A New Middle East? One Man’s Opinion

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary

Short Summary
The discourse discusses three main expectations regarding the Middle East: Israel will be pressured into accepting a two-state type solution, Israel may gain more land through another conflict before the prophesied final battle of Ezekiel 38, and Russia, under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, is positioning itself for a significant role in the region’s future. It emphasizes the temporary nature of current peace efforts, the complexities of regional politics, and the prophetic significance of Israel’s land and leadership dynamics, concluding with a call for faith and prayer as these events unfold.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on Middle East Expectations and Biblical Prophecy

Introduction: Personal Admiration and Context
– The speaker admires Pastor Russell’s “Views from the Tower” for offering insightful opinions on world events.
– Recent Middle East events have been surprising and complex, highlighting the importance of individual perspectives.

Three Key Expectations Regarding Israel and the Middle East:
1. Israel will be forced into a two-state type solution
2. Israel will gain more land in a future war (possibly before Ezekiel 38)
3. Russia, under Vladimir Putin, is positioned to play a leading role in the prophesied events of Ezekiel 38

Disclaimer:
– These views are the speaker’s opinion, likened to financial disclaimers that past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.

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### 1. Israel and the Two-State Type Solution

Peace Plan Overview:
– U.S. President Trump brokered a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas in early October following intense violence, signaling a temporary peace.
– The peace plan includes an international stabilization force composed of Arab and international partners to provide security, train Palestinian police, oversee Gaza’s demilitarization, and facilitate Israel’s staged withdrawal.
– Trump’s speech to the Knesset expressed hope for eternal peace in the Holy Land, with the phrase “God willing” signaling uncertainty.

Middle East and Global Involvement:
– Countries like Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey played crucial roles in mediation.
– This broad involvement contrasts with Ezekiel 38’s prophecy that mainly non-Arab nations will oppose Israel.

Historical Analogies and Warnings:
– References to 1938 Munich Agreement (“peace for our time”) and the subsequent outbreak of WWII underscore the fragility of peace agreements.
– Similarly, post-WWI and WWII treaties involved many nations but did not prevent future conflicts.

Biblical Caution on False Peace:
– Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11 warn against proclaiming “peace, peace, when there is no peace.”
– The current peace efforts may be temporary and fraught with pressure on Israel to accept Palestinian self-determination and statehood.

Pressure for Palestinian Statehood:
– International pressure, including from 90 countries and 142 UN votes, supports a two-state solution, often based on pre-1967 borders excluding East Jerusalem.
– The Palestinian Authority’s leadership history includes Yasser Arafat; there are controversial rumors about U.S. involvement with Hamas’s rise.
– Modern efforts aim to establish efficient governance in Gaza to attract investment, despite the region’s instability.

60 Minutes Interview (October 18):
– Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff discuss creating joint Israeli-Palestinian security and economic opportunities, allowing Palestinians to decide their future status.

Examples of Divided Nations:
– Historical precedents of divided countries (Germany, Korea, Sudan, Czechoslovakia, British India, Ireland, Vietnam) illustrate the complexity and turmoil that such divisions often entail.
– These examples suggest that forced partitioning of Israel could lead to prolonged conflict.

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### 2. Israel Will Gain More Land in Another War (Pre-Ezekiel 38)

Biblical Prophecies on Land Expansion:
– Ezekiel 38 describes a final battle against Israel, but before that, another conflict involving Syria and Jordan might occur.
– Exodus 23:31-33 commands Israel to drive out inhabitants and avoid covenants with their gods in the Promised Land.
– Micah 7:11-14 and Jeremiah 50:19 mention Israel feeding in Bashan and Gilead (modern Jordan), indicating territorial expansion.
– First Chronicles 22 and Obadiah 18-19 further detail these lands, including Gilead and parts of Jordan.

Modern Geography and Israel’s Size:
– Israel today is roughly the size of New Jersey, a small landmass compared to its biblical territorial claims.
– The majority of the global Jewish population now lives in Israel, the U.S., and France.
– Jeremiah 3:12,14 and Isaiah 27:12 speak of Israel’s regathering “one by one” and expansion “from the river to the brook of Egypt.”

