Peace and Safety

Transcript

Tonight, brothers and sisters, you can see there's this nice slide here of depicting Armageddon when Gog, Russia, comes on down with a whole slew of nations with him, and he comes into the nation of Israel. And this is, you know, God bringing judgment upon Israel. And then later, of course, God is going to judge the nations. And many think that Armageddon is the end of the world. See a lot of like YouTube videos with that title, Armageddon, the end of the world. But we know it's not the end of the world. Matter of fact, it's the battle of the day, the great day of God Almighty. God, in the end, will be glorified. The nations that do not know him now, they will know him then, and he will be glorified. It will be the end of the kingdom of man, and it will usher in the kingdom of God. And so that, of course, is a great day that we're looking forward to. Now, some think that the current situation with the Iran-Israel-U.S. War is Armageddon, and while I think that there is, it's a great step towards Armageddon. However, I don't think we're quite there yet because we would need the cry of peace and safety. We would need Israel to be at rest, unexpecting of any type of invasion. So that's what we're going to take a look at this evening. So the cry of peace and safety comes from Thessalonians, where Paul says, you know, tells the brethren there, because they're inquiring about the Lord's return. He says, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. He then goes on to say, you know, but ye brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief, unexpectedly. We're not in darkness, spiritual ignorance separated from God. That's not us, because if we walk in the light as he is in the light, right, it's not possible for us to be in darkness. Plus, we are expecting the return of the Lord, right? As a woman in travail, she knows those labor pains are going to come, but she doesn't know when they're going to come. And so we are looking for that. And when they do come, they continue to come. You can't say, oh, OK, can you come back tomorrow? I'll deliver the baby tomorrow. No, once they come, they're here to stay. And Jesus says, for those that are unprepared, for like a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth, right? It'll be like a trap on who? Those that are in darkness. So, you know, it has an application to AD 70. I think when, you know, Jesus told them that, you know, Rome will come and they'll surround the city, get out. And then Rome came. And then they were called back. And some cried, ah, we're safe, peace and safety. They didn't heed the warning of Jesus, while others did. And they flee and they save their lives. And the sudden destruction came when Rome came back and there was no escaping. So you have when the judgments of God come, right? When they're introduced to Jesus, it's at Armageddon. That's when God will judge the nation of Israel and the nations. To them, they won't see it coming, right? The world moves today as there will never be a judgment. Israel will be crying, peace and safety. Things are good. And then sudden destruction will be right upon them. And so we are prepared or need to be prepared for the return of Christ. We're not caught off guard. So when we go to some Armageddon chapters, we go to Ezekiel 38. And in verse 8, it says, after many days thou shalt be visited in the latter years, right? So it's a time in the future that Ezekiel is writing about. And it says, thou shalt come into the land. This is God speaking about Gog. He's telling him, you're going to come into the land that is brought back from the sword, gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste, but is brought back forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely. Jesus in Luke 21 says about the destruction of Jerusalem, he says, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. There's a time on that. So if we have a timeline, we know AD 70, that's when the nation was scattered by the sword. 1948, they become a nation again. 1967, Jerusalem is no longer ruled by Gentile powers. That is the latter year. So this is a time period in which we live. But then it says that they shall dwell safely. So that word can have a meaning of security, confident, boldly, without care, careless, without fear, and secure. So that's what we're expecting the nation to look like. Ezekiel goes on in verse 11. Then you shall say, again, this is Gog, I will go up against a land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates. So safely, securely, confidently, unsuspecting of any type of invasion, unwalled, without walls, neither bars nor gates. There's no national security issues. And they're at rest, quietness, idleness, it's still. So a few other places where this word is used in the Scriptures. One is in Isaiah 47. And this speaks of the arrogant and unsuspecting mindset of Babylon before God's judgment upon them. It says, therefore, here now this, thou that are given to pleasures, that dwells carelessly or securely, that sayeth in my heart, I am and none else beside me. And in Jeremiah, this is God's judgment upon Hazor at the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar. Arise, go up unto the wealthy nation that dwelleth without care, sayeth the Lord that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone. Or as the NIV says, a nation at ease, which lives in confidence. So this is kind of what we would expect Israel to be like, right? It's a mindset that they have of dwelling safely, confidently, unsuspecting. That's certainly not been the case since they were reestablished as a nation in 1948. Immediately, they have hostile neighbors, right? They were not unsuspecting of an attack. They knew an attack was coming. And that continued, right? 