As I lived and travelled throughout Israel I was constantly reminded of its historical biblical past. I would see location after location reminding me of its incredible history. Thus, why not look at Israel as a whole entity in reference to words from God.
Deuteronomy 28:64 says, “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. —– Written about 1410 B.C.
Amos 9:14-15 says, “14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” —– Written about 750 B.C., Fulfilled in 1948
Ezekiel 36:8-10 says, “8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. 9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: 10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded:” —– Written about 593-571 B.C., Fulfilled in 1948
Ezekiel 36:24 says, “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.” —– Written about 593-571 B.C., Fulfilled in 1948
Jeremiah 31:10 says, “Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.” —– Written about 626-586 B.C., Fulfilled 1948
Isaiah 43:5-6 says, “5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;” —– Written about 740-680 B.C., Fulfilled in 1948
Isaiah 66:7-8 says, “7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” —– Written about 740-680 B.C., Fulfilled May 14, 1948
When Israel became a nation again in 1948 it was a miracle.
Who could have envisioned such a thing happening from a natural perspective? Consider the following:26
- In 721 B.C., Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. They tortured, killed and exiled many Jews.
- In 586 B.C., Babylon destroyed the southern kingdom of Judah. They killed and exiled many Jews.
- In 70 A.D., Rome killed an estimated 1.1 million Jews and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.
- In 135 A.D., Rome killed an estimated 580,000 Jews and exiled many others.
- In the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis killed an estimated six million Jews. The Nazi plan, called the ‘Final Solution’, was to exterminate all the Jews. I remember visiting Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, outside Jerusalem. It certainly reminds one that the “Holocaust” certainly took place, and of the depravity of man.
- Government and church leaders at times banished the Jews from living in Spain, England, France, Belgium, and Italy.
- During the Crusades, Jewish villages were often destroyed.
The Jews were scattered and persecuted throughout the world; yet they continued to maintain their identity. What a remarkable feat. Often conquered or exiled ethic groups would be assimilated into the different cultures; yet the Jews maintained their identity throughout hundreds of years.
While assigned to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in Israel, I conducted some liaison in Metulla, Israel, with an Israeli Major born in China. God brought Jews back to Israel from all over the globe, from Europe, Russia, Northern Africa, and other locations. In 1948, there were about 600,000 Jews living in Israel, by the end of the 1900s it was over six million.
Spending some time in Jerusalem, I thought the following scriptures were quite interesting to read. Jerusalem has probably become the world’s most religious site in these last days. People continually come from numerous nations around the world to visit it.
Zechariah 8:12 says, “Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.”
Micah 4:1 says, “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.”
As one drives around Israel one cannot help but to notice the amount of irrigation that takes place. Israel is a major exporter of fresh produce and a world-leader in agricultural technologies despite the fact that the geography of the country is not naturally conducive to agriculture. More than half of the land area is desert, and the climate and lack of water resources do not favor farming. Only 20% of the land area is naturally arable; yet, Israel has turned the land into a garden.27 A great amount of fruit and vegetables are exported to Europe and Russia. God foretold what has transpired in regard to this issue. Please refer to the two scriptures below.
Isaiah 27:6 says, “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”
Isaiah 51:3 says, “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden
of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”
————————————————————————————————-