One of my favorite Bible prophecies comes from the book of Isaiah: “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6).
Do you remember the story of Tom Sawyer? Tom Sawyer was written by Mark Twain (that was his pseudonym). His real name was Samuel Clemens. Samuel Clemens visited Israel in the 1890s and remarked how he had never seen a more barren, desolate land in all of his travels.
Since 1950 the climate has actually changed over Israel, a system of irrigation canals have been dug with more than 100 million citrus trees being planted. Today Israel is the number one source of citrus for Europe . . . talk about prophecy being fulfilled.
Samuel Clemens once asked, “What is the secret of the Jews’ immortality?”
The Jews have survived captivity, persecutions and holocausts throughout the history of mankind at the hands of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, Nazis and Communists. All of these have tried—at one time or another—to bring about the extinction of their race, but the Jewish people survive as a testimony to God’s power.
It was God’s power that stoned the five armies that attacked Israel in Joshua 10:11
“And it happened, as they fled before Israel that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven . . . and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.”
This will not be the first time God will use hailstones against Israel’s enemies. The prophet Ezekiel recorded how God will use hailstones to crush the invading Iranian and Russian forces in the Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel chapter 38:
“And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him . . . great hailstones, fire and brimstone . . . Then they shall know I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 38:22-23).
During the Olivet Discourse Jesus said, “Unless these days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22).
Jesus was speaking to the Jewish generation about many days in the future. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden Satan has tried to prevent the birth of the Messiah and ever since Jesus was born Satan has tried to thwart His Return. (Consider the Holocaust.) Satan knew Israel would become a nation in 1948 —the prophecy of the Fig Tree really shook him up!
Satan used Hitler in an attempt to annihilate the Jewish race during World War II. Hitler murdered one third of the Jewish population and might have extinguished the race altogether had we not brought an end to the war.
In 1967 Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morroco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan and members of the PLO and the Arab Expendentionary Forces attacked Israel. The Six Day War Israel lost about 759 soldiers while her enemies lost approximately 17,000.
Throughout history, God has given Israel triumph over her enemies.
“He did this so that all of the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:24 NIV).
Now that the Jews have returned to their homeland they are there to stay and soon the world will watch God destroy those nations that have tormented Israel and her people who are and always have been the “apple of His eye.”
If you want a blessing, support the Jews returning to Israel. God’s Word says, “I will those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Genesis 12:3).
This was God’s pledge to Abraham and the Jewish people for all generations to come.
Greg May
gregmay39@yahoo.com
Sources:
1.Unexplained Mysteries of Heaven and Earth, Ron Phillips, Charisma House, Lake Mary, Florida, 2013.
2. Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change, John Hagee, Worthy Publishing, 201.3