Biblical Reflections on the Royal Wedding

On April 29, 2 billion people around the globe watched the wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton. Why are so many people fascinated with the British royal family, and what is the biblical significance of this historic event?

The throne is secure.

That was the conclusion that I, a British native now living in the United States, came to while standing in London's Trafalgar Square on the day of the royal wedding, April 29, 2011.

Looking around at the thousands of people who filled the square, I was struck by how they were disproportionately young people. They were not all British. There was a significant Canadian and South African presence in the square, their national flags flying prominently (their respective high commissions are located there). I also heard a number of European languages being spoken around me.

When the Queen appeared on the giant television screen we were all watching, a great cheer went up. Earlier, similar cheers had risen for the bride, Kate Middleton, and her groom, Prince William. (In contrast, no such cheer arose at the sight of any of the country's politicians!)

I had not heard the British national anthem "God Save the Queen" sung in public for many years, but on this occasion I heard it sung with great fervor.

What is it, I pondered, that makes the British monarchy so resilient? The current dynasty will soon be celebrating its tercentenary—300 years on the throne.

When Queen Anne died in 1714 without any surviving children (she had given birth to many children, all of whom died young), the British searched diligently for the closest relative and found one in the Elector of Hanover, who became George I. The name was changed to Saxe-Coburg when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert; and changed again to an English-sounding name, Windsor, during World War I, when the British Empire was in conflict with Germany.

The last major royal tercentenary was in 1913, when the Russian royal family celebrated theirs. Wherever they went, crowds turned out in the tens of thousands to rejoice in three centuries of stability under the Romanov dynasty. Lenin wrote to his wife that there was no prospect of a revolution in his lifetime.

But just four years later the Romanovs were gone, the victims of a revolution that eventually led to Lenin taking over and those in the royal family all losing their lives.

An example of devotion to duty

Could we see a time when the House of Windsor no longer reigns?

An interesting statistic on the wedding is that while there were 5,400 street parties across the country celebrating the wedding, there were only four anti-monarchy street parties—not much for the Windsors to worry about!

Some commentators were critical of the cost, but even here there's no argument. The Queen, who doesn't even make the annual Sunday Times list of the top 500 wealthiest people in Britain, paid for the wedding itself. The British government paid for security—quite an expense, but easily offset by all the millions that were spent by tourists.

Most people visit Britain for its traditions and history, both of which are bound up in the monarchy. Remove the Queen and there wouldn't be anywhere near the number of visitors.

Why, though, were so many young people there? And why the cheers for an 85-year-old woman who could have retired years ago? Instead Queen Elizabeth II remains the head of state of 16 countries (the Commonwealth Realms) and is head of the 54-nation Commonwealth, an organization of former British colonies.

It's ironic that although she is a supreme political figure and one of the best-known in the world, after 60 years on the throne nobody knows anything about her political beliefs. This ability to stay out of and above politics is a major contributory factor to the longevity of the House of Windsor.

But it goes deeper than that.

The Queen is highly respected and deeply appreciated by peoples throughout the Commonwealth and beyond, even in a republic like the United States, where millions got up early on the wedding day to watch the ceremony live on a number of different television channels.

Cheers for the Queen and not for politicians?

A lot of it has to do with perceptions.

Whereas the Queen is famous for her dedication to duty, serving the people in a role from which there is no break, the politicians are perceived as largely self-serving!

A few days before the royal wedding, I was in South Africa, where I was reminded by an old friend that the royal family toured South Africa and Southern Rhodesia in 1947 as a thank-you for their contributions to the Allied war effort in World War II.

While in Cape Town, then-Princess Elizabeth had her 21st birthday on April 21. She spoke these words on that occasion: "I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong." She added: "God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it."

To the best of her ability she has lived up to this pledge throughout her life, which has turned out to be a long one.

She certainly could be faulted for presiding over the dismantling of the British Empire, weakening its various component parts—though in the aftermath of the long and draining Second World War it's hard to see how it could've turned out otherwise. She could also be faulted for signing the bill that took Britain into the European Union 40 years ago, an act that has compromised her and her nation's sovereignty. But nobody can fault her for a lack of service.

An example of service to others

Some years ago, I was watching a Canadian news channel. The Queen had opened parliament in London in the morning and had then flown to Regina, Saskatchewan, where she disembarked and met a long line of dignitaries before being driven off for other engagements. Her day was a very long 31 hours. For a woman who was then 80, that was quite remarkable.

There's a profound lesson of public service here for all Christians, a lesson that Jesus Christ taught us two millennia ago. Commenting on the constant power struggles and abuses of authority that were common in the Roman world, Jesus told His followers to be different: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew:20:26-28, New International Version).

Christ-like service, fulfilling our duty to our fellow human beings, should be a priority in our lives.

Prince William seems to be following in his grandmother's footsteps, with a great sense of duty toward his future subjects. He actually works as a search-and-rescue pilot in the Royal Air Force. And concerning the broader British realm, whereas his father Prince Charles, next in line to the throne, seems disinterested in the Commonwealth, William visited Australia and New Zealand some months ago, returning to Australia immediately before his wedding to visit areas devastated by the recent floods.

He has also shown a great deal of interest in Africa, working with people in very difficult circumstances, including AIDS orphans. William and Kate's first overseas visit will be to Canada, the oldest dominion of the Commonwealth.

A taxi driver in London talked effusively the afternoon before the wedding as he drove me into London. A Kenyan Muslim, married to a Somali, he was clearly excited about the wedding and wanted me to know of the historic connections between his native country and the British royal family.

It was while visiting Kenya, he explained, then a colony of Great Britain, that Princess Elizabeth learned her father had died and she had become queen. It is also where Prince William proposed to his future bride. He continued to lament the ethnic divisions in Kenya, which exploded in appalling violence after the last election, and then criticized African leaders for corruption.

Having lived in Africa myself, I agreed that there is a great deal of corruption in some countries. His response was a quite voluble, "All of them—they are all corrupt!" Clearly, here was a man nostalgic for pre-independence Kenya! When one considers the economic decline in many of the countries that broke away from Britain, one must wonder how many others share his views.

