New Israeli Natural Gas Find May Have Prophetic Implications

 

By Chris Schang

The Rapture Report
In a news article today it is being reported that a new found natural gas field found offshore of Israel is the largest natural gas find in the history of Israel. This new natural gas field has the potential to make Israel an exporter of natural gas. This recent discovery could play a role in the future prophetic scenario of Ezekiel 38-39. The Jerusalem Post is reporting:

The natural gas reserves in the Leviathan structure total 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, based on preliminary results of the production tests received in the past few days. This was same amount estimated from a recent 3D seismic survey. The quantity found is double the gas reserves at Tamar. The results were reported Wednesday by Noble Energy Inc., which owns 39.66% of the prospect.
According to Noble Energy, "The well encountered a minimum of 220 feet (67 meters) of net natural gas pay in several subsalt Miocene intervals. Apparent reservoir quality is very good, and the intervals discovered are geologically similar to those intersected at Tamar."
Noble Energy CEO Charles Davidson said, "Leviathan is the latest major discovery for Noble Energy and is easily the largest exploration discovery in our history."

The Jerusalem Post article went on to further state:

Noble Energy president and COO David L. Stover added, "This discovery has the potential to position Israel as a natural gas exporting nation. For nearly a year now, we have had a team evaluating market possibilities, which includes various pipeline and LNG options. It's our belief that the natural gas resources at Leviathan are sufficient to support one or more of the options being studied. We are excited to be leading the exploration and development in this new basin and look forward to determining the best development option."

These recent discoveries of natural gas as well as oil could have prophetic implications in the future for Israel. According to the ancient prophet Ezekiel, there will be an end times invasion of Israel led by Russia and a coalition of Islamic countries that are coming after a "spoil". Bible prophecy teachers and students have long wondered what the "spoil" might be as Israel does not have an extensive amount of wealth outside of the Dead Sea mineral deposits. While Israel's high tech industries are lucrative and successful, she is still not really an attractive target yet for this future Russian coalition. However, when adding the prospects of oil and natural gas finds to the equation especially in light of the religious significance of Israel, suddenly we have a situation that provides Israel as a lucrative target for a Russia invasion. Especially since Russia is a leading natural gas supplier and has been using energy resources as a political weapon against the European Union.
For Israel's allies and friends, the recent natural gas discoveries provide a more stable and attractive market in which to buy natural gas. Israel is a more dependable and friendlier country as opposed to Russia. For Russia's part, they will be very interested in the effect of Israel's influence and ability to market natural gas thereby depriving them of essential income that is hard to find in Russia. This Israeli natural gas find could be the kind of thing that provides the "spoil" for the Ezekiel 38-39 scenario. The prophet Ezekiel warns in these chapters that Gog and Russia will be aiming for the "spoil" in the following verses:

Eze 38:3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: Eze 38:4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts [of armour, even] a great company [with] bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Eze 38:5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Eze 38:6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: [and] many people with thee. Eze 38:7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. Eze 38:8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land [that is] brought back from the sword, [and is] gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Eze 38:9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Eze 38:10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, [that] at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: Eze 38:11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, Eze 38:12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places [that are now] inhabited, and upon the people [that are] gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. Eze 38:13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

As we can see in these verses and from the rest of Ezekiel 38-39, the Russian led invasion will center around a wealthy and prosperous Israeli state. Since the re-birth of the state of Israel in 1948, Israel has slowly but surely improved itself economically despite it's small size. The country has survived numerous Islamic attempts to wipe it off the map, yet still remains just as God has foretold. The interesting thing is that for the first time Israel has the opportunity with the discovery of oil and natural gas offshore to break the ceiling and become a mighty financial state. This coupled with the breakdown of peace talks with the Palestinians and international community may finally convince the Russians and surrounding Islamic countries to finally make a move on Israel militarily as Ezekiel foretold thousands of years ago.
As a result, we need to continue to watch the Middle East region as it appears that every day we are moving closer and closer to the prophecies as foretold by the Bible. We also can see that as this occurs, we are also moving even faster towards the rapture of the church which can literally happen at any moment when God sends his Son to gather his church. Let us continue to pray for Israel as well as pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The coming days are surely to be eventful as we move closer and closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay tuned!
God bless.

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