Hamas, Hizbullah, Islam and the Arabs in Bible Prophecy

The threat of terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hizbullah in Lebanon is becoming a great problem to Israel's security. These two terrorist organizations are being backed by the Islamic nations that surround Israel especially by Iran. On May 11,2008 Israel National News reported:

Hizbullah Celebrates Victory in Lebanon as Gov't Bows to Demands The Hizbullah terrorist group celebrated victory over the Lebanese government as the weak US-backed coalition bowed to the Iran and Syria-backed group’s demands. Nonetheless, Hizbullah men continued to clash with US-backed Lebanese government supporters even after the Lebanese government authorized its army to backtrack on the state’s attempted assertion of sovereignty following a near-coup.

Several elements in Lebanon attempted to call upon the various factions to unite around their enmity for the Jewish state – to no avail.

"We had thought that Israel is the source of the imminent threat to our country… but the present experience shows that our homes and democratic system are gripped by brethren who believe in armed violence,” said Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. "We and the Lebanese People do not accept that Hizbullah and its weapons remain in the present status. None of us is neutral. The nation will not retain its normalcy until Hizbullah is convinced that only the Lebanese people can guarantee its security through the state.”

The above headline shown that Hisbullah is gaining control of Lebanon's government. This will lead to a greater threat to Israel's security than the war between Israel and Hizbullah in the summer of 2006.Meanwhile, the terrorist group Hamas keeps firing mortar shells and rockets against Israeli cities despite the efforts of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Both Hamas and Hizbullah with the backing of the Islamic surrounding nations have one and only reason for committing such acts of terrorism-the destruction of the state of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state. How does this scenario fit into Bible prophecy?

Though terrorist groups like Hamas and Hizbullah are not specifically mentioned in the Bible, their respective geographical areas which in this case are Lebanon and Gaza are mentioned by the prophet as the main players against Israel. In Joel 3 we read:

1 ''For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:(Joel 3:1-7) Notice that in verse 1 God brings ''again'' the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. This will take place when God once again allows the Jews living in Israel to be taken as captives during the time of the Tribulation when the Antichrist persecutes the Jews. Zechariah predicted the same event:

''1Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (Zechariah 14:1-2)

Notice that Zechariah predicted that the city of Jerusalem will be taken by all nations which will take the people as captives just as Joel 3:1 predicted. The nations mentioned in this passage are primarily Middle Eastern nation as we shall see below. In verse 2 of Joel 3 God says that He will gather all the Middle Eastern nations down to the valley of Jehoshaphat to judge them because of their treatment of the Jews and for parting His land. In Zechariah 14 we find the parallel passage after Jerusalem's conquest by the Arab nations:

''Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. . .And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.'' (Zechariah 14:3,12)

Joel 3 and Zechariah 14 are talking about the same event, namely, Jerusalem's conquest by the Antichrist and his Arab confederacy and God's judgment upon these nations for taking the Jews as captives and dividing the land of Israel among themselves. In verse 4 of Joel 3 we read the interesting part of the prophecy as it relates to the current situation being faced by Israel as Hamas and Hizbullah are threatening the existence of Israel as a nation: God says: ''Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;'' Notice that God specifically names the cities of Lebanon ( Tyre and Zidon ) and all the coast of Palestine which are located in the modern day Gaza Strip. God asks them what recompense they will render Him and that He would recompense them back upon their own head. The next two verses explain what is in view:

''Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.''

Here God says that Lebanese and Palestinians have carried into their temples God's goodly and pleasant things and have sold Jews as slaves to the Grecians. Although this is a historical event as recorded in 2 Chronicles 21:16-17 when God stirred up the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians to invade Judah, take away all the possessions that were found in king Jehoram's house and his sons as captives, the context of Joel 3 has eschatological implications. Could it be that God is referring to modern day Tyre and Sidon in Lebanon and not to Tyre and Zidon in ancient Phoenicia? Tyre and Sidon were attacked by the Israeli Defense Forces in the summer of 2006 as Hizbullah fighters were located in both Lebanese cities in order to fire rockets against Israeli cities.

