Barry’s Beacon - Shining a Biblical Light on Current Events
The Opinion of an Outside Observer:
The main news filling our media over the last few weeks has been the responses from around the world to Israel’s actions against the terrorist groups in Gaza and the surrounding areas. Primarily, they are Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and similar groups in Gaza and the West Bank, along with the Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the Golan region. All these groups, as well as the Houthis in Yemen, are funded by the Iranians. The unprovoked massacre of October 7th 2023 by the Hamas terrorists, who call themselves ‘Palestinians,’ inevitably evoked a response from Israel. Several things emerge from that Israeli response. First, these “Palestinians’ claim the massacre was in fact provoked by the very presence of the Israelis there in the land since May 14th, 1948. These groups claim that all the horrific atrocities and hostage taking was a legitimate form of “resistance” against the illegitimate “occupation” of this land by Israel.
While Israel has stated that, for their own safety and security in their own land, the Hamas battalions and their extensive underground tunnel system throughout Gaza must be destroyed. The problem is that if they do not, then these Palestinian terrorist forces will re-group, rebuild, and, because of their mindset, repeat the October 7th and other attacks again and again. The thoroughness with which the Israelis are doing this has led the world, generally, to claim that the Israeli response is “disproportionate.”
However, I was born during World War 2 and recall that after repeated attacks by the Germans on Britain, the Brits and allies unleashed a “disproportionate” attack on German and Italian troops, installations, dams, military and important civilian targets. Likewise, even though the USA kept herself out of the war, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor without provocation, the US eventually responded with two atomic bombs. These actions were also “disproportionate,” but they had the effect of dramatically shortening the war and ultimately saving lives. The allies were not usually criticized for this; but the world is now severely criticizing Israel.
Furthermore, in the Israeli attacks against Hamas, Hezbollah, and similar groups, the necessity to maintain the safety of civilians throughout all the Israeli operations has recently been demanded by the international community. Yet it was never a consideration during all the wars prior to this. Indeed, there has been no such demand on the Turks in their recent fighting against the Kurds and others in Syria, or, even more pointedly and currently, Russia in the Ukraine. Nevertheless, for many years, Israel has indeed given the civilian population fair warning that operations will be undertaken in given areas, and it is then up to them to escape within the given time-frame. Yet even on this, Israel has just had the goalposts moved for these exercises by the international community. It is now also required that Israel help these civilians escape and, in addition, provide internationally acceptable shelters as well as sufficient food before their operations will even be permitted to begin. But this courtesy has not been demanded in any other war. Therefore, as an outside observer, it seems to me that the rest of the world is hypocritical in demanding of Israel something that they themselves never did, nor were expected to do, and which Hamas and associated forces never did and, importantly, still never do.
To me, it seems that the propaganda machine of the Palestinian terrorists has been unusually successful in deceiving the nations and their populations into accepting something that is illogical. To me that strongly suggests the process of demonic deception of the nations has already begun. In turn, this means that the Holy Spirit, the Restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2, has begun to withdraw His action from various parts of human society and from resistant human minds. As the record said of the immediate pre-Flood age in Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit will not always strive with mankind…” so his days will be limited before the Judgment falls. As the apostle Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12: “Because these people did not want a love for the Truth, God has permitted them strong delusion so that they may believe the lie … according to the working of Satan.” So ultimately our battle is a spiritual one against the powers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places that are intent on creating the climate from which the antichrist will manifest.
An illustration of this is the blatant campus pro-Palestinian riots across the USA that have resulted the arrest of over 2200 agitators at 43 colleges since April 18th. Similar scenes have occurred in France, Europe, UK, Australia and elsewhere. Reports from 2nd May indicate that hundreds of high-school students in the US have been given permission to join this insanity, which may point to a manipulated mindset. Some evidence suggests that this manipulation may come from Palestinian organizations in America and some curricula controlled by finance from Qatar, other Arab states, and Iran. As a result, we see slogans like “From the River to the Sea, Palestine must be free…” It was at this point that a video interview occurred between a senior Hamas official, Osama Hamadan, that was broadcast on the Al-Manar network. He was asked if that slogan to free Palestine encapsulated the aims of all the groups like Hamas. He basically responded by saying “We do not want freedom; we want justice. We want our land back…”
Again, to me, that seems a very strange situation. Consider the facts on the ground. The Arab/Muslim nations in the Middle East have over 15 million square miles under their control – some say it is even more. In contrast, the nation of Israel controls less than 8,500 square miles … and the Arabs want THAT TOO????? It leaves me shaking my head in wonderment at the perverse thinking that seems to dominate the region. A very helpful summation of the situation presented by Israeli Messianic believers can be found here:
In praying for Christians, Jews and the Israeli leadership, as well as the Palestinians and their associates, it might be important to see things from God’s perspective so we pray in tune with His will in this situation. This may involve a re-think on our part to see events and people as God does. It also may require us to discern how He can be working towards one goal nationally yet His plan for individuals within that nation is often to use those contrary circumstances, and the moving of His Holy Spirit, to turn those individuals to Himself. Let us see if we can discern some of His Master Plan in this case.
