WHO WERE THE PHILISTINES AFTER WHOM THE ROMANS NAMED PALESTINE?

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The Philistines are first mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. They descended from Noah’s son Ham, through his son Mizraim. The Hamitic people spread widely, settling across the Mediterranean region, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), Egypt, Libya, and Sudan. Yet, many of these people groups are enigmatic. For example, these are the people groups (note the plural -im ending in this list of names) who came from Mizraim (translated Egypt in the ESV):

Egypt (Mizraim) fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim. (Genesis 10:13–14)

The next mention of the Philistines is in the time of Abraham. He was living in southern Canaan, in the environs of Beersheba. Water was (and is) scarce in that region, so control over the water sources was important. Unsurprisingly, there were struggles between Abraham’s house (which probably numbered about 1,000 people at the time; and the Philistines who lived to the west: So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. (Genesis 21:32) And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. (Genesis 21:34)

Abimelech is a name, but it is also a title. The Hebrew word ab (אב) means father and melech (מלך) means ‘king’, so the name Abimelech translates to ‘my father is king’. We are not yet told where this leader of the Philistines lives, but Abraham lived in Beersheba and at least visited a town to the west called Gerar. Abraham’s son Isaac also had dealings with the Philistines. In this case, however, we are given additional geographical details:

“Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.” (Genesis 26:1)

Since the name Abimelech can also be used as a title, this is not necessarily the same person that Abraham knew. But note that Abimelech is living in Gerar. This was a city situated northwest of Beersheba, on a different tributary within the same river system.

This explains much of the struggles the people were having about the control of water and why a treaty was needed. Abraham’s large contingent of people was in direct competition with the Philistines in the neighboring Gerar Valley.

In Genesis 26, we have the famous account of Rebecca being stolen by Abimelech (just like Sarah had been [Genesis 20]), the account of the Philistines stopping up Isaac’s wells due to jealousy of his large household and large flocks, and the account of how Isaac re-dug the wells.

We do not hear of the Philistines again until the Exodus, where the Israelites are told to not take the short route out of Egypt “by way of the Philistines” (Exodus 13:17). Later, the “sea of the Philistines” (i.e., the Mediterranean) was used as a boundary for the Promised Land (Exodus 23:31). Strangely, in Exodus 23, 24, and 33, when listing the nations that are to be displaced, no mention of Philistines is made.

A confusing array of tribes and nations

The term ‘Canaanites’ is used inclusively to describe the many tribes and groups that were living in the land of Canaan. The term ‘Philistines’ also describes a panoply of people groups living in Canaan. It is not always easy to separate the two terms and it is not always clear to which of the main groups one of the subgroups (e.g., the Pelethites discussed below) belong.

First, there were many non-Canaanite nations in the area, many of whom were Semitic:

