Oracles Against Tyre and Gaza

Gilbert House Ministries

Oracles Against Tyre and Gaza

September 30, 2024 • Amos 1:1–10, Ezekiel 27, Isaiah 23:1–12

WITH THE WAR between Israel and Hamas approaching the one-year mark, things have escalated along Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This week, we look at prophecies by Amos, Ezekiel, and Isaiah against Tyre, the preeminent city of the Phoenicians in Lebanon, and Gaza, the home city of Hamas today. Both of those cities suffered under the Assyrian invasions of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, but it’s worth asking whether any or all of them might be “already but not yet” prophecies that are about to be fulfilled today.

God from the South vs. the Uttermost North

November 4, 2024 • Isaiah 14:13, Habakkuk 3:3–5

UTTERMOST NORTH is an English translation of the Hebrew phrase yarkete tsaphon, which actually refers to cosmic north—the location of the palace of Baal. Mount Zaphon is today called Jebel al-Aqra, a mountain in southern Türkiye near the city of Antakya (ancient Antioch). But given that it was believed to be the home of the king of the pantheon worshiped by the pagans of Canaan, references to tsaphon (“north”) in the Old Testament carry a supernatural meaning. This is where the army of Gog of Magog will assemble (Eze. 38:6, 15; 39:2), and it’s where the rebel in Eden wanted to build his “mount of assembly” (Isa. 14:13), which is the Hebrew phrase (har moʿed) from which John transliterated the name Armageddon. So, the idea that Christ’s return may echo the Exodus, coming from the south, may convey a deeper meaning of reversing the evil that came from “cosmic north” in ancient Israel.

Jordan in the End Times

October 28, 2024

A lot of biblical history took place east of the Jordan River. What role does the modern nation of Jordan play in end times prophecy? This week, we discuss an interesting sequence of events that may unfold during the time of the Antichrist: If Israeli Jews take notice of the references to the “abomination of desolation” in the Book of Daniel (8:13, 9:26–27, 11:31, and 12:11) and they flee to the mountains as Jesus warned his followers to do in Matthew 24:15–21 (and as apparently prophesied in Revelation 12:6), they must return at some point because the House of Judah and House of David are in Jerusalem on the Day of the Lord (Zech. 12:1–11, 14:1–15), when God Himself goes into battle for Israel. We also discuss whether Habakkuk 3:3–5 is an “already but not yet” prophecy, fulfilled already when the Israelites followed God from Teman and Mount Paran, which are alternate names for Sinai. If the wilderness to which the woman—Israel—flees in Rev. 12:6 is Petra, as some prophecy teachers believe, then yes, Habakkuk 3 may have a “not yet” fulfillment in the future. We believe Sinai was either near or at Petra, not in Arabia, for reasons we’ll explain in detail another time. So, Habakkuk may have foreseen a future return from the wilderness to Jerusalem by the people of Israel prior to the final battle of the age, Armageddon.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

October 21, 2024 • Psalm 22, Isaiah 52:10, Zechariah 12:10

THE PRECISION of prophecy is stunning. For example, David saw the crucifixion a thousand years before it happened. This week, we discuss the startling connections between Psalm 22, the “crucifixion prophecy” of Isaiah 52:10 (and how it is embedded in the name “Yeshua”), and Zechariah’s prophecy of the Day of Yahweh, when our Lord returns and it welcomed by the House of David in Jerusalem.