1948, the War of Independence, 1956, the Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War in 67, Yom Kippur, 1973, the two Lebanon Wars, and many skirmishes in between. All of this time, Israel was expecting some sort of attack. They were on guard. They were aware of their surroundings. They were not comfortable. And historically, right, Psalm 83 says, They have said, Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. For they have consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. This hatred of the nations that they have for Israel, they want to wipe them out. Well, that enmity, that hatred has continued to this day, right? October 7th attacks, you know, over a thousand Israelis die. That doesn't do it justice, does it? If you recall the events and if you ever read some of the horrific accounts, you wouldn't believe the massacre that took place, that one man could do this to another. It would take extreme hatred to be able to do those things to another person. And we still have a nation anyway that would like to remove Israel from existence. Iran's supreme leader, Israel, is a cancerous tumor that will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed. Of course, he was murdered by Israel. They killed him and the president back in 2006, he said that Israel should disappear from the universe. So they have had this type of hatred all around them. However, this article goes on and says, you know, the Middle East has undergone an unprecedented transition sparked by the Hamas attack. Under this attack, if you remember, Israel was able to get a GoPro video of the massacre because the Hamas terrorists had it on them. They wanted to record the massacre and then bring it back to the people and share it with them. And then, you know, those that were killed, Israel was able to get their hands on it and they made a video and they went around to the other nations and they showed them, this is what took place. And of course, the nations were appalled and no one at that point was saying, Israel, take it easy, like they had in the past. They kind of had the green light. And then they went out and they destroyed Gaza and they get rid of all of those terror tunnels. And they did a really good job. And as the article says, they've been fracturing the axis, Iran's proxies, right? They've attacked Iran a few times, had some success. And Iran's plan of surrounding them with the ring of fire, having, you know, they're going to have war on multiple fronts. They have militias in Syria and Iraq and that plan has not worked. And it seems since, you know, they became a nation again, that there's this possibility where they might be able to get peace, that they might be able to get some rest if they can get rid of those who want to destroy them, who want to remove them. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. That was the chant we heard back in 2023. So, does Israel dwell confidently? Yeah, I think they do now, right? They've got the Iron Dome, they've got the David sling, the iron beam. They've got a lot of great defense systems. They're a leader in technology. They're a self-sustaining country, right? They've got the water plants, they can grow their own food. They have their own natural resources. They've got oil and gas, they've got prosperity. They've got enough oil and gas to not only supply the country, but also to become an exporter. They're a country that has put their trust in themselves. They're very self-confident, self-reliant. They don't need God in their eyes. They trust the IDF, Mossad, their intelligence groups, right? Remember all those like, you know, they've got these great targeted attacks where they were targeting Hamas leaders right in their apartments by sending in missiles. You remember the pager attack, right? Or when they hacked into the traffic lights in Iran so that they could follow Iranian leaders and then they wiped them all out as well. So they've got great confidence now. Of course, they've got the United States, perhaps a presidency that has never been more pro-Israel and he's right beside them fighting, right? The world power, great. That gives them great confidence. They also now have Arab allies in the region. Not everyone is against them. And they have weakened Iran in her proxies and I think that has given them great confidence. But they're going to need a little bit more than confidence, right? It says that they must also be at rest, unsuspecting. So this I had to put in Monday because Sunday night this came out that a peace deal was reached, right? And that's what I'd probably expect will happen. The US and Iran inch closer to a deal to end the war. Trump says the memorandum of understanding pertaining to peace, right? Peace is on the minds. He wants to open the straits and then he said, and they're willing to give up their uranium. No sooner did he, I think he tweeted it out, that Iran fired right back and said, we've made no agreement to give up our ambition for a nuclear weapon. We're not giving up uranium. Israel was caught a little off guard saying, well, you know, an agreement where they don't have to give up the uranium? I mean, you know, we're looking to get rid. We're concerned with our national security here. How many times, years and years, did Netanyahu go before the UN to tell them Iran is getting close? They're getting closer. He's telling them do something or we will, right? And