By Dianne E. Butts:
Mount Carmel, Israel (Nahal Mearot) looking west to the coastal plain. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Today we can find God in prophecy about Israel: its desolate wasteland blossoming.
When the Israelites pushed God out of their lives, He removed them from the land and the people were dispersed all over the world. The land became a nearly uninhabited, desolate wasteland—a picture of the condition of Israel’s relationship with God.
But the people of Israel began returning to the land after World War II. On May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation again after nearly two millennia. Since then, that desolate desert wasteland has begun to blossom, just as Bible prophecies predicted. Here are two examples of those predictions:
“But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of men and animals upon you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 36:8-11, NIV).
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. They will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.” Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it’” (Ezekiel 36:33-36).
Today, according to 101 Last Days Prophecies by Eternal Productions, “Israel’s increased rainfall and world renowned irrigation technology have caused the land to blossom. Incredibly… [Israel] currently exports over 1200 million dollars of fresh produce each year, including over 100 million in flowers and ornamental plants!… Amazingly, this recently regathered, often attacked, tiny nation exported over 54 billion dollars worth of goods in 2010. This was inconceivable a century ago! In contrast their neighbor, Jordan exported less than 8 billion in 2010” (p. 9-10).
Could the re-blossoming of Israel be a fulfillment of prophecy? If so, we can find God in the prophecy about Israel in the way the land has blossomed just as God said it would.
© Dianne E. Butts. Dianne’s newest book is Grandparenting through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Challenges to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ (Pix-N-Pens, August 2012). She also wrote Deliver Me (CSPA “Book of the Year” and finalist for the 2012 Golden Scroll Nonfiction Book of the Year) for those who need to be delivered from the guilt or shame of an unplanned pregnancy—whether in their present or past. www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com
