When Christ returns the geology of the area will be totally changed and the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem splits into two enlarge image. Azal may be several km south of the present-day Mount of Olives, link. It is well known that there is a geological fault line running east-west through the Mount of Olives and just south of Jerusalem, link.
Could it be that present-day Jerusalem is moved north to sit high above this valley? Ezekiel Note that healing waters flow east from the temple down into the valley to enter the northern end of the Dead sea, resulting in the restoration of fishing Ezek So here Jesus was referring to a time dispensation rather than to the literal end of the world.
It appears that we currently nearing the end of approximately 6, years of human government and the start of 1, years of peace on the earth — the Millennial Age when Christ rules the earth Zech It is interesting that NASA scientists predict that, eventually, the sun will expand to become a red giant and burn up the solar system, including earth, link.
Despite the intervention of the God of Israel to protect her, two end-time wars against Israel must surely take their toll? So during the last days a remnant is preserved, albeit through a time of refining and affliction:. Boycotts are social protests with the aim of changing Israeli government policy through economic damage.
For instance, the global BDS campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions aims to create economic and political pressure on Israel concerning so-called land occupation and Palestinian rights. Are boycotts effective anyway? Maybe not. So is there a deeper reason for the boycotts? It is claimed that the BDS campaign has a much wider objective; namely, the elimination of the Jewish State and should be stopped, link.
But those who boycott Israel should heed the biblical warning:. Before Moses died he blessed the tribes of Israel and some of these blessings involved blessing of the sea and the land. Israel may be seeing these blessings today enlarge map. Recent drilling has found thick oil strata in the Southern Golan Heights north-east of the Sea of Galilee. And the Negev desert has an almost unlimited underground supply of brackish water, which is being exploited for agricultural irrigation.
Image: Known oil and gas fields in the Levant Basin. Oil and gas fields in grey. Thankfully, according to Bible prophecy, such disputes will be short-lived as this age rapidly comes to a close. In fact, these future borders are almost identical to the borders of ancient Israel given to Moses in Num The borders also include Gaza, significant parts of present-day Syria and probably all of Lebanon.
Are the politicians listening? This is the fundamental reason why religious Jews claim that the Land of Canaan modern Israel is their land, covenanted to them by God. It is quite remarkable how Israel has survived attacks from overwhelming invading armies. Certainly, the evidence to date is that each time Arab nations attack Israel, they are defeated and their end-state seems worse than their first.
By the end of the War of Independence the fledgling Israeli forces had defeated five invading Arab armies. In the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and later Iraq attacked Israel, but were defeated in just six days despite the huge Arab superiority in armour, aircraft and troops. As to the future, at the end of the age all nations will gather against Israel in an attempt to destroy her — but again God intervenes.
Image: Israeli tank, They are coming from all over the world, from wherever they have been scattered amongst the nations. The picture shows the arrival of Jewish immigrants to Israel in This mass migration is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy — that towards the end of this age and just before Christ returns, God will call the children of Israel out of the nations and once more put them in their own land:. Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone … and bring them into their own land Ezek Prophecy paints a picture of a world at peace no war with Jerusalem Zion as the focal point since Christ dwells there.
Millennial life around Jerusalem is described in some detail. It also appears that some of the Hebrew festivals are reinstated, as in the Feast of Tabernacles Zech Man will still have his daily work but there is some indication that the bias of work will be towards husbandry farming and hunting fishing rather than industrial manufacturing Ezek People will be born and will die in the Millennial earth, just as in the present age.
Death is the last enemy and is not destroyed until the close of the Millennium. After some 2, years of dispersion amongst the nations, Israel will again take on her intended role in the world:. So the restoration of Israel will be a sign or witness to the nations that the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, the only true God, loves mankind.
The center branch represents Divine light understanding from God and the six branches represent human efforts to spread this light to the Gentiles Isa Future wars against Israel will be different from previous wars. Whilst some claim that the 6-Day war in June was miraculous in that Israel overcame huge superiority in armour, aircraft and troops, future wars will certainly be unique.
