It has been well said, "Man proposes, but God disposes." Men vainly think that they are masters of the destinies of nations and of men, but in the end it becomes evident that they are as powerless as a feather in a windstorm. God has said:
"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring and from ancient times the end from the beginning. the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." Isa. 46:9, 10.
One of the miracles of this generation has been the sudden emergence of Egypt as a world power of note after thousands of years' lying in poverty and lethargy. The greatness of the Egypt of the Pharaohs was only a memory to taunt her recent leaders.
Then came that eventful time in 1948 when to the astonishment of the world the tiny nation of Israel was born. Her past history had been dismal ever since the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar conquered her people and ravaged the land about 606 B.C. Later she had a partial resuscitation under the Persian kings' gratuities, and was permitted some autonomy under the Greeks and the Romans, until that fateful day in A.D. 70 when Titus crushed the resistance of Jerusalem. From then on they were scattered among the nations, although retaining their ethnic and religious distinctness, which was a miracle, although plainly foretold in the Scriptures. Many Christians thought that Israel as a nation would never rise again, although the Word of God is explicit regarding their still future greatness and grandeur.
The Arab nations surrounding Israel were violently opposed to any revival of Israel, and they immediately launched attacks against her. Egypt then assumed an important part in the attacks on. Israel. They had been supposedly arming against this very contingency, and Arab solidarity had been heralded as the thing which was sure to lead to Israel's destruction. On the contrary, however, Egypt's armed might and Arab solidarity proved to be a mere myth or, at best, wishful thinking. Israel emerged victorious, thus changing the United Nations' plans for dividing the old "promised land."
Out of Egypt's humiliating defeat at the hands of the fledgling nation of Israel came a disgruntled, poverty-stricken army major who was to change Egypt's history. Gamal Abdel Nasser felt (rightly or wrongly) that corruption and graft in King Farouk's government had cost Egypt the victory. Much of the armaments which Farouk's Egypt had purchased abroad turned out to be defective, and this contributed to their rout. This army major set about to organize a military clique which would overthrow the king and seize the power. This was not long in coming to pass.
Under Nasser's strong hand, Egypt forced Great Britain out of Egypt where they had been guiding, helping, and directing the impoverished land and people. Christians who understood the prophetic scriptures long knew that England would in the end lose any place in Egypt's affairs, so this was a preparation for the events of the time of the end. Nasser's successes spurred him on, and after a while he nationalized the Suez Canal, and seized it from its owners. This gave him great stature in the eyes of the Arab world; and he talked of a united Arab world of some 60 million persons, and probably visualized himself as a latter-day Pharaoh controlling all the Arab world, in fact, all of the Middle East, including that portion held by Israel.
Nasser's rise to world eminence has not been without some setbacks, for Egypt's second defeat, in 1956, by the Israeli armed forces, offered a roadblock to his string of successes. But, being an astute politician, he parlayed with the East and the West alternately, and successfully gained material support from both sides in the cold war.
One of his master strokes, however, was cajoling the Syrians into throwing in their lot with him and thus, in 1958, forming the United Arab Republic. In this way he spread his power from the south to the north of hated Israel, and was in a better position to threaten her. It also enabled him to in some measure enrich his poverty-stricken land by drawing on the comparative wealth of Syria. Syria has only about 4,500,000 people, compared to Egypt's roughly 26, 000,000.
But what does the Word of God indicate in all this? Is there to be one Arab power controlling the lands both north and south of Palestine? Is there to be a confederation at the time of the end which will encompass all of Israel's enemies? Is there to be any confederation against Israel at all? We will attempt to answer these questions, and to set the present situation in the light of known coming events.
First, we will state that Israel is in the unenviable position of being surrounded by nations of hostile intentions of varying degrees. Her position today is somewhat analogous to what it was in the years following the death of Alexander the Great, when his four generals divided up his world empire (as had been foretold in Dan. 7:6-"four heads"- 8:21, 22; 11:3, 4). Two of these generals proved to be enemies of Israel and of each other. This is described in such detail in Dan. 11:5-35 that infidels have tried to place a later date on Daniel and his writing, for the express purpose of saying that such accuracy could not have been prophecy; so Daniel must have lived at a later time and written history rather than prophecy. This, however, is disproved by the fact that the Septuagint Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament was made before these things were fulfilled, and it contained the whole as we have it in our Bibles.
In those days the Seleucidae dynasty of Syria frequently fought the Ptolemy dynasty of Egypt, both using Israel as the battle ground. Now the Word of God says expressly that in the end of this age-just before Christ comes to reign-Israel is going to be in a similar situation; that is, between enemies on her north and on her south. Between the 35th and 36th verses of Daniel 11 is a long parenthesis-from the days of the Maccabees of old down until the days of the antichrist -of the future. "And the king" of the 36th verse is that very antichrist-"the false prophet" -the idol shepherd of Zechariah 11. This is the false Messiah in Jerusalem who will make a covenant with the head of the soon-to-be-revived Roman Empire for Israel's protection for a period of seven years (Dan. 9:27).
"At the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him"-the false Messiah in Jerusalem-"and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over... and the land of Egypt shall not escape." Dan. 11:40-42. This, Christian reader, is coming.
And here is the word of the Lord to those rulers of Israel in that coming day: "Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement [a sad way of describing the Western world, now generally known as the Christian world]; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.... And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge [the northern enemy] shall pass through, then shall ye be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report." Isa. 28:14-19.