  • To the northeast lived the Aramaeans, named for Aram, a son of Shem. Their home base was the city of Damascus.
  • When Abraham first moved into Israel, he was accompanied by his nephew, Lot. Lot’s sons were Moab and Ammon. The Moabites and Ammonites lived to the east of the Jordan River.
  • Abraham himself had several sons. His first, Ishmael, gave rise to the Ishmaelites, a collection of 12 main tribes (Genesis 17:20) that also lived on the east side of the Jordan River.
  • Abraham’s second son, Isaac, had two sons of his own, Jacob and Esau. Edom was another name for Esau. Like the others, the Edomites lived east of the Jordan.
  • Abraham had more sons later in life. One of those was Midian. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, in one verse the Bible says they sold him to both Midianite and Ishmaelite traders (Genesis 37:28). Ishmael was the older brother of Midian. The two were living in the same region and their names were beginning to be comingled even at this early date.
  • There were additional tribes that claimed Ham as their main patriarch (e.g., Sabtah and Sabteca), but these Arabian tribes do not factor into the story much.
  • Next were the many Canaanite nations and tribes. Only two of Canaan’s sons are named (Sidon and Heth). The other tribes are ‘Canaanite’, but we cannot know how they connect.
  • Hamath was a city to the northeast of Israel on the bank of the Euphrates River. The Hamathite territory was included in the ‘land’ promised to Abraham and which was later controlled by the Israelites under David and Solomon.
  • To the northwest were the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. These are not named among the nations that were to be displaced, but Sidon was a son of Canaan.
  • The Hittites were another Canaanite tribe. Their center of operations was in northern Israel. Bathsheba’s husband Uriah was a Hittite. It is unclear if the ancient Hittite empire that was centered in Anatolia was named after these people.
  • The term ‘Amorite’ occurs frequently in ancient histories. They ranged widely. The Bible says they came from Canaan. In Scripture, we see them living on both sides of the Jordan. Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of Heshbon, were Amorite leaders who lived on the east side of the Jordan and were defeated in battle (Numbers 21:21–35). The Amorites also figure heavily in the initial invasion of Canaan because the Israelite route went from Jericho up into the Amorite territory on the west side of the Jordan (e.g., Joshua 10:5).
  • The Jebusites lived in and around the future city of Jerusalem. They are also associated with Amorites.

There were other people in the area for whom we have little information. Some were of great stature, specifically the Rephaim (Deuteronomy 3:11) and the Anakim. The Rephaim were driven out of the area on the east side of the Jordan by the Ammonites before the Israelites entered Canaan (Deuteronomy 2:20–21). The Valley of Rephaim that led down from Jerusalem to the coastal plain (Joshua 18:16) may have been named for them. The Avvim and the Geshurites were additional enigmatic tribes, but they lived between Mt Hermon and the Sea of Galilee. The mother of two of David’s children (Absalom and Tamar) was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. (2 Samuel 3:3, 13:1)

Finally, we have the Philistines. In the book of Joshua, we learn that the Israelites were unable to conquer Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, the five-city “pentapolis” of the Philistines (Joshua 13:2–3). That region was controlled by the Philistines throughout the time of the Judges (e.g., the first period of Israelite rule after the Exodus; see Judges 3:3). For example, Shamgar famously killed 300 Philistines with an ox goad (Judges 3:31), and Samson had many dealings with them (Judges 14–16). There are many mentions of them throughout the books of 1 and 2 Samuel (e.g., Goliath was called a Gittite, that is, he was a Philistine from the city of Gath). They are also mentioned frequently in the prophets (e.g., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Obadiah, and Zephaniah). For example:

“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?”. Amos 9:7

Note here that Amos, who lived in the 8th century BC says the Philistines came from Capthor (Crete). Jeremiah, who was writing about 100 years after Amos, confirms where they came from:

“… because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains. For the Lord is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.”. Jeremiah 47:4

Answering the riddle of the Philistines

The solution to these many puzzles is that there seems to be two different people groups called ‘Philistines’ in the Bible. The latter Philistines were indeed from Crete, but these may not have been the same Philistines that Abraham knew. In fact, the Bible records a population displacement in this very area:

As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place. (Deuteronomy 2:23)

The book of Deuteronomy was written right before the Israelites invaded Canaan (~1406 BC). Thus, these new people (1) came to the area from Crete sometime between the time of Isaac and the time of Moses, a span of about 300 years. But the Bible refers to a group called the Avvim who lived in the area where the Philistines are also said to have lived.

Yet, the earlier record from Genesis does not claim they were from Capthor (although their relatives, the Capthorim, were). About 1,500 years later, the Bible claims they were. Thus, we have some confusion as to who these earlier Philistines were. If they came from Capthor, when? And, if they had come prior to the time of Abraham, why would that still be important more than a millennium and a half later?