then we know that they have attacked Iran a couple of times. They can't wait anymore. So I think we would expect some sort of a peace agreement. Now, in the Middle East, to find peace, it's, you know, it doesn't come easily. It's pretty evasive, though the Egypt-Israel one from 79 there, that has worked, right? They were, Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize Israel as a nation. And the Nobel Peace Prize went to Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begum. I think both of them ended up getting assassinated a few years later, but they won the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. Jordan-Israel, that's another one that has worked out. Nobel Peace Prize that year went to Israeli Rabin Simon Perez and Yasser Arafat for their work on the Oslo Accords, something that Bill Clinton spent a lot of time trying to get this agreement signed. He offered everything that Arafat wanted. He got all of Gaza and 97% of the West Bank was offered by Israel. And yet Yasser Arafat said, no, he walked away. To which Bill Clinton responded to him and said, you just cost me the Nobel Peace Prize. And then, of course, we've got the Abraham Accords, right? Big, big moment, right? Israel having normal relations with some of the Arab nations. And Donald Trump, though, he promoted himself quite a bit and lobbied for the Nobel Peace Prize. He did not win it. However, according to this New York Times, every president would like to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It says here Trump's Nobel Prize obsession is about more than just world peace, right? This is about his legacy. Every president wants to leave a legacy. What did I accomplish during my presidency? It's the one thing that's on their mind. And if you can win a Nobel Peace Prize, and if you can bring peace to the Middle East, you're assured of it. The article goes on and says, whether Trump will earn that recognition from the Nobel Committee in a year's time remains to be seen. Yet a number of former officials involved in past Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, including Nobel Peace Prize-winning Oslo Accords that ultimately unraveled in following years feel Trump is closer than ever to securing the award. So he is going to be pushing for peace in the Middle East, some sort of peace deal, as is, apparently, Netanyahu. He says about the Iran War that we won't have an endless war with Iran. This will lead to an era of peace that we haven't even dreamed of. We support and stand behind President Trump's sincere efforts to end the war in Gaza and bring lasting peace to the Middle East. Now, we know that will not happen. It will be a false sense of peace, but it just has to be, remember, they just say peace and safety. It doesn't have to be anything that actually exists. They just have to, it's a mindset. And together, he says, we will implement this agreement in a manner that ensures peace, security, stability, and opportunity for all peoples of the region, including both Palestinians and Israelis. So you can see peace is on the mind. How are they going to do it? It's going to be through the two-state solution. This is Trump and Netanyahu's, their leadership plan for bringing stability and peace to the region. Now, this was not always their position. Netanyahu waved back and forth, one state, two state, Trump as well, but now they're together on this. They're going to end the Gaza War, and they think by doing so that they can expand the countries that join the Abrahamic Accords, especially the one that they have been courting for quite some time, and that is Saudi Arabia. They would love to have Israel and Saudi Arabia. They would love to work together. It would bring peace and stability to the region, and you've got peace and stability in the Middle East. You have it in the rest of the world as well, and things would all seem to be great. The problem is Saudi Arabia won't sign it. They won't sign it until the Palestinians have a homeland, so we think that this two-state solution will get pushed forward. It's on the mind of the UN Security Council. Back in February, they met and they said, hey, we need to have renewed calls for a two-state solution, and look at the nations that are in support of it. It's the UN, the EU, Arab nations, and then all the major world powers. It seems like everybody is in favor of this two-state solution, so I think we could expect to see this get pushed forward, and this is Donald Trump's new Gaza peace plan. They're going to be right on the Gaza Strip. He's going to rebuild it. Hamas has to leave. That's part of the deal. They have yet to do it, but he's going to rebuild it. He's going to put in a nice seaport. He's going to put in an airport, but the interesting thing is that there is no land offered to them under this peace plan that is in the West Bank, and of course, our brethren have been saying for quite some time that Israel will annex the West Bank because that is where Gog falls. He falls on the mountains of Israel. That's where he will be defeated, so it's interesting that you look back at Yasser Arafat when he could have had 97 percent. Why did he walk away? It didn't make any sense, but the angels were at work saying, nope, you can't be here. This will not be yours. You will be down in the Gaza Strip because Joel chapter three and verse four says that's where the Palestinians will be. Now, will this ever be accomplished, this particular plan? Who knows, but the Palestinians will be in that territory. So while all the nations are saying they're in agreement, let's have a