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### 3. Russia’s Role Under Vladimir Putin (Ezekiel 38 Context)

Russia’s Strategic Position:
– Putin has positioned Russia as a key power in Middle East affairs, including Syria and relations with Israel.
– Russia maintains military bases in Syria and supports new leadership there after Assad’s ousting.
– Putin’s personal background includes Jewish connections and a complex relationship with the Jewish community.
– He is extremely wealthy (estimated at $250 billion) and has significant influence over Middle East politics, including investments in Gulf countries.

Russia’s Middle East Influence:
– Russia’s 2015 intervention in Syria claimed to protect Israel from Hezbollah and ISIS, establishing communication channels for Israeli military actions.
– The 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict altered alliances, with Russia now more openly opposed to Israel’s interests.
– Russian oligarchs have shifted assets to Middle East hubs like Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

Ezekiel 38 and Russia:
– The discourse suggests Russia will lead the coalition prophesied in Ezekiel 38, opposing Israel in a final climactic battle.

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### Conclusion and Biblical Encouragement

Isaiah 61: Speaks of rebuilding and restoration of Israel’s former desolations, with foreigners helping and Israel becoming “priests of Jehovah” and enjoying the “wealth of nations.”
Amos 9:14-15: Refers to Israel’s regathering and replanting fulfilled in modern times.
Challenges Ahead:
– Most Jews in Israel are non-religious; anti-Semitism and pro-Palestinian sentiment are rising globally.
– Israel remains spiritually blind until the church completes its course.

Final Encouragement:
– Believers should pray for Israel’s destined role as earthly priests to all mankind, including enemies.
– Maintain hope and faith, recognizing God’s sovereign work behind global events.
– Keep watchful and hopeful, acknowledging that God will bring His plan to completion.

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### Notable Bible Verses Mentioned:

Jeremiah 6:14
“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”

Jeremiah 8:11
“For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”

Ezekiel 38:10,12
Prophecy of a future invasion against Israel.

Exodus 23:31-33
God’s promise to fix Israel’s boundaries and command to drive out inhabitants.

Micah 7:11-14
“In that day shall the decree be far removed… Feed thy people with thy rod… which dwell solitarily… in Bashan and Gilead.”

Jeremiah 50:19
Reference to possession of the mount of Esau and other lands.

Zechariah 10:10
Gathering of Israel from various lands to the land of Gilead and Lebanon.

Jeremiah 3:12,14
Promise of Israel’s return.

Isaiah 27:12
“Jehovah will beat off his fruit from the flood of the river unto the brook of Egypt; and ye shall be gathered one by one.”

Isaiah 61:4-6
Rebuilding of desolations, foreigners helping, and Israel becoming priests of Jehovah.

Amos 9:14-15
Promise of Israel’s regathering and replanting.

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Summary:
The discourse presents a thoughtful, biblically grounded analysis of the current and future Middle East situation. It anticipates Israel being pressured into a two-state type solution, likely temporary, followed by another war in which Israel gains more territory, and highlights Russia’s emerging leadership role in the region in fulfillment of Ezekiel 38. The speaker underscores the importance of scriptural prophecy as a lens to understand these developments and encourages faith and hope in God’s ultimate plan for Israel and the world.

Transcript

I always admired reading and the reprints, the first reprint of the year and Pastor Russell would call it Views from the Tower, and it really was his opinion on how things were shaping up in the world, and it wasn’t really just an assessment of what was going on. I think for all of us in the last few, few months, we’ve probably all been fascinated with the events of the Middle east and maybe didn’t even turn out like we thought it would, and that’s why I say one man’s opinion is important because maybe we didn’t see the things happening that did.

So I want to talk about three expectations that I see in assessing where we are in the Middle east today. Number one, and I realize this will be somewhat of a perhaps controversial one, I hope to explain why Israel will be forced into a two state solution, and these are the three things I’ll be mentioning. Number two, Israel will get more land in another war. Now I have a question mark, but I think there could be another war with the Arab nations next to them and above them, mainly Syria and Jordan before Ezekiel 38 takes place.

And of course Ezekiel 38 we all realize is the last final battle, and number three, the current leadership of Russia, who’s mainly Vladimir Putin, has set up Russia for this leading role that they will take. Ezekiel 38, and I think it’s closer perhaps than we thought it might be or more wide ranging. So those are the three things I’m going to talk about.

And again, I’m not. This is my opinion. I put a disclaimer on it. You know, I used to work with corporate America and we of course communicated with Wall street and they communicate with us, and those of you that have investments know there’s always this distance disclaimer at the bottom.