It is strange that the Philistines are not mentioned in the ‘land’ promised to Abraham. Neither are they mentioned by the spies who searched out the land 40 years prior to the invasion of Canaan: But who were these later Philistines of David’s time? In the historical record, the enigmatic Sea Peoples attempted to invade Egypt during the reign of Ramses 111 ( 19th Dynasty, approximately 1186-1155 BC). This would have been during the period of the Judges, almost 300 years after the Exodus, and Israel had long been established as a nation. Their failed invasion was famously depicted on the walls of Ramses 111’s mortuary temple (Medinet Habu), but the diagram includes animals and women in the scene. Thus, the Sea People were not attacking; they were migrating. About the same time, we witness the end of the HIttite, Mycenaean, and Mitanni empires in the Mediterranean region. The reasons for all the upheaval are unknown, and we cannot seperate cause and effect (e.g., were the Sea People marauders, or were they seeking to escape some other group of attackers?). The Egyptian records claim that Rameses forcibly settled the survivors in southwest Cannaan, right where the ‘Philistine‘ cities were in Abraham’s day.

After Canaan had been successfully invaded by the Israelites, the Bible describes many of the people who had yet to be conquered. These include Philistines, Geshurites, the Avvim, and others:

“Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.” (Joshua 13:1–6)

By the time of David, there were multiple foreign people groups in the land, and it is a bit confusing who was there first and who may have come later. Some of these groups are closely associated with the Philistines, e.g., the Geshurites:

This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites. (Joshua 13:3)

The Bible claims the Philistines were in Canaan from the time of Abraham to the time of the final Old Testament prophets. This places them in the land before the significant influx of pottery and DNA that is associated with the island of Crete. This does not mean the Bible is wrong about the early Philistines, however. There are several possible solutions, each of which is faithful to biblical history:

  • The earlier people were called Philistines by their contemporaries; the later people could have been given that name because they lived in Philistine territory.
  • The earlier people could have been given the name ‘Philistines’ retroactively because they lived in the area later dominated by the real Philistines.
  • The earlier and later Philistines were cousins or otherwise related by language or blood, so the new arrivals simply moved into a similar culture. In other words, they were both original ‘Philistines’, but can be distinguished by episodes of migration.

VIOLENCE AND WAR IS IN THE DNA OF HUMAN BEINGS

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Violence and war seem to be in the DNA of human beings as far back as Cain and Abel. Practically from the beginning, the soil of Earth is tainted with the blood of both guilt and innocence.

Just 1600-plus years after Creation the violence on Earth grew so bad that God poured out His wrath upon the Earth with the global flood of Noah’s day. Billions of dead things buried all over the world (picture – fossil graveyard), including fossil fuels formed from dead vegetation are testimony enough of God’s judgement. Slow gradual change over billions of years did not produce fossils and fossil fuels.

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them.” Genesis 6:11-13

After the flood, it did not take long before God created the nations by confusing languages and ultimately, there was a people who made lawlessness and violence a sport: The Philistines. The most famous Philistine, of course, was Goliath the giant, who foolishly confronted the shepherd of Israel, David. When Rome desecrated and decimated Jerusalem 1,900 years ago, its final insult against Israel was to impose the name of Palestina, recalling Israel’s arch-enemy, the Philistines.

The commonly held view is that Hadrian officially renamed Judea Syria Palaestina after his Roman armies suppressed the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (the Second Jewish Revolt) in 135 C.E.; it was viewed as a move intended to sever the connection of the Jews to their historical homeland. However, Jewish writers such as Philo, in particular, and Josephus, who flourished while Judea was still formally in existence, used the name Palestine for the Land of Israel in their Greek works. The name Palestine, surprisingly, may have originated as a Greek pun on the translations of “Israel” and the “Land of the Philistines.” Regardless, Hadrian made it worse when he renamed Jerusalem—the already 1,000-year-old Jewish capital—Aelia Capitolina and turned it into a pagan city. Also, it must be remembered there were no Arabs in the land.

