Written by: Vivienne Myburgh
Article source: JOY! Magazine
Israel celebrated her 75th birthday on the 26th April, according to the Jewish calendar, and on the 14th of May, according to our Western calendar. This momentous event took place in the Hebrew year 5708, and amazingly the 5708th verse in the Bible is Deuteronomy 30:3, “The Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.” This is only one of approximately 150 prophetic scriptures that speak about God’s intentions to bring His people back from the nations, after almost 2000 years in exile.
A biblical nation
The scriptures tell the story of Israel: from the time when God called Abraham, made a covenant relating to his descendants, and promised a specific piece of land that He covenanted to give them as an everlasting possession. Israel is the only nation on this earth for which God set out the boundaries! It literally was the centre of the ancient world and was the location where God would deal with His people, “in the sight of the nations”.
Short history of the establishment of Israel
After World War II, the Jewish situation remained tense in the British Mandate of Palestine. Refugee ships like the Exodus, carrying Holocaust survivors to Palestine, were turned back by the British. There were violent attacks by Arabs on the Jewish communities, spurred on by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The British turned to the United Nations, and, on the 29th of November 1947, the historic vote passed – 33 to 13 votes with 10 abstentions – to partition the land between Jew and Arab. The Arabs rejected the offer outright, but the Jews accepted the Partition Plan area. It was a fraction of the original area of the British mandate that had been agreed by the League of Nations to be given to the Jews, in recognition of their ancient Biblical homeland (the British betrayed this agreement when they cut off 77% of the area and formed Transjordan in 1921). After almost 2000 years there was, again, a sovereign Jewish state in the land of the prophets and the patriarchs!
75 years of progress and development
75 years later, the tiny nation of Israel (the size of our Kruger National Park) has been transformed from a desolate land into a thriving agricultural and economic powerhouse, punching far above her size in achievements in science, technology, and innovation on all levels. She also blesses the nations. Through various initiatives Israel has trained around 36 000 experts from Sub Saharan countries alone in food security, agriculture, and education etc., and has initiated numerous projects in Africa. They are often first on the scene after disasters worldwide, helping to locate victims and treating them with their top-level medical care.
A blessing to the nations
The biggest blessing, however, is that salvation of the world came to the nations through Israel. “For salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). God chose the Jews and Israel to be the vehicle of world redemption. We are redeemed through a Jewish Messiah who was born in Israel and will return to Jerusalem, bringing the peace that we all long for when He rules the nations from Jerusalem! Israel truly is a blessing to the nations of the earth, as was prophesied in Genesis 12:2, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
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Date published: 21/05/2023
VIVIENNE MYBURGH – National Director of International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (South African branch). Email vivienne@icej.org.za
Feature image: Image for illustrative purposes only. Artwork adapted from unsplash.com
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