Past performance may not be indicative of future performance. So just keep that in mind as I talk to you about this kind of thing. Okay, let’s look at this idea that Israel will be forced into a two state type solution. I say type and that’s important. We all know President U.S. president Trump had a peace declaration saying that the war in Gaza was over.

Israel, Hamas made an agreement and that was early October and he brokered this peace plan at that point. So basically two years from October 7th, two years ago to today, saying that excruciating violence appears to be over.

I don’t expect you to be able to see all this or read it all, but I wanted to show you this was number 15 point of the 20 point peace plan that was issued and agreed to and this, the key part is what I’ve underlined here. So if you can just see at the end of that first paragraph, you can read faster than I can talk. So, but it says that there would be a force, an international stabilization force put into the Middle East. The force will be the long term internal security solution. Now what does that mean?

Well, it was defined later and I’ll just read this second paragraph I have on the right side. The force would be established with Arab and international partners to help provide security, train a new Palestinian police force, and oversee the demilitarization and redevelopment of the Gaza Strip. The mission is intended to create a long term internal security solution and facilitate Israel’s staged withdrawal from the territory. So that’s the peace plan. Again, it’s not erasing what’s happened, but that’s an important thing to remember.

And the international stabilization force, it’s called, will work with them to do this. But importantly, on October 13th, President Trump gave a speech to the Knesset, and in it he made this statement addressed to the Prime Minister and the President. But he said that. I’ll just read the last part where he says that the sirens are still, the sun rises on a holy land that is finally at peace.

A land and a region that will live, God willing, in peace for all eternity. Well, he got the right thing. God willing. Maybe not in the way it’s supposed to be, but that’s what was thought would happen here, that this is intended to be a part permanent solution to what’s been going on since 1948, really to establish this. Now, it wasn’t just the U.S. yes, it was U.S. president that was the spokesperson.

But other Middle east countries play a key role, and this is important as we think about Israel and its surrounding neighbors. Qatar, they played a crucial role in, in mediating all the negotiations. In Egypt, they hosted a peace summit and that was central to the talks. Turkey also served as a key mediator in reaching the agreement.

So think about that surrounding Israel. We’ll look at a map in a few minutes. All these Middle east countries now were involved with this. We’ve always said that, you know, in Ezekiel 38, we wouldn’t have a lot of the Arab countries involved. It would be mainly those in Europe and those coming out of the East.

We’ll talk about that. Number three, about Russia’s plan. But think about this. They are playing a key role in sort of setting up this peace program. The largest array of nations were involved since both world wars.

I mean, here’s the list of everybody that was Involved in first Middle Eastern, North African, European nations. Look at how many were involved in that settlement. Other nations, Australia. These are all the nations on the left that were involved with all these some way or another. World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, the peace conference to end World War I, was in 1919, was 30 nations involved.

World War II, the Paris Peace Treaty of 47, which many of you may remember. I was actually born in 47, so I don’t remember that. But those treaties ended World War II for the Axis Allies, and you can see the list there. This list is much wider.

So think about the whole world kind of poising to say, Israel, you’re going to do this. That’s a pretty powerful group.

Some of you may remember a statement made by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, this was 1938, or have read about it.

September 30, 1938, in his remarks in London about the Munich Agreement and the Anglo German declaration, he said, this is peace for our time. Benjamin Disraeli, who was just returning from the Congress of Berlin nations in 1878, remember he’s a future prime minister in Israel, had stated, lord Salisbury and myself have brought you back peace, but a peace I hope with honor. That was 1938. What happened in 1939? September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland.

So that’s the problem we have with these huge peace agreements. Yeah, it’s great for the time, but things change. So it’s something that we need to think about. But here we have a huge number of nations now and the world has undoubtedly changed since World War I, World War II, and remember, if you follow Brother Jim Parkinson or David Rice has talked about this too, that the plagues poured out, that those plagues, World War I and World War II were one, you know, and then we’re now in a long period with communism that is falling, but still not entirely fallen.

And that last one is what brings us the kingdom. Now, I know some of you may be following the World Series. Yeah, the Phillies didn’t make it, but everybody knows Hideki Ohtani. Now that’s in with the Dodgers. Who knows who this is?

I know baseball fans will Yogi Berra. Yogi Berra. A new racer would get that right. You have to be asleep if you don’t. But he was not only known for his baseball acumen, but it was his sayings that he had.

