By Don Perkins
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Israel’s re-establishment in 1948 marked a major turning point in how many people view Bible prophecy today. Before 1948, there were many scholars and students of Bible prophecy who simply accepted it by faith and trusted in the Word of God, believing that one day Israel would return to the world stage, as prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures. The re-establishment of Israel in 1948 converted faith into reality.
Today, many Bible scholars who have witnessed this fulfillment have coined a term for this latter-day miracle by calling Israel, “God’s Prophetic Time Clock.” In other words, the reestablishment of Israel has become the benchmark of end time Bible prophecy.
There are many prophecies in the Scriptures that hinge on the fact that in order for them to be fulfilled, the nation of Israel must have a geographic footprint on earth today. For example, in Zechariah 12 we are told that in the end times all the nations of the world will come against Israel over the control of Jerusalem.
I am moved to amazement when I read prophecies written centuries ago and see them come to pass before my very eyes. Consider the fact that when God scattered the nation of Israel in 70 AD because of their sins, He promised that He would preserve them and that one day, in the end times, He would deliver them from their captivity and bring them back to their own land (Isaiah 11:11-12). What an amazing fulfillment of these prophecies is unfolding before our eyes today as we witness the Jewish people being regathered from the four corners of the earth. There are now more Jews who have returned to the land of Israel than are living in the United States.
The rebirth of Israel is a part of God’s overall plan to redeem national Israel in the Last Days. Even more important, their return points to the soon physical return of our Lord (The Second Coming) to the land of Israel (Zechariah 14:1-9; Revelation 19:11-21). I believe we are witnessing the preparations for the next dispensation that is to come, “The Great Tribulation Period.”
I have preached many times that I believe the Lord is in Heaven moving major chess pieces on His “Prophetic Chess Board.” He is aligning the nations of the world into position for the end-times. Today, the nation of Israel is dominating the world news. You can’t watch TV without seeing something about this little country.
Why is this little nation that is about the size of New Jersey at the center of the world’s attention? Many people believe that God is finished with Israel, and even some believe that the Church has replaced Israel. The fact that God has brought Israel back on the world stage is a repudiation of this replacement theology. The Apostle Paul made it clear in Romans 11:1, 2,& 5 that God has a divine plan and purpose for Israel and her people:
1) I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2) God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew . . .
5) There has also come to be a remnant at the present time according to God’s gracious choice.
God has not rejected Israel. He still has a purpose for them That’s why the nation exists once again today. We’re the only generation, since Israel’s destruction in 70 AD, that can point to an existing nation in the Middle East called Israel.
In closing, let’s look at one final prophetic Scripture about Israel in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31:
35) Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
36) “If this fixed order departs from before Me,” declares the Lord, “then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.”
Wow! What a prophecy! God has put a sign in the Heavens that declares that Israel will be on this earth in the end times. Saints, this morning, the sun rose with me, and it declared that Israel is here by the divine providence of God, and that Israel is here to stay. Praise the Lord!
