Saturday 19 July 2014

Khalil A terrorist who saw Jesus - Watch the full documentary

Khalil
(Egypt)

Khalil started memorizing the Qur’an at a very early age and developed what he called a love for the word of God.  As he grew older, he started reading books on Islam and the interpretation of the Qur’an.  By sorting out Muslims from non-Muslims according to the Qur’an’s teaching, he ended up considering his own parents infidels.  Little things such as a woman not wearing a veil would make her a non-Muslim according to the way he understood the Qur’an.  If a man didn’t grow a beard he would be considered a non-Muslim.  He considered the Christians his worst enemies and started getting involved in attacks against Christians and churches.  The Islamic Group, dedicated to the overthrow of the secular government of Egypt and the installation of a strict Muslim government, recruited him into their ranks, appointing him as a local leader. His group became involved in kidnapping a famous moderate Muslim writer who had dared to criticize the Islamic Group.
Eventually, the authorities arrested Khalil and most of the group’s members.  He spent two years in prison, undergoing torture, and upon his release left Egypt for Yemen in company with other radical Muslims.  From this base of operations, they continued in their plans for an armed insurrection in Egypt.
Their plans, however, were discovered by local authorities, many of them were re-arrested, and the military option was all but abandoned.  Back in Egypt they had to downplay all of their activities.  Upon reading an article in the Cairo newspaper about Christians arrested in Egypt for proselytizing, Khalil and his group decided that it was “past time” to do something for the sake of Islam.  Given their small numbers, however, they decided their battle would be an intellectual one, researching and writing a book proving that Mohammed is the True Prophet of God, and that the Bible of the Christians and Jews is a corrupted text.  Khalil was chosen by his Emir, the leader of the Islamic Group, to do the research and write the book.  He objected strenuously at first, but eventually took on the job, which he described as the “most distasteful thing” he had ever done.
When he had completed reading the Bible and cross-referencing what he had read with numerous Islamic books, Khalil was astonished to discover that the Bible was neither inaccurate nor corrupted.  Instead, he was astonished at the Bible’s teachings on forgiveness and unconditional love, as reflected in the life and words of Jesus.  He was particularly stunned to read how Jesus had warned his followers about persecution and how, two thousand years later, that persecution was taking place exactly as Jesus had said it would.  His reading of the Bible helped him understand why Christians in Egypt never retaliated against the Muslims, and why it was always easy for them to forgive and forget.  As much as he hated reading the Bible, he fell in love with its message and teachings.
Nonetheless, he had a job to do, and he continued with dogged determination, electing to prove that Jesus is not God and was never crucified.  Studying the Qur’an for this purpose, he put together all of God’s qualities and attributes as the Qur’an talks about them, and then searched the Qur’an for Jesus’ attributes.  According to the Qur’an, God is the creator, the healer, the provider, the only one who can raise the dead to life, the only one that performs miracles, the only one who judges perfectly, and the like.  To his shock, Khalil discovered that these are the same attributes the Qur’an assigns to Jesus (Isa), proving to Khalil that Jesus and God were, indeed, one. 
Growing doubts now made Khalil’s life miserable.  He had always loved Islam and had always believed that the only way to God was through Mohammed.  But if Jesus and God were one, then who is Mohammed and what is the way to heaven? 
One day, the Emir came to visit Khalil in his house and discovered all the research that Khalil had documented (the deity of Jesus, the Qur’an not being the word of God, etc.).  He couldn’t believe what he read.  He told Khalil that he would kill him if he shared his heretical ideas with any Muslim and that he was now considered an infidel. 
Khalil, however, could not turn from the conviction that Christianity was the right way.  Wanting to learn more, he decided to join a church.  Since he was notorious as a zealous Muslim, no one believed him.  Everyone refused to meet with him, even pastors.  He was disappointed and thought maybe he was wrong after all; maybe the Christian faith wasn’t the way to heaven.  However, a voice inside him told him not to look to people.

One day as he was trying to make a phone call at a cafĂ©, his attachĂ© was stolen.  The bag contained all of his research papers, his Bible and his identity card.  He was terrified because everything he had written would be considered blasphemous, and the bag also contained his ID card.  He rushed home, troubled and tormented.  In his room he started repenting for all that he had done and thought that God was punishing him for daring to think that Mohammed was not sent from God and that the Qur’an was not the word of God.  He repented, washed himself, and pulled his rug out to pray, but he couldn’t bend his knees nor open his mouth to say one word of the Qur’an.  He sat down and said, “God you know that I love you, and I know that you want me on the right path. God, I can’t resist anymore. All that I did, I did trying to please you.  Please pull me out of this darkness.”
That night, Khalil slept in a way he hadn’t slept for years.  In a dream, he saw a man, who came to him and told him that he was the one for whom Khalil had been searching.  Khalil didn’t know who the man was.  The man told him to look in the Book (the Bible).  Khalil said the Book and all his papers were lost, to which the man replied, “The book never gets lost.  Get up and open your closet and you will find it. The rest of your papers will be returned to you by the end of the week.”
Khalil woke up from the dream and opened his closet.  His very own copy of the Bible was inside the closet on a shelf.  Knowing that he had seen Jesus, he hurried to his mother’s room, awoke her, and begged her forgiveness for his years of harshness and ill treatment of the family.  His search for reconciliation didn’t end with his family either.  As the sun rose that same morning, Khalil took to the streets, greeting friends and strangers alike.  He sought out the Christian owners of businesses whom he had robbed, or mistreated, and begged their forgiveness too.
Over the ensuing months, Khalil grew in his new faith, gradually winning the confidence and trust of local Christians and finding fellowship at a church.  He was baptized and continues to brave physical attacks and threats against his life, because he feels that no price is too great to pay for the One who gave everything for him.

Friday 18 July 2014

The Bible is Proven True by Archeology- by James Cameron- A History Channel Film

Watch this video and see that the Bible tells us the true fact, not fiction.

The Exodus Decoded is a documentary film that aired on April 16, 2006, on The History Channel. The program was created by Israeli-Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and the producer/director James Cameron. The documentary explores evidence for the Biblical account of the Exodus. Its claims and methods were criticized by Biblical scholars and mainstream scientists.
Jacobovici suggests that the Exodus took place around 1500 BC, during the reign of pharaoh Ahmose I, and that it coincided with the Minoan eruption. In the documentary, the plagues that ravaged Egypt in the Bible are explained as having resulted from that eruption and a related limnic eruption in the Nile Delta, similar to what occurred in the 1980s at Lake Nyos in Cameroon. While much of Jacobovici's archaeological evidence for the Exodus comes from Egypt, some comes from Mycenae on mainland Greece, such as a gold ornament that somewhat resembles the Ark of the Covenant.
The documentary makes extensive use of computer animation and visual effects made by Gravity Visual Effects, Inc., based in Toronto. It runs for 90 minutes and was first aired in Canada on April 16, (Easter Day) 2006 (Discovery Channel Canada). Shown in the US on August 20, 2006 (History Channel US), UK on December 23, 2006 (Discovery Channel UK), Spain on December 25, 2006 (Cuatro) and Israel on April 3, 2007 (Channel 2).[5]

Signs for the End of the World with Bible References

.1. False Bible teachers would be money hungry. They would be smooth talkers, have many followers, and slur the Christian faith (2 Peter 2:1-3)

2. Homosexuality would be increasingly evident at the end of the age (2 Timothy 3:3)

3. Earthquakes would be in diverse places (Matthew 24:7)

4. Stress would be part of living (2 Timothy 3:1)

5. Many wars would erupt (Matthew 24:6)

6. People would forsake the Ten Commandments as a moral code, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and killing (Matthew 24:12)

7. There would be a cold religious system, in denying God's power (2 Timothy 3:5)

8. Men would substitute fantasy in place of Christian truth (2 Timothy 4:4). This is so evident at Christmas when the birth of the Savior is lost behind the myth of Santa Claus.

