Happy Mother’s Day!

Honoring your father and mother is described by the Apostle Paul as “the first commandment with a promise–that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth” (Ephesians 6:2-3 NIV).

Proverbs 31 tells us a mother should be honored by her husband and children. It urges this respect for a wife’s noble character and praises “a woman who fears the LORD,” whereas Proverbs 23 wishes happiness for mothers and urges respect for them, especially in their later years:

Listen to your father, who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old…So give your father and mother joy! May she who gave you birth be happy (Proverbs 23:22, 25; NLT).

An Angelic Announcement

The New Testament gospel of Luke tells the story of a young girl named Mary from Nazareth, a town in Israel’s northern area of Galilee. Like Moses’ sister, her Hebrew name was Miriam. Destined by God to become Jesus’ human mother, Mary was surprised when an angel greeted her and told her she had found favor with God and was to bear a son and call him Jesus.

This angelic “annunciation” went on to explain:

He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.  And he will reign over Israel [the house of Jacob] forever; his Kingdom will never end!” (Lu. 1:32-33; NLT)

Jesus Christ’s Incarnation

When the time came for Jesus to be born, Mary, “of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” (Matthew 1:16; NIV), and her espoused husband Joseph were compelled to travel from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, just south of Jerusalem (Vv. 18-24). This arduous journey was to comply with a Roman census based on the place of family origin.

The young family eventually returned to Nazareth, where Jesus obeyed his earthly parents, and “his mother treasured all these things in her heart.” The gospel writer Luke summarized Jesus’ early incarnation through childhood and adolescence, saying, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52; NIV).

Mary Prompted Jesus’ First Miracle

John Chapter Two tells us of Mary’s involvement in a wedding reception in the nearby Galilean town of Cana. Jesus and his new group of disciples had also been invited. When Mary discovered the wedding wine was consumed, she alerted her son. Jesus responded that it was not their problem, saying His “time had not yet come.”

However, you can almost see this mother smiling knowingly as she turned to the servants and said, “Do whatever he tells you” (V. 5). The rest of the famous story of Jesus turning water into wine became known as “the first of his miraculous signs” as he “revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.”

His Mother and His Crucifixion!

I recently officiated at a memorial service for the adult son of a widowed neighbor. The grief of a mother for her child–no matter the age or development–is almost incomprehensible to me. My wife has often said, “It is not right for a mother to have to bury her own child.”

Yet, John 19 includes a special glimpse of Jesus’s love and practical care for His mother at the crucial event of His crucifixion. Mary stood near the cross with her sister and several other female disciples, along with one of His close disciples, believed to be young John himself.

When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” From then on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:16-27; NLT)

Post-Resurrection Reflections

After His resurrection, Jesus showed himself to His disciples, giving “many convincing proofs” that He was alive! Over a period of forty days, He talked with them about the Kingdom of God and the future “gift of the Father,” where they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:1-8) and empowered for spiritual service and ministry.

After Jesus was miraculously taken to heaven before their eyes, the disciples returned to the upstairs room in Jerusalem, where they were staying.  Luke’s historical account in Acts 1:12-14 lists all who “joined together constantly in prayer,” including “Mary the mother of Jesus, and…

Jesus is Getting Our Rooms Ready!

In the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verses 1-3 in the New Living Translation, Jesus tells his followers about our future in Heaven:

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. (John 14:1-3; NLT).

In this special, comforting passage, Jesus tells us of peace, a place, and a promise. First, He tells us not to be “troubled.” The way to inner peace starts when we resist anxiety and worry by believing in God, His word, and His ways!  

We can have inner peace, knowing where we are going after this life and who will be there! Our faith is in Father God and His only Son, Jesus Christ, Who paid the price for our redemption! They will both be with us in Heaven and are trustworthy enough to provide all we need for this life and our journey there (2 Peter 1:3)! 

Next, we can look forward to that place where we will have eternal fellowship and happiness with Jesus, our Lord. We can be encouraged to know we will always be with Him where He is (John 14:3). In The Message paraphrase of this verse, Jesus says “I’m on my way to get your room ready.”

The Holy Spirit of God currently lives with believers and is in them (14:16-17)! Scripture teaches when believers die on earth, we are transformed. Our spirits are absent from this natural body and instantly present with our Lord (2 Corinthians 5:7-9) in the Paradise of God (2 Cor.12-2-5).