On October 7, the spirit of the Philistines rose through the Iranian proxy of Hamas, which means “violence” in the Hebrew Scriptures. No one can deny the massacre of October 7, especially since the murderers themselves recorded the atrocities. Yes, Hamas is so committed to its barbarism that its members took video of their invasion of a sovereign territory. They filmed its rage, which they took out on not only against the military, but innocent civilians. They bludgeoned, burned, beheaded babies. They raped women before murdering them.

God’s Word, the Bible reveals that we are fast approaching the time when God will pour out His wrath again upon an unrepentant world with the Trumpet (Revelation 8) and Bowl (Revelation 16) judgements.

“Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea,… Revelation 8:6-8

“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image... Revelation 16:1-2

What will people do when God pours out His wrath upon the Earth? At the final Bowl judgement (Seveth) they cursed God because the plague was so severe.

“And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail because the plague was so severe.” Revelation 16:21

JESUS SOON COMING MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

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God’s Jubilee: after 7 x 7=49 years the next year is a Jubilee year when debt is forgiven, land is returned to the original owners, release of slaves or indentured servants, and the land is to lie fallow. The Jubilee year is the first year of the next 49-year cycle. The Jubilee gives us a beautiful picture of what the future holds during Jesus’ coming Millennial Kingdom.

The Jubilee is also a promise to Israel that guarantees a future return to their land after the great tribulation and the wrath of God is poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgments.

The Jubilee is never used in Scripture in such a way that we can draw up precise eschatological timelines and charts depicting exactly when future prophetic events will take place. However, we should use the Jubilee and all the other symbols used in the Scriptures to describe the return of the Messiah (Jesus) and the Messianic age (Millennial Kingdom) to impact our hearts and lead us into a deeper adoration of Jesus and more fervent anticipation of His coming glorious Millennial Kingdom.

All around the world, support for Palestine after Hamas’s invasion of Israel is further evidence we are fast approaching the time when Jesus returns to rescue Israel at the battle of Armageddon. Hundreds of school students with the sanction of their teachers protested in Sydney, Australia in support of Palestine. Who is educating these children? Hamas is at once Palestinian, Arabic, and Islamist. In its worldview, any Palestinian state would need to embrace Islamism. The horror of Hamas’s barbaric attack on Jewish women, children, and old people in southern Israel on October 7 is not an aberration. It’s what the group actually stands for in its formal charter. Antisemitism is spiritual warfare and it is intense as we approach the Biblical prophesied end times.

End times prophecies are playing out now which tells us that we are fast approaching the end of this era when Jesus returns to rapture the Saints and after the wrath of God is poured out. usher in His Millennial Kingdom. Go to ww.millennialkingdom.net for more information.

The 70 Weeks Prophecy of Daniel is an amazing message of hope as it predicts an end to Satan’s deceptive rule and the beginning of the rule of Israel’s Messiah to put everything right. It has symbolic significance related to Israel’s Sabbath cycle of years, the Jubilee, and the historical period of exile/restoration. The 70-weeks theme weaves together a number of theological strands from the Hebrew Bible as a way of pointing us toward the age of Jubilee restoration in the future. Understanding the symbolic and literal meaning of the 70-weeks prophecy is vital. Many scholars have recognized that from a Biblical perspective, the 70 weeks must represent a period of 490 years. There is an intricate and complementary relationship between Daniel’s 70 weeks and the Sabbath cycle in ancient Israel that requires us to read Daniel 9:24 as though it depicts a specifically demarcated period of time (10 Jubilee periods = 490 years).

Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom is spoken of by all the Old Testament (O.T.) prophets. In the following Scripture, Peter tells us that all of the O.T. prophets proclaimed that God would send Jesus a second time to restore all things.

