The re-birth of the State of Israel in 1948 was more than just the fulfillment of 1,900 years of dreams long hoped for– it was also the modern fulfillment of ancient biblical prophecies. For centuries the Jewish people have been living off of faith and prophecy. Now, in our lifetime, the prophecies given thousands of years ago have unfolded before our very eyes in the 20^th and 21^st century. The many miracles that we have witnessed for this to take place are simply astounding. The following are testimonies of some of the great miracles that God has performed – from the survival of the Jewish people in the midst of persecution and separation from their ancient homeland, to the establishment of the Jewish State, and what He has done to cause the land and the people to flourish and multiply.

An Eternal People – Deuteronomy 4:27

“And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.”

It is purely a miracle that the ancient Israelites of biblical times still carry a remnant of people and faith that has lasted throughout the centuries. All other ancient peoples like the Assyrians, Babylonians, Jebusites and the Canaanites are extinct, but the Jewish people have survived throughout the generations. No other nation has survived such scattering and remained a nation. History shows us how ancient peoples and civilizations became assimilated into other groups and nations and eventually any trace of the original was gone. How is it then that the Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the earth, yet still remain a known people group? The answer, it is simply a miracle!

God also said that the people of Israel would be left few in number while they are scattered among the nations. Today, the Jewish people number 12 million worldwide, a minuscule 0.2 percent of the 7.2 billion global population. Yet, historically, this tiny people group has been singled out for intense hatred and extermination for centuries – the Crusades, the Inquisition, Muslim oppression, pogroms and in modern times the Holocaust. We recently commemorated the tragedies of the Holocaust, the greatest atrocity against the Jewish people in all of history. After six million lives were taken, this tiny, persecuted, scattered people survived. Not only have they survived, they have thrived.

The War of Independence 1948 – Ezekiel 37

4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.”11-14 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from the your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.”

The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision by God of a valley of dry bones –that is the whole house of Israel – and breathed life into them, gave His Spirit and brought them to the land of Israel. After the mass graves were filled with the bones of millions of Jewish men, women and children, and the horrors of the Holocaust came to an end, God fulfilled this prophesy given thousands of years ago when He brought the remnant of the Jewish people back to the land of Israel.

Even though God banished the Israelites from the land He had given them as a result of their disobedience, He also declared that in the “latter days” He would bring them back and re-establish them in the Land of Promise. The prophet Jeremiah wrote of a great restoration that would overshadow the exodus out of Egypt:

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15).

Never before has a nation been destroyed, its people dispersed to the ends of the earth, and then, nearly two thousand years later, re-gathered to their homeland and reestablished as a nation. A miracle of re-birth happened on May 14, 1948 when Israel declared itself an independent state. The fulfillment of prophecy was seen so vividly that day when David Ben-Gurion read The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel.

When Israel declared itself an independent state on May 14, 1948, still another miracle occurred. The armies of seven Arab nations marched on the newborn State, boasting to “push the Jews into the sea.” Outnumbered 100 to 1, Israel not only defended itself but also won victory over additional territory. Yigael Yadin, Israel’s commander of operations in the Independence War, could only give explanation of Israel’s victory by saying, “It was a miracle!”

The Wasteland Blooms – Ezekiel 36: 33-35

Thus says the Lord God, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’”

Barren land transformed to the fertility of ancient Israel is a miracle and prophesy that we are seeing fulfilled before our very eyes. In the days before the State of Israel, when the local territory was referred to as Palestine, most of the region was wasteland, irreclaimable for agriculture. As the floods of Jewish immigrants from Europe started buying tracts of land and cultivating the soil, the wasteland slowly began to bloom. In Israel’s modern era, archeologists have discovered the presence of more than 70 ancient settlement sites in the Jordan Valley alone, each with its own well for water. Wells that can be traced back to biblical times were found and are now used as water supplies for residents throughout Israel. The people began to plant trees and forests in the arid country, using the Bible as a compass to know what kind of trees to plant and where. Now today, Israeli pioneers are developing biblical principles of agriculture to help the Aravah and Negev deserts yield produce. The desolate wasteland has now blossomed into an agricultural giant that exports food worldwide – it is a miracle.

The Miracle of Immigration – Isaiah 43: 5-6

“Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, who I have formed, even whom I have made.”

God fulfilled His Word when He said that He would call His sons and daughters from the four corners of the earth. In Ben-Gurion’s Independence Day speech he declared that Israel “will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their dispersion.” He gave an open invitation to all Jewish people worldwide to come home, and the floodgates were opened. During the first three years of statehood, the average number of immigrants arriving to Israel reached 18,000 a month, some months the figure exceeded 30,000. Between May 15, 1948 and June 30, 1953, the Jewish population of the country doubled. By the end of 1956, Israel’s population had nearly tripled, reaching over 1.6 million new immigrants. Imagine the economic shock of absorption. Jews kept pouring into Israel over the decades from every corner of the earth. In the 1980’s and early 90’s the Israeli government undertook special airlift operations in order to bring Ethiopian Jews to the country. By 1998 over 800,000 Jews arrived from the former Soviet Union. Israel’s population increased from 650,000 in 1948 to 8.3 million in 2015. This miracle of absorption will continue until all the people of God of the world return to their homeland.

In conclusion, we have seen how God entered history when He preserved the people of Israel throughout the centuries, brought them back to their homeland after prolonged years of persecution and has now helped them to flourish and thrive in their Jewish home – the State of Israel. We have seen the faithfulness of God to fulfill His promises, and now we look for future miracles that will take place when God fulfills the final prophecies that all Israel will be saved. As David Ben-Gurion prophetically proclaimed in His speech, we are “placing our trust in the Rock of Israel.”