The Valley Of Jehoshaphat
“Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. ”
The present upheaval in geopolitics has not gone unnoticed. The world watches nervously as the United States of America and China engage in a full-blown trade war, which will have wide-ranging ramifications on the global economy. The nations around the world would be forced to take sides. It is already happening now. Our little red dot is also not spared from the fallout. Even if the two countries manage to negotiate a truce, the underlying tension is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
The Middle East region is never far away from the latest media headlines. Conflicts and full-scale wars have been an unpleasant and regular feature since the end of World War One, and the intensity heightened further after War World Two. The boundaries of nations in the Middle East were drawn shortly after the War. Three years later in 1948, Israel was birthed. Israel’s presence irks her Arab neighbours. Since the rebirth of the nation, Israel has experienced a few wars and many conflicts that threatened her very survival.
God’s Hand Over Israel
Israel’s existence and her remarkable prosperity are a testament of God’s sovereignty over history and geopolitics. In the course of her tragic history, the people of Israel were ejected twice from their homeland. The last time it happened was about two thousand years ago, barely a few decades after the death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the Jews did not have sovereignty over their homeland for some two thousand six hundred years since the Babylonian conquest and their subsequent expulsion.
As much as the Jewish history is a tragic one with numerous episodes of heart-wrenching holocausts, it is also undeniably remarkable. How could a people that had been decimated and expelled, and scattered over more than a hundred nations retained their Jewish identity and remained a distinct people? The world has not heard of another such story. It is not just fascinating; it is nothing short of miraculous!
The fingerprints of God are all over this unlikely story. It is a hard-to-believe story except that it is true. The Old Testament Scriptures contain many clear and specific prophecies of Israel’s ultimate return to their national homeland – they would be expelled and scattered, but they would return. Credit to the Jews, they never stopped believing. Somehow, the belief is etched in their national psyche. “Next year in Jerusalem” is a phrase they would often say to one another.
The Jew’s return in 1948 to their homeland is perhaps the most significant prophetic milestone in God’s End-Time calendar. Jesus Himself declared that the generation that witnessed this prophetic reality would live to see His return (Matthew 24:34).
A Final War in the Horizon
The Jews are now back in their homeland, but their security continues to be threatened. Their plight has not ended yet according to biblical prophecies found in both the Old and New Testaments. There will be one final war where Israel will be nearly destroyed with two-thirds of the people cut off and perish. The remaining one-third that survive will be tried and tested in the ravages of war. This is the Gog of Magog war described by the prophet, Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38-39). Probably, we are more familiar with the term, Armageddon, which is mentioned in the book of Revelation (Revelation 16:16).
I believe that the End is near. The most important clue is the rebirth and re-emergence of the nation of Israel in the Promised Land. Besides, we are witnessing many prophetic signs given by Jesus coming to pass like earthquakes, famines, and wars. What is most interesting for End-time prophecy watchers is the positioning of those nations that would feature in this last war.
The Middle Eastern nations of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, were non-existent barely a century ago. Their boundaries were carved out only after the first World War. Many of these nations grew in political clout because of oil money. Industrialisation and the age of machines made oil a precious commodity and that forever changed the political landscape of the Middle East. Before that, the region had hardly any economic significance at all. It was nothing but hot sandy swathes of desert wasteland. Using oil as a trump card, these nations successfully pressure and blackmail the powerful industrialised countries in the West to bully Israel.
Another interesting development is the hostility of Turkey toward Israel in the recent years. Israel used to enjoy good relations with Turkey, but it is no longer so. This is important because Turkey will play a significant role in the final war against Israel. The Anti-Christ will most possibly come from Turkey.
Not much is needed to be said about Iran. It is openly hostile toward Israel. Iran’s leaders have on many occasions openly declared their intention to wipe Israel off the map. That is the reason Israel is very wary of the possibility of Iran possessing nuclear arsenal.
Israel is surrounded by enemies that want her to be destroyed. This is a present-day reality. It is looking more and more imminent in timing terms with these prophetic geopolitical pieces of jigsaw coming together. The convergence of all these biblical prophecies and signs is giving a pretty clear signal that we are not far from the return of Jesus Christ.
God Judges the Nations
Political commentators would look at these developments and point to the nations jostling for power to achieve their strategic interests. Not wrong. However, the biblical perspective paints a different picture. The world as we know it is coming to the end of an age. God is calling the world to account. The last seven years of this age is reserved for divine judgement. Most Christians are familiar with the fact that God will judge the inhabitants of the world during the seven-year Tribulation period. However, few know that God will also judge the nations.
The prophet, Joel, prophesied that God would gather many nations and bring them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Israel’s neighbours willbe joined by nations from afar. They will come with one purpose in mind, and that is to destroy Israel (Joel 3:1; 12). The combined forces of these armies will overwhelm Israel. Humanly-speaking, there is no way for Israel to defend herself in as much as she has formidable armed forces. Israel will be overrun.
Instead of achieving a resounding victory, these enemy forces will be soundly defeated as God Almighty personally intervenes. “The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel” (Joel 3:16).
It will be a judgement day for the nations. The description of the resultant bloodbath is both graphic and chilling. Joel used the imagery of treading grapes in a winepress where grapes are crushed with stomping feet and the red juices splashed and splattered all over. The apostle, John, also employed the same imagery to describe this same scene in the book of Revelation. The risen Christ will come sitting on a white horse and He “judges and makes war” and “He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation 19:11, 15).
Reasons for Judgement
Nations will be judged for their sins of unrighteous dealings, human trafficking, injustices, innocent shedding of blood. Another primary reason is the nations’ treatment of Israel. They have “scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, and have cast lots for my people…” (Joel 3:2-3).
Many people, including Christians, do not realise the significance of Israel. Israel is God’s chosen nation and the apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:10). In other words, how a nation treats Israel is synonymous with how she treats God. The treatment of Israel as a nation is a spiritual barometer of that nation’s predisposition toward God.
God has given the contentious piece of real estate on the eastern fringe of the Mediterranean Sea to Israel. It is Israel’s Promised Land and it is God Almighty’s prerogative to give the land to whomsoever He chooses. Any nation that disagrees is contending not with Israel, but with God, and God will not take it kindly.
Pastors Leslie & Adeline Chua