21 September 2009: So said the Lord Jesus Christ in His Olivet Discourse as recorded in Matthew 24:34 (in the Greek language): “Amen lego hymin, houtos genea ou me parerchomai an heos pas tauta ginomai.” An English transliteration of what our Lord said was, “Truly I say to you, this generation shall not pass whatsoever until each and all [of] these things be fulfilled.”
This was the final qualification and timing element to all of the signs which Christ told His disciples when the signs would occur indicating His coming again at the full end of the age. The key phrases stand out in this sentence are this generation … each and all these things be fulfilled.
The absolute truth of this statement, aside from the fact that it was uttered by our Lord God incarnate, is reinforced in the prophetic truth of what our Lord had said just moments before to the Scribes and the Pharisees. In Matthew 23:1-35 Jesus lays out in detail how all of the offenses committed over many years and the innocent blood spilled from the murder of Abel to their murder of Zacharias will come upon them in the following explicit way: “Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.”
The generation of which Jesus spoke was living in the period from 66 to 136 AD when the Jews' three wars against the Roman Empire occurred, and with each war came more disaster, Diaspora and death upon the Jews, exactly as Jesus had foretold. The first Jewish-Roman war was also known as the Great Revolt which began in 66 AD, saw the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city and the sanctuary at the hands of three Roman legions as prophesied by Daniel and culminated in the fall of Masada in 73 AD. The second Roman Jewish war was also known as the Kitos war and occurred throughout the Roman Empire between 115-117 AD. The third and final war is known as the Bar Kokhba Revolt from circa 132 to 136 AD. The sum total of years between 66 and 136 AD, consistent with Jesus declaration of “this generation,” was precisely 70 years in duration.
Psalm 90:10a defines for us the maximum duration of a generation:
“The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years…”
A generation is 70 years nominally, or 80 if there is strength.
Jesus also spoke in the Olivet Discourse about how one of the key signs would be the reemergence of the state of Israel, and for which He used the metaphor of a blossoming fig tree. In a recent poll by Lamb and Lion Ministries’ Christ in Prophecy Journal, the re-emergence of the State of Israel is the overwhelming factor (nearly 70% of respondents) identified as the “most important modern prophetic development.” Indeed, this is without question the truth of the matter.
In the Lord’s prophecy about the reemergence of Israel we have a sign and a starting date with which our Lord defined to the disciples the generation which would witness each and all of the signs He foretold would be fulfilled. The question I have prayerfully pondered and raised up to the Lord is whether our generation is one of 70 years, or if we have strength to last the maximum of 80 years. By sheer reckoning of the actual calendar and the prophetic timeline yet to be fulfilled, we may well be an 80-year generation. This number of years respective to our calendar is arrived at by adding eighty years to 1948 and summing to the year 2028. We now live in the nineteenth year prior to the expiration of this 80-year generation as will now be examined.
Now that Israel has begun the year 5770 and we conclude the year 2009 AD, a look back at the time since the rebirth of Israel is probably in order. There is no doubt that we are in the season of His return, the leaves of the fig tree are in full bloom.
The first twenty years of Israel’s rebirth began in late 1947 with the initial battles of Israel’s War of Independence. In May 1948, Israel was officially reborn into the modern community of the nations of the earth. The conclusion of those twenty years in 1967 saw Israel re-capture by military conquest the whole of Jerusalem. Israel controlled its holiest ground against all odds and the combined military might of many Arab countries for the first time in 1,897 years. So of the maximum possible eighty years, just sixty remained of this generation circa 1968 AD.
The next forty years were marked by a series of wars and rumors of wars, exactly as this year marks itself with the similar rumors of imminent if not existential war involving the State of Israel and its inner and outer ring of enemies. This forty-year period saw the nearly-nuclear Yom Kippur War of 1973, the Lebanon War of 1980, the Osirak Iraq preemptive nuclear strike of 1981, the continual state of Arab-Islamic terrorism, the Intifada of 2000, the Hezbollah War of 2006, and the incessant rocket and mortar attacks from HAMAS in 2008. Of the final sixty years of the eighty years just twenty remained as we entered 2009 AD.
The final 20 years began with the Israel-HAMAS War also known as Operation Cast Lead. This war resolved nothing except to all but guarantee another larger war in the south of Israel. This year also began with an American administration coming into power which clearly does not have the interests or blessing of Israel existent within its agenda. This year began with the election of Israeli conservative Bibi Netanyahu as the Prime Minister, and the spectre of the necessity of a pre-emptive strike against the nuclear weapons ambitions of the theocratic dictatorship of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the potential for another war against Hezbollah and Syria. The next wars will be wars that almost certainly include the previously unthinkable use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.
