The wonder of the present age.

Israel born again- fulfillment of Bible prophecy for the end times.

Israel is a nation that was destroyed and disappeared from the map of the earth but came back miraculously to their own land after almost two centuries.  This is an amazing, wonderful fulfilling of the Bible prophecies regarding the nation Israel. Everyone should stop and think about the amazing fulfillment of the Bible prophecy. The clock of God already started clicking, with this one unique incident of the remaking of the nation Israel,  setting the stage for the final fulfillment of all other yet to be fulfilled Bible prophecies.

“On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel,” prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first premier”. Quoted from the source -http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/state-of-israel-proclaimed

The Romans marched through ancient Israel in 70 C.E, nearly 2000 years ago, and destroyed the Jewish Temple, slaughtering or driving out much of the Jewish population. Many Jews left on their own because conditions for life were made unbearable in many respects… yet thousands upon thousands stayed and rebelled on for centuries in order to once again rebuild a Jewish Nation in this Holy Land.

This destruction of the Jewish temple was pre-told by Jesus Christ to His disciples in Matthew 24:1-3, “And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away with His disciples came up to point out the temple building to Him. And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down”.  What He said literally happened in 67 AD.

The destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the consequent sufferings of Jewish people was also pre-told by Jesus Christ.

Bible says in Luke 13:34-35 says Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.  It says “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Bible says in Luke 19:42-44 Jesus wept over the Jerusalem city and predicted exactly what is going to happen to Jerusalem and to Jewish people. It says, ” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.  The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.  They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Bible says in Matthew 23:27-39, Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.  Look, your house is left to you desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”.

When Christ, the promised Messiah, was going to be crucified, on the way to the cross, He said like this and this is recorded in Luke 23:26-31, “As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.  A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.  For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’  Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”  For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Jesus wept over them because they lost the opportunity to be saved from earthly and eternal destruction. Their hard heartedness will be paid severely by them and their children. The consequence of a severe sin – rejecting the promised Messiah.

But Jesus cried because of His compassion and He was not willing that any should perish. It’s His desire that everyone should come to the salvation God offers.

“The Roman legions surrounded the city and began to slowly squeeze the life out of the Jewish stronghold. By the year 70, the attackers had breached Jerusalem’s outer walls and began a systematic ransacking of the city. The assault culminated in the burning and destruction of the Temple that served as the center of Judaism.In victory, the Romans slaughtered thousands. Of those sparred from death: thousands more were enslaved and sent to toil in the mines of Egypt, others were dispersed to arenas throughout the Empire to be butchered for the amusement of the public. The Temple’s sacred relics were taken to Rome where they were displayed in celebration of the victory……. Most of the slain were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, and they were butchered where they were caught. The heap of corpses mounted higher and higher about the altar; a stream of blood flowed down the Temple’s steps, and the bodies of those slain at the top slipped to the bottom.  When Caesar failed to restrain the fury of his frenzied soldiers, and the fire could not be checked, he entered the building with his generals and looked at the holy place of the sanctuary and all its furnishings, which exceeded by far the accounts current in foreign lands and fully justified their splendid repute in our own.

As the flames had not yet penetrated to the inner sanctum but were consuming the chambers that surrounded the sanctuary, Titus assumed correctly that there was still time to save the structure; he ran out and by personal appeals he endeavored to persuade his men to put out the fire, instructing Liberalius, a centurion of his bodyguard of lancers, to club any of the men who disobeyed his orders. But their respect for Caesar and their fear of the centurion’s staff who was trying to check them were overpowered by their rage, their detestation of the Jews, and an utterly uncontrolled lust for battle.

Most of them were spurred on, moreover, by the expectation of loot, convinced that the interior was full of money and dazzled by observing that everything around them was made of gold. But they were forestalled by one of those who had entered the building, and who, when Caesar dashed out to restrain the troops, pushed a firebrand, in the darkness, into the hinges of the gate Then, when the flames suddenly shot up from the interior, Caesar and his generals withdrew, and no one was left to prevent those outside from kindling the blaze. Thus, in defiance of Caesar’s wishes, the Temple was set on fire. ” (Quoted from -“The Romans Destroy the Temple at Jerusalem, 70 AD,” EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005)”. )

This is the truth behind the destruction of the Jewish temple and the City and Jews had to run away from their land and they were scattered all over the world.

