THE CUSP OR THE BRINK

From My Perspective - - -

What if you lived in a neighborhood where most of your nearest neighbors disliked you and wanted you dead, how would you feel? What would you do? What if you had a Biblical sense that the neighborhood was actually yours and those who were plotting for your removal and demise were actually the squatters, what would you do? Would you depend on a bigger and stronger neighborhood to defend you and to strategize your future? Would that bigger and stronger neighborhood be appreciative an understanding of your life being lived at the cusp or brink of your continued existence? Would they understand what it is to live at the cusp, the pointed (or appointed) end for which you exist? Would they have a keen awareness of what it is to live continually at the brink, a critical point or a state beyond which success or catastrophe occurs? Would you expect them to empathize with one living at the cusp or brink of war?

In world affairs, Israel finds itself at such a cusp or brink. The news is plain – Gaza firing missiles at population centers in Israel; Egypt stating it will follow that same path; Hamas and Hezbollah maintaining those threats; Turkey being sympathetic to the attack on Israel; and Iran and Syria supplying the armaments to Hamas for their continued effort. Reuters reports from Lebanon, “Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said…The military operation has failed to achieve its targets. The killing is aimed at putting pressure on the leadership of the resistance in the Gaza Strip to drop its conditions (for a truce)…The Islamic militant group Hezbollah is closely allied with non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran, which Israel accuses of supplying Hamas with Fajr-5 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv or Jerusalem from Gaza…Nasrallah also said Arab countries should openly provide weapons to the Palestinian militants, but that "there is no political decision…Hezbollah fought Israel in a 34-day war in 2006 in which it fired at least 4,000 rockets towards Israel. At least 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed during that war.” The goal of the opposition and enemy is clear, namely, the extinction of Israel.

It sounds as though the news being witnessed today is strikingly familiar to the Works in Ezekiel 38 (CEV), “…Your army includes soldiers from Persia (areas now inhabited by Iran and Iraq), Ethiopia, and Libya, as well as from Gomer and Beth-Togarmah in the north (northern Spain). Your army is enormous! So keep your troops prepared to fight, because in a few years, I will command you to invade Israel, a country that was ruined by war. It was deserted for a long time, but its people have returned from the foreign nations where they once lived. The Israelites now live in peace in the mountains of their own land. But you and your army will attack them like a fierce thunderstorm and surround them like a cloud….” The Lord said to Gog: Long ago, I had my prophets warn the people of Israel that someday I would send an enemy to attack them. You, Gog, are that enemy, and that day is coming. When you invade Israel, I will become furious, and in my anger I will send a terrible earthquake to shake Israel. Every living thing on earth will tremble in fear of me—every fish and bird, every wild animal and reptile, and every human. Mountains will crumble, cliffs will fall, and cities will collapse. I, the Lord, will make the mountains of Israel turn against you. Your troops will be so terrified that they will attack each other. I will strike you with diseases and punish you with death. You and your army will be pounded with rainstorms, hailstones, and burning sulfur.  I will do these things to show the world that I, the Lord, am holy.”

One can make a choice whether or not to believe the events unfolding in the Middle East today can be measured within the Biblical proportions of Ezekiel 38. Do these events indicate or signify a fulfilling of a prophecy in our day? One should be guarded and not force a Biblical interpretation based upon secular press reports. In the same way, one should not ignore Who God is and what His plan is for the world He created! Are we living today on The Cusp Or The Brink of the end times? Jesus is the one who reminded his followers – Matthew 24:44 – “…you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Consider these things with me!