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 Scripture makes it clear that when the Lord Jesus returns it will be to Jerusalem at a time of terrible trouble. Among a large number of descriptions of that day is this one from the writings of the Prophet Zechariah…
Zechariah 14:1-2
A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
This is a horrifying description of total defeat for the Israeli nation, and the prophet Ezekiel tells us who will inflict this disaster…
Ezekiel 38:1-9 [NIV]
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops - the many nations with you. "‘Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal [or the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal as the Hebrew actually says] was identified as a Russian leader by commentators and scholars many centuries ago. His allies are easy to name…
Persia was the official name of Iran until 1935
Cush is Sudan and Ethiopia
Put is Libya, and possibly Algeria and Tunisia
Gomer is Turkey
Beth-togarmah covers Armenia and the Central Asian nations
The little phrase ‘many peoples with you’ probably means people from the nations around Israel such as Lebanon and possibly Jordan; Bible history records that the northern invaders of Israel were always helped by Israel’s closest neighbours. But the names of three of the major powers around Israel are surely not missing by chance: Iraq, which in biblical terms was Babylon, Egypt and Syria.
Since any interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures has to be made with a clear understanding that these writings were based around real events in the history of Israel during, and following, the times of the twin kingdoms, it is interesting that the Persians, and their northern allies the Medes, completely destroyed the power of Babylon before they spread their tentacles over the whole of Babylon’s empire and became masters of Israel, so the current Iranian sponsorship of terror in Iraq, and their obvious desire to control that nation, is interesting. If a great confederacy is to march out of the north and fall upon Israel, the US/British alliance which has always defended her must be rendered impotent. Will we see Iraq emptied of the western powers and returned to the ruined state foretold by the prophets?
Isaiah 13:19
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Egypt was a spent force in the post-kingdom days, knowing its power was insufficient to challenge the northern powers after the disastrous defeat of Pharaoh Necho at Carchemis a couple of centuries earlier. Today she has a peace treaty with Israel because repeated defeats at Israel's hands have convinced her of her own weakness.
As for Syria: Scripture contains one prophecy that has no analogue in ancient times…
Isaiah 17:1
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Will this ruin be inflicted by the hand of Israel? As this article is being written Syrian forces are eyeing the Golan heights again, made confident by Israel’s apparent inability to deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) May 2
Israel is growing more concerned about unprecedented military purchases and stepped-up training by Syria, at levels not seen since the 1973 Middle East war, its envoy to the United States said on Wednesday.
"Syria is developing into a very serious threat," Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor told a luncheon sponsored by the Israel Project, a group that promotes the country's agenda. "We hope it's not offensive but we're not sure."
A significant build-up of missile capability by Syria could "create major damage to Israel" and Russia was supplying the arms to Damascus, he said, without providing specific details of the source for that information.
Will Syria act in her new found confidence and attack southwards, and will a desperate Israeli military go far beyond their bombing of Beirut, so that the oldest continuously inhabited city on Earth is utterly destroyed?
These things are dreadful to contemplate, but there is no doubt that conditions that might bring Israel to her long foretold day of desolation, undefended by her former friends, are being brought about as we watch.
But Zechariah also promised…
Zechariah 14:3-9 [NIV]
Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him… …The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.
And the Lord Jesus himself said on the Mount of Olives…
Luke 21:20
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Jesus was foretelling the Roman siege of Jerusalem that destroyed the city in AD70, but all of these past terrors seem to be included in the sum of things to come before his return to sweep aside the wicked and institute a world-wide kingdom of peace and righteousness.
So we watch Israel and the Middle East because we can see that God’s promises through his prophets are coming true in our time. It is this that has convinced us of the importance of Jesus’ final promise from the mountain…
Luke 21:28
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. | 