Family and stability

The world has many systems of government, many of them very complex and difficult for the ordinary person to understand. Monarchy has an advantage in that it all comes down to family. In this case, one family has reigned for three centuries, providing a foundation of stability unrivalled in the modern world. It's all the more remarkable when we consider how much the world has changed over the last 300 years!

Growing up in a monarchy, everybody knows who the most prominent members of the royal family are and what their relationships are to each other.

In an age where family is constantly under attack and has been greatly undermined in recent years, people long for closer family ties. After the marital debacle of William's parents, there is a strong desire to see this marriage work—a union that all hope will produce children and hence continue the dynasty into the foreseeable future. In an age of global instability, people long for the extended stability of a 300-year-old dynasty.

Perhaps also there was among the crowd a nostalgia for the traditional family, which seems so elusive for the majority today.

The decline of the family in Britain and elsewhere has paralleled the decline in religious belief. That decline was quite obvious among those invited to the wedding. Commentators remarked at how many of the attendees were clearly unfamiliar with the hymns and uncomfortable in a church setting—perhaps attending a church service for the first time!

Ironically, at the same time the wedding was taking place, Westminster Abbey was hosting an exhibit commemorating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the most influential book in British history.

Royal splendor is a precursor of a greater future wedding and reign

While one quarter of the world's people watched the wedding on television—an estimated audience of 2 billion—few understand that the splendor displayed on April 29 is nothing compared to a future wedding described in the Scriptures.

The central focus of Bible prophecy is the soon-coming Kingdom of God. This Kingdom will be established on earth when Jesus Christ returns as "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation:19:16). At that time, there will be a grand wedding feast, when Christ will marry His spiritual Bride, the Church, made up of His true followers. "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready" (verse 7).

The prophet Isaiah wrote of this time, mentioning that Christ would sit on the throne of Israel's King David: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His Kingdom" (Isaiah:9:6-7).

Interestingly, the prophet Jeremiah later wrote, "For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel'" (Jeremiah:33:17), a promise seemingly not kept if the dynasty of David ended nearly 600 years before Christ, as many assume.

Ezekiel prophesied that the throne would be "overturned" three times: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it" (Ezekiel:21:27, King James Version). This phraseology implied that the throne would be pulled down and moved three times. Our online publication The Throne of Britain: Its Biblical Origin and Future shows that the throne was moved from Jerusalem to Ireland in the time of Jeremiah, then centuries later from Ireland to Scotland, and finally from Scotland to England in 1603.

Whereas many countries have their own monarchies, none has the influence of the British throne around the world. The world seems particularly interested in the British monarchy, which has a high profile globally and certainly raises Britain's stature in the eyes of the world. With satellite television it has an even greater profile, highlighting the prominence of the throne just before Jesus Christ returns to sit on it.

Some will find this hard to accept, claiming that the throne of David ended with the death of his descendant King Zedekiah more than 2,500 years ago. But if the throne of David came to an end with the fall of Judah and the death of its king, how can Jesus Christ return to take over this throne as prophesied above in Isaiah:9:7?

Genesis:49:10 further tells us that "the scepter [a symbol of royal authority] shall not depart from Judah . . . until Shiloh [a reference to the Messiah] comes."

The throne was to play an extremely important role in the fulfillment of the blessings promised to Judah's brother Joseph and his two sons.

Joseph's son Ephraim was to "become a multitude of nations" (Genesis:48:19), the prophesied British Empire, united in a common loyalty to the throne. Joseph's other son Manasseh was to similarly "become a people, and he also shall be great"—a prophecy fulfilled in the United States of America, a nation that was formed out of the British Empire but was separate from it, though America and Britain have remained fast friends and allies.

Yes, the British throne is secure. It has been there for generations and must exist in the generation that sees the return of Jesus Christ!

Warnings for America

"America must rediscover the qualities that originally made it great. That will not be easy."

Two newspaper articles in particular caught my eye recently. The first, "U.S. Funding for Future Promises Lags by Trillions," appeared in USA Today (Dennis Cauchan, June 7, 2011). It covered a sobering phenomenon we've discussed previously in several articles—the skyrocketing amount of financial obligations created by the U.S. government with no realistic way to pay for them.

While the federal government took on $1.5 trillion last year to finance the budget deficit, it shockingly added 31⁄2 times that amount, "$5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security," according to the article. The net effect? "That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for" (emphasis added throughout).

Numbers like these are so huge that people find them almost meaningless. To put it in perspective, if you spent $1 per second, 24 hours a day, you would spend $86,400 per day and more than $31.5 million per year. It would take you over 32,000 years to spend a trillion dollars!

Multiply that by 61 times, and you have some idea of that one part of America's debt problem. If you're an American, your share is $534,000 per U.S. household, "more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else—mortgages, car loans and other debt."

The other article, titled "Decline and Fall of the American Empire," was written by Larry Elliott, economics editor for the British news-paper The Guardian (June 6, 2011). It's a stern warning for a nation on a perilous path, and shocking coming from such a left-leaning paper:

"America clocked up a record last week. The latest drop in house prices meant that the cost of real estate has fallen by 33% since the peak —even bigger than the 31% slide seen when John Steinbeck was writing The Grapes of Wrath," the famous novel of Depression-era America.

Elliot points to America's 9.1 percent unemployment rate, to one in six Americans relying on government food stamps and to budget deficits that, percentage-wise, rival those of Greece, which is on the verge of financial implosion.

His sobering conclusion? "America in 2011 is Rome in 200AD or Britain on the eve of the first world war: an empire at the zenith of its power but with cracks beginning to show.

"The experience of both Rome and Britain suggests that it is hard to stop the rot once it has set in, so here are a few of the warning signs of trouble ahead: military overstretch, a widening gulf between rich and poor, a hollowed-out economy, citizens using debt to live beyond their means . . . The high levels of violent crime, epidemic of obesity, addiction to pornography and excessive use of energy may be telling us something: the US is in an advanced state of cultural decadence."

For years The Good News has warned about America's cultural, societal and spiritual decline. It's becoming so obvious now that even a secular economics editor writing for a highly liberal newspaper can recognize the connection between the nation's "cultural decadence," as he put it, and its downward economic spiral.

Elliott's article concludes with this: "Above all, America must rediscover the qualities that originally made it great. That will not be easy."

We couldn't agree more! In the following pages we'll examine some of those qualities that "originally made [America] great." We hope and pray that you personally, and all of our readers, will rediscover and apply those qualities!

Honesty

(Jesus speaking) “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Honesty is the Best Policy. There is a machine which can tell whether you are telling the truth; it is called a lie detector. Do you ever wonder why people try to lie when taking a lie-detector test? They think they can beat it. And maybe they can. But no one can beat lying to God. He knows everything. He knows us inside and out—even better than we know ourselves. Proverbs 15:11 says, “Even Death and Destruction hold no secrets from the LORD. How much more does He know the human heart!”

With this in mind, it makes sense to be perfectly honest with God. What’s the point of trying to deceive someone who sees right through you? It’s like the old adage, “When you cheat, you’re only cheating yourself.” In the same way, when you lie to God, you’re just lying to yourself. You see, being honest with God actually helps you to confront the real issues in your life. Honesty is like uncovering a wound so it can get the oxygen it needs to heal. When you expose the truth of your emotions and situation to God, He comes and breathes life on you and helps you prosper.

The point is: God values honesty. He already knows everything, so He’d prefer if you just level with Him and tell Him what you really feel. Proverbs 22:11 says, “Whoever loves a pure heart and gracious speech will have the King as a friend.” Don’t be afraid that you are going to offend Him or He won’t want to hear what you are saying. Wouldn’t you rather have a friend that was perfectly honest than one who just told you what you wanted to hear?

What are you feeling today? Maybe you don’t even know your own heart in certain matters. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you. Psalm 139:23,24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” God is not afraid of your true thoughts. He wants to hear them so He can talk to you about them. How can He help you if you aren’t first honest with Him?

So, this week, let us pray and ask God to

• Help us to tell the truth always
• Pour out His Holy Spirit on our friends and loved ones
• Give the leaders in each of our countries wisdom in governing the nation

God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for you life. May God bless you.

The Luangwa Elephants: A Lesson for All

Depredations of the elephant herds of northern Zambia by poaching led to a breakdown of the social structure of these magnificent creatures. Their experience holds sad and sobering lessons for people as well.

Gift was an orphan. She was about five years old when she wandered into the camp of Mark and Delia Owens. She had no parents, no aunts or uncles, probably no siblings.

She had no family to teach her about life, how to survive or how to behave. By some miracle she had survived the slaughter that had taken her immediate and extended family from her.

From the late 1970s through the 1980s commercial poachers shot nearly 100,000—about 93 percent—of the elephants in North Luangwa National Park in northern Zambia. The majestic elephants were killed and sold for meat, skin and ivory. The government was powerless to stop the organized poachers.

An unlikely pair of saviors

In 1986 Mark and Delia Owens arrived and established the North Luangwa Conservation Project (NLCP) with the goal of rehabilitating and conserving the 2,400-square-mile national park. The Owens had met and married as graduate students at the University of Georgia. They sold all they could, packed their backpacks and spent seven years living in tents in Botswana's Central Kalahari Desert studying black-maned lions and elusive brown hyenas in an area so remote that most animals had never seen a human being.

In Zambia, Mark and Delia received assistance from their own foundation and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. They helped curb poaching by assisting the local scouts with equipment, vehicles, communications, a school and cash incentives. As a result of working with the couple, the North Luangwa game guards became the best in Zambia.

The NLCP identified 14 villages that were notorious for harboring commercial poachers. Mark and Delia worked in these villages to establish small sustainable businesses and other alternatives to poaching, which had been the primary source of income in the area.

There were no handouts. Rather, micro-loans provided business startup money, which had to be paid back. Villagers were also encouraged to grow cash crops and learn commercial farming. More than 2,000 families in the NLCP target area benefited from the community development and agricultural assistance programs.

The ultimate goal of the NLCP was to develop low-impact tourism in the park. This industry would protect the elephants and provide revenues for villagers who in earlier times had depended on poaching for their livelihood. When Mark and Delia arrived in North Luangwa in 1986, 1,000 elephants and many black rhinos were being poached every year. By 1994 the poaching had stopped and the herd could begin to rebuild.

The heavy poaching over nearly 15 years had taken its toll, as Mark and Delia learned in a study of the elephants that was to last 10 years.

Shattering of the social structure

African elephants normally live in tight social groups or family units. Females are a part of the group for their entire lives. The unit is led by an older female, known as the matriarch, who may live to be above 60 years old.

Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and cousins normally feed together and play in the rivers. The older female elephants constantly teach the younger ones about maternal behavior. They express and reinforce bonding through touching and rubbing of body parts.

The animals show little aggression towards each other. Young males stay in the group until they are between 9 and 14 years of age, when they leave in search of a mate. Adult males are pretty much loners or spend time with only a few other males.

The older females, especially the matriarch, hold the family together and teach the younger animals where to find water, food and protection, as well as how to thrive in the jungle and savanna. Elephants are among the most social and cooperative animals anywhere on earth.

The study of the Luangwa elephants quickly revealed that 38 percent of them were tuskless. Normally, barely 2 percent of African elephants are tuskless, but the poachers had altered the gene pool by targeting animals with tusks to sell for ivory.

Worse than missing tusks, the social structure of the animals had been transformed. Family units were smaller and younger. Before poaching, more than half of the elephants were over 20 years old; now only 6 percent were. Very few females in the best reproductive age group—20-45 —remained alive.

The Owenses realized that there were no wise old matriarchs leading the family units. Instead, they were led by females about age 15, and some groups were entirely made up of orphans. Young males with no family structure to guide them formed groups like city gangs—chasing non-receptive females and fighting among themselves. The park's elephants had been reduced to bands of roving teenagers.

An orphan's sad story

Now back to "Gift"—the name given to the orphaned female elephant that walked into the Owens' camp during the study. She had no one to train her, protect her or teach her how to behave. She had taken up moving around with one of the adolescent male groups.

Normally she would not have been near male elephants until later—ovulation begins in African elephants between ages 11 and 14, and they normally don't have their first offspring until at least age 16. Gift was only five.