two-state solution. There's only someone that is a little upset about it, and that's God. So he says in Joel chapter three, for behold, in those days and in that time, when I shall bring again that captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, that's 1948, 1967, I will gather all the nations and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. That signifies divine judgment. And I will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. God is going to question them. He's going to demand an answer. Why have you treated my people so poorly? Why have you hated them? Why have you been so cruel to them? He's going to demand an answer. And because they parted my land. You see, it's God's land. Israel might be okay giving it up and the nations are certainly okay with it, but God's not going to be okay with it. Because he's already promised it to someone. He's promised it to Abraham. He's going to have that. He made an everlasting covenant. In the Psalms we read, O seed of Abraham, his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen, he is the Lord our God, his judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant. Saying unto thee, I will give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance. And I think we have a patent set here for when the Babylonian invasion came upon Israel, a time when Israel had forgotten their God. Isaiah says, The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth, the earth here represents Israel, the pride of Israel, right? They're proud people. They're haughty. They do languish and do fade away. The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, the inhabitants of Israel. Why? Because they've transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant, right? The things of God to the present day leadership in Israel don't mean much at all. Certainly not an ancient promise of land to Abraham. So what might be some possible outcomes? Sometimes in Bible prophecy, you can see it with your natural eyes and you see it in the scriptures. They line up together. Sometimes they don't. Like the Bible scholars in the 17, 1800s who said, Israel has to come back to be a nation again. However, you couldn't see it with your natural eyes. How will that be? Who knows? But something had to change. And then all of a sudden you had you had the Zionist movement and then you had the Belfort Declaration. And now you could start to see the pathway. So what might a pathway be that we could see Israel at rest, unsuspecting? Well, maybe the current deal that they have that looks pretty fragile, but maybe they make some tweaks and Iran says, yeah, we'll give up a nuclear ambition. Yeah, that would do it. Well, maybe war resumes and America and Israel decimate Iran's capabilities of making a nuclear weapon. That would do it as well. Well, what happens if the United States and Israel, all of a sudden they don't quite see eye to eye on how they want to accomplish this goal. America is looking to get out politically back home Trump has taken a beating, right? The people are complaining the gas prices are too high. He's looking for a way out while Israel is saying, no, we want to continue. We've got them right where we want them. We're almost there. We've got to continue to attack. So if America pulls away from Israel and sidelines them, Israel is going to have to seek another partner. Perhaps they'll need some help, some guidance. They'll need someone else to step in. Now, we know in the time of Jacob's trouble at Armageddon, Israel is going to be alone, right? All your lovers have forgotten you, says Jeremiah, right? They will have no one to help them. They'll only, they'll have to go to God. Israel's made the mistake several times. When they put their trust in the nations and in Isaiah, it says, woe to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay on horses, trust in chariots, because they are many and in horsemen, because they're very strong, but they look not unto the Holy one of Israel, neither seek the Lord, right? Israel has got a history when they're wayward, they seek and trust in alliances, right? They sought the help of Israel this time and they look at who's the military might and they're impressed with it and they ignore God who has always delivered them. And so could they be making that mistake again? And who would they turn to? Well, perhaps they'll turn and try to make a covenant with the latter day Assyrian, because it's happened before King Ahaz did not believe that God could protect him from his enemies. The almighty God who has always protected Israel, he had no faith. So he sought the nations, he sought out Assyria to be his helper. Of course, it was a mistake. So here we see in Daniel 8, this is the king of fierce countenance, the king of fierce countenance, the king of the north, the cruel Lord and Gog, they're all one in the same in the latter day Assyrian. So it says about him, this verse describes a future ruler who's bold and deceitful. He will appear peaceful, but bring destruction, opposing God's people and their ultimate king. It says that he shall magnify himself in his heart and by peace shall destroy many. Some of the more modern versions refer to him as cunning, as a master of deception. And they say that he will destroy those who are at ease. And then he will stand up against the prince of princes and he shall be broken without hand. And that phrase there kind of triggers in our minds. Back to Daniel 2, the stone that was cut out without hands. And of course, that is Christ. And that is the destruction of the kingdom of men, which will take