9. Deadly diseases would be prevalent (Matthew 24:7). The worldwide increase in AIDS deaths is almost inestimable. Over 160,000 Americans die of cancer each year.

10. The fact that God once flooded the earth (the Noahic flood) would be denied (2 Peter 3:5-6). There is a mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by the scientific world because of its uncanny implication.

11. The institution of marriage would be forsaken by many (1 Timothy 4:3)

12. There would be an increase in famines (Matthew 24:7)

13. Increase in vegetarianism would increase (1 Timothy 4:3-4)

14. There would be a cry for peace (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

15. The possession of Jerusalem would be at the center of international turmoil (Zechariah 12:3)

16. Knowledge would increase (Daniel 12:4)

17. There would be hypocrites within the Church (Matthew 13:25-30)

18. There would be an increase of religious cults/false teachers (Matthew 24:11 & 24)

19. The future would seem fearful to many (Luke 21:26)

20. Humanity would become materialistic (2 Timothy 3:4)

21. There would be many involved in travel (Daniel 12:4)

22. The Christian Gospel would be preached as a warning to all nations (Matthew 24:14)

23. Jesus said Christians would be hated "for His name's sake" (Matthew 24:9)

24:
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.  (Luke 21:25-26).

25: Youth would become rebellious.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy (2 Timothy 3:2)

26: Men would mock the warning signs of the end of the age saying, "for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Peter 3:4). The Bible even reveals their motivation, they love lust (verse 3). They fail to understand that a day to the Lord is as a thousand years to us. God is not subject to the time that He created. He can flick through time as we flick through the pages of a history book. The reason He seems to be silent, is because He is patiently waiting, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

Most important things in Christian Life

There are Many things we do in life knowingly or unknowingly. Its some time very disturbing, and frustrating. But have you ever thought of why things have not been the way you think and expect them to happen?
There are few things that Christians have forgotten to follow. It is nothing but Godly wisdom. Proverbs 3:1-10 Talks about Most Important principles that every Christian do to inherit prosperity, peace and recognition from God. Lets take a look at few verses;

1.My son, do not forget my teaching,
    but keep my commands in your heart, = Complete Priority to God's Word
for they will prolong your life many years
    and bring you peace and prosperity. = Complete Life, Peace, and prosperity will come
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
    bind them around your neck,            = Complete Love and Faithfulness to God's word
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name
    in the sight of God and man.            = Winning Complete Favor from Men and also From God
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding; = Complete Trust in God
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight. = Complete Submission of all your plans to God
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord and shun evil. = Complete fear of the Lord and Rejection of Evil/wrong doing
This will bring health to your body
    and nourishment to your bones. = God will give Complete Good Health
Honor the Lord with your wealth,
    with the first fruits of all your crops;= Complete Giving to God to receive with Honor
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
    and your vats will brim over with new wine.= Receive Complete Blessings

It is important to understand that this was written by King Solomon, the most wise and rich man and also was great king ever lived on the earth.

Understanding the central principles of life will give us the central position in God and His Kingdom. 

Thank you


The European Union is Biblical Prophecy which is fulfilled

In the book of Daniel, chapter 2, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream. Asking for the dream to be interpreted, he gathered all his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and the Chaldeans for them to interpret the dream.
As if interpreting the dream itself wasn't difficult enough, Nebuchadnezzar asked them to not only interpret the dream, but to tell him what he'd dreamed! This, of course, presented quite a problem.
All the king's interpreters told him only the gods could reveal such things to him which angered him greatly. He issued a decree that all his interpreters be killed for failing to interpret the dream, including Daniel and his fellows.
Daniel appeared before Nebuchadnezzar after hearing the decree had been issued, promising he would return to him and interpret the dream.
After Daniel entered a period of prayer, God revealed the dream to Daniel in the night and Daniel praised Him for it.
Returning before King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel first revealed to him the dream in Daniel 2: 31-35:
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
After revealing the dream, Daniel told him its meaning in Daniel 2:37-45:
Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
God revealed to Daniel, through Nebuchadnezzar's dream, there would be five empires that would rule the earth from his kingdom forward in time. These are represented by the different parts of the image Nebuchadnezzar saw as follows:
  1. The head of gold - The Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar.
  2. The breast and arms of silver - Medo-Persian Empire.
  3. The belly and thighs of bronze - Greek Empire.
  4. The legs of iron - Roman Empire. This is the kingdom Daniel said would be divided into two parts. The first Roman Empire is represented by the legs of iron. The second part of this kingdom, the revived Roman Empire, is represented by the feet and toes made part of iron and part of clay.
  5. The stone which destroyed all the other kingdoms - the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ.
As we can now clearly see, the kingdom of Christ will come when the revived Roman Empire is present in the world. Is that Empire alive today? I believe it is in the form of the European Union.
Symbolic Evidence
One of the most dramatic prophetic descriptions concerning the end times is found in the book of Revelation - one of a woman riding a beast.
Revelation 17:3: So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Eerily similar to Revelation 17:3, the symbol most often associated with the European Union is a woman riding a beast, as seen in the photos below! Coincidence? I doubt it.
Most Bible scholars believe the woman/harlot of Revelation 17:3 is symbolic of the false religion the Antichrist and his False Prophet will impose on mankind during the Antichrist's reign over the revived Roman empire during the Tribulation Period. If so, the imagery on this page may be indicative of how close we are to these things coming to pass in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
Examine this photo closely:
Do you remember the story of the Tower of Babel? God destroyed it when mankind tried to build a tower to Heaven. God scattered the people and gave them different tongues so they couldn't re-organize and begin the project anew. Today's European Union, thumbing its nose at God, is proclaiming its membership consists of many tongues yet speaks with one voice, inverting God's judgment on Babylon. As you can see, Babylon The Great is coming as prophesized!
Even the European Union's architecture, as seen below, invokes memories of the Tower of Babel.
Below is a photo which blends an artist's rendering of the Tower of Babel with the building above, the European Council headquarters in Strasbourg, France.
What does all this tell us? It tells us what I've been saying all along is true: Jesus Christ is coming soon!
Soon, the future world leader known as the Antichrist will arise to confirm a covenant of peace between Israel and her enemies that will be seven years in duration. For those of you who don't know, the seven-year peace plan will run concurrently with the seven-year Tribulation Period - the seventieth week of the seventy weeks of Daniel, as seen in Daniel 9:24.
Sixty-nine prophetic weeks have passed (483 years) as seen in Daniel 9:26. Only one prophetic week remains - the final seven-year biblical week - the Tribulation Period.
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Only those who have accepted Jesus Christ will be gathered to His side at the Rapture of the Church, avoiding the seven-year Tribulation Period to come. Those who are left behind, as a direct result of their failure to come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, are going to experience a time unlike any mankind has ever witnessed before - a time when the Antichrist will rule the world through a revived Roman empire - today's European Union (or a direct descendant of it).