Three years later, the Owenses were astounded to discover that Gift, now only 8, had a baby! She was only half the age she should have been to give birth. She had become a single mom, something unheard of in normal elephant herds.

Gift was part of a much larger problem. As a result of the poaching, a quarter of the elephant "groups" were now made up of only two—a young mother and a baby. These babies were to grow up without the love, protection, training and examples of older and wiser tutors.

Being young and an orphan, Gift was not a good mother. She rarely engaged in the touching and trunk reaching with her baby that bonds elephants. But Gift and her little one were not the only struggling mother and baby, as Gift was not alone in growing up without a family. Nearly half of the births during that time were to mothers younger than 14—well below the standard of an earlier time.

By the time Gift was 16, the normal age for first giving birth, she already had three offspring and was also a grandmother. How different her life would have been if she had been raised, nurtured, trained and loved by a normal family.

Only time will tell if the Luangwa elephants will ever rebuild and regain the family structure that provided stability for them for millennia. As a result of the work of Owenses and the NLCP, the majestic animals are increasing in number and there is hope for the future.

A lesson from the Luangwa elephants

The story of Mark and Delia Owens and their work with the Luangwa elephants, and their findings regarding them, may be found at their own websites, in the books Cry of the Kalahari and The Eye of the Elephant, and in The Boiling Pot, news-letter of the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia.

When Africans read of the incredible social changes brought about by the upheaval of the normal family life of these elephants, they often compare the symptoms to what is taking place today in Africa as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

I ran across a copy of The Boiling Pot while staying in a hostel in Livingstone, Zambia, several years ago. We had traveled to Botswana and Zambia to see our oldest daughter Hollie, a medical student then working in the largest hospital in Gaborone.

She related to us that there are very few people in that area between ages 25 and 60 who are still alive. All across Southern Africa, HIV/AIDS has taken a grim toll of the adult population and left entire villages empty and thousands of orphans to fend for themselves or be raised by relatives or orphanages.

Those of us in the United States can also identify, in a different way, with the fallout from destroyed family structure. Radical social changes have taken place in Western society since the 1960s. Our epidemic of unwed mothers and gangs of young men who engage in violent activity seem eerily similar to the experience of the Luangwa elephants.

Families are crucial for survival

Our Creator intended that family structure would provide the elephants with stability, safety, lifelong relationship bonds and the means to pass on to youngsters how to behave and act as adults. The same is true of the family structure God designed for mankind.

Jesus Christ directly affirmed that our Creator designed the family unit, being the author of marriage: "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" (Matthew:19:4-5).

He then went on to add, "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate" (verse 6). Sadly, there have been unrelenting assaults against the institution of marriage from many fronts over the past generation, in many cases tearing apart what God had instituted and joined together. Perhaps in some ways it's not that much different than poaching.

A few decades after Christ's affirmation of marriage, the apostle Paul added that the Fifth Commandment—"Honor your father and your mother"—is "the first commandment with promise" (Ephesians:6:2-3). And what is that promise? "That your days may be long, and that it may be well with you" (Deuteronomy:5:16). Is it well with you?

A positive, loving family is the greatest of blessings for adults and youngsters alike. It's true for elephants, and it's true for people. When that family environment is missing, what we experience is not unlike the sad story of the elephants of North Luangwa.

4 Steps to Heaven

These 4 steps are not hard, and should be done EVERY DAY.

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit (see Luke 11:13). When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, wonderful things will begin to happen. Conscience is more easily convicted. The Bible comes alive. The Lord is more able to guide us.

2. Ask Jesus to give you a "pure" heart (see Matthew 5:8). If the root of a plant is good, its fruit will be good. It's the same with us. If our hearts become pure and clean by the grace of God, this will result in good behavior.

3. Memorize God's Word (see Psalm 119:11). Scripture is the key to all spiritual growth. The more we meditate on God's Word, and learn its teachings, the more we will "know the Lord" and His will for our lives.

4. Trust completely in Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 1:12,13). Look not to self, but to the Savior.

These 4 steps are not formal, but living and dynamic. If you will take these steps EVERY DAY, your chances of entering The Pearly Gates are outstanding.

Japan's Earthquake Disaster: A Foretaste of Worse to Come?

The world was shocked by the destructiveness of the recent earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. The disaster proved that even a modern, technologically advanced nation is helpless against the forces of nature. What perspectives does the Bible offer on this disaster?

On March 11, 2011, a monstrous 9.0-magnitude earthquake near the east coast of Japan's main island of Honshu rattled the entire country and brought much of the population to its knees.

In the more than a hundred years during which men have been measuring the strength of earthquakes, only three stronger quakes have been recorded. This one tied for the fourth-strongest on record.

This quake was the largest ever in Japan's history, unleashing the equivalent of 30,000 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs. It was so powerful that it shifted the earth on its axis by several inches, making it spin a little faster and thereby shortening the day by 1.8 millionths of a second. It moved the island nation about eight feet to the east.

Since the earthquake's epicenter was offshore, the early damage from the quake was moderate, relative to the size of the tremor. The tsunami that followed was another matter. Within minutes a huge wall of water swept onto the land, crushing buildings, capsizing boats, destroying bridges and sweeping debris in its path. Cars were swept along like they were toys.

In addition to the loss of thousands of lives, half a million people were rendered homeless, forced to take refuge in temporary shelters. Many lost everything they had, except for the clothes on their backs and perhaps a few personal items.

In the days that followed, the havoc wreaked by the earthquake began to increase exponentially. Another threat to life arose—that of radiation sickness from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. With the breakdown of cooling systems due to the earthquake and tsunami, reactors were badly damaged. Officials labored frantically to avoid a disaster like that of 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

The quake's epicenter was approximately 150 miles from Japan's capital city of Tokyo. The city and its surroundings are home to 39 million people, so any strong tremor there would be catastrophic—even one much smaller than the monstrous 9.0 shaker. So of course it's been calamitous. And that's despite some preparation, big earthquakes having struck the area in the past—in 1703, 1855 and 1923.

We should consider what's happened in the context of other recent and historic quakes—and what the Bible has to say about such natural calamities.

Frequency of recent major quakes

The earthquake off the coast of Japan is the sixth major one worldwide in a year and two months. On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake struck the poverty-ridden nation of Haiti; the epicenter was approximately 16 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Because the nation of Haiti is so poor and had few buildings designed to endure the stress of a convulsion of this magnitude, an estimated 316,000 died, 300,000 were injured and 1 million were made homeless, according to the Haitian government. An estimated 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial structures collapsed or were severely damaged. This was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years.

On February 27, 2010, a devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. Over 500 people were killed, and more than more than 1.5 million were displaced.

The earthquake triggered a tsunami, which devastated several coastal towns in south-central Chile and damaged the port at Talcahuano. Tsunami warnings were issued in 53 countries, and the wave caused minor damage in the San Diego area of California and in the Tohoku region of Japan, where damage to the fisheries industry was estimated at $66.7 million.

Chileans were only just beginning to grapple with the devastation before them even as more than two dozen significant aftershocks struck the country. In Santiago, the capital, residents reported having been terrified as the city shook for about 90 seconds.

While this earthquake was far stronger than the 7.0-magnitude one that ravaged Haiti six weeks earlier, the damage and death toll in Chile was far less extensive, in part because of stricter building standards enabling structures to withstand damage in devastating earthquakes.

On January 2, 2011, another earthquake shook southern Chile, this one with a magnitude of 7.1. Tens of thousands fled the coastal areas for higher ground, fearing the quake might generate a major tsunami like the one in 2010. Hundreds of tourists spending the New Year's holiday at resort cities cut their trips short and headed north, clogging highways.

On February 22, 2011, a 6.3-magnitude temblor struck New Zealand, leaving the city of Christchurch in ruins. This was the second major quake to strike the country in less than six months.

The earlier one of September 2010 was considerably stronger, but the Christchurch shaker did much more damage because it struck one of New Zealand's largest cities. Churches and tall buildings were toppled and more than 100 people were killed. In viewing the city, Prime Minister John Key said, "It is just a scene of utter devastation" and "We may well be witnessing New Zealand's darkest day."

Earthquake threats to the United States

What is the danger that the United States will be jolted by a colossal quake? It is not only a danger; it is virtually guaranteed to happen eventually. The two densely populated areas that are most in danger are the midlands and the West Coast.

The New Madrid fault in the Midwest is not as infamous for the threat of major earthquake damage as other faults in the continental United States, but this area experienced major seismic activity in the years 1811-1812. Seven earthquakes in the magnitude range of 6.0 to 7.7 occurred in the period of Dec. 16, 1811, through Feb. 7, 1812. These quakes rank as some of the largest in America since its settlement by Europeans.

These quakes are not as well known as other major U.S. quakes, because the affected area was sparsely populated when the cataclysms occurred. According to the United States Geologic Survey, "The area of strong shaking associated with these shocks is two to three times as large as that of the 1964 Alaska earthquake and 10 times as large as that of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake."

The first main shock of these seven occurred on Dec. 16, 1811, and was felt far away. "People were awakened by the shaking in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Charleston, South Carolina" (USGS).

During the quake that occurred on Feb. 7, 1812, the vibrations were so great that some areas of the ground sank as much as 16 feet. Resulting tidal waves from the Mississippi River created Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. It is Tennessee's largest natural lake.

West coast quakes

The most famous of mainland earthquakes in America is the 7.8-magnitude quake that struck San Francisco in 1906. This was due to seismic shifting on the San Andreas Fault, which runs roughly 810 miles through California to Baja California in northern Mexico.

Yuri Fialko, Professor of Geophysics at the University of California San Diego, completed a study in 2006 in which he demonstrated that the San Andreas Fault has been stressed to a level sufficient for the next "big one"—an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or greater.

Fialko's data suggests that the fault is ready for the next big earthquake, but exactly when that might occur we're not able to tell. According to professor Fialko, "It could be tomorrow or it could be 10 years or more from now."

Then there's the Cascadia subduction zone, a 680-mile fault that runs 50 miles off the coast of the Pacific Northwest from Cape Mendocino in California to Vancouver Island in southern British Columbia. Geophysicists estimate that it's capable of generating an earthquake with a magnitude as high as 9.0. The last time this occurred was in 1700; the one before that is estimated to have occurred around 1500.

Scientists say a rupture along this fault would cause the sea floor to bounce 20 feet or more, setting off powerful waves close to shore. The resultant monstrous tsunami would inundate coastal communities in minutes. As with the San Andreas Fault, geophysicists do not know if such a disaster is imminent but agree that eventually it is inevitable.

Earthquakes can affect the whole world

Every year thousands of earthquakes occur around the world, some strong enough to be felt by people. Most of them do no significant damage either to life or property. But some that have been recorded in the last 150 years have resulted in massive loss of life. An estimated 200,000 people were killed in an 8.5 quake in Kansu, China in 1920. In 1976, 255,000 people died from damage caused by an 8.0 quake centered near Tangshan, China. And the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami left more than 230,000 people dead in 14 countries.

Earthquakes can cripple—at least temporarily—a nation's economy. Japan is the third-largest economy in the world. While the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami will have a harmful short-term medium effect on their economy, some economists believe the catastrophe will have a negative impact short-term on the world economy.

Historically, earthquakes have at times wrought permanent damage to major powers. In ancient Greece, the city-state of Sparta had the greatest military power during the classical era. "From the ninth to the fourth century BCE its armies were almost invincible . . . Sometime around 464 BCE a powerful earthquake devastated the city of Sparta with many fatalities. This event, while not immediately affecting Sparta's prominence, had a catalytic role in its eventual decline.

"The fatalities included not only Spartan soldiers but a great many women and children as well. Thus in the following years there were many fewer births among the Spartan soldier caste, leading to the weakening of Sparta's army. This earthquake foreshadowed Sparta's gradual deterioration and disappearance from the world stage" (Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and Donald Theodore Sanders, Earthquakes in Human History, 2005, pp. 45-46).

Thus, even the mighty can be laid low by the powerful shaking of the earth.

God's involvement in earthquakes?

