Like a key that unlocked the proverbial Pandora’s Box, the events of 1948 have rippled out from Israel and affected the whole world. Why does this small strip of land matter so much? Other lands are contested, fought over, have changed hands and experienced turmoil, but there is something seriously significant about the land of Israel. Clearly 1948 holds very different connotations for those on different sides of the conflict, and then there’s a whole other meaning for those out in the nations. What does it mean for you? But most importantly, what does God think about it all?
1948 was the fulfillment of a long-standing dream for the people of Israel. It means great joy, fulfilled promises, and a safe refuge… home at last. Independence Day celebrations erupt throughout Israel every year.
The connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel is expressed again and again in Jewish holidays and rituals. It is proclaimed at the Passover table (next year in Jerusalem!), in the daily prayers, and at every Jewish wedding: the couple and their guests are reminded to never forget Jerusalem and to consider it their highest joy according to the words of Psalm 137.
The longing to return to Israel and restore Jerusalem is not new, and it is fundamental to Judaism. So for Jewish people, May 14, 1948, was an answer to prayer after 2000 years.
It was also absolutely necessary. This fact was identified in the late nineteenth century by Theodor Herzl. Herzl was not a man of prayer but he was pragmatic. A staunch atheist, he had nonetheless observed the extreme threat of antisemitism and what it would mean for Jewish people to have a state of their own to call home. After the Dreyfus affair in 1894 demonstrated that Jewish people could not count on justice to be served even in Europe, Herzl started in earnest to push for a Jewish state. He held the Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, where he made this declaration:
“At Basel I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, l would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive it.” (Theodor Herzl, 3 September 1897)
How extraordinary that it was indeed fifty years after he made that prediction, that the UN would pass a resolution to create a Jewish state in Palestine. It would prove to have been of more vital importance than Herzl even could have realized back in the late 1800’s. For Jewish people, the events of May 1948 were not only the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s promise, but the provision of a refuge to run to. About a third of Europe’s Jews survived the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands ended up in displaced persons camps with nowhere to go. According to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, a poll was taken in those camps, asking 19,000 Jews where they’d like to go: 97% of them said Palestine. When asked for a second choice if that were not possible, hundreds replied, “The crematorium”.1
For much of church history, Christians have been unaware of what has been promised to Israel, since after the exile of 70 AD it was generally assumed that the role of Israel was over. For centuries, the Bible was largely inaccessible to most Christians, a fact changed only by the convergence of Bible translation and the invention of the printing press over the 1500’s. When the book was in the hands of the believer, things started to change. From the 1600s onwards we start to see the growing understanding that God wasn’t finished with Israel yet. In 1754 John Wesley wrote this about the restoration of Israel: “So many prophecies refer to this grand event that it is surprising any Christian can doubt of it.”
Isaac Newton was famous for his scientific breakthroughs but he also made some significant discoveries in the Bible. His statue in Trinity College, Cambridge, describes him as one “Who surpassed the human race in genius”. His mathematical genius was not confined, however, to observing the trajectory of falling apples. He was an enthusiastic scholar of the Bible and in particular, of biblical prophecy.
Isaac Newton understood from the Scriptures that the Jewish people would be away from their land for a period of about two millennia. More than that, he gave stunningly accurate predictions regarding Israel’s return.
Writing in the 1700’s, Isaac Newton made the statement that “the mystery of this restitution of all things is to be found in all the Prophets.” He was so sure that the restoration of Israel was clearly prophesied in each of the prophetic books that he couldn’t understand why others couldn’t see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment