The Restoration of Israel

Pre-Tour Course

What is the Jewish People’s connection to the Land of Israel? What sets Israel apart from other nations? What are the Jewish roots of Christianity?  In part-1 of the Israel Impact Online Course, we will explore key moments and people who have helped shape Israel over thousands of years. Throughout Scripture, Israel is promised a last-day restoration in the land. This promise rests on the faithful character of God, that He can be trusted to carry out His promises. The Restoration of Israel studies track consists of readings from both the Old and New Testaments, giving you an increased understanding of the Jewish roots of our Christian faith, the implications of Scripture as it relates to modern Israel, and an increased connection to the Bible from a personal faith standpoint.

* This course is a joint effort of the Israel Impact Tour & Israel Answers (www.israelanswers.com).

The Jewish People and the Land of Israel

Israel, a nation as small as the state of New Jersey, occupies center stage of the world’s attention. While vilified by some circles, the Jewish State is also admired by many for a story that is unique from that of all other nations. Having defied the odds against the survival of this tiny people group—no more than 14 million worldwide—the Jewish people have built a nation that is thriving and is leading the world in many ways. Here are a few of the things that make her story not only unique but remarkable.

The Jews are a remarkable people. Consider, for instance, that they are the only people who have been violently uprooted from their homeland not once but twice, only to return to that land each time to re-establish their national sovereignty. You could search far and wide and still not find another people who have managed to do this even once, and yet the Jews have done it twice!

A Biblical Mandate

What makes the Jews all the more remarkable is that they have given us a book which tells us all this was going to happen even before it started to take place. The Bible tells the unusual story of the miraculous inception of the Jewish people some 4,000 years ago and their calling to be God’s instrument of blessing in the world. Their role was to “bless all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3) by being the vehicle of God’s redemptive plan. This calling required that they follow certain laws and practices that marked them as His and caused them to stand out as different from other peoples. This uniqueness was also dangerous and made them an easy prey of cruel leaders who sought conformity to ideologies and practices at odds with Judaism. But God promised the Jewish people would survive, and one day, would return to their God-given land.

The Bible foretold beforehand that there would be two scatterings and two returns of the Jewish people – the first from Babylon and the second from the ends of the earth.

And indeed, this has been the testimony of history. The ancient Israelites were first exiled to Babylon and began to return home some two generations later. Then the Romans forced a second Jewish dispersion out into all nations, where they wandered for nearly 2,000 years before their second return to Eretz Israel in modern times. Over the past 120 years or so, more than 3.5 million Jews have immigrated to the land of Israel from all over the world – from the north, south, east and west, in literal fulfilment of God’s promises like that in Isaiah 43:5-6.

“Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth.”

So the Bible is a truly amazing book which tells the story of a remarkable people. It is not a collection of fables and fairy tales. Rather, the Bible is the proven Word of God! And the modern-day return of Israel is proof of its reliability, as well as of God’s faithfulness to His promises and His sovereignty over the affairs of men.

A Return to Their Land

When Israel became a modern Jewish state in 1948, Arab nations expelled hundreds of thousands of Jews who had lived in their lands for millennia. Israel—a tiny nation of 600,000 Jewish people barely out of the horrific Holocaust with scant resources—welcomed a million Jewish refugees between 1948 and 1960. They arrived with barely anything since the Arab nations kept all the Jewish wealth, homes, and businesses.

Israel has subsequently absorbed many waves of immigrants throughout her short history. One such wave has been that of Ethiopian Jews beginning primarily with Operations Moses and Solomon in the 1970s and 1980s. Israel once again demonstrated its remarkable DNA. It holds the distinction as the nation that brought African peoples to freedom rather than slavery.

Israelis have adopted a special term from the Hebrew Bible to describe this process of returning to the Land. They call it Aliyah, which means “to ascend”. It was used in ancient times in reference to Jewish pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem for the three great biblical feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.

