Wreaths laid at a Remembrance Day memorial.

“Do not forget!”  (Deuteronomy 25:19)

Today, millions of people around the world will take a moment to express gratitude for the freedom they now enjoy, which was bought with much blood and sacrifice through many wars.

At 11 a.m. in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and France, to name a few, many will stand in silence for one or two minutes to honor those who bravely fought for freedom and continue to do so.

November 11 was chosen for this Day of Remembrance (also called Veteran’s Day or Armistice Day) because 106 years ago, in 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, WW1 came to an end.

This costly war that took perhaps 40 million or more lives, military and civilian, was supposed to be the war that ended all wars;  but sadly, this hope failed to become reality.

Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz salutes war casualties at an official annual memorial service for fallen soldiers.

Today in Israel, every Orthodox Jew knows that there are two more wars that have to take place, and it personally affects Israelis because they will have to fight in these wars.

The first war is a regional war against Israel, headed up by either Turkey or Russia who leads many Muslim countries against Israel;  it is described in Ezekiel 38–39.

And then, the Scriptures unequivocally prophecy another world war is coming — most likely World War III — as all the signs are that we are now in the Last Days — and God has given us notice through the Prophet Zechariah!

“A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.”  (Zechariah 14:1)

Israeli soldiers at the Western (Wailing) Wall.

The Lord’s World War

In the Book of Zechariah, the Lord said that He (YHVH)  “will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it.”  (14:2)

This Final World War spoken of in Zechariah 14 prophecies that it will include “all the nations” and the Lord Himself will fight against them in such a dramatic way that “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.”  (14:4)

And remember, the Mount of Olives is the place from which Yeshua (Jesus) ascended to heaven and where He will return.  (Acts 1:11)

During this war there will be dramatic signs in the atmosphere.

“On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.  It will be a unique day — a day known only to the Lord — with no distinction between day and night.  When evening comes, there will be light.”  (14:6-7)

Mount of Olives

Even more climactic, God will inflict a plague on the nations who fight against Jerusalem, a plague that sounds a lot like the effects of a nuclear war:

“Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.  On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic.  They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.”  (14:12–13)

We find a similar description in Hiroshima, a book written by journalist John Hersey, who recounts the life of a Hiroshima survivor.

Just after the nuclear blast in that city, this survivor found 20 men in a park, “their faces were wholly burned, their eye sockets were hollow, the fluid from their melted eyeshad run down their cheeks.”  (p. 51)

Nuclear cloud over Hiroshima, August 6,1945.

The first nuclear bomb was tested in 1945.

That same year the United States dropped one on Hiroshima, Japan during World War II.

It wiped out 90 percent of the city and instantly killed 80,000 people with many more dying later from radiation.  

Both Russia and Iran are Israel’s greatest threat, and both have nuclear weapons.

Each year, Iran reiterates that it is developing nuclear weapons to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth!”

Map of nuclear weapon nations.

Celebrating the Lord’s Remembrance Day

Those from the nations who survive that unique day when God comes out to battle will remember it as we remember 911 and Veteran’s Day today.  It will be the Lord’s Remembrance Day.

This future date will be celebrated around the world as the Day the Lord returned to protect His City, His People and dwell with them, as He did in Israel’s wilderness days.

Zechariah 14 goes on to say that the survivors will be called to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) every year.

Each year, Sukkot is a favorite time for Believers in Yeshua (Jesus) to go Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.

For decades, there has been an annual parade in Jerusalem during Sukkot in which thousands of Christians march with banners, proclaiming their support and love for Israel and the Jewish people.  This is a prefigurement of the Lord’s end-time Remembrance Day.

The annual Jerusalem March held during Sukkot. The 1962 African delegation (left) and a Brazilian delegation (right).

Celebrating Messiah Yeshua on Remembrance Day

In this season of remembrance, let’s also remember that a spiritual war is waging for the souls of mankind.

Billions of people have been taken captive through sin and various false doctrines in this spiritual war.

So today, on November 11, Remembrance Day, when we consider the freedom that many fought with their lives to secure, let’s also take a moment to remember the cost of the true freedom we now enjoy through Messiah Yeshua.

And soon, when Yeshua our Messiah returns to rule from Jerusalem, the entire world will enjoy the peace it longs for:

As Isaiah prophesied in chapter 2:3–5, many peoples will come and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob.  He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.

“The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

“Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”