The conflict between Jews and Arabs
started in Biblical times

The battle is between the 12 princes/rulers of Ishmael and the 12 tribes of Israel....

Arabs and the Israelis have been fighting since time immemorial over that tiny plot of land called Israel. Their battle is not one of flesh and blood, but of spiritual things. The Bible states that the last great battle will pit Israel against the rest of the Middle East and its allies. How did it all begin and why have they remained mortal enemies for thousands of years?

It was jealousy and resentment, plain and simple! And man's failure to trust in YHWH (Yahweh)! Take a look at how things unfolded:

In Genesis 15 we see our first Patriarch Abraham complaining to YHWH that he had no heirs to pass an inheritance on to.

Genesis 15: 1 Some time later the word of ADONAI came to Avram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great." 2 Avram replied, "ADONAI, God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli'ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions? 3 You haven't given me a child," Avram continued, "so someone born in my house will be my heir." 4 But the word of ADONAI came to him: "This man will not be your heir. No, your heir will be a child from your own body." 5 Then he brought him outside and said, "Look up at the sky, and count the stars - if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!" 6 He believed in ADONAI, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Now, some time passed and in Genesis 16 we see Abraham and his wife Sarah panicking about not having an heir yet, and so they decided (at the urging of Sarah) to take matters into their own hands and have Abraham sleep with his wife's pagan/Egyptian servant Hagar. The result of that union was a son they named Ishmael.

In Genesis 16:13-16 the Angel of the YHWH told Hagar (who resented the fact she had conceived) that her son Ishmael would live and end up being "...a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers."

Ishmael - the son of the Egyptian slave woman - is the father of the Arab nations, most of whom today are Muslim....

When Abraham (then still known as Avram before God changed His Name) was 99 years old, YHWH appeared and made a covenant with him, promising to make Avraham the father of many nations - which meant at some point he would have another heir and that that other heir, and not Ishmael, would be the one with whom YHWH would make his next covenant:

Genesis 17: 1 When Avram was 99 years old ADONAI appeared to Avram and said to him, "I am El Shaddai [God Almighty]. Walk in my presence and be pure-hearted. 2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will increase your numbers greatly." 3 Avram fell on his face, and God continued speaking with him: 4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Avram [exalted father], but your name will be Avraham [father of many], because I have made you the father of many nations. 6 I will cause you to be very fruitful. I will make nations of you, kings will descend from you.

7 "I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you. 8 I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land of Kena'an, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."

Genesis 17: 15 God said to Avraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. 16 I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her (this included Yeshua!!!)." 17 At this Avraham fell on his face and laughed - he thought to himself, "Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah give birth at ninety?" 18 Avraham said to God, "If only Yishma'el could live in your presence!"

19 God answered, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz'chak (Isaac)[laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 But as for Yishma'el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Yitz'chak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year." 22 With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him.

23 Avraham took Yishma'el his son, all the slaves born in his house and all who had been bought with his money, every male among the people in Avraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, just as God had said to him. 24 Avraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, 25 and Yishma'el his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

NOTE: Isaac was born AFTER the covenant of circumcision...which was never, ever negated. ALL men who belong to YHWH, Jew and Gentile, must be circumcised!

Conflict between the two sons of Abraham began from the very start. Genesis 21:9 says the conflict began just after Isaac was weaned: "Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking."

Galatians 4 tells us that Ishmael had been "born according to the flesh" while Isaac had been "born according to the promise". Isaac replaced Ishmael as the favored son and heir. This, of course, made Ishmael jealous and bitter. As a result, he mocked and disdained his half-brother. Eventually the situation became so intolerable that Abraham's wife Sarah demanded that Ishmael and his Egyptian concubine mother, Hagar, be expelled permanently from Abraham's family.

But YHWH loved Hagar and her son, and had mercy upon them. He promised Hagar that her son would beget twelve princes who would become a great nation. Ishmael then went to live in the wilderness region of Hejaz in what became known as the Arabian Peninsula. He indeed had twelve patriarchal sons who became associated with the peoples known as Midianites, Edomites, Egyptians and Assyrians. The Bible and Islamic tradition both agree that Ishmael became the leader of all the great desert peoples of the Middle East.