World War 3 is a Biblical Prophecy and it will happen.

There is no doubt that world war will be a part of the future. Christ plainly taught that there would be war prior to His return (Matthew 24:4-31). Some hold that He spoke generally of the Church age in verses 4-14 and spoke of the tribulation period starting at its mid-point in verses 15-31. Others believe that Christ spoke of only the seven-year period known as the tribulation in verses 4-31. Though verses 4-14 do seem to be giving general descriptions, they parallel the description given early in Revelation 6, which records details concerning the beginning of the tribulation. Matthew 24:6-7 says there will be "wars and rumors of wars...For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes." Here, Christ makes it very clear that war will play a significant role in the last seven years prior to His return.

To be more specific, the future does hold at least one more world war. There is nothing in Scripture that says there will be only a certain number of world wars. World Wars I and II are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture, nor is a possible third World War. It is only the last war that is mentioned in detail, which allows the interpretation that there may be others before the final conflict.

John the Apostle was shown what the end times would be like, specifically the last seven years prior to Christ's return. Beginning in Revelation 6, he recorded what he saw concerning the future. War is found in this chapter, and continues to be a part of the unfolding events until Christ returns in chapter 19 (Revelation 6:2; 4; 11:7; 12:7; 13:4, 7; 16:14; 17:14; 19:11; 19:19).

Revelation 19:11 says, ". . . in righteousness He [Christ] judges and wages war." Revelation 19:19 says John "saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him (Christ) who sat upon the horse, and against His army." Take special notice that it says the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Christ. This clearly describes a world war. It also should be noted that the victor in this war is clearly Christ, who seizes the beast/antichrist and the false prophet and casts them into the lake of fire, and the armies that followed them are destroyed (Revelation 19:20-21). So, although there will be at least one more world war, there is no doubt of the outcome—righteousness will prevail as Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, defeats all who oppose Him.

It is also worth mentioning at this time that following the 1,000-year reign of Christ, there will be another uprising which could possibly have the scope of a world war. Satan will be bound for 1,000 years and then released. Upon his release, he leads a rebellion among the peoples of the earth. Christ quickly puts down this rebellion and permanently judges Satan, casting him into the lake of fire as He did with the beast/antichrist and the false prophet (Revelation 20:7-10).


Top discoveries in the Biblical Archeology

Biblical archaeology is the science of investigating and recovering remains of past cultures that can validate, or at least shed new light on, the biblical narrative. Biblical archaeology involves the study of architecture, language, literature, art, tools, pottery and many other items that have survived the ravages of time. For almost two hundred years, those who study biblical archaeology have been working in the Middle East in their quest to recover the past. There have been thousands of archaeological finds that have advanced the study greatly, but some are more significant than others. Some of these finds have been the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Tel Dan Inscription, the Caiaphas Ossuary, the Crucified Man, the Ketef Hinnom Amulets, the House of God Ostracon, and the Pilate Inscription. Let’s briefly look at each one of these to see why they are significant.

Dead Sea Scrolls: One of the most important finds of in the field of biblical archaeology is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 in the Qumran area on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. There are approximately 900 documents and fragments that comprise the find. The scrolls predate A.D. 100 and include a complete copy of the book of Isaiah. The significance of the find is the age of the documents and the astonishing lack of variants to documents that have been most trustworthy such as the Masoretic Text, Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus. The vast majority of the variants (about 99 percent) are punctuation or spelling errors. Incredibly, none of the variants changed the meaning of the text, nor did they contain any significant theological differences. This gives us the assurance that the text we have today in our Bible is the same as the early church had two thousand years ago. No other secular manuscripts can make the same claim.

Tel Dan Inscription: This stone tablet contains an inscription that is the first reference to the Davidic dynasty outside of the Bible. It was erected by Hazael, king of Aram, which is present-day Syria. The inscription makes reference to a military victory and corresponds to the biblical account in 2 Chronicles 22. This inscription dates to the 9th century B.C., thus giving us accurate dating to the Davidic dynasty as well verifying its existence. This is the only extra-biblical reference to the House of David that has been discovered to date.

Caiaphas Ossuary: An ossuary is a stone or pottery box in which the remains of a deceased person are buried (an ancient casket). The Caiaphas Ossuary bears the inscription “Yeosef bar Qafa” and is dated to the second temple period. Yeosef (Joseph) was the son of Caiaphas. This verifies that there was a high priest at the time of Jesus and his name was Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the priest that presided over the false trial of Jesus (Matthew 26:57-67).

Crucified Man: This is the remains of a full skeleton of a man crucified in the first century. The foot bone contains a bent crucifixion nail. There have been those that argued that the crucifixion of Christ was a hoax because that was not a form of capital punishment in Christ’s time. These remains verify that crucifixion was being done and that the crucifixion of Jesus was done exactly as outlined in the biblical narrative.

Ketef Hinnom Amulets: In 1979, two silver scrolls that were worn as amulets were found in a tomb at Ketef Hinnom, overlooking the Hinnom Valley, where they had been placed around the 7th century B.C. The delicate process of unrolling the scrolls while developing a method that would prevent them from disintegrating took three years. Brief as they are, the amulets rank as the oldest surviving texts from the Hebrew Bible. Upon unrolling the amulets, biblical archeologists found two inscriptions of significance. One is a temple priest blessing from the book of Numbers: “The Lord bless you and protect you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance to you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). The other is the tetragrammaton YHWH, the name of the Lord, from which we get the English Jehovah. The amulets predate the Dead Sea Scrolls by 500 years and are the oldest known example of the Lord’s name in writing.

House of God Ostracon: Ostraca—writings on pottery—are common finds in archeological digs. The House of God Ostracon was found in Arad, a Canaanite city in the Negev. Over 100 pieces of ostraca were found and have been dated to the early part of the 6th Century BC. Of significance are the references to the temple in Jerusalem and to names of people that are recorded in Scripture. This not only helps to date the temple, but it verifies the existence of people listed in the biblical text.