What had the Eternal Planned?
It all began when Abram (who was to become Abraham) was about 85 years old around 2200 BC. At God’s command, this man, who has been described as “a Friend of God” (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23), had prepared 5 creatures for sacrifice, cut them each in two, and separated the halves. This was part of the ancient practice for making a covenant. Then, unexpectedly, at sundown, a burning, smoking torch (God in the Shekinah – see Exodus 13:21) actually passed between the pieces of the sacrifice, thereby making a personal covenant with Abram. God said to Abram: “To your descendants (Isaac, Jacob, Israel – see for example Psalm 105:8-12) I have given this land (the land of the Canaanites – Genesis 12:7), from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates (for a perpetual covenant, an everlasting possession – Genesis 17:7-8, Psalm 10510-11 etc).” As you trace this thread through the Bible, it becomes apparent that the children of Israel are God’s chosen caretakers for God’s land. For this reason, it is stated in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (LXX) that “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations…He set their boundaries in accord with the Children of Israel. For Jacob became the LORD’s portion and Israel the place of His inheritance.”
Since Israel was to be God’s caretakers for God’s land, they were required to obey His directives. This meant blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience in the same way that a growing child is trained for its future prospects. There were two occasions when the Jewish nation had to be punished severely for their disobedience and idolatry instead of faithfulness to God. Moses had already warned them of both in Deuteronomy. On the first occasion, God allowed them to be taken captive to Babylon for 70 years, and the Temple was destroyed (in 586 BC). Then, after the land had been without them for 70 years, God brought them back to serve Him again and do His bidding in His land as before, exactly as He promised in Jeremiah 24:6-7 and 29:10. On the second occasion, because the religious leadership of Israel in the 1st century AD rejected Jesus (Yeshua) as Messiah, the worldwide dispersion of Jews occurred in 70 AD. Moses had warned of this in the book of Deuteronomy 18:15-19. Furthermore, God had also warned through the prophet Hosea in the book of that name, 5:15-6:3. In that Hosea passage there is the suggestion that 2000 years would pass before the restoration of Israel to the land would occur.
It is during the last 2000 years, sometimes called the ‘Times of the Gentiles’ or ‘the Church Age’ (Acts 15:13-20) that other groups moved into the Holy Land and assumed it was theirs. The situation is made fairly plain in the prophecy of Ezekiel. Thus, excerpts from chapter 36:16-38 prophesy about the dispersion of the Jews around the world in 70 AD, and the subsequent regathering and the rebuilding of the waste places and cities and the ruined places being fully inhabited again as follows:
“Moreover, the word of the LORD cam to me saying: ‘Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds…and their idols. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; and I judged them according to their ways and their deeds…. Then I will be hallowed in you [Israel] before their eyes, for I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land … then I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. … I will also enable you to dwell in the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be tilled, so those who pass by will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden.’ I the LORD have spoken it and I will do it. Then the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of men, and they will know that I am the LORD.”
Inevitably, the Arabs who took over the land in that area were upset. Here is their reaction prophesied in Ezekiel 36:1-11.
“Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! Even the ancient high places are ours in possession,’ therefore prophesy and say, ‘thus says the LORD God, because they made you desolate, surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Idumea who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds in order to plunder its open country. … Behold I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury … therefore, thus says the LORD God, ‘I have lifted up My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you [Israel] will bear their own shame. But you, O mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are at hand to come.”
In a similar way Jeremiah 12:14-15 says: “Thus says the LORD – against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit. … Behold, I have plucked the house of Judah out of the land, …but I will return and have compassion on them, and bring them back to their heritage in this land.”
From these verses, and a number of other similar ones throughout the Bible, it becomes apparent that God’s plan has always been to restore the nation of Israel to the land after a long period of world-wide dispersion (which started in 70 AD). The LORD also knew that the surrounding nations, especially Idumea, would take over the land and try and claim it as theirs. As a result, God also knew that His people Israel would have to fight to overcome these nations, and then maintain the land that the LORD had given them. It is in this context that Israel’s battles against the surrounding Arab nations occurred in 1948, 1967 and 1973. Indeed, from the documented reports of miracles occurring that helped Israel to win on those occasions, there can be no doubt that the Lord fought for Israel.
