -for He purified their hearts by faith… We believe that it is through the grace of our Lord Isa Maseeh that we are saved, just as they are!” (See Acts 15: 6 –11.) So, just as God made it very clear to Ezekiel in chapter 18 of His book, and Isa Maseeh, Himself emphasised this in John’s report of His special teaching on chapter 3, “that whoever, [individually] believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal Life,” so every single person can know God! If you would like to understand more about this we recommend www.spreadingnet.com/2bsaved

It does not matter what nation or ethnic group you are in, God is greatly longing for you to know Him and be sure of going to Heaven at the end of your life. For some readers, this is hard to understand or believe, because it is different from other religions. It does not depend on how ‘good’ you are in this life, because not even one of us will ever be good enough for a Holy God! But God went to so much trouble to take the punishment of our sins on Himself. This means that just coming to Him humbly in prayer, trusting completely what His Word says, repenting of our sins and asking sincerely for His forgiveness, makes it possible for God to do a miracle in our hearts! He adopts us as His own royal children. This is the kind of miracle we all need! Then after we accept His forgiveness we show our gratitude by living a good life because we love Him.

There is a good saying; “I may not work my soul to save, for that my LORD has done. But I would work like any slave for love of God’s dear Son.”
We worship only ONE GOD, but He made Himself known to us in a human form, (although He was still divine), so that we could understand how good and loving God is. Also He could experience what it was like to be a human, especially one that was badly treated and killed. Many Christians in the Middle East know about this.

SO WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE M.E?
First we need to understand the words, “IN THAT DAY.”
You may find many Bible teachers with different ideas about this. Like all the Bible chapters about the future, we cannot know everything yet, so this writer wants you to know that we do not ‘know it all’! But we believe God has put enough teachings and warnings and encouragements in the Bible for us to take notice of them- and be blessed! [Sometimes it takes time for us to study all these interesting things!]
So we are making these suggestions.

It seems there are 8 different, special times that it means when it says; “in that day…”
This is significant, because the ‘eighth day’ in Scripture was often a very special day, which maybe we can refer to later. We cannot give you ALL the references because there are very many! Often these “Days” over-lap and are intertwined with events for another group of people. Also, when we quote the words, “in that Day”, it always means ‘a period of time’, usually many years, (not 24 hours as at Creation.)Some of these ‘Days’ are now past, some are present, some are still future.

FULFILLED IN THE PAST:
1. ‘A Day of Punishment’ for Israel before the time of the New Testament. The prophets in the Old Testament, warned Israel over and over again that if they did not live according to the kind, honest, holy Laws God had given them, then He would send them into Exile far away in another country, among people with very different ways. This happened in stages, starting as early as 722 B.C. with foreign armies coming until the first exile of the Northern Kingdom, (called ‘Israel’ or ‘Ephraim’) to Babylon in 701. Later the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah were also taken away in ‘waves’ so that Daniel & his friends went into exile in 605 B.C. More were taken in 598 until the city of Jerusalem was taken in 586. [You may like to see the articles on ‘Jerusalem Dates’ and ‘No Ten Lost Tribes’ on this web-site.] This was as you can see a period of time, called “that Day.” [Isaiah 3.]

2. A Day of partial restoration for Israel before the New Testament Times. This is what the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are about, as well as the wonderful prophecies made by Isaiah and Ezekiel, before they happened! This was a ‘good’ Day that was only partly true, as many of the promises of great blessings still have not happened –(but see later notes). Isaiah 12, & 25: 9, & many more verses foretold the end of the Exile in Babylon and restoration to their Land. [See *]

3. A Day of Judgement on the Middle East nations before the N.T. Times. There are very, very many of these prophecies of punishments in all the Prophets in the O.T. These can be traced through many chapters of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. But it is best you find these and read them for yourself, with a Commentary that can give you the dates of their fulfillments, [such as a good ‘Study Bible’.] It included nations like Assyria, Babylon, Cush, Edom, Egypt, Greece, Medo-Persia & Tyre. These places still exist geographically, but the political kingdoms changed.

4. Another Day of Dispersion and dreadful sorrows for Israel, ‘A.D.’ [*] This was after the death and resurrection of their Messiah Jesus, and the fall of Jerusalem under the Romans, including the destruction of their Temple for the second time. Jesus/ Isa also told about this time in Matthew 24. It had been prophesied clearly by Zechariah in chapter 13: 8 – 9, and it has happened as he described between 66 & 138 A.D. “In the whole Land” [of Israel] “declares the LORD, two thirds will be struck down and perish, yet one third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire;” [like the holocaust in Europe in W.W.II], “I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.” So this too is now in the past, (although you will find Bible Teachers who are still teaching that the present regathering of Israel is ‘in unbelief’ and that this means they will be destroyed again as a nation and dispersed around the world. This seems sad and unlikely.) The truth is they were dispersed all around the world, and now are returning ‘for good’.

5. A Day of judgement against Rome, (Daniel 2) and the rise and fall of many Nations over the last 2000 years is also implied, though not always specifically named. This is woven together in the prophecies of serious destruction for some nations, yet blessings for others, as we will see, later.

PROPHECIES BEING FULFILLED, ‘DAYS’ HAPPENING NOW:
6. A Day of Blessings for some Middle East ‘End Time’ Nations. Just as in Isaiah, God gave specific messages of doom “on that day” in some chapters, yet these are followed by messages of blessings for some people from Cush (Ethiopia) in 18, and Egypt in 19! [See later notes.] But this is where our rule about seeing if these serious events have already happened, is very important! It could be part of 7 a.

