SOURCE: (Amir’s Bible Bites Devotionals)
Among the many prophecies concerning Israel and the last days, the rebirth of the nation of Israel is certainly among the most significant.
Amos 9:14-15
I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God.
The Lord places the responsibility of bringing the people back into the land upon Himself and states that once He plants them there, they will never again be uprooted from the land He has given them. The fact that God takes responsibility for the return of the Jews to the land of Israel implies that this return will be of a supernatural means and thus against all the odds and, as is usual with God’s will, to the displeasure of the enemies of God’s people.
Within hours of the declaration of statehood on May 14th, 1948, Israel was attacked by five Arab countries, yet they were not uprooted from the land God had given them.
In 1967 with the growing threat of war from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, Israeli fighters orchestrated a surprise attack on the three threatening nations Air Forces destroying hundreds of planes while still on the ground. War erupted, Israel recaptured East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights and the international attitude toward Israel began to change, and the sympathies the world held towards Israel for the atrocities of the Holocaust became a shadow of what they once were only 19 years earlier. Yet, outnumbered and outgunned, Israel prevailed, and they were not uprooted from the land.
On October 6th, 1973, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar (and during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan), Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack against Israel. The number of forces equivalent to the total forces of NATO in Europe was mobilized on Israel’s borders. On the Golan Heights, approximately 180 Israeli tanks faced an onslaught of 1,400 Syrian tanks. Along the Suez Canal, fewer than 500 Israeli defenders with only three tanks were attacked by 600,000 Egyptian soldiers, backed by 2,000 tanks and 550 aircraft.
At least nine Arab states, including four nonMiddle Eastern nations (Libya, Sudan, Algeria, and Morocco), actively aided the Egyptian-Syrian war effort. A few months before the attack, Iraq transferred a squadron of Hunter jets to Egypt. During the war, an Iraqi division of some 18,000 men and several hundred tanks was deployed in the central Golan and participated in the October 16th attack against Israeli positions. Iraqi MiGs began operating over the Golan Heights as early as October 8th — the third day of the war.
Yet again, outnumbered and outgunned Israel prevails, though with great cost, and they are not uprooted from the land.
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Zechariah 12:3
And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
There is coming a day when all the nations of the earth will be “gathered” against Israel. The word “gathered” means; to be united in purpose, and in this context, the purpose is Israel’s destruction.
Zechariah 14:3-4
Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.
The attitude of the world toward Israel has changed since 1948 and will change further in the coming months and years. The attitude of God towards His chosen people will never change as He has “set His love” on them and brought the Savior of the world into the world through them.
When Israel is miraculously regathered back into the land by the hand of God, when Israel is supernaturally protected by the hand of God while dwelling in the land, when the international community begins to unify against Israel, we know two things are on the near horizon, God is going to defend and fight as He fights in the day of battle for Israel, and Jesus is going to return with His feet touching down on the Mount of Olives and all His saints will be with Him.
Malachi 3:6
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
For centuries God has supernaturally protected His chosen people, and they did not assimilate into the countries and cultures into which they were scattered. They had to maintain their national identity even when they were without a homeland because when Jesus returns, an incredible miracle will take place among the Jews;
Zechariah 12:10
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
The rebirth of the nation of Israel set a series of prophetic events into motion that will eventually lead to the salvation of the Jews as they recognize that Jesus of Nazareth, the one whom they pierced, is indeed the King of King and Lord of Lords, the Holy One of Israel, their Savior.
Matthew 24:32-35
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
The “fig tree” represents Israel, the “branch becoming tender and putting forth leaves” represents the rebirth of the nation. Jesus said the generation that sees Israel reborn will be the generation that sees all things written concerning them. Israel is now 71 years old, and the world is gathering against them, and threats of war are looming around them. To the Christian, that means our redemption is near, and Jesus is coming for His church soon! To the Jews, that means Jesus is going to be revealed as their Messiah too.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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