The Nation of Israel

The nation of Israel has been in the news lately. In fact it is always in the news and has been since its inception in 1948. What is the significance of this peace of land in the Mediterranean. It is only 261 miles long by 71 miles wide, but it often seems like the center of the world. People that doubt the existence of God need look no further than Israel. It is the clearest evidence that the God of the Bible is real. Lets take a look at why that is.

Jeremiah 9

11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.

Jeremiah 19

8 And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.

The Old Testament is full of prophesies about the destruction of Israel. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 ad, a few decades after killing the Messiah. The Roman army came in and dismantled the temple in Jerusalem brick by brick. Over a million Jews were killed in the siege. The Roman Emperors who over saw the destruction of Jerusalem either committed suicide or were executed. Rome itself would eventually fall a few centuries later, after many catastrophes. The Romans were involved in killing Jesus, and they also rose up against God's people. After the Jews left Israel and became the "wondering Jew", Jerusalem has taken over by many empires. None of which held on for very long, because it wasn't really worth the trouble. The land was a desolation. From what I understand earth quakes ravaged the area, the ground was not very fertile, and their was also terrible malaria. It laid practically vacant for nearly 2000 years. Here's how Mark Twain described his visit to Israel.

“ desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse....A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action....We never saw a human being on the whole route....There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

- 1867 (Quoted in Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad. London: 1881)

Ezekiel 37

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

This section of scripter predicts the return of the Jews to Israel. From being dead to the faith, to coming home, to life. The life part is yet to come, but the Jews are physically back in their homeland. God still needs to breath life back into this nation. When the Jews started to return in the late 1800's they began to work the land and got it to yield crops. The earth quakes stopped and the swamps were drained, which ended the malaria. More and more Jews began to return to their ancient homeland and it was transformed into a thriving country. This did not make Satan happy. He knew that when Israel became a nation again he was going to be pretty much finished.

Luke 21

31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

These verses foretell the return of Jesus after the Nation of Israel is reformed and the generation that sees Israel become a nation will see the return of Christ. Prophesy was about to be fulfilled. Satan could not let this happen, so he devised a plan to wipe out the Jews. He used a group of black magicians in Germany to do the work of wiping the Jews off the face of the earth. These people were of course the Nazi's and Satan developed a sophisticated war machine to take on the world. This was a brazen endeavor, that actually looked like it would work. That is until the United States got involved. The only other nation besides Israel formed on Biblical principals. This put an end to World War II, in some truly miraculous wins over the Axis powers. As if God himself was intervening and I'm sure he was. Perhaps that's why the United States was formed, to protect the Nation of Israel.

In 1948 Israel officially became a Nation, slamming us right back into biblical Prophesy for the first time in almost 2000 years and spelling the end to Satan's reign here on earth. Satan is not defeated yet. He will take over this world one day, very soon. That is for another blog though.

Israel is always in the news because it is the most significant peace of land in the world, and Satan wants to blow it off the face of the earth. He has the nations of the world against that little nation. If not for the United States, Israel would have never made it. Are economic and military might has protected that Nation. Many believe that is why we haven't been destroyed after turning our back on the Christian faith. The world will one day go to war against Israel as stated in the Bible. For the time being pray for the Nation of Israel.

Genesis 12

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Thanks for reading my blog and I will leave you with the gospel.

I Corinthians 15

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: