CBN” On the Lebanese border today, Israel’s security forces began to evacuate thousands of residents from the city of Kiryat Shemona, relocating them to safer ground. Jerusalem’s War Cabinet may temporarily shut down the offices of the pro-Palestinian network Al Jazeera in Israel, citing its threat to national security. In the south, an Israeli Reserve General told CBN News a Gaza ground invasion is imminent, and added, “Now, everybody is praying.”
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Is the conflict in Israel a sign of the end times?
As the war in Israel continues and more of the surrounding Muslim-majority nations indicate they might escalate the situation further, one of the questions we have been asked most frequently at Denison Forum is if the fighting there is a sign of the end times.
It’s an understandable question and, from an eschatological perspective, “wars and rumors of wars” in Israel do feel different than the ongoing struggle in Ukraine or conflicts elsewhere in the world (Matthew 24:6).
But why is that the case? And why do so many Christians in particular seem to jump so quickly to the end times when conflicts in Israel arise?
While answers vary, one of the most prominent factors among evangelical Christians is the belief that the nation of Israel will play a central role in the apocalyptic conflicts that will ultimately result in Christ’s return.
Now, it must be said from the start that not all Christians agree with that assessment. As Dr. Jim Denison describes, there are seven primary approaches that people have taken to understanding the book of Revelation and, by extension, how the end times will play out. And people continue to argue about it because no approach is inarguably more biblical than the rest—though strong adherents to any one of them might disagree.
For our purposes today, however, one approach in particular stands out.
“This is not just a military, cultural, and sociological conflict—it is a spiritual war. Those who committed unspeakable atrocities on October 7, and those who would join them to destroy the Jewish people and nation, are influenced by Satan, who ‘comes only to steal and kill and destroy’ (John 10:10). So, let’s join this battle on our knees as we ‘wrestle against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 6:12). Specifically, I encourage you to offer seven biblical prayers in these days.”
In a recent episode of The Denison Forum Podcast, Dr. Denison shared a very short history of the Mideast, including who the Palestinians are, who’s occupying whom, and more.
