False Peace, Then Destruction
An Excerpt From: Judgment Day! Islam, Israel, and the Nations
Dave Hunt (2006)
Many prophecies in the Old Testament have two applications. There was a fulfillment near at hand and one that was deferred to the last days. Here are the words of two different Hebrew prophets who never knew one another. They each referred to a destruction that came in their day; but their separate prophecies also agreed concerning a destruction from the Lord that would be worldwide and that was not fulfilled in the past but could come to pass only in the last days:
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. (Isaiah:13:6-13 [6] Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
[7] Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
[8] And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
[9] Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
[10] For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
[11] And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
[12] I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
[13] Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
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Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. (Joel:1:15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.)
Two of the most electrifying prophecies in the Bible are found in Ezekiel chapters 38-39. They concern a people who are attacked by the armies of the world and rescued by God's intervention. Their identity and the delusion that has overtaken them are clear. They "dwell safely...without walls...bars nor gates...[a] people that are gathered out of the nations..." (Ezekiel:38:11-12 [11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
[12] To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
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This can only be Israel, a people that have been scattered among the nations and have come back to their own land as they have been doing today. They will mistakenly feel secure from any possible enemies, having believed Antichrist's promise and guarantee of their safety.
We can thus say on the authority of God's Word that Israel will enthusiastically remove the wall and fence she is erecting to protect her from terrorists. Israel will have been deceived by Antichrist with a false peace that is intended to destroy her, but he himself will be destroyed by Christ. Of this one, who pretends to be the true Messiah, we are told: "He shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes [Christ]; but he shall be broken without hand" (Daniel:8:25And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.).
Israel has shown a naïve eagerness to believe any promise of "peace" and has often been deceived. Arafat deceived Israel times without number, and now Israel seems willing to be deceived by Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat's successor as Palestinian Authority Chairman via the January 9, 2005, election. Israel's Labor Party leader, Shimon Peres, enthusiastically described Abbas as "A moderate man....Let's give him a chance." Presumably, it is his "moderation" that causes him to deny the Holocaust and to call Israel (in his campaign speeches) "the Zionist enemy."
The Israeli withdrawal from the settlements has caused a particular T-shirt to be the most popular in Gaza. It displays the "Palestinian" flag emblazoned with the "peace" slogan: "Today Gaza, tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem." Mahmoud Abbas, supposedly Israel's new partner in peace, has taken up the chant in public.
In contrast to Arafat, with whom he would not negotiate nor receive into the White House, President Bush...opened his arms to Abbas and welcomed him to Washington. Yet everything that Bush found objectionable in Arafat is echoed in Abbas. He was Arafat's partner in terrorism even before 1965, when he and Arafat co-founded Fatah, the PLO's largest terrorist arm, with the blood of thousands of victims on its hands. Within Fatah is the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, one of the most vicious terrorist organizations. As though to welcome their co-founder's elevation to head the PLO and Palestinian Authority and to show that nothing had changed with the death of Arafat, four days after the "election" of Abbas, a group of terrorists from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade of Fatah stormed an Israeli base at the "Karni" Gaza crossing, killing five Israelis. During his campaign speeches, Abbas had the flag of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade slung around his neck, showing his sympathy and identity with them.
Abbas campaigned in Jenin with members of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Before the elections, Abbas met in Damascus "with some of the region's most implacable terror groups, including Hamas [and] Islamic Jihad....Abbas' 'foreign minister,' Nabil Sha'ath, declared that between the Palestinian Authority and the other groups, 'there are no differences over the objectives [i.e., destruction of Israel].'" Obviously, then, the fact that Hamas won the election on January 26, 2006, and is now in charge of "Palestinian" territories has changed little except to bring the determination to destroy Israel more fully into the open. That victory was a huge boost to Arab morale. The funds cut off by the U.S. and Israel will be more than made up by Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The Islamic worldwide revolution is gathering momentum. Hiz-ballah has transferred its operational headquarters from Beirut to Gaza, and Al Qaeda has moved in there also. Hamas chief KhaledMasha'al boasts, "Muhammad is gaining victory in Palestine....[The] Islamic nation is rising....Tomorrow we will lead the world." Gaza's Hamas leader exults, "We are part of the great world...Islamic movement."
Israel is desperate for peace. After sixty years of war, she would agree to almost anything. The Antichrist will not only "guarantee" peace but will command the rebuilding of the Temple. It will be an offer that Israel, in her unbelief and continued rebellion against "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," will not be able to resist.