These wars will directly glorify the God of Israel as He openly defeats the attacking forces. After the largely Islamic Gog-Magog war we read:. And during the final war against Israel prophecy says that God will again clearly intervene to protect His people:. God indeed intervenes in world affairs! This has been true in history and is true for the future. At the very end of this age , are drawn from twelve tribes of Israel and sealed for their protection Rev 7. The result of their witness is a great turning to God from all the nations Rev 7.
At last, the Gentile nations acknowledge and value the unique role of the Jew:. Still others become priests and keep charge of the new Jewish temple in Jerusalem Isa Prophecy indicates that there will be several major wars against Israel in the near future, just before Christ returns to rule the earth as King Zech The so-called Gog-Magog war in Ezek results in the attackers being defeated by the intervention of the God of Israel, rather than by the armies of Israel Ezek This is in the form of extreme weather — extreme rain, hail and snow — and also by fire and brimstone similar to that which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah Ezek The Golan Heights must be involved.
This man-God war could involve neutron bombs since these vaporize flesh at close range. Such a fate of the invaders is suggested in Zech The attackers may also be destroyed by nuclear devices since Malachi 4 refers to a time of fierce heat when invaders are burnt to ashes. Bible prophecy describes how the increasing political bias of western nations, and the increasing aggression of Arab-Muslim nations finally leads to another major war against Israel.
In fact, since prophecy is not precise, some see several major Middle East wars just before the close of this age and the Second Coming of Christ. A future invasion of northern Israel is strongly indicated in Ezek 38 and Ezek The countries involved appear to be mainly the Islamic nations surrounding Israel, possibly led by Iran and Russia. At the very end of this age prophecy indicates that all nations Gentile and Islamic will attempt a final invasion of Israel:.
This latter war appears to be unique in that it is not primarily man against man, but man against God; it is commonly known as Armageddon Rev Both invasions are defeated by the God of Israel.
The real reason for the aggression is spiritual , not political or even humanitarian. You may reject the concept of a spiritual world co-existing with the physical world, but it is a fact; Jesus Christ proved beyond doubt that the spiritual world exists. Israel is the central player in that spiritual world. He proved that too, by His resurrection from the dead.
But the truth about this powerful spiritual world is blurred, corrupted and buried by spiritual forces of darkness:.
In fact, the spiritual aggression shown to Israel and to the true followers of Christ will intensify towards the end of this age Rev The problem is that Israel is now occupying land previously conquered by Islam. Muslims conquered The Levant which embraces all of Israel and much more, link in the 7th century and the land of Israel remained in Muslim hands apart from the brief Crusader period until liberated from the Muslim Turks by the British in So Islam wants the Levant back!
Today this extreme ideology is underscored by ISIL. The Levant objective falls under the general Islamic ideology of a world-wide caliphate, link. Map copyright: By No machine-readable author provided. MapMaster assumed based on copyright claims. Fundamentalist Christians believe that modern Israel, and not the church, will be central in world affairs at the close of this age. God wants the church to call His people, wherever they are, back to Himself.
This is spearheaded by the World Council of Churches WCC which has called on member churches Anglican, Methodist … to support an international boycott of Israeli settlement produce and services, link. Without doubt there is an overall bias in the UN against Israel.
Between and there were 77 UN resolutions against Israel, and just one against the Palestinians, link. How can Israel be so wrong? Israel is often accused of being the aggressor in conflicts, whereas Israel claims she wages defensive war after provocation, link.
Other resolutions refer to the on-going Palestinian refugee problem, but many see this now as a political tool by Arab nations, link , link. But the UN is not all bad: in the UN began to address issues of concern to the Jewish community, particularly anti-Semitism. From the rise of Zionism to the present day, Israel has not been welcomed on the world scene. After all, Israel is just some 8 million people living on land the size of Wales!
