PITP #07

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains... and all the nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord... and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths... and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. — Isaiah 2:1–5

The whole world longs for peace, but Scripture says it will not come until the King does.

A Prophecy of the Peace We Long For

What a powerful prophecy these first five verses of Isaiah 2 give us. They speak of the kind of days you and I look forward to—great peace, God's kingdom established here on earth. As a church we say, Maranatha, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Jesus told us to pray, "Your kingdom come." And here, 2,700 years ago, is the promise that the Lord would establish His house and His kingdom.

Notice verse 3: He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. Not just priests, not just teachers, but God Himself teaching us. And in verse 4 He shall judge among the nations, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and they shall not learn war anymore.

Humanity's Elusive Search for Peace

Not only the church but all humanity looks forward to a day with no war. Many a Miss America contestant has longed for "world peace." President Carter sought peace in the Middle East; Reagan worked to end the Cold War; Bush 41 and Clinton both pursued it—remember the Oslo Accords in '94 and the famous handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. Bush 43 sought it, and now President Obama has dispatched former Senator George Mitchell to broker a lasting peace in Israel.

Even the United Nations understands this passage. Outside its New York headquarters stands a statue called Let Us Beat Our Swords Into Plowshares—a muscle-bound man hammering a sword into a plow. It is a noble desire. But Jesus said that in the last days they would speak of "peace, peace," yet there would be no peace—no sustained peace.

Look around the world tonight. Our own nation is engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are wars in Darfur, northwest Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Gaza. For the last 2,000 years since Jesus ascended, there has been war after war, even world wars. The cessation of war that Isaiah 2:4 promises is something God will surely bring—but I believe another prophecy must be fulfilled first.

Joel's Opposite Prophecy: Prepare for War

Turn to Joel chapter 3. This passage speaks of multitudes in the valley of decision, the day of the Lord, the moon turned to blood and the sun darkened. Notice verse 9:

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. — Joel 3:9–10

This is the exact opposite of Isaiah! Isaiah says they will turn swords into plowshares; Joel says they will turn farming instruments into weapons of war. All the nations are gathered together against God in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where He sits to judge. This speaks of the great war the church has often called the battle of Armageddon, gathered in the valley of Jezreel, the valley of Megiddo, in northern Israel. It comes before the Lord establishes the kingdom of peace that Isaiah describes.

Today the globe is embattled, just as Jesus said in Matthew 24—nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, wars and rumors of wars, all the beginning of sorrows, the birth pangs leading to His return. For nineteen, twenty centuries that is exactly what we have seen.

Jerusalem, a Cup of Trembling

Flip a few books to the right, to Zechariah 12. Something happened sixty years ago that fulfills this prophecy:

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about... And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. — Zechariah 12:2–3

Do we see this? Ever since May 14, 1948, this little country on the Mediterranean has been the central focus of the world's largest nations. Not a day goes by that Israel is not in the news. The very day after their declaration of independence, they were attacked by their neighbors, and the Arab-Israeli conflict has raged ever since—indeed it began long before, back in biblical history.

This little piece of ground has had many names—Canaan, Philistine country, Palestine after the Romans expelled the Jews in 70 AD—but it remains a place of great contention, a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone, especially for those who try to fix it. As we saw in Joel 3, God promised to judge those who divide His land, and there have been many trying to divide it since 1948.

Some of you remember June 1967, when Israel, facing gathering enemies, preemptively struck the Jordanians, the Lebanese, and the Egyptians, and in six days miraculously took back land. Even Israeli generals today will tell you God's hand has been in every battle—that without Him, they would not still be here.

"Why Israel Can't Win"

Time Magazine recently ran a cover showing the Star of David behind a brick wall and barbed wire, titled "Why Israel Can't Win." The author, Tim McGirk, argues Israel is in an impossible position—doomed if they don't fight back against Hamas, condemned by the world's press if they do. Much of what he says about Israel's difficult position is true.

