GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War Day 628

A Tenuous Truce

Things Happened Quickly

After I ended the podcast yesterday I cautioned us that the Iranian threat was far from over. And then my cell phone blew up with notices about a ceasefire between Israel and Iran brokered by the US and that it would go into effect within hours. I kept getting updates from my online sources that both sides were attacking right up to the deadline and then it appeared that Iran kept firing rockets that hit Israel after the time agreed to an end to the fighting. Both sides kept saying there was no ceasefire while US president Trump regaled in that he ended the war. Then Israel retaliated to more strikes and drones from Iran to which Trump lashed out at Israel for messing up his deal. Instead of coming after Iran for their violation of the agreement he blamed both sides. And did so using foul language. But are things settling down? Maybe from Iran directly, but is Iran now ordering its proxies to keep coming after Israel? Are they playing games with the region? And are they using this time to rebuild the nuclear program by recovering the enriched uranium under the rubble now? If the goal was to eliminate the nuclear ambitions has that really been accomplished? I titled my podcast yesterday “A Small Window of Time” and a lot happened in the window of time. Let’s try and unpack it and see how things fit into the bigger scheme of a Biblical perspective.

Netanyahu Claims Victory

In a recorded message, Prime Minister Netanyahu said what happened over the weekend was remarkable as we see in an article from The Times Of Israel:

In a video statement summing up Operation Rising Lion against Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, “We achieved a historic victory.”

US President Donald Trump “enlisted in an unprecedented fashion,” Netanyahu says, and thanks him for “his part in defending Israel, and removing the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Netanyahu says the historic development — US striking Iran in support of Israel — is “the fruit of a diplomatic campaign he led with [Strategic Affairs] Minister Ron Dermer.”

Netanyahu went on to thank Trump even after he was scolded by the US president:

“Israel has never had a friend like President Trump in the White House, and I thank him greatly for our joint work,” says Netanyahu, hours after a livid Trump blasted Israel for violating the ceasefire with Iran.

US forces “destroyed” the underground Fordo enrichment site, he says, adding that “we sent Iran’s nuclear program down the drain.”

The PM then made sure that everyone knows Israel will not allow Iran to rebuild the program:

“If someone, if someone in Iran tries to restore that program, we will act with the same determination, the same power, to cut off any such attempt,” says Netanyahu.

“I repeat – Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

He also said that Iran’s ballistic missile program is severely hindered as well and he praised the efforts Israel continued against Iran, efforts that Trump derided him for doing just before the ceasefire:

Netanyahu boasts that Israel also destroyed Iran’s ballistic missile production program and most of its launchers. Israel also “landed crushing blows on the evil regime” itself. He lauds the attack on Iran early this morning, before the ceasefire took effect, the same massive strike Trump raged against in front of the cameras this morning. He says Israel landed “the most severe blow in [the regime’s] history.”

Netanyahu then turned his attention to the fight against Hamas and the future for the area?

Turning to Gaza, Netanyahu says, “We must defeat Hamas and bring back the hostages.”

Looking to the future, Netanyahu says that — with Iran’s axis in tatters — Israel will open an “axis of prosperity and peace of the nations of the region” and beyond.

What’s Next?

This truce with Iran allows for the Iranian regime to still wield power which means from a Bible prophecy view, they will still be in play for the Ezekiel 38 conflict. That doesn’t mean that a regime change can’t happen, though. Since the war of Gog and Magog isn’t given a time frame much can occur between now and when that war happens. But of note is that the coalition of nations for that war are now working together in ways not seen since Israel became a nation in 1948. As for the current truce, it is as fragile as any brokered as evidenced by the skirmishes right up until the ceasefire started. And personally I think the agreement should include all of Iran’s proxies attacking Israel and they continue to do. In that scenario, if Hezbollah starts firing into Israel, Israel will punish Iran for it. If the Houthi rebels attack, Israel strikes Iran. But that isn’t on the table now so what I see is the Psalm 83 war taking place which is based on the circle of fire strategy Iran set up to defeat Israel. Iran will still pull the strings of these terrorist organizations until they pay a price for it, but absent that Israel will have to take them out on their own just as the Bible predicts. As far as the US is concerned they may be in a place where they are strong isolationists and want any potential threat to Israel be resolved with diplomacy and that could be seen in Ezekiel 38 where this is seen:

Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder? (Ezekiel 38:13, NKJV)

The enemies of Israel right now still have weapons to fight with that can cause a lot of damage and their mindset is one of never giving up and fighting until their last breath. Iran is acting that way as they celebrate the end to the fighting, forcing the US and Israel to admit they couldn’t defeat them. It’s hard to extinguish a foe who thinks like that. So, we need to assess all that’s happened and pray for the peace of Jerusalem specifically in light of future prophetic events.