I CAUGHT my breath sharply. Had I heard that correctly? "Adolf Hitler did more for the cause of Zionism than almost any other individual"? The one who masterminded the atrocities against 6,000,000 Jews? The man behind the gas chambers and concentration camps of Europe?

Yet the more I thought about it, the more I could see what was meant. It is all part of an amazing 20th century miracle.

The Bible had always said that there would come a time when the Jews would return to their land. It seemed impossible. Jerusalem had been destroyed as long ago as the year 70 AD. In AD 132 it was ploughed exactly as Israel's own prophets had said would happen (Micah 3:12). Since that date there had been no Israeli nation.

The Ubiquitous Jew
There were Jews in almost every country of the world. They were proverbial of sharp practice and making money. This too was exactly what the Bible had foretold (Deuteronomy 28:37).

Even so, the idea that they might again become a nation was rarely entertained. Many said that God had cast them off forever. They claimed that God no longer had a purpose with the Jew. Prophecies which spoke of their return were given another meaning. People said that they were about Christians. They tried to apply them in a spiritual way. They said they referred to God's people in any century, not just to Jews. Some still hold that view today.

Others could see that was not right. Speaking of the nation before its destruction prophets made the matter clear:-

"So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries;.. But I had concern for my holy name... Therefore say to the house of Israel... I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land."
(Ezekiel 36:19-24)

Passages like this do not refer to one nation being scattered and someone else being gathered. It is those same ones who are scattered that God is regathering. He is to bring them to their own land, the one they had before.

Even when it seemed least likely, some believed this. I know of those who, in the mid nineteenth century, looked forward to it happening.
Lost Nations ...

Any other nation deprived of their land for so long would have disappeared. Scattered among the nations Philistines, Babylonians and a host more have died out. They are no longer identifiable. By all the laws of reason the Jews ought to have been assimilated. The fact that they were not is amazing. Nineteen hundred years later, they were still easily recognisable.

Just before the turn of the century Zionism began to take off. A man called Theodore Herzl wrote a book which moved many Jews to think about their homeland. Soon there was a movement to obtain a national home for the Jews. At one stage Herzl was in favour of accepting land in Uganda. That year he died. The Zionist Congress overturned his decision. The Jewish home had to be in Palestine. That was one more in a whole line of remarkable events.

Desert to Vineyard
Palestine was a desolate country at that time. Desert, barren rocky wastes and uncultivated swamps were typical of most of the land. Changes were on the way, however. The prophet had said:

"The desolate land shall be tilled... So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.'"
(Ezekiel 36:34-35)

Today the produce of that land is everywhere in shops. Reclamation, irrigation and cultivation have wonderfully transformed much of the land. It boasts production levels now that were undreamed of 150 years ago. It is another miracle.

The next link in this chain of events was in 1917. Then the British Government had a mandate from the League of Nations for the control of Palestine. Lord Balfour's Declaration permitted Jews to return to Palestine. The prophecies were beginning to take shape.

Dry Bones
Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones was once the subject of a music hall song. The bones were scattered along the valley floor. They were "the whole house of Israel". "They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!' " (Ezekiel 37:11). The bones then began to join together. They formed skeletons. In vision they became people. Then God's spirit made them live. God said:

"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."
(Ezekiel 37:12)

Even until half-way through this century the land was known as Palestine. Today it is again called Israel.

Jeremiah too had spoken of the return:
"'Behold, I will send for many fishermen,' says the LORD, 'and they shall fish them: and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.'"
(Jeremiah 16:16)

The Balfour Declaration was not mightily successful. Jews went back in relatively small numbers. Ones and twos, handfuls only, scraping a living and finding it hard. It was like fishing them from the nations.
Then came Hitler, hunting the Jews from pillar to post. He forced them to flee. They were glad to return to their land for refuge. They went back by the boat load, hundreds and thousands of them. It was in this way that, without knowing or wishing it, Hitler supported the Zionist cause. He was responsible for the return of more Jews to Palestine than any other person. He was fulfilling Bible prophecy.

Jesus' Parable of the Fig Tree
Jesus too spoke of the time when the Jews would become a nation again. He used the fig tree as a symbol of Israel. During his ministry he cursed a fig tree for its barrenness. Later he taught that the fig tree would one day bud and sprout leaves again.

In 1948 the State of Israel came into being. Against all the odds and many enemies, the nation was born. This too was a miracle. Despite the declared intention of her Arab neighbours to drive her into the sea she stubbornly remains.

This is an extraordinary sequence of events. It has led some to say that tomorrow's news is in the Bible today. It is no wild claim. The Bible is still coming true before our eyes. What happens in the Middle East is important. Israel is important as God's witness. God has made an example of them for good or bad. Their story is proof of His control. It shows that He is active amongst the nations today.

Now, I am not pro-Israel in any political way. It does not make one pro-Jewish just seeing these things happen. The fact that they have happened does not prove that Israel is a Godly nation. It does not mean that God approves of what Israel does.

Indeed, God has shown that Israel has yet to suffer for its pride. Much of what it has worked hard to build up will be wrecked. It has not been built in God's strength. The nation must yet be humbled. Ezekiel said:-

"'Not for your sake do I do this,' says the Lord GOD, 'let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!'"
(Ezekiel 36:32)

Jeremiah said:-
"'For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my face, nor is their iniquity hidden from my eyes. And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin…'"
(Jeremiah 16:17-18)

God is fully aware of what they are like. However, He has not finished with them. The Bible shows that they still have a part to play in His purpose. Paul said that Israel had been "hardened in part". This has allowed the Gentiles to know the gospel. Then he says:-

"And so all Israel will be saved... Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
(Romans 11:26-29)

A book as up to date as this deserves closer attention. 