I wrote the following after seeing an article in the inter-net by the Prophecy Club. See the article at the bottom.. I suppose when threatened with extinction even the Moslems can face the truth. Apparently the Saudis fear Iran more than they hate Israel.

There are two Shebas and Dedans in the Bible which can be confusing. The first are in Genesis 10:6 and 7, great grandsons of Ham. One of the sons of Ham was Mizr which is the Arabic name for Egypt. In II Chronicles 9 we find a descendant
of Ham and of Sheba. She js the queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon. In Matthew 12:42 Jesus said that she was from the south. From this we can gather that much of the family went to Africa. We can here dispense with this Sheba and Dedan.

The other two (Sheba and Dedan) were grandsons of Abraham (Genesis 25:I-3).
To get the complete picture we need to begin in Genesis 16 where we see the first mention of Ishmael and the story of his mother Hagar. In verse 12 we see that Ishmael “shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren”. In Genesis 21:14 –21 is the story of Ishmael being sent away. Verse 21 tells us that he went to Paran. It is universally agreed that Ishmael is the father of the Arabs.
Now to establish the location of Paran. If you will look at any map it shows Paran to be in the Sinai desert. For this we have Biblical proof:
Amalek was a grandson of Esau=Genesis 36:10-12. He lived in Paran or Sinai. Amalek fought with Israel in Sinai or Paran=Genesis17:8. Again see Genesis 21:21. israel went SE (into Sinai) not NW, the shorter route; Exodus 13:17 and 18.
Sinai in time past was part of Arabia=Galatians 4:25.
Now a couple more things before I move on. In Genesis 1:12 we saw that Ishmael would dwell in the presence of all his brothers. Who were his brothers? Abraham married Keturah after Sarah died. Abraham had six sons with her. They would be Ishmael’s half brothers among whom he would dwell. Notice Genesis 25:17 and 18 where we see confirmed the prophecy of Genesis 16:12. It is also confirmed in Genesis 25:6. Abraham sent his sons to the East and they went to their brother Ishmael. In the verses already quoted, one of the brothers of Ishmael was Midian.
Now here I need to mention something about directions as far as Israel is concerned. For example although Babylon was east of Israel it wfrom. To the east was the desert which their armies could not cross, being on horses. This same thinking held in the case of as always spoken of as coming from the north. To the Israelite the direction had to do with where the armies came the desert although it was really more SE and south. To Israel (and of course to Abraham) the desert was east. More on that later.
In Genesis 37 we see the story of Joseph being sold into slavery. In verse 25 we read that the brothers see the Ishmaelites coming. Then they sell him to the Midianites. Remember Midian was a brother of Ishmael (Genesis 25:1and 2. From a ways off the brothers could see that they were of the tribe of Ishmael but as they came nearer they would see them to be of the family of Midian. Here again we see the fulfillment of Genesis 16:12.
The next passage to look at is Judges 6-8: the story of Gideon and the Midianites. There were not only Midianites but also the Amalekites=6:3. Remember that Amalek was a grandson of Esau. The descendants of Esau were Edomites which was right on the border of Arabia and I think absorbed into Arabia; Jeremiah 25:20-24. Uz was the land of which Edom was a part (Job 1:25 and Lamentations 4:21).
There is a bit more in Jeremiah 25:20-25. In verse 20 we read of the land of Uz, in 21 Edom and in 23 Dedan, one of the cities in Edom. In 24 there is the mention of Arabia with “all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert”.
Back to Judges. The Midianites were from the east and they had camels, a desert creature. When the Babylonians or Assyrians came they rode on horses. In 8:24 we again see the connection between Ishmael and Midian.
Now to Ezekiel 38. In verse 5 the first country named is Persia. In verse 8 are the details regarding Israel in the last days upon their return to the land of Israel:
Brought back from the sword=Israel became a nation in 1948, just three years after the holocaust.
In verse 8 we are also told it will happen in the latter years, they return to the mountains of Israel, they will have returned from many people (102 nations at this date), a land always waste (when Mark Twain was in Israel over a century ago, he saw nothing but waste land and a few wanderers), and thy will dwell safely and after living in places like Russia or the Arab lands they are now a free people.
It is certainly interesting that just now, at this time in history Israel should be threatened by Persia and join hands with Saudi Arabia. Speak of strange bedfellows. In verse 13 there are Sheba and Dedan working in hand with “Tarshish with all the young lions”. Which nation has the symbol of the lion? England. So who are the young lions? America, Canada and Australia. We need Saudi’s oil and with the world-wide recession they need us as a costumer. Is this the prey in verse 12? In Ezekiel’s day the area which was then Sheba and Dedan is now Saudi Arabia. From all we have seen in Scripture we know for a certainty that the descendants of Sheba and Dedan are in Saudi Arabia.
Let me quote from the article I mentioned:
Israel Air Force aircraft dropped off large quantities of military gear
at a Saudi Arabian military base last week in preparation for a
potential attack on Iran, a number of Iranian and Israeli news outlets
have reported.
The unconfirmed report, (note that it is unconfirmed. Nevertheless, the rest
of the article still stands) first published by the semi-official
news Agency Fars and the Islam Times, claimed that on June 18 and 19,
Israeli helicopters unloaded military equipment and built a base just
over five miles outside the northwestern city of Tabuk, the closest
Saudi city to Israel.
The claim follows a report two weeks ago in the London Times
Magazine that Saudi Arabia had given Israel permission to fly
through a narrow corridor of air space in northern Saudi Arabia
so as to shorten the flight time required for Israeli jets to reach Iran.

