Keep Your Eyes on Jerusalem and the Middle East
Dear Good News Magazine Subscriber, What's happening in the Middle East now will affect your life, no matter where in the world you live. I wrote the cover story of the latest Good News, "The Middle East: Ground Zero of Bible Prophecy," and I've been asked to give you a little behind-the-scenes background to this vitally important subject. A century ago, few people in the Western world cared what went on in the Middle East. "There was little...to cause ordinary people living in London, or Paris, or New York to believe that it affected their lives or interests" (David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace, 1989, p. 25). At the time, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Turks. But their empire collapsed in the aftermath of World War I. Even then, the Middle East was comparatively fairly peaceful. What dramatically changed the region was the birth of the nation of Israel, a country that celebrates 62 years of existence this month. Israel was the name of a biblical patriarch who had 12 sons, one of whom was Judah, the ancestor of the Jews. Modern Israel is the Jewish national homeland. Biblically, it is referred to as Judah because it is Jewish. The other tribes of Israel dispersed after being taken into captivity by Assyria in the eighth century B.C. For almost 2,000 years there had been no Jewish nation in what is often referred to as the Holy Land. This was as prophesied by the Old Testament prophet Daniel. Daniel lived during the sixth century B.C., spending most of his adult life in Babylon, where he was taken as a slave when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah. In chapter 11 of the book of Daniel we read a remarkable prophecy about the Jewish people who were going to have a homeland again following their captivity, but who would soon find themselves sandwiched between two powerful dynasties, the king of the North and the king of the South. These two empires were ruled by Greeks, who had conquered the area in the time of Alexander the Great. In Daniel 11 we find a very accurate prophecy regarding these two sets of kings. The historical details abruptly end, and in verse 40 it is suddenly talking about "the time of the end." The reason for the gap is quite simple—there was no independent Jewish nation from the first century B.C. until 1948. But Bible prophecy showed that Judah would once again be of significance at the time of the end. In fact, it is the very center of Bible prophecy in the end time. When the disciples asked Jesus Christ what would be the signs of His coming, He told them to watch Jerusalem. "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near... For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled" (Luke 21:20, 22). Jerusalem has been at the very center of a dispute that has dominated the world for over six decades. The Scriptures show us that it will continue in that role right up until the second coming of the Messiah. "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem" (Zechariah 12:2). Keep your eyes on Jerusalem and the Middle East—the area is just as important now as it was 2,000 years ago! 
Melvin Rhodes
Good News senior writer
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