Iran vs. Israel: Which Chapter of Revelation Are We In?!

Months ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Line, a targeted military operation to roll back the

Iranian threat to Israel's very survival. Israeli warplanes continue to strike targets in Iran.

But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.

There are sirens right now in Kuwait. Bahrain and Kuwait and Iraq are probably the next three targets right here on the program as Iran looks to retaliate.

We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what...

They're doing, do you understand that? A lot is happening in the Middle East right now. Maybe you're watching the news and wondering, is this the beginning of the end?

Are we living in the pages of Revelation? And which chapter is that specifically? In this video, I'm going to show you which chapter

I think we're in, but it might not be the one that you think. What do you mean by that, Nate? Thanks for asking. Let's get right into it.

Welcome back to Wise Disciple. My name is Nate Sala, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that you are meant to be, which includes understanding the signs of the times and what they mean for your life as a

Christian today. Amen? If you find this video helpful, would you do me a favor and like and share this one around? Also, if you're not subbed, please do so.

It just helps me to get the word out to more and more people. And thanks so much for all of you who are subbed. I'm praying for us all.

All right, let's get to the punchline. Much of what's happening now is not a fulfillment of Revelation, at least not in the way that a lot of people think.

As a matter of fact, if you're the type of person or you know someone like this who dusts off the prophecy charts, you know what

I'm talking about? Every time there's trouble in the Middle East, they pull out the end time clock ticker. You should know that the vast majority of Christians in history did not think this way.

They didn't all agree on how to interpret Revelation, but none of them had this unique idea that current events between world powers in the

Middle East are the fulfillment of Revelation. That is a view that only came about relatively five minutes ago in light of church history.

And if you actually want to know more of my view on the proper interpretation of Revelation, check out this other video that I made recently where I expand a bit on that, particularly from the scripture.

I'll leave a link for that in the notes. And hey, look guys, I get it. You know, I used to attend church that holds prophecy conferences every year.

You know, I've seen pastors get up at the pulpit and make some wild speculations about whatever's happening in the world, you know, which is so interesting, you know, for me to consider because Jesus tells us not to do that kind of thing.

Not to speculate about what will happen and how specifically eschatology is being fulfilled at any given moment.

Look at this. Now, remember, the disciples asked Jesus a question. This is at Acts chapter 1.

At a time when he has already resurrected, he spent 40 days with them before ascending to heaven.

We're going to pick it up right here where he's about to ascend, okay? This is in chapter 1.

Now, a couple of verses earlier, Luke tells us that Jesus was essentially with the disciples for 40 days, and he was using that period to speak about the kingdom of God to them.

In other words, Jesus is teaching his disciples. He's preparing them for his departure. Now, watch this, verse 6.

So, when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Okay, stop right there.

Pop quiz for you. What has Jesus not told his disciples in those 40 days?

If they're asking this question, what has he apparently not clarified at all?

The end times. That's what the disciples are asking about. They know he's leaving, and so they're like, hey, hey, wait, before you go,

Jesus, we want to know about your reign on the throne in Jerusalem. Tell us how it's going to happen.

We want to know about how Rome is going to be overthrown. We want to know about our people being politically and spiritually elevated, you know?

This question is all about the end times from their Second Temple Jewish perspective. But what does

Jesus say, verse 7? It is not for you to know times or seasons that the

Father has fixed by his own authority. In other words, don't try to figure it out.

Don't try to determine when and how God's end times plans will unfold. That word seasons, it doesn't just refer to timing.

It refers to events that have been appointed by God. And that's exactly what people are still doing today.

Is it not? Oh, they'll try to tell you, you know, that's not what's going on or, you know, whatever.

So they can get around this particular statement by Jesus. That's exactly what's happening today. And everybody who is doing this, whether at the pulpit or making videos on YouTube, they are disobeying

Jesus when they do it. So let me give you a couple of brief points here to think about, all right?

And hopefully this is an encouraging video for you. First, point number one, don't be like the disciples in figuring out the end times.

Which I know, you know, I can already tell. It's not going to satisfy a lot of us who grew up in churches or maybe still attend churches.

Or like I said, watch YouTube videos that make it a habit to say, hey, are you seeing what's happening in the

Middle East right now? Are you seeing how it's all playing out according to Revelation? This is a well -intentioned mistake that will take your eyes off of the main goal.

Don't do it. And don't be taken with somebody who does that. The main goal for us is to fulfill the

Great Commission, ladies and gentlemen. And that's precisely what Jesus goes on to tell the disciples in verse 8.