The Present Problem with Gaza etc.
This brings us right up to the present and the 7th October attack on Israel by Hamas along with the Israeli response. It is precisely at this point that the one-chapter book of Obadiah comes into focus. A perceptive Bible expositor of the 20th century, Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter, in his work “Explore the Book” calls Obadiah “The Prophet of Poetic Justice.” First, the focus is on the actions of the descendants of Esau, who mainly inhabited the area known as Edom in early times, or Idumea at the time of Christ (see ). Second, Dr Baxter listed 5 major crimes committed by the Idumeans against Israel. He pointed out that “Edom had sought the utter destruction of Judah (verses 12-14).” Some verses are in the context of the Babylonian wipe-out of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC.
The LORD said He will indeed punish the Idumeans for their litany of crimes, but at a time “When the Day of the Lord is near upon all the nations” (verse 15). That phrase ‘the Day of the Lord’ always refers to the Tribulation, so we are right near that timeslot. We know this because the chapter ends with the comment in verse 21 that, following these events, “Then will the Savior(s) come to mount Zion and the Kingdom will be the Lord’s” (that is the Millennium).” The word Savior is in the plural because the Old Testament saints along with the Christian believers in Messiah come with the Lord as in Zechariah 14:5.
As to what actually happens as God punishes the Idumean Arabs from Gaza and that region, often called Palestinians today, we leave you to read the prophecy for yourselves in verses 17- 21, some of which has already occurred. You can then come to your own conclusions as to why this may be happening and what the outcome might be.
Barry Setterfield, 5th May, 2024.
Barry’s Beacon PART 2
A Question on God’s Wrath and the Tribulation
https://www.barrysetterfield.org/God's%20Wrath%20and%20Tribulation.html
The Question & some aspects of the Tribulation:
An email was sent to me asking why is God’s Wrath poured out in the Great Tribulation? The questioner correctly noted that the terminology “the Tribulation, the Great One” is a New Testament phrase for this age-end period of 7 years in Revelation 7:14. However, Mark 13:19 especially emphasizes the uniqueness of this event in reporting the comment of Jesus that it will be worse than anything that has occurred on this planet from the beginning of Creation up until then. In that case, it will be worse than the planet-shaking catastrophes, asteroid impacts, and extinctions that ended each of the geological eras, such as the wipe-out of the dinosaurs. This point is explored in more detail in these YouTube sessions:
Furthermore, we are told in Revelation 16:8-9 & 8:7 that the output of the Sun will increase dramatically so that “mankind will be scorched with fire, and mankind was scorched with great heat … and all the green grass was burnt up.” Additional detail in Isaiah 30:26 indicates the Moon and planets will be significantly brighter as a result. We seem to be in the run-up to those days. Dr. John Eddy documented a rise of ¼% in the Sun’s energy output from 1900 to 1950 in a key paper for a 1976 Solar Conference. Furthermore, during the period when global temperatures were measured as increasing, the amount of ultra-violet light reflected from the Sun by other planets has also been measured as increasing, in line with Biblical prediction.
The Bible reminds us that, during that 7-years, even earthquakes will be so strong that “every island and mountain will be moved out of their places,” (Revelation 6:14 & 16:20). Consequently, it becomes apparent that all of our everyday trials, problems, illnesses, tribulations, terror attacks, and even wars and other disasters, pale into insignificance beside those coming in the Great Tribulation. The reason is that this event is not the usual run of tribulations that life inevitably brings. It is not even the corrective punishments that God has administered to His people, such as both the Babylonian and Roman destruction of the Temple and the resulting captivity and dispersions (mentioned above). Instead, this is God’s burning wrath poured out in Divine judgment on a corrupt society. We had an illustration of this on a much smaller scale with the geologic firestorm that wiped out the corrupt society of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18 & 19). The difference is that, this time, the whole world is involved, not just a segment of the Jordan valley.
Is the Great Tribulation really God’s Wrath?
The questioner wondered if it really was God’s wrath, and not just a coincidental series of random events. However, the Bible makes it plain that it is the wrath of God himself since that is what it is actually called in Isaiah 13:9-11. It is also called “the indignation of the Lord” and “the day of the Lord’s vengeance” in Isaiah 34:2, 8. In Hebrew, the word translated as ‘indignation’ literally means that the person initiating the action is so angry that they are frothing at the mouth. Jeremiah 30:7 calls this “the time of Jacob’s trouble” because the whole world will be against the Jews and Israel in those 7 years. That process, too, is beginning.