Is God's hand ever present in the occurrence of tragic earthquakes? This quandary has often provided fodder for philosophers.

"A shocking event at mid-[18th] century supplied a brutal confirmation of disbelief. On the eve of All Saint's Day [Nov. 1] in 1755, while the faithful were in church, an earthquake shattered Lisbon. Fire and flood from the Tagus River completed its destruction. Tens of thousands perished.

"Instantly, [French historian and philosopher] Voltaire set to work on a long poem that drew the moral: how could a personal God endowed with power and justice ordain such a holocaust? For what conceivable reason kill worshipping men, women and children in a peculiarly horrible manner?

"That they were worse sinners than the same number of Parisians or Londoners was a contemptible answer. There was no answer, except that the forces of nature acted independently of their creator" (Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, 2000, p. 378).

Because God is omnipotent, He has power over all the forces of nature to use earthquakes to punish individuals or nations, should He choose to do so. However, we should not conclude that in all cases He singles out people for chastisement through such tragedies. Sometimes people die or suffer other losses through natural disasters because of time and chance (Ecclesiastes:9:11). They are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There are exceptions, though. Sometimes God does speak through earth's turmoil, and there is surely no greater natural tumult that man can suffer than to have the very earth shake under his feet. A prolonged horrendous earthquake can turn the bravest human beings into a quivering, frightened mass of fearful flesh.

There is perhaps nothing we depend on more than having the steady, predictable solidity of the ground under our feet. When it begins to shake, buckle and roll violently, man's confidence can be reduced to zero as he sees everything he has made with his hands come crashing down around him. God's power is limitless. "He looks on the earth, and it trembles" (Psalm:104:32).

God's past interventions

During past turbulent historical periods, God has moved the earth—sometimes to instill awe, fear and respect into the minds of people. Shortly after the time that God brought Israel out of Egypt through the Exodus, there were certain men—Korah, Dathan and Abiram—who dared question the divine authority that God had given Moses. They accused Moses of presumptuousness and self-exultation (Numbers:16:3). Furthermore, a majority of the people was sympathetic to Korah, the ringleader (verse 19).

Moses knew that God was working through him, so he assembled the three rebels and the cantankerous congregation and warned them that God would move the earth, create a crevice and cause it to swallow up those who dared reject God (verse 30). Right after Moses spoke, God caused the earth to gape open with a fissure that swallowed the rebellious leaders and their families (verses 31-32).

This historical example demonstrates that God does sometimes punish disobedient people with shaking and splitting of the earth as appropriate payment for sins.

Earthquakes at the death and resurrection of Jesus

At times God has used an earthquake to send a different message. He spoke through an earthquake in the first century right after His Son was nailed to the cross.

When Jesus died, "the earth quaked, and the rocks were split" (Matthew:27:51). Perhaps the quake foreshadowed the coming judgment of God on those who had crucified Jesus and also served as a divine sign that He truly was the Son of the Father.

It impressed the Roman soldiers who were guarding the site. "So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake . . . they feared greatly, saying, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" (verse 54).

God also used an earthquake to roll the stone away from Christ's empty tomb—to show that He had gained victory over the grave (Matthew:28:1-6).

The coming terror because of earthquakes

Biblical prophecy tells of future earthquakes far more powerful than any that human beings have yet experienced. The reason for these, in part, will be to instill awe and respect towards God in the hearts of all humanity at the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah:29:1 issues a woe of warning to "Ariel," which is another name for Jerusalem. Included in the dire message is the notice: "You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise" (verse 6).

Shortly before His death, Jesus gave a solemn prophetic warning of terrifying and terrible events that would precede His return. He included among these the fact that "there will be great earthquakes in various places" (Luke:21:11, emphasis added throughout).

He also admonished all that there will be the turbulence of "the sea and the waves roaring" (verse 25). This may be a reference to future titanic tsunamis.

It will be more than just the area of Jerusalem that will be dealt deathly earthquakes at the time of the end. The greatest shakings of the planet since people have existed will make the entire earth tremble. The reaction of human beings will be nothing short of absolute panic: "They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily" (Isaiah:2:19).

There may be multiple quakes that follow that which Isaiah describes. But there will finally be one trembling and quaking of the earth that will be greater than all others.

The apostle John was given a preview of it through a vision in the book of Revelation. It will occur in conjunction with the final great battle, commonly (though erroneously) known as Armageddon, which pits the forces of Jesus Christ against those who dare rise up in rebellion against Him at His arrival.

It is part of the seventh bowl of God's wrath that is to be poured out: "There was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth ... Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found" (Revelation:16:18-20).

Why will God speak through such horrifying calamities to the population of the planet? It is because man is in rebellion against Him. We have worshipped and are worshipping idols and other gods instead of the true God (Isaiah:2:7-8).

This monstrous quaking of the planet will cause men to cast away their idols of silver and gold (verse 20). Idol worship is not limited to adoration of graven images. Idol worship includes the love of money and all things that money can buy. It can include excessive, inordinate lust for anything, because covetousness is idolatry (Colossians:3:5). We need to heed the Bible's warnings and turn from our sins!

What should you do?

In any given year, geophysicists record thousands of earthquakes; over 21,000 occurred in 2010. Most of these are small and do no damage. Large ones can do horrendous damage, and those that occur in the oceans can trigger disastrous tsunamis.

Men try to protect life and property against these powerful forces. They build seawalls to ward off the roiling ocean currents. Japan had constructed a 31-foot seawall near Fukushima on the island of Honshu. Yet even this could not stop the relentless wall of water.

No amount of planning, skills or constructing can stop a force that moves the planet, shaking the very ground on which we stand. Eventually the only deliverance is by turning to and placing ourselves in the hands of the only One who can truly save us—the all-powerful living God.

The Origins and Future of the Mideast Conflict Over Israel

Why is there so much unrest in the Middle East? Why do we see constant strife between the Israelis and their neighbors? The answers to these questions didn't begin with the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. The history of these conflicts goes back 4,000 years and is recorded in a place many people would never think to look - the Bible!

Many have long envisioned the Middle East as an exotic, faraway mixture of the ancient past and the modern world. This area of conflict between Arab and Jew is the land of the Bible, of Moses and Jesus, of prophets bringing messages of God's wrath and apostles proclaiming God's love.

