The Middle East is Moving

Events in Israel and the surrounding nations continue to
fascinate students of biblical prophecy. In the book of Ezekiel 36:24 we read,
"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all
countries, and will bring you into your own land." And then again in verse 28,
"And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be
my people, and I will be your God."

This, of course, refers to the children of Israel through
whom would come the deliverer, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

At this moment of writing, during the month of April 2000,
the headlines keep appearing in the newspaper leading on towards the crucial
date September 13, when world leaders are trying to convince us that a
comprehensive peace treaty will be signed -– we'll see.

An article taken from the Herald, 13 March 2000, Arabs
warn Israel to hand back all territory. "Arab Foreign Ministers have lined
up behind Syria's demand that Israel make its planned withdrawal from Lebanon
part of a broader Middle East peace settlement.

In a show of support Syria had been seeking, the final
resolution of the semi-annual meeting of Arab Foreign ministers on Saturday
called on Israel to return occupied Arab land, including all of Syria's Golan
Heights....

"The first rule of a comprehensive and just peace lies in
full Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon... and from the Golan until 4 June,
1967, line and from the Palestinian occupied land, including Jerusalem," said
the statement...

Jordanian Foreign Minister Abduliah al-Khatib said... Israel
must withdraw from Lebanon and the Golan Heights, captured in 1967, and satisfy
Palestinian demands for a state with its capital in Jerusalem.

"These are requirements for peace which we insist on, agree
upon and work for," said Khatib, who represents the only Arab country beside
Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel..." End Quote.

Then again from the New Zealand Herald, 15 March 2000, Israel
to give up villages. "Israel intends to hand over villages near Jerusalem
to full Palestinian control soon, angering Israeli hardliners who oppose any
concessions near the holy city.

The Jerusalem-area villages of Anata and Abediya are part of
a handover map drawn in consultation with Palestinian officials, Israel's
Government-owned Channel One Television said yesterday...

Jewish settlers' reaction was swift and biting.

"Barak is casting a Palestinian ring of strangulation
around the capital, and is partitioning Jerusalem," said Jewish settlement
spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yossef.

Earlier, Barak said Israel had not changed its policy on
Jerusalem, the Arab eastern half of which was captured from Jordan in 1967 and
later annexed as part of Israel's "eternal, indivisible capital."

"On the Jerusalem issue, our stance is unequivocal,
determined, and will not change for the length of the talks -– Jerusalem,
united, broad under our sovereignty, is the capital of Israel -– period."

Israel's claims to Arab East Jerusalem are all but
unrecognised internationally. Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the
capital of a future independent state..." End Quote.

From the New Zealand Herald, 27 March 2000. "US
President Bill Clinton and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad hold a crucial summit
today, seen as the last chance to rescue stalled Israeli-Syrian peace talks and
prevent renewed violence in the Middle East.

The ailing 69-year-old Syrian leader, who rarely travels
abroad, arrived in Geneva yesterday amid optimism among Arab and Western
diplomats that he was ready for a breakthrough in the negotiations with Israel.

"Assad knows this is his last chance for peace while
Clinton is in office, and the best offer he can get from (Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud) Barak. He would not be coming in his state of health if he didn't want
to cut a deal," a Middle Eastern diplomat said...

The sources said Washington wanted both sides to commit
themselves to work non-stop to finalise a draft treaty within 30 to 60 days,
which could be initialled at a three way summit involving Assad, Barak and
Clinton...

The violence has since subsided, and Barak has acknowledged
that previous Israeli Prime Ministers had indeed pledged to hand back the
strategic heights captured in the 1967 war, provided Israel's other concerns
were fully satisfied...

Diplomatic sources said a formula proposed by the US called
for Israel to withdraw to a redrawn line close to the boundary on the eve of the
1967 war, with Syria renouncing its right to water from the sea of Galilee.

The border would run along the northeastern bank of the lake."
End Quote.

The peace treaty that we as Bible students are looking for is
one which will signed for a period of seven years and be broken after a period
of three and a half years. This treaty must be confirmed by a great religious
leader, that the Word of God calls Antichrist, and at this point born-again
believers all over the world will be able to identify him and recognise that
they are living in the days just prior to the coming again of our Lord Jesus
Christ.

I Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice for the archangel, and with the
trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord
in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words."

Our question to you, the reader, is this -– are you ready
for the coming of Jesus?

All the prophecies are being fulfilled and tell us that we
are living at the end of the generation that he warned us would see all these
events take place.

Matthew 24:34 "Verily I say unto you. This generation shall
not pass until all these things be fulfilled."