Bible Prophesy “fulfilled before our eyes” 60 years ago…
God had warned Israel of their impending destruction for their disobedience and this was fulfilled in 70AD with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus under Rome. He also promised He would one day gather together the Israelites from all over the world and they would once again become a nation. A mere 1,877 years later,on November 29, 1947, by UN mandate, Israel was reborn. Anniversary News Article
Today, you can’t pick up a newspaper without reading of the trouble in the Middle East, the ongoing hatred of the Jews by the Arabs. There are those who want Israel wiped off the face of the map. A few months back, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad called for their annihilation and It’s been the same story since 1948.
The year was 1967 and Israel had only been a nation for 19 years. Most of the immigrants were either survivors of the Holocaust or were refugees from nations where anti-semitism ran high including the surrounding Arab states. Nearly all came into the land with little or nothing. In 1952 there were about 200,000 immigrants living in tents or government built shacks and everything was rationed.
In 1964, the surrounding Arab states, Egypt, Syria and Jordan unified their military and Israel’s existence looked gloomy. Early in 1967, the unified forces started massing along Israel’s border and a full scale war looked inevitable.
Common sense said there was no way they could survive against these dominate forces. Yet God’s promise of the re-gathering of Jews back to their former land included one very important fact, He said they would NEVER leave their land again, EVER! What happened next only could have been accomplished by the hand of God.
On June 5, 1967, Israel made a preemptive strikes destroying Egypt’s Air Force followed later that day destroying Syria’s and Jordan’s Air Forces and the war was on. In six days Israel had taken control of the entire Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
If you ever have the opportunity to watch a documentary on the Six Day War, watch it! There is nothing like watching the hand of God at work and all you can do is say, wow. There could be no other explanation of how a rag tag 19 year old country could beat the overwhelming odds. It reminds me of a story about some immigrants from different parts of the world looking for a land where they could have religious freedom. They came together, formed a country and with a rag tag army went on to defeat the world’s greatest super power of the day.
The history of Israel on Wikipedia gives a brief, yet detailed account of the Jews and the circumstances, starting around the turn of the century, that led to the creation of the new state to the present. It is well worth the read.
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