From these scriptures we perceive that Israel will again be the object of attack, both from the south and the north, as in the days of the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies, but that Egypt of the future will be the lesser of the antagonists, and will be on the receiving end of a military incursion. There will not be one pan-Arab state as visualized by Egypt's Nasser, and certainly he will not be the leader of the Arab world. We speak now of what Scripture says concerning the time of the end, remembering at the same time that other events may take place in the interim. We can speak positively of the end, for God has spoken; but there may be intervening events between now and then, although we are firmly persuaded that we are approaching the very end. We are seeing things develop today that assure us that the coming of the Lord is at hand, and very shortly after the Lord's coming for His own, there will be "the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
Another question we raised previously is, "Is there to be... a confederation of Israel's enemies?" We answer this with an unequivocal "yes." But these will be the old Asiatic and not African enemies. Let us read part of the 83rd Psalm:
"Keep not Thou silence, 0 God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, 0 God. For, lo, Thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance [the name by which the nation is known again]. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against Thee: the tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tire; Assur also is joined with them: they have helped the children of Lot." vv. 1-8.
Here we find most of the names of the old enemies of Israel: Edom, the descendants of Esau; the Ishmaelites, the descendants of Ishmael the son of Hagar; the Moabites were early oppressors of Israel; the Hagarenes, perhaps a larger family than merely the Ishmaelites; Ammon and Moab were descendants of Lot, and a similar name is still in use in the Middle East, for Amman is the capital city of Israel's neighbor, the kingdom of Jordan; Amalek was the first enemy of Israel after they left Egypt, for he fought them in the wilderness; the wars with the Philistines are recorded for us by God; and Assur is the old Assyrian power which took the ten tribes captive. Thus we know that the old enemies are there and will reappear in the great Arab confederacy in Asia against Israel.
The head of this confederacy is mentioned in Dan. 8 "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences [or a dealer in the occult of Oriental mysticism], shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many [this indicates great treachery]: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." vv. 23-25. He will also attempt to fight against Christ when He comes forth to put down His enemies. The beast of the Roman Empire and the apostate king in Jerusalem will do this first, and be cast into the lake of fire without trial (see Rev. 19:20). Another verse that lets us know that this head of the Arab world will meet his doom at the hands of the Lord is Isa. 30:33: "For Tophet [a name evidently referring to the lake of fire] is ordained of old [that is, it was prepared for this wicked man who in treachery destroys many]; yea, for the king [the apostate head of the apostate Jews at that time] also ["also" belongs there according to better translations] it is prepared; He hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, Both kindle it." ("The king" of this last verse is the same man called "the king" in Dan. 11:36-38, where he honors "the God of forces," or the Roman beast.)
Other scriptures could be added to the ones already mentioned, but the Word of God is plain:
An apostate Israel with their king will be in their land when Christ comes to reign. The godly remnant will have fled when the idol, or image, of the Roman beast is set up in the temple; this will be according to the Lord's word for them in Matt. 24:15-21.
The Western, or Roman, world will be in league with an apostate Israel, and will itself he apostate Christendom.
Israel's enemies on her north and east will form an Arab league (perhaps with Russian backing) and will attack her.
Egypt will be an independent country and will attack Israel from the south, only to reap the whirlwind when the confederated peoples on their north attack Israel and then Egypt herself.
Christ as King of kings will come in power and great glory with the armies of heaven following Him, and will be attacked by the Western world to their own utter destruction. The head of the northern Arab confederacy will also attempt to fight against the Lord, to his destruction.
The three leaders-the Roman beast (the first beast of Rev. 13), and the apostate king of Israel (the second beast of the same chapter), and the head of Israel's northern neighboring confederacy, will be summarily cast into the lake of fire. No trial is needed for those taken in open-handed rebellion. All this brings to mind part of the second Psalm:
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." vv. 1-6.
Surely we may say again, "Man proposes, but God disposes." His counsel will stand, and He will do all His pleasure. He will have the wise and great of this world in derision, and His Son will "dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." The world is rushing madly on to certain doom. May we warn men to "flee from the wrath to come."
Early in October, 1961, the boasted United Arab Republic ceased to exist. In just a few hours the Egyptians were ousted. and President Nasser was notified that Syria was all through with any merger with his Egypt. At first Nasser attempted to fight back, but, seeing that his cause was lost beyond repair, he rescinded his orders. Thus a union of Syria and Egypt, which was not in line with future events according to God's Word, came to nothing. In fact, it was worse than that; for Nasser lost stature in the world arena, and his virulent attacks on neighboring powers by means of his Radio Cairo will be taken less seriously. In an attempt to regain prestige lost in the Syrian debacle, Nasser invited Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and India's Nehru to a conference of so-called neutralist leaders. This conference took place in Cairo on November 27, 1951. The actual results were nil.
We would refer our readers to the Christian Truth issue of April, 1958, where we looked at the Egyptian-Syrian merger, and went over some of Syria's history, and of the future concerning the nation, especially in her relation to Israel. At that time we pointed out the alignment for the time of the end, and commented about the United Arab Republic that the merger could easily be broken. We scarcely expected it to happen so easily as it did, nor perhaps this soon, but it had to come. The bound volume of Christian Truth, No. 11, for 1958, is still available from the publishers at $2.00 each, plus postage. We might also add that these bound volumes contain much valuable ministry that is not likely to ever be printed again.
While Israel may be somewhat relieved to have the United Arab Republic dissolved, yet her potential danger from hostile enemies remains, and may burst into flame again at any time. Arab world politicians know that one of the best ways to rally support for themselves is to rain invectives on Israel, and thus seek to divert the peoples' minds from Arab deficiencies and center them on the perennial object of hatred -Israel. Sometimes we may not see just what part some event may have in bringing God's purposes about, but the end will show that He has ordered behind the scenes according to His own will.