The Jews

The Jews, Jerusalem and the Nation of Israel

A Bible scholar was once asked what proof he had that the Bible was true. His answer: "The Jews, my friend, the Jews."

It is extraordinary that the Jews remain an identifiable group of people after almost 2000 years of dispersion throughout the world following the conquest of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Normally, over centuries, people become acculturated to their new environment, mingle, intermarry, and lose their unique identity.

It's not that they have a great deal to gain by being Jewish. The persistence of anti-Semitism and persecution through thousands of years is inexplicable. Thousands of years! Why? People should be judged for the content of their character, as individuals, not as members of racial or religious groups. But not only is anti-Semitism alive and well after so many centuries, many people seem completely blind to it! I was shocked by the fact that soon after the Arab terrorist attacks in September 2001, I heard people blaming to the Jews! It sounded all too familiar!

Not only are the Jews still around, they have a nation, exactly as prophet after prophet predicted thousands of years ago. Here are some examples of that prophecy:

Therefore say: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again." (Ezek. 11:17)
"So there is hope for your future," declares the Lord. "Your children will return to their own land." (Jer. 31:17)
I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God. (Zech. 8:8)

The Old Testament predicted exactly how this would occur. On May 14, 1948, at midnight, Israel became a nation.

Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? (Is. 66:8)

When Israel became a nation, a lot of people were motivated to take a deeper look at the Bible, especially considering the miracles that happened during subsequent wars. Israel was attacked immediately with overwhelming force by five Arab countries vowing to drive all Jews into the sea. The Israelis won the war and gained control of about half the land originally planned for the Arab state of Palestine. In the Six-Day War of 1967, again begun by the Arabs with the same objective, Israeli troops fought through to the Western Wall and gained control of Jerusalem. The Yom Kippur War in 1973 began with a surprise Arab attack on a high Jewish holiday. Israel was in sight of Damascus when the U.N. called for a cease-fire.

Despite continuing Arab terrorist attacks against Israel, U.N. condemnations of the two sides have been completely unbalanced. Out of 370 condemnations issued through 1997, Israel was condemned 370 times and the Arab nations not once! Despite the PLO's history of terrorism, its statements of jihad (holy war), its open support of Saddam Hussein, and its refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist, it was not condemned once. Incidents such as the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics by Palestinian terrorists seem to be quickly forgotten.

In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians everything they demanded except the city of Jerusalem and the return of all Arab refugees and descendents to Israel as voting citizens (they would have outnumbered the Jews). That offer was refused. Soon afterward Arial Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount was met with a violent uprising and hostilities that continue to this day. Clearly, the Arab want something besides land of their own and the opportunity for peaceful coexistence. It should be clear who is the aggressor at this point.

Interestingly, Jerusalem was not an especially important city to Muslims until early in the past century, when the Jews began to return due to oppression in eastern Europe. The Dome of the Rock was built on the Temple Mount centuries ago, but the story about it being the site of Muhammed's ascension to heaven is recent. That story is not in the Koran. It is based on the following Koranic verse, which is not one of the many verses inscribed in flowing Arabic on the walls of the Dome of the Rock.

Glory to God who did take his servant for a journey by night from the sacred mosque to the farthest mosque whose precincts we did bless,--in order that we might show him some of our signs: for he is the one who heareth and seeth all things. (Sura 17:1)

The end times events predicted in Revelation could not occur literally before the Jews were reunited in Israel.