Days

At one point after teaching in the Jerusalem temple, Jesus departs and as He leaves, his disciples marvel at the stonework and beauty of the temple buildings.  Jesus said to them “Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone stall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2).  The temple of Jesus’ time was the Second Temple–built by King Herod–that stood on the same grounds as the First Temple that was built during the reign of King Soloman.  The First Temple was destroyed in 587/586 B.C. by the Babylonian Empire under King Nebuchadnezzar. 

Following His prophetic statement about the end of Herod’s Temple, Jesus and the disciples then proceed to the Mount of Olives where Christ begins the ‘Olivet Discourse’ in which He instructs His followers on the events that would occur regarding His return at the end of the age.

Jesus’ prophetic statement on the destruction of the Jewish temple would come true in 70 A.D. when the Roman army under Titus laid siege to Jerusalem, eventually conquering the city and burning the Temple to the ground.  The fact that blocks of the temple were pried apart is traced to Roman soldiers attempting to recover melted gold from within the cracks.  The sacking of Jerusalem would return gold and spoils of war to Rome, that were then used in the funding of the construction of the Roman Colosseum.  After the fall of Jerusalem, the taking of the hilltop fortress of Masada in 74 A.D. (with the suicide of its 967 occupants) would mark the end of this First Jewish-Roman War.  There would be two more Jewish revolts – the Kitos War (115-117 A.D.) and then the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132 – 136 A.D.) marking two more Jewish-Roman wars; but the Jewish state effectively ended in 70 A.D.  The modern history of the Jews became one of diaspora as they would be scattered among the nations.  Coincident with this would be terrible persecution in these host nations, finally culminating in the Holocaust.

As the gospel spread around the world and decades gave way to centuries, the church would await the return of Christ and watch for the signs of His coming. Yet, one thing seemed clear – one day there must once again be a nation of Israel.  The Bible speaks repeatedly about the return of the Jews to their homeland, the land of Israel coming back to life, Gentile rule of Jerusalem ending, and the building of a third and final temple – all before Christ’s second coming. 

In modern times, there were a series of key moments leading to the rebirth of Israel, notably the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which the United Kingdom stated their support for creating an eventual home for the Jewish people within Palestine; and then the “Mandate for Palestine” approved by the League of Nations in 1922 which recognized the historical Jewish right to Palestine.  Regardless, it would take World War II and the holocaust before the United Nations finally passed Resolution 181 in 1947– which partitioned Palestine and allowed for the creation of a Jewish state.  That state would finally arrive in 1948.

Although not an exhaustive list, here are just a few of the Bible prophecies regarding the restoration of the Nation of Israel that have either been fulfilled or are in progress now that Israel has been reborn.

The prophet Isaiah predicts that in effect a nation will be born in a day:

Isaiah 66:8-10:  Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.
Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord.
“Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.
“Rejoice with Jerusalem,
And be glad with her, all you who love her;
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;

In the book of Amos, the prophet predicts that the Jews will return to their land, rebuild their cities and plant vineyards, and no longer ever be removed:

Amos 9:14-15:  I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.

Ezekial states that God will gather the scattered remnant from among the nations and return them to their land:

Ezekiel 11:17:  Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ‘

Ezekiel 36:24:  For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 

Isaiah looks into the future and sees the desolate land of Israel blossoming and coming back to life:

Isaiah 35:1-2:  The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.

Isaiah 27:6:  In days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom and bud
and fill the face of the world with fruit.

The U.N. voted to restore the nation of Israel in 1947, and the prophecies about the restoration of the Jewish homeland were finally fulfilled with the declaration of the independence of the State of Israel on May 14^th, 1948. 

And with the miraculous rebirth of the Nation of Israel began the running of the End Time clock.

There is a common view within today’s Christian community that the restoration of Israel is the marker from which we now look for the signs of Jesus’ return that he described in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24).  The restoration of Israel is the moment when the End Times began, and as such marks the start of this last day’s clock.  One widespread teaching from the 1970s stated that the generation that sees the rebirth of Israel will not pass away until Christ’s return, and was based on this passage from Matthew:

Matthew 24:32-34: “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

In this teaching the fig tree represents Israel – and when it blossoms it is the sign to us that the current generation will see the second coming. Not all agree with this; and the understanding of what constitutes a generation continues to be debated (more on this later).  However, in my view we have been given too many other signs to simply dismiss this idea…especially in light of the events of recent years.

Let’s return to the year 1947.

On November 29^th of 1947 the United Nations voted to restore the State of Israel by partitioning Palestine into two separate states – one Jewish and one Arab.  The vote was 33 in favor, 13 opposed, and 10 abstained.   On the very same day as the vote, fragments of two of the newly discovered Dead Sea Scrolls were for the first-time put into the hands of Jewish Archeologist Eleazar Sukenik.  

These 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most important archeological discoveries of the 20^th century.  The story involves a Bedouin shepherd boy who left his flock to look for a missing stray.   As he searched a cave along the cliffs of the Dead Sea, he threw a rock into the darkness and heard something break.  Inside he found clay jars that eventually would be identified as the work of a religious community known as the Essenes.  This group had separated themselves from the Jerusalem authority and established an isolated religious enclave at the Dead Sea.

The Bedouin sold the scrolls to a Bethlehem antiquities dealer.  Professor Sukenik heard about the discovery and quietly managed to purchase three of the seven initial scrolls.

On the very day of the U.N vote to restore Israel, Professor Sukenik traveled to Bethlehem to examine the scrolls, and would return home with the first two scrolls’ fragments – one called the ‘Scroll of Thanksgiving Psalms’ since many began with “I thank you, Lord”; and the other called the ‘War Scroll’, which was an Essene community document detailing the last days ‘War of the Sons of the Light Against the Sons of Darkness’.  In the days following this he would also procure a third scroll, which contained parts of the book of Isaiah.

It is not difficult to see signposts in these events.  First, scrolls that were hidden at the time of the Roman assault on Jerusalem and lost for 2,000 years were literally found by a shepherd searching for his lost sheep.  Next, after 2,000 years a scroll that expressed thanksgiving to God and another scroll that detailed the final End Time battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness were placed into the hands of Israel at the very moment of its founding (and were received in Bethlehem).  And finally, the book of Isaiah—with all its prophecies about the Jews returning to their homeland, the coming of Messiah, and the visions of the cataclysmic Day of the Lord—is also returned to Israel.

Professor Sukenik’s son, Yigael Yadin–at the time the chief of operations for the Haganah (the militia which evolved into the Israeli Defense Forces) –made this quote about the timing of the discovery: “I cannot avoid the feeling that there is something symbolic in the discovery of the scrolls and their acquisition at the moment of the creation of the State of Israel.  It is as if these manuscripts had been waiting in caves for two thousand years, ever since the destruction of Israel’s independence, until the people of Israel had returned to their home and regained their freedom.”

But other significant events occurred in 1947 as well.

This year saw the ‘Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ create the Doomsday Clock.  This organization was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project.  The clock idea was created in 1947 using midnight as the moment of apocalypse and nuclear holocaust.   They update the hands of the clock periodically based on world events.  In 2020 the clock hands were moved to 100 seconds to midnight, and then in 2023—in response to the war in Ukraine—the clock was moved to 90 seconds, which represented its closest approach to midnight in history (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 75 years and counting).

In another noteworthy development, on June 24^th, 1947 the term ‘flying saucer’ came into existence.  A private pilot named Kenneth Arnold observed nine objects in the air while flying near Mount Rainier in Washington State.  He would describe these unidentified objects as flying “like a saucer if you skip it across the water.”  His sighting became a national sensation – but that was not the end, as the summer of 1947 would see a great UFO wave occur in the U.S.  which would then culminate in the now famous Roswell Incident of July 7^th.  This event would see Roswell Army Air Field officially released to the press on July 8^th that it had gained possession of a downed flying saucer, only to then recant shortly thereafter.  Today we know that the U.S. government has admitted that UFOs (now called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena – UAPs) are not only real, but that they pose a serious national security threat (another topic we will revisit later).

The year 1947 also saw the creation of the doctrine of a ‘wall of separation’ between church and state by the U.S. Supreme Court, which would then be followed by the removal of prayer from public schools in 1962.  From a Christian perspective, the decline of the United States can be framed in terms of these moments – as well as the Roe v. Wade case of 1973 that legalized abortion; that was finally overturned in 2022.

The U.N. vote to partition Palestine would mark the beginning of the Israel War of Independence, which would see the declaration of independence of the State of Israel on May 14^th, 1948 and President Harry Truman making history as the first world leader to recognize the now restored nation.

The events of 1947 and into 1948 witnessed incredible moments that fulfilled Bible prophecy– but prophetic moments would continue.

After the creation of Israel, the June 5-10, 1967 Six Day War saw the end of Gentile rule of Jerusalem, with the Jews retaking control of their historic capital.  This fulfilled this statement in the Gospel of Luke:

Luke 21:24:  And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

In another amazing development, a Dead Sea Scroll fragment called the ‘Temple Scroll’ was recovered by Israel at the very same time that Jerusalem was united by the Israeli army (June 8, 1967).  This scroll served to assist in the creation of blueprints for the coming Third Temple (one more topic we will revisit).

The prophetic clock ticked along with the return of scattered tribes from around the world, fueled by the passing of the Law of Return on July 5^th, 1950 – which was further broadened in 1970 to open the doors even wider.   Today organizations continue to help the dispersed Jewish people make ‘aliyah’ – the return to their homeland.

The land of Israel has now come back to life.  From a dry and barren, treeless land that was relatively unproductive, Israel has become a major agricultural center.  Israel doubled its cultivated land, extended irrigation to 325,000 acres and planted 37 million trees – to become an exporter of produce and nearly achieve agricultural self-sufficiency.  Israel has also become a world-renown technological giant.  Here are just a few of the many technological achievements of Israel (from 72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements and Israel21c: Did You Know):

• The Intel 8088 microprocessor is designed at Intel’s Haifa lab and used in IBMs original line of PCs (72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements)
• ICQ, first stand-alone instant messenger and first online instant messenger service is developed and sold to AOL (72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements)
• First PC anti-virus software is developed in Israel (Israel21c: Did You Know)
• First commercial USB flash drive, DiskOnKey, is invented in Israel and sold to IBM (72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements)
• Waze, A GPS turn-by-turn navigation system, is founded in Israel and acquired by Google (72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements)
• First use of Voice over Internet Protocol demonstrated by Vocaltec in Israel (72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements)
• Amazon’s Kindle created at Israel’s Herzliya tech center (Israel21c: Did You Know)
• Israel becomes the 8^th nation with internal launch capability with insertion of Ofek 1 surveillance satellite into orbit (72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements)
• Israel becomes the 7^th nation to orbit the moon with Beresheet (‘Genesis’ in Hebrew) probe/lunar lander (72 Extraordinary Israeli Achievements)

With the historic events of 1947/1948, it is not difficult to see why so many today believe this was the hour when the End Time clock began running.  With Israel recapturing Jerusalem in 1967 the time of Gentile rule came to an end, fulfilling one more critically important Bible prophecy – and providing further impetus to the notion that this generation would see the return of Christ.

After seeing the Nation of Israel come back to life in our time, we are now awaiting the start of Daniel’s 70^th week.

Next – Chapter 4: The 70th Week