place on the mountains of Israel. So will they do this? Well, again, the man, the Assyrian, the latter day Assyrian, Gog, the one who sits in that position currently has already offered his services to mediate the Israel conflict. And he cites that he's, I've got good ties with both, right? Iran and the US, they don't trust each other for good reason. And yet Iran has no one else to go to. He knows that Russia does not get along with the West either. And so he will take the advice. And Israel, Netanyahu and Putin, they've had very good relationship. Putin asked him when the Ukraine war broke out, he said, listen, don't give them any advanced weapons. And if you don't do that, I'll turn to blind eye and you can do what you want, Syria and Iran. And that relationship has worked out. Even though Israel received a lot of pressure to help, they didn't. I think last year they may have given some outdated defense weaponry, but they've had a good relationship. And historically, Putin has been willing to step into the Middle East. You'll remember back in, I think it was 2013 during a civil war in Syria, and chemical weapons were being used. Barack Obama, the president at the time, said, well, that's a red line. If we find out that's true, then we'll have to attack. Well, they find out it's true and now he has to attack. And then Mr. Putin steps in and says, hey, what if I can convince him to give up his chemical weapons? Can we avoid the war? And that's exactly what happened. So if there's anyone who can convince Iran to give up their ambition of seeking a nuclear weapon, I think it would be Mr. Putin, or the one who sits in that position as the latter-day Assyrian. And he might be able to give Israel some assurances that, don't worry, you'll be safe. They will not be a threat to you anymore. So when we look at the peace and safety mindset of Israel just prior to Armageddon, in Amos, this is when the Assyrian came down on Israel. God brings the nations to punishment, punish them when they forget about him. It says in Amos, woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria. Then he goes on and he lists these cities that God has already destroyed. And he says, do you think you're better than these? He goes, listen, I called you to be a holy people unto the Lord. I've chosen you as a special people. You were above all the people on the face of the earth. And now I can't distinguish you from the other nations because you're just like them. And I will bring the Assyrian against you. So that's the mindset of peace and safety. There'll be a time of prosperity and somewhat stability. Israel will be trusting in man. They'll be trusting in themselves and their alliances rather than trusting in God. Outwardly, things will appear strong, but within there will be spiritual and moral decline as it was in the days of Amos as it is today in the nation of Israel. Moral decline. Next month, Israel will be hosting the largest pride festival that's ever taken place in the Middle East in God's land by God's people. They've lost their way. Pride leads to blindness of coming judgment. The pride never expect judgment. The proud never expect judgment. Israel will be willing to give up the promised land for peace. They'll probably have a lot of political pressure, but again, the ancient promises to Abraham, the land covenant, it doesn't mean much to the leaders today in Israel. And you wanna talk about, I think it's quite telling in Zechariah, that's another Amageddon passage. And what is the spiritual state of Israel when Amageddon comes? Well, two-thirds of them will die. I think that tells us a little something about the spiritual state of Israel. They'll think things are just fine, they've got self-confidence, and yet God is gonna bring judgment against them, and they have no idea. And he'll bring it against the world, and the world will have no idea it's coming. So what about us, brothers and sisters, right? Peace and safety. What about the peace and safety mindset of the Ecclesia at the end, right? Christ, you know, this is the Laodicean Ecclesia. This is our time. It's the only church where it says, the Ecclesia, where it says that Jesus is knocking at the door. And what does he say? You'll look warm, right? You need the heart. I spew you out of your mouth, right? It speaks of nominal Christianity that's very prevalent today. You say, I'm rich, I don't have need of anything. Oh no, is that us, brothers and sisters? What about the kingdom of God? Where does that place in our lives, or have we fallen into the snare of riches of this life? Have those become more important? Have we become fatigued in looking for the coming? Like in 2 Peter, the brother says, where's the promise of his coming? Is that something that we've grown tired of hearing? Oh, the brother and I always say, Christ is coming, Christ is coming. Have we become fatigued in looking for him? So the parable of the 10 virgins, the lesson is to be prepared to meet the bridegroom. We should not be surprised when he comes. We know he's coming and, you know, no matter when that day comes, there will be some surprise, but we've got to be spiritually prepared. Lamps full of oil, eyes on the prize. That's the kingdom of God. We've got to be zealous. No complacency within the Ecclesia. We can't just be going through the motions, right? We've got to keep watching, stay alert. Don't slumber, right? Don't fall asleep, be lulled asleep by the things of this world that keep our focus on heavenly things. Look upward, for our redemption is drawing nigh. So that is all that I have for this evening.