One was, when you come to a fork in the road, take it. Next, you can observe a lot by just watching another one. We made too many wrong mistakes.

And the one I Like the best. No one goes there nowadays. It’s too crowded. Well, this is the one I want to focus on. He said it ain’t over till it’s over.

Not till the fat lady sings that somebody else. But it ain’t over till it’s over and it’s not over, and that’s the thing we remember. Israel still has a job to do and still work to be done before that happens. So I think what we have at best, despite all the feelings, is a temporary peace.

And that’s when we look at Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11. We have quoted this scripture many times as brethren. They have also scarcely healed the hurt of my people, saying peace, peace when there is no peace. If you are on Israel’s side, you are not content that there is a peace. But yet they have hurt them.

They have tried to go after them and say this is a peace that will last for eternity, and again, same thing in Jeremiah 8:11 where he says exactly the same thing, and here’s the quote from that, from the speech that Trump made. It’s an incredible triumph for Israel and the world to have all these nations working together as partners in peace. Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change and change for very much for the better.

Well, we saw what happened after World War I, World War II, peace in our time, it could be the same thing here. But I think in the meantime, there’s tremendous pressure on Israel to take in a Palestinian nation. For many of you, I realize, younger ones, you see what’s been going on in Gaza and you see what’s been going on in Israel and there’s a tremendous backlash against Israel. Anti Semitism, I’ll show you, is on the rise everywhere. But it’s about this idea that why can’t we give them a state?

They were there first. Well, I’m going to address that. But also it’s a pressure they’re getting that could be hard for them to cast off and push off again. Remember what I said, not a two state, but a two state type, and that’s what I, what I worry about that might happen and could happen with the pressure that’s coming conditions.

And this was the last thing that was said in some of the discussions between Trump and some of conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self determination and statehood. So that’s a tremendous pressure coming against Israel that may force them. This number nine point in that peace plan created a Gaza to be governed by a committee of Palestinians and international Experts, I mentioned that an oversight by a board of peace. I love all these throwing peace out there. You know, it’s like you’re going to make it happen.

But that’s headed the US President, the heads of state of several countries and includes former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Well, you know how he felt about Israel. Not real positive, but it’s to create this funding for development and redevelopment of the pa. You remember the Palestinian Authority. Remember who was head of that Palestinian Authority? Yasser Arafat.

And then rumors, and I say rumors were that we looked at the United States, looked at how do we get rid of Yasser Arafat and created Hamas, cooperated with Hamas, which was a different entity at that time. So you hear rumors and you know, those of you that scour the Internet, beware of some of these things that come up about Israel and about the CIA and things. There’s a half truth that that needs to be positive, that that was thought to be a way we could solve the issues in Israel, and it turned out just the opposite. But there’s a modern and they want to create then a modern efficient governance conducive to attracting investments.

Tell me, would you call up your investment manager and say I want to invest in the Gaza Strip? He’d say, what? But that’s what the mentality is right now that we do this last. Yeah, last Sunday, October 18th. Incidentally, I wanted to interrupt for a minute because I forgot at the beginning.

I want to wish two birthdays. Julie has a birthday tomorrow. Lori, not Julie, sorry, Lori. Laurie has a birthday tomorrow and Rachel has a birthday on Tuesday. So make sure you tell them happy birthday.

Okay, I forgot that October 18th last Sunday. I don’t know if you watched it, but Jared Kushner and special envoy to Israel Steve Witkoff had this discussion on 60 Minutes and I’m just going to read the underlined part where he said we’re creating a joint security and economic opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians so they can live side by side in a durable way. What you end up calling it over time will allow the Palestinians to determine that themselves. So when I say a two state like solution, that’s what’s going to be forced on them, and I think unfortunately it’s going to be very tough for them to shred it off.

But the question we ask ourselves or we ask, should Israel be divided? Well, there’s been 90 countries now that have said yes, and you saw some of those that I listed and 142 votes in the United nations, which you take the United nations today for what it’s worth, I mean, they voted every issue against Israel, but this is what they said for the borders. There’s no consensus on what this would be. But the Most proposed a pre1967 armistice that removes Jerusalem from them.

Removes East Jerusalem from them. Jerusalem. Palestinians also claimed Jerusalem as their capital. Different proposals, and what about the Palestinians who fled in 1948 voluntarily?

They got out because the Arabs said, come out, we’re going to attack Israel. You’ll go back in and have many more. But they weren’t kicked out. Israel bought that land long time ago and they left voluntarily, and a security of army versus militants.

