ARE GREAT CHANGES COMING TO MIDEAST POLITICS?

There are critically-important developments in Mideast politics which indicate that a massive shift of power and alliances is imminent. Biblical prophecies may also move toward fulfillment in how these changes may unfold.

The key development is that the Israelis and Saudis may announce a comprehensive Mideast agreement which creates an Israeli-Saudi alliance which is almost certain to bring in more Arab nations via the Abraham Accords process which was begun under President Trump. What is particularly noteworthy at this time is that both the Israeli and Saudi governments are dropping broad hints that such an agreement is close to being announced. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced publicly at a UN speech that the Israeli nation was “on the cusp of a historic peace” with Saudi Arabia (first link). The link also discusses the likelihood that an Israeli-Saudi pact could create a corridor of cooperation between Europe through a newly realigned Mideast and reaching to the Asian powers of the Quad alliance (India, Japan, Australia and the USA). This would realign modern geopolitical realities.

The second link reports that the Israelis commemorated the Saudi National Day, a day which observes the founding of the modern Saudi Kingdom in 1932. This is a hugely symbolic step toward cooperation between the two nations. In a biblically-important step, Netanyahu stated that an Israeli-Saudi pact would represent a “broader reconciliation between Judaism and Islam, between Jerusalem and Mecca, and between the descendants of Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael (emphasis added).” That last phrase bears commentary. This statement recognizes that the modern Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar (Genesis 16-17). A Saudi-Israeli deal would unite the modern Ishmaelites with the modern descendants of Judah (the Jews), one of the twelve tribes of Israel (who was first known as Jacob, the son of Isaac).

What about the modern descendants of the other tribes of Israel? Readers of my books already know where they are in the modern world. NATO includes most of the modern descendants of the ten tribes of Israel. The ten tribes of Israel scattered all over the globe when the ancient kingdom of Israel fell. About 1/3rd of them went into an Assyrian captivity, parts of the tribes of Dan and Simeon sailed to the British Isles and Dan brought its name with it (the Tuatha de Danaan who settled in Ireland). Other Israelite refugees sailed to Carthage to build that colony into an Empire that challenged Rome. The bulk of the ten tribes maintained their independence in exile and resettled in the Black Sea region, becoming known as Scythians, Iberians, etc. Daniel 9:7 quotes Daniel as mentioning in prayer that some of the tribes of Israel were “near” to the Persian site where he was praying and other tribes were “afar off” from the region of Persia. The Israelite tribes who were “near” were the former captive tribes which were transplanted to the South Caspian Sea region by the Assyrians. They later came under the Babylonian Empire and the Persian Empire before becoming independent and building the Parthian (Israelite) Empire. These Israelites fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 14:2 that a body of the descendants of the ten tribes would eventually rule over the people of the empires which had held them captive. The Scythians twice crushed the Persian Empire in huge wars and the Parthians contested with the Roman Empire as an equal for centuries before it collapsed circa 227 AD. The vast numbers of Parthians were then forced to flee toward Europe by the Sassanian Persians who overthrew Parthia’s rule. The Parthian descendants fleeing toward and into Europe became known as Saxons, Goths, Germans, Jutes, etc. The best blessings (the “birthright”) given to any of Abraham’s descendants were given to Isaac, then to Jacob/Israel and then to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim was to become an empire that included a number of nations and Manasseh was to be a single great nation, but they were to be “brother” tribes with a common language and culture through the centuries (Genesis 48:11-49:1, 22-26) and become a “multitude.” Many are unaware of the locations of the ten tribes in the modern world. The USA is modern Manasseh and the British-heritage nations are Ephraim. You can get a synopsis of the evidence for these identifications in my article, The United States of America in Biblical Prophecy. You may also click on the “Articles” tab at my website and scroll down to see a variety of articles dealing with the histories and modern locations of many of the individual tribes of Israel. It is erroneously assumed that the ten tribes of Israelis “died out” over time. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hosea 1:10 was written as God was sending the Israelite tribes into exile but that verse foretold these tribes would become far more numerous after they went into exile. A series of four printed books and one E-book detailing the comprehensive history of the ten tribes of Israel can be obtained at the homepage of my website, stevenmcollins.com. My books also do acknowledge that the modern Arabs have descended from Ishmael.

Now back to modern times. The third link details more open ties developing between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Israelis allowed a Saudi envoy to meet with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority and an Israeli official led a delegation of Israelis to officially visit the Saudi Kingdom. Importantly, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, in an interview with Fox News, observed that “every day, we [Saudi Arabia and Israel] get closer to a normalization agreement.” That the governments of both Saudi Arabia and Israel are indicating an agreement is near is strong evidence that it is only a matter of time until such an agreement is announced. The fourth link offers more in-depth coverage of the interview Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman gave to Fox News. Its content argues that we are drawing very close to a formal agreement being openly declared.

One very interested observer of this process is Iran. Iran is making very threatening sounds toward Saudi Arabia if it normalizes relations with Israel or becomes openly allied to the Jewish state. The Saudis are threatening to “obtain” nuclear weapons if Iran develops them (fifth link and sixth link). Notice the word “obtain” instead of “develop” nuclear weapons. Years ago when Pakistan developed nuclear weapons, there were reports that the Saudis had helped fund their development and had the right to take possession of a number of Pakistan nukes should they ever feel the need for them. Those reports were never confirmed or denied. These links include a statement that Israel has launched over 400 attacks against Iranian forces inside Syria (or perhaps other locations?) in recent years. The seventh link, eighth link and ninth link offer information about recent such attacks against Iranian targets inside both Syria and Iran itself. If Saudi Arabia and Israel do make a formal peace agreement, the chances of war in the Mideast could increase if Iran becomes even more warlike.

If Israel and Saudi Arabia do make a peace agreement, what becomes of the Palestinians? It is possible that the agreement may result in Palestinian autonomy over some West Bank regions instead of full nationhood. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has never shown itself to be a reliable partner for peace in the region. It incites hatred of Jews in the education of its children, pays money to the families of terrorists who attack and/or kill Israelis, etc. An Israeli-Saudi agreement may see the Saudis taking control of the Islamic Holy sites on the Temple Mount and taking over de facto administrative authority over regions now controlled by the PA. In order to win support for a Saudi-Israeli peace agreement among the Israeli Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox political parties in Netanyahu’s governing coalition, the partners may decide to “go big” and sign an agreement that includes the right for the Israelis to build a new Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. I think that would guarantee passage of the deal in the Israeli Knesset, and it would also set the stage for fulfillment of biblical prophecies which include the construction of just such a Temple in the latter-days of our age. Indeed, Revelation 11:1-5 foretells that God will send two powerful prophets to plague the world “with all plagues as often as they wish” at a time when a new Temple of God is being “measured” in Jerusalem. The Revised Standard Version of the Bible mentions the Apostle John was given a “measuring rod” to measure the latter-day Temple site. It is not clear whether this means he was to measure a Temple already finished or whether he was to measure the Temple areas being set aside and dedicated to be built into a Temple complex.

If the Saudis and Israelis formally normalize relations between their nations, it will be a huge development for world geopolitics. It will also be a step toward finalizing the respective alliances in the latter days as listed in Ezekiel 38. None of the descendants of Abraham are listed in the Gog-Magog alliance led by Russia, China and Iran. Having the descendants of Ishmael and the tribe of Judah (Jews) drawing together within the overall Western alliance would fit very well into the prophetic framework of Ezekiel 38-39.

ARE GREAT CHANGES COMING TO MIDEAST POLITICS?

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