Israel’s Uniqueness
Dr.Dr. John Hoole
Conflict in Israel has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. Whether it was the Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amorites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, or Romans, the nation of Israel has always been persecuted by its neighbors.
Why is this? According to the Bible, it is because God has a special plan for the nation of Israel, and Satan wants to defeat that plan.
Satanically influenced hatred of Israel and the Jews is the reason Israel’s neighbors have always wanted to see Israel destroyed. When God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and promised that his seed would become a great nation, possess the land of Israel and that God would use the nation of Israel to bless the world, the Jewish people became public enemy number one in the kingdom of Satan!
Whether it is Sennacherib, king of Assyria; Haman, official of Persia; Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany; or Raisi, President of Iran, attempts to completely destroy Israel will always fail.
From Bible prophecy, we understand there will be NO let-up in Satan’s campaign to destroy Israel. No sacred book of any other world religion offers anything comparable to predictive prophecy of the Bible. Prophets of Israel, as recorded in the Bible, consistently predicted events in history and did so with amazing accuracy and descriptive details.
These prophecies were at times stated and written many centuries before they took place. This is one major testimony to the supernatural inspiration of the Bible.
When you read the Bible, one of the ways that God says we can know that He is God (and the true God) is by the fact that He declares the end from the beginning. And He tells us before the events happen.
In our last lesson, we noted 27%of the Bible is predictive prophecy ( that is, God declaring what will take place in the future.)
For example God says Isaiah 46:9-10 NIV
9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
The ability to predict history in advance with such accuracy, implies the ability to control history as it unfolds. For this reason, God can say with absolute confidence: "My purpose will stand."
The God of the Bible even challenges other so-called 'gods' to show that they are gods by doing the same. If they are 'God,' then they should know all bout the things still to come as well as that which has happened.
Isaiah 41:21-23 (NIV)
‘Present your case,' says the LORD. 'Set forth your arguments,' says Jacob's King. 'Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods.'
Today, we begin filling in the details as it relates to the nation of Israel and the Middle East. The Bible has much to say about Israel and her neighbors in the end-times.
For years Christian and Jews have been anticipating a miracle – the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in its original homeland. The reasons for these anticipations are the numerous prophecies and promises of God recorded throughout the Bible, which clearly indicate there will be a Jewish homeland in Israel in the las days.
May 14, 1948 was very important day in human history - maybe even pivotal day. On that afternoon, a car was quickly traveling down Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. The vehicle was carrying the prominent Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion.
The car stops in front of the Tel Aviv Art Museum a few minutes before 4:00 p.m. More than 400 people were inside, made up of Jewish religious and political leaders.
David Ben-Gurion bounds up the steps to the podium, …and at precisely four o'clock P.M., local time, he calls the meeting to order.
He immediately reads these historic words:
"This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State. Accordingly, we...are here assembled...and by virtue of our natural and historic right, and on the strength of the resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, hereby declare the establishment of the Jewish State in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel."
Six thousand miles away, President Truman sat in the Oval Office reading a forty-word statement about to be released to the press. He penciled in a few added words, then signs his approval and noted the time. It was 6:11
One minute later, the White House press secretary read the release to the world. The United States had officially recognized the birth of the modern nation of Israel.
In the study of End Times Prophecy, few areas have been more important than understanding the place Israel will play. What amazes many people is that in the last seven-plus decades, this nation, having a population of only 9 million people, has become the geopolitical center of the world.
Why is this so? Why is a fledgling country with a total land space smaller than the state of New Jersey, or one-half the size of Lake Michigan mentioned in the nightly news more than any other nation except the U.S?
Why is Israel the focus of so much attention. Why do normally calm world leaders erupt with emotion when Israel is mentioned?
For answers, we must turn not to the evening news or the front page of the newspaper, but the Bible. As the late Rabbi Binyamin Elon, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, wrote:
"I believe that if you do not know how to read the Bible, you cannot understand the daily newspaper. If you do not know the biblical story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you cannot possibly understand the miracle of the modern state of Israel."
Yes, there is only one source that gives a clear and authoritative answer - the Bible!! Although it was completely written almost two thousand years before the conditions we find in the Middle East today, .the Bible provides a supernaturally inspired analysis of both the factors and the forces that are involved today.
Many of the various prophetic interpretations that are proposed turn on what they believe the Bible says about Israel in the End Times.
If we fail to understand God’s program for Israel, we will very probably be misled in what we believe about:
• The role of the nations in the Middle East.
• The purpose of the rapture,
• What part the church will play in God’s future plans,
• The meaning of the millennium,
Many of the different interpretations of the End Times, stem largely from how they treat the Jews or the nation of Israel.