Pilate Inscription: This stone tablet was found in Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. The tablet was found in the theater of Caesarea and bears an inscription mentioning the name of Pontius Pilate the procurator of Judea, and the Tiberium, which was an edifice built in honor of the Emperor Tiberius by Pilate. There has been much written to discredit the biblical narrative in regard to the existence of Pilate; this tablet clearly says that it was from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea" and verifies that he was a person that lived during the time of Jesus, exactly as written in the biblical narrative.

These finds are interesting from an educational point of view and do validate the historical accuracy of the Bible. But for the believer, finds like these should add nothing to our understanding of the importance or credibility of the Bible. The Bible is the written Word of God, inerrant and infallible and was God-breathed to human writers and is useful for edifying and teaching believers in the ways of God: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible needs no corroborative evidence to verify its truth, but it is interesting to note that no scientific or archeological find has ever disproven a single word of Scripture, and many, many findings have attested to its historical and scientific accuracy.

Recommended Resources: The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible by Geisler & Holden and Logos Bible Software.

Pharoah's Chariot Wheels foud at the bottom of Red Sea

Chariot Wheels found at the bottom of the Red Sea -- See pictures below and the route





You will be surprised to see proof of Pharaoh's chariot and bones of horses and men found in the

Red Sea. Evidence of the crossing of the Red Sea .

PARTING OF THE RED SEA

Pharaoh's drowned army.



Confirmation of the actual Exodus route has come from divers finding coral-encrusted bones and chariot remains in the Gulf of Aqaba . ONE of the most dramatic records of Divine intervention in history is the account of the Hebrews' exodus from Egypt

The subsequent drowning of the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea was not an insignificant event, and confirmation of this event is compelling evidence that the Biblical narrative is truly authentic. Over the years, many divers have searched the Gulf of Suez in vain for artifacts to verify the Biblical account. But carefully following the Biblical and historical records of the Exodus brings you to Nuweiba, a large beach in the Gulf of Aqaba , as Ron Wyatt discovered in 1978.

Repeated dives in depths ranging from 60 to 200 feet deep (18m to 60m), over a stretch of almost 2.5 km, has shown that the chariot parts are scattered across the sea bed. Artifacts found include wheels, chariot bodies, as well as human and horse bones. Divers have located on the Saudi coastline opposite Nuweiba as well.

Since 1987, Ron Wyatt found three four-spoke gilded chariot wheels. Coral does not grow on gold, hence the shape has remained very distinct, although the wood inside the gold veneer has disintegrated making them too fragile to move.



The hope for future expeditions is to explore the deeper waters with remote cameras or mini-subs. (ABOVE- GILDED CHARIOT WHEEL - Mute witness to the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea by the Hebrews 3,500 years ago. Found with a metal detector. Coral-encrusted chariot wheel, filmed off the Saudi coastline, matches chariot wheels found in Tutankhamen's tomb.



Mineralized bone, one of many found at the crossing site (above center). This one tested by the Department of Osteology at Stockholm University , was found to be a human femur, from the right leg of a 165-170 cm tall man. It is essentially 'fossilized, ' i.e. , replaced by minerals and coral, hence cannot be dated by radiocarbon methods, although this specimen was obviously from antiquity. Chariot wheel and axle covered with coral and up-ended. Exodus 14:25 'And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily...' Solomon's memorial pillars.

When Ron Wyatt first visited Nuweiba in 1978, he found a Phoenician style column lying in the water. Unfortunately the inscriptions had been eroded away, hence the column's importance was not understood until 1984 when a second granite column was found on the Saudi coastline opposite -- identical to the first, except on this one the inscription was still intact!
In Phoenician letters (Archaic Hebrew), it contained the words: Mizraim (Egypt ); Solomon; Edom ; death; Pharaoh; Moses; and Yahweh, indicating that King Solomon had set up these columns as a memorial to the miracle of the crossing of the sea. Saudi Arabiadoes not admit tourists, and perhaps fearing unauthorized visitors, the Saudi Authorities have since removed this column, and replaced it with a flag marker where it once stood.



How deep is the water? The Gulf of Aqaba is very deep: in places over a mile (1,600m) deep. Even with the sea dried up, walking across would be difficult due to the steep grade down the sides. But there is one spot where if the water were removed, it would be an easy descent for people and animals. This is the line between Nuweiba and the opposite shore in Saudi Arabia



Depth-sounding expeditions have revealed a smooth, gentle slope descending from Nuweiba out into the Gulf. This shows up almost like a pathway on depth-recording equipment, confirming it's Biblical description, '...a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.' (Isaiah 43:16)

The Bible writers frequently refer to the miracle of the Red Sea crossing, for it was an event which finds no equal in history. The Hebrew prophets describe the sea at the crossing site as '...the waters of the great deep...the depths of the sea...' (Isaiah 51:10)
Knowing the exact spot to which the Bible writers were referring, what is the depth there? The distance between Nuweiba and where artifacts have been found on Saudi coast is about 18 km (11 miles).

Along this line, the deepest point is about 800m (2,600 feet). No wonder that Inspired writers of the Bible described it as the mighty waters. And no wonder that not a single Egyptian survived when the water collapsed in upon them. ( Above right NUWEIBA BEACH- the spot where the crossing began)

What is the central message of the Bible?

The Bible addresses many basic issues of life and death, of the present and the future, and so it is difficult to select just one theme as the main one. Students of the Bible have generally grouped the leading topics treated in the Bible under two main heads. Let's look briefly at both of them.
The first school suggests that the main message of the Bible is the wonderful presentation of salvation. The good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is the fundamental message of the Scripture. Under this head there are many basic truths:
  • God created a majestic universe and crowned it by forming the first man and woman in sinless perfection.
  • Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation from Satan, and fell into sin and shame. The consequences of sin are obvious, but people everywhere still love to rebel against God.
  • Yet God did not abandon humanity on its course to destruction. He chose one people to demonstrate his special care and from them to provide a Savior for the whole world.
  • God sent his own son Jesus Christ to bear the awesome consequences of sin. God does not just blithely disregard sin, but he poured out all the terror of eternal condemnation on his son in those terrible hours of suffering and death on the cross.
  • In the resurrection of Jesus, God demonstrates his victory over sin and calls people everywhere to identify with this victory by faith in Jesus Christ.
  • In living in this salvation, we know that life is not meaningless, but we live surrounded by God's love, and bound for eternity with him.
The second school of thought views the main message of the Bible from a much different perspective. These readers agree that salvation is certainly very important, but it is only part of a much greater message. That bigger message goes far beyond the man-centered focus of salvation to embrace the purpose of all time and space. We may call this message the revelation of God's plan and purpose for the universe. Under this head there are also many basic truths:
  • God in his dynamic and creative essence resolved to create the universe and delight in it.
  • However, God is not the sole transcendent being. There is a rebellious and fallen being named Satan who opposes God and his plan. He deceives and undermines God's purpose everywhere.
  • This conflict marks all history and results in two kingdoms. Satan foments disorder and all that is bizarre and sinister. Quarreling and dissension among God's people is often his most horrid device.
  • In sending his son Jesus Christ, God established the decisive hour in this conflict. In his servanthood, Jesus was the opposite of all the pomp, pride, greed and egoism that Satan promotes.
  • In Christ's death, Satan declared victory over God, but the resurrection turned that seeming victory into actual defeat.
  • Satan still prowls the world, but he realizes he cannot win. God's people are now heralds of his present and coming kingdom. Gradually the contours of the final conflict emerge across the world.
  • Eventually evil so captivates and enslaves humanity that the climactic end time of history arrives. Finally, Christ returns to earth as the victor and God's kingdom is established for all eternity. The purpose of God's creation and universal plan is achieved.
Both these majestic messages are found in the Bible. They are simply two perspectives on one majestic theme: God's Plan For His People And His Cosmic Kingdom. What is your heart's response to his message?

