• Photograph from Light Magazine on Prophecy cover.
• A great king of ancient Babylon saw in a dream a huge statue made of different metals with a head of gold. The dream was interpreted for him by the young Jewish prophet Daniel.
• In the background: A replica of Babylon's famous Ishtar Gate.
• Image from Felix Friebe/ istock

Bible Prophecy - Israel in Prophecy

Based on the "Light on Bible Prophecy" special issue.

Part 1:Introduction, part 2:Iran (Persia), part 3:Greece, part 4:Rome, part 5 (this article):Israel, part 6:The coming world conflict and you.

Modern Israel is a small state like many others, rich in history and with a flourishing economy. As a tourist destination it has much to offer and its capital city, Jerusalem (see picture) welcomes millions of visitors each year. But there is something unique about Israel and its people the Jews.

Israel is the most important nation in the Bible. The Lord Jesus, who was a Jew by birth, said "salvation is of the Jews" (see John 4:22). Most of the outstanding Bible characters such as Abraham, known as the "father of the faithful" (see Romans 4:16) and king David, described as the "man after God's own heart" (see Acts 13:22) were also Jews. Israel is the nation through whom God chose to reveal His plan of salvation for the human race.

• Modern Jerusalem in Israel with the Dome on the Rock a prime religious site
• Picture by John Theodore/shutterstock

The origin of Israel

In view of Israel's importance in the Bible, it is not surprising that there are many prophecies about the Jews. Israel's national history was marked out in advance, in a way no other nation can begin to rival.

Abraham was the ancestor of the Jewish race. Because of his faith, promises were made to Abraham which indicated that he would father a nation through whom all nations would be blessed (see Genesis 12:2-3; Galatians 3:8) He was told that his descendants would grow in number and flourish despite being enslaved for many years in Egypt. Afterwards with God's help they left Egypt for the land promised to Abraham called Canaan (an old name for Palestine or Israel – see Genesis 15:13-21). This period of their history is known as the Exodus.

After the Exodus from Egypt, God confirmed His choice of the children of Israel as His special people (see Exodus 19:1-8). Not only were they given a uniquely moral and just set of laws and a system of religious worship, but also through their leader Moses, more prophecies were given about their future. The Israelites were offered great incentives for obedience to God and the threat of dire punishment for disobedience (see Leviticus 26: 3-39; Deuteronomy 28:1-68; 31:24-29).

In fulfilment of such prophecies, the whole history of the nation of Israel is a story of blessing and cursing – of high points and extreme low points, depending on whether they obeyed or disobeyed their divine calling. During their wanderings in the Sinai desert, prior to occupying the land of Canaan, the great majority perished due to their lack of faith. On the other hand, it was those wanderings that produced a new generation, including men like Joshua, who obeyed the voice of God and showed great discipline and faith in the face of their enemies during the conquest of the land of Canaan.

• The Kingdom in the reign of Solomon
• Picture from www.keyway.ca

The kingdom of Israel

The period of the Judges followed and then Israel became a kingdom, just as Moses had prophesied (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). David was a man of great faith, and he was the ancestor of a line of kings through whom it was prophesied that the Messiah would come. Messiah (Hebrew) = Christos (Greek) and means 'anointed' (see 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 89:34-37). Eventually the kingdom became so corrupt that it was brought to an end as foretold by the divinely inspired prophets of Israel. After the death of King Solomon, the kingdom (see map on left) was divided into two parts – the northern kingdom of Israel with its capital in Samaria and the southern kingdom of Judah with its capital in Jerusalem. The northern kingdom was attacked by the Assyrians, and the Jews were taken into captivity in 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah lasted a little longer and the Babylonians took the Jews as captives to Babylon in 586 BC for seventy years. When they returned (see the books of Ezra and Nehemiah) the Jews remained subject to a succession of conquerors: the Persians, Greeks and Romans right up to and including the time of Christ. Above: the candlestick from the temple being carried off from Jerusalem – detail from the Arch of Titus in Rome, below.

• The candlestick from the temple being carried off from Jerusalem.
• Picture from Unocad SRL

• Detail from the Arch of Titus in Rome.
• Picture from Carole Raddato CC BY-SA 2.0

A nation scattered

But it was the Jews' rejection of Jesus Christ (their Messiah or anointed king) that finally brought about the scattering of the nation and the destruction of Jerusalem and its splendid temple by the Romans. Jesus himself foretold this in the Mount Olivet prophecy found in three of the Gospel accounts (Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-7, 20-24). In Luke's account, Jesus also said that one day the Jews would again recover control of Jerusalem, a development which only took place as recently as 1967, so this prophecy about Jerusalem took around 1,900 years to be fulfilled! (Luke 21:24)

However, the prophets of Israel had long before these events, foretold the scattering and later regathering of Israel (Isaiah 52:1-10; Jeremiah 30:3,11; 31:4-14; Ezekiel 36:24; 37:1-14). Even before Israel was a kingdom, the words of God through Moses, in Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy chapter 28, had foretold in detail the suffering and persecution that Israel would afterwards endure in the periods of exile from their land.

