The God Who Proves Himself Faithful

It’s a weighty claim, yet it rests firmly on the bedrock of the promises of Scripture. The chronicles of the Jewish people, the rebirth of the State of Israel, its survival into current days and its future hope stand as a narrative richly woven from the strands of prophecies fulfilled. Much like a golden thread lacing through the Old Testament, the Hebrew prophets presented a list of specific events for the Jewish people, set to occur thousands of years in the future. It’s as if God drew back the curtain to allow Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and their counterparts a glimpse of the events connected to the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob destined to occur in the ages to come. These events would stand as significant landmarks in history so that the nations would know and recognize Him as the God who declares “the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’…Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it” (Isa. 46:10–11b). 

I invite you to explore a few of these pivotal events revealed through the Old Testament prophets as we mark the signposts on God’s roadmap for Israel and her people. 

A Title-deed to the Promised Land

Our journey starts with God introducing Himself to a man who would one day be known as the father of the Jews through a series of promises. From Abraham, God would birth a people for Himself (Gen. 12:2, Deut. 7:6)—and through Abraham’s descendants, their relationship with God, their history, their prophets and their writings, God would introduce Himself to the nations. 

God also pledged the Land of Canaan from the Nile to the Euphrates to Abraham’s offspring as an inheritance (Gen. 13:14–17, 15:18), securing the gift through an unconditional covenant upheld by God not man (Gen. 26:2­–3, 17:8–9). 

God further revealed to Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt, even detailing their 400-year period of affliction (Gen. 15:13), followed by His pledge of judgment on the Egyptians, and Israel’s deliverance from Egypt four generations later with great wealth (Gen. 15:14). Both of these promises were fulfilled to the last detail. 

To the Four Corners of the Earth

Forty years after leaving Egypt, the nation of former slaves stood on the edge of the Promised Land, about to enter. Yet before handing over the reins of leadership to Joshua, Moses prophesied of rebellion and idol worship (Deut. 32:15–21), offenses that carried a penalty God described in Deuteronomy 28:64: “Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other…” 

Tragically, Israel’s history is marked by a cycle of spiritual unfaithfulness, chastisement, repentance and restoration, spanning from Israel’s entry into the Land until before Israel’s rebirth.   

Amos (5:27, 6:14 and 7:17) prophesied that the northern kingdom of Israel would be taken into exile, a prophecy fulfilled when Assyria conquered Israel and scattered its people. Then came the pledge of exile for the southern kingdom of Judah (Jer. 16:13, 21:10), which was fulfilled when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple (in accordance with God’s warning to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:19–22). 

Yet God remained faithful, using Persian King Cyrus as an instrument to return a remnant (Isa. 6:11–13, 48:20 and Ezra 1) to the Land. The cycle continued as Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed a second time (Dan. 9:26, Matt. 24:2, Luke 19:43–44). The Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the earth (Lev. 26:33–34, Ezek. 12:15), where they would suffer persecution and oppression among the Gentiles (Lev. 26:36–39), fulfilled through centuries of suffering.

From the Four Corners of the Earth

For over 2,000 years, the Jewish people clung to the conviction that He who scattered them would also return them to their ancestral home. Their belief was based on more than hope. Sprinkled throughout the Old Testament are over 60 instances when God promises to bring back the descendants of Abraham to the Land He pledged as an inheritance through an unconditional covenant (for instance Isa. 11:11–12, Ezek. 11:17 36:24, Zech. 10:9–10). 

The dawn of their homecoming began in the late 19th century when the Jewish people began returning—not from one specific location, but from “the four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:12). 

God not only vowed to gather the scattered, but also promised Israel’s rebirth in a marvelous way: “Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?” (Isa. 66:8b). God’s appointed time fell on May 14, 1948. And true to God’s word, it happened in a single day. The footnote for Isaiah 66:8 in the Amplified Bible underscores the magnitude of this event, “Never in the history of the world had such a thing happened before—but God keeps His word.” 

Home to Stay

Psalm 121:4 introduces God as the Keeper of Israel. Despite her enemies’ best efforts, the Jewish people belong to one of the only nations to have survived since biblical times. From one generation to the next, Israel is kept. 

True to His word, the Keeper of Israel vowed to remain the shield of the Jewish people after their return to the Land (Zech. 12). The modern state was but a day old when the combined force of five Arab armies attacked. As war erupted, Israel had no planes, tanks, heavy machine guns, artillery or armored vehicles—and faced an international arms embargo. The vastly outnumbered ragtag Jewish army did not stand a chance against the well-equipped and trained Arab military force, yet God proved faithful. He had brought the Jewish people back to their Land for good (Joel 3:20, Amos 9:14-15) and no power would dislodge them. Israel was home to stay.    

“Against all odds” appears to be God’s modus operandi for Israel’s defense. On the eve of the 1967 Six Day War, Israel’s outlook was so grim that public parks were readied as mass burial sites. Six days later, the world stood stunned. Military experts could not explain Israel’s against-all-odds victory. But Moshe Dayan, Israel’s Defense Minister, knew. The morning after the war was won, Dayan tucked a note inscribed with Psalm 118:23 into the Western Wall, “This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” 

Israel holds 0.2% of the Middle East. It’s surrounded by 22 hostile Arab nations 640 times her size and 60 times her population. What is the secret to Israel’s miraculous survival? “For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob” (Mal. 3:6). God is the Keeper of Israel; therefore, Israel is kept. 

The Language of Their Fathers

The sages say the Almighty used Hebrew to speak the world into existence. It is also the tongue in which Joseph revealed himself to his brothers; Moses received God’s instructions; Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land; Samuel admonished Saul; Boaz courted Ruth; and David penned his psalms. Yet the Babylonian exile marked the disappearance of the spoken language from everyday use, confining it to liturgical and scholarly settings. 

Throughout the course of humanity, languages have come and gone. Once lost, a language was considered dead or relegated to academic archives. Never before has a dead language been taken from the shelf of history and brought back to life. But Hebrew isn’t just another language. 

Today, more than nine million people speak Hebrew. That’s nine million voices echoing the faithfulness of Israel’s Promise Maker. What He says, goes. 

From Desolation to Abundance

Following his travels through the Ottoman-controlled Middle East in 1867, author Mark Twain bemoaned the state of the Promised Land as a bleak wasteland boasting nothing but “unpeopled deserts” and “rusty mounds of barrenness.” 

I wonder how Twain would describe Israel today. Would he speak of the lush produce, the wonders of drip irrigation systems and greenhouse technology? Would he stand in awe of the once mournful expanse, the barrenness now abuzz with cities and communities? The land Twain described is so far removed from Israel today that one might wonder what became of the land in which even the hardiest shrub loathed to flourish. 

The answer is simple. God promised that when the Jewish people came home to Israel, He would “make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord” (Isa. 51:3b). The land that lay desolate would “blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isa. 27:6b). Amos 9 and Ezekiel 36 speak of vineyards, gardens and the produce thereof. The list goes on.  

Historians refer to the Promised Land as an “agricultural miracle.” Miraculous, yes, but ultimately the proof of a faithful God fulfilling His promises—lavishly, abundantly and in full.