The daily news is filled with acts of terrorism, acts of war, and threats of war in the Middle east.  Many wise men and politicians offer their plans for a solution but those I’ve heard fail to take into account what God has said about the situation. Nations today spend much time and effort developing their foreign policies to deal with such situations but few consider that God may also have a divine ‘foreign policy’.

God’s ‘foreign policy’ is described in Psalm 83 and the related Scriptures of Psalm 2 and Isaiah 11. God has a long memory, He is not only long-suffering towards man’s sin but, He also never forgets a promise made. With this truth in view, let’s look at God’s Foreign Policy –

When Abram was called by God to leave his home and depart to a new land, God made this promise to him – God has never forgotten it. God has been willing to put it on hold, so to speak, while He dealt with Israel’s rebellious nature but even in the midst of punishment God has remembered His promise, protecting them from many nations and peoples who were moved by Satan to destroy them and thus prove God a liar. These nations have all ceased from being world powers except those who blessed Israel.

You may ask “is God playing favorites?” I would answer no because it was and is through Israel that all the families of the world would and will be blessed. Out of Israel would come a deliverer from Satan and his power. Out of Israel came a Savior, Jesus the Messiah, the Light and Hope for the world.

And the blessing will not end here, it will continue. Sadly, many people are infected with the same cancer of rebellion their father Satan has and thus we have the war described in Psalm 83. Almost 3000 years ago King David wrote about this sickness –

“Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain (worthless or empty) thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” – Psalm 2:1-3

The real reason for this war is hatred of God and His Anointed, Jesus. Satan is the instigator behind it. They want to be free of God’s law but all their plotting is fruitless. God gives wise counsel – make peace with the Son because He is coming back to break them with a rod of iron and they will break like clay jars.

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” – Psalm 2:12

We know the time for this war is upon us because Isaiah prophesied the prelude to it –

“It shall come to pass in that day [That] the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them. The LORD will utterly destroy  the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,  And strike it in the seven streams, And make [men] cross over dryshod. There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.” – Isaiah 11:11-16

God’s remnant are back! This is an alert for the nations! Their ancient language is restored and they are no longer a divided nation but one. Since 1948 they have been attacked repeatedly and each time have increased the land they control. First the land was restored to them, second the city of Jerusalem, and finally their ancient Temple will be restored. Wars have always preceded the restorations and the third restoration will be no different and Psalm 83 describes it.

The writer of this Psalm is Asaph , the leader of Solomon’s priestly choir but, he is also identified as a prophet (seer) in 2 Chronicles 29:30. This Psalm is a prophesy of end-time events and we are about to witness its fulfillment. The reasons for this war are clear –“come let us cut them off from being a nation”. God works through people and nations and so does Satan. Asaph even identifies the people groups that will be involved. Though man may rename geographic areas on the map, it is God that sets the boundaries of the peoples.

All of these Arab people groups surround and touch the nation of Israel. They have made the Palestinians the banner of their main complaint against Israel, although their hatred reaches all the way back to Esau and Ishmael. The terrorist groups that form ISIS and ISIL will likely be the catalyst that sparks this war. They have stated that they do not invade a country until they touch its borders and they are now approaching the border of Israeli Golan and southern Israel’s Sinai border.

The Hagarenes are descendants of the Egyptian Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid (Genesis 16:3). They are Bedouin Arabs found in Sinai, Southern Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. You will notice that the Palestinians are mixed with many other Arab groups. The ‘Palestinians’ consist of three main Arab groups: the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians of the West Bank, and the Palestinian Refugees, which live mostly in tent refugee camps.

The war described in Psalm 83 is clearly not the war described by Ezekiel 38, the war of Gog, as the following pictures illustrates –

I believe the Psalm 83 war precedes the Ezekiel war of Gog and will result in Israel gaining much land and control of great riches of the Mideast. This will be the reason Israel will be such a tempting target for the surrounding nations listed in Ezekiel 38. Gog entices his confederates saying –

“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, 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.” – Ezekiel 38:12

Israel’s new borders will approximate those originally given to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob by God and they will control the three major water ways of the Mideast and much of the fresh water in the area which alone is a reason for the Ezekiel war. The IDF (Israeli Defense Force) will be the strongest army in the Mideast.

 

How much of Saudi Arabia Israel will control is debatable but Israel’s political influence will reach over most of it. Israel will control at least two main water ways, possibly three. As Ezekiel prophesied about the return of Israel, the IDF will be the dominant military force in the region.

“So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.” – Ezekiel 37:10

As Isaiah 11 predicted, they will gain great plunder: oil, natural gas, water, minerals, etc.

There is also another possible happening that may induce Russia, whom I believe will be the Gog of Ezekiel 38, to gather its forces against Israel – the destruction of Damascus, which was prophesied by Isaiah but, has never been fulfilled –

“The burden against Damascus. ‘Behold, Damascus will cease from [being] a city, And it will be a ruinous heap.” – Isaiah 17:1

The stage is set for this war to happen and following soon after will be the war of Gog and soon after that the setting up of the Antichrist system. Are you ready? If not, don’t forget the advise of God to the rebellious –

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” – Psalm 2:12