PART 2
And give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. - Ezekiel 37:21
In Part 1 we discussed the prophecy about the Jews who were scattered around the world returning to Israel. Now, let's examine why and how the prophecy is being fulfilled.
For many years Jews have been emigrating from other countries around the world into Israel, and in doing so are fulfilling the Lord’s promise.
They have been returning for many reasons. In many countries where Jews lived they were persecuted by feelings of anti-semitism and prejudice and religious intolerance. In other places, the government became politically unstable, and often the Jews were denied the opportunity to buy land or were taxed differently. In some locations they were displaced by war and discord, famine and/or disease.
In all cases they believed Israel would be better for them economically, a place to practice their religious beliefs, and a better and safer place to live and raise their families. In the case of the Russian Jews, emigration was prompted by a change in government policies that allowed them to leave.
For whatever reason, thousands of Jews have and still are returning to Israel.
In 1948, when Israel was recognized as a nation by the United Nations, there were just 806,000 people living in Israel, less than a tenth of the number today. At that time, the global Jewish population was 11.5 million, and just 6% were in Israel. It is now estimated that there are 14.511 million Jewish people worldwide and 45% of them reside in the Jewish state - the Jewish population of Israel stands at approximately 6.589 million.
Over the past twelve months the population of Israel has increased by 1.9%; at the current rate it will hit 15.2 million by the time of Israel’s centennial in 2048.
Emigration has been helped by a series of “covert” or secret operations by the Israeli government. Sometimes these secret operations were carried out with the help of the United States. Since the operations were secret, the following is just a partial list. This information is available because the data has been declassified.
Year Name of Operation # Jews Returned From
1949/50 Magic Carpet 50/60 Thousand Yemen/Aden
1950/52 Ezra Nehemiah 120/130 Thousand Iraq
1961/64 Yachin 80 Thousand Morocco
1984/85 Moses 6 to 8 Thousand Ethiopia/Sudan In airlifting Jews from Ethiopia to Israel in 1984, aircraft were crammed with immigrants. One flight had an estimated 1122 passengers.
1985 Joshua 494 Sudan
1991 Solomon 14,325 Ethiopia Israel paid a ransom of $26 million. In 36 hours Israel evacuated over 14,000.
God promised to bless Abraham’s descendants.
Of the world’s nearly 6,700 languages Hebrew, which was nearly extinct a few years ago, is again spoken by nearly ten million people, most of whom live in Israel.
In the fulfillment of the promises by God, I believe we are witnessing a MIRACLE!
In an article written for the Weekly Standard edition May 11,998, Charles Krauthammer put it this way:
"Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba (a revolt of Jews against the Romans about 135 AD), and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store.”
This flow of Jews back to Israel has also been spurred by a discovery made nearly 150 years ago. In 1868 a physician discovered a genetic marker that we now call DNA. In recent years DNA testing has been used to trace the ancestors of Jewish tribes.
As a result of DNA testing, it was discovered that there was a Jewish group living in the northeast states of Mizoram and Manipur in India. An article in Commentary Magazine written by Hillel Halkin in September 2008 stated that DNA confirmed the group was related to the Jewish tribe of Manasseh. Israel provided air transportation for hundreds from this Indian group to come to Israel.
Through an organization called the Fellowship of Christians and Jews many more Jews are being brought back to Israel.
Fulfillment of these prophecies is one of GOD’S OTHER WAYS© to demonstrate and remind us that He is still working today to fulfill His promises. I hope you agree that the fulfillment of these and hundreds of other prophecies are signs from God that we are in the last days.
Dr. David Jeremiah, pastor of Shadow Mountain Church in San Diego says, “There are no other prophecies that need to be fulfilled before Jesus returns and Christians are caught up (raptured) to be with Christ.”
Therefore, we should live expectantly. Jesus may return any moment.