A LIGHT ON OUR TOMORROW

BIBLE PROPHECIES THAT CAME TO PASS : ISRAEL AND THE UNBELIEVABLE COMEBACK

There were prophecies to the effect that, because of sin, Israel would, at some point, cease to exist as a nation and her children would be scattered around the world.  There were also prophecies that after a long time, Israel would rise from the ashes of defeat and become a nation again.  In Deuteronomy 30 verses 3, 4 and 5, Moses prophesied as follows,
''That the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.  If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.  Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.  He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.''


At this juncture, it must be pointed out that no nation or power on earth could have been able to overrun Israel if the people had not departed from the ways of their God.  Ezekiel 39 verse 23 states,
''The gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them, I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.''

However, God had to bring back Israel for two reasons.  The first is the covenant He made with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the effect that Israel would inherit the Promised Land.  The second reason is that if Israel had remained defeated and permanently in exile, the satanic powers that ruled the nations would have boasted that it was because they were more powerful than the God of Israel.  Therefore, Israel had to be brought back to their land to show that the God of Israel is the only true God and that the idols of the nations are a joke. 

Hence, Isaiah foresaw the rebirth of Israel as a nation.  Isaiah 66 verse 8 states,

'Who has heard such a thing?  Who has seen such a thing?  Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?  Or shall a nation be born at once?  For as soon as Zion was in labour, she gave birth to her children.' 

The Lord God had warned Israel through His servants Moses and Joshua concerning the Promised Land.  He told them in no uncertain terms that He was uprooting the nations that occupied the land before them, not because those people were sub-human, but because they were idol worshippers.  He further stated that He therefore expected Israel to be an example to all nations of the earth of how a people should live for God.  He stressed that it was only then that they would remain in the land.

Unfortunately, the children of Israel could not keep their own part of the deal that God had made with them.  They were more interested in the letter of the Law than its spirit.  In short, they could not measure up to God's standard.  They therefore fell into the hands of their enemies.  Finally, in AD 70 Jerusalem was sacked.  To observers at the time, it must have looked like the end of a dream as the nations around them derided them.  The people were scattered throughout the four corners of the earth where they remained for 1,878 years.  However, the Almighty had promised that because of His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He would bring the people back to the Promised Land. 

Usually, once a nation is sacked, in most cases, the people lose their identity, their culture and their language.  History is replete with cases of city states, nations, kingdoms and empires which fell or were sacked and who never rose from the ashes of defeat.  Some examples are Sodom, Moab, Ammon and Edom.  Amazingly, this did not happen in the case of Israel despite the fact that the people encountered untold persecution and unprecedented humiliation in the lands where they found themselves.

Many who had thought that the experience would be the end of Israel as a people were disappointed.  Stunningly, various developments in diverse circumstances collaborated with God to bring about the fulfilment of prophecy.  Hence, against all odds, Israel became a nation again in 1948.  Surely, the fact that Israel became a nation once again would go down as one of the great miracles of history.

Again, the instance cited above reinforces the fact that nothing can stop the prophecies of the bible from coming to pass.  They may seem impossible, they may take a long time but they always get fulfilled.

Tel Aviv