Prophecy scholars agree that Bible prophecy usually has a double fulfillment and this is referred to as '' the law of double reference'', therefore, God could be using a historical event of the past to convey a message for the future. If this is true, God is telling us that Tyre and Zidon which are located in modern day Lebanon and the coasts of Palestine which are located in the modern day Gaza Strip will be the major threats against Israel before a greater Arab confederacy declares war against Israel and those threats will be caused by specific political organizations. It is obvious to any observer of Middle East events that Hamas in Gaza and Hizbullah in Lebanon are the main political organizations that are threatening Israel's security. Going back to the biblical text in Joel, God said:

''The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head. And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.''(Joel 3:6-8)

God says here that he will raise the Jews from where they had been sold to and use them to return the recompense to Tyre, Sidon and Palestine. This could be a reference to regathering of the Jews to the land of Israel and their military capability to destroy the enemies specifically mentioned as Lebanese and Palestinians and take them as prisoners in order to sell them as slaves to a people far off as God declared. The current situation will force Israel to take military action against Hamas and Hizbullah in order to provide security to its citizens. This will cause the surrounding nations to become even more furious against Israel which will result in a greater confederacy of Arab nations to declare war against Israel as wee see in the following verses of Joel 3:

''9Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.(Joel 3:8-12)

Notice that in the above passage God is telling the heathen round about (Gentile nations that surround Israel) to prepare for war. In verse 12 God specifically mentions that the nations to be judged are the nations round about, that is, Israel's Arab neighbors. In the following verses we read:

''14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 16The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. . . 19Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

The above passage talks about God's judgment upon the nations that come against Israel. Notice that in verse 19 God says that Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom (southern part of modern day Jordan) will be a desolate wilderness. That is interesting because Egypt and Jordan are the only two surrounding nations that currently have a peace treaty with Israel whereas all others have sworn to wipe Israel off the face of the earth including the Iranians who are not Arabs but who share the same Islamic religion. According to this verse, Egypt and Jordan will break their peace treaty with Israel and will once again be in conflict with the Jewish state.

''1Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. 2For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. 3They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. 4They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: 6The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; 7Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8Assyria also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. 9Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: 10Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. 11Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: 12Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

The nations mentioned in Psalm 83 are: “Edom, Moab, Gebal, Ammon”— Jordan “Ishmaelites, Hagarines”— Arab peoples in general, Egypt “Tyre”— Lebanon “Assyria”— Syria, Iraq and possibly an independent Assyrian state in the future “Philistia”— Gaza

Notice that in this confederacy not only we find Lebanon and Gaza again as in Joel 3,but we also find Jordan,Syria,Egypt and the unexpected,the Assyrians who basically disappeared as an ethnic group returning as one of Israel's enemies.They all say in verse 4:

''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'' It is interesting to note that Syria and Egypt will be waging war against the Antichrist during the first half of the Tribulation according to Daniel 11:40.Syria and Egypt are referred to by Daniel as the king of the north and the king of the south.Once the Antichrist conquers these two kings (Daniel 11:42-43) who could be two of the three horns that fall before him according to Daniel 7:20,Syria and Egypt will become part of his Arab confederacy against Israel by the end of the Tribulation.

We can all see Islamic Jordan, Egypt,Lebanon, Syria, and Palestinians all united against Israel,but Assyria joining them sounds like an impossibility.I say this because the Assyrian people who live in Northern Iraq, Syria and Turkey today are orthodox Christians and it is unlikely that they would become Israel's enemies except for one reason,and that is, giving up their ''Christianity'' and accept the Islamic religion. Is this a possible scenario? The current situation in Iraq is bringing Christian Assyrians to extinction as Islamic militias are burning their house and churches in Iraq. On April 25,2008 the Assyrian International News Agency reported:

''Thousands of Christians fleeing persecution in other parts of Iraq have returned since 2004 to ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plain, just north and east of Mosul. While they have escaped the Islamic militias who slaughtered family members and burned down their houses and churches in Baghdad and Mosul, now they face a new battle. Today's enemies are poverty, joblessness, and despair. Jamal Dinha, mayor of Bartella, a large Christian village east of Mosul, painted a dire picture of the life these persecuted Christians now face in this Kurdish-controlled safe haven.

"The situation in our region is critical. Our young people are unemployed. We have IDPs [internally-displaced people] from everywhere. Our infrastructure is bad. Our cultural and scientific institutions don't exist. We have no electricity, bad water, broken streets." The despair is driving many families to emigrate a second time to Syria and Jordan. "Many families leave after they have stayed here for awhile and see there are no jobs and they give up hope," echoed Bassam Ballo, mayor of Tel Kaif, the largest city in the Nineveh Plain. "At least in Jordan and Syria, there is electricity and water."

