The Regathering of Israel
The return of the Jews to the land of their forefathers has been an exciting fulfilment of Bible prophecy during the last 100 years of the world’s unpredictable history. As soon as the British army drove the Turks out of Palestine during the Great War of 1914 to 1918, the great movement of ‘the return’ began in earnest. The Balfour Declaration, favouring the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine, set the tone for a recognition that this was the solution for dealing with the thousands of homeless Jews all over Europe and beyond.
At first the Arabs were happy to sell plots of sand and scrub to anxious Jews who foresaw the opportunity to build where they could live in their towns (e.g. as seen in the pictures of Tel Aviv opposit). But as immigrants multiplied the mood changed. Fearful that their Arab majority might one day be turned into a minority, pressure was brought to bear on the British government to restrict the numbers of Jewish immigrants. This was because the British were at that time administering the Mandate.
This did not suit the Zionist organisation and for many years the British army and navy were engaged in dealing with ‘illegal immigrants’. The situation became so troublesome that by 1947 the British Government decided to terminate the mandate. No sooner had the last British soldier left Palestine then war broke out between the Arabs and the Jews which lasted for a year. The fighting came to an end when Ben Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel.
This was a great landmark in the return of the Jewish people to their ancient heritage. The Jews consolidated those parts that they had conquered but it was not to be a peaceful continuous co-existence. In 1967 Colonel Nasser ordered the United Nations Peacekeeping Force out of the border area between Israel and Egypt. This was a portent that another war was about to begin. This turned out to be non-stop fighting lasting six days. The Jews gained more territory including East Jerusalem thus gaining control of the whole city.
Forty more years have passed since this Six-Day war. They have been turbulent years. Even so, remarkable progress has been made in all fields of activity. The number of Jewish immigrants has now passed the 5,000,000 mark leaving some 9,000,000 Jews still scattered around the world.
The Biblical prophecy concerning Israel’s regathering now being fulfilled is Zech. 12:2. This reads:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people round about”.
This sense of fear is due to the present demand by the Palestinian Authority for Jerusalem to be made its capital. They are supported in this demand by virtually every other country in the world. It is unlikely that Israel will agree to this, in which case she will have to fight to retain Jerusalem as its capital. The prophecy predicts that this will indeed be the case:
“When they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem”.
Most Israelis are expecting this to happen and some are to be commended for making this a matter of prayer. Sympathetic nominal Christian groups and Messianic Jews are prominent in this kind of activity. Even orthodox Jews have been known to defy bans by their own leaders on attending such Christian events. For five years one religious group has been organising a ‘Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem’. A Robert Steans, one such leader, declared, ‘Jerusalem is in trouble no matter what side you view the conflict from and we need to come together and pray.” The speakers included Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.
It is interesting to notice how various nominal Christian groups are supporting the nation of Israel in a general way. The International Christian Embassy, Jerusalem, organises parades to express solidarity with the Jews. Evangelism in Israel is taken as a serious threat by the rabbinical authorities that are alarmed by the growing number of Messianic Jews in Israel and abroad. Many ultra-orthodox Jews fear the real motive of Christian Zionist’s organisations like the Embassy is to convert the Jews to Christianity, but this is probably a mistake. Nevertheless this mass movement is quite remarkable.
Life is not easy for Jews in Israel these days. This is evident from the fact that in 2006 Israelis were moving out of Israel faster than those coming in, 3 to 1. Another problem is that the birth rate among Arabs living in Israel is much higher than among the Jews. The government recognises the small majority among the Jewish population is diminishing. In view of this the Immigration and Absorption Ministry launched a new campaign for 2008 to repatriate 15,000 Israelis living abroad and bring in 20,000 new immigrants. It is offering cash incentives and tax breaks to encourage Israelis to come back*.
( * Israel Today, Jerusalem, November 2007).
What about Spiritual Israel?
While the re-gathering of God’s scattered nation may have slowed down, the calling of Gentiles to increase the numbers of Spiritual Israel has not. The preaching of the True Gospel by our Brethren and Sisters is in progress and increasing all the while. Hundreds of Bible students are sending in their course answers and some of these will bear fruit in wanting to be baptised. This is a time-consuming process but shows no sign of declining. (For this reason, perhaps, we may have to exercise patience in waiting for that much-desired event to happen – the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory). So let’s keep up our preaching efforts to both Jews and Gentiles.
Historic photograph of settlers on the site of Tel Aviv in 1908. Below, the modern city of Tel Aviv today.
“The cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be builded” Ezekiel 36:10
Bro. Ralph Green (Torquay, UK)
