Messianic Testimony

My Glory among the Nations

Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? (Isaiah 66:8)

For two thousand years we have waited for this hour, and now it has happened. When the time has come, nothing can withstand God. The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish nation; here were formed its spiritual, religious and national identity. Here it became a state and created a culture of national and universal importance. Here it wrote the Bible and gave it to the world. (David Ben Gurion)

In 1947 David Ben Gurion played an important part in the restoration of the State of Israel. He proclaimed a Jewish state after a lapse of twenty centuries and was the head of the first government. In an interview he said: 'I desire that Israel should be an example to other nations of love, liberty and devotion. I long to see Israel become that which the prophet Jeremiah said: A light for the nations.'

When asked what part the Bible had in the rebirth of Israel, Ben Gurion's reply was: 'Without the Bible we would not have been able to do anything. The Bible told us that we should go back to the land of our fathers; we went back. The Bible assured us that we should rebuild and re-create this land; we are doing this with might and main, and we shall succeed. The Bible says that we should cultivate the land; we are already doing that, and we are getting extensive woods and meadows and farming areas.'

Although not formally recognised as a State until May 1948, Jewish people had begun to return to the land many years earlier. Aliyah meaning 'ascension' or 'going up' is the Hebrew term given to those Jews who arrive as individuals or groups from exile. Those who 'go up' are known as 'olim' - a term used in the Bible when the children of Israel went up from Egypt (Genesis 50:14; Numbers 32:11) and also for the exiles who returned from Babylon (Ezra 2:1). The call of Cyrus, King of Persia, in 538 BC - Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem ... (Ezra 1:3; 2 Chronicles 36:23) - has been used as a watchword for aliyah.

In 1777 three Russian Rabbis accompanied by three hundred of their students returned to the land of Israel. They established a Jewish community in what is now Safed but were harassed by the Ottoman Turks and eventually moved to Tiberius.

1881 was an important year for Jewish history as ideas relating to Jewish statehood became more prevalent. Jewish refugees were fleeing persecution in Russia and returning to Israel from 1882 to 1903. They were predominantly idealists who began to set up colonies, reclaim land and build roads. It was mainly due to their hard work that later settlers could return to a land which was healthy and habitable. This was prophesied by Ezekiel: The ruins shall be rebuilt. . . . So they will say: 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden' (Ezekiel 36:33-36).

One notable town, Rishon LeZion, was founded on 31 July 1882 by a group of ten pioneers from the Ukraine. The group purchased 835 acres of land southeast of present-day Tel Aviv, near the Arab village of Ayun Kara. Its name, derived from Isaiah 41:27, literally means, 'First to Zion'. Rishon LeZion was the second settlement in the land, then known as Palestine, the first being Petah Tikva, which was deserted and then re-established.

By 1900 the Jewish population in Israel was 50,000. In 1927 there were 150,000 and by 1948 there were 650,000 people from some seventy lands. Between 1882 and 1939 there were five major periods of Aliyah. From 1939 to 1948 there was a period of illegal immigration known as Aliyah Bet. This was because of the restrictions placed on Jewish return by the British government. Despite British efforts to curb the illegal immigration, in fourteen years 110,000 Jews immigrated to Israel. In 1945 reports of the Holocaust with its 6 million Jewish dead caused many Jews in Israel to turn openly against the British Mandate, and illegal immigration escalated rapidly as many Holocaust survivors joined the Aliyah.

After Israel became the Jewish national homeland Jewish immigration did not cease. Many Jews came to the land fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe and Arab lands. Israel now has residents from all the nations of the world including Africa, China, and India bringing a diversity of customs and culture.

Several notable returns took place in the years after 1948. One of these was Operation Magic Carpet (1949-50). In the southernmost part of Arabia the Yemen Jews lived in complete isolation. When they heard that the State of Israel had been set up they too were determined to return 'home'. The entire community (about 49,000) emigrated to Israel. For them to return by land or sea was impracticable so, despite the fact that most had never seen an aeroplane, they were flown to Israel. They believed the Bible when God said: I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you to myself (Exodus 19:4). British and American planes made some 380 flights from Aden in a secret operation which was not made public until several months later.

A similar event took place in 1984 when Ethiopian Jews were secretly removed from Sudan during a famine. Between November 1984 and January 1985, 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel. Once the story broke in the media, Arab countries pressured Sudan to stop the airlift. Some 1,000 Ethiopian Jews were left behind. Most of them were evacuated later in Operation Joshua. More than 1,000 so-called 'orphans of circumstance' existed in Israel, children separated from their families still in Africa, until Operation Solomon completed the migration of the Ethiopian Jews in 1991. In thirty-six hours, non-stop flights of thirty-four Israeli aircraft transported 14,500 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Operation Solomon airlifted twice as many Ethiopian Jews to Israel as Operation Moses and Operation Joshua combined. The operation set a world record for single-flight passenger load on 24 May 1991 when an El Al 747 carried 1,122 passengers to Israel (1,087 passengers were registered, but dozens of children hid in their mothers' robes). 'Planners expected to fill the aircraft with 760 passengers. Because the passengers were so slight, many more were squeezed in. Two babies were born during the flight.'

Jeremiah 31:8 says: See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labour; a great throng will return.

Despite the numbers returning to Israel it is still only a very small land with a tiny percentage (less than 1%) of the world's population. Nevertheless, Israel has produced 10% of the Nobel prize winners and excels in many other fields. Since the mid-nineteenth century, 25% of the world's scientists have been Jews and they have contributed greatly to medical advances, such as Insulin, the polio vaccine, vitamins and many more.

Israel is a miraculous land and has an amazing history but she also has a remarkable people. She is one of the youngest (in political terms) and smallest countries in the world yet she has a larger economy than all her immediate neighbours combined and the highest ratio of university degrees to population in the world.

All this adds up to a wonderful nation but Israel and the Jewish people can attribute their success to their awesome God. He has bestowed his undeserved favour upon them simply because they are his Chosen People. It was all promised right at the beginning when God said to Abraham: In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

The greatest blessing of course must be Jesus, the Jewish Messiah who has provided the whole world with the opportunity to receive salvation. In 1950, The Law of Return allowed Jewish people the right to migrate to and settle in Israel and gain citizenship. However, in 1989, the Israeli Supreme Court decided that Messianic Jews were not eligible to return under this legislation. God, however, has been working in the land itself and the number of messianic Jews in Israel has quadrupled in the last few years so that there are now over 15,000 believers in Jesus the Messiah in Israel. Our aspiration and ministry is to tell Jewish people, wherever they are, about their Messiah that they too may enter in to his great salvation.