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago... Moses and all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.” Acts 3:19-20, 22, 24

IF ONLY HAMAS AND THE NATIONS THAT WAR AGAINST ISRAEL KNEW THIS TRUTH

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For YHVH (God of Israel) of Armies says this: “After glory, He has sent me against the nations that plunder you (Israel), for the one who touches you (Israel) touches the apple of His eye” Zechariah 2:8

“Therefore, all who devour you (Israel) will be devoured, and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity. And those who plunder you will become plunder, and all who plunder you I will turn into plunder. For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds, declares YHVH – because they have called you an outcast, saying: ‘It is Zion; no one cares for her.’ This is what YHVH says: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings. And the city will be rebuilt on its ruins, and the palace will stand on its rightful place” Jeremiah 30:16-18

This is just what God revealed to two of the Old Testament (O.T.) prophets. In fact, all of the O.T. prophets were shown the triumphant ending for Israel with its Messiah ruling and reigning over all the nations of the Earth – Jesus Millennial Kingdom (www.millennialkingdom.net)

Read what the New Testament prophet (N.T.) Paul has to say about the future of Israel.

“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”” Romans 11:25-27

Israel’s calling as a nation was (and remains) to love the God of Jacob “with all your heart and all your soul, and to obey His word“.

“And now, Israel, what does YHVH your God require of you, but to fear YHVH your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep YHVH’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Deuteronomy 10:11-13

“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years... Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4,6

THE TRUTH ABOUT PALESTINE

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The young Australian actor Nathaniel Buzolic is an exceptional example of someone who did his homework before making a decision and telling the world about it. In an interview that took place today on Israel’s Channel 13, Nathaniel mentioned that when he was growing up, he was familiar with the Israel-Palestinian narrative as it was told to him by Palestinians. But Nate was eager to learn the facts, asked the right questions, and even traveled to Israel to witness events with his own eyes. So the next time you see celebrities and influencers taking sides in any conflict, regardless of nation, religion, culture, or whatever, ask yourself if these people made even a fraction of the effort that Nathaniel Buzolic made. You know what? Ask yourself if any of the people you encounter on social media and in real life put in such efforts to understand why Nathaniel Buzolic eventually decided to bravely stand with Israel.

God has raised up Nathaniel for such a time as this. It is obvious that Nathaniel knows God and is doing what He requires of him by walking away from all of the worldly success he could have achieved as an actor.

Australian Actor Nathaniel Buzolic Interview in Israel’s Channel 13

Let’s remind ourselves just what happened three weeks ago. Two Gaza-based terrorist groups inspired by Islamist ideology, committed to the destruction of the state of Israel and backed by at least one government, staged an attack whose sadism and savagery exceeded even the horrors perpetrated by the Russian butchers of Bucha in Ukraine. The video evidence of their crimes, much of it recorded by the perpetrators, is horrifying. More than 1400 Israelis were killed, including children and even babies. More than 200 were kidnapped and are being held hostage. The idea that Israel should do nothing in response to this outrage – other than increase the flow of aid into Gaza – defies both human emotion and strategic sense. Only those wearing ideological blindfolds cannot see that.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR PLANET EARTH ON GOD’S AGENDA?

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We already know how the next few years will play out. Why? Because the Bible, God’s Word is largely a book of prophecy. There are more than 1,000 Bible prophecies about Jesus’ second coming to Earth so I am sure God wants to prepare us for this event. Sadly, the religious leaders of the time of Jesus first coming to Earth misread it totally, not because of what the Scriptures said but because they wanted a Saviour from their Roman oppressors. They did not want the suffering servant depicted in Isaiah 53. What about the religious leaders of our day? Well, the Bible tells us that there will be a great falling away from true faith in the last days (apostasy) before Jesus returns. We see that already happening as many of the denominational/institutional churches have accepted gay marriage, and homosexual pastors/leaders. Look what Jesus told us would happen in the end times:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

Are you taking these words of Jesus seriously? You should, because the re-establishment of the nation of Israel 75 years ago was the first major end-times prophecy fulfilled. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus’ second coming to Earth is to rescue the nation of Israel at the battle of Armageddon when all the armies of many nations come against Israel. Israel did not exist as a nation prior to 1948 so all the end times prophecies which are Israel and Middle East-centered made no earthly sense. Its rebirth was miraculous and God has sustained it miraculously ever since despite Satan’s desperate efforts to destroy it.

The good news is that what’s next for this planet is Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth for one thousand years, The earth will then have had six thousand years of man’s rule under Satan’s dominion. It is still to have 1,000 years with Jesus ruling the nations with the glorified Saints so that the covenants God made with Abraham, David, and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) can be fulfilled. Israel will finally be the leading nation in the world with its Messiah ruling from a magnificent new Jerusalem.

During Jesus’ Millennial reign, Satan is bound in the Abyss but God allows him to come out at the end of the thousand years and he is still able to gather an army whose number is like the sand of the sea. I often wondered why during Jesus’ Millennial reign, He and the Saints have to rule the nations with a “rod of iron” until I read the following Scripture.

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10

REPORT ON HOW ISRAEL WILL RESPOND TO HAMAS ATTACK

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The following video is hosted by John Lockwood of Kingdom Builders, Australia. This week John organised two Israeli leaders to give us a report on what is happening in Israel and how Israel’s leaders will respond to this horrific attack.

I have visited Israel four times and spent time on a number of Kibbutz. In the video, Eitan shows a photo of a group of Australians (Kingdom Builders Tour) on a kibbutz with the leader of the kibbutz (center front row). His family was killed in the recent attack. I am in the photo taken on this Kibbutz where the main attack occurred on the border of Gaza. I am the person in the back row second from the right.

Thank goodness Christians are not taken by surprise at what we see unfolding in the Middle East. God’s Word (Bible) is largely prophecy. God tells us in advance what will happen so that we know He is in control. Spiritual warfare is hotting up and the last seven years prior to Jesus returning to Earth with the glorified Saints to commence His Millennial Kingdom is fast approaching. All Christians have been praying ” Your Kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” That prayer will be answered with Jesus’ Millennial reign on this Earth.

ISRAEL’S RETURN, JUDGEMENT & THE MILLENNIUM

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Jonathan Cahn preaches on the many end-times prophecies, starting with the rebirth of Israel and the great falling away in denominational institutional churches and ending with the coming Millennial reign of Jesus from a restructured/rebuilt Jerusalem.

Jonathan like many born-again leaders knows we are in the last days before Jesus returns and is preparing his congregation for what is ahead. My only concern is that he does not address the timing of The Rapture and the fact Christians need to prepare for the coming tribulation, even great tribulation. As Jesus and Paul told the disciples that they would see the Abomination of Desolation (Antichrist) (Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) seated in the Temple declaring himself to be God. This takes place midway through the last seven years before Jesus returns to Earth with the Saints. The Rapture timing is at the end of the sixth year, the sixth seal, and the sixth church (church of Philadelphia).

SIXTH SEAL (Celestial signs that precede Jesus coming to rapture the Saints and signals the great day of God’s wrath has come): “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:12-17

CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA: “Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:8,10

Moreover, the Church of Laodicea is the church that is left behind to face the wrath of God which hopefully leads to repentance and saving faith.

UN DECLARES ISRAEL’S ESTABLISHMENT A CATASTROPHE

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Did you know the UN General Assembly voted to formally recognize “Nakba Day,” an annual memorial event characterizing the establishment of the State of Israel as a disaster? It was a major victory for pro-Palestinian activists.

The word “Nakba,” which means catastrophe in Arabic, has been used to describe the 1948 War of Independence that led to the creation of the Jewish State.

The UN resolution, which was sponsored by the Palestinian delegation to the UN, Egypt, Jordan, Senegal, Yemen and Tunisia, calls for the “commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, including by organizing a high-level event at the General Assembly Hall” on May 15th, 2023.

