“When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 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 (Deuteronomy 30:1-3).”
The amphitheater at Caesarea on the coast of Israel
On May 14, 2018, Israel celebrated its 70th anniversary. In 1948, after 2,000 years of wandering, and many more under the rule of other nations, the Jews were back in their biblical homeland as the independent state of Israel. This was a major turning point in history that cannot be underestimated, and it was also prophetic (Jeremiah 16:14-15).
A little past 5PM on May 14, 1948, Israel is born!
Despite this statehood miracle, there were less than 725,000 Jews in Israel in 1948. Today, however, there are over 8 million Jews in Israel, and in 2014, another landmark occurred––the number of Jews in Israel passed the number of Jews living in the rest of the world! What fostered this dramatic population explosion that continues unabated today (Isaiah 11:11-12)?
Ships packed with Jews coming home
On July 5, 1950, the governing body of Israel, the Knesset, passed the Law of Return, which began with the remarkable words that would define the country’s core value:
“Every Jew has the right to immigrate to this country….”
Home at last!
This law not only populated Israel, but it provided a safe haven from the anti-Semitism that peaked in Hitler’s Europe. Despite overt opposition and wars, it’s been a remarkable catalyst to grow Israel and make her desert bloom around thriving, modern cities. But can the Law of Return be solely responsible for this miracle? Not hardly. It was God, and His repeated promise in the Old Testament.
Watching these immigrants arrive at Ben Gurion Airport is like seeing a biblical prophecy unfold when you consider the prophecies of Jeremiah (16:15, 23:3,7-8, 30:1-11, 31:9, 33:7), Isaiah (43:5-6, 49:8-22, 54:7), and especially Ezekiel (11:17, 20:34, 28:25, 34:13, 37:21).
A joyful arrival!
In chapter 37, Ezekiel had a vision of a valley filled with the dry bones of thousands of skeletons in open graves. These bones came together, grew flesh, and came to life. God revealed that the dry bones symbolized Israel and her agonies of dispersion for rejecting Him. The graves were gentile nations where they were banished, but they were only temporary, open graves. The coming together of the resurrected bones is the prophetic restoration of the dispersed nation to its biblical homeland.
The gates to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem
At the 65thanniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Benjamin Netanyahu ended his speech by quoting Ezekiel 37:11-13 as being fulfilled! This physical restoration of Israel is amazing, but the next verse promises more…a spiritual restoration.
Ezekiel’s vision
YHM 