Gary Varvel: Biblical perspective of the attack on Israel

Are we watching Bible prophecy being fulfilled?

GARY VARVEL

OCT 9

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The Wall Street Journal reports “Iran helped plot the attack on Israel over several weeks. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gave the final go-ahead last Monday in Beirut.” Other news reports confirm what everyone suspected: Iran supported Hamas’ attack on Israel.

CBS News is reporting that more than 1,300 Israelis are dead. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed vengeance, he warned civilians in Gaza to leave and said that Israel will turn Hamas into “rubble.”

God deeded the land of Israel to the Jewish people.

In Genesis 17:8 says, “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Four thousand years ago, God promised Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan. Notice the duration of the deed — everlasting. Despite the fact that God made this promise to Abraham 4,000 years ago, the land of Israel is still promised by God to the Jews today.

This promise was passed from Abraham to Isaac, not Ishmael (the father of the Arabs), and then the promise was passed from Isaac to Jacob, not Jacob’s twin brother Esau (the father of the Edomites). (Genesis 25-30) In Genesis 32:22-32, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.

According to the late prophecy scholar Jimmy DeYoung, the Palestinians are the descendants of Esau also known as the Edomites. Hamas is the largest of several Palestinian militant Islamist groups. This conflict has been going on for thousands of years. So what does the Bible prophecy about the future of these people groups?

Ezekiel 25:12-14 says, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because Edom (Palestinians) took revenge on Judah and became very guilty by doing so, 13 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and kill both man and beast. I will lay it waste, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword. 14 I will take vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel (Israeli Defense Forces), and they will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my wrath; they will know my vengeance, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Are we watching Bible prophecy being fulfilled? Could this attack by Hamas, be a fulfillment of Bible prophecy? Will Israel’s retaliation against Hamas, and in the words of Netanyahu, turning it to “rubble,” be the fulfillment of the above verses? Time will tell but look at

Psalm 83:1-4 says, 'O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
²See how your enemies growl,
    how your foes rear their heads.
³With cunning they conspire against your people;
    they plot against those you cherish.
⁴“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
    so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”

The Palestinian charter says that it will drive Israel into the sea. Iran calls Israel ‘little Satan’ and declares that it will ‘wipe Israel off of the map.’ The Bible prophesied this would happen.

Psalm 83:5-6 says, “With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you—
⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites (Arabs)…”

Some will say that these verses have already been fulfilled in the past. But we have examples in the Bible of the “principle of double fulfillment.” Some prophecies were fulfilled in the past but were shadows of their ultimate fulfillment in the future. I plan on writing about this in the near future.

Don’t take my word for it, study it for yourself.

Zephaniah 2:4-5 says, “Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins.
At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. 5 Woe to you who live by the sea, you Kerethite people; the word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines. He says, “I will destroy you, and none will be left.”

As illustrated by my 2015 cartoon below, the Middle East is a powder keg. One action starts a chain-reaction that could engulf the surrounding nations. I anticipate that Israel will punish Iran for planning and funding this attack by Hamas.

The Bible tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. It also tells us:

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Zechariah 12:3

There is coming a day in the future at the end of the Tribulation Period when Jerusalem will be surrounded by the nations but they will be defeated by Jesus Christ.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:9

The Hamas war has drawn the attention of the world to tiny Israel. Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24, that before he returns that there would be wars and rumors of wars…and he called these “birth pains.” And he said when you see these things to look up (anticipate his return) because our redemption is near. Are you ready? Have you trusted your eternal future in Jesus?

Romans 10:13 - “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I drew this cartoon last month in response to President Biden unfreezing $6 billion in a prisoner swap.

The Biden administration says that the $6 billion that they released is designated for ‘humanitarian purposes only’ and is not funding terrorists.

Look, think with me here. If I have $1 billion designated for humanitarian purposes and someone gives me $6 billion for humanitarian purposes, I can simply give the $1 billion intended for humanitarian purposes to terrorists and say that the $6 billion wasn’t used for war.

Lesson: Making deals with terrorists leads to more terrorism. Biden trading money for hostages has resulted in more hostage taking.

Newsweek is reporting that Israeli authorities confirmed that Americans are among the hostages taken by Hamas during its attack on Israel over the weekend.

BIDEN’S RESPONSE

President Biden is taking the day off because it is Indigenous People’s Day, formerly known as Columbus Day. Let me remind No Show Joe, that hostages don’t get a day off. This is what ‘leading from behind’ looks like.

This 2020 cartoon was drawn after Iran terrorist, Qasem Soleimani was killed in an airstrike. It contrasts Obama’s terrorist appeasement policy to Trump’s extermination policy.