Becoming a Nation
-There was a great disruption in 1948 in the Near East. Israel had been a province of Great Britain, but in 1948 its mandate over Israel had run out. As leader of the provincial Israel, Zionist David Ben-Gurion took advantage of the termination of Great Britain’s rule, and declared Israel an independent nation on May 14, 1948. Immediately the United States and the United Nations supported this action. Ben-Gurion took the role of Prime Minister, and during the first five years of statehood, witnessed a mass migration of Jewish immigrants that nearly doubled the population of Israel.(1) Israel declared any Jew could immigrate to Israel and become a citizen of the country.
However, prior to the mass immigration, only one day after declaring Israel a nation, Israel was attacked. On May 15, 1948, the War of Independence commenced, as armies from Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon and a group from Iraq invaded Israel.(2)
Jerusalem was invaded, and fifteen months of fighting took place before the invaders were repelled.
-How the rest of the world viewed the new nation of Israel is complicated. The United Nations accepted Israel as a member in 1949, and one year later Great Britain accepted Israel as a sovereign nation. Because the scriptures view the world, and its timeline, and events all in relation to Israel, the creation of the Israeli state placed new values to world events. Everything that happened from 1948 forward had to be seen through the eyes of Israel, because that is where center stage is located, and where the events of the End Days will take place.
Israel’s Role in the Apocalypse
-Understanding Zionism is also very important. Basically, it is the movement to create a Jewish state in Israel, which is where the Ancient Jews lived. Although this was fundamentally a religious movement, there were political actions taken as well, such as creating a government and an army. Pre-millennialist Christians embraced this idea. They believe that Jesus Christ is going to come back to Earth before the Millennium, and will come to Israel.(3) Therefore, the idea of an Israeli Nation is comforting, because the events of the Tribulation will occur because apocalyptic prophecy is in the process of being fulfilled.
-“The Bible’s prophecies of the Last Days were coming true. As time passed, premillennialists writers would regularly link May 1948 with Jesus’ answer when his disciples asked for a sign of the end: ‘Learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch… putteth forth leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; So likewise, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near… This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.’ Israel’s creation was interpreted to be ‘these things’ – so the Second Coming was near.”(4)
-The emergence of Israel as a nation was cause for excitement to premillennialists, because it meant that within a short span of time, Jesus would come back to earth to establish his Millennial Kingdom.
To others, however, Israel’s sovereignty did not signify any great religious or prophetic event. “The [year 1948], while an important milestone, hardly fulfilled Israel’s prophetic destiny.”(5) People thought that the nation of Israel would be much larger, and the Jewish Temple would have been rebuilt. According to Genesis 15:18, God made a covenant with Abraham, spelling out precisely what land Israel was made up of: “To your descendents I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates…”(6) It is also common held belief that one of the major signs of the Apocalypse will be the rebuilding of the Jewish Sacred Temple in Jerusalem, where currently the Muslim Dome of the Rock is located. Until the Temple is rebuilt, the Tribulation and the prophecy of the End Times cannot occur.
-In conclusion, the role of Israel’s sovereignty plays an important part in religious theory. It is a very real idea that 1948 was a key year in the impending prophecy of the End Times. Christians and Jewish people all over the earth are waiting for either Jesus Christ, or another Messianic figure to come to Earth and reestablish a peace on earth.
-By Denise Scotti
1. http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/home.asp
2. http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/home.asp
3. iii Levitt Letter, Thomas S. McCall, Ph.D. Sept. 1994.
4. Gorenberg, Gershom, The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. 97.
5. Boyer, Paul, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy and Belief in Modern American Culture. 193.
6. Genesis 15:18, NIV Study Bible.