But Israel has been in difficult positions before. Someone wrote a clever response imagining how Time might have reported earlier moments of Jewish history. "Why Abraham Can't Win," issue of 1737 BC: Abraham has been promised Canaan, but the native Canaanites have no intention of ceding it, and besides, the 75-year-old man has no children and his 65-year-old wife is barren. "Why Moses Can't Win," 1312 BC: the former Egyptian prince claims a vision of God, but experts agree powerful Egypt under Ramses II would never release its slaves, and no slave has ever escaped. "Why Judea Can't Win," 701 BC: Sennacherib's invincible Assyrian army of 180,000 has laid siege to Jerusalem, and weak King Hezekiah has no possibility of lifting it.

If it were not for God, those would be the headlines. But just as God prophesied through Isaiah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Amos, things spoken over 2,500 years ago have come to pass in our day. Cities whose names dot the Old Testament—Ashkelon, Ashdod, Hebron, Gaza—are the same names in our newspapers today.

A Spiritual Battle and a Real Enemy

This is not just a physical battle; there is a great spiritual battle going on. Many in our nation and in the American church do not understand the significance of Israel, the Middle East, or the enemy Israel faces in radical Islam. The primary enemy is religious. Islam views itself not only as a religion but as a whole way of life.

Our news media and political officials tell us Islam is a peace-loving religion, and for the majority of Muslims that may well be the case. But even our media admit that ten to twenty percent are radical. With Islam 1.5 billion strong, ten to twenty percent is an enormous number of people who view Israel as the "little Satan" and the United States—as a Christian nation that supports Israel—as the "great Satan." Given the chance, they would kill you.

I am not saying this about every person who calls themselves a Muslim. I am saying radical groups exist throughout the world who view believing Christians and Jews as their enemy and have waged war on us—September 11, 2001; Madrid in March 2004; London in July 2005; Mumbai last November; attacks in Indonesia, and so many more in their global jihad. They seek to destroy not merely our way of life but anyone who does not bow to Allah and confess, "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." Their symbol, the crescent moon, expresses their desire that as Islam overtakes the world, the crescent will come together.

God Loves Them, and Many Are Coming to Christ

I do not say this to scare you or to make us look down upon Muslims—because God does not look down upon them. It is His desire that they come to the knowledge of the truth. He loves them and desires that they come to faith. And the awesome reality is that many Muslims throughout the world are converting to Christianity even now, finding the love of a God who died for them. Islam speaks of no God who loves; when they receive God's love, it transforms their lives.

I'm even trying to arrange for a man to share here—the son of one of the founders of Hamas, who converted to Christianity a few years ago and lives right here in San Diego. He's a modern-day Saul of Tarsus. The only catch is that he can only come with armed security because of threats from Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Pray for him. My desire is that our hearts would go out to these people, longing to see them come to the truth, and that we would pray for those deceived by this religion.

Diplomacy, Hudna, and Takaya

In his inaugural speech and first interview, President Obama said that if countries like Iran will unclench their fist, we will extend a hand. I am not against diplomacy—I am very thankful that God diplomatically reached out to me and to you, coming to us rather than destroying us, though He had every authority to do so. Diplomacy can be good. But the real question is whether poetic words will open the hearts of those with a radical Islamic view.

Consider Iran's reaction. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he wasn't impressed, that Obama would have to "do more than talk," and that Iran will not stop building nuclear weapons. This is the man who, on October 25, 2005, declared at the "World Without Zionism" conference that Israel must be wiped off the map—and who has spoken at a "World Without America" conference as well. He is a Shiite Muslim who believes in the coming of the 12th Imam, the Islamic Messiah, and that this Messiah can only appear when utter worldwide chaos comes. The frightening thing is that Ahmadinejad believes Allah has called him to bring that chaos upon the West—and he wants nuclear weapons "for peaceful ends."