Israel is a special nation chosen by God to be His witness in the world and to bring redemption to the world through Christ, link. Satan knows all this and end-time prophecy underscores the attempts by Satan to eliminate Israel:. This hatred was evident in the holocaust and subsequent wars against Israel, and culminates in all nations turning against Israel at Armageddon Zech But there is hope.
Jerusalem Old City at Dawn. Image: Free Israel Photos. The deep significance of this to Jewish, Christian and Muslim beliefs makes Jerusalem one of the most contested pieces of real estate in the world. Given these historic and certain future events, we can see that the various claims on Jerusalem are actually the outworking of a spiritual battle over Jerusalem, a battle between truth and error, between the God of Israel and spiritual forces of darkness. On the other hand, orthodox Jews claim their historic and covenant right to the city.
No wonder Jerusalem will be the location of the most epic battle of history! The is a solution, but prophecy indicates that it will not occur in this present age. The Bible instructs the people of Israel how they should treat foreigners non-Jews. Old Testament Israel was commanded to love foreigners Deut This instruction is timeless and applies to Palestinian Arabs today. Unfortunately, as long as Arab countries refuse to recognize Israel and continue to attack her, such cohabitation would seem to be impossible.
But Israel will be at peace with her neighbours in the Millennium! Most of the western world aims for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. In reality there can be no lasting, workable two-state solution. This reflects the PA leadership position:. The problem here is that Israel has already declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel, and this is compounded by the Palestinian leadership which does not even recognize the Jewish State:.
The Green line was an armistice line drawn up after the war under the auspices of the UN and it was intended to be temporary. So, through Arab aggression, Israel temporarily lost land mandated to her through the Mandate for Palestine, and this was only regained in the 6-day war. That includes the West Bank. Some , Jewish settlers live in the relatively lightly populated Area C, link. There is also muted and occasional support from the UN and the EU, but this is usually outweighed by condemnation in other areas.
There are 21 governmental and intergovernmental entities including the EU that financially support Israeli NGOs, link , although some of these are politically biased and represent the interests of foreign governments, link.
In contrast to other Middle Eastern countries, Israel has a western-style democracy. Whilst not perfect, this means that Israelis of all ethnic groups and religious beliefs, including Arab-Israelis, can actively participate in the election process, and all votes cast are equal in weight.
Also, Israel is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote. The principle of the generality of the elections ensures the active right of every Israeli citizen, who is at least 18 years old, to vote and the right of every Israeli citizen, who is at least 21 years old, to be elected.
No voter ever votes for an actual person. Instead, every voter votes for a single party. The Knesset, Jerusalem. The Israeli government resides in Jerusalem. Israel is governed by a western-style multiparty parliamentary system. The government is headed by the Prime Minister, who is elected in nationwide elections for a period of four years, and an elected President who has a largely apolitical ceremonial role.
The Knesset has legislative power and comprises members who are also elected for a term of four years in nationwide elections. The electoral voting system is based on nation-wide proportional representation. Rain in the Judean desert. Bible prophecy over end-time Israel speaks of great blessings on the land.
This will be in terms of abundant agricultural produce — grains, fruit and wine Ezek All this of course requires water. Over the past years Israel has engineered a national water carrier system and desalination plants, and she drains water from large aquifers under the desert. But what of the climate?
Has there been a change in rainfall? The Jewish National Fund has planted over million trees, which are known to be beneficial to the climate. For this reason, in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel urged the public to begin saying a special prayer daily to ask God to bless Israel with abundant rain enlarge image. All over Israel, people now recite this prayer.
In the last days God promises Israel:. Jesus uses figs in the subjects of his parables such as Luke ,. A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? Joel talks about withered fig trees during an invasion of locusts on the land,. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree — all the trees of the field — are dried up.
In Revelation , John describes the stars falling to the earth like figs dropping from a tree,. I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.
