Israel in the Crucible

This is a graphic of Revelation 12, where it says:

"Now a great sign appeared in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven; behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads." Revelation 12:1-3

The woman is clearly Israel as described in Genesis 37:9. The garland of twelve stars are the twelve tribes of Israel and the dragon is Satan, as described later in vs. 9. Satan is trying to destroy the woman which is bringing forth the Son who is to rule the world. My purpose in this article is not to give a detailed teaching of this vision, but to highlight some of the ways it is being played out today.

Satan's plan has always been to defeat God and His plan for mankind. Since God's plan has always involved a virgin bearing a Son who will defeat Satan, one of Satan's main thrusts has been against the woman. Satan has used nations to try and destroy Israel in the past and he will continue doing so. The vision displays the dragon drawing a third of the stars of heaven and throwing them to the earth with his tail. This could be a reference to the fallen angels that followed Satan in his great rebellion, which did happen, but more likely it is a reference to the nations that have been drawn into Satan's war against the woman, which has also happened (see Daniel 8:10, 24). The detail to notice is that they, the nation stars, were thrown to the earth. No matter how great they were the nations which joined Satan in warring against Israel, all met their ultimate doom in the earth. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Rome, Turkey, England all tried to control the destiny of Israel and failed. But Israel still survives, because God wills it. There were even Jewish collaborators who were used of Satan to weaken and demoralize Israel from within and rob her of her God-given destiny, but one by one they all failed, because God watches over His Word to fulfill it!

Now, we are coming to a climax of the vision given in Revelation 12. The woman has returned to the land and Satan is yet trying to destroy her. Arab nations, which should be rejoicing for her return because they are cousins of the same family, have been deceived by Satan, through Islam, to be part of his plan to destroy her. Satan is loosing patience, because he knows his time is short, and he has drawn the mighty nations of the earth into his plan as well. The United States is playing her part to weaken Israel by forcing her through the threat of withholding aid into giving up ground needed for defense. Russia is aiding and abetting her enemies and Europe is threatening loss of needed trade if Israel doesn't capitulate to plans that will strengthen her enemies and weaken her. They loudly proclaim 'the roadmap to peace' as Jeremiah predicted, "Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace." (Jeremiah 6:14).

Also, there is an abundance of 'Jewish collaborators' who are willing to give away land that is not theirs to give. They have forgotten what their own Scriptures say; "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me." Leviticus 25:23. They say, 'Only Jews can decide' while they cave in to foreign pressure and release terrorist prisoners, which come right back and kill Israeli civilians. Like England under the British Mandate, they disarm Israeli citizens who are threatened with terrorist attacks, just to placate Arab pressure. The Union for Reformed Judaism loudly declares that Christians have nothing to say about Israel, while many of them claim American citizenship and expect to have a part in American decisions. Well, as a Christian, I have also been grafted into the "olive root" (Romans 11:17) and made an heir along with Israel of the promises of God (Ephesians 3:6). I do not mean that I have the need to physically dwell in the land as the Jews do, but I do have a great concern for it, because God does.

Yes, Israel is in a crucible of pressure, and it designed to drive her back to God. I do not trust in men's reason or power for only God's plan will prevail. This time of testing will result in her being driven into the wilderness but God will give her 'two wings of a great eagle' to carry her away from Satan's attack. Some see this as the United States whose national emblem is the eagle, but, unless the U.S. changes its moral decline this is unlikely. God does not need the United States to save Israel on eagle's wings (see Exodus 19:4). The day is soon coming when the veil will be removed from Israel's eyes and they will see Jesus was and is their Messiah. They will pay a great price for this willing blindness, but then, we who believe will also pay a price to remain firm in the face of the testing that is coming.

Pastor Charles Cooley
4/9/08