‘DAYS’ STILL MAINLY FUTURE:
7. This special ‘End Time Day’ – actually many years, has two aspects to it.
a. A Day of amazing blessing and restoration, with regathering and revival for * Israel. * [We will not repeat these here, but you can read about them in our other article about ‘Israel’s Future’.] BUT – it will also be a ‘DAY’ of blessings on the Middle East! This is clearly described in Ezekiel 38 & 39. A ‘key’ is, “then they will know that I AM the LORD.”
b. However THIS ‘Day’ will also be a Day of disaster for God’s enemies against Israel. There will be a great ‘show down’ between the forces of Islam, (a strong religious army), backed by Communistic and Fascist forces, which will change the world from this time on. We have given the details in another article, but the significance of this event will be very serious for millions of people. (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen & the Gulf States will not be directly involved.) However it will be serious for those in the Military Forces that do gather, (probably in Syria) ready to attack Israel with chemical weapons, to kill every person in that Land and claim it finally for Allah. Right now is the time for every person in the M.E. especially to come to knowledge of the True God, as we explained above. Also many of us are already praying urgently for any residents in the M. E. who will be innocently involved, to also come to know the True God, through Isa Maseeh

8. Finally there will be another GREAT DAY – Also called ‘The GREAT DAY of the LORD. This will include the “Battle of Armageddon”, and the Glorious Coming of Isa Maseeh and all Believers in Him will be resurrected and ‘snatched up’ to meet Him in the air, and return to Earth to reign with Him, here! This will be as it says ‘the Day’ that we are called by, “we are of The Day, not of the night.” This will be a great DAY for every true Believer in Isa Maseeh, in the Middle East!

BUT VERY SOON - GREAT BLESSINGS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST PEOPLES!
This is how we understand parts of the Bible, which we believe show some of God’s great Plans for the Middle East, and for the world because of them, very soon. We are now coming to a part of this study that is especially wonderful but we are simply weaving together some key Scriptures to come to these conclusions. You need to study and pray about them for yourself.

First part of God’s great Plans.
These are clearly explained through the whole Bible. God’s greatest desire is for everyone to come into His Royal Family and live with Him forever. This is called being a ‘Believer in Isa Maseeh’ or a ‘True Christian”. (It is sad but true that many people, especially in ‘Western Nations’ that are called ‘Christian’ are not, they are false Christians and one day, Isa will say to them “I never knew you, depart from Me…”) Here are some verses that show what God really wants for us to be true Believers.

John 17: 1-3 “Isa… looked to Heaven and prayed: ‘Father… glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him [Isa] authority over all people, that He might give Eternal Life to all those You have given Him. Now this is Eternal Life: that they might know You the only true God and Isa Maseeh whom You have sent.’ “

2 Peter 3: 9, “God is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. [This is a good chapter to read all the way through.]

John 3: 16-17. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only unique Son, that who-ever believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal Life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.”

Second part of God’s Plan.
This is to make sure that everyone who wants to know God will hear about this Good News before Isa Maseeh Returns to Earth, and it is too late to repent. So God has made a promise that is very important.
Matthew 24: 14 “And this Gospel will be preached in the whole world as a testimony,” [clear witness of something true], “to all nations, and then the end [of this age] will come.”

Mark 13:10 says the same. “The Good News must first be preached to ALL nations."

Third part of God’s Plan.
This part of the Plan is to use the Middle East peoples to tell the “Good News” of the way to know God through Isa Maseeh and therefore to be “a blessing on the Earth”.

God will need people who could explain the Good news ‘to all nations” - all the people all over the world, especially in Muslim countries, (where it is harder for them to know about it now.) For 1300 years it has been hard get into these nations and true Christians were often too frightened to go to these countries to take the Good News, though God has had many wonderful messengers of His love to every nation. [Many Jewish people do not know about it either for similar reasons.]

Another problem is that as God is hurrying up all the other things that have to happen before Isa Maseeh can come back to Earth, so He wants to hurry up the spread of the Good News. So, His Plan is to use Middle East people who know God – and also know the background ideas and cultures of Middle East people! [And their languages.] If God has chosen you to come to know Him, even though right now you may have to be a ‘secret Believer’ –be encouraged, God wants to use you, so now is the time to learn His Word and prepare your heart, for that time! [If we can help you in any way, please contact us.]

Where does it say this?

In Isaiah 19: 23 –25. “In that Day there will be a Highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. Israel will be the third along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the Earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt My People, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel, My inheritance’.”
A sure promise from God.

Now here are some foot-notes/ reminders about who is included in the ‘BLESSING’:
1. ‘Assyria’ at the height of it’s most powerful time included all of what is today, Syria, Iraq, most of Saudi Arabia, which was all probably one big area including all ‘the Gulf States’ and even beyond. By faith, we can believe that God’s Plans are BIG and wonderful and will include many nations for this ‘End Time Blessing’!

2. Exactly how this might happen is not certain, but the 2nd part of this study may give some ideas, based on other Scriptures. Psalms 67 and 87 confirm God’s Plans!

3. We expect this event to happen in the time referred to in the phrase “in that Day”, which we have numbered as 6 & 7a in the list above. (See Ezekiel 38:23.)

(Remember we have suggested a lot of over-lapping and inter-twining of the special times mentioned as ‘in that day’.)

SO AS WE COME TO THE END OF THIS ‘PART I’ STUDY OF GOD’S PLANS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, OUR PRAYER IS THAT IT WILL BLESS AND ENCOURAGE ALL WHO READ IT, ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM THIS PART OF THE WORLD.
PLEASE PRAY AND PREPARE YOURSELF NOW TO BE PART OF GOD’S PLANS!

As always, we ask you to read and pray over the Scriptures in the whole Bible for yourself, remembering God Loves you & has His plans for YOU!

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