God gave the promise of the land to Abram in the book of Genesis. This is part of the unconditional covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give the land forever to them. This eternal possession of the land forever, will be fulfilled in future when Christ, the seed of Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 17:16 &21; 26:2-4; and 28:13) , according to the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7:12-17), establishes the millennial kingdom on earth, Jerusalem being the headquarters of His rule (Isaiah 2:1-4).  The covenant God made with David in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 says, “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.  He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” However, per the Palestinian covenant (Deuteronomy 29: 10-14; 21-29 and Chapter 30), the continuous possession of the land by Israel was depended upon their obedience to God. Three times before Israelites were scattered out of their land – during Egyptian regime, the Babylonian regime and now during the Roman regime. All these exiles were due to their disobedience to God. But what happened to Israel in AD 70 was a unique one compared to all previous exiles. We will see more of this now below.

Why this time the exile was unique? In previous exiles or captivity times, Israel and Judah were exiled to only one nation. They went to Egypt and later Israel was exiled to Assyria and Judah was exiled to Babylon. In all these times the exile was mainly to one nation – either Egypt, Assyria or Babylon. Now the Roman exile was to all over the world – they were scattered into different nations of the world.

Bible says this about the last days in Ezekiel 36:23-24. It says, “Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. This is the uniqueness of the year 1948 in Israel’s history. They have never been delivered and brought back to the land of Israel from all the nations. In previous Jews came back from just one nation where they were brought as captives. But this time, in 1948, the Jews started flowing into their land from all nations. This is the historical fulfillment of the Bible prophecy. Read what Ezekiel 36:10 says, “I will greatly increase the population of Israel, and the ruined cities will be rebuilt and filled with people”. The population of Israel steadily increased from the time of independence on May 14, 1948, and they rebuilt the ruined cities. The Israel’s population was 806,000 on the day of independence. The population increased every year because Jews started moving in and today it has 8,321,570 people. Every year as Bible predicted Israel is filled with more of her people. Listen what Bible says about this final gathering back to the land of Israel in Ezekiel 36:34-35. It says, “The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. “They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ “Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it.”

• The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by
• They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabit
• Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it.”

See, no other nations disappeared from the world came back to their own land like Israel after 1900 years. When God made the unconditional covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, there were other peoples and nations in existence. Verse 19 describes the names and they were Kenite, Kenizzite, Kadmonite, Hittite, Perizzite, Rephaim, Amorite, Canaanite, Girgashite and Jebusite. Have you ever heard these name in recent history? None of these names exist today nor their languages exist today. But Israel still exists as a miracle. The Hebrew language is still spoken as of today. Even after their removal and disappearance from history for more than 1900 years, God, as He promised, brought them back to their land. If this is not God’s supernatural work, what else is God’s supernatural work? The God of the Bible said He will do it in last days and He fulfilled His promise literally. God brought them from all different nations and the desolate land are cultivated, cities were rebuilt and fortified.

The next chapter (Ezekiel 37) gives a vision of dry bones. The LORD asked Ezekiel after showing a valley full of dry bones this question, “Son of man, can these bones live?” He answered, “O Lord GOD, THOU KNOWEST.” The Lord said this to the dry bones, “Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life…..And I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

Now, you may be thinking what or who the dry bones represent. The Lord Himself answeres this question in Ezekiel 37:11-12. It says, “Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. “Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.’”

These dry bones were the nation of Israel and they were dried up and their hope has perished. However, God said thousands of years ago that He will keep the covenant He made with Abraham and David and bring them from all different nations back to the land of Israel. God said above “I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD have spoken and done it.”

The regathering of Israel from all nations is an amazing fulfillment of the Bible prophecy in our times, fulfilled right in front of our eyes. We cannot ignore it or close our eyes to this God’s supernatual, wonderful work.