Despite being persecuted like no other nation (including six million Jews killed by the Nazis during the Second World War), the Jews have survived because they are God's chosen people and for the sake of God's covenant made with their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Jeremiah 30:10-11; Romans 11:25-32).

A nation regathered

By the 19th century, Palestine had for many centuries been part of the Ottoman Empire and had become mainly a desolate wilderness. The Ottoman Turks were certainly not in favour of any mass immigration of Jews back to Palestine, even if it were able to accommodate the millions of Jews scattered across the globe.

The majority of Jews were in Europe and North America, and many enjoyed a level of prosperity that was hardly likely to motivate them to leave their homes and businesses for the hardships of the deserts of southern Palestine or the malarial swamps of Galilee. Yet Bible prophecy demanded that the Jews must return to their land.

Because of the anti-Semitism he had witnessed, Theodor Herzl, an Austrian Jew, wrote a book in the 1890's calling for the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. The idea was taken up by prominent Jews and the World Zionist Organisation was created, resulting in small numbers of Jews returning to the land. In 1917, during the First World War, the British armies drove the Turks out of Palestine. As part of the peace settlement, the British government was given the Mandate over Palestine and stated that they "viewed with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" (the Balfour Declaration 1917).

Subsequent British governments failed to fulfil this promise in the face of fierce Arab opposition, and eventually on 15th May 1948 gave up the Mandate to the United Nations. The Jews in Palestine, now numbering about 600,000, declared themselves an independent State and were recognised by the United Nations.

• The modern State of Israel map
• Picture from travelblog.org

• The growth in the population of Israel since 1948
• Picture public domain

Despite being attacked by the armies of the surrounding Arab nations, the newly-formed State of Israel miraculously survived. It immediately opened its doors to the persecuted Jewish refugees of Europe and to Jews from all over the world. Since then, out of a total world-wide estimated population of 15.7 million the Jewish population of Israel has grown to about 9.9 million at the end of 2024 (Source: wikipedia.org)

Israel today

So it was that, despite being driven from their homeland, persecuted like no other nation and separated from their land for many centuries, the Jews retained their identity. Israel has not only survived but has also revived and become established as a nation-state. All this demonstrates the hand of God at work to fulfil the many prophecies in His Word about the restoration of His people.

The prophet Ezekiel was shown in vision a valley full of dry bones and told:

"these bones are the whole house of Israel" (see graphic image below). But God predicted a national resurrection:

"Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel ... Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land."

• Ezekiel 37:12, 21

• The national resurrection of the people of Israel seen by Ezekiel in chapter 37
• Image by Light Magazine

For the second time in their long history the Jews have returned to their land, in fulfilment of the words of their ancient prophets 2,600 years ago. The Scriptures reveal that the most important event is yet to happen – they will return to their God. Very few Jews living in Israel today believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, although central to Judaism is the belief that Messiah is yet to come. A return to their God must involve acceptance of Jesus Christ, the heir to David's throne in Jerusalem (see Luke 1:26-33). Many OT prophecies about Israel foretell the future restoration of their kingdom (see for example Psalm 2; Psalm 72; Isaiah 9:1-7; 11:1-12; Micah 4:1-8; Zechariah 12:1-10).

The future for Israel

How then is Israel to be brought to accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah?

Again, prophecy provides the answer (see Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39; Joel chapter 3; Zechariah chapter 14). These passages combine to give a picture of a devastating future attack on Israel, which the Bible describes as "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7). This conflict will follow a period of peace and prosperity (Ezekiel 38:10-13) and will shatter their State and leave them with only part of the city of Jerusalem under their control, but in a state of siege (Zechariah 14:1-2). It is at this time of crisis, when Israel seems to face certain destruction, that divine intervention will take place.

Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, will come and vanquish the enemies of Israel and reveal himself to them. What better opportunity could there be to win Israel over to Christ than for him to effect the complete overthrow of Israel's enemies and persecutors? They will then recognise Jesus as their Messiah, as foretold by the prophet Zechariah:

"...they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son..."

• Zechariah 12:10

Then the promised Kingdom of God on earth will become a reality and with it will come the blessings for all nations as promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3; Galatians 3:8). This is the hope of every true Christian. This is what Jesus meant when he said:

"Salvation is of the Jews."

How this will come about is the subject of the next section .