“But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.” (Revelation 12:14)
Perhaps the most vivid picture we have of a refugee crisis in the Middle East is that of the Syrian refugees trudging on foot across Europe. Since 2011, over five-and-a-half million displaced Syrians have been forced to flee their country, escaping to places such as Lebanon, northern Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey. We may have seen the harrowing footage of children in flimsy summer clothes and insubstantial footwear, subject to wet, muddy, and wintery conditions in makeshift tent encamp-ments. Families fled for their lives with what they were wearing or could carry with them. Turning to the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, Jesus specifically asks us to pray that the flight of the believers from Jerusalem in the End Times will not be in the winter. We can assume therefore that the Israeli refugees will also be ill-prepared for cold weather.
We know that one-third of Israel will survive and be sorely tried.[1] Many will be displaced from their homes, perhaps taken away into captivity, or fleeing as refugees, or else hiding to defend their town or settlement. The Antichrist will set up his headquarters between the (Mediterranean) Sea and “the beautiful Holy Mountain” (Jerusalem).[2] This is of deep concern as the area includes Tel Aviv, the largest city in Israel, whose residents today total about 468,000. It sits within the Gush Dan conurbation, which holds over four million people, approximately 45% of Israel’s population. Whilst we do not yet know which settlements in Israel will be overrun and how their inhabitants will fare, these geographical clues may help the church strategically to prepare to aid Israel in her hour of need. The great eagle referred to in the verse at the head of this chapter remains mysterious. Although the term suggests to some an airlift to Jordan, the distance between Jerusalem and Jordan is short and the terrain unsuitable for aircraft take offs and landings. The great eagle also brings to mind the USA but, as we discussed in the previous chapter, America is conspicuous by her absence in the end-times prophetic Scriptures...
[1] Zechariah 13:9
[2] Daniel 11:45
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Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation. www.lockman.org