When was the Bible written?

The Bible was not written in one specific year or in a single location. The Bible is a collection of writings, and the earliest ones were set down nearly 3500 years ago. So let's start at the beginning of this fascinating story.
The first five books of the Bible are attributed to Moses and are commonly called the Pentateuch (literally "five scrolls").
Moses lived between 1500 and 1300 BC, though he recounts events in the first eleven chapters of the Bible that occurred long before his time (such as the creation and the flood).
These earliest accounts were handed on from generation to generation in songs, narratives, and poetry.
In those early societies there was no writing as yet and people passed on these oral accounts with great detail and accuracy.
The earliest writing began when symbols were scratched or pressed on clay tablets. The Egyptians refined this technique and developed an early form of writing known as hieroglyphics. The Bible tells us that Moses was "educated in all the learning of the Egyptians", so he would have been familiar with the major writing systems of his time. We also read that God gave Moses "two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God"(Exodus 31:18). All this leads to the conclusion that the earliest writings in the Bible were set down around 1400 BC.
The writings of the thirty or so other contributors to the Old Testament span a thousand years! They recount the times and messages from Moses' successor, Joshua, to the last of the Old Testament prophets, Malachi, who wrote his little tract around 450 BC.
Then there is a 500-year period when no writings were contributed to the Bible. This is the period between the testaments, when Alexander the Great conquered much of the world and when the Greek language was introduced to the Hebrews. Indeed, they began to use Greek so much that the Hebrew language was replaced by Greek and by another language, Aramaic, which was spoken all over that area of the world at that time.
The New Testament was written during a much shorter period, i.e. during the last half of the first century AD.
  • It was the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, which ignited the flame that produced the New Testament, as the new faith swept across the Near East and then westward to Greece and on to Rome.
  • Half of the New Testament books were contributed by one man, the Apostle Paul, in the epistles he sent to groups of new Christians and to his assistants Timothy and Titus.
  • The Bible closes with a majestic book of visions and dramatic views of the future. It was penned by the aged Apostle John around 95 AD and describes the new heaven and the new earth when God's kingdom will embrace the universe and all rebellion and death will be a thing of the past.
In looking at all these dates, the important thing to remember is that when the Bible was written is not as important as what was written. However, the when is important also as we sense how God's presence persisted through the centuries and gave us "in the fullness of time" the full-orbed revelation of salvation and hope through his son Jesus Christ.

Who are the Authors of the Bible? or Who wrote the Bible?

Many people contributed to the writing of the Bible. Actually, the Bible is a collection of writings from about forty contributors, thirty in the Old Testament and ten in the New Testament. For example, the Psalms are a collection of the works of several authors, of whom David, the "sweet singer of Israel", is the best known. But psalms were also written by Moses, by Asaph, by a man named Ethan, and by the sons of Korah.
The accounts which have been preserved in the Old Testament date from the earliest times and were both written down and communicated orally. As time passed, they were collected together and received by the Hebrews as coming to them by God's mandate. The prophets transmit God's message to humans, while many of the Psalms articulate cries of people to God. Both types of writing are preserved in the Bible as part of God's message to mankind.
The New Testament stories and teachings were widely circulated among the early Christian churches. The letters of Paul to the Christians in several cities were likely the earliest writings now found in the New Testament. But many other letters and epistles were circulated as well. Gradually it became clear to the early churches which writings were truly inspired and which were spurious or simply edifying messages from pious authors.
It is truly amazing that all forty of these authors, spread out over 1600 years, have such a unified message in spite of their great diversity in language, culture, and time. There is a reason for that! The reason is that these forty or so writers are all secondary authors. There is actually only one primary author, the one who inspired all the human authors, the eternal God.
Christians believe that the Bible came to us from God himself, who used all these human authors to give us His message, through the presence and inspiration of His Spirit. He did not simply give dictation to these authors, because we observe their unique personalities and varying styles of writing shining through. But God's message, God's authorship, is always there, providing exactly what He wanted us to have. In this way the Bible is our own ageless treasure.

What is the Bible? and What is it for?

The Bible is the account of God's action in the world, and his purpose with all creation. The writing of the Bible took place over sixteen centuries and is the work of over forty human authors. It is quite an amazing collection of 66 books with very different styles, all containing the message God desired us to have.
This compilation of booklets contains an astonishing variety of literary styles. It provides many stories about the lives of good and bad people, about battles and journeys, about the life of Jesus, and about early church activity. It comes to us in narratives and dialogues, in proverbs and parables, in songs and allegories, in history and prophecy.
The accounts in the Bible were not generally written down as they occurred. Rather they were told over and over again and handed down through the years, before evetually being written down. Yet the same themes may be found throughout the book. Along with the diversity there is also remarkable unity throughout.
So what is the Bible? Well, in addition to all the above, the Bible is:
  • A guide for living life to the full. It gives us a road map for the perilous journey of life. Or to put it another way, on our voyage through life's ocean, the Bible is an anchor.
  • A storehouse of wonderful stories for children and grownups. Remember Noah and the ark? Joseph's coat of many colors? Daniel in the lion's den? Jonah and the fish? The parables of Jesus? These stories empahsize the triumphs and failures of ordinary people.
  • A refuge in trouble. People in pain, in suffering, in prison, and in mourning tell how turning to the Bible brought strength in their desperate hour.
  • A treasury of insight as to who we are. We are not meaningless robots, but we are magnificent creatures of a God who loves us and gives us a purpose and a destiny.
  • A sourcebook for everyday living. We find standards for our conduct, guidelines for knowing right from wrong, and principles to help us in a confused society where so often "anything goes."

Thursday 17 July 2014

What was the main reason Hebrew was revived? -Because of the Bible?

In what language was the Bible first written?