Two things, almost doctrines among radical Shiite Islam, are worth understanding. The first is hudna, an Arabic term for a temporary truce. It goes back to Muhammad in the 7th century, who waged 47 wars. When he could not win at Mecca, he called a ten-year hudna in order to back up, rearm, and strengthen—and as soon as he was strong enough, he attacked. It is a tenet that when you are too weak to defeat your foe, you raise the white flag and call a truce, but with the intention of treachery.

The second is takaya—concealing or disguising one's true beliefs, convictions, and strategies under threat or persecution, to save oneself for now or for later. Yasser Arafat used it constantly: on CNN and BBC he would speak of peace and land, then immediately on Arabic and Palestinian television he would say, "Fight them and kill them and drag them in the streets until they're gone." So one tenet is: make peace treaties when weak, break them when strong; another is: say nice things to deceive your enemy.

Jihad and Fatah

Islam moves forward by two means. The first is jihad, which literally means struggle—advance by military force, seen in terrorist attacks: 9/11, 3/11 in Madrid, 7/7 in England, Glasgow in 2007, and daily in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Israel.

The second is fatah—moving into an area slyly, undercover, to influence the culture from within. A man who served as an Assyrian Christian general in Saddam Hussein's army, and defected to the U.S. after Iraq's fall, wrote a book called Saddam's Secrets. He explains that to followers of militant Islam these doctrines mean Allah has commanded them to conquer the nations both by cultural invasion and by the sword—moving thousands of Muslim families into a foreign land, building mosques, changing the culture from the inside out, and refusing to assimilate.

He writes: "They won't be stopped by appeasement. They are not interested in political solutions. They don't want welfare. Their animosity is not caused by hunger or poverty... They understand one thing—total and complete conquest of the West and anyone who does not bow to them and their dangerous, out-of-date theology of hate and revenge." He adds a hard word about us: "One of the nicest things about the American people is that you are a generous and friendly people, and because of this, you are sometimes naive and overly trusting. You want to be friendly, so you open up to people, and then you're surprised when they stab you in the back."

Five Things to Consider

I share these things not to frighten you or turn you against a group of people, but so that we recognize what is happening and see the biblical context. In light of all this, consider five things.

First, there is such a thing as evil. Many today believe evil is not real but merely the product of poverty, hunger, and hardship—that if we bring in food, capitalism, and good schools, evil will go away. But the Bible is clear: evil is real, inherent in the heart.

Second, these things are happening just as God said they would. When you get home from work and turn on the news, you watch exactly what God spoke over 2,000 years ago through the prophets.

Third, there is a huge opportunity for evangelism. We can share the love and grace of God with people who do not know a loving, gracious God, who are dying in their sins and deceived by the enemy.

Fourth, we need to wake up. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America today. We don't see daily jihad here, but we do see fatah—many people converting, often starting with the underprivileged. In our prison system, the largest in the world, Islam is the fastest-growing religion; among Hispanics it is the fastest-growing religion, as many disenfranchised by Catholic scandals are reached out to. As Paul told the church at Rome in Romans 13, it is high time we wake out of sleep—our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

Fifth, God is on the move and He will come again. The things we see in our day are exactly what He said would happen just before He returns. Yes, there are crazy things in the world; there is such a thing as evil; it is all unfolding as God told us. There is a huge opportunity to share His love and grace, we need to wake up, and we need to see that God will come again. What great hope we have in Christ.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You so much that You have made clear to us the things that are going to happen before they happen. Lord, I thank You that in the days in which we live, You are still desiring that none would perish but that all would come to repentance, to You. Lord, I praise You that You came to us diplomatically. And I thank You that there are many in the world tonight, in radical Islamic areas, who are coming to faith in You, even though it means almost certain persecution. I thank You that so many are turning to You in these last days, just as You promised.

But I ask, Lord, that You would give us an opportunity here in San Diego County to share Your grace, Your love, and Your truth with those who don't know You—whether they come from an Islamic background, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, or atheism. May we be those who shine Your grace and truth to them, reaching out with loving hands. You told us to love our enemies and to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. So tonight we pray for those within the Islamic community who don't know You, and we ask that You would open a door of opportunity to share Your truth with them. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.