And Jeremiah 24 features two baskets of figs, one good and one bad. You can find more verses on figs here. Luxor figs, detail from Usarhet's tomb Usarhat, a high ranking official, was " Overseer and Scribe of the Cattle of Amun. Linsley The fig tree is one of the oldest known fruit trees. Illustrations of fig trees are found on monuments and tombs of ancient Egypt.
The Sycamore Fig grew in abundance along the Nile, the region from which Abraham's cattle-herding ancestors came. In numerous cases the parched sycons bear characteristic gashing marks indicating that this art, which induces ripening, was practiced in Egypt in ancient times. The caskets of some Egyptian mummies were made from the wood of the Sycamore Fig tree. Pharaohs called the Sycamore Fig Nehet. With one striking exception , the fig tree symbolizes life, prosperity, peace and righteousness throughout the Bible.
In this, trees and pillars have similar symbolism. Both rise from the earth and stretch upward toward heaven. Jesus who was lifted up on the tree is the sign of God's power to draw all to Himself.
Hathor conceived Horus by the overshadowing of the Sun. Jesus curses the tree and the next time the disciples see it, the tree has withered and died.
It also symbolizes fruitfulness. Fig trees, like many other fruit trees, are somewhat slow-growing. It takes years for them to develop, produce fruit, and even longer to offer shade.
So, a fig tree that offers shade is an older, mature tree. Unlike many other trees, fig trees produce fruit both in the spring and in the fall. When the tree produces fruit in the spring, it occurs before the leaves flourish in Israel. Thus, a fig tree with an abundance of leaves should have had fruit on it. Just as a fruitful fig tree symbolizes the health of the Israelites, the tree without fruit mirrors the Jewish nation that exhibited outward behaviors that made them look like they were faithful to God.
However, in reality, they had adopted outward appearances that hid their lack of fruit and faithfulness. These questions are fruit vs. When we see a fig tree or incorporate figs into our diet , they can serve as a reminder for us to do a fruit-check. God loves us. He loves you. He wants to bless you through a relationship with Him. Everything in scripture, even verses that talk about ordinary things like food, draw us closer to Him. We can also learn practical tips for living abundantly on this earth.
So, what are the benefits of figs? Like so many other foods God created and has given to us, they are plentiful. Aside from the delicious taste of dried figs, there are numerous fig health benefits that are great not just for your body but your mind, too! Figs are so powerful in your health and nurture you from the inside and out. Figs provide cells with nutrients that support health and help repair and regenerate worn-out cells.
Eating a handful of figs daily is a natural way to help prevent diabetes. Their low glycemic index GI due to the high fiber content helps prevent blood sugar spikes, despite their sweetness. One of the many health benefits of fig fruit is that they support healthy bones in children and help sustain bone density in older individuals. This is all because of the high calcium and magnesium levels in figs. This is another benefit of the amount of potassium found in figs.
If you suffer from high blood pressure, munching on some figs can help with that. There is also a good amount of iron in figs, which is great for those who suffer from anemia. Pregnant women should also munch on more figs, as the need for iron increases when expecting. Figs are loaded with vitamin B6, a vital nutrient for brain functioning. We could all use help in this area! The nutrients in figs help balance enzymes and detoxification, both of which are important in liver function and overall health.
Figs are definitely one of the wonderful gifts God has given us. The food He created is good and loaded with important nutrients our bodies need to function at their best. In addition to the nutrients listed above, figs also have significant amounts of:. From cognition to bone health to blood pressure, figs are truly essential in supporting total health. Enjoy eating more figs, and your body can reap numerous health benefits from this fruit. How can you add figs to your daily routine?
Here are a couple of suggestions:. Buy figs at a store or better yet, plant your very own fig tree in your yard. In fact, I have a couple of fig trees in the yard, simply because I want to have all of the seven foods that are part of the seven blessings that God said. So go munch on some figs today, add them to your recipes, and help your body thrive each and every day of your life!
Annette holds a B. She has been studying food, nutrition and medical science for over 30 years. This was very informative.
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