Israel, Iran and ISIS in Bible Prophecy

Notes: Israel, Iran and ISIS in Bible Prophecy 
Ezekiel 37
Pastor Greg Laurie 
Harvest OC
November 20, 2014

Fred Jordan Mission is doing a big meal and outreach in LA on Thanksgiving. They are looking for volunteers to help.

Church will be on Wednesday night for the Thanksgiving service.

Greg is telling about a traveling salesman he took a shoe off in a hotel that made a thud. He then took his other shoe off lightly. The person below his room came a half hour later wanting to know when the next shoe would drop. He couldn't sleep with the anticipation of the other shoe about to fall.

Greg is talking about ISIS beheading people and Nigerian terrorist that kidnapped 300 children. He is talking about how all theses different groups are Muslim terrorist. He says not all Muslims are not all terrorists but all these terrorists are Muslims.

He is saying these are all signs of the end times. Just like the guy at the hotel, we are all waiting for the second time, for us it is the coming of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 NLT
[1] You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. [2] For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. [3] They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. [4] They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. [5] They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

Greg quoted a man that said our current times have not been like this since the end of World War II. 

He is talking about how Israel becoming a nation reemerged for the second time is a direct fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Greg calls that a super sign.

During the Six Day War in 1967 Israel took all of Jerusalem back for the first time in over 2000 years.

Deuteronomy 1:8 NLT
[8] Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.'"

God gave Israel to the Jewish people and it rightfully belongs to them. The Bible predicted all of these things.

Israel will be scattered, regathered, regain Jerusalem, isolated and attacked.

Zechariah 12:2-3 NLT
[2] I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. [3] On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.

Jerusalem will be at the center of conflict in end times.

Israel is only 9 miles wide and is at the center of all of these events.

Ezekiel 37:1-6 NLT
[1] The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. [2] He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. [3] Then he asked me, "Son of man, can these bones become living people again?" "O Sovereign Lord," I replied, "you alone know the answer to that." [4] Then he said to me, "Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, 'Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! [5] This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! [6] I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"

Greg is pointing out that this scripture is speaking to a graveyard.

Ezekiel 37:11-14 NLT
[11] Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, 'We have become old, dry bones-all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.' [12] Therefore, prophesy to them and say, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. [13] When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. [14] I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!'"

Here we see the gathered nation of Israel and the hostility around her.

This next part has not happened yet.

Ezekiel 38:1-5 NLT
[1] This is another message that came to me from the Lord: [2] "Son of man, turn and face Gog of the land of Magog, the prince who rules over the nations of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. [3] Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord: Gog, I am your enemy! [4] I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws to lead you out with your whole army-your horses and charioteers in full armor and a great horde armed with shields and swords. [5] Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya will join you, too, with all their weapons.

Ezekiel 38:8-11 NLT
[8] A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war and after its people have returned from many lands to the mountains of Israel. [9] You and all your allies-a vast and awesome army-will roll down on them like a storm and cover the land like a cloud. [10] "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: At that time evil thoughts will come to your mind, and you will devise a wicked scheme. [11] You will say, 'Israel is an unprotected land filled with unwalled villages! I will march against her and destroy these people who live in such confidence!

Interesting phrase of the people of Israel. Saying they are confident. Right now Israel is the strongest and most confident they have ever been as a military.

Greg is speaking about Magog. He says that there is a strong case that Russia is Magog. He is pointing out how Russia and Iran have not been in alliance in over 2500.

He says the common trait for all of these people that are allies to Russia are Muslims.

He is talking about Iran and how the leaders want Israel to be annihilated as a leader said in a Tweet.

Iran is now in a treaty with the North Koreans who have nuclear weapons.

Greg is now talking about ISIS. How they used to be small and now they are really making themselves known. Beheadings, social media and small weapons. 

Greg says ISIS is now a terrorist army. Making money off of oil sales from stolen oil, kidnappings, sex trade and other terrorist acts.

Genesis 12:3 NLT
[3] I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you."

Greg believes that America needs Israel more than Israel needs America because God says so,

Ezekiel 38:18-20 NLT
[18] But this is what the Sovereign Lord says: When Gog invades the land of Israel, my fury will boil over! [19] In my jealousy and blazing anger, I promise a mighty shaking in the land of Israel on that day. [20] All living things-the fish in the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people on earth-will quake in terror at my presence. Mountains will be thrown down; cliffs will crumble; walls will fall to the earth.

God will protect Israel and turn His fire on the world.

Romans 11:25 NLT
[25] I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.

Greg says he is not Jewish but he loves them, because he has been grafted into their promises that God has given them.

Greg is saying that God is waiting for the last person to believe before He calls us all home. Are you that last person?

Greg is giving an illustration using Wall Drug in South Dakota. How the store's signs are all over the world but closer to the store there are more and more signs.

Just like these signs they are getting closer and closer as the end times get here.

Greg is now talking about the woman that ISIS stoned to death for adultery.

This story reminds him of the woman that was accused of adultery in Jesus Christ's times.

John 8:6-8 NLT
[6] They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. [7] They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" [8] Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

This woman needed Christ, He was there for her. Even though she sinned Jesus recognized it and told her to go and sin no more.

Jesus then called her a lady, even though she was a sinner, Jesus knew she would become a lady. God knows your future just as we know our past.

Jesus Christ took the wrath that was for you upon himself. No matter what sin you have committed, God will forgive you.


Best regards, 
Adam
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