According to a news release online it was reported that an incident unfolded during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s address in Mardin last Thursday 19th December when the event was interrupted by chants from the crowd. The crowd, made up primarily of young people, loudly chanted, “Mr. President, take us to Jerusalem.” As the slogans rang out, Erdogan paused before delivering a bombshell response. “Patience brings victory,” he said, addressing the audience’s passionate demands.
The statement has apparently alarmed Israel and PM Benjamin Netanyahu who are aware of Turkish military forces building up just over the border between Turkey and Syria with an obvious intent to launch a major offensive against the Kurds. Added to this, since the demise of the Assad regime the Israeli air force has been making strikes against the chemical weapons facilities in Syria to prevent the rebel forces in Syria supported by Turkey from getting their hands on them to use against Israel. At present Israel has destroyed at least 87% of the Syrian army’s weaponry and chemicals arsenal.
This incident last Thursday actually marks a shift in Erdogan’s rhetoric, as he openly supported the aspirations of his audience regarding Jerusalem, contrasting with previous diplomatic approaches. In the past the Man from Turkey has repeatedly made startling statements over Jerusalem while lashing Israel with vitriolic rhetoric. He has called Jerusalem as Turkey’s ‘red line’ in the past. In 2020, he implied that the city of Jerusalem belonged to Turkey. He was referring to the historical Ottoman Empire’s control over the city for much of the modern era until the empire was defeated by the allies in WW1.
In his speech he stated “In this city that we had to leave in tears during the First World War, it is still possible to come across traces of the Ottoman resistance. So Jerusalem is our city, a city from us. Our first qibla (direction of prayer in Islam) Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem are the symbolic mosques of our faith. In addition, this city is the home to the holy places of Christianity and Judaism.” Of course Jews and Christians are persecuted by Islam. Erdogan’s rhetoric clearly aimed at establishing the Islamic ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood he adheres to and whose ambition is the global domination of Islam.
The Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled over Jerusalem from 1516-1917. Modern Turkey was established after the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate by a progressive western minded government under Kemal Ataturk. However, under President Erdogan he has long stressed Turkey’s supposed historical connection to Jerusalem, regularly condemning Israel’s alleged efforts to ‘Judaise’ it, being Erdogan’s flat denial of Israel’s Biblical and historical existence for over 3,000 years, since King David conquered the city of Jerusalem, which God Himself ordained to be the capital city of Israel, and that long before Islam ever existed (2 Samuel 5:1-10).
Erdogan also slammed the US Administration December 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city under the Presidency of Donald Trump, an ardent supporter of Israel, its capital Jerusalem and its right to exists as a nation, obviously much to the chagrin of Erdogan and his passionate desire to see the Caliphate resurrected and Jerusalem once again in the hands of a revived Turkish Ottoman Empire of his Turkish Ottoman forebears that ruled over Jerusalem for just over 600 years after destroying the last vestige of the Roman Empire at Byzantium (today Istanbul-Turkey).
The Kurds are also aware that the main Turkish offensive is imminent. The Kurds were supported by the United States and Israel in their fight against ISIS. If Turkey invades Syria its first strike will be aimed at the Kurds. This could well see the United States having to support the Kurds against Turkey and a war that would also drag into it Israel which is already fighting a war with Islam on seven fronts. Added to this, Egypt is no friend of Israel.
Clearly since the 1948 war of independence that Israel fought Egypt has been a prime antagonist and part of the military forces that have attacked Israel. Egypt was also in the army that was defeated by the Israelis in the 1967 six-day war and again Egypt was in the attacking force in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. According to a 2019–2020 survey taken back then, 13% of Egyptians supported diplomatic recognition of Israel while 85% opposed it. While Egypt to all intents and purposes seems to be on Israel’s side the reality is that you cannot make peace with Islam whether they are Sunni or Shiite.
If Turkey invades Syria Erdogan’s end game will be the conquest of Jerusalem. He may well be the last King of the North and he may be opposed by Egypt and the moderate Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and possibly American military forces forming the armies of the King of the South (Daniel 11:40). In this war the King of the North will invade Israel (Daniel 11:41) and at this time we may well see the Time of Jacob’s Trouble occur (Jeremiah 30:1-7) (Daniel 12:1) (Matthew 24:15; 21-22), and many countries will fall to him and his power and Egypt will not escape (Daniel 11:42-43).
The King of the North’s armed forces will expand into many countries in the Middle East and North Africa and even extend the tentacles of his power into much of Europe. The western forces backing Egypt including the United States and the United nations will be hard-pressed to stop the advance of the armies of this King of the North, who, like Antiochus Epiphanes, the historic King of the North did when he too came out of Syria. However the last King of the North will be agitated by reports from the east and the north and in a great rage he will set out to destroy many (Daniel 11:44). North of Turkey is Russia and east of Turkey is China.
At the centre of this fiery cauldron will be Israel. At the very time when it looks like Israel as a nation will be wiped out the Messiah will come again. Israel and the Body of Messiah spiritually grafted into Israel will be saved out of this time of Great Tribulation (Jeremiah 30:7-10) (Matthew 24:29-31) (Revelation 7:13-17), the King of the North, the Antichrist and his forces will be annihilated on the mountains of Israel (Daniel 11:45) (Ezekiel 39:4-6), and the Devil removed from human contact for 1,000 years and the Messianic Millennial kingdom will commence (Revelation 20:1-6).
In the light of past historical events concerning Antiochus Epiphanes, both in historical records and in the Bible, the last King of the North will come out from Syria as Antiochus did and invade Israel from the north. The Man from Turkey fits the description of this king who will do as he pleases, who will exult and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods (unseen fallen spiritual entities) and be successful until the time of wrath is complete, for what has been determined (by God) must take place.
He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women,, nor will he regard any god, but will exult himself above them all (Daniel 11:1-37). His ‘god’ will be the ‘god of fortresses,’ which fits Islam today. In 2 Thessalonians 2:4 the man of sin, doomed to destruction, will oppose and exult himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, and will set himself up in God’s Temple, proclaiming to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3b-4). This is the one and the same man described here in 2 Thessalonians Chapter two with the man described in Daniel 11:36-37.
He will be a man of war and terrible destruction and only the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus will overthrow him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendour of His Coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8) (Isaiah 63:1-6) (Revelation 19:11-21). The man of sin will pitch his tent or build his palace at Jerusalem but will come to his end with no one to help him and that not by human hands (Daniel 11:45) (Daniel 2:33-35, 44-45). Islam will have ceased to exist and the conflagration in the fiery cauldron will be over!