Both Egypt and Jordan have decades-old peace treaties with Israel, though tensions with Jordan have escalated in recent years.

It is telling that Israel’s so-called new “friends” in the Arab world, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan supported the anti-Israel resolution.

“Recently, the UN General Assembly passed a shameful resolution calling for an official event to commemorate the Palestinian ‘Nakba’ on the 75th Anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel,” wrote Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan. “By passing such an extreme and baseless resolution, the UN is only helping to perpetuate the conflict.”

“Try to imagine the international community commemorating your country’s Independence Day by calling it a disaster. What a disgrace,” Erdan added. “The Palestinians’ lies must no longer be accepted on the world stage, just as this body must stop allowing the Palestinians to continue pulling its strings. I urge you all to stop blindly supporting the Palestinians’ libels.”

90 countries voted in favor of the resolution, 30 voted against it, and 47 abstained. The majority of those countries that voted to formally recognize Nakba Day are Muslim Countries.

The following Scriptures tell us exactly what God is going to do to those nations in the not too distant future:

First God is going to judge all of those nations that want to destroy Israel. Jesus will destroy them at the battle of Armageddon.

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.” Joel 3:1-3

Jesus will refine one third of national Israel during this time of judgment. They will come to know Jesus as Messiah, possibly some through the ministry of the two witnesses and some when they see Him returning to earth with the Saints, but either way they will help to populate the Millennial Kingdom.

“In the whole land, declares the Lord ‘two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people, and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” Zechariah 13:8-9

Then Jesus will gather the Jews from all the lands where they have been scattered.

“Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 37:21-23

All of the nations of the world will acknowledge Jesus as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

“Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.
“Thus, says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 36:36-38

Note what happens when nations do not go up to Jerusalem to worship Jesus as King, the Lord of hosts.

“Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.! Zechariah 14:16-19

Please use this information to evangelise the lost. They need to know what will happen in the future. The proof the Bible is God’s Word is fulfilled prophecies. All of the prophecies of Jesus first coming were fulfilled and there are many more about His second coming like those above and these will be fulfilled.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PROPHETIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE 20TH CENTURY

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The Regathering of the Jewish People – The Most Important Prophetic Development of the 20th Century

Some 70,000 people from 95 different countries immigrated to Israel in 2022, the most olim (immigrants on aliyah to Isreal) in 23 years and a dramatic increase from 2021, when about 28,600 immigrants arrived in the country.

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.” Jeremiah 23:7

We live in an age when God is fulfilling many prophecies regarding the Jews. What a testimony this is to the fact that God is alive and well, that God is on his throne and in control, and that God is faithful to his promises! This regathering of the Jews was foretold in Bible prophecy. The Old Testament prophets promised repeatedly that the day would come when God would regather the Jews to the land of Israel. This remarkable regathering of the Jews from the four corners of the Earth has occurred in our lifetime and it is the most significant end-times prophecy given by Jesus prior to His return.

As revealed in MILLENNIAL KINGDOM – PURPOSE on my new website http://www.millennialkingdom.net, one of the main reasons for the Millennium age is the fulfillment of the covenants and promises God made to Abraham.

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that…through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” Genesis 22:16-18

The Covenant of Abraham is yet to be fulfilled in its entirety and is still an alive and active promise, underpinning God’s relationship with the entire world.

The nature of the Abrahamic Covenant is strikingly unconditional as recorded in the ceremony of Genesis 15:7–12 and 15:17–18:

“I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him… When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

With the serious nature of a blood covenant in mind, it becomes even more remarkable to see that it is the LORD alone who moved between the rows of animal halves. The smoking furnace and flaming torch describe how he appeared. Because the LORD completed the ceremony without Abram, God must honour his commitments. Nothing that Abram and his descendants did or will do can change that. Also, the Bible is very clear that the Promised Land is on earth and its borders are well-defined. The land promise in the Abrahamic Covenant has never been completed. It will be by Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth with the resurrected Saints.