The first human author to write down the biblical record was Moses. He was commanded by God to take on this task, for Exodus 34:27 records God's words to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." And what language did he use? He wrote in his native language, called Hebrew.
Hebrew is one of a group of languages known as the Semitic languages which were spoken throughout that part of the world, then called Mesopotamia, located today mainly in Iraq. Their alphabet consisted of 22 letters, all consonants. (Imagine having an alphabet with no vowels! Much later they did add vowels.)
During the thousand years of its composition, almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. But a few chapters in the prophecies of Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah were written in a language called Aramaic. This language became very popular in the ancient world and actually displaced many other languages. Aramaic even became the common language spoken in Israel in Jesus' time, and it was likely the language He spoke day by day. Some Aramaic words were even used by the Gospel writers in the New Testament.
The New Testament, however, was written in Greek. This seems strange, since you might think it would be either Hebrew or Aramaic. However, Greek was the language of scholarship during the years of the composition of the New Testament from 50 to 100 AD. The fact is that many Jews could not even read Hebrew anymore, and this disturbed the Jewish leaders a lot! So, around 300 BC a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek was undertaken, and it was completed around 200 BC. Gradually this Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, was widely accepted and was even used in many synagogues. It also became a wonderful missionary tool for the early Christians, for now the Greeks could read God's Word in their own tongue.
So the New Testament authors wrote in Greek. They did not, however, use really high-class or classical Greek, but a very common and everyday type of Greek. For many years some scholars ridiculed the Greek of the New Testament because many of its words were strange to those who read the writings of the great Greek classical authors such as Plato and Aristotle. But later many records were uncovered of ordinary people, and amazingly there were the same common terms used in everyday speech! The ridicule dried up accordingly.
The earliest copies of parts of the Hebrew Old Testament were discovered in 1947. They are part of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls and actually date back to the first century BC. Even though they are at least 900 years older than any parts of the Bible we had before this, they are not the originals. They are copies. The originals have all been lost or destroyed. But we are not at all doubtful that we may not have the original text. Copying by scribes was done with great care in those days and because the text was regarded as sacred, the copyists were extremely painstaking. Today some 5000 hand-copied documents exist of all or part of the Bible, and they agree in 98% of the text! No other ancient writing has this amount of underlying support with such amazing agreement as to the text.
Yes, we do have what God wanted us to have! By way of translation, we now have His revelation in our own language and in 2300 other languages, too. Today we have the very Bible that comes to us from the three languages used in the original. Truly we can say, "God speaks my language, too!"

Hebrew a Dead Language revived after 1700 years- Surely God's Miracle.

Once 'dead' language brings Israel to life Hebrew: After 1,700 years, a revived language becomes a common thread knitting together a nation of immigrants with little in common except religion.
 
April 26, 1998|By Dan Fesperman | Dan Fesperman,SUN FOREIGN STAFF Contributors to this section; Sun research librarians Paul McCardell, Jean Packard and Andrea Wilson, and news intern Brenda Santamaria, contributed to these articles.
 
JERUSALEM - It was a dead language, an 8,000-word relic. And as 19th-century Jewish pilgrims began settling the hills and valleys of what would become Israel, the status of Hebrew seemed like that of the crumbling Roman aqueducts strung across the landscape - interesting to study but unfit for restoration.
Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, felt that way, wanting no part of a language that you couldn't even use to buy a train ticket. Use German or English, he said, or both.
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That left it up to lingual zealot Eliezer Perlmann, who arrived in Jerusalem from Lithuania in 1882, changed his name to Ben Yehuda and took up the cause of Hebrew. Infusing it with new words and the hot blood of nationalism, he spoke nothing but Hebrew at home while browbeating family and friends to do the same.
In doing so, he and a handful of others helped turn Hebrew into Israel's national language. It seems an inspired act of genius. Without the revival of Hebrew - 50,000 words and growing - many linguists believe Israel would be a society of competing tongues, yet another reason for discord among a people for whom Babel has long been a cautionary tale.
"It was very important because the different Jewish communities who were already in Palestine, especially the older ones, didn't have anything in common except religion," said Dr. Gabriel Birnbaum, academic secretary of the Hebrew Language Academy, the official arbiter of the language. "They spoke Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino [a medieval mix of Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic] and didn't intermarry. And, of course, when the new immigrants came, they were all from different cultures and languages. Ben Yehuda understood that and said there would be no revival of the state or homeland without a common language."
Now, said writer Amos Elon in his book "The Israelis," Hebrew is "more than a language. The insistence on its usage reflected a program, an attitude to life, to history, and to society."
After 1,700 years of disuse, revival did not come quickly or without lingering resistance. In ancient times, Hebrew gradually lost out to Aramaic until it virtually disappeared from the region, along with most of the Jews, by around the year 200.
Today, pockets of German immigrants still speak mostly German, read their own newspapers and tune in to German imports on cable TV. Many of the 800,000 Russians who moved && to Israel in the past several years speak Russian first, Hebrew second, if at all. Signs in their communities are in Cyrillic.
Language is another way in which Israel's 1 million Arab citizens are set apart, by the very words from their mouths, although most can speak and read Hebrew.
Great waves of immigration have always challenged the unifying power of the language. The surge of newcomers in the years just before and after statehood meant that by 1954, only 61 percent of the population spoke Hebrew as their first language, down from 75 percent in 1948.
In those days, one occasionally saw signs ordering people not to speak Yiddish. All the while, Hebrew's guardians have kept pumping new words into dictionaries and conversations. The role first fell to the Hebrew Language Council, a creation of Ben Yehuda and friends in 1890.
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"For 20 years or so, this experiment wasn't so successful," Birnbaum said. "Most scholars and authors didn't believe that such a thing could succeed, so they ridiculed him quite a bit."
But the skeptics didn't factor in Yehuda's energy and fanaticism.
"Ben Yehuda's wife knew no Hebrew; while still on shipboard he told her that in Palestine they would speak nothing but Hebrew," Elon wrote. "He ruthlessly kept his vow. When his first son, Itamar, was born, he became the first child in centuries to hear only Hebrew from both his parents and almost nothing from anyone else, for he was kept isolated from all human contact lest the purity of his Hebrew be spoiled by alien sounds. ... It was a risky undertaking. The language was still archaic. Many words ,, indispensable in modern intercourse were missing. The child had no playmates; until his third year he remained almost mute and often refused to utter a word."
Yehuda and his allies drew their initial vocabulary from the Talmud, the Old Testament and a few ancient scholarly writings, but even this meager base of 8,000 words didn't always come with clear meanings. So they improvised, working out their own interpretations then growing word roots into other uses. "Milla," for "word," became "millon," for "dictionary."
The Knesset, Hebrew for "parliament," created the Hebrew Language Institute in 1954 to take over the job. Still, there were false starts. "Khozi," meaning "envision," didn't work out as the word for a video because it sounded too much like "khoisik," which means "ridicule." And with everything from Israeli army slang to foreign words, especially English, creeping into everyday Hebrew, the academy's problem today is often the same as it was for Yehuda's associates, Birnbaum said:

