Israel: Born in Fire – Part 2

The catastrophe of World War II not only accelerated the Jews’ return but also Israel’s resurrection from the ashes of history. The State’s founding literally occurred in the fire of history and could never have been anticipated, humanly speaking.

In light of this, something else is also significant. In 2022, Israeli historian Dan Diner published Another War. In the book [unavailable in English], Diner shows the developments of World War II from a Jewish perspective, as well as that of Israel (still known as Palestine at that time). Israel and the Middle East formed the intersection between the eastern and western parts of the British Empire, making them of great strategic importance.

Diner makes it clear in Another War that the German pincer movement encompassing North Africa as well as the Caucasus, would have closed on Israel. The German Afrikakorps was advancing eastward from Libya and were only 230 km (143 mi.) from Cairo, before the tide turned in favor of the British in the Second Battle of El Alamein. On August 21, 1942, Germany’s Imperial War Flag was flying on the highest mountain in the Caucasus.

In order to delay German advances from the north, the British began building fortifications on the mountainous region adjacent to Mount Carmel, under the name “Palestine Final Fortress.” The Haganah leadership in Palestine/Israel were discussing whether over 100,000 Jews should retreat to these mountains for one last stand against the advancing Germans, fighting a heroic battle like that at Masada in 70 AD. The Irgun [Zionist paramilitary organization] also considered gathering 1,000 men in Jerusalem’s Old City to fiercely resist the Germans for another two months. Haifa, the British oil supply hub, had already been bombed by the German Air Force in June of 1941.

Marius Baar also pointed out the connection between Hitler’s offensive plans and the Israel question in a 1991 book, in which he writes:

“With the conquest of Palestine, Hitler wanted to deal the final death blow to the Jews. And with the conquest of Jerusalem, he wanted to confer immortality upon his name. With the Final Solution, the deceived Führer intended to prove that the God of the Bible does not exist. Since Hitler was only a piece on the chessboard of the last days, he was only a harbinger of the next system. The German troops that were en route to Palestine got stuck in the Caucasus. El Alamein and Stalingrad were the turning point.”

Dan Diner reports on Yaakov Zerubavel’s speech at the Jewish Histadrut’s [trade union’s] sixth Congress in January 1945:

“And isn’t it pure chance that we have survived in Palestine? Wasn’t Hitler at the gates of the country? … Hitler did not plan to annihilate only the diaspora but Jewry, all Jews everywhere. We have saved ourselves by pure chance.”

We know that World War II’s turning point wasn’t coincidence, but God’s gracious providence. The gathering and resurrection of Israel after almost 2000 years, once again took place in the fire of tribulation—both in light of the horror of the Shoah and its victims, and also in light of the attempt to seize the land of Israel.

ISRAEL’S RESURRECTION IN THE FIRE OF HISTORY

This brings us to the founding of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Again, recall Isaiah 43:3, where the Lord says that He gives people and nations in exchange for Israel. And so, the catastrophe of World War II not only accelerated the Jews’ return but also Israel’s resurrection from the ashes of history. The State’s founding literally occurred in the fire of history and could never have been anticipated, humanly speaking.

After the remnants of the Ottoman Empire fell in World War I, the United Kingdom received the League of Nations Mandate for the region known as Palestine on April 19, 1920. As early as 1917, Great Britain had agreed to the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Mandatory Palestine via the Balfour Declaration (named for Lord Balfour, British Foreign Secretary at that time). The Jews would have the right to return to their true homeland. Although Great Britain was an influential world power, it wasn’t their idea alone. France, Italy, the US, Japan, China, and Siam [Thailand], as well as high-ranking Arab representatives, also welcomed this plan. The original plan was intended to encompass Mandate territory on both sides of the Jordan River: Jordan, Judea and Samaria (today’s West Bank), as well as the Gaza Strip.

In the 1920s, there were Arab uprisings and riots against the Jews, resulting in the publication of the Churchill White Paper of 1922. This made Jewish immigration contingent on the economic capacity of the Mandatory government, limiting return migration (even though the White Paper essentially affirmed the Balfour Declaration).

In the 1930s, the Arab Revolt in Palestine broke out. So that they wouldn’t spoil their relationship with the Arabs (and also in conjunction with their own interests), the British issued the MacDonald White Paper of 1939. This White Paper dealt with dividing what remained of Palestine (Britain had already separated most of it into Transjordan in 1923). The rest of the territory was to be divided into a Jewish homeland and an Arab portion under the name Palestine.

After World War II, Jewish underground organizations carried out numerous acts of terrorism against the British Mandate. Great Britain returned its Mandate to the still young UN in September 1947, hoping that it would be returned with greater authority. A UN committee was to draw up a partition plan. Both the US and the Soviet Union voted in favor, even though the Cold War had already begun. When the UN vote took place on November 25 of the same year, no one expected that the two-thirds majority would be achieved, which would create an official Jewish homeland and divide the Mandate territory. In hindsight, it’s a miracle that the Soviet Union also voted in favor of partition.

As a consequence of the vote, England chose to fully withdraw from the Mandated territory by midnight on May 14, 1948. At 4 pm that same day, David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence, which would come into effect immediately after midnight. Israel had risen from the ashes of history after nearly 1900 years. Incidentally, the plan for partition in Palestine was also controversial within the US government; the State Department had reservations. Just eleven minutes past midnight, then-President Truman announced the [de facto] recognition of Israel, surprising his own State Department. The American ambassador to the UN was so shocked that he went home.

Since the partition plan in November 1947, Arab attacks and fighting against Jewish defense organizations were already increasing. The young State of Israel was only 24 hours old when a highly superior military alliance comprised of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, with support from other Arab states, attacked to eradicate the Jewish State. Israel’s War of Independence lasted until 1949, when a ceasefire was finally achieved.

Then came the major wars of the young nation of Israel:

• 1956 – The Suez Crisis

• 1967 – The Six-Day War

• 1973 – The Yom Kippur War

• 1982 – The Lebanon War

• 2006 – The Second Lebanon War and Gaza-Israel Conflict

• 2014 – The Gaza War

• 2023 – Israel-Hamas War, with Lebanon and Syria on the Northern Front

Or think of the countless terrorist attacks, the two major intifadas, and smaller military conflicts (e.g., The War of Attrition from 1969-1970, military action in the Gaza Strip in 2008, etc.).

The atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in particular made it obvious that Israel is in a flaming furnace. All the talk of peace doesn’t change that. In the background, the same question remains: Who is the living God?

With the gathering and founding of Israel, the living God has blatantly begun to make His promises come true. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it’s the same situation as it was with Pharaoh: God’s adversary is trying by any and all means to prevent divine fulfillment of the promises made to Israel.

Since the State of Israel rose from the dust of history, Isaiah 43’s promise has been fulfilled. The Soviet Union and its allies didn’t want to let their Jews leave. Then the communist empire began to fall apart in the latter half of the 1980s, and return migration to Israel began. In 1990 alone, nearly 190,000 Jews returned from Europe. The Yugoslav Wars also led to Jews returning to Israel from some areas. Even the current war in Ukraine has contributed: At the beginning of 2023, the Jüdische Allgemeine reported that immigration to Israel had tripled as a result. In 2022, there were 74,915 immigrants to Israel. Of that number, 15,213 were from Ukraine, and 43,684 from Russia. There are many facets to that conflict, and we are praying for those on both sides who are experiencing hardship and misery. But let’s not forget the words of Isaiah 43:4: “I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.”

As contradictory as it may seem to us, Israel is preparing for yet another wave of immigration after the Israel-Hamas War, in connection with increasing hostility toward Jewish life in Europe and North America.

ISRAEL’S FUTURE SALVATION THROUGH FIRE

After Israel’s War of Independence in 1947-49, but also as a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel had an aura of invincibility. However, this aura was damaged in the eyes of its enemies after its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. And when Israel was unable to achieve all its goals in the 2006 Lebanon War, its aura was further damaged.

On October 7, 2023, the State of Israel experienced an unprecedented massacre within its borders, a brutal and demonic terrorist attack. Over 1200 people were killed and over 240 hostages were kidnapped. Not since the Shoah have so many Jews been murdered in such a brutal manner on a single day. The grotesque hatred and hostility that Israel constantly faces once again reared its ugly head. It also became evident how vulnerable Israel is, despite all its military strength. As Bible-believing Christians, we stand by Israel’s side as God’s chosen people.

When we read Zechariah 12–14, it becomes clear that Israel will ultimately be saved through the fire of tribulation. Under the Antichrist’s leadership, the world’s armies will assemble for the final war against Israel and the living God (Rev 16:13-16). The issue of Jerusalem and Israel is of central importance. The land and people will be in distress like never before. Zechariah 13:8 speaks of two-thirds of the land perishing, and the remaining third being put through fire, as silver and gold are tested.

Again, the question is: Who is the true God? At the height of this final tribulation for Jacob (Jer 30:7), the living God will intervene, and Jesus will return to ultimately save His people Israel. According to Zechariah 12:6, Israel itself will then become a blazing pot and a flaming torch. At the same time, the God of Israel is also using this tribulation to purify and cleanse His people, as written in the aforementioned passage in Zechariah, as well as in Isaiah 48:8-11. This final fire of tribulation is preparing Israel for salvation through its Messiah Jesus Christ, and aligns it toward Him. Then Ezekiel 36:36 will be fulfilled:

“Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

Through the salvation of Israel and the judgment over the nations that is connected to it, the God of Israel will reveal Himself as the only true God. That is our hope for Israel, and the great purpose toward which world and redemptive history is moving. Then what is written in Zechariah 14:7-9 will become reality:

“And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.”