Thus, the process of making Aliyah is seen by many Jews as having spiritual meaning as well, beyond just the physical act of returning to their homeland. Many also view it as an act of teshuva (repentance) and return to God. They truly believe He is drawing them back to the land and to Himself.

Takele’s Aliyah Journey

The fate of the last Ethiopian Jews, called the Falashmura, has been some of the most fascinating chapters in modern Jewish history. After some 2700 years an ancient tribe of Israel finally returns to their homeland. But it has also been one of the most difficult chapters, and until today, their return to Israel is an Aliyah journey filled with challenges.

The story of Takele is one of many stories of Ethiopian Jews. Takele made this journey at the age of 17, and still remembers the many threats he faced coming to Israel. Like numerous other Ethiopian Jews, he set out from his village on foot along an often-used escape route through Sudan. The month-long journey was dangerous and mostly he walked at night: in a Muslim country like Sudan, Jews if captured, could be killed on the spot. Thankfully he found shelter in a refugee camp in Sudan.

After waiting for an entire year Takele finally made it to Israel. To arrive in Tel Aviv, the modern, technologically-highly advanced city, was shockingly different from his remote village in Ethiopia. Everything was different: the culture, education system, job market, not to mention the language. As a man of faith, Takele was surprised to discover not all Jews were religiously observant. And not all Jewish people were black!

Takele quickly realized he needed an education to survive this new environment, and went on to successfully complete engineering studies and then serve in the Israeli Air Force. Despite his personal success, Takele remained deeply concerned for his community, where many of the new Ethiopian immigrants were not successfully integrating into the society.

Today Takele is one of the many Ethiopian Social workers the ICEJ (International Christian Embassy Jerusalem) partners with to assist Ethiopian Jews with their absorption process.

Genia’s Story

Genia was born in Poland in 1923 and was 15 years old when the Germans invaded. She lived at the time with her mother, father, older brother and younger sister.

Her father was sadly taken to a concentration camp and never returned. Her brother fled to the forests to join the underground resistance. Her mother was sent to a forced labour camp. This left Genia to look after her little sister and the two were hidden by kind neighbors. About six months later, Genia got word her mother had died and the body was at the regional hospital.

“I travelled to the hospital to look for her and they took me to a big room where there were about 150 Jewish corpses”, she recounted recently. “I looked for my mother and finally discovered she was in a bag on a shelf. I ran home to bring new clothing and to clean and dress her, but when I returned to the hospital the room was completely empty. They told me they had buried everyone in one big grave. Until this day I have no idea where she is buried.”

Genia continued to raise her sister until the war ended and then moved to Israel in 1957. She started a family, but lost her son in one of Israel’s wars. Today, she lives in the Haifa Home for Holocaust Survivors.

Aliyah Highlights in Pictures

1882-2014

An Ancient Language Revived

Israel still holds the distinction as the only success story in world history where an ancient language achieved modern usage. The Hebrew language was preserved in sacred, written form, yet as a spoken language it had become extinct in the Diaspora. That is, until 2,000 years later when lexicographer Eliezer Ben Yehuda set out to resuscitate Hebrew in the late nineteenth century. Ben Yehuda immigrated to then-called Palestine in 1881 and lived in Jerusalem where he began his arduous task. Gabriel Birnbaum, a senior researcher at the Academy of Hebrew Language, said, “By 1914, Hebrew as a spoken language in the land of Israel was a fact.” Ben Yehuda’s legacy continues every time new immigrants of any age enroll in Israel’s free intensive Hebrew classes.

Israel and Innovations

Israel is leading the world in innovation, technology, and problem-solving. Following are just a few of the thousands of examples: IDE Technologies is recycling salt water into fresh, drinkable water; Netafim’s smart drip and micro-irrigation have improved crop production worldwide; Mobile Eye has helped reduce auto accidents; ReWalk is helping paraplegics walk; and WoundClot bandages are saving lives. These innovations have made possible 65 Israeli companies on the NASDAQ. Only the United States and Canada have more.

Tiny Israel has survived war, terror, and anti-Semitism for decades while blessing the world in the process. Her oversized achievements not only make her unique but also truly remarkable amongst the nations.

4 Facts About Israel

1 – Jews have maintained a continuous presence in the Land of Israel for more than 3,000 years – a fact that is supported by substantial archeological and historical evidence.

• There was a politically independent Jewish Kingdom from approximately 1000 BC until 586 BC – and from 165 BC until 63 BC, when the Kingdom became a client state of the Roman Empire.
• Roman emperors have long acknowledged Jewish traditions and Jerusalem’s centrality in Judaism. Augustus issued the following edict in 1 BC: “Jews shall use their own customs in accordance with their ancestral law…and their sacred offerings shall be inviolable and shall be sent to Jerusalem; and they shall not [be required to appear] in court on the Sabbath.”
• Jews got their name from their land of origin, Judea. It was not until the Romans expelled many Jews from Israel in 135 AD that they renamed the area Palestine in an attempt to de-Judaize it.
• There is extensive documentation of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.

2 – Jerusalem has been the Jewish people’s capital for more than three millennia.

• There are nearly 700 mentions of Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible.
• More than a hundred generations of dispersed Jews prayed three times a day to return to Jerusalem.

3 – The sacred texts of both Christianity and Islam confirm the Jewish people’s connection to the Land of Israel.

• The New Testament confirms the Jewish connection to the land in St. Stephen’s sermon in Act 7 and in Hebrews 11.
• “…and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.” (Acts 7:3-4)
• “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.” (Hebrews 11:8-9)
• The Koran refers frequently to Jews and identifies them with Israel and the Promised Land.
• “And thereafter We said to the Children of Israel: ‘Dwell securely in the Promised Land.” (Sura 17:104 The Night Journey).
• The Koran describes Solomon’s construction of the First Temple (Sura 34:13) and recounts the destruction of the First and Second Temples (Sura 17:7).

4 – Jews have been a majority in Jerusalem for the last 150 years.

• The Jewish population was decimated by the Crusaders in the 12th century AD, but it eventually rebounded. By the 1880s, when the Ottoman Empire ruled the city, Jews once again became the largest religious group in Jerusalem. At that time, there were 9,000 Jews and 7,000 Arabs living in the city.

Source:  https://www.israelanswers.com/israel/your-questions-answered

Significance of Israel to Christians

The Abrahamic Covenant

The return of the Jewish people to the Land of Canaan – their everlasting possession – is in fulfillment of the promises God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. The Abrahamic Covenant has greatly influenced the course of human history, as it was the watershed moment in God’s decision to save the world from sin (Galatians 3:8). It is affirmed as an everlasting covenant throughout the Bible (Genesis 17:7-8; Psalm 105:9-12), and the Apostle Paul confirmed that it could never be annulled (Galatians 3:17). Most theologians agree that the covenant was unconditional, although some believe it was conditional upon Abraham showing his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:15-18) – an act that Abraham fulfilled completely.

Why is the Land Important?

The God of the Bible is the God of the whole earth. Yet, His promise of this one little piece of land to one family – the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and then Jacob – is confirmed and repeated in the scriptures 46 times. Clearly, this attention affirms the importance of the land in God’s purposes. Land is a necessary element for forming a nation, and here it provided an essential foundation for the children of Israel to grow in numbers and build a national identity with national institutions.

The land also provided a stage on which the Almighty God carried out his plan of world redemption. Since the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29), and Israel would never cease to be a nation before Him (Jeremiah 31:36), their possession of this land is also everlasting (Genesis 17:8). Indeed, God’s faithfulness to this Covenant is held up before discouraged believers in the Book of Hebrews as proof that He will be faithful to the promises made to them in the New Covenant (Hebrews 6:13-20).