Look at this. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all

Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. That's what Jesus wants us to do.

Amen? Oh, Nate, you're telling us to stick our heads in the sand and ignore what's happening in the world.

No, I'm not. I'm not saying that at all. We should be aware of the turmoil in the

Middle East. We should be informed of current events as brothers and sisters. You know, there is no mandate that exists anywhere that says that we

Christians should be ignorant people. As a matter of fact, I would argue we Christians should be better informed than most people.

I think that's what God desires for us. Here's what I'm saying. We should not look at events happening in the world and try to connect these end times dots.

Why? Well, first of all, we don't have the mind of God. And second of all,

Jesus tells us not to do it. Period. When Jesus says it, obey it.

Amen? But here's the second point. All right. And it gets a bit tricky here for a lot of us, right?

But here it is. Trouble is coming, according to the Bible. Look at this. Revelation 20, verse 7.

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth,

Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.

But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were.

And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. All right. I don't have the time to walk through and unpack this entire passage here for you, but note a few things with me.

First, there is a long duration of time wherein Jesus is reigning and his saints are reigning with him.

As a matter of fact, look at this. This is the verse right above verse 7. It says, they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

These are those who have been martyred for the testimony of Jesus, as well as those God gives the authority to judge.

This is verse 4, same chapter. All of these are reigning with Christ for a duration of time.

These are Christ followers, okay? And why is that? Because look at this. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

There it is again. And threw him into the pit. And shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.

After the thousand years, Satan must be released for a little while, okay?

So, verses 7 to 10 is in response to what happens up here in this passage. Satan was bound and thrown into a pit for the same duration of time, but then

Satan is released. You with me so far? Are you familiar with this passage of Revelation at all?

Now, at this point, it doesn't matter what interpretation of Revelation you take, whether you believe that Revelation chapters 4 through 19 is for our future or you think it's already passed.

We all have to face chapter 20. That means trouble is on the horizon for Christ followers.

Can you see that? Because Satan will be released and will come out anyway.

And what's he going to do? What he's always done. Deceive the nations. These are the

Gentiles all over the world. The four corners of the earth. That's what that means. By the way,

Gog and Magog, they're just shorthand for human armies that are led by supernatural evil, all right?

There's way more to say about Gog and Magog, but basically, Gog and Magog are John's way of combining both human and supernatural forces together.

This is deeply biblical, and it's in a lot of places in the Old Testament. Look at how Isaiah puts it.

Isaiah 34, verse 2. For the Lord is enraged against all the nations, but watch this.

Watch who's with them, and furious against all their host. He has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.

Look at this. All the host of heaven that are with the nations shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll.

All their host shall fall. Now, isn't that interesting? It's not just the nations that God is enraged at.

He's also angry at all their host. Now, this word host is a term that refers to divine beings that are attached to each

Gentile nation. Have you ever heard this before? So, in Jewish cosmology,

God has assigned Elohim to the nations such that each nation has its own supernatural being or beings that were supposed to obey

God and do what's right and point the nations to doing what is right in the sight of God.

But these beings rebelled. They caused the nations to worship them instead of Yahweh, and you can see this in places like Deuteronomy 32.

This is Psalm 82, right? And so, again, we just have to remember and think like Jews in the first century.

Whenever a nation goes to battle, their supernatural host goes with them.

Now, what does this have to do with Gog and Magog, right? Well, it's understood that Gog, of the land of Magog, comes from the north.

But in Second Temple Jewish thought, the north is the area of Bashan.

It's the area of Mount Hermon. It's the area of the god

Baal, who is another name for Satan. John is pointing out in Revelation 20 that Satan is going to lead human nations.

He's going to deceive them and then lead them, and they are going to march against...

Wait a second. Does it say a world nation? Does it say a sovereign country or a territory?

No. He's going to lead these nations to march against God's people. The camp of the saints.

That means trouble is coming for us, friends. And who knows? I mean, maybe it's already here.

You know what I mean? But guess what we are not told? How any of this is practically going to play out in real life.

What the real world application is for this particular vision by John, this prophecy, we're just not told.

You want to know why? Because it's not for us to know the times or seasons that the

Father has fixed by his own authority. So don't even bother trying. You know, as Christians, we have something that we're supposed to do.

We have something that we're supposed to put our minds to. It's to go spread the camp of the saints. Go bring in more people to the beloved city.

Go fulfill the Great Commission, in other words. And let God handle the details of how the end times all come together.

Are you with me? You know, and I can hear it, right? Hey, Nate, are you telling me to ignore current events?