This green line that’s proposed like the one after 1948 with the Arab Israeli war that they was rejected. But it separated Israel from its neighbors, Lebanon, Syria, Northeast Jordan and Egypt to the southwest. After Israel Captured the West Bank 67, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. That was what was captured during the 1967 war. So they want to take all that away and go back before that time.

I thought it would be interesting to look at countries that were divided in our modern history. Everyone remembers Germany after World War II. Germany was partitioned into east and West Germany, the Soviet bloc and the Western powers. It was until 1990. Remember who said Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall?

Ronald Reagan. Right, and finally it came down. But that country was divided in how many people died as a result. Korea.

Post World War II, Korea was split into north and South. Drastically different paths, political paths. Sudan. Sudan had political, ethnic, religious divides and it was divided into Southern Sudan and Northern Sudan with this comprehensive peace agreement in 2005 that led to a referendum and the creation of what’s now the Republic of south Sudan in 2011. Czechoslovakia.

Many of us traveled to the Czech Republic right after it came out of communism. But it was created in 93 in what was called the Velvet Divorce, and that’s the type of thing that’s being looked for. They had disagreements about certain things and created a Czech Republic in Slovakia. British India divided back in 47, if you remember Mahatma Gandhi and all the work he did, divided India and Pakistan at that point.

And at time they were, as you can see here on the map, two non contiguous territories, one to the kind of north east or northwest and one to the east, and in 1971, the Pakistani military launched a crackdown on the East Pakistan suppressed that independence movement and initiated genocide there against Bangladesh, and East Pakistan, separated by nearly 1,000 miles from Pakistan, finally gained its independence as Bangladesh. Ireland. That Goes back a ways, but 1801, it used to be part of the UK.

It was divided into two parts, and people often wonder why is Northern Ireland still part of the uk? But that came out of the War of independence back in 1919-21. Republican army, the IRA, remember, the IRA was very involved in a lot of bombings, and it was partitioned in 1922 with the Republic of Ireland, independent Northern Ireland, remaining part of the uk.

Another one, perhaps the one closest I think in our lifetime, Vietnam, and look what happened there. The division of Vietnam into North and south came as 1954, after the Indochina War, Korean War had been up. President Eisenhower, June 1, 1954, launched this Saigon military mission, a covert operation to stop communism from coming in. Didn’t work and eventually we lost a lot of people.

More than 58,000 casualties died in the Vietnam War, which today you say, you know, God bless them. But it turned out terrible. This is why I think things could happen to create something like this in Israel, and we’ll see. But I think there’s a tremendous effort going to be launched by almost the entire world to get to go against Israel and force this kind of two state like solution.

So I don’t think it’s over yet with the violence. Second point, Israel will get more land, and I question in another war before Ezekiel 38 takes place. You just see here, this is from Ezekiel 38, 10, 12. It talks about how this happens.

I’m not going to read all that because you’re familiar with it. But this is Israel at the very middle of the world, and right now we say this entire world is against this little piece of red property you see in the middle with the capital of Jerusalem. It’s got to tell you brethren, that the Lord is holding them up and will hold them up. But the world is still fighting against this little piece of land.

And the Lord says at some point they will go up against them. That’s the promise of Ezekiel 38.

Well, this is an important point. Exodus 23, when God promises, Moses tells Moses to go to the Promised Land, that’s where we find the boundaries fixed. So fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, from the wilderness to the river Euphrates. But importantly, he says within that you shall make no covenant. You shall drive out those that are in that land.

You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. They shall not live in your land. Now this is the Lord speaking, and so as much as we have sympathy, we have to say, I stand with Israel because this is the land that God gave them, and I think as I was talking to one young sister, you know, you sit in a group and people are saying things, bite your tongue.

You can’t always tell them. But you know, you know, we see the sentiment that is building against this whole idea, and that’s why I think it’s not finished yet. This will be something that the nations will try to force on Israel, and this is just you see here the extent of Solomon’s kingdom, and you see Israel today in the solid green. So I’m not going to get into where that land should be because brethren have various opinions on how it should go.

But I think certainly this gives us an idea that it’s far more than what Israel has today. This little piece and certainly contains the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But this is just an illustration I wanted to give Israel’s size and population are about the size of New Jersey. Who from New Jersey here? I know we got a couple.