The Jewishness of Jesus

The focal point of our Christian faith is Jesus Christ Himself. Although His teachings were radical to the religious leaders of His time, Jesus was not an anomaly—i.e. His life was not contrary to the general rule of His culture. The crucible from which He emerged was a Jewish one; he was born to Jewish parents, he was raised as an observant Jew following all the law and traditions, and He later lived as a Jewish religious teacher—a Rabbi—with many followers. To fully understand the depth and scope of what Jesus taught and who He was and is, we need to examine Him in the Jewish context into which He was born and the community in which He lived, taught and performed miracles.

Jesus was born into a Jewish family, followed Jewish tradition and lived and taught as a faithful Torah-observant Jew. He never intended to abrogate the Law, and made that clear in Matthew 5:17, 18: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass away from the law till all is fulfilled.”

Christianity: Birthed from Judaism

The early Church did not embrace an identity apart from Judaism. The twelve apostles, followers of Jesus, the Rabbi from Nazareth, were known as the sect of the Nazarenes. (Acts 24:5) Tertullas, when accusing Paul before Governor Felix, called him a “ringleader of the Nazarene sect.” It was viewed at that time as one of the more than twenty sects that existed within first-century Judaism.

Paul and other leaders observed the Jewish rituals, taught in the synagogues, honored the Sabbath and the feasts. They continued to bring offerings to the Temple and took Nazarite vows. Nowhere does Scripture suggest that the disciples intended to break from Judaism, or lose their Jewish identity. The Gospel was to be preached to the Jew first, then to the Greek. Gentiles were invited to be partakers of the covenant relationship. It was only later, in Antioch in 42CE, that the term “Christian” was first used to refer to the followers of Jesus. (Acts 11:26)

We are Indebted to the Jews

Addressing the Samaritan woman in John 4:22 Jesus declares, “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” It was the Israelites “to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternal blessed God.” (Romans 9:4,5)

God declared in Genesis 12:3 that through Abraham all the nations of earth would be blessed. Indeed, the Jews have been a blessing to the world. It is through Abraham and his descendents, the Jews, that we have the patriarchs, the prophets, the Scriptures, the promises and the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

“. . . [R]emember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” (Eph. 12:12,13) [It is this:] that the Gentiles are now to be fellow heirs [with the Jews], members of the same body and joint partakers [sharing] in the same divine promises of Christ through [their acceptance of] glad tidings (the Gospel). Ephesians 3:6 Amplified.

Paul, a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee, speaking to Gentile believers regarding the Jews exhorts, “Again I ask, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgressions, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous . . . For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! . . . If some of the branches have been ‘broken off’, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others, and now share the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches . . .” (Romans 11:11,15,17,18)

Where the Church Left its Jewish Roots

After some of the most severe persecution in the three hundred year history of the Church, the 4th century conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine would eventually lead to the greatest disconnect from the Church’s Jewish roots. The seat of influence shifted from Jerusalem to Gentile Rome and with it a change in world view that helped to redefine Christianity in form and substance.

As Christianity was legitimized in the western world, church buildings were erected, formalizing a new style of worship. Observance of the Jewish Biblical feasts were prohibited. The Sabbath was changed to Sunday. Many Christian days of observance were taken out of context from the Biblical calendar and synchronized with more secular (some refer to them as pagan) observances. For example, Easter was no longer part of the Passover weekend, but was forever to be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon of the vernal equinox. These and other changes within the early Church continue to lead to discussion as to the effect of the pagan culture upon Christianity.

While various councils, beginning with the Council of Nicea in 324CE, worked to establish Church doctrine, they also authenticated a world view that moved the Church further away from its roots. The influence of the Hebraic world view was replaced by a Greek world view. To the Hebrews, learning and seeking knowledge was the means by which one prepared one-self for a life of worship, service and obedience to God as found in the Torah (the sacred and secular life were one in the same). To the Greeks, seeking knowledge itself was the goal. This opened the door to a new way of viewing Scripture that ultimately made way for differing doctrines that have impacted the Church today.

QUIZ: The Restoration of Israel

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