This month I just want to touch on one point that Jesus made about the end of the age. This is in Matthew 24:12, “And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall grow cold.” A parallel to this is Paul’s statement in 11 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” This is not hard to see today. I think it is so obvious that I need to say little about it. Things are happening today that were not even mentioned in the past. It is because of this that the “love of many grows cold.”

One of the complaints I hear from those who lead Bible studies is that it is difficult to find men who have the desire to study and obey the Bible. The very word “commandment” has almost become a negative idea. But Jesus Himself said, “Not every one that saith, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of My Father, Who is in heaven.”

One of the causes of this is the emphasis on “rights” but at the same time there is no clear understanding of right and wrong. The result of all this is that as sinfulness is becoming more acceptable the love for God and His laws is fading away. Here is a quote from Thomas Vincent who lived in the seventeenth century: It is the folly of our day that we think we can have none of His Kingship in this life, yet have some claim to part of His Kingdom in the next. But for those who reject the rule of the Lord Jesus now, there is only the fearful expectation of the fury of the wrath of God, the Judge of heaven and earth.

Finally, we must remember that the entire purpose of the Scriptures is that God wants to save us from our sins. I think the key passage in the Old Testament is Exodus 25:17-22 where we are told that God will meet His people at the Mercy Seat.
A passage that stands out in the New Testament is in John 5. In verse 18 we read: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him.” In the verses that follow He seems to be very severe, even to the point of warning them that “they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” But in verse 34 Jesus tells the Jews His purpose when he says “but these things I say that ye might be saved.” And this was to men who were out to kill Him.

So, too, Jesus prophesies about the unpleasant things that will happen in the end times, but His purpose is to keep us from being drawn into the deception and the consequences. Remember, men do not hate and fear God because they are good and God is evil but because men are evil and God is good. I think it was Finney who first pointed that out.