I worked in New Jersey. But is Harry here? Harry Nugent? Oh, Julia’s here. Julia lived there and we had some others.

But anyways, that’s this piece of land that the whole world is concerned about. But here’s Micah and I want to get into why I think there’s going to be now this another time when Israel takes more land. Micah 7:11 14 and Jeremiah 50:19.

Micah 7:11 reads, A day for building thy walls. In that day shall the decree be far removed. Feed thy people with thy rod, Flock of thy heritage, which dwell solitarily in the forest and the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead. Now we have the same thing in First Chronicles as in the days of old.

First Chronicles says again that that land is to go to the land of Gilead. Well, Bashan and Gilead are both in modern Jordan today. The Jordan river forms kind of the western border for both of those regions. So first Chronicles 22 as it lays out these because it’s as all of these lands were part of the villages that Israel was to take possession of.

This is an interesting comment. Few areas in Israel have caused more confusion over their related place names than the plain of Bashan in the northeastern Israel. This fertile land was seized from King Og after he attacked the Israelites and as they were preparing to enter the Promised Land, and it was assigned to the half tribe of Manasseh, and you remember when the land was divided up, the two half tribes got the peace there.

And it likely points to spots in Jordan. These two spots In Jordan, where it would be is most likely. That’s the area of Gilead and Bashan and Obadiah 18 and 19 tells us it says they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau and they of the lowland, the Philistines and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the field of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. Now the mountains of Esau mentioned there, it’s the territory that the Edomites had who ceased to exist after 70 AD.

They weren’t around anymore. It’s part of southern Jordan now and the southern portion of Israel, the lowland, the ancient Philistines is. That’s what was occupied by modern Israeli coastal plain that we saw, and where the Gaza Strip is, the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, that’s the heartland of Israel, both there and, and Gilead is this mountainous region that was east of the Jordan river, which is now part of the modern country of Jordan.

So you see, Jordan still plays a big role in what I think Israel has to get for land prior to the time that they are being set into the kingdom. So this is what we have in Zechariah 10:10, and there I put a circle around those, those spots that you see. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, which is Christendom, gather them out of Assyria, which is Russia. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon.

Place shall not be found for them. Gilead is that land between the Golan Heights at the top of Israel. Many of us have been there, and the plains of Moab, which is Korak, which is in modern day Jordan, and if you know where Amman is in Jordan, that’s how far it goes, right on to the edge of this big urban area of Amman, which is the main city in Jordan.

So I think it’s a good bet that we will have Israel still in another war with the Arabs in which they take some of this land. The question is, what brings it on? Is it this force that we’ll see behind the two state type solution? This is just a chart to show you where the Jewish population today. Remember we’re in a period of regathering Israel, but if you look at Israel, the USA and France, this is what’s left.

That’s 83% of the Jewish population of the world is now in those three countries. Israel got more Jews back in 2006. They crossed that line of having more Jews there than in the US in any other country. So you can see we have a smattering of Jews in other countries, including the UK, Germany, Russia, but the bulk of them, 80% of those are. Over 80% are in those three countries.

So a slight movement which I think is indicated in this next scripture, won’t take much to really fill that prophecy. Jeremiah 3:12, 14 talks about the return of Israel, the return of Jews to Israel. But Isaiah 27:12 is the one I want to emphasize. It shall come to pass in that day Jehovah will beat off his fruit from the flood of the river unto the brook of Egypt. Very similar language to what we had in the lands.

And ye shall be gathered one by one. Now, I think that means there’s a trickle immigration that takes place now. We’re not going to see any big aliyahs out of countries, but this trickle immigration that comes as a result of some of the things that are going on now. Well, let’s move to number three and my expectations. The current leadership of Russia has set up Russia for a leading role in Ezekiel 38.

Obviously, I’m talking about Vladimir Putin. You can see here and I showed on the previous chart, the core Jewish population now in Russia is about 123,000, and this just shows you all the ones that returned 95,000 Russian nationals in 2022 and another 45,000 from Russia, that’s 95,000 altogether have immigrated to Israel from Russia, and there were 45,000 of those were in 2022 when the war broke out, and so that’s important.

When the war broke out, many Jews did flee Russia. Russia is one of the few places that actually had a whole city designated as a second language city, and that was Yiddish. That was down in the far kind of southwest corner, like Florida is to the United States and Russia. But you can just see here from Ukraine, we’ve had 20,000 arrive in Israel since 2022.

