“Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. ‘Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.’” (Isaiah 66:7-8) (NASB)
Israel is most often seen as a parasite nation; gathering lands that don’t belong to her; displacing the rightful owners of the Land. This is a twisted view the world has adopted in its blindness. We’ve often written here of the lie that sits behind the creation of the so-called Palestinians back in the 1960’s. There is no long history there to be honored. Instead they are an invention of political expediency. But we will not belabor that story here. Instead it is time to celebrate the prophetic; the reestablishment of the State of Israel. It is much more than a miracle of history. It is a fulfillment of God’s promise.
The dispersion of the Jewish population from historical Israel came in waves and stages. The last two major events were the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD – and another dispersion following the Bar Kochba revolt which ended in 135 AD. The Jewish population was without a homeland for over 1,800 years. Driven to far away lands – (not just Europe and the Middle East – but Ethiopia & India & China) – their religion vilified – the Jews faced persecution, discrimination, beatings and death. God had prophesied as much. “Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.” (Deuteronomy 28:64-65) And yet they survived as a people. This too was God’s promise reiterated in scripture after scripture. “‘For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘So your offspring and your name will endure.’” (Isaiah 66:22) (NASB) Even the Nazi Holocaust could not destroy them but in fact helped create the conditions necessary for the reappearance of national Israel. For God had also declared that He would regather them to the Land. In Jeremiah 31:10 God declared this regathering.
“Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’” Through the Prophet Isaiah, He spoke forth this word. “Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 43:5-6) Isaiah even spoke forth this promised before the Jews were ever driven from the Land the first time. “Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:11-12)
And so it happened. Beginning in the latter years of the 19th century the Zionist movement began and Jews from around the world began to return to Israel. They bought the land from its Arab owners who had come to possess it after the Muslim conquests. They were only too happy to sell this worthless desert. (It was only later that God fulfilled another promise by returning fertility and rainfall.) After WWI Turkish control ended and gave way to the Brits who maintained a presence until shortly after WWII. Then on May 14, 1948, Chairman of the Jewish Agency and first head of Israel declared the existence of Israel with these words. “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel.”[i]
God used history to prepare the way for these events. The Zionist movement had encouraged and made possible the emigration of thousands of Jews from around the world. Then World War II threatened to end the enterprise. It is the clear teaching of the prophetic Scriptures that Israel would be back in the Land at the return of Jesus the Messiah. Knowing his time was short, Satan was determined to derail God’s plans by preventing the rebirth of the Jewish Nation. To that end he enlisted one Adolph Hitler. Hitler was more than just an egomaniacal dictator. He was a man chosen by and steeped in the occult. In 1919 he became associated with the Thule Society, a sun worshiping pagan society dedicated to the superiority of the Aryan (German) race. They and [ii]Hitler saw Jews, with their dark complexions, as being the apotheosis of evil.[iii] According to Trevor Ravenscroft, author of The Spear of Destiny, “The inner core within the Thule Society were all Satanists who practiced Black Magic.”[iv] One Dietrich Eckardt took Hitler under his wing, initiating him into Thule lore and practice, which included “a monstrous sadistic magic ritual” steeped in sexual sado-masochism. It was thoroughly and overtly Satanic in nature. Eckardt believed that Hitler had been possessed by the spirit of the Antichrist. Hitler believed that he had been “born anew,” with a super power necessary to fulfill his “mandate.”[v] Hitler did follow that Satanic mandate in trying to wipe the Jewish race from the face of the earth. One third of all the Jews in the world, about 6 million in all, perished in the Holocaust. But this horrible massacre only served to turn world opinion in favor of the establishment of a Jewish homeland
After the end of World War II, the UN resolved to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish States. But the Arab world would have no part of it. As the British Mandate over Palestine approached its end, the Arab states threatened to completely destroy the emerging Jewish Nation. The Arab armies were armed with modern tanks, planes, and heavy artillery from Britain and France. They were well supplied with weapons and ammunition. The Israeli forces opposing them had no planes or artillery with which to oppose them and only about 10,000 rifles.[vi]
Despite the odds and knowing the consequences of their actions, the Israelis went ahead with their declaration. Immediately two things happened. First the United States and the USSR both recognized the new State. Secondly, the next day, five Arab nations invaded the new country. The troops of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Transjordan and Lebanon invaded from all points of the compass. The population of the invading nations was over 20 million at the time; the Jews boasted less than 1 million. Yet over the course of the little less than 8 months of the war, the Israeli forces put the invaders to flight, claiming 50% more territory than they had originally claimed. The victory had come against tremendous odds.
Perhaps Ezekiel 20:42 gives us the best clue to understanding God’s heart in the matter. “Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers.” Further evidence of God’s protective hand was evidenced in the Six-Day War of 1967 and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel again triumphed over markedly superior Arab forces.[vii] It was during the 1967 War that Israel once again gained control of Jerusalem, signaling the first phase of the fulfillment of one of Jesus’ own prophecy found in Luke 21:24. “And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Despite the seemingly endless conflict marked by wars and terror, the history of modern Israel has been one of triumph. It has established the only fully functioning democracy in the region. The fertility of the land has been restored, the economy modernized. There were only about 84,000 Jews there in 1922. The population is now over 6 million. During the course of its short life, of 68 years, Israel fulfilled another prophecy. Beginning in 1977 and continuing well into the 80’s, aided by covert action on the part of the Israeli government and even the American CIA, thousands of Ethiopian Jews were airlifted or brought by other means to the land of Israel. This fulfilled Zephaniah 3:10. “From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering.” And the return of Jews from around the world continues to this very day, increasing every year. According to God’s word this is to be a work of the Gentiles. Isaiah 49:22: “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up My banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.’” (This is the will of God that we Gentiles would help in this End Times work. [If you would like to help in this God ordained mission, I recommend that you check out Operation Exodus USA. They can be found here at: http://operationexodususa.org/ ]
So we are all witnesses to a Last Days’ miracle: The miracle of the restoration of Israel. No nation has gone so long without a homeland and survived and was reborn and thrived. More specifically, with its restoration, Israel has completely fulfilled the promises of God. But there’s something more. The very existence of modern Israel is a testimony to the truth of God’s Word. He has shown Himself faithful through the fulfillment of His promise. And if that is true, will He not also be faithful in the rest of His Word. That is the significance to the Gentile Church. Still, it is not over. Jews are still pouring back into the Land; the very inheritance God gave them. Prophecy is being fulfilled still. Let us give glory to the Holy One of Israel. He is an awesome God indeed!
[i] May 14, This Day In History, History.com, viewed May 11, 2016
[ii] Image: Timeline: Israel War of Independence, http://www.zionism-israel.com/his/Israel_war_independence_1948_timeline.htm Viewed May 11, 2016
[iii] Jean-Michel Angebert, The Occult and the Third Reich, taken from threeworldwars.com/world-war-2/adolf-hitler.htm
[iv] Trevor Ravenscroft, The Spear of Destiny, as quoted in threeworldwars.com/world-war-2/adolf-hitler.htm
[v] Trevor Ravenscroft, The Spear of Destiny, pgs 155, 173, 93-94 – as found in Cutting Edge Ministries newsletter 1011
[vi] Anna Lim, The Birth of Modern Israel, Nations in Prophecy, www.patriarchywebsite.com/prophetic/birth-israel.htm
[vii] Jack Kinsella, The Year of the Countdown, Focus on Jerusalem, http://focusonjerusalem.com/theyearofthecountdown.html
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