In my view the Yinon Plan has been a cornerstone of the Zionist agenda for the Arab world. Besides an aggressive assertion of sovereignty it aims to prevent the emergence and mobilisation of any grassroots mass movement on Arab soil which may potentially thwart Zionist designs for the region. The Antichrist will fight with all the strength of Satan and his evil ones, but they will be no match for King Jesus.

This raises questions of how to understand Rev 4-20. At the moment I tend to see John (or Jesus) as pulling together biblical prophecy into one final revelation. In his first advent the End had begun and since it has begun it cannot be long until it is completed. Ch 4-20 are the elements that have yet to play out as the Lamb brings history to a conclusion. The word “Jew” and its modern meaning did not even come into existence until the 17th Century when the letter “J” was first invented. And at the time the word “Jew” was first put into the Bible (in the 2nd draft copy of the KJV Bible in the 18th Century…. the 1st edition of the KJV Bible in 1611 used the word IEWE to describe Judahite Hebrews – not “Jews”) it was to be understood in one context only – the word “Jew” was an abbreviation for Judean. Is not the church the body of Christ, the bride of Christ (together with Jewish believers) in union with him, the *called -out* ones with the remnant of Jewish believers, or as the reformed of old would say *old testament saints* who looked forward to the Promised One. We see in the rear view mirror, even as we look ahead to the consumation. God is getting ready to defend Israel in such a supernatural way it’s going to take the breath out of the lungs of the dictators on planet Earth but we are living on the cusp of the greatest most supernatural series of events the world has ever seen ready or not.” To think Christianly about land and promise is to think differently than Judaism. The New Testament changes the spiritual geography of God’s people. The kingdom of God is tied to neither an ethnicity nor a place. Because the early Christians understood this, they carried their missionary efforts to the entire world. God loves Ephesus just as much as he loves Jerusalem. Indeed, God loves the entire world and all its people equally.It seems you have not read Gen 17 carefully enough. Ishmael and Esau were circumcised but were not heirs to the promise. The promise was to Abraham and his seed, which excluded Ishmael (Gen 17:20-21). Reply I, too, have concern that the church’s attitude can result in rejection of the nation state of Israel, even as zionism sees 1948 as a turning point in history a crucial to the end times and return if Christ. I’ve encountered open hostility in the church to the Jews and the nation state of Israel, let alone far from balanced media reporting, and peoples who would like it come to an end. The debate “hides in plain sight” in the variations of the liturgical prayers for the State of Israel. (The prayer is also sometimes put in ways which include the non-Zionist and the anti-Zionist. Here it becomes a prayer for the IDF. That’s not because militarism is lauded. It’s rather because even an anti-Zionist will want those Jews who are in the Land to be safe and protected.) Sorry – the answer is “NO” if you said Arabs (a true Semitic people). Many Arabs are Muslim, but there are Muslims in every country and from every culture, just like Christians).

For reasons along these lines I came to see that the church composed of Jew and gentile, is the eschatological people of God of which the OT speaks. The OT’s eschatological Jerusalem is in turn the New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above, the city for which Abraham looked whose builder and Maker is God. The Antichrist will unite the world during the Tribulation. Those who bear his mark and worship him will join his army to battle against the Lord. Evil will make its final stand against the Lord and all that is good. I saw how Jesus in choosing 12 was consciously reconstituting Israel around himself. Or if you will the 12 were the basis of a restored eschatological Israel to which Gentiles would be added. They would constitute the new ‘congregation’. It would be in direct continuity with the old ‘congregation’ but also in discontinuity as it belonged to fulfilment (the age of the new covenant, Spirit, Kingdom) or maturity not promise or childhood (Gals 4). New wine requires new wineskins. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. (Revelation 1:7, emphasis added)The overwhelming theme has been: this war is prophetically significant, but no one is willing to really claim exactly how,” Hummel said. And speaking of the New Jerusalem, in Revelation you will find that features of it are sourced in Ezekiel’s temple. Remember when reading OT visions it is probable that they involve symbolism. Are we to literally understand a river beginning in the temple and flowing out or are we looking at symbolism. In John’s New Jerusalem are we to take its 15000 miles high walls literally or are we to look for a symbolic meaning. Indeed we are told that the bride is a city. Well it can’t literally be both. We are looking at metaphor. If physical descent from Abraham is key, then the descendents of Ishmael and Esau are also included in the promise.