Only One Nation, 2

~ On This 66th Anniversary of the Modern State of Israel ~

This post is about a few major events regarding the survival of the tiny nation of Israel.  It is sequenced in reverse chronological order.

Today’s Troubled Middle East  ~  Almost everyone alive today is well aware of the seemingly perilous position the tiny nation of Israel finds itself.  It is surrounded by much larger and seemingly more powerful nations such as Iraq, which is developing nuclear weapons at an alarming pace and has an avowed objective of wiping Israel off the map.  Meanwhile Israel’s historically most powerful ally—the United States—has been reducing its military capability and sending multiple signals that its historically strong support for Israel could by lessening. 

The Six-Day War  ~  During June 5-10, 1967, the Six-Day War occurred between tiny Israel and surrounding larger Arab nations (Egypt—then UAR, Jordan, and Syria).  Wikipedia summarizes it this way, “Within six days, Israel had won a decisive land war. Israeli forces had taken control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.”

The Re-establishment of Israel  ~  The nation of Israel was officially re-established in their homeland—fulfilling Biblical prophecy—on May 14, 1948.  As a result, the Arab-Israeli War erupted and the tiny nation of Israel defeated a military coalition of surrounding Arab nations. 

The Historical Record  ~  “In all history, going back to the time when God created man upon the earth, search from one end of the heavens to the other to see if you can find anything like this: an entire nation heard the voice of God speaking to it from fire, as you did, and lived!  Where else will you ever find another example of God’s removing a nation from its slavery by sending terrible plagues, mighty miracles, war, and terror?  Yet that is what the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, right before your very eyes.  He did these things so you would realize that Jehovah is God, and that there is no one else like him.  He let you hear His voice instructing you from heaven, and He let you see His great pillar of fire upon the earth; you even heard His words from the center of the fire.  It was because He loved your ancestors and chose to bless their descendants that He personally brought you out from Egypt with a great display of power.  He drove away other nations greater by far than you and gave you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.  This is your wonderful thought for the day: Jehovah is God both in heaven and down here upon the earth; and there is no God other than Him!  You must obey these laws that I will tell you today, so that all will be well with you and your children, and so that you will live forever in the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 4:32-40, TLB).

“For you are a holy people, dedicated to the Lord your God.  He has chosen you from all the people on the face of the whole earth to be His own chosen ones.  He didn’t choose you and pour out His love upon you because you were a larger nation than any other, for you were the smallest of all!  It was just because He loves you, and because He kept His promise to your ancestors.  That is why He brought you out of slavery in Egypt with such amazing power and mighty miracles” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8, TLB).

Important Note  ~  The fact that God has a chosen nation does not give them an advantage regarding salvation.  Israelites are individually responsible for coming to God by faith in the shed blood of The Messiah just as Gentiles are (i.e., Hebrews 11).

A related Abundant Life Post, “Only One Nation,” was posted on April 11, 2013. 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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