God Has Established A Testimony In Israel

“...telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done.
For he established a testimony in Jacob..."
Psalm 78:4-5

"...he established a testimony in Jacob..."

Jacob is Israel:

"And God said to him, 'Your name is Jacob;
your name shall not be called Jacob anymore,
but ISRAEL shall be your name.'
So he called his name ISRAEL. "
Genesis 35:10

If ever I had doubts in my faith, the Israel story would be enough to make me believe, because it is miraculous from beginning to end and continues as such to this day. God has set the Israel story as a testimony, INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE DEMONSTRATING THE CREDIBILITY OF GOD.

When peoples are conquered by another nation, those peoples are assimilated into the conquering nation and after a few generations no more will be heard about them. When was the last time you heard about the Amorites or the Perizzites, or the Jebusites? These have all disappeared from history because they were conquered by others and then assimilated into the conquering countries. I am of French descent, but there is nothing of France left in me. I don't speak French and I have no desire to go to France. The French among us in America, as well as the descendants of most other countries, by the third or fourth generation have all been assimilated into America. By the fourth generation, usually there's no more resemblance or affiliation with the country of their forefathers' origins. They lose the language, and they lose the culture as they become assimilated.

But that's not so with Israel. In 70 AD Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome and the survivors were taken captive and dispersed throughout the world. There is no country on earth where there aren't Jews, so great was the dispersion. There are Spanish Jews, French Jews, African Jews, Indian Jews, South American Jews, even Chinese and Japanese Jews. They were disbursed everywhere, and there they remained for more than 2,000 years. For more than two THOUSAND years! The fact that they remained a people in spite of their dispersion can only be accredited to the God of Israel who scattered them among the nations in judgment for their rebellion against him.

“So I scattered them among the nations,
and they were dispersed throughout the countries;
I judged them according to their ways and their deeds."
Ezekiel 36:19

During the time of their dispersion, the land of Israel laid desolate. It dried up. An interesting well-documented phenomenon is that it didn't rain during the time the Jews weren't there. Several empires took over the Middle East; in Jesus's time it was under the Roman Empire; in the 20th century it was under the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Regardless which empire ruled the Middle East, none was able to make the land of Israel flourish, due to the lack of rain. Samuel Clemons, known also as Mark Twain, visited the area in the 1860's. He described a desolate country – devoid of both vegetation and human population:

“…a silent mournful expanse… a desolation…
We never saw a human being on the whole route…
hardly a tree or shrub anywhere.
Even the olive tree and the cactus,
those fast friends of a worthless soil,
had almost deserted the country.”
-from "Innocents Abroad," by Mark Twain

The God of Israel spoke through the prophets of old that his people Israel would be scattered for a very long time, scattered throughout the nations, but that he would bring them back to the land of their fathers "in the last days." Think of it: how could the Perizzites or the Amorites be regathered today? They were the contemporaries of Israel from its beginning. To think of the Girgashites being brought back - well that would be impossible because they don't exist as a people anymore. But although Israel was scattered throughout the world, the God of Israel has brought them back to the very place they left 2,000 years ago, that tiny sliver of land, a dot on the map of the Middle East, surrounded by Arab countries who hate her.

They are back speaking the same language which was all but lost during the diaspora, and the number of them is now more than seven million Jews in the land of their fathers. The north was swampland, infested with malaria, the south was desert. But today the rains have returned and Israel has blossomed, producing the best of fruits and vegetables in all the world - even exporting tulips to Holland!

Bible teachers a hundred years ago didn't know what to do with the many prophecies concerning the return of the Jews to the land of their fathers. The Jews were scattered far and wide and that desolate land was surrounded by Muslim countries, so the old Bible teachers concluded that those passages of restoration must be allegorical because a literal fulfillment would be impossible.

Well God has done the impossible. He has fulfilled his Word literally. The rebirth of the nation of Israel took place on May 14, 1948, "a nation born in a day," as foretold. Today they are back, more than 7 million strong and that number is growing daily as Jews from all over the world stream back to their ancient land.

In ancient times Pharaoh tried to destroy the Jews by having all the baby boys slaughtered. In Jesus's generation Herod tried destroying the Jews by having all the baby boys slaughtered. Haman tried to destroy the Jews, the Inquisitions tried to destroy the Jews, Hitler tried to destroy the Jews, and today Islam is trying to destroy the Jews. The world wants to destroy the Jews. The story of Israel has always been a David vs Goliath story. But none of these "giants" were able - because the God of Israel has restored them and their existence is absolutely guaranteed - no matter what Satan tries to assault them with.

The ancient prophecies concerning the restoration of Israel all give the timing: the prophecies said it will happen "in the last days" - and that's where we are today. The re-establishment of Israel is God's signal that we are in the last days. The blood moons and solar eclipses have born witness, signposts meant to inform us that we are approaching the end.

Terrible times are coming as Satan, "knowing his time is short," will bring upon this generation his greatest effort ever to destroy not only Israel but all believers in the God of Israel, both Jew and Christian. This explains all of the above, and this explains Islam, which is Satan's great "last days" program of destruction of both Jew and Christian. Great devastation and terrible times are coming as we march forward into the fulfillment of all that has been prophesied about these days.

God has "established a testimony in Jacob" - in order to make himself known to all who will believe. The Israel story which began in Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, will end in the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, and that is almost upon us. Surrender yourself and your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, Israel's coming Messiah, or you will be swallowed up in the terrible things soon to come. Jesus Christ said that those who are his are "not appointed to wrath." He will remove the church before the Apocalypse, the Great Tribulation, plays out upon the earth. Turn to him for safety, turn to him for salvation. Don't be left behind.

More on God's covenant with Israel:
Israel's Covenant