Let’s look briefly at the origin of the Jews and the nation of Israel. You may know that God chose one nation only. They descended from Abraham, through the line of Isaac and Jacob, to be His people.
They were to be a light to the rest of the nations, showing who the true God was. Largely they failed in that (but God is not finished with them there!)
Their history, going back thousands of years, is fascinating specifically when compared to what the Bible said, in advance, would happen to them.
There is a well-known story how Frederick the Great the King of Prussia, asked the philosopher Marquis D'Argens, 'Can you give me one single irrefutable proof of God?' To which Marquis replied, 'Yes, your majesty, the Jews.'
In other words, the history of the Jewish race declares that the God of the Bible is real! Christians and non-Christians have noted something very special and peculiar about this race:
Winston Churchill:
'Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.'
John Adams - 2nd US President
"I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations... They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews.'
In like manner Mark Twain wrote:
‘If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and had done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?'
Does it seem odd to you that the one race that people find the most remarkable when looking at human history (whether you like them or not) is exactly the same race that the God of the Bible chose 4000 years ago to be His people and His nation alone and to show that He exists?
In the Bible God said that He would make the people of Israel 'the head and not the tail.' (Deut 28:13). Human history reveals this to be the case. Though persecuted and hated, the Jews have often risen to the top.
Apart from the quotes earlier from Churchill, Adams and Twain that state this very thing, look at more modern-day Nobel prizes as evidence of this extraordinary race:
An example: Nobel prizes for Jews
"As of 2017, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 892 individuals, of whom 201 or 22.5% were Jews. This is true although the total Jewish population comprises less than 0.2%of the world's population.
This means the percentage of Jewish Nobel laureates is at least 135 times or 13,500% above average."
That is remarkable! One-sixth of one percent of the world's population and 22.5% of the Nobel prizes won for excellence in all sorts of fields.
Remember - the God of the Bible said He would make them the head and not the tail.
To state it differently: "As of 2017, people of Jewish descent constituted”
36.71% of economics,
25.23% of medicine,
26.21% of physics,
19.77% of chemistry,
13.27% of literature and
8.65% of individual peace awards."
It is not the French or the Germans or the Turks or the Chinese winning a disproportionate amount of Nobel prizes in so many fields. It is the Jews.
Have you ever consider why it just happens to be this people of the Bible, not large in numbers by any means, that stand out among all the races as being remarkable in this way?
God chose the Jewish race, the Bible says, not because they were large in numbers, but because they were small and so through them He could demonstrate His reality for those that want to see. Do you see?
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ISRAEL
1. Israel has two official languages – Hebrew and Arabic
2. Israel is only 1/4/100 of 1% of the landmass of the Middle East – roughly ½ size of Lake Michigan.
3. 39 political parties participated in Israel’s 2021 elections.
4. Israel has the highest concentration of high-technology companies in the world next to Silicon Valley.
5. The Israeli bank note (money) include braille on them.
6. Israel’s $387 Billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
7. The cell phone was developed by Motorola in Israel.
8. Israel is one of only 8 countries in the world capable of launching their own satellites into space.
9. Over 60 million flowers grown in Israel were exported to Europe.
10. Israeli cows produce more milk per cow by far than any other nation in the world.
Israel = 12,000 liters of milk per year.
U.S.A. and UK = 6,000
India and China = 4,000
11. While farm-workers make up only 3.7% of the work force, Israel produced 95% of its own food requirements.
12. Kosher rules dictate what is allowed in the mouth.
Ever wonder about the glue on a postage stamp? Their postage is kosher.
There are 50 kosher McDonalds in Israel.
The Hebrew word for Kosher is kashrut.
Many Kosher restaurants have two separate kitchens – one for meat products and one for dairy.
Exodus 23:19 NKJV
19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
This last sentence is found two other places in the Torah – Exodus 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21.
The Jews took this as a command to separate meet from dairy in their food preparation. This means they need a 2nd complete sets of pots and pans and other cooking utensils.
13. Israel spends more money on security than any other country in the world.
14. Israel has an entire hospital that is mobile and able to go to disaster locations around the globe.
15. Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
16. An Israeli has invented “bone glue” that will reduce the need to bone transplants and heal bone defects caused by cancer.
The Bible speaks of how God says to Moses that He will save the Israelites from Egypt and give them a land flowing with milk and honey – Exodus 3:8
Exodus 3:8 NKJV
8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
It is still true today.
17. You have probably heard there is a significant decrease in the number of honey bees in the world. Israel has fared better than the rest.