"They saw that it was very easy to coin a word. The difficult thing was agreeing that it should be the word. There is an old saying, 'Where there are two Jews, there are three views.'"
One measure of reborn Hebrew's relative youth, as well as Israel's, is that no regional accents have developed in the dTC country, linguists say. Accents are instead based on nationalities - Russian, American, German, Ethiopian, South African.
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In an age when Hebrew's almost runic characters skitter across virtually every Israeli billboard and computer screen, no one questions Hebrew's durability any longer. Look on a philological chart subdividing the world's languages and you will find modern Hebrew afloat on a linguistic Dead Sea in the category of Semitic languages, bobbing next to Arabic above sunken tongues such as Assyrian, Babylonian, Moabite, Phoenician, Punic, Ugaritic, Aramaic and Samaritan.
For some such as former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, language offers a more powerful engine than religion in driving immigration. Establish a Hebrew school abroad, he said, and in a few years, newcomers begin arriving from there, which is why he advocates paying for an entire network of such institutions.
"I, personally, am a product of such a process," Shamir said. "Almost all of the people who learned with me in this school [in Poland] came here like me, without any special propaganda."
There are times, though, when linguists wonder what might have become of their country if Yehuda and a few like-minded souls had never come ashore.
"One can't rule out that several languages would have been spoken, maybe three or four main ones," Birnbaum said. Maybe German, for instance, as well as its close kin, Yiddish. English, too.
"And maybe Arabic could also have been one of them," Birnbaum said. "What that would have done to the relationship between Israelis and Arabs is also a very interesting question. Whether it would have made it better or worse, no one can say."

Wednesday 16 July 2014

The Rebirth of Israel is a Sign of the End



“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.” (Matt. 24:32-33)
Many students of prophecy identify the Lesson of the Fig Tree in Matt. 24 as a reference to Israel. While the fig tree is often used to symbolize Israel, this is not one of those times.

The fig tree is one of the last trees to bud in the spring, so when it begins to get leaves people know that summer is right around the corner. There’ll be no more false starts, no more cold snaps. Summer is now certain and soon. Jesus used this analogy to tell people who’ll be on Earth at the time that when they see the things he described beginning in Matt. 24:15, they’ll know that His coming is really near.
Earlier in Matt. 24 He had told them that wars and rumors of war will be characteristic of the age (Matt. 24:6), and that the earthquakes and famines they’ll notice will be like the beginning of birth pangs, mild and infrequent at first but more intense and more frequent as the end approaches (Matt. 24:7-8). Then there’ll be increased anti-semitism, apostasy, false prophets and deception, in the midst of which the Gospel will be preached in all nations (Matt. 24:9-14).
But when they see the Abomination of Desolation, a man standing in the Temple telling people he’s God, things will begin to get serious fast and the countdown will begin on the most terrifying period of time in the history of man. This is what He compared to the fig tree getting leaves. When they see that, they know that His return is certain and soon. That’s the lesson of the Fig Tree.

Now Where Do We Go?

So then, if the fig tree isn’t symbolic of Israel why are we convinced that the events of 1948 marked the beginning of the end?
First of all, you don’t need the Lesson of the Fig Tree to place Israel in Matt. 24. If you read the passage carefully, you’ll see that Jesus gave three crystal clear signs that there would be a generation of Old Covenant believing Jews in Israel before the Great Tribulation begins, and they are the ones He was addressing.
The first clue is the Abomination of Desolation, something that hasn’t happened since Jesus gave the warning. It will be seen standing in the Holy Place. (Matt.24:15) That’s the Jewish Temple, a building that can only be present when Israel occupies the Promised Land.
The second clue is that the people he’s telling to flee are in Judea, the name by which the Biblical land of Israel was known during the time of the Lord’s visitation. (Matt. 24:16)
And the third clue is for them to pray their flight won’t take place on a Sabbath. Matt. 24:20) Only observant Jews would be worried about this because they can only walk 1000 paces on the Sabbath, not nearly far enough to even get out of town, let alone into the mountains.
Some people ask how Israel’s re-birth could be the sign that starts the clock running on the end times when  there’s no mention of it in Matt. 24.  It’s true, in the Olivet Discourse the Lord never came right out and said Israel would cease to exist and then be re-born 2,000 years later.  But there are clear prophecies of just such a thing in the Old Testament.  For example  Moses warned the people at least twice of the terrible things that would happen if they rejected the Lord.  In Deut. 4:25-27 he said their disobedience would cause the Lord to scatter them among the nations.  Then in Deut 4:30 He said that in the latter days during a time of tribulation they would return to the Lord and obey Him again.
And starting in Deut. 28:15 Moses listed the disasters that would come upon them, culminating in verses 63 and 64 when he said they would be up rooted from the land and scattered among the nations, from one end of the Earth to the other.   And once again, he said, even if they had been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, the Lord would bring them back (Deut. 30:4), and if they agreed to obey His covenant again He would make them prosperous, and then He would circumcise their hearts (see Romans 2:28-29), put their enemies to flight, and delight in them again.  Deut 30:1-10 is a clear summary of End Times events.  They’ll be brought back into the land, their enemies will be cursed and their covenant will be restored (Ezekiel 38-39), their hearts will be circumcised (Zechariah 12:10), and their prosperity will be restored (Isaiah 65:17-25). This sequence of events is coming to pass today, just as Moses said it would.
So as far back as the wilderness wanderings, the Lord had foretold of Israel’s scattering and subsequent regathering in the latter days.  Because of their disobedience they would be driven from the land. After an extended period of time He would bring them back.  Their return would be a sign to all the world that the End of the Age is upon us.  We saw above that in the context of the Olivet Discourse Israel is already in the land and back in their (old) covenant relationship with God.  That’s why Jesus didn’t mention the re-birth of the nation among the signs He gave. The first specific end times sign He mentioned is the Abomination of Desolation, something that will happen about 3.5 years before He returns.

Are There Others?

There are other places where the Bible promises that the nation Israel will exist in its Biblical lands at the End of the Age as well, such as Ezekiel 36-37.
Beginning in chapter 36 Ezekiel shifted from his message of current judgment to one of future hope. He began writing these chapters after he learned that Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians and its desolation had begun. Having earlier prophesied against the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 6) he now began speaking promises to them. Reminding the mountains that he had pronounced judgment against the surrounding nations for trying to possess them, and for plundering and ridiculing the towns that had dwelt upon them, the Lord had Ezekiel say,
” 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. I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk upon you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.” (Ezekiel 36:8-13)
While this was partially fulfilled after the Babylonian captivity, the people were driven off the land again in the first century AD, so the complete fulfillment had to begin sometime after that. Earlier, Isaiah had prophesied that there would be a second return, and his contemporary Amos said that after that one they would never be uprooted again. So that’s the one we’re looking for.
In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. (Isaiah 11:11)
I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:14-15)
According to history the second fulfillment officially began in 1948. Why did the Lord finally do this? What had they done to deserve it?
This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 36:22-23)
Frequently the Lord had His prophets first give a sweeping overview statement to describe a promise and then fill in the details afterward. Such is the case with Ezekiel’s next declaration.
“For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!” (Ezekiel 36:24-32)
Clearly the complete fulfillment of this promise to Israel is yet future to us. But its magnitude is striking. God promised that Israel would be brought back into its Biblical lands, something we see is already in process. Then the people will be cleansed from all their sins, given a new heart, and the Holy Spirit will come to dwell within them. (Obviously, this hasn’t happened yet, because it can only happen when one is born again.) Then the Kingdom promises will begin coming true and the people will remember their former sinful ways and detest themselves. This is another indication of the indwelling Holy Spirit’s work, convicting them of their sins. This is the same way things happened for you and me. In a general sense, we knew we were sinners in need of a Savior when we first went to the altar, but we didn’t understand the full extent of our depravity until after we were saved and the Holy Spirit began to reveal it to us in depth.

