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ZECHARlAH 10:9 - 12  12:1-9

"THE MID-EAST CRISIS"

Intro: As we discuss these prophesies it might at times appear that we
       are pro-Israel and anti-Arab. Not so. l am pro-Jesus and
       anti-devil. The prophets who thundered God's impending judgments
       against Israel were not anti-Israel; many  times they wept as they
       declared the impending doom. I feel that our nation is in a real
       crisis and facing the judgment of God, I am not anti American. In
       Christ no Jew or Arab or American, we are one new creature.

I. SETTING THE STAGE.
        A. God had promised this land to Abraham and his descendants.
                1. All Abraham ever owned was a burial cave in Hebron.
                2. Yet he dwelled in the land much as do the Bedouins
                   today.
        B. God repeated the promise to Jacob.
                1. Yet Jacob with his family moved to Egypt.
        C. After 40 years God raised up Moses to deliver them from Egypt
           and raised up Joshua to bring them into the land.
                1. God promised them as much as they would claim.
                2. "Every place you put your foot, I have given you for a
                   possession."
        D. 400 years through David they finally possessed Jerusalem.
        E. Their tenure in the land was always conditional.
        F. When they rejected the Messiah they were rejected by God and
           dispersed, throughout the world to become hated, persecuted,
           and cursed.
        G. Yet God promised to revive them after 2, 000 years and bring
           them back into the land.
        H. For these prophesies in Zech. to be fulfilled.
                1. Israel would have to be back in the land.
                2. She would be in possession of Jerusalem.
                3. Syria and Egypt would have to remain as nations and in
                   a related effort opposing Israel.
                4. The result of this opposition will be:

a. Syria will be brought down.
b. Egypt's government will collapse.

II GOD PROMISED TO DEFEND ISRAEL.
                1. He promised to cut in pieces the nations that would
                   attack her.
                2. "Though all the people of the earth be gathered
                   together against her."

a. Interesting that internationally the sympathy and support is with the
   Arabs.
b. When Gromeko recently in the U.N. called Israel a nation of bandits and
   cut-throats, he received a standing ovation from  the General Assembly.

III. ISRAEL'S SPIRITUAL RESTORATION IS ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH THESE EVENTS.
        A. They will have the blindness removed and recognize God once
           again.
        B. Then God will again send the Messiah "They shall look on Him
           who they pierced."
        C. How close are we?
                1. Only God knows sheer folly to set days or hours.
                2. "But when these things begin to come to pass, look
                   up."