The prime ministers of Norway, Spain and Ireland declared today that their countries will formally recognise a Palestinian state on 28 May, arguing that a two-state solution is essential for peace in the Middle East (ref. 1).
Israel responded by recalling its ambassadors to Norway, Spain and Ireland, and by issuing a demarche to the said countries.
Israel has said that a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state now would constitute a reward for the October 7 attack.
This diplomatic move by Norway, Spain and Ireland, together with the many pro-Palestinian student protests of recent months across the west, makes it clear that the world today is increasingly against both the nation of Israel and Jews generally.
… and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Matthew 24:9
In other news, video footage and pictures have been released of several IDF female soldiers taken captive on October 7 (ref. 2). These women were captured when their station was overrun. They were brought to an unspecified place. Their hands are being tied. Some of them are bloodied in the face.
At one point, a Hamas captor can be heard saying, “You are very beautiful”. And another remarked, these are “women who can get pregnant” (ref. 2).
The Bible prophesies that in these last days, when half of Jerusalem is overrun, the women will be “ravished” (ref. Zechariah 14:2).
Strictly speaking, Israel’s great tribulation has not yet begun. So, there is far more and far worse to come.
Naturally, when the world is against you, and out to hurt you and even kill you, the thing to do is to turn to God. At this time of Jacob’s trouble, Israel as a people must return to God!
Indeed, this is the very instruction of Moses himself.
When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Deuteronomy 4:30-31
It is not enough for individual Jews to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, the one whom Jews call Ha-Shem. At some point, the nation as a whole must also do things such as a proper oblation to God and an actual temple or tabernacle of God. It is a matter of faith that the God of Israel is the one true God, and therefore he is more powerful than the angels behind every other religion, including Allah of Islam.
Trying to persuade the world towards peace or trying to appease the enemy will never work. Instead, Israel must return to God.
Now, in Malachi 3:1, the Bible reads that God will send his messenger to prepare the way before him.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:1
It is interesting that the name Malachi is Hebrew for “my messenger”.
First of all, it is possible that the messenger of Malachi 3:1 was John the Baptist, at the time of the Son of man Jesus Christ.
If this is true, then the Lord who came to his temple was Jesus Christ walking into Herod’s temple. At the time, Jesus did describe that temple as his house.
And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Luke 19:45-46
Notice the words “prepare the way”, or words to that effect, in the following 3 verses about John the Baptist.
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Matthew 3:1-3
As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Mark 1:2-4
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Luke 3:3-4
John was certainly the fulfilment of Isaiah 40:3, the voice in the wilderness.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isaiah 40:3
But notice, Isaiah 40:3 also contains the phrase “prepare the way”.
So, maybe, Malachi 3:1 is a last days prophecy.
If this is true, then the Lord who will come to his temple must be God as a Spirit, or else the Holy Spirit, or else the Son of man Jesus Christ at the time of the Second Coming.
With this in mind, it is possible that the messenger of Malachi 3:1 will be Elijah the Tishbite, one of the two witnesses that will soon come to Jerusalem.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Malachi 4:5-6
The other of the two witnesses must be John of Patmos, the author of the book of Revelation.
And there was given me [John speaking] a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Revelation 11:1-2
Although here I am not sure why messenger is singular and there are not 2 messengers, as in the 2 witnesses.
On the off chance that the messenger of Malachi 3:1 is actually me instead, because Malachi 4:1-3 speaks to the saints, ie. “calves of the stall” and “ashes under the soles of your feet”, and because one of the things that the servant of Isaiah 49 is to do is help bring Jacob again to God (ref. Isaiah 49:5), I should point out here and now that Malachi 3:7 explains something else that Israel is to do as a nation, as part of Israel formally returning to God. This thing that Israel is to do is, prep and stockpile enough food for the area of ancient Judah to last at least 3.5 years in order to survive the forthcoming siege of the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house” are the exact words of Malachi 3:10.
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:6-12
I mention this now because starvation during war has become topical as a result of the ICC.
Many American evangelicals are under the impression that the key to Israel’s future is the USA rather than God. But the Bible says, at some point in these last days, Mystery Babylon will openly betray Israel.
The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
Jeremiah 51:35
The fact of the matter is, America has always been against God.
I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.
Jeremiah 50:24
The kings of the east also – the enemy of my enemy thing – know that, they will only do what they are to do because God, the LORD of hosts, will make them do it, when the time is right.
So, God and the Messiah are the hope of Israel.
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
Zephaniah 3:14-15
Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.
Zephaniah 3:19-20
So, Israel must return to God!
… Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts…
Malachi 3:7
References:
1. Lazar Berman (23 May 2024), “Norway, Ireland, Spain move to recognize Palestinian state, drawing Israeli fury”, timesofisrael.com
2. TOI (23 May 2024), “Hostage families release clip of 5 female troops’ abduction to push for their freedom”, timesofisrael.com