The Valley Of Dry Bones

Now, let’s look at Ezekiel 37 where the dramatic rebirth of the nation is foretold in the vision of the valley of dry bones.
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” (Ezekiel 37:1-6)
Picture yourself standing in a large valley whose floor is strewn with bones. They’re scattered around randomly, none of them connected to another, bleached and dry. It looks like they’ve been dumped there some time ago and left, as if who ever did it had no further use for them.
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. (Ezekiel 37:7-8)
In what looks like an animator’s dream, the bones slowly begin to rise and join themselves together from the feet up to form skeletons, each bone in its proper place. Tendons appear and begin to snake along the bones attaching themselves to make the bones move. As each one connects you can hear the clicking sounds of the tendons conducting tests, making the bones move on command. Muscle and flesh begin to cover them and finally skin spreads out along limbs and around torsos, enclosing the muscle and flesh and giving the bodies a finished, though lifeless, form.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezekiel 37:9-10)
The breath that gives them life comes from the four winds, used symbolically to represent a sovereign act of God. This tells us that though they are now living beings, they are not yet possessed of the Spirit of God. That will come later, as we’ll see. The people would first be gathered together in unbelief, a secular nation. This is seen in their status today, brought back after a 2000 year absence by a sovereign act of God, but not yet a covenant people again. This is what God meant when He said it wouldn’t be because they deserved it, but because He promised it.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ “ (Ezekiel 37:11-14)
Notice the Lord has Ezekiel speaking to the whole house of Israel.  There are no lost tribes.  The complete fulfillment of the Dry Bones prophecy requires two more things only God can do. He must put His Spirit in them and He must bring the faithful of their past out of the grave to join them. His Spirit will come when they’re ready to recognize Him as the Messiah they put to death so long ago. Zechariah said this would happen during their final time of trial at the end of the age.
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zechariah 12:10)
(In the Hebrew language, this verse reveals an astonishing secret. After the phrase They will look on me … it contains two untranslated letters, an aleph and a tau. They are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So the verse literally reads, “They will look on me, the Aleph and the Tau …”  In Genesis 1:1 the same two Hebrew letters show up after the phrase In the beginning, God … So it reads In the beginning God, the Aleph and the Tau …  In Genesis 1 the Father is in view, but in Zechariah 12 it’s the Son.  Was God planting little clues that He and the Messiah are one? Well, look at Revelation 1:8;
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
The original language of the Revelation is Greek where the first and last letters of the alphabet are Alpha and Omega. Now let’s read the words of Jesus in Revelation 22:13;
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Aleph and Tau, first and last in Hebrew.  Alpha and Omega, first and last in Greek.  Both languages referring to both the Father and the Son.  Someone’s trying to tell us something.)
Daniel 12:1-2 says that following the Great Tribulation Daniel’s people will come out of their tombs, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. This is the Bible’s first mention of two resurrections, one for the faithful and one for the damned.  Jews who are resurrected to life will dwell in Israel during the Millennium, the final fulfillment of Ezekiel 37:13. From Rev. 20:11-15 we learn that the resurrection of the damned will happen 1000 years later at the Great White Throne judgment.

When Will This Happen?

So it’s clear that the End Times began when Israel became a nation again in 1948.  The testimony of Moses, Isaiah, Amos, Ezekiel and others all confirm this.  But how long will they last?  Remember, the Disciples had asked Jesus, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the End of the Age? (Matt. 24:3).  Giving us the timing of their beginning  doesn’t fully answer the question.  We have to know the time of their end as well.  The Lord was clear that the sign of the 2nd Coming would appear after the end of the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:30).  Then He said “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (Matt. 24:34).
There are three possible views of the phrase  “this generation”.  Some believe it refers to the generation alive when Jesus spoke.  Their contention is that the Olivet Discourse prophecies were all fulfilled by 70 AD.  I can not find any way to make this view conform to a literal interpretation of Scripture.  At best it’s only a partial fulfillment, which means it confirms the fact that there will be a complete fulfillment in the End Times.   Others use a secondary meaning for the Greek word translated generation and say it refers to the Jewish race.  To them the verse says the Jewish people will not disappear from the Earth until all the End Times prophecies are fulfilled.  While linguistically possible this interpretation isn’t really a legitimate sign.  It’s not the existence of the Jewish race that’s important, it’s the existence of the nation Israel.  Without Israel, End Times prophecies simply can not be fulfilled.  That leaves the third alternative, that Jesus was speaking of the generation alive at the End of the Age.   But even this is not a pertinent sign unless by the phrase “all these things” Jesus was speaking of everything that followed the re-birth of the nation.
Think about this for a moment.  When Jesus said “This generation will certainly not pass away”  he was referring to the life time of one generation of people, saying in effect that all the End Times signs would be fulfilled within the lifetime of the people being born when they began.  According to Psalm 90:10 and Isaiah 23:15 this means a 70 year period of time. In fact among some Jews, a man who has reached the age of 83 will customarily celebrate a second bar mitzvah, under the logic that a “normal” lifespan is 70 years, so that an 83-year-old can be considered 13 in a second lifetime. (Jewish boys normally celebrate their first bar mitzvah at age 13.)  This practice has become increasingly common.
From a timing standpoint the signs Jesus listed in Matt. 24 can be split into two groups, neither of which fit that criteria.  There are the general signs of Matt. 24:4-14 that are either characteristic of the entire age or of indeterminate duration (like birth pangs).  And there are the specific signs of Matt. 24:15-31 that all happen with in 3.5 years. Why would He say all these things would happen within a lifetime when Daniel was already on record giving their duration as 3.5 years (Daniel 12:7)?  It doesn’t make sense.
There’s only one End Times sign that meets the criteria and that’s the one that began the End Times, the re-birth of the Nation.  (The reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 can’t be considered for 2 reasons.  First, according to Zechariah 14:2 it will be divided again, but more importantly the Lord’s prophecy about Jerusalem being trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21:24) won’t fully come to pass until the 2nd Coming.)
Israel officially became a nation again in 1948.  If that event began a 70 year countdown to the 2nd Coming and the End of the Age, then the increasing number of predictions in the secular world of coming social and economic upheaval, electromagnetic storms and other natural disasters, combined with wars in various places should not come as any surprise to us.  You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. (06-19-10)