Part II:
The coming war which will resolve once and for all the Israel-Arab conflict of the past 60+ years is, as you no doubt have guessed by now, is described in part by the prophet Isaiah in the 17th chapter of the book which bears his name, and in the prophetic words of Asaph in Psalm 83. It is Psalm 83 that I've spent some time now digging into thanks to Bill Salus' book "Isralestine." Here are some things which I believe my Biblical data mining research may have brought to the surface. I lift this research up for your peer review.
Asaph begins his Pslam by noting that the identified enemies of Israel which comprise the modern-day "inner ring" Arab-Islamic countries which are arrayed in a new moon crescent from Lebanon to Egypt are populated by ancient tribes and peoples who are not only roaring enemies of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel, but hate Him. The word used by Asaph for "head" at the end of verse 2 is ro'sh. Rosh. This is the same ro'sh used by Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39. Coincidence? I think not. Russia has been the principle ally and military supplier of these "inner ring" Arab-Islamic states for the past 60 years - and according to Ezekiel will be the leader of the "outer ring" nations who come against Israel after the Psalm 83 war. The word which precedes ro'sh in verse 2 is nasa' meaning to lift up, bear, carry, support or sustain. How appropriate to see this word right next to ro'sh in this prophetic Psalm.
In verse 3 these enemies are said to have consulted (ya'ats) against the Lord's hidden ones (tsaphan), from which the meaning can be taken that these "inner ring" enemies counsel, purpose, devise,or plan with one another with respect to the Lord's hidden treasures. Does anyone not think Israel's enemies plot against Israel and have the newly discovered and vast reserves of natural gas and other deeply hidden treasures eyed as a spoil with which to compensate themselves after a successful military campaign designed to wipe Israel off the map? Is this not also the stated intent of the Gog/Magog "outer ring" military confederation? Talk about a unity of purpose!
Then Asaph sets about the task of naming these enemies. This aspect has been well covered, there are the "inner ring" enemies noted elsewhere and above. I would only note here that the mention of Asshur appears to be in reference to its providing assistance to these "inner ring' enemies in the form of political or military support.
Immediately after this naming of the "inner ring' enemies we come to the "do unto" (`asah) meaning of something for the Lord to accomplish against these enemies. First among them is the historical reference to the Midianites (Midyan), the Arabians -the Arabs, who come against Israel as Sisera, meaning in battle array, and as Jabin at the brook of Kishon (Qiyshown), which is central Israel via the West Bank.
It is interesting to note here that this location was also the site where Elijah had his confrontation with the false god Baal. It would appear that Asaph is prophetically invoking what was recorded in 1 Kings 18:17-40 where judgment is visited against a false god ("allah") and a false prophet (Muhammed) in the manner of an irresistible force. It's as if All of Islam comes against Yisra'el and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is subsequently consumed in totality by the flaming pyre of an animal sacrifice. I cannot help but come away from these verses thinking that Asaph is prophetically telling us that history will once again repeat itself and that the defeat of the newest false god of the Arabs ("allah") will begin with the battle that erupts here. Yes, it appear to me that the defeat inflicted here upon the Arabs and their false god/false religion is as total as the destruction that was inflicted upon Israel's enemies at Endor; and they were left as nothing more than "dung for the ground."
Asaph then discusses the leadership of this Arab confederation. First among them is Oreb, which is synonymous with a rock east of the Jordan River, in what today is the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Zeeb appears to be a reference to Israel making prey of these enemies as wolves take prey in the evening hours. Zebah is a reference to a failed invasion of Israel where the invaders found themselves deprived of any defensive protection and were massacred like helpless animals. Zalumunna invokes the same prophetic image where the invaders of Israel find no place to hid or take refuge in the face of the Israeli counter-attack.
Then in verse 15 two words come up which have modern equivalents in the inventory of the Israel Defense Forces. These enemies are to be persectued (radaph), meaning put to flight, by a tempest (ca'ar) and terrified by a storm (cuwphah). The modern equivalents of these words are Sa'ar, the Israeli Navy's extremely capable corvette missile ship, and the Sufa, the Israeli Air Force's deadly F-16I extended-range strike aircraft. Either of the modern weapons platforms can reach anywhere and rain death upon the territories of the "inner ring" enemies and beyond. This is the sense I get in reading verses 13 and 14 where these enemies are rolled back as "stubble before the wind," and "as flame (lehabah) sets the hills on fire." I note here that the word lehabah not only means flame, but also the tip of a weapon, a point, or the head of a spear. Terminology like this can mean only one thing - an overwhelming military force brought to bear upon an enemy which cannot defend itself on the battlefield, has nowhere to run and hide, whose destruction is complete and total.
