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The
History & Mystery of Zionism |
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| In Ezekiel 37, God asks the prophet Ezekiel a strange
question: “Can these bones live?” For God to ask a man anything is strange, since God is omniscient. So when God asks a question, it isn’t to gain information, but to direct our attention to God’s priorities and interests (Genesis 3:9; Exodus
4:2; Matthew 16:13).
Oh, Them Dry Bones |
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1. Our national defiance to God's messengers, bringing about the Babylonian captivity in 586
BC (2 Chronicles 36:11-21) 2. Our national unbelief in Messiah, bringing about the last dispersion in 70 CE (Luke 19:41-44). Would Israel once again live? Could the Jewish people come back to the land as a nation? Ezekiel answers honestly, humbly, “O Lord God, You alone know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Exactly right! It would take a miracle to raise the dead bones of Israel back to life this would depend on God, and His power. God’s response is that He will not only bring Ezekiel’s generation “back to the land of Israel,” but that there will be a future, greater regathering of Israel from all the nations (Ezekiel 37:12). Why does He promise to do this? Three times God states, “that Israel might know that I am the Lord” (37:6,13,14). Israel’s return from exile was to be a testimony of God's existence, and His priorities. Therefore since May 14, 1948, it is evident to the world that God is still at work among the Jewish people. And where God is at work, we should be at work as well. |
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| Israel’s Restoration: In Stages Perhaps the strangest verses in this section are these:
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It is important to understand that Ezekiel's vision of Israel's restoration is meant to be seen in stages. Therefore, it cannot refer to ‘the rapture of the saints’ (1 Thessalonians 4:16-5:5), or the 'resurrection of dead saints'. These will occur instantaneously, in “the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Rather than the body of Messiah, these bones refer to the Jewish people, the “whole house of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:11). This is a picture of God's historical regathering of the nation of Israel from the nations, and as we shall see, prophesies the future birth and progression of Zionism. | ||||
| An Amazing History! As God worked through secular history to accomplish His will, even through pagan kings like Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus (Daniel 4:34; Isaiah 45:1), we can see how the prophesied pattern applied in the historical restoration of the modern State of Israel. I. “The Noise”: 1840-1860. During this period realistic discussion for a Jewish homeland begins. · Anti-Semitism brings prayers and a recognized need for a homeland. During this time the Damascus Affair takes place (1840), where a monk accuses the Jews of ritual murder. · Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Kalisher and other rabbis' preaching give vision for resettlement in the Land. · Moses Montefiore and Charles Netter make first attempts at colonization in the land. II. “The Rattling”: 1860s-1890s. Small movements among the Jewish people toward colonization. · 1862, Moses Hess urges the establishment of a Jewish state in ‘Palestine’ in his book, Rome and Jerusalem. · 1881-82, the First Russian Jewish ‘Aliyah’ (pronounced ah-lee-yah, “going up” to the land) and the founding of Rishon Le Tzion, ‘First in Zion,’ the first pioneer town in Israel. · Period ends with the Dreyfus Affair in France, 1895. Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew, is falsely accused of treason, later acquitted. Event demonstrates to world Jewry that even in ‘civilized Europe’ there was little hope for Jewish acceptance. · From 1860-1890, Jewish population in the Land: 25,000. |
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III. “Bone To Bone”: late 1890's-1914. Skeletal structure for a Jewish homeland coming together. · 1896, Theodor Herzl, the visionary of modern Zionism writes The Jewish State, setting the focus for both his generation and next several to follow. · 1897, the first Zionist Congress gathers in Basle, Switzerland. Here the vision of a homeland for the Jewish people is developed as an international Jewish perspective and hope. Zionism now refers to the political movement for a Jewish homeland. · 1900-1914, the Second Russian Jewish Aliyah. Depicted in closing scenes of the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”: Jews were forced out of Czarist Russia, many went to ‘Palestine’, as well as to the US (e.g., the Nadler family). Jewish population in the land increases to 90,000+. |
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IV. “Sinews”: 1917-1920s. Sinews attach muscle to the bones of the developing body, political events develop infrastructure.. · November 2, 1917, Balfour Declaration from the then ruling British Empire over the Middle-East. Developed by British PM David Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary A. J. Balfour (assisted by Chaim Weizman), it declared “the establishment in ‘Palestine’ of a national home for the Jewish people.” · 1922, League of Nations adopts the Balfour Declaration. Because of shifting politics during this time, British officials become quite frustrated with the Jews in “their colony.” · From 1917-1920’s Jewish population reaches 180,000. V. “Flesh/Muscle”: 1929-1940s. During this time power and strength are applied to this developing entity. |
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VI. “Skin”: 1947-48. During this time, the appearance of national identification appears. · After the Holocaust, through worldwide, though temporary, sympathy for the Jewish people, the need for a Jewish homeland was recognized by all. · 11/29/47, In what seemed a miracle in the eyes of many Jews and Bible believing Christians, the UN passes the Partition Plan, dividing ‘Palestine’ between Arabs & Jews. |
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· 5/14/48, David Ben Gurion proclaims establishment of Israel. Surrounding Arab/Islamic nations (Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon & Syria) immediately declare war, attack Israel with overwhelming numbers, and are miraculously defeated. | ||||
| · 1947-48: population appx. 650,000. Today there are over 5 million Jewish people in the land. | |||||
An Amazing Mystery! Though it may seem outlandish to imagine a people returning to a land nineteen centuries after their dispersion, God means what He says. This national return to the Land brings us to the Mystery of Zionism; for Ezekiel states that even with Israel’s national existence in the land (‘skin’), “there is no Spirit” (Ezekiel 37:8b). Physical restoration to the Land is preparatory for a spiritual restoration to the Lord, and Ezekiel actually prophesies a two-fold return of Israel. First, Israel returns to the land in unbelief in Messiah (37:6). This is why in the future Israel will make a 7-year covenant with the evil ruler, the Anti-Christ (Daniel 9:27, Revelation 11,13). This seven-year period is what Scripture calls “The Great Tribulation” and “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), at the end of which Israel trusts in Messiah and receives the Spirit of God (Ezekiel 37:14). Unfortunately it will take the tribulation to bring Israel to true faith, to cease from trusting in themselves and cry out to the Lord: “and they will look upon Me whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). Today, it’s clear to any visitor in Israel that regarding Yeshua as Messiah, Israel as a nation is still in unbelief. God wants Israel to have “life” (Ezekiel 37:6), real life, spiritual life (“I will put my Spirit in you”, 37:14). Life is found in the Lord, not in the Land, and until they are secure in the Lord, Israel will not be secure in the Land, for there is no true peace without the Prince of Peace. |
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Now is the Time May this be a time to honor, not the founding of a political state, but the Lord, who keeps His promises, and may we be encouraged to work where He is at work, even among the Jewish people. |
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DVD Resources for Reaching Out
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