Posted: 05/12/08

CAN THESE BONES LIVE?  ISRAEL AT 60

By Jan Markell

                                            www.olivetreeviews.org

The miracle of miracles over millennia overlapping all the way to May of 2008 is overlooked by most people. It is the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948. It is the most significant and inconceivable miracle in history. Yet the geopolitical gurus around the world would never admit that.

This event was orchestrated by God, but what is that to an unbelieving world? He states, "For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all nations of the earth" (Deuteronomy 14:2).  Because God is a covenant keeper, not just a covenant maker, He did not do away with that covenant when Israel failed her assignment to be a godly people and a light to the world. One day she will do that.

God's "blueprint" is in Ezekiel 37 -- those old "dry bones." God takes Ezekiel to a valley overlooking old, dry bones that start to move and join together! God says to the shocked prophet, "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel is too stunned to say anything but "God, only you know because this is too bizarre for me!" How would you like to see dead bones walking?! So God reveals the mystery by saying, "These bones represent the whole house of Israel." He goes on to say a scattered people will be restored in every sense of the word. That's the outline written thousands of years ago. It took awhile to be sure, but then it seems God is never in a hurry!

Even 100 years ago the land looked like a moonscape. Many pioneers perished in the malarial swamp lands or desert heat. And they loved the land back to life! Many were secular Jews doing the "Zionist thing" -- nonetheless, they had it in their hearts to "go home." Bit by bit they turned the area into a "blossoming rose" (Isaiah 35:1). They removed sand, dirt, and swamps by hand if necessary. Few non-Jews could believe it. But she showed her might against Arab protest in a bitter War of Independence after she became a nation in 1948.

God calls the land of Israel "My land" in Leviticus 25. About the size of New Jersey, she has become "the mouse that roared." When huge military arsenals come against her, they fail to move her off the land God has given her. God is still at work! All that has been or is yet to be accomplished will be done in accordance with His design or purpose.

Zechariah 14 says that some day the whole world will curse this tiny nation, and that Jerusalem will spark Armageddon. As an Israeli Knesset member said recently in The Jerusalem Post, "We find ourselves in a situation where even if we sneeze, people might concede that it is legal, but we would still be told it is provocative."

Mark Twain said over 100 years ago, "All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but they remain. What is the secret of their immortality?" The key is to remember that God is a covenant keeper. God will not allow His precious "promised land" to fall into the hands of the wicked. And His chosen people's eyes will not be blinded forever.

And so kings, pharaohs, fuhrers, Moslem extremists, the united European Economic Community, the United Nations, and the U.S. State Department have all tried to put an end to her either militarily or diplomatically, fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 12:3. Her most bitter enemies in the Moslem world chant the chorus of Psalm 83:4: "Come and let us wipe them [Israel] out as a nation that the name of Israel be remembered no more." I say to all mullahs and terrorists, "Dream on, but you don't stand a chance!"

She was 60 years young May 8 on the Jewish calendar and May 14 on the secular calendar. Ravaged by the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago she has been revived and restored as a nation as predicted in Ezekiel 37. But over those 2000 years she was shunned, persecuted, expelled, gassed, and shuffled from country to country. To this day she is surrounded by nations sworn by their charters and oaths to destroy her while these enemies pose for pictures signing "peace treaties."  It is the biggest lie of the 21^st century; that is, that a Palestinian State will bring about world peace. 

I leave you with just one question: If Israel were an unimportant development without any biblical or prophetic significance (a position that is gaining considerable credibility within the church these days), why would Satan be spending so much time creating confusion, deception, and conflict within both the church and the world today regarding it?  Then at least acknowledge that she is our only ally in a crazy part of the world that would like to take over the world!

But remember, "He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Psalm 121). And He who watches over you neither slumbers nor sleeps either.

By Jan Markell Click here for bio and archived articles