The United States has been politically, economically and sometimes militarily involved in the Middle East for decades. It supported the United Nations' creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and U.S. dollars and military hardware helped Israel to win its wars with Arab neighbors.

America's roller-coaster relationship with Arab nations has run the gamut from alliance to hostility. In 1956 the United States was instrumental in putting pressure on Great Britain, France and Israel to withdraw from the Suez Canal after a military strike that seized the waterway from Egypt. It was a U.S.-led coalition that drove the Iraqis from Kuwait during the Gulf War of the early 1990s, and another that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The horrifying attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dramatically raised American consciousness of the age-old conflicts of the Middle East. Westerners are trying to understand the reasons for the hatred between Arab and Jew and why it spilled over into the Western world.

For students of biblical prophecy these and similar events aren't a complete surprise. The Middle East is the focal point of biblical prophecy. Jerusalem is where Jesus the Messiah delivered the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and it is where He promises to return to set up that Kingdom.

Over the centuries, the land of Israel has been at the center of conflict between Arabs and the Israelites—and between foreign powers vying for control of the area. Let's consider the origins of this conflict—and where it is headed.

Ancient animosities rooted in the family of Abraham

The Bible contains a great deal of information concerning the roots of the bad blood between Israeli and Arab.

The Arab peoples comprise numerous clans and tribes. Many historians trace the peoples of the southern Arabian Peninsula to the biblical figure Joktan (Genesis:10:25-30), who was born five generations before the patriarch Abraham. Other Arab peoples are descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot, who fled Sodom—those of Moab and Ammon. But to really understand the history of the Arab peoples, we must study the life of Abraham.

We begin our search some 4,000 years ago in the city of Ur near the Euphrates River in the Fertile Crescent. It was in this crescent-shaped strip stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Egyptian Nile that the first great civilizations appeared.

In Ur the Creator appeared to a man named Abram who would become a central figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. God's relationship with Abram starts in Genesis:12:1-3: "Now the Lord had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation . . .'"

Genesis 16 contains the fascinating, but ultimately tragic, story of the attempt of Abram and his wife Sarai to bring about God's promise through human means. Since it was physically impossible for Sarai to bear children, she gave an Egyptian servant girl to Abram as a surrogate mother. The child of this union was named Ishmael. For 13 years Ishmael was probably told that he was the son of promise, the recipient of God's promises to Abram.

God appeared again to Abram as we read in Genesis:17:1-2: "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.'"

God renamed him Abraham and made an amazing promise to him—his descendants would be a special people for God's purposes for generations. God previously told Abraham that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis:12:3). The promise also included the land of Canaan (Genesis:17:8)—the geographically diverse strip of land running along the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea.

God reestablished His covenant with Abraham, but there was another promise that would come as a shock to this man to whom God had promised so much: "Then God said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your wife . . . I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her'" (verses 15-16).

God's statements seemed incredible. Not only had Sarai, now renamed Sarah, been barren all her life, but she was now well past normal childbearing age. What God was promising could only happen through divine intervention. Besides, Abraham already had a son, whom he loved dearly (verse 18).

What about Ishmael?

Abraham had believed for many years that Ishmael was the son of promise, but the Sovereign Lord of history informed him that He had other plans. It was always God's plan for the son of promise to come from Abraham and Sarah. The use of Hagar as a surrogate was of their devising, not God's.

What an important lesson! How many times do we proceed with our own ideas of God's will, while in reality He has totally different plans? Abraham and Sarah tried to fulfill God's promise by human means on a human timetable. What happened next shaped the history of many generations.

God promised a son to Abraham through his wife Sarah, but what about Ishmael? Abraham asked God if Ishmael could be the son of promise. God's answer is recorded in Genesis:17:19-20:

"Then God said: 'No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.'"

As God promised, Sarah miraculously became pregnant and gave birth to Isaac. The hurt and resentment between the mothers of the two boys led to Sarah demanding that Ishmael and his mother Hagar be sent away into the wilderness—and Abraham acquiescing at God's direction.

The young man—again, likely told since childhood that he was the son of promise—found himself an outcast from his father. This set the stage for generations of strife between him and Abraham's new son, Isaac. Ishmael went on to become the father of many Arab tribes and nations. (Later, after Sarah's death, Abraham married a woman named Keturah and had other children through her. Other people groups, including smaller Arab tribes like the Midianites, came through descendants of these later children, as described in Genesis:25:1-6.)

A new generation of strife

The biblical story doesn't end with Ishmael and Isaac. One generation later there was competition between the sons of Isaac—Jacob and Esau. Before their birth God explained that "the older shall serve the younger" (Genesis:25:23). Genesis 25 goes on to record how the eldest, Esau, sold his birthright to his fraternal twin Jacob.

In Genesis 27 we find the oft-told story of how Jacob tricked his old and blind father Isaac into giving him the birthright blessing. It would be through Jacob's lineage that God would fulfill His covenant with Abraham.

Esau's hatred for what he perceived as a theft of his birthright drove him to plot Jacob's murder. Jacob fled for his life, living estranged from his family for many years.

The descendants of Jacob would become known as the Israelites. Esau, also known as Edom, became the father of the people the Bible calls the Edomites or Idumeans. The relationship between these two peoples has at times been peaceful and at other times bordered on genocide. Some of today's Arabs are evidently of Edomite descent—as are other people in the Middle East.

Islam and the Crusades

By A.D. 610 the Arab peoples of the Middle East were divided into numerous tribes, all steeped in pagan practices of that part of the world. It was in that year, during the month of Ramadan, that Muhammad received the first in a series of what he proclaimed were divine revelations. These eventually became the basis of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an or Koran.

The Koran contains alternative stories of such biblical notables as Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Job, Jonah, Saul, David, Solomon, Mary and Jesus. Muhammad claimed that Islam was a return to the religion of Abraham while Judaism and Christianity were corruptions of this true religion. In Islam's interpretation of God's plan, Ishmael takes on the role of the son of promise rather than Jacob.