Finally, we have Jesus’ personal promise that “When everything is ready, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am.” As we have received Him by faith, now He promises us He is coming again to receive us and all who have been “born again” from above by the Holy Spirit (John 3:2-5).

We Must Be Born Again

In John 3, Jesus explained to a Jewish religious leader the necessity of being born again:

 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:2-7; NLT)

Since sin entered the world (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7), we have been cut off from our intended spiritual connection with God, Who is Spirit. The scripture says we are “dead” spiritually because of our disobedience and many sins (Eph. 2:1; NLT).

By the renewing and transforming power of the Holy Spirit, natural, sinful humans can be reconnected to God and “recharged” from “above” by a spiritual rebirth of the Holy Spirit. We are not only given new power but a new destiny!

We must not be passive listeners in the crowds around Jesus but committed followers and disciples! His ways must become our ways. We must want to please Him in all we are and do!

A story is told about an old-time evangelist who began his message by stretching out his arm and,

The End Times Stretch Out Before Us

Part 2:  A future northern coalition will attack Israel.

In our previous post, we detailed how Israel had been attacked the prior weekend with a blitz of over 300 potentially deadly drones and missiles fired from within the Islamic Republic of Iran. God used friendly Arab neighbors and Western allies to intercept nearly all of those dangerous projectiles.

The following Friday morning, Israel launched a “limited” retaliatory strike near Iran’s “nuclear energy mountain” at Isfahan, some 200 miles south of Tehran. More importantly, Israel also took out air defense units in Syria, allowing them to use a stealth fighter for a “surgical strike” on the critical Russian-made radar system in central Iran.

Are these events part of the “Gog of Magog” scenarios of Ezekiel?

Modern Iran’s ancient name of Persia is included in a listing of a coalition of countries who will fight a future war against a restored Israel in the “latter days” (Ezekiel 38:1-6). 

Chapter 39 of Ezekiel informs the reader that God will destroy the infamous leader named Gog and his coalition armies “upon the mountains of Israel.” His initial army came from those regions named “Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” in “the land of Magog,” over which he is described as a “prince.” 

Some Bible students see Russia as far north of Israel and assume it to be Magog. They see its major cities of Moscow and Tobolsk as “Meshech and Tubal.” Others see modern Turkey on a world globe as directly north of Israel and believe its eastern and western regions to have contained regions named Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal in Ezekiel’s day. 

We don’t know. We are not even sure if the prophesied future coalition of nations attacking Israel will occur before, near its end or after the 1,000-year reign of King Jesus on earth from Jerusalem. Ezekiel doesn’t compare nor tie his coalition prophecy to another timeline of end-time events.

Whatever the origins and actions of Gog’s alliance described by Ezekiel (38:1-6), God declares He will remove their weapons from their hands and “send a fire on Magog” and the watching nations “shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel” (39:4-7).

The Destruction of Gog and his Armies

Oddly, the related passages say the victorious people of Israel will “burn” the captured weapons of war for fuel for seven years (39: 9-10). If taken literally, this future, modern war will use combustible weapons. Why? Are these armaments that actually burn or is ancient imagery used to describe modern weaponry? Or, could modern weapons be made unusable due to atomic attacks, electromagnetic pulses (EMP), or the like?

After these armies “fall upon the mountains of Israel,” people of the land will “cleanse the land” for seven months to discover and carefully gather for burial all the human remains left from “Gog and all his multitude.” The human flesh from these dead will be devoured by ravenous birds and beasts of the field (39:4,11-16). 

The purity rituals of Jewish practice forbid them from touching dead or religiously unclean things. Consequently, it seems they may employ people from the region to search the land for seven months and bury the bodies systematically. If anyone sees even a human bone, they will set up a marker so it can be found by the buriers, for “Thus they shall cleanse the land.” 

The remains of bodies and bones will be collected in a mass grave in a large valley “east of the sea” and be called “the Valley of Hamon Gog” (39:11). It is not clear if this large burial site will be to the east of the Mediterranean Sea in southern Israel or east of the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan. Pastor Jack Hayford has pointed out this location would allow Israel proper to be free of religious defilement, as they “cleanse the land.” So many will be buried there that it will “obstruct travelers” on what was otherwise a major north-south route in the region. New routes to circumvent the whole area will likely be needed. 

