Natural gas drilling rig in the Leviathan field off of Haifa (photo: Noble Energy)
If you’ve been tracking the historic discoveries of natural gas and oil in Israel in recent years — and the intriguing connection of these discoveries to ancient Bible prophecy — then you will likely be interested in this week’s headlines:
- Wall Street Journal: BIG GAS FIND SPARKS A FRENZY IN ISRAEL
- Haaretz: Largest natural gas reserve discovered in Israel worth approximately $95 billion — More than 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas discovered off Haifa shore in joint U.S.-Israeli drilling operation
- UPI: Huge natural gas reserve found in Israel
- Agence France Presse: Israel has enough gas ‘to become exporter’
Here’s an excerpt from the fascinating Wall Street Journal story on Wednesday: “TEL AVIV—Two years ago, Ratio Oil Exploration LP, an energy firm here, employed five people and was worth about half a million dollars. Today it sits at the center of a gas bonanza that has investors, international oil companies, Israeli politicians and even Hezbollah, Israel’s sworn enemy, clamoring for a piece of the action. Ratio’s market capitalization now approaches $1 billion. The rally at Ratio is thanks to the company’s 15% stake in a giant offshore gas field called Leviathan, operated by Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. On Wednesday, the frenzy got fresh fuel: Noble confirmed its earlier estimates that the field contains 16 trillion cubic feet of gas—making it the world’s biggest deepwater gas find in a decade, with enough reserves to supply Israel’s gas needs for 100 years….”
It’s a story that just keeps getting more and more interesting over the past few years, because larger and larger fields of petroleum keep getting discovered.
- August 18, 2010: BIBLE PROPHECY UPDATE: 1.5 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL
- May 15, 2010: U.S. GOVERNMENT REPORT: ISRAEL HAS 122 TRILLION CUBIC FEET OF NATURAL GAS OFFSHORE
- August 19, 2009: ISRAELI NATURAL GAS DISCOVERY PROVES LARGER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
- January 18, 2009: BIBLE PROPHECY UPDATE: Israel discovers “inconceivably huge quantities” of natural gas reserves off Haifa
In my first non-fiction book, Epicenter, published in 2006 (and the updated and expanded Epicenter 2.0 edition that was published in 2008) , I included a chapter entitled, “Future Headline: Israel Discovers Massive Reserves of Oil, Gas.” The chapter described a trail of prophetic clues found in the Hebrew Scriptures that some believe (myself included) indicate that in the “last days” the nation of Israel will be blessed by discovering huge reserves of petroleum that will make Israel quite wealthy. Those clues suggest Israel will be able to “dip his foot in oil” and draw “oil from the flinty rock.” The Jewish people will find “hidden treasures in the sand” and an “abundance of the seas.” This newfound wealth in the last days will certainly be a blessing for Israel, but it will also draw enemies and may very well help trigger the “War of Gog and Magog” when the nations ask the leaders of the Russian-Iranian alliance that comes against the Jewish state, “Have you come to capture spoil [from Israel]? Have you assembled your [military forces] to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold….to capture a great spoil?”
The trail of clues can be found in the following Bible verses:
- Genesis 49:1
- Genesis 49:25
- Deuteronomy 33:13
- Deuteronomy 33:19
- Deuteronomy 33:24
- Deuteronomy 32:12-13
- Isaiah 45:3
- Ezekiel 38:8-13
Are such prophecies now coming to pass? Are such headlines further evidence that we are living in the “last days” before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ? It’s a story worth keeping an eye on, to be sure.
HEADLINES TO TRACK:
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