The current situation being faced by Christian Assyrian in Iraq and the Middle East show that it is a matter of time before the Assyrians give up their Christian heritage and embrace Islam.This will cause Assyria to become an independent Islamic state in the Middle East and and bring about the Psalm 83 confederacy that will seek to destroy Israel. Another reason why Assyria will join the Arab world against Israel is the fact that the Bible seems to indicate that the Antichrist himself will be an Assyrian. In some passages of Isaiah we read:

''The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, [so] shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.''(Isaiah 14:24-25). The13th and 14th chapters of Isaiah are about the future destruction of Babylon.In 14:4 the Antichrist is called the king of Babylon who will be empowered by Lucifer in verses 12 through 15.In verse 25 he is called the Assyrian.This suggests that the Antichrist besides being an Assyrian,he will also be the king of Babylon which will be the economic capital of his kingdom in modern day Iraq.

''And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and [with] the flame of a devouring fire, [with] scattering, and tempes, and hailstones. For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, [which] smote with a rod.''(Isaiah 30:30-31) This verse says that the Assyrian will be destroyed by the voice of the Lord.Could it be that this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote?:

''Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God . . .And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:''(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4,8)

Here Paul says that the Antichrist will be destroyed by the spirit of the mouth of the Lord just as Isaiah wrote that by the voice of the Lord will the Assyrian be destroyed. Although Paul and Isaiah use different terms,the idea is the same. Some might say that Isaiah 30:30-31 refers to the destruction of the Assyrians by the Babylonians, but some verses of Isaiah 30 have eschatological implications, not just historical. See Isaiah 30:18-33.

''2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 3Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. 5And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. 6And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. (Micah 5:2-6)

Verse 2 is a prophecy concerning the birth of Jesus in Bethelehem. Verse 4 is a prophecy concerning His greatness in the Lord as the King to the ends of the earth. Verse 5 is a prophecy concerning His delivering the Jews from the Assyrian when the Assyrian comes against Israel. This passage also seems to indicate that the Antichrist will be an Assyrian. No wonder we find Assyria joining the Arabs confederacy against Israel. The Bible also indicates that Assyria will become an independent state in the future for God Himself says that Assyrian will be an existing nation during the Millennium:

''In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.''(Isaiah 19:23-25)

For Assyria to enter the Millennium as a nation,it first must be reborn before the Millennium begins.It is interesting no note that the Psalmist says the following in the rest of Psalm 83: ''9Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: 10Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. 11Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: 12Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.(Psalm 83:9-12)

Here the Psalmist is referring back to Judges 8 where Gideon fought Zebah and Zalmunna,kings of the Midianites. In Judges 8: we read: ''So Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself, and kill us; for as a man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.''(Judges 8:21) NKJV The Psalmist is asking God to do to the Psalm 83 Arab confederacy what Gideon did to Zeba and Zalmunna. Notice that after killing Zebah and Zalmunna, Gideon took way the crescent ornaments that were on their camel's necks. It is interesting to note that the crescent is also the symbol and ornament of the Islamic religion which is the vehicle by which the Arabs are uniting against Israel. Is that a coincidence? Maybe,maybe not. Many good prophecy scholars believe that Islam will fall when God destroys the Russian-Islamic Invasion of Israel. Some believe the Psalm 83 confederacy will take place before the Russian-Islamic invasion of Israel, that Israel will defeat the Psalm 83 confederacy and that after God supernaturally destroys the Russian Islamic invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39,Islam will be humiliated and will become a forgotten religion. All this sounds good,but it is not what the prophets seem to be telling us. We have even posted articles on our web site by good end time writers who believe that Islam will fall before the Antichrist appears but we do not necessarily share the same views and perspectives.

Although God destroys the armies of the Russian-Iranian led coalition of nations as seen in Ezekiel 38,He specifically says that He is dealing with Gog of the land of Magog, not with Islam in particular. Israel has defeated Islamic-Arab nations in the war of independence of 1948,the Six-Day war of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973,nonetheless Islam has not been humiliated or forgotten, but has become even more hostile to Israel. The same could happen when God destroys the Russian-Islamic confederacy of Ezekiel 38.The Arab world will be more furious than ever because of Israel's victory and Islamic fundamentalism in the Arab world will most likely skyrocket, not die and be forgotten as many prophecy students believe will happen after God supernaturally destroys the Russian-Islamic invading armies.

Both Zechariah and Joel paint a picture of Armageddon with the surrounding Arab nations coming against Israel and the religion of Islam is what is causing such a scenario to become a reality. The same good scholars believe that the Antichrist will come form the Western section of a ''revived Roman Empire'' after the ''fall of Islam''. Again, it all sounds good, but it is not what the prophets seem to be telling us. As we have seen above, the Bible seems to indicate that the Antichrist will be from Assyria and that is not in the Western section of a revived Roman Empire. Most likely, Assyria will be the eleventh horn of Daniel 7:23-25 to rise among a ten-fold division of a revived form of Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, Roman, and Ottoman empires combined together into a massive geopolitical entity. We have also seen that Assyria will possibly reemerge on the scene as a future independent Islamic state. You might ask: Are you telling me the Antichrist will be an Assyrian Muslim? How can that be since the Assyrians are orthodox Christians?

Let's suppose for a moment that a good number of these Assyrians are true Christians. If they are taken up to heaven during the Rapture of the Church, what do we have left? Assyrians who have no faith and who will be forced to accept Islam even because Islamic militias are causing Christian Assyrians to become extinct as we saw above in this article.

Such a scenario will cause Assyria to reemerge on the geopolitical scene as a new Islamic nation in the Middle East. We know that the Antichrist will first appear as a man of peace who will even favor Israel during his rise to power on the political arena (Daniel 9:27).

He will confirm a covenant with Israel and most likely he will convince the Islamic- Arab world to accept such a covenant which will allow the Jews to have access to the Temple Mount and have a rebuilt Jewish Temple there. In the Middle of his covenant with Israel he will become a tool of Satan and will break this covenant with Israel. Then he will form an Assyrian-Arab confederacy against Israel to fulfill Psalm 83 and will cause the Islamic nations that surround Israel to come against the Jewish nation as predicted in Zechariah 12:1-5,14:1-4,Joel 3:1-12 and many other passages. We know from other passages that the Antichrist will not stop there and that he will gather not only the nations that surround Israel, but all the nation of the world in order to bring a ''final solution'' to the Jewish problem. In Revelation we read:

''13And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.''(Revelation 16:13-14)

That must be read in light of Zechariah 12 where God says: ''2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.''(Zechariah 12:2-5)

It seems that the Antichrist first gathers the nations round about Jerusalem, i.e.

Islamic-Arab nations against Jerusalem and that in the later stages of the war he calls upon the leaders of all the nations of the world to come and give him military support. This seems to suggest that his Arab confederacy will once again fail to destroy Israel as has been the case in every military confrontation the Arabs had with Israel since the war of independence of 1948 when Israel with a very small army defeated 6 Arab nations that attacked the Jewish state. This fact can be seen in the following verse of Zachariah 12 where God says:

''In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.''(Zechariah 12:6)

This verse speaks of the governors of Judah (Israeli leaders) devouring the nations round about like fire. Indeed the Israeli Defense Forces have become like ''an hearth of fire among the wood'' and have been able to destroy the Arab enemies in every military confrontation since the creation of Israel in 1948.Based on these verses, we conclude that Israel will be able to militarily face the Antichrist's Arab confederacy by devouring them with the fires of modern weapons. When the Antichrist can no longer defeat the Israeli Defense Forces with his Arab confederacy, a demon will come out of his mouth and out of Satan's and the false prophet's mouths and will call upon the kings of the whole world to give him military support against Israel. Then all the nations of the world will be ''gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon''.(Revelation 16:16)

As we have seen in the beginning of this article, the current situation being faced by Israel as Hamas and Hizbullah are day by day becoming more dangerous to Israel show that the end time scenario predicted by the Old Testament prophets is becoming a reality before the eyes of the world. Sooner or later Israel will have to take military action against Hamas and Hizbullah and this will set the stage for Iran to call upon Russia and other Islamic nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 to come against Israel. As God supernaturally destroys the Russian-Iranian led coalition, He will cause the Jews to acknowledge God's protection upon the nation (Ezekiel 39:7,22-28).This will cause the Jews to have a national desire to build a temple and worship God according to the Mosaic Law.

The Antichrist will then appear in the Middle East probably from a new Islamic Assyria as a man of peace promising to solve all of the Middle East's religious and political problems by confirming a 7 year covenant with Israel which wil probably convince the Islamic world to allow the Jews to have access to the Temple Mount and build their Temple setting the stage for the beginning of Daniel's seventieth week and the Great Tribulation.

The Arab confederacy against Israel that we see being formed today is in my opinion the second most important sign of Christ's Second Coming after the rebirth of Israel which is the first most important sign that points to the soon return of our Lord and Savior.