Absolutely not. But you know what I am saying? Stop predicting the future.

Brother, sister, pastor, church leader, stop looking at current events and thinking, which chapter of Revelation is this?

Why? Because we're bad at it. I mean, just think about, like, every generation of Christian has thought at some point, oh, this is it.

Here it is, the return of Jesus, right? Whether it was the Hundred Years' War, the

Napoleonic Wars, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Gulf War, right?

9 -11. It's not for us to know, friends, even though trouble is coming for Christians.

It's not for us to know. So what do we do then? And this is actually the last point. We trust the story and we trust its author.

Amen? Jesus said in John 16, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.

In the world, you will have tribulation. Huh? In the world, you will have tribulation.

But take heart, I have overcome the world. In the world, are you, right? Are you seeing this?

We will have trouble. We will have trial. We will have strife. We will have persecution and tribulation.

So if you hear me saying, trouble is coming, and your thought is, like, where's the off -ramp, right?

You're pulling out your prophecy chart so you can be ready for God to just pull you out of the trouble before it gets too crazy.

That's the wrong spirit to have. Trouble against the kingdom of God was always part and parcel to the kingdom of heaven spreading here on earth.

The enemy was always going to find a way to push back on that spread, but he will not succeed, ladies and gentlemen.

You want to know why? Because Jesus is already on the throne. He's already there.

Watch what happens to the enemies of God in the end. Revelation 20, verse 9. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth.

This is the devil and the nations. And they surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them.

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

So the devil leads the nations in attacking God's people, and it gets to the point where they're surrounded, right?

The saints are surrounded. What happens next? We have another Sodom moment, don't we?

We have another Elijah versus the prophets of Baal moment. Only this time, there's no need for Elijah to cry out to God.

I'm pretty sure Jesus gives the command from the throne of heaven and says, now. And fire will come down and consume the enemies of God and the devil himself, and all those with him will be thrown into the lake of fire forever.

By the way, did you notice how many weapons the saints had?

The saints of God pick up to engage in battle. And you, how many was that?

Did you count how many weapons? Zero. Zero weapons. They're not involved in thwarting the devil at all.

What happens in Revelation 20 is all a work of God. Can you see that? And I think it reiterates what

Jesus said. This is the point that he was making to his disciples in Acts chapter one, right? Again, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons that God has fixed by his authority.

God is going to do what is right, and he's going to stop the devil. That's the promise of the story, and we have to trust it.

Again, you know, I mean, look at it. There are no, as far as I can see, there are no saints in Revelation 20 that are wondering, are the end times right now?

Is everyone else in church seeing what's going on with the current world powers? You know, I don't see the saints dusting off their prophecy charts, you know?

No, their job is to endure, to stay faithful to Christ throughout the entire experience.

Which, by the way, if you zoom all the way out, which you should probably do this, right? Do a study on this.

You zoom all the way out, you take a broad view of Revelation chapter one all the way to the end. That is the consistent messaging.

Endure the suffering. Stay faithful through the trial, and you will receive your heavenly reward.

That is the message of Revelation. That is good news, ladies and gentlemen.

At a time when, you know, there's so much turmoil. By the way, if you or your loved ones are in the middle of this trouble between Iran and Israel right now, or if, like, if you're experiencing trouble anywhere in the world on behalf of the name of Jesus Christ, I want you to let us know because we are going to pray for you.

Can you reach out in the comments and just share your prayer requests? You are amongst friends in this community, I promise you.

We're going to lift you up to the God who is in control. I'm going to circle back around, and I'm going to look at these comments.

We're going to pray over all of them. Because let's face it. Even if this was the end of the world,

God has not lost control of the story. Somebody can amen that, right?

There's more going on than missiles falling out of the sky, friends. There's mercy, there's hope, and there's a king who's already on the throne.

So if you're starting to, you know, get a little antsy, right? Looking for the off -ramp, you're starting to get a little afraid, remember, don't get distracted by the headlines.

It's not for you to know the times or seasons that God has fixed. Even though there's trouble, okay?

We can all acknowledge that. We can trust the story. God is telling a story, and we can trust him because he's in control of the story.

Get rooted in the hope that has already conquered death, ladies and gentlemen, and you will be doing exactly what God wants you to be doing today, even in the midst of what's happening in the

Middle East and all around us, all right? That's enough out of me.

Now it's your turn. What are you thinking as you look at the turmoil in the Middle East? Are you currently struggling through persecution yourself, you know?

Let me know in the comments, and my community and I will be praying for you. As always, if you enjoyed the insights here, then you're going to love my

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