As we look forward to 2020, there are several prophetic items that are brewing and will become clearer as the year goes on. The situation in the Middle East is heating up. Disruption among end time players Turkey and Iran are worthy of watching. There is also disruption in Israel with leadership and elections. Terrorist groups, sponsored by Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood (Turkey), are making a lot of noise about attacking Israel. Indeed, there are rockets launching from Gaza into Israel regularly. There is also political disruption in the United States, which could well impact the Middle East and Israel. The prophetic timepiece, Israel, and its surrounding end-time enemies may see significant movement in 2020.
Bloomberg reports, “Renewed U.S. sanctions have cost Iran $200 billion in foreign-exchange income and investment, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday. Sanctions have deprived the Islamic Republic of $100 billion in oil revenue in the last two years and an equal amount in foreign investment credit, Rouhani said in a televised speech, according to his official website.” The sanctions may offset the $200 billion in cash sent to Iran by president Obama, but not before Iran was able to bolster its terrorist-sponsoring networks across the Middle East and around the world. We see the results with Iran flexing its muscle in the Persian Gulf, and protests led against the US Embassy in Iraq by Islamist extremist Nouri al-Maliki, who was welcomed by the Obama White House in 2011, and also was linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Turkey, another end-time player, supports the current Libyan government while Russia and the US, are working to destabilize that government, another end-time player. The Middle East Media Research Institute reports that Turkey is questioning Russia’s involvement against Turkish interests in Libya. In addition, Turkey has been a major player in escalating disruption near the Syrian border. Interesting point about Turkey is that it is a dualistic player, meaning it is in the NATO alliance giving lip service to supporting the NATO agenda, while at the same time working toward supporting terrorism against Israel, aiding the Islamic State, and working to reestablish the Islamic Caliphate.
Intertwined in all this is the US presidential election. If President Trump is reelected, the support for Israel will continue further alienating hostile Arab states. If a Democrat is elected, the pendulum may swing toward favoring those Arab states at Israel’s expense. Ezekiel 38:4-5 says that in the end of days, God will “put hooks into thy jaws” of Gog of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal (all in Turkey), to lead a coalition of “Persia (Iran), Ethiopia (Sudan) and Libya with them” against Israel. When we see Iran being brought into such a coalition with Turkey and these prophetic nations aligning against Israel, we know this time is near. All indicators point to an advancement toward this prophecy in 2020.
