If you had a map with parts of North Africa and western Europe, could you point to the city of Ceuta? You are special if you can. Most people have no idea where that place is located.

You might have heard or read the name ‘Ceuta’ recently. That is the name of a small city, with a population of about eighty-five thousand, and it was recently flooded with about sixty thousand visitors. A huge flood of people forced their way across the border from a neighboring country, and tried to force their way into Europe from Africa.

I think this news story is more interesting with a history and geography lesson.

If you look at a map of Europe and North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea is between them, like a barrier. At the west end of the sea is the opening to the Atlantic Ocean, the Straits of Gibraltar. On the north side is Spain and on the south side is Morocco.

In the year 711, Muslim invaders from the south invaded Iberia, Spain and Portugal, and created a new Muslim controlled region in Europe. 

The conquered people pushed back and slowly drove the invaders out, creating the countries of Spain and Portugal. The reconquest came hundreds of years later, in the year 1492, when Columbus “sailed the ocean blue” and discovered the Americas.

The Spanish government was then able to direct resources toward exploration, now that the threat from Morocco had ended.

The whole history of the world changed in that year.

Spain also tried to cross the straits of Gibraltar and invade Morocco. That was not a success, but today, two small cities on the Moroccan side still belong to Spain; Ceuta and Melilla. Also, on the Spanish side, just across the water, is a British city named Gibraltar.

There is a lot of complicated history in that region, and different claims of ownership for those three cities. The last thing this region at the west end of the Mediterranean needs is another invasion. They already have too much violent history.

And now we have the ‘invasion’ of roughly sixty thousand undocumented or illegal immigrants who want to move to Europe.

Ceuta and Melilla are the two places where a person in Africa can cross a land border and directly into Europe, and one very large group chose Ceuta. The new arrivals were almost equal to the entire population of Ceuta. Imagine if something like that happened where you live.

Are you ready for something new in history? Brace yourself.

If you want to learn more, there are many news stories about this event. Here is one news report about this event:

This strange invasion has shocked many people, especially in Africa and Europe. This is a historical moment at one of the world’s most politically sensitive trigger points. If a change is coming to the world, there are some sensitive places where we will see the first signs of the new something.

If we read Bible prophecy about our future, things that happen and are reported in the news seem to fit with predictions of the end of our history, and the beginning of something new from God. We might be seeing signs of the end, in Ceuta, like storm clouds on the horizon.

Really.

We have an ancient prediction in the Bible about our times. Humans will be restless, and knowledge will increase. This could mean many things, but our world does have increased knowledge. With so many billions of people, we can expect that millions, especially in the younger generations will cross borders and search for something better, in other parts of the world.

That makes sense.

Many centuries ago, a man named Daniel was tossed into a den of lions, and he survived. Most of us know the story, but did you know that Daniel was a prophet who claimed to have knowledge of the future, given to him by God?

Daniel was writing a book about our future, and God told him to close the book. The events that Daniel predicted would come much later, in history. Note that we live much later.

In the traditional King James Version of the English Bible, we have the words “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” That is an interesting prediction of our times, from a man who lived thousands of years ago. 

In more modern English:

Close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase. (Daniel 12: 4)

We also have similar words from another prophet named Amos, who lived before Daniel: 

People will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north around to the east. They will wander about looking for a message from the Lord, but they will not find any. (Amos 8: 12)

It is interesting that we have a huge world population combined with unprecedented access to knowledge through sources like the Internet, and growing restlessness. If the news from Spain and Morocco show the beginning of a trend, in a trigger area of the world, we should ask some questions.

For example, if prophets of God told us about “the end” and we seem to have the signs and trends that the prophets promised, we should look up and see what God is doing. Ancient prophets who had no knowledge of our era told us God gave them a vision of future history, and we seem to be living in it.

Jesus also told us:

Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door. (Matthew 24: 32 and 33)

There may be an important lesson for us, in the news. We should look up.