What Is Next For 2017?

People love to make predictions. 2017 is coming tomorrow and there are lots of articles on what is next. I really do not know what is next, but the Bible says we are nearer and nearer to the second coming of the Messiah (Revelation 19:1-21, Matthew 24:4-51, Luke 21:7-36, Zechariah 14:4, Acts 1:11) and His rule in the Millennium (Revelation 20:4-6). So what can we expect on the way there?

Israel
Besides Jesus the Messiah, the other focus for Biblical prophecy is Israel (Deuteronomy 30:1-10, Isaiah 60:9, Jeremiah 16:14-15, Ezekiel 36:24, Zechariah 10:8-10). The world witnessed the partial fulfilment of a Biblical prophecy (Isaiah 11:11-12) for the first time in almost 2000 years when Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948. This is actually a very significant date. It meant that all the rest of the Bible prophecies concerning Israel and its surrounding nations can be kicked into action.

Ephraim
Now that the tribe of Judah is in, we now expect the northern kingdom of Ephraim to be restored (Hosea 2:19-23) so that all the twelve tribes will be united as one country (Isaiah 11:13, Jeremiah 3:18,  Ezekiel 37:15-28, Hosea 1:11). Ephraim will become a multitude of nations (Genesis 17:4, Genesis 48:19) or fullness of gentiles (Romans 11:25-28), but at this moment, Israel thought that Joseph was dead (Genesis 45:26-28).

Jerusalem
Problem with the status of Jerusalem will continue (Zechariah 12:2-3, Luke 21:24), but the third temple will be built because the Anti-Christ (Revelation 13:1-4) need to perform the abomination of desolation in the Temple (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15-16, Mark 13:14, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

Israel's inner circle of neighbors
The immediate neighbors of Israel will wage war against Israel and will be defeated (Psalm 83:4-8, Isaiah 11:14-15). I noticed the absence of Egypt in this conflict.

Israel's outer circle of neighbors
Gog and Magog will invade Israel with Iran, Sudan and Libya (Ezekiel 38:1-6). Again I noticed the absence of Egypt. Also absent are the immediate neighbors of Israel. This could be a hint of the chronology of events.

Kings of the north and kings of the south
We also have the unfinished saga of the kings of the north and the south (Daniel 11:36-45). Who is the wilful king? Is he one of the kings of the north and the south, or is he another king? Is he a local middle east tyrant, like Antiochus IV Epiphanes, or is he the Anti-Christ, leader of a world power? He will honor a god of fortresses, a god unknown to his ancestors (Daniel 11:38). Who is his ancestors and who is their god? Egypt is mentioned in Daniel 11:42.

Egypt

I think Isaiah 19:16-22 contains some unfulfilled prophecies about Egypt. Judah will become a terror to Egypt and five cities in Egypt will speak Hebrew.

The World Powers
The current top world power is America. We also have Europe, Russia and China. But there is a coming world power made up of ten kings or nations (Daniel 2:42-43, Daniel 7:7-8). The purpose of the ten kings is to give their power and authority to Anti-Christ (Revelation 17:12-13). Currently this ten-nation power and the kings have yet to be identified. There was a time EU was thought to be the ten-nation power, but then it expanded to include so many countries. This ten-nation power will be Roman in spirit, since it came from the fourth beast. Thanks to the Islamist, we see many European countries now stressing on their Judeo-Christian-Roman-Greek roots. Let us watch out for some ten-nation coalition in the coming years.

I am not saying that all these will happen in 2017, but it will happen eventually. Don't miss the fun and be on the right side.