Satan, Gog, and Magog: Together Again?

John the Revelator reveals that after the 1,000-year reign of King Jesus, Satan will be unbound from his prison in the “bottomless pit” for a “little while” (Rev. 20:1-3). He will lead a rebellion of people living during that idyllic, messianic age of peace and righteousness on earth (20:7-10). This confirms the innate sinfulness of the human heart (Jerimiah 17:9). 

It seems many will insincerely submit to King Jesus’ rule during the Millennium without inner commitment to His lordship. Likewise, there are many in our day who profess saving faith in Christ but do not truly submit to His Lordship nor persevere in faithfulness. Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:8; NLT).

John doesn’t explain how “the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan” (20:2) could again deceive “Gog and Magog.” They were already defeated and destroyed in Ezekiel 39:11-16, yet now, they are again to gather nations of innumerable rebels to battle against the “saints and the beloved city” (Rev. 20:9).

Could the apocalyptic drama of Gog and his allies attacking Israel in Ezekiel actually not be played out until after the one-thousand-year reality and rule of King Jesus and…

The End Times Stretch Out Before Us

Part 1: Israel’s Darkest Hours?

Many believe Israel is now in its darkest hour since its War of Independence against five invading Arab armies concluded in March 1949. It seems the world is increasingly turning against it.

Just over six months ago, before the October 7 massive massacres on a peaceful Shabbat morning in multiple small Israeli communities and a music festival encampment in southeastern Israel, everything was different. Geo-political circumstances seemed bright, even while Israel pursued its war with the terrorist group Hamas, making the region of Gaza a humanitarian crisis and war zone with thousands killed on both sides.

However, the atrocities committed by Hamas and other terrorist groups on those several thousand members of sleeping Israeli families and friends that fateful fall morning are almost beyond belief! Hundreds of hostages (including women, children, and the elderly) were taken back to Gaza as bargaining pawns. Dozens have apparently died in those terror tunnels under Gaza, while many of the rest are reported to have been physically and even sexually abused.

Recently, leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and proxy forces gathered in an auxiliary building in the Iranian Embassy complex in Damascus (Syria) to plan further deadly attacks. Israel (allegedly) preemptively bombed the building, killing several generals, and brought a dramatic and dangerous response from Iran two weeks later. 

Overnight on Saturday, April 13th, Middle Eastern skies were filled for several hours with 170 “suicide drones,” 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles fired from inside Iran. These weapons of death and destruction were designed to indiscriminately kill innocent Israelis (both Jewish and Palestinian civilians and children) and destroy vital civilian and military infrastructure. 

Even the falling debris from the projectiles was dangerous and badly injured a 7-year-old girl. Each munition had the potential to damage or destroy religious shrines, sites, and hospitals throughout this “holy land.” 

Fortunately, several friendly Arab nations in the region shot down many of these deadly projectiles as they flew over their sovereign countries. Western allies, including US, British, and French forces, also supported these defensive actions from their limited positions in the region.

Is This The Beginning of “the End”?

Growing numbers of unprincipled “nuclear-capable” nations now threaten each other with devastating destruction by this means. It would seem the “birth pangs” of “the end” Jesus spoke of may have begun:

And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. 7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. 8 But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

9 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. 10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all nations will hear it, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:6-14; New Living Version)

Great Tribulation, natural calamities, and supernatural plagues of God’s wrath, which are prophesied on the unrepentant and ungodly, may not be that far ahead of our present predicaments (Revelation 14-16). 

Gog of Magog

Some see the current alignment of biblical facts and military forces as preparing for the fulfillment of a significant Old Testament prophecy, found in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. There, one finds a future leader named “Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshek and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:1; Modern English Version).

Our Lord declares He is against this Gog and will “put hooks into your jaws and will bring you out…in the latter years…against the mountains of Israel” whose “people were brought out of the nations, and they, all of them, are dwelling safely” (38:4-8; MEV). 

In verse seven, other nations are mentioned as Gog’s allies, including Persia, which was renamed in 1979 “The Islamic Republic of Iran.” Iran is an adaptation of its ancient biblical name, Elam, who was Noah’s grandson (Gen. 10:22) and whose family settled in that northeastern region of the Levant or Mesopotamia. 

