Who Will Bring Lasting Peace to the Middle East?
A commentary by Randy D'Alessandro
United Church of God pastor, Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan
The situation that now grips the Middle East is an all-too-familiar one. State-imposed human rights suppression in the region has led many people to call for freedom from their current regimes.
In just this past week:
In Yemen tens of thousands of people rally to bring down President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In Jordan the Muslim Brotherhood vowed to renew protests, stating that the government has not made changes quickly enough.
In Bahrain tens of thousands of people staged a demonstration three miles long calling for the end of the current regime.
In Egypt, for decades under Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's Islamists of all shades were disenfranchised, thrown in jail or targeted in crackdown after crackdown. Now their tormentor of some 30 years is gone, and they are rushing to claim a spot in the country's new political landscape.
In Libya, Muammar Gadhafi vowed to continue fighting until he dies a martyr, as residents of the country and world leaders accuse him of killing his own people.
In Tunisia, the embattled prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, announced his resignation, bowing to a key demand of protesters after at least five people died in a groundswell of new unrest in that North African country.
All of this and we haven't even mentioned the decades-long struggle between Israel and her Arab neighbors! Peace is desperately wanted in this region of the world, but as desperately as it is wanted and needed, it is elusive. Is there ever going to be peace in the Middle East? If so, how will it come?
A forecast of peace
There is one news source that boldly declares that peace is coming to the Middle East. This news source has a track record unlike any other—there has never been an account or story that has proven to be factually incorrect. There has never been a forecast made that has not come to pass. This source not only declares that peace will come to the Middle East, but that this peace will engulf the entire world!
What is this news source? It is the most published volume in the history of mankind. It is a work that has been translated into virtually every tongue on planet earth and is a perennial best seller.
The source we are referring to is the Bible!
Lasting peace in the Middle East
Christians, Jews and Muslims all look for—in different ways—a Messiah. The book of Revelation describes the Messiah coming as the Power Broker who is poised to bring lasting peace to the Middle East. We know Him as Jesus Christ!
"Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war…
"And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:11, 14-16).
Finally, after millennia of animosity and bloodshed, there will be peace in the Middle East, and that peace will extend to the rest of the world as well. Jesus Christ will establish His government on earth with Jerusalem as its capital.
"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:1-2).
Please download or request our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. This booklet will take you, step by step, through the many prophecies that culminate in the return of Jesus Christ to bring peace to the Middle East and the whole world.
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