Biblical Prophecy Unfolding: Will Netanyahu's Crusade Usher in the Return of the Messiah?

Are We Witnessing the Unfolding of the Last Days; Wars and Rumors of Wars?

The late Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), who was known simply as “the Rebbe.” The Rebbe told a young Benjamin Netanyahu, while he was the UN ambassador, that he would be the Israeli leader who would welcome the Jewish Messiah.

The Rebbe also told Netanyahu that he would be the final Israeli leader before the Messiah’s arrival.

For those of you who don’t follow Biblical prophecy, or who would not call yourself Christian at all, this may all seem really strange. But let’s take it at face value that Bibi believes he is the one to bring about this highly anticipated event.

If Netanyahu believes this prophecy (and I see no evidence that he dismisses it), and he believes he will be the last leader of Israel, and he believes he will usher in the Jewish Messiah, then what we may be witnessing with Israel’s multi-front wars is Netanyahu’s push to accomplish the Return of the Jewish Messiah.

The holy wars against Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, make some sense if he truly believes he will be the last leader of Israel. In my own Christian faith, that part may actually be true if Christ is going to return. It is not far-fetched to conclude that Netanyahu’s actions are those of a man who has nothing to lose—acting as if he may actually be the last leader of Israel.

The Last Judgment, 1560, Jean Cousin

Let’s take this a step further. What if the Rebbe was right? What if Netanyahu is the last leader of Israel and he does usher in the Jewish Messiah?

In this scenario, things get theological fast. According to Christians, the Messiah who returns will, in fact, be Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews. If you are reading this and don’t know, Christians believe the King of the Jews, Jesus, was and is the promised Messiah. This is easily proven via his lineage (prophesied in the Bible), his place of birth (prophesied in the Bible), his miracles, and his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday—all pointing to the fact that Jesus was and is the everlasting Son of God who could easily say about himself, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).

Now that Jesus Christ returns IS entirely possible, and perhaps plausible given current events.

Christians believe Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus believed this too, explaining that the Old Testament was all about him. The New Testament writers filled their letters with passages from the Old Testament that foresaw the reign of Christ.

Christians believe that the Jewish Messiah already came, and Christians believe he is coming again, and live in the light of this expectation today.

It may be that the Rebbe’s prophecy is partially true, only that the Messiah that returns is the one that was rejected by the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and religious leaders, whom Christ called a synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2:9, 3:9). In the Gospel of John it is recorded that Jesus told the religious leaders that they are “of your father the devil.”

It may be that Paul’s prophecy is also coming to pass. Remember, it was Saul the Jewish Pharisee, an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, the single greatest Jewish teacher at the time, who became the single greatest Christian theologian ever to walk the face of the earth—a giant towering above Augustine, Luther, or Calvin. Saul met Christ face to face on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9), converted to Christianity, and was called to preach the Good News to Gentiles under his Roman name Paul.

Paul, a Jews-Jew, prophesied about the people he loved, saying: "²³ And even they (the Jews), if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. ²⁵ Lest you (Gentiles) be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:23-25).

This passage is widely regarded by Christians as pointing to the last days and final judgement. Paul says that after all of the Gentiles, chosen by God, have “come in,” there remains hope for the Jews to believe in the Messiah Jesus Christ.

Jesus also told his disciples that no man would know the time of his return. He told us to be ready. Are you ready?