Israel's existence is a prophetic sign of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ).
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence. So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth… Hosea 6:1-3
After two thousand years, in fact, in the middle of the third day (i.e. the third day of thousand year days), God resurrected Israel, just as after two days, He resurrected Yeshua (Jesus) the Jewish Messiah from the grave.
“With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years” (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8)
Likewise, Ezekiel chapter 37 speaks of the general resurrection of the when Yeshua Meshiach (Jesus Christ) , returns from heaven to judge the living and the dead1.
But on another level, it is speaking of the return of the Jewish people to Israel. This return is a metaphor of the return of Jesus as well as the resurrection of Jesus.
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry. Then He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones come to life?”
“O Lord GOD,” I replied, “only You know.”
And He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh grow upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath within you so that you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”
So I prophesied as I had been commanded. And as I prophesied, there was suddenly a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. As I looked on, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”
So I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet—a vast army.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, My people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’ ” Ezekiel 37:1-14
If ever the bones of the house of Israel were dried up, and their hope had perished, and they were cut off, it was after the Holocaust in World War II.
Yet God miraculously brought the nation of Israel into existence in a single day.
Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy. 8Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God Isaiah 66:7-9
I went to the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Israel in Perth, several years ago. It was a great event - but there was one thing lacking. Everyone was saying, “Haven’t we done a great thing? Haven’t we achieved a lot?” But the founding and the continuation of Israel is not due to the human ingenuity of the Israeli people, even though they truly are very clever and ingenious; it is due to the grace of God.
Every day I long to see the nation of Israel recognise their Messiah, who loves His people with an everlasting love, and who lamented over Jerusalem and wept when who told the people of Jerusalem 2000 years ago, “I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
And a truly historic thing is happening in Israel today: a group of Jewish people are saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” and they are telling other Jews about Yeshua, the Messiah; this is unheard of, since the time of the apostles, and is surely some sort of fulfilment of Paul’s prophecies in Romans 11. One for Israel is doing this: it is surely a prophetic sign, and perhaps, a warning to the Gentiles, to repent before it is too late.
I corrected a grievous error here, missed out a few words.