In our society we often hear the old adage that “seeing is believing.” However, in the Bible and in Christianity, our adage is “believing is seeing.” When we believe the Bible, in time we will see its truth manifested before our eyes. Given time, the Bible will always prove itself true.
THE RISE OF ISRAEL IN OUR MODERN WORLD
When I was a boy twelve years of age, my grandmother Gerrish came out into the cotton patch where we were working and announced to all of us that there was an Israel again. That announcement and event in 1948 seemed very important to me as a young person, and I have never forgotten it. Little did I know that I would spend much of my adult life teaching about Israel and even living there for sixteen years. Little did I know that my eldest son and his family would live there as residents and that my grandchildren would proudly serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
The modern rise of Israel is a clear and perfect example of the adage “believing is seeing.” If we believed the Bible, we should have realized that God would gather the people of Israel a second time. Isaiah says: “On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea” (Isa. 11:11 NRS). Of course, the first gathering of Israel was only from Babylon under Zerubbabel in 537 BC. Almost 50,000 returned at that time.
The second regathering of Israel began in the 1880s and has continued to the present time. Isaiah also says: “And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (Isa. 27:13). Somehow in the unseen world a trumpet must have sounded for the Jews to return. We see by the mention of Egypt that this is not in reference to the first return. Christians did not hear this trumpet, but the Jews did. On several occasions I have overheard Jewish people saying something like this: “I don’t know why I came. Somehow, I just knew that I had to come home.”
It is amazing how accurately the bulk of this second return has corresponded with Isaiah 11:11. The return to Israel is called aliya, which means “going up” in Hebrew. Since Israel is quite mountainous it was necessary to go up from the coast to the ancient biblical cities.
The First Aliya (1882-1903) included some 25,000, mostly from Eastern Europe. The Second Aliya, (1904-1914), consisted of about 40,000 and was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. The Third Aliya, (1919-1923), contained many young pioneers. About 35,000 arrived in this period. The Fourth Aliya, (1924-1928), totaled some 67,000 with many middle-class immigrants mostly from Poland. The Fifth Aliya, (1929-1939), had a total of about 250,000, with many fleeing Nazi Germany. In the Sixth and Seventh Aliyot (1940-1948), about 100,000 entered the country. During this period Jewish Immigration was greatly hindered due to British restrictions. These were the early attempts at return and resettlement of the land.
The mass aliya or ingathering of exiles (1948 and following) happened when Israel became a state, and all immigration restrictions were removed. For instance, in the years 1948-1951, 684,000 immigrants returned home to Israel. (Favorites 112) It is this mass aliya that we want to consider. The Jews of Iraq, over 124,000 strong, were flown home in an Israeli airlift named “Operation Ezra-Nehemiah.” The Jewish population of Iraq (ancient Babylon or Shinar) was in captivity from 586 BC onward, and now they were home. The remarkable event prompted the President of Israel to declare that the Babylonian captivity had ended. (Favorites 123) Today there are only 4 Jews still living in Iraq.
Egypt was an ancient home for Jews over the many centuries. By 135 AD it is thought that there were at least a million Jews living there. In 1948, 75,000 Jews still lived in Egypt (Upper Egypt was included and known as Pathros). After Israel became a state, thousands of Egyptian Jews returned home. Today the Jewish population of Egypt is only around 10 people. (Virt Lib)
Ethiopia in the south was detaining Ethiopian Jews at the airport for a year. Suddenly in one 33-hour period starting May 24, 1991, almost 15,000 Ethiopians were flown to Israel in one giant Israeli airlift. Isaiah also spoke about them. In Isaiah 43:6 he had said: “Do not hold them back!” Jews came home from many other places like Russia and the Ukraine.
It is interesting that in the years between the autumn of 1989 and the end of the twentieth century, almost a million new immigrants came home. The population of Israel when the aliya began was only in the four million range. That miracle, the largest aliya by far, happened during the lifetimes of most people living today but strangely it was scarcely noticed by God’s worldwide church.
As the Jewish people came home the ancient cities of Israel were rebuilt; the land was once more farmed and became exceedingly fruitful; the Hebrew language was restored and made a spoken language again. Industry blossomed and tiny Israel began to lead the world especially in its high-tech sector. Israel truly became “the miracle on the Mediterranean.”
WE CHRISTIANS ARE GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 11:17 that the church does not stand independently but is grafted into Israel. This is news to the church today just as it has been for two thousand years. The church simply has not understood this great truth and over the centuries has found herself even persecuting and killing Jewish people. Often, we Christians have tried to chop down the tree into which we are grafted. What does it mean to be grafted in? It means we should have a Jewish heart; we should love Israel and pray for the peace of Israel and Jerusalem (Psa. 122:6). We should literally give God no rest as we pray and intercede for Jerusalem and for his people Israel (Isa. 62:7).
We should visit Israel when possible or even do some voluntary work there if we can. We should study and learn all we can about Israel. Several thousand evangelical Christians have been called to live in Israel temporarily or even permanently. Israel needs to see a different kind of Christianity than she has seen for these two thousand years.
What are some benefits of being grafted into Israel? We need to remember that Israel is like an ancient olive tree and olive trees have extremely long lives. The olive tree is really “the tree of light.” In Bible times one did not flip a switch to get the light on. Instead, one got a little clay lamp, filled it with olive oil, put a wick in it and added fire. Walla! There was light. It was not much light, but it was a lot better than living in the dark.
With this Israel light comes revelation. When the light is turned on we can see a lot of things clearly. God is anxious to fill us with his light and revelation. Olive oil was used for healing in the Bible (Jam. 5:14), so God wants his healing to flow through us. Olive oil was also used to anoint priests and kings. The Bible tells us that in Jesus we are a holy and anointed priesthood. The Lord wants the Holy Spirit anointing to flow from our heads and drip down on our clothes (Psa. 133:12). It is probably no accident that the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements occurred at the times when dramatic events were occurring in Israel.
WHAT ELSE DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT ISRAEL?
Since Christians have mostly missed the miracle of the Jews returning to their land the second time, and since we have mostly missed the engrafting, we might ask, “What else does the Bible say about Israel?” Before the Lord returns, we know that Israel will have a mighty spiritual awakening. God says: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him [Jesus] as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” (Zech. 12:10).
The Lord promises Israel: “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zech. 13:1). Surely this great end day revival in Israel will affect other nations as well. We do not want to miss this holy event and we need to be praying and watching for it to come.
THERE’S MORE, MUCH MORE
The day is coming when the throne of God will be established in Jerusalem and the whole world will be ruled from that place. God says something that will blow the minds of antisemites and antisemitic Christians worldwide. The Almighty God says of Jerusalem, “…this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever…” (Ezek. 43:7). The Almighty God will make his eternal abode in Jerusalem with the Jewish people.
We can understand by this that heaven and earth will at last be joined together. Unfortunately, today most Christians still have everything going up, while the Bible has everything coming down. The Kingdom is coming. We need to believe and declare the Bible’s truth. It is important that we pray for this end-time event to happen as we have said. We need to start praying Matthew 6:10 daily, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Jim Gerrish
Published, 2022
Jim Gerrish, Does God Play Favorites? God’s Unique Relationship With Israel (Minneapolis, Cornerstone Publishing, 2000).
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-of-egypt