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BEYOND TODAY- UCG.ORG
The 70-year existence of the modern Jewish state is part of a much greater story—that of God’s committed love for His people as part of a plan that will culminate in offering salvation to the whole world.
Amomentous juncture has been reached for a country and a people whose very existence tells us God and the Bible can be trusted. That country, an ongoing focus of world attention in the Middle East, is the state of Israel—now celebrating its 70th anniversary. Its people are primarily the Jewish people—with 6.5 million Jews living here in their homeland and more than that living abroad, mostly in the United States. The Jewish state and people constitute a sign that God cares and is involved—evidence of the grace of God.
Have you ever wondered if God really cares for the human race? With all the evil and suffering in the world, can we ever really trust the teaching of the Bible about a just, merciful and all-powerful God?
The existence of the modern state of Israel is necessary to the fulfillment of end-time prophecies and assures mankind of God’s enduring faithfulness.
These are honest questions that sometimes come to the minds of sincere people wanting to believe the Bible and trust in God. A look at the world and at history can be sobering, causing us to doubt. And some even read the Bible and wonder why God did some things we read about there.
Let us consider, then, God’s enduring love for Israel.
Understanding the world through the backstory of Israel
Jesus Christ told the people of His day they needed to “discern this time” (Luke 12:56). He said they were able to look at the sky, see a cloud rise out of the west and say, “A shower is coming,” while if the south wind were to blow, they’d say, “There will be hot weather” (Luke 12:54-55). But this same people had trouble discerning exactly who He was, and they could not act on the message of the gospel He taught.
How about you?
Can you discern your time, our time, in relation to Bible prophecy? Can you discern today’s world with all the many events shaping our lives? Do we understand why today’s world seems increasingly out of control and a place we don’t even recognize anymore because of the moral, cultural and social changes around us?
You can understand today’s world events—and you need to. Because your faith in and understanding about God depends on your discernment of this time. Let me show you how by focusing on a part of the world we regularly hear about in the news.
Again, let’s look at the state of Israel. This tiny nation in the Middle East plays a significant role in world affairs. The state of Israel is now 70 years old, having been proclaimed on May 14, 1948, by David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, following the Nov. 29, 1947, United Nations Resolution 181 vote calling for partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
During this 70-year period the Jewish state has fought many wars against its Arab neighbors. Its survival is constantly threatened by hostile and unrelenting Islamic terror groups. In time the United Nations came to regularly condemn Israel through resolutions, with member states constantly attacking Israel’s policies and actions. Israel lives in a tough Middle East neighborhood, where it’s continually forced to defend its existence to survive.
However, in spite of 70 years of hostility Israel has developed a vibrant, prosperous society. Its people make positive life-enhancing contributions to the world in many critical areas, such as technology, medicine, education and humanitarian efforts. So why does Israel struggle against continual danger? Why must it defend itself before the court of world nations? Why the antagonism and hatred?
If we are to understand this paradox of hostility and blessing surrounding Israel, we must look to the Bible for the story. Scripture gives us the backstory of Israel’s origin. Only in the Bible do we find the divine purpose for Israel’s existence—both in the ancient world and as a modern nation today.
Covenant relationship arising from God’s devoted love
The ancient nation of Israel was made up of the descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob, himself the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, known as the father of all faithful people who seek after the true Creator God. Now any man with 12 sons makes for an interesting story. Jacob was no exception. His life, as revealed in the book of Genesis, involves all the elements of a good story—betrayal, revenge, children by multiple wives and concubines. It’s all there, the good and the bad.
For purposes here the story told about Jacob wrestling all night with a Being who can only be God is perhaps the most important. At daybreak God gives Jacob a new name, Israel, meaning “prevailer with God” or “prince of God.” This name, Israel, is given to the nation that arises from his 12 sons. The man Israel concludes his life in Egypt with his sons and their families after they escape a severe famine. Years pass, and the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob come out of slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses in the great Exodus.
God remembers the promise He made to Abraham—a promise that Abraham’s descendants would be strangers and servants in a land not theirs. The Egyptian captivity lasted several generations until God delivered the Israelites from slavery and brought them back to the land God promised to their forefathers, the land known today as Israel.
As God had made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob regarding the land, so He also entered into a covenant relationship with their descendants, the children of Israel who had grown into the nation of Israel. This covenant relationship between God and the people, the terms of which both agreed to, is at the heart of the story of the state of Israel today.
This is not an old story from the ancient mists of time. This is not a myth created by ignorant tribes who somehow wandered into this land and created an epic story to justify their presence. God loved these people. His desire was to give them every opportunity for peace and success—allowing them to grow and prosper. Israel the nation was to become a model for all others to emulate in following His way of life, showing that His laws and judgments can produce a culture blessed with peace and prosperity.
Notice how God said it in Scripture in Deuteronomy 7: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to a be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6). The Israelites had an amazing opportunity with God. They were given a special land to serve as a special people.
And note what lay behind God choosing them: “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
God had a deep spiritual love for the nation of Israel. This love, I say again, is at the heart of this story. God promised Abraham his family would grow into a nation and inherit promises lasting for generations, far beyond his day and into the modern world. Notice what God said next:
“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9)
God is faithful. He keeps His agreements for a thousand generations. Here is a key to understanding why the modern state of Israel sits in the same geographical spot as ancient Israel. The Jewish state is a continuation of the people with whom God entered into a covenant relationship so long ago.
There were multiple covenants involved in this relationship, including that with Abraham previously. God’s covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, where the nation agreed to be His people and accept the terms of obedience to His laws, was a marriage agreement—with God as the Husband (compare Jeremiah 31:32). And God made yet another covenant with the Israelites prior to their entry into Canaan in Deuteronomy 29–30 concerning the habitation of the land—with destruction and casting out for disobedience, and yet bringing the people back with repentance in the future.
This is something you don’t read about in your history books. But this special covenant relationship and God’s promises and prophecies concerning His people and the Promised Land are at the heart of understanding the importance of today’s state of Israel after 70 years of survival and the controversies over and within Jerusalem, its capital.
A love story gone wrong—to yet be put right
Let me take you into a passage of the Bible that is profound. It reveals the deep love and passion that God has for Israel. This love started thousands of years ago and continues to this day. And while the love story we find here is between God and one particular people, it’s ultimately meant for all peoples and nations. It’s also a sign that God is faithful to all His promises for mankind.
This narrative is found in Ezekiel 16, where God speaks through His prophet to Jerusalem, the heartbeat of the nation. “On the day you were born,” God says, “your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water . . . nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field . . .” (Ezekiel 16:3-5).
Recall that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were wanderers with no permanent home. When Abraham’s wife Sarah died he had to purchase a burial spot from his neighbors. Jacob took his family into Egypt to find food to survive, and his descendants became slaves making mud bricks for Pharaoh. No one but God was looking out for the children of Israel.
Then God says: “When I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you . . . ‘Live!’ . . . I made you thrive like a plant in the field, and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful” (Ezekiel 16:6-7). “But,” He further said, “you were naked and vulnerable, fragile and exposed” (verse 7, The Message).
God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and brought them into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After many years as a small confederation of tribes, the fledgling nation grew into a major power under its greatest kings, David and his son Solomon. Israel’s location enabled it to act as a stabilizing power preventing such nations as Egypt, Assyria and Media from dominating the region.