And that was. That started out with 50, 15,000. So over 74,000 since the war broke out with the Ukraine have immigrated to Israel. I call that trickle immigration. But it’s pretty significant when you look at the overall work.

Here’s an interesting thing. October 14th, we know Syria had a civil war and President Assad was overthrown. This is President Ahmed Al Sharah, who’s the designated leader now. New President Vladimir Putin said he would honor all past deals struck between or he told. I’m sorry, Al Sharra said he’d honor all the deals that were made previously with Moscow.

And they have two military bases in that state that he says are safe. What did he do with Assad? You know what happened to Assad? He took refuge in another country. What country was that?

Russia, and his family followed two weeks later or two months later, maybe it was. So he’s playing that card of being a friend to these people. Putin is very interesting in his own history. He emerged back in 2000 when over a million Israelis had heritage in the USSR.

He had personal ties to Jewish family. He grew up in Leningrad, which was now St. Petersburg. But the Jewish couple actually became his kind of de facto parents because his mother and father really didn’t care that much about him. He was a street thug. But he studied German under a Jewish teacher named Mina Yudeskaya.

And she just recently died, and this was her obituary from the paper. You see her picture here. But he bought her an apartment later in life when she immigrated to Israel through a proxy businessman, Roman Abramovich, and you’ve probably heard his name, one of the richest men in the world.

So she just died recently. 96 years old. Now Putin’s a self proclaimed Christian. Okay, I’m a self proclaimed genius. What does that mean?

Only check on his power is the US President, and that’s important. Why do we have a president a lot of people hate, but won’t say? Take no for an answer because it’s the only one that can check his power at this point. His wealth, we don’t see it publicized, but Forbes magazine estimated Putin’s wealth at $250 billion. Where is it in cryptocurrency, you think he was maybe behind a lot of the growth in cryptocurrency.

Shell corporations. He got family members, real estate. He owns properties in France, Italy, uk in the United Arab Emirates, Monaco. He’s been enhancing that Middle east position forever. Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, key pillars for the Middle east are also part of key pillars for the Russian foreign policy.

Remember the intervention in the Syrian war, civil war in 2015? Putin claimed it was to ensure Israel’s protection from Hezbollah and isis. It set up a channel now, however, where Israel informs Russia of any strikes it’s going to make against Iran or its proxies. Remember, Iran has the nuclear facilities in the Middle East. So he became involved in Middle east politics in ways that we never had before.

But 10-7-23 changed all that. When Israel was attacked 2004, he had abated Crimea and he had no interference, Remember with that just sanctions. Marched into Ukraine in 22. You know, Putin knows English, but he won’t speak it in public. The Wagner group, that was his terrorist group.

He did in the leader several. He’s one of the most evil people you’ll find in the world. But he has said that there won’t anything happen in the Middle east without Russia being part of it. These are just some of the wealthy Russians that now are major investors in the Gulf, primarily Dubai and Saudi Arabia. It’s a headquarter for a lot of Russian companies that relocated from Europe.

Before October 7, Russia wanted the Israelis to have a breakthrough with Saudi Arabia. Now they don’t care. They’ve moved into enemy territory. Opec through opec, and whatever happens, you can be sure that he’ll be part of it.

Okay, that was a whirlwind tour. Let me conclude some final thoughts built on Isaiah 61 and they shall build the old ways. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks.

Foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers. But ye shall be named the priests of Jehovah. Ye shall eat the wealth of nations, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Brethren, we know as Bible students that Israel is not only a central part of God’s plan, but it’s a timepiece for God’s plan.

Amos 9, 14, 15 of the regathering, the replanting in Israel that’s been fulfilled in our time. We see it today. 65% of those gathered in Israel now are not religious Jews, and maybe we see a mass exodus from Israel, which could be expected of those that are not religious. Anti Semitism, you see it every day all over.

And pro Palestinian is growing in the western world. Israel remains blind, however, and that’s going to happen until you and I are done with our course on this earth. Once the church is complete, we will see finally the final destiny of Israel accomplished. Their final destiny is to be earthly priests for all of mankind, including those that hate them the worst. Now brethren, let us pray for that day.

Let us not be discouraged, and as we see these things happening, let’s keep our heads up and look up, because this is God’s work, and remember how he works behind the scenes through other agencies, and that’s what we’re seeing as we see these final years of the church and the world accomplished to God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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