Jesus Christ gave one unmistakable sign of the end of this age. It was that Jerusalem would be surrounded by armed forces. "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near" (Luke 21:20). He went on to say that those in Judea were to flee to the mountains. Those days will be filled with vengeance as prophecies rapidly come to pass. It will be a time of great distress as the city is occupied by foreign armies until certain times are fulfilled (verses 21-24).

Are we closer today to seeing this event fulfilled? Violence continues to erupt between the Israelis and Palestinians. At this time there are no formal talks going on, and no prominent political figure is making any serious effort to negotiate a settlement between the two sides.

Last month, the European Union was instrumental in negotiating an Israeli army pullout from Beit Jala, a predominantly Christian Palestinian suburb of Jerusalem. The deal to withdraw was brokered by the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy. Criticism has been leveled at the Bush administration for taking a hands-off attitude toward the current crisis. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine accused the United States of "acting like Pontius Pilate" in seeking to remain aloof from the crisis (International Herald Tribune, August 31, 2001).

A year of tragedy

It has been a year since the latest round of heightened killings, bombings and suicide attacks were launched in what is called the intifada. Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians have lost their lives during this period. All hopes of negotiated peace treaties have been dashed. It was just over a year ago, in July of 2000, that President Bill Clinton brought Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to the seclusion of Camp David in an all-out attempt to negotiate a peace between the two groups. The high hopes of that time are over for now, shattered by the deaths of so many innocent people on both sides of the conflict.

Many will remember the terrible scene of a Palestinian father caught in the crossfire between troops, trying to shield his son while crouched in a doorway. The young boy died. Then, there was the Israeli doctor, Mario Goldin, who specialized in helping relieve the pain of both Jews and Arabs. He was killed last April while visiting patients in a Palestinian-controlled area. The list of tragedies and missed opportunities goes on.

The Israeli government, under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has taken a tough approach toward the Palestinian Authority. Key officials in the PLO and other splinter groups have been targeted for assassination. Last month a top Palestinian leader, Mustafa Zibri, a founding member of the PLO, was killed by Israeli gunships. It had been more than a decade since any Palestinian figure of such stature had been killed.

It is clear that under Sharon, Israel has adopted a stance that the current Palestinian leadership cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith. It was Sharon who in the early 1980s masterminded the attacks on PLO strongholds in Lebanon and drove them, for a time, from the land. Arafat was forced to board a boat to escape with his life. Clearly, the Israelis feel that a settlement can't be negotiated until there are new leaders at the head of the Palestinian movement.

Modern imperialism

Interestingly today, nearly 20 years after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the same two leaders, Arafat and Sharon, are again locked in an inconclusive conflict. The outcome could be different than either imagines.

On August 20, the Stratfor Global Intelligence Company issued a report on its Web site which analyzed the line of conflict stretching from the Balkans to the Caucasus to Jerusalem. The report made the connection that these areas are part of the old Ottoman Empire that collapsed after World War I (see the accompanying article, "The Shot Still Reverberating Around the World," page 5). Where this old empire imposed a peace upon the various peoples of these areas, there is a new effort by modern powers such as the United States and several countries of Western Europe to impose a solution to age-old ethnic conflicts.

The report speculates on three courses these conflicts might take. One is continued war without resolution. The second is the rise of a regional power, such as Serbia in the Balkans or Israel in the Middle East, which would impose a peace. The third possibility, and the one which raises a connection to Bible prophecy, is that an outside power would "impose empire on the region." The article goes on to say, "…the only option is the third option: direct intervention by an outside force intended to impose order throughout the former Ottoman Empire" (emphasis added). This is an enormous task. It is doable, but it would stretch the current military capabilities of NATO. The quantity of troops needed to impose a "pax NATO" on the former Ottoman Empire would be enormous. More importantly, the needed force would require levels of effort that would outstrip "not the capabilities, but the interests of the powers involved" ("From Skopje to Jerusalem: The American Empire," George Friedman, 2001, Strategic Forecasting, LLC).