This jealousy and resentment between Sarah and Hagar and their sons Isaac and Ishmael created an unparalleled hate which has set off wars and atrocities for four thousand years. It was the title deed to the land of Israel, which God promised to Abraham's lineage, that has been the source of the friction between the Jews and the Arabs right up to the present day.

Muslims believe the Jews changed and distorted the Bible in order to establish themselves as the heirs of Abraham's Covenant blessings. However, they fail to explain how the New Testament clearly teaches that the Covenant was made with Isaac and his descendants.

According to Islamic tradition, Abraham had eight sons rather than two who were reared in Mecca, not Hebron. They insist it was Ishmael, not Isaac, whom Abraham was about to sacrifice on Mount Moriah when an angel stopped him. According to the Koran, the Abrahamic covenant, with its promises - including the title deed to the land of Israel - was passed down to the Arabs through Ishmael, rather than to the Jews through Isaac.

If one believes that the Old and New Testaments were written under the inspiration of the Spirit of YHWH, then there is no question that Israel is the Promised Land of the Jews. God's words to Abraham in Genesis are some 2,500 years older than the creation of Islam (whose "prophet" Mohammed was a murdering, thieving pedophile who "married" a seven year old child - but that's another story).

The bottom line is, YHWH fulfilled His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael. And He is about to use the consequential warfare between the two brothers in order to bring about His "end time" scenario....

Note: We at The Refiner's Fire believe God is using the spirit of Islam to make His end time prophecies happen. Why? Because, as a Muslim once wrote to our website: "Muslims HATE Jews and Christians and all they stand for, including Capitalism." The Bible says that in the end times, believers in Yeshua will be beheaded for their belief (Rev. 20:4). And who are the ONLY people in the entire universe who still behead? The Muslims! They have become the world's worst enemy, as evidenced by the myriad terrorist attacks not only on Israel but the entire world. And the worst is yet to come....

Author Hal Lindsay recently wrote the following:

....This is exactly the situation that continues to develop in the Middle East. The world has been dragged into the ancient conflict between Isaac and Ishmael in spite of its best efforts to stay out of it. This conflict that has raged between these two half brothers for 4,000 years is destined to ignite the last war of the world, according to the Bible prophets.

Muhammad, a descendant of Ishmael, has brought over one billion people on to his side of this ancient conflict through the religion of Islam. From the time he started the Muslim religion, the dimensions of the conflict began to enlarge. When his followers laid claim to Jerusalem as the their third holiest site, the die was cast for Jerusalem to become the trigger of the war of Armageddon, just as the prophet Zechariah predicted 2500 years ago. Zechariah prophesied "Jerusalem would become a burdensome stone for all the peoples" and that "All nations of the earth will be gathered [for war] because of it." (Zechariah 12:3)

We are eyewitnesses to this taking place right now.

The other major spheres of power that will be drawn into this final war are clearly predicted.

Ezekiel predicts that a nation to the extreme north of reborn Israel will become Israel's arch enemy. It will be a nation with a vast arsenal with which it will arm all of the Muslim nations. Russia is the only nation to the extreme north of Israel. And they are descended from the tribe of Magog through the Scythians, just as Ezekiel predicted. God Himself commands this power from the extreme north to take command of the confederated Muslim forces and lead them in an all out attack against Israel. This attack is the first battle of the war of Armageddon.

The Book of Revelation predicts another sphere of power that will enter this war with 200 million soldiers. This power bloc is called "the Kings of the East". They will move into the Middle East and attack once the war has started. The Bible says they will wipe out a third of the world's population.

The fourth power bloc is the Western force led by a revived form of the Roman Empire. Daniel and the Apostle John both predict this power in great detail. It will begin when a great leader springs up in Rome and takes the strongest 10 Nations of the EU and uses them to form his power base.