ANNEX TO ‘STAND YOUR GROUND’

I want to whet your appetite by looking at some amazing examples of fulfilled prophecy from recent history. I will do this using ten Scriptures that prophesy the re-establishment of Israel as a nation.

This momentous event happened in 1948 – thousands of years after the prophecies were given and recorded. I will provide brief comments and approximate dates in my discussion of these parallels:

1. “I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. – Amos 9:14-15 (written 760 BC)

The prophet Amos, writing some 2750 years ago, foresaw the return of his dispersed and exiled people to their homeland. The short-range fulfilment occurred in 536 BC, after the Jewish people got deported to Babylon (“The Exile”, is considered in more detail in ‘SIGNS’) were allowed back to the land of their forefathers. This was the more immediate fulfilment. But Biblical prophecy often contains a dual focus – an immediate or shorter term fulfilment in history and an ultimate or longer term fulfilment at the culmination of history.

The long-range fulfilment of this prophecy happened in 1948 when the Nation of Israel was miraculously re–established, leading to an ingathering of Jewish people from their two thousand year Diaspora (dispersion throughout the world). Note that the prophecy makes clear that they will not be displaced again. [Emphasis RB]

2. “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army. Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, `Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: `This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord‘.” – Ezekiel 37:10-14 (written 580 BC)

Once again there is an immediate and an ultimate fulfilment contained within the same prophecy. Ezekiel, prophesying in the 6^th century BC, foresees the revival of the Jewish people as a nation. At the time they were languishing in Babylon (now in Iraq). But within fifty years the Jewish people – numbering about 50,000 – were allowed back to their own land and to the site of the ruined Temple in the sacked city of Jerusalem. By the turn of the century the new Temple had been built and the nation had been resurrected through the work of the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).

However, in AD 70 Jerusalem and its Temple were destroyed once again, this time not by the Babylonians but by the Romans. Once again the Jewish people were exiled from their homeland and scattered across the globe as displaced people living as minority groupings in many countries.

How the Jewish people didn’t die out completely is a miracle! Ezekiel foresaw this and predicted an even greater miracle – the resurrection of the Jewish people in the End Times. This occurred when Israel re-established sovereignty in 1948, three years after the end of the Holocaust, during which it is estimated that one in three Jews was killed by the Nazis. It seems to me that Israel was brought back from the dead!

3. “Before she goes into labour, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labour than she gives birth to her children.” – Isaiah 66:7-8 (written 700 BC)

This prophecy is quite remarkable in its accuracy, although this should not be startling given that God inspired the prophet who decreed it! The description of a woman giving birth before going into labour is a very apt analogy for what happened on 14 May 1948 when modern Israel was “born in a day”, only to face the onslaught of its enemies. On that day, the United States recognised Israel’s sovereignty. The United Nations mandate expired, ending British control of the land. Over a 24-hour period, foreign control of that part of Palestine ceased and Israel declared its independence as a nation. Israel was born in a single day!

As Ezekiel prophesied, the labour pains followed. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attacked Israel within hours. Israel’s declaration of nationhood had triggered a war. On 15^th May 1948, Azzam Pasha, the Secretary General of the Arab League, said: “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.” Others made similar comments during the war of 1948-49, and during the 1967 and 1973 wars, and the rhetoric continues. Nevertheless, Israel survives!

4. “And say to them, `This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms” – Ezekiel 37:21-22 (written 580 BC)

When this was written Israel had been divided into two kingdoms – Israel in the North and Judah in the South. The original undivided kingdom was formed from the federation of twelve Israelite tribes that occupied Canaan in the time of Joshua (an area roughly corresponding to the Levant, a historical geographical region which covered what we now know as Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories, west Jordan and south west Syria). This kingdom was first established under King Saul (c 1050 to 1010BC), consolidated and strengthened by King David (1010 to 970BC) but divided into northern and southern kingdoms after the death of King Solomon (970 to 931BC).

Why did this division occur? The ten northern tribes rebelled against Solomon’s son and successor Rehoboam (931 to 914BC) while the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal. The ten rebellious tribes became Israel (the northern kingdom), the two loyal tribes became Judah (the southern kingdom).

Once again we see both a shorter-term and a longer-term fulfilment of this prophecy. While the shorter-term fulfilment occurred towards the end of the 6^th century BC, when the scattered Jewish people returned from their bleak exile in Babylon, the longer-term fulfilment occurred in 1948 when Israel was reborn as a single nation and the dispersed Jewish people began to return to what they term Ha Aretz, the Land. Although the people only occupied a fraction of the area of the former “Land of Canaan”, we can still see remarkable resonances between Ezekiel’s words in the 6^th century BC and events in the Middle East in the twentieth century.

5. “However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when men will no longer say, `As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but they will say, `As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers. – Jeremiah 16:14-15 (written 600 BC)

This promise, of the restoration of the Jewish people to their homeland, was not only fulfilled in the time of the return to Judah in the 6^th century BC. It was also fulfilled in the twentieth century, and its fulfilment continues!

After 1948, Jews have returned to Israel, after nearly 2000 years of dispersion, from as far afield as Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Africa and many other continents and nations.

It seems Jeremiah was operating with both an immediate and an ultimate prophetic vision.

6. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. – Ezekiel 34:13 (written 580 BC)

Once again this occurred both in the 6^th century BC and in the 20^th century AD. Since 1948, millions of “exiles” have returned to Ha Aretz.

7. “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: `He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’ – Jeremiah 31:10 (written 600 BC)

It is in our own times as it was in Jeremiah’s (6^th century BC): God is watching over the re-established Nation of Israel. Israel has survived and succeeded against enormous odds.

8. “You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.” – Leviticus 26:3, 7-8 (written 1400 BC)

The day after Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded. The combined population of those countries was more than 20 million at that time whilst Israel had fewer than 1 million. Even so, Israel won and increased its size by 50 %.

Similar examples of memorable victories against enormous odds can be seen in the 1967 “6 Day War” and the 1973 “Yom Kippur” war.

9. Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. – Deuteronomy 30:3-5 (written 1400 BC)

Israel is amazingly prosperous, in relation to its size, as evidenced by this quote from a Jewish newspaper of 5^th July 2011:

“Very few countries have managed to grow and prosper so quickly in 60 years, from a standard of living of $3,100 per person in 1948 to today’s $25,000; from a country of 600,000 residents to 7.3 million; and from an orange exporter to an international high-tech power”.

10. I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land’. – Ezekiel 36:19-24 (written 580 BC)

This scripture is very significant, particularly for those who wonder why God would re-establish and watch over the mainly secular state of Israel. The reason is because He said He would. It is for His name’s sake (for the honour of His name).

The Abrahamic Covenant is an everlasting covenant, which God will fulfil, not for the sake of His unruly people Israel but to show the world He is God, His name is holy, and He always honours all He has promised and, of course, there is more to come!

THE MIRACLE THAT IS ISRAEL

So there you have it! Ten Scriptures from the Old Testament, written between 3500 and 2500 years ago, all of which predict the unforeseen and improbable return of the Jewish people to the Land and the prosperity that would greet them when they did. All this is nothing short of miraculous!

RB Footnote:

If you’re new to Neil’s writings you may wish to read this introduction. The above Annex is from chapter 1 of his book SIGNS: The Significance of Biblical Prophecy (review).