The Koran presents radical differences from the Bible concerning God's interaction with mankind. These differences are most apparent in the Koran's explanation of the nature of Jesus Christ.

Christians believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the Messiah foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures, who would come to save humanity. While some in Judaism may accept the first-century Jesus of Nazareth as a special rabbi, and Muslims accept Him as a prophet, Christians ascribe to Jesus the remarkable status of divinity in a personal relationship with the Father. To devout Muslims, this is polytheism and heresy.

While Jews believe that the Holy Land was promised to them through God's covenant with Abraham and Isaac, and Muslims believe that Allah promised it to them through Abraham and Ishmael, European Christians of the Middle Ages believed that the Holy Land belonged to them because of God's fulfillment of His promise to Abraham in the person of Jesus.

In 1095, Catholic Europe organized an army for a crusade to wrest Jerusalem from Muslim control. After terrible fighting, Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders in 1099. The Muslims continued to battle for the Holy Land and a second crusade was launched in 1147. Finally, in 1291 the Muslims drove the Europeans from the region. Further crusades failed to recapture the city.

One of the saddest incidents in history took place with the "Children's Crusade." Thousands of children from France and Germany began the difficult journey from Europe to take Jerusalem. Many died from disease and starvation; the rest were captured and sold as slaves.

The area around Jerusalem remained in Muslim hands until it came under British jurisdiction after the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. In 1948 the United Nations approved the formation of the modern state of Israel, and tens of thousands of Jewish refugees from the Nazi concentration camps rushed to their new home.

Many Arabs felt betrayed by Europe and the United States. Ever since then the Arab world and the West have experienced rocky relations—a situation not helped by a succession of wars in the Middle East.

Mideast history written in advance

During the Babylonian captivity of the Jews in the sixth century B.C., God revealed a historical outline of prophecy to the Jewish prophet Daniel.

In Daniel 2 he recorded a vision concerning four great powers that would dominate the Holy Land—the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires. Later, God showed Daniel details concerning these empires. The first 14 verses of Daniel 8 chronicle Daniel's vision of a ram and a goat. Daniel wrote of a two-horned ram attacked by a male goat, arriving from the west, with a large horn between his eyes.

There have been many attempts to explain these passages. An important rule of Bible study is to let the Bible interpret itself. In this same chapter an angel appeared to Daniel and told him the meaning of the vision. Daniel wrote what the angel said in verses 19-22:

"Look, I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be. The ram which you saw, having the two horns—they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power."

This incredible prophetic passage concerns events that occurred more than two centuries after the time of Daniel. The Babylonian Empire of Daniel's day was overthrown by the Medo-Persian Empire. Centuries after Daniel received this vision, the Greeks, under Alexander the Great, would invade and conquer Persia.

The "large horn" of the male goat is this "first king" of the Greek Empire, Alexander the Great. At the height of his power Alexander suddenly died and his empire was divided among four of his generals, fulfilling the prophecies of Daniel 8.

But there's more, as we see in the very long prophecy of Daniel 11. By this time Babylon had been conquered by the Persians, and Daniel now served under them. Daniel was once again visited by an angel from God who explained future events.

Notice Daniel:11:2-4: "And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.

"And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be uprooted, even for others besides these."

After Daniel's time there would be numerous Persian kings, but these three would be prominent in the history of the empire. A fourth king would undertake a war with Greece. This was the famous Xerxes. The Persian Empire would prosper, but it would eventually fall to a Greek monarch whose kingdom would be divided into four parts. Again, the reference here, as in Daniel 8, is to Alexander the Great, whose empire was "broken up and divided" among four of his generals.

It is important to understand that most biblical prophecy is in relationship to Jerusalem. Daniel:11:5-39 records prophecies concerning the "king of the South" and the "king of the North."

History shows that these prophecies were fulfilled in the descendants of two of Alexander's generals, the Ptolemies (who ruled from Egypt, south of Jerusalem, as the kings of the South) and the Seleucids (who ruled from Syria, north of Jerusalem, as the kings of the North). These two dynasties marched in numerous wars for control of the Middle East for a long time, with dominion over the land of Israel passing back and forth between them until the Maccabean resistance led the Jews to independence in the 160s B.C.

The future of the Middle East

In Daniel:11:40 the prophecy skips ahead to the time just prior to Jesus Christ's return. Here the players have shifted.

The northern Seleucid kingdom was ultimately absorbed into the Roman Empire—an empire that has been revived numerous times in the history of Europe, with one final revival remaining, according to other prophecies. Thus, the final king of the North will be head over a new European-centered superpower. Egypt was also absorbed by the Roman Empire but it later became part of a southern power bloc again with the Muslim conquests. So it appears that the final king of the South will be a leader from the Arab world.

Daniel records: "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him [the northern ruler]; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the Glorious Land [the land of Israel], and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon [these designating the area of modern Jordan].

"He [the northern ruler] shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and [or in] the glorious holy mountain [Jerusalem, between the Dead and Mediterranean Seas]; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him" (verses 40-45).

So it appears that an Arab leader of the south will launch an attack against the European superpower of the north, triggering a European invasion and occupation of North Africa and other areas of the Middle East—with Jerusalem set up as the northern leader's new headquarters.

When does this takeover of Egypt and much of the Arab world—as well as Israel—by the king of the North take place? In Revelation:11:1-2 the apostle John is inspired to write that at the time just before the return of the Messiah the "holy city," Jerusalem, will be occupied by outside forces for 42 months or 3 1⁄2 years.

At the conclusion of those 3 1⁄2 years, the stage is set for the greatest battle in human history. Armies of this prophesied king of the North and hordes from the East, mentioned elsewhere, gather in Israel for what is commonly called the battle of Armageddon, but which the Bible refers to as "the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (Revelation:16:14).

We all need to remain alert. Some Islamic leaders claim that a successor of Muhammad will come and unite the Muslim world in preparation for God's final judgment. Jews wait for the coming of the Messiah to restore their birthright. Many Christians await the return of Jesus as the Messiah to rule from Jerusalem. The irony is that many Muslims, Jews and Christians won't recognize the Messiah when He does come to establish God's Kingdom!

Watch events in the Middle East, for this is the focal point of biblical prophecy!