History has shown that any country that places troops in the Middle East runs a grave risk of reprisal from local forces. The 1983 bombing of an American Marine barracks in Beirut is a case in point. The current political climate in America would not be inclined to commit a large number of troops as a peacekeeping force to the area. Moreover, recent experience with Iraq and Saddam Hussein casts doubt as to whether the United States could gather support for and lead another Gulf War-type coalition like that of 1990-91.

Where would a force large enough to "impose order" in today's Middle East come from? What power would muster the political and moral will to stop the fighting between Israelis and Arabs and bring "peace" to the world's most critical hot spot? Today the United States is the only world power large enough to even contemplate such a move. But the political risks are too great for any serious effort. Such action, if it occurs, would likely come from some other source. And this is where we need to turn to the Bible for understanding.

Armed conflict in Jerusalem

The longest prophecy in the Bible is found in Daniel 11. Two forces identified as the king of the South and the king of the North are pictured as warring back and forth. In verse 40, we come to the "time of the end," when the king of the South attacks the king of the North provoking a counterattack of such fury, "like a whirlwind," that the king of the North overwhelms countries and enters the Glorious Land (verses 40-41). Here is an army that enters the Holy Land, ancient Palestine and Jerusalem, setting up control, "between the seas and the glorious holy mountain" (verses 43-45).

This setting also fulfills Christ's specific statement regarding an "abomination of desolation." In Matthew 24:15 Christ pointed directly to the specific event. Notice: "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (Matthew 24:15-16). Christ's warning to flee to the mountains connects this to the same event mentioned in Luke 21:20 where armies are said to surround Jerusalem.

The event referred to in Daniel, called the abomination of desolation (Daniel 11:31), is a historical event that is a partial fulfillment of a greater event to come, according to Christ's prophecy. In 167 B.C. the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV (Antiochus Epiphanes) desecrated the temple in Jerusalem by offering swine's flesh upon an altar dedicated to the pagan deity Jupiter Olympus. These events are foretold in Daniel chapter 8, where the prophet sees the development of two empires, the northern Seleucid and the southern Ptolemaic, out of the Greek empire of Alexander the Great. This was the initial fulfillment of the prophecy.

The second was during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 66-70. The armies of Titus surrounded Jerusalem and ultimately sacked the city and destroyed the temple. All the rituals of the temple ceased and remain inactive to this day. More than a million Jews were killed in the siege. While this was a partial fulfillment of Luke 21:20, it was not total. Christ gave His Olivet prophecy in response to the question, "…what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3).

When we see armies once again surrounding Jerusalem, the stage will be set for the final fulfillment of the abomination of desolation. An individual called the "man of sin" and the "son of perdition" is described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. He "opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." This parallels the second beast of Revelation 13, a religious figure who causes those who will not worship the first beast to be put to death. Antiochus, who brought the first abomination, is a type, or forerunner, of this final grand fulfillment of the abomination of desolation.

The Scriptures show there will be an intervention by an outside power that will impose a "peace" upon the volatile and seemingly unending strife surrounding Jerusalem and the ancient Holy Land. From the roots of the ancient Roman Empire will spring a revived system, which will play a significant role on the stage of prophesied world events. The growing influence of the European Union could develop into a power unlike any seen in past history. In time, with the roles reversed, we could see this alignment of nations develop into a force with which all countries will have to deal.

Along with this political power will come a religious presence that will add a spiritual dimension to its authority and influence. It will be a force unlike any the world will ever have seen. For more information on these prophecies, send for our booklets, The Book of Revelation Unveiled and You Can Understand Bible Prophecy.

The past year has seen a sustained escalation of conflict in the Middle East between the Jews and Palestinians.

For now and perhaps for the foreseeable future, past treaties and understandings are off the table as Israel asserts its intent to remain in control of the heartland of end-time biblical events. Two ancient peoples continue a war over an ancient patriarchal land grant. Neither side can live together or apart in peace. Jerusalem continues to be a "cup of drunkenness" and "a very heavy stone for all peoples" (Zechariah 12:2, 3). WNP