I once heard an old joke, in a sermon, in a church:

One day, a scorpion walked to a river bank, but then stopped walking because scorpions can’t swim. The scorpion did not want to drown, but wanted to cross the river.

So it called to a frog that was in the water nearby. The scorpion spoke; “Hey frog, let me climb on your back and then you can swim across the river and carry me to the other side. I don’t want to drown.”

The frog answered; “No! You are a scorpion and you will sting me with your tail and kill me. I know about scorpions like you.” The scorpion answered; “I won’t hurt you, I just need a ride.”

So, the frog swam to the shore and let the scorpion climb onto its back, and then started swimming across the river. They didn’t go far before the scorpion stung the frog with his tail, and the poor frog started drowning and dying. The frog was able to speak a few words, and it said; “Why did you sting me? Now we are both going to die. This doesn’t make sense.”

The scorpion answered; “It doesn’t have to make sense, we’re in the Middle East.”

Strife in the Middle East goes back in history, including to old stories in the Bible. There is something about that central location, where Africa, Europe, and Asia meet.

Geography might be part of the problem, but it is clear that historical things are happening in and near the Middle East. Sometimes events become violent, and violence can expand into wars with guns and bombs, and many casualties.

READ: List of Modern Conflicts in the Middle East

So, how do we understand this? Can these problems be fixed before they explode? Are they coming our way?

In some of the oldest Bible stories, there is a phrophecy, a prediction from God about one son of Abraham, a man named Ishmael. For that baby boy, God said:

You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. (Genesis 16: 11 and 12)

By tradition, millions of people in that region claim to be descended from that man.

You might know that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are known as the “Abrahamic” religions. That refers to Ishmael and his half brother Isaac, who were both sons of Abraham. Those religions came from the places where Abraham’s descendants lived, in history.

Now, the ancient promise does seem to be true; “wild donkey”, “hand against everyone” and “against all his kinsmen.”

Here is just one example:

If we continue with Bible prophecy, we are promised a final showdown ,,, yes, in the Middle East. In the old languages of the Middle East, the word for ‘valley’ is “hor.” Also there is an ancient city, in the region, with the name “Megiddo.”

That city was destroyed long ago, in the tradition of the Middle East, but a large valley still remains. The valley of Megiddo is wide and when Napoleon visited it with his French army, he described it as the perfect battlefield. 

If there ever was an authority on battlefields, it would be Napoleon.

In the old language of the region, that perfect battlefield is “Hor Megiddo.”  If we update that name to modern English, we have a prophetic word “Armageddon.”

The Bible promises that the end of our time in history there will be a final battle “Armageddon” in Hor Megiddo.

In the last book of the Christian Bible, Revelation, we are told that finally God will express anger on our world. The expressions of anger and judgment are pictured by seven bowls.

One at a time, each bowl will be poured on the Earth, and humans will suffer. This is in Revelation 16, and some of the descriptions read like the things that worry climate change activists. 

We seem to be predicting something like what the Bible promised, long ago. Each bowl will be poured on the Earth by an Angel, and there will be seven angels. When the sixth angel pours God’s judgment on the Earth, “kings” with their armies will travel to the Middle East, to northern Israel. The prophecy reads like World War Three will happen in northern Israel, and the great battle will happen in that valley: 

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. (Revelation 16: 12 to 16)

In the end, we are promised that the final battle, before God takes control, will be in the Middle East.

The first prediction seems to be true. The descendants of Ishmael have argued and fought. If one prediction is true, we can believe that the second one is also coming … Armageddon. This time, the force and violence will be imported.

This is an interesting lesson. We are promised that history is moving forward, and it has a destination. Napoleon seemed to know that.

And what about those people who live in the Middle East now? I believe that God will finally give them peace: