When we turned the millennium in 2000, people were polled as to the "greatest event of the millennium." While I would quickly state that it was the miraculous re-birth of the nation of Israel in 1948, that didn't even show on the poll's radar. Mark Twain said 150 years ago that the land looked like a "moonscape" with tumbleweeds and some desert-dwellers. There were Jews in Jerusalem and Arabs scattered about. There had been multiple "owners" of the land, though it belongs to God (Lev. 25). None of the non-Jewish owners cared to have it be anything but a malarial swampland, but that changed in the 1880's. Then Jews came from around the world, sacrificing their lives to disease and more, making the wasteland into a flowering garden (Isaiah 35).

Israel became a re-born nation May 14, 1948 and 24 hours later, six Arab armies descended on her with heavy equipment to destroy the new state. Israeli men, women, and children fought back with small arms, determination, and a will to survive so there would be no more crematoriums like Auschwitz and Buchenwald. In fact, the U.N. vote for statehood was influenced by a "sympathy vote" due to the reality of their suffering during the Holocaust. What satan meant for evil, God used for good.

God's blueprint for the restoration of Israel is the most referred to theme in the Bible. That's literal Israel, not the trendy theology that the Church is Israel. The specific borders are given in Genesis 15. Ezekiel 37, the "dry bones" chapter, has Ezekiel viewing a valley of bones that come to life, stand on their feet, and God breathes life into them. Spiritual life would come later, when they were back in the land. God asks Ezekiel a bewildering question: "Can these bones live?" It is unfortunate that prominent evangelicals today teach she does not deserve the land because of her unbelief. What Bible are they reading? That's part of the plan. Once in the land, the spiritual work begins--and it is. And when she is planted back in the land, she will not be uprooted again (Amos 9).

The Arab attempt to destroy God's Land and people on May 15, 1948 (and in many subsequent wars) is nothing new. Since the beginning, kings, pharaohs, fuhrers, Muslims, the U.N., the E.U., the Communist world, the "religious Left" around the world, and more, have sought to do her harm. Incredible miracle stories come out of the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. God just scoffs at her enemy's proclamation: "Come, let us wipe out the very memory of Israel's existence" (Ps. 83:4).

Only after the "Six Day War" of 1967 did a myth emerge--that there was a distinct Palestinian people and a distinct nation of Palestine. Yasser Arafat came along to fuel the debate and cause. But the "Palestinian people" in Israel before 1967 were identified for what they were: Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians, etc. And now all governments of the world have bought the lie, so much so that almost without exception they are clamoring for a Palestinian state when there is no basis for it. Israeli Arabs have a freedom they get in no other Arab nation and even serve in Israel's parliament (Knesset). Even these Arabs living in Israel said nothing about a nation of their own until the mantra of Arafat and associates began in 1967.

Frankly, it was not until after the Jews made the land productive and thriving that Arabs began migrating there. Arafat himself was an Egyptian. Giving the Palestinians a state will do nothing more than provide the perfect staging ground for their attempt to drive Israel into the sea. Such a statement remains in the PLO Charter.

And while all the world--including America--speaks favorably of the new Palestinian leadership, on Saturday, May 14 when Israel turns 57, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas has said that they will mark this "catastrophe" of the Jewish state's founding with a siren and anti-Israel demonstrations. Abbas says, "This is how we will express our grief on this painful occasion." Great partners for peace!

Times of trouble for Israel lie ahead but one day she will understand that there is no place to turn, no place to run, no place to hide, but in God.

And remember, "When the Lord builds up Zion, He shall appear in His glory" (Ps. 102:16). Israel's re-birth is the key to the imminent return of our Lord and Savior.

Awaiting His return,
Jan Markell

(For more information, please see Olive Tree Ministries, Inc., then choose the categories of "Palestine" and Israel for further insight on this.)