I notice that more and more the Bible teachers are shying away from the idea that Revelation 17 is speaking of the Catholic Church. For this we can thank political correctness. But the fact remains that this passage does indeed speak of the Church of Rome. There is simply no other entity that would even come close.
We find the beast (in Revelation 17: 1-3) spoken of the first time in Daniel 7: 7and 8 and versus 19-25. Note that in Daniel 7:2 these beasts come out of the sea. It also specifically mentions the great sea which is what the Mediterranean Sea was known as in the past. All of the ancient empires in the Bible were in the area if the great sea. We find the same words in Revelation 13: 1. The sea, when spoken of symbolically, speaks of the nations or the political power. In Revelation 13:11 we see the religious leader rises out of the earth. Since the days of Cain and his unacceptable sacrifice the earth is always pictured as bringing forth false doctrine.
Throughout history the political powers have always ruled over the religious. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon threatened to kill all the wise men, astrologers, etc. In II Kings 20 Jehu killed the prophets of Baal and brought the worship of Baal to an end. And there are many other examples.
In Revelation 17 for the first time in history the woman or the religious power sits astride the beast. For over 1000 years, beginning in the sixth century AD the Catholic Church ruled over the kings of Europe. No other religion has ever been able to do so.
In verse 6 of Revelation 17 we see that the woman is “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” The Catholic Church, throughout the middle ages, (and after if they could) killed between fifty and sixty- five million Christians.
In verse eight we read of the beast that was, is not and yet is. When Rome was conquered just after 400 AD, the power that the Caesars had was taken over by the Pope of Rome. They had different ways of exercising power. One of these was through the sacraments. They claimed that only the church could administer the sacraments and then kept the Bible away from the people so they would not learn the truth and be free of the church’s power. They taught the people that if you did not take the sacraments or if the church withheld them you would spend eternity in hell. So if the ruler rebelled against the Church of Rome, they simply told his subjects to turn against him or they would be refused the sacraments and come under the church’s curse.
In verse nine we see that this city is built on seven on “seven mountains”. The city of Rome is built on seven hills.
In verse ten something more is added in reference to the seven where we read that there are “seven kings: five are fallen, one is now (at the time John was writing this) and one is coming.” There are seven world empires which directly affected Israel: five were past which were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece. “One is now” (when the Book was
written which evolved into the church of Rome) or Rome and the one that is coming is the revived Roman Empire, headed by the anti-christ.
Verse 11 speaks of the beast itself which is the eighth “and is not.” The anti-god philosophy is always in the present world system and every so often it rears it’s head as in the case of the seven world empires.
The last verse again establishes this chapter as referring this to Rome “which rules over the kings of the earth.”
Nothing else comes close to fulfilling this prophecy.

I just want to touch on one point that Jesus made about the end of the age. This is in Matthew 24:12, “And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall grow cold.” A parallel to this is Paul’s statement in 11 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” Jesus said that “iniquity would abound.” This is not hard to see today. I think it is so obvious that I need to say little about it. Things are happening today that were not even mentioned in the past. It is because of this that the “love of many grows cold.”

One of the complaints I hear from those who lead Bible studies is that it is difficult to find men who have the desire to study and obey the Bible. The very word “commandment” has almost become a negative idea. But Jesus Himself said, “Not every one that saith, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of My Father, Who is in heaven.” One of the causes of this is the emphasis on “rights” but at the same time there is no clear understanding of right and wrong. The result of all this is that as sinfulness is becoming more acceptable the love for God and His laws is fading away.

Here is a quote from Thomas Vincent who lived in the seventeenth century: It is the folly of our day that we think we can have none of His Kingship in this life, yet have some claim to part of His Kingdom in the next. But for those who reject the rule of the Lord Jesus now, there is only the fearful expectation of the fury of the wrath of God, the Judge of heaven and earth.

Finally, we must remember that the entire purpose of the Scriptures is that God wants to save us from our sins. I think the key passage in the Old Testament is Exodus 25:17-22 where we are told that God will meet His people at the Mercy Seat.

A passage that stands out in the New Testament is in John 5. In verse 18 we read: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him.” In the verses that follow He seems to be very severe, even to the point of warning them that “they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” But in verse 34 Jesus tells the Jews His purpose when he says “but these things I say that ye might be saved.” And this was to men who were out to kill Him. So, too, Jesus prophesies about the unpleasant things that will happen in the end times, but His purpose is to keep us from being drawn into the deception and the consequences. Remember, men do not hate and fear God because they are good and God is evil but because men are evil and God is good. I think it was Finney who first pointed that out.

Periods of Time

1. First World War                                  1914-1918

Ended “Divine Right of Kings”

Age of Man Began = Nietschie

“God is Dead”

2. First Modern Despotic Regime’s

Lenin Into Russia     1917

Mussolini              1920

Hitler                        1933

3. Second World War                              1938-1945

End of Warring Nations of Western Europe

Russia Emerges As World Power

4. The Cold War                                      1945-1990

Israel Becomes a Nation        1948    Matt. 24:32-35

Arab Oil A Dominant Factor: Rise of Islam

America:

Russia’s Antagonist

Defender of Israel

Rebuilds Europe

Rise of Nations in Africa and Asia

Nation Against Nation

Kingdom against Kingdom

5. Fall Of Communism in Russia           1990

Russia Humiliated

Rise of Islamic Terror

Russia Joins With Islam To Be Again Equal With U.S And Protection From Moslem Terror

Rise of the EU

6. Bush Invades Iraq                      2003

Islamic World Loses Fear of America

7. America Leaves Iraq

Russia and Islam Sees Israel As Defenseless

Stage Set For Ezekiel 38 and 39