 May 2008 saw the diamond anniversary of the birth of the modern state of Israel - against all the odds that have been heavily stacked against her, Israel has in the sovereign purposes of God reached the big 60! By any stretch of the imagination, truly, a remarkable feat. A cause for celebration? Most certainly. By the way, that's a resoundingly emphatic, shout it from the rooftops, yes!
Students of history (i.e. those with no blinkered agenda) acknowledge that her survival as a nation is simply unbelievable; within hours of the shofar being sounded at the end of the British Mandate, the storm clouds gathered. A dark (almost palpable) veil of oppression descended over the ancient people of God - it was crystal clear to many seasoned observers that Israel had more enemies than she had friends in the region.
From those very early days in the late 1940s and the War of Independence when the enemy swooped on her from every angle, to the well-documented 1956 Sinai Campaign, through to the famous victory of the 1967 Six Day War, then the highly acclaimed successes gleaned from the Yom Kippur conflict in the early 70s, the scars of battle are many ... that said, it is also worth noting that the daring exploits and selfless heroics of the men who fought valiantly are legendary - sometimes even glamorised in book or film.
Even in recent times we have seen Hezbollah raining down rockets on defenceless homes; we have watched, with alarm, the infamous Uprising or Intifada causing horrendous destruction to one community after another - and, at the same time, their vicious campaign of terror has claimed scores of innocent lives in scenes of bloody carnage. What amazes me is this, the people get up and keep going. Theirs is a dogged and, possibly, defiant determination - a tough resilience.
It seems to me, therefore, that the history of Israel is a miracle ... by the same token, I also believe that Israel is a miracle of history. Behind her is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the God of the Patriarchs, the God of the Covenant, a God of unimpeachable integrity. The post-exilic prophet, Zechariah, declares that this same God has an extra special place in his heart for the Jewish people and nation, for we read in 2:8 that 'he who touches Israel touches the apple of [his] eye.'
A story is told of the prime minister of Israel exchanging visits with the president of the United States. On the president's desk in the Oval Office were three telephones-one red, one white, and one blue. When the inquisitive prime minister enquired about them, the president replied that the red one was a direct line to Mr Putin in Moscow; the blue one, a direct line to Gordon Brown in London; and the white one, a direct line to God. Asked if he used the white one often, the president replied that he used it rarely since calls to God were long-distance and therefore expensive.
The Israeli prime minister quipped that he also had three such telephones. The red one was a hotline to Paris; the blue one, to London; and the white one went directly to God. The president asked him if he used the white one often.
'Sometimes a number of times each day,' the prime minister replied. Surprised, the president asked how the Israeli government could handle such a large telephone bill.
'It really is not that expensive to call God,' the prime minister said. 'In Jerusalem, it's a local call.'
A tongue-in-cheek story but the point is well made.
Jerusalem is a golden city - a city with an amazing past, an exciting present, and a remarkable future.
Even though Jerusalem has been shifted at times off the centre stage of history, it always seems to return there as the mega concern of the nations-I reckon we're in one of those time slots today. That's why, even on this diamond anniversary, we need to take seriously the exhortation from the psalmist David, to 'pray for the peace of Jerusalem' (122:6).
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