Subject: The Bible and Prophecy: The Survival of the Nation of Israel

Deuteronomy 1:30 “The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes.”

Since August, Hamas has been firing between 70-90 rockets at Israel every day. How does a nation so miniature in size, compared to all its surrounding enemies (and they seem to be innumerable), withstand such a daily onslaught? This tiny nation has an amazing air defense system called the “Iron Dome”. It’s radar tracks the Hamas rocket as it is fired across the border into Israel, and then advanced software predicts the rocket’s trajectory, programming its Tamir interceptor missiles to blow the rocket into harmless pieces in the sky.

We as a nation need to stop and think about not only on the unprovoked assaults against Israel today, but what history has and continues to teach us about this nation that, in comparison to the surrounding nations, is roughly equivalent to the size of Rhode Island. It is a miracle we are witnessing in our lifetime that Israel not only survives but has thrived throughout history..

Mark Twain, in an article written in Harper’s Magazine in 1897, says it best when he considers Israel’s survival: “The Jews are but ¼ of 1% of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way… The Jew ought hardly be heard of; but he has always been heard of. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and learning are way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. The Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then passed away; the Greek and Roman followed, made a vast noise, and they were gone. The Jew saw and survived them all. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of the Jews’ immortality?”

The answer can be found in the Bible. God has given the nation of Israel a unique identity as His chosen people. As Moses recorded long ago, they a special people separated out by God to Himself: “But you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 14:2).

But even more than being His chosen people out of all the ethnic groups in history, the Jewish nation has been given a homeland that, unlike other nations, they did not conquer by their own might. Their homeland, the nation of Israel, was a covenant promise given to them by God, and just as in ancient times He fights for them, to protect them from their enemies and ensure their survival as His special treasure in all the earth, as our verse for this week testifies: “The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 1:30).

We are witnessing God’s hand in action as He continues to protect His chosen people. We as a nation will do well to continue to be a friend to Israel, as this historical friendship puts us as a nation on the side of the God of the Bible.