The European Union and Japan announced a sweeping defense partnership on Friday that strengthens their military ties during a time of rising global tensions. The agreement promotes joint weapons production, cooperation in cybersecurity, military information exchanges, and cooperation of armed forces through activities such as joint drills and port calls.

“We live in a very dangerous world,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Tokyo. “We live in a world of growing rivalries, climate accidents and threats of war. And there is only one antidote to this challenging world, which is partnerships among friends. It is an historical and very timely step given the situation in both of our regions.”

“Given the situation in both of our regions, this political framework deepens our ability to tackle emerging threats together,” he said.

“Today’s Ukraine could be tomorrow’s East Asia,” Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba recently said, alluding to China’s intention to seize Taiwan and other tensions in the Orient. He also said Japan should establish a nato-like alliance with other democracies, which the new defense pact could pave the way for.

The new agreement has alarmed some analysts, given the tragic history of the last time European powers allied militarily with Japan. International Affairs wrote: “The ‘Brussels-Tokyo Axis’ is reminiscent of the ‘Berlin-Tokyo Axis’ created during World War ii by Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan, the organizers of that Great War of the 20th century. Does this new military cooperation agreement between the EU and Japan mean that Europe intends to repeat the events of 100 years ago and once again lead Europe to collapse?”

The validity of such concerns becomes clear when the new EU-Japan agreement is viewed in the context of Bible prophecy.

More than 2,500 years ago, God inspired the Prophet Isaiah to write about a massive trade bloc that would be formed in our lifetime. In Isaiah 23:3, it is called a “mart of nations.” This chapter lists Tyre as a primary power in this mart of nations.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains in his booklet Isaiah’s End-Time Vision that this city represents “the commercial center” of modern Europe. “The spiritual center of the [modern European] Holy Roman Empire is called Babylon in your Bible,” he writes. “But here in Isaiah, the Bible refers to Tyre (and its allies Zidon, etc) as the commercial center of this European power.”

Another main power in this “mart of nations” alliance is Tarshish, which is an ancient name sometimes used in the Bible for the peoples who comprise modern Japan.

Isaiah 23 and a companion passage in Ezekiel 27 show that Russia and China will be among the powers that comprise this immense “mart.”

To see Japan and Europe linked together in these ancient prophecies and then to see the sweeping new defense pact binding the two modern countries together is striking. In today’s newspaper headlines, we see the foundation being laid for this mart of nations—prophesied thousands of years ago—to become a reality.

Even more striking is what the Bible shows this mart of nations will do in the years ahead.

Mr. Flurry explains: “The Bible contains many prophecies of that European power attacking America—and many other prophecies of America being besieged.” He explains that this besiegement will not be accomplished by Europe alone but by the mart of nations. “China and the giants of Asia,” he writes, will form a “brief alliance” with the European bloc. “All of them are going to besiege America, Britain and the Jewish nation.”

He continues:

Should Europe, the resurrected Holy Roman Empire, find a way to take advantage—even for a moment—of key resources and strategic holdings of China, Russia and Japan, it would have more than enough power to besiege the Anglo-Saxon nations. … This is why Isaiah’s prophecy of an end-time “mart of nations” that includes both European and Asian powers is so intriguing. And why the trend of collusion between these two great economic blocs is worth watching.

Developments between the EU and Japan today are fulfilling the prophecies of the Bible, and they show that a time of global war is drawing near. But Bible prophecy doesn’t stop with the war. It teaches that just beyond the formation of the “mart of nations,” and the economic siege of the United States and Britain, an epoch of global peace will begin.

Mr. Flurry writes: “[T]hat trading partnership won’t last long. Soon they will clash, just before Jesus Christ returns and destroys both of them.” Christ will return to Earth, put an end to mankind’s self-destruction, and usher in an age of cooperation, peace and abundance for the whole world. “Thank God,” Mr. Flurry writes, “there is great news beyond the bad news.”

To understand more about the mart of nations and the time of peace that will arise just after it, order your free copy of Mr. Flurry’s booklet Isaiah’s End-Time Vision.