There is another aspect of this matter that Daniel 8:19 clarifies. Some expositors claim that there is a difference between the Tribulation and the Wrath of God. They suggest that God’s Wrath is only poured out once the Abomination is set up in the Temple at the mid-point of those 7 years. So they give the impression that the first 3½ years is relatively calm and all the action of God’s Wrath is reserved for the last 3½ years. Daniel 8:19 is making a major point about the Abomination being set up, and the angel Gabriel uses the word “indignation” in describing what is happening and when. Here is what he said to Daniel: “Look! I am making known to you what will happen at the latter end of the indignation, for at the appointed time the end [of the Abomination] will come.” Therefore, the last 3½ years of that 7-year period is called the “latter end of the indignation” by Gabriel. This means that the first 3½ years must be the “first part of the indignation.” This means that the whole 7 year period is the Indignation, not just the last half. Furthermore, the Greek LXX translation of the original Paleo-Hebrew for that passage uses the same word in Greek as is used in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 5:9 and elsewhere to describe God’s Wrath. In a word, God’s Indignation and God’s Wrath are one and the same thing and Daniel 8:19 makes it plain that the Wrath and/or the Indignation lasts for the full 7 years.
In contrast to this judgment on unbelievers, the apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 that the Christians are “to wait for God’s Son from heaven…even Jesus who will deliver us from the wrath to come.” He goes on in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 to point out that “God has not appointed us to this wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thus the apostle Paul is saying we will be delivered from the whole 7 years, not just part of it. Jesus suggested the same in Luke 21:36 after talking about events of the Great Tribulation, “which will come as a snare on all those that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch, therefore, and pray always that you will be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass on the whole earth, and stand [instead] before the Son of Man.”
WHY IS GOD’S WRATH POURED OUT?
This was the key point of the question and there are several biblical passages dealing with this. Jesus likened the immediate pre-Tribulation era to the time immediately prior to the global Judgment of Noah’s Flood when the whole earth was “corrupt before God and filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11-13 – see Luke 17:26-29). So, in general terms, God’s wrath is poured out because we are living in a corrupt, violent society.
However, the 4-fold reason for the Judgment of the Great Tribulation is given in more detail in Isaiah 24:5-6. To make it clear, we have taken the best wording for this passage from a number of translations including the Alexandrian Septuagint (LXX), the Amplified Bible, and the Living Bible. We will then analyze the 4 points individually.
“[1] The whole earth is defiled and polluted by the corruption, crimes and violence of the people. [2] They have disobeyed and twisted his Laws (the 10 commandments). [3] They have changed and violated his ordinances and disregarded its statutes. [4] They have also broken his everlasting covenant. Therefore, the curse will devour the earth and the people must bear their guilt; it will be burned up and very few people left because its inhabitants have sinned. (Isaiah 24:5-6).”
ANALYSIS OF THE REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
Item [1]: “The whole earth is defiled and polluted by the corruption, crimes and violence of the people.” This situation is very similar to that which existed world-wide prior to Noah’s Flood. Genesis 6:5, 11 reads: “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. … and the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence… for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.”
To bring this right up to date for our own time in the immediate pre-Tribulation era, we turn to the corrupt behavior of mankind listed in Revelation 9:21 that brought on this ‘indignation’ of God: “…because they did not repent of their murders, or their “Pharmakeia” (Greek meaning ‘drug-taking’) or their sexual immorality, or their thefts.” Each of these items is classified as corrupt behavior before God, and each one has become ‘excusable’ or ‘understandable’ or ‘permissible’ in today’s world.
Item [2]: “They have disobeyed and twisted his Laws (the 10 commandments).” These were finally codified by God Himself in Exodus 20:1-22 when God spoke these Laws by His own voice (Deuteronomy 5:22-25). As the Creator of heaven and earth He had given us the “manufacturer’s instructions” as to how to behave so that both we and this planet will prosper and run smoothly with minimal problems. In a word, if we obeyed His Laws, we would be blessed. However, what mankind has done with those ten ‘instructions’ or Laws has been to flout them or perversely go in the opposite direction. Then humanity wonders why God either allows this to happen, or does not do anything to fix it. Worse still, they do not understand why God should be angry when the whole system is falling apart because of their disobedience.
Item [3]: “They have changed and violated his ordinances and disregarded its statutes.” The word “ordinances,” means something that is set in order. In this case, it is used in terms of what God did in Creation Week in Genesis 1. Thus the “ordinances of heaven” as in Job 38:33 and Jeremiah 31:35-36 & 33:25, relate to the sun, moon and stars whose behavior was defined in Genesis 1:14-18. The other ordinance set in place in Creation Week was on the 5th and 6th Day. This ordinance was the formation of male and female in order to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:20 – 28) with the institution of marriage defined specifically in the same context in Genesis 2:20-24. In this last generation, humanity has gone to extremes in changing and violating this ordinance and totally disregarding His male and female delineation. Furthermore, underage children are being taught these perversions of God’s ordinance. The anger of God in this matter is expressed in Jesus words when he said of such a person “If he were thrown into the sea with a huge rock tied to his neck, he would be better off than facing the punishment in store for those who cause these little ones to do these things. I am warning you!”
Item [4]: “They have also broken his everlasting covenant. Therefore, the curse will devour the earth.” There are 15 references to an “everlasting covenant” in the Old Testament; one referred to Messiah on David’s throne; one to the requirements of the Law; one was God’s promise of Israel’s restoration; three were an eternal promise for those who followed God; one was the rainbow covenant with Noah and all flesh never to destroy the whole earth with a flood again; and eight referred to God’s covenant with Abraham which was reiterated throughout the Scriptures. From the fact of its frequent mention in consistent terms, it is concluded this can be the only one being referred to here. This is confirmed by its mention in the prelude to the Nativity in Luke 1:72-73. Here are details from Psalm 105:8-12.
“He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance,’ when they were few in number and strangers in it.”
In case it is wondered how far the land of the Canaanites extended, the answer can be found in the occasion when God in the shekinah glory walked between the sacrificial pieces that Abram had set out in Genesis 15 and gave another mention of the covenant not listed above. Here is the record:
“And it came to pass, as the sun was going down…that behold a burning torch [the shekinah] passed between the [sacrificial] pieces. On that same day, the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants [Isaac, Jacob, Israel – see above] I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.”
In actual fact, the situation with this segment of land is a little more complex. Remember that the Bible affirms that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; the world and those that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). However, in exactly the same way that a wealthy land-owner subdivides a large property and allows its occupancy by others, yet retains a key segment for himself, so also has the LORD done likewise. For this reason, it is stated in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (LXX) that “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations…He set their boundaries in accord with the Children of Israel. For Jacob became the LORD’s portion and Israel the place of His inheritance.” In other words, the land of Israel was God’s land, and the children of Israel were God’s caretakers for God’s land. In fact, God actually states in Jeremiah 12:14 “For thus says the LORD, concerning all my evil neighbors that touch my inheritance, which I have divided to my people Israel…” So the Lord has a neighbor problem because the other nations surrounding Israel want some of that land for themselves. This attitude is crystallized in Ezekiel 36:5, 8: “Thus says the LORD God: surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the other nations and against all Idumea, because they have taken My land to themselves for a possession with joy and spiteful minds to plunder it…But you, O mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches and yield fruit because My people Israel are about to come [back after world-wide dispersion].”
We have seen this happen in the last generation, even though the nation of Israel now has only a fraction of that land area. But because the Lord has fulfilled His promise to restore them as His caretakers for His land, anti-Israel sentiment is running high world-wide and is being emphasized by riots and demonstrations in cities around the world. Mankind has broken the covenant to Abraham and wants to expel Israel from the land God has given them. In Genesis 12:3 God said to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and will curse those who curse you; and in you will all the families of the earth blessed.” The corollary is that if all the nations of the earth are cursing Israel and not supporting her, then all the nations will likewise be cursed. As Item [4] concludes: “Therefore the curse will devour the earth.” The New Testament calls it the Tribulation.
In Summary, then, God is extremely angry and is about to send His Judgment on the whole earth in this generation because humanity has:
(1) Become corrupt and violent through their murders, drug-taking, sexual immorality and thefts.
(2) Disobeyed and twisted His Laws embodied in the 10 Commandments.
(3) Have violated His ordinance and statutes regarding male and female and marriage, and taught this perversion to children.
(4) Have despised God’s everlasting covenant about who should live in the Holy Land and are actively against Israel, and so even the Lord Himself.
We are too late to save our planet from the impending catastrophe. However, the way is still open for individuals to repent and get right with God by accepting the blood-sacrifice that Jesus the Messiah made for our sins, shortcomings, failures and wrong attitudes. This is sketched in Isaiah 53 and the Gospels (Good News) presented in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We commend all this for your consideration.
Barry Setterfield – 5th May, 2024.