The prophecy is against “Gog of Magog” saying, “…On that day when my people of Israel dwell safely…you shall come from your place out of the north parts, you and many peoples with you…a mighty army” (38:14-15; MEV).

But God takes charge and fights against Gog of Magog and his allies supernaturally with great earthquakes and fires, causing them to panic and fight among themselves. He will judge these marauders and mercenaries “with pestilence and with blood.” God will “rain upon him and upon his troops and upon the many people who are with him with an overflowing rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone” (38:21-22; MEV).

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Come back next time for Part 2, when we will learn more about Gog’s armies’ destruction and dramatic burial process and the one-thousand-year “Millennium,” in which King Jesus rules from Jerusalem.

A New Palestinian Perspective

You have, no doubt, seen the banners and heard the chants from pro-Palestinians:

“From the River to the Sea…Palestine will be free.”

They are not calling for a “two-state solution” to the Arab and Jewish dispute over the ancient land of “Palestine.” Instead, they are calling for a Palestinian state–free of all Jews–from the Jordan River on the East to the Mediterranean Sea on the West! That apartheid intent is where this modern, nationalistic call comes from today. 

Ancient Prophecies

But originally, where did this phrase, “From the River to the Sea,” come from? Would you be surprised to know it comes from the Bible? Several passages describe the dimensions of the Hebrews’ “Promised Land.” Here it is in the first chapter of Joshua, named for Moses’ assistant:

“Moses, my servant, is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites” (Joshua 1:2-4; NLT, emphasis mine).

Joshua was instructed to lead the Hebrew people, encamped on the eastern side of the Jordan River opposite Jericho on the western side, to take possession of all the land from the Egyptian border all the way northeast to the Euphrates River, not merely the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. These boundaries repeat those described to Abram in Genesis 15:8 and to Moses in Exodus 23:31-33. They were augmented slightly in Deuteronomy 11:24 to clarify that the boundary due north was to be the land of Lebanon. 

Messianic leader Ariel Blumenthal has helped me understand the modern geo-political  ramification of these boundaries in the northeast when he recently wrote* that Israel’s “promised land” inheritance covered a much larger physical territory than I had previously visualized: “between the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean Sea to include what today would be sections of Jordan, Syria, and Iraq.”

Whether these biblical boundaries “from the river to the sea” will be realized as a result of the current war in Gaza is unclear. We don’t know. But, when we hear of a key Iranian general being assassinated in Syria in an alleged Israeli bombing and Russian and U.S. “advisors” and “observers” in the area to counter the “Islamic State” (ISIS) terrorist activity, it makes one take note! The Prophet Isaiah declared that Damascus will one day become a “heap of ruins” (17:1-3).

A New Perspective

Blumenthal believes “God is shifting things, and I believe we’re going to see some major changes in the boundaries” in the Middle East. He offers a new perspective on the Palestinian/Jewish crisis when he urges us, as believers, to dialog with skeptics and ask kindly:

“Hey, do you know where that phrase comes from? It comes from the Bible, in the Book of Joshua. Do you know that God promised the land to the children of Israel, the Jewish people, more than 3,000 years ago before there was ever such a thing as Palestine or the Palestinian people?”

He points out that much of the modern historical records of the Middle East are “a fairly new thing.” What had been controlled for 400 years by the Islamic Ottoman Empire suddenly became the stewardship of the victors of World War 1. New “countries” were sketched out in the dirt, sand, and marshlands that had no formal governments, money, or capitals before. Jordan is a new thing. Kuwait is a new thing. Iraq is a new thing. As the biblical records reveal, Israel is “new” but as “old” as Abram.

Blumenthal believes we should embrace the phrase “From the River to the Sea” and point people to the Bible—God’s eternal Word! Arab Christians and Messianic Jewish believers need our prayers. Pray for them and their Arab neighbors today!

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*Ariel Blumenthal, Israel’s Restoration, “From the River to the Sea,” January ‘24, tikkunglobal.org

© 2024 by Gary Curtis, who served for 27 years as part of the pastoral staff of The Church on The Way, the First Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, California. Since retirement, he has continued to blog at worshipontheway.wordpress.com. Gary and his wife live in southern California and have two married daughters and five grandchildren.