ISRAEL - Messianic Times Now?
Rabbi Shmuel Ariel, rosh kollel of Yeshivat Yerucham, wrote, “The main reason to say that we are witnessing the beginning of the redemption is not various signs, calculations, or the like—but rather from what we see with our own eyes as we look around! Redemption is a multi-faceted concept, but three of its very fundamental components are these: the Nation of Israel’s return to its land; the abolition of our subjugation to foreigners, meaning our renewed national sovereignty; and the blossoming of the Land of Israel. We see these three things happening in front of our eyes!”
Rabbi Moshe Lichtman, famed Zionist scholar and author, demonstrated that the idea we are living in a messianic era isn’t a new or minority-held view: “Shortly after the establishment of the State, more than two hundred of the greatest rabbis of the Land issued a proclamation... Dated Friday, 20th of Tevet, 5709 (January 21, 1949) the document opened with these words: ‘We thank God for granting us the privilege—with His abundant mercy and kindness—to witness the first buds of the beginning of redemption, through the establishment of the State of Israel.’
Rabbi Soloveitchik explained, “No one can deny that the establishment of the State of Israel, in a political sense, was an almost supernatural occurrence.”
Without prophecy, it is impossible to definitively know whether the establishment of the State of Israel is a step in the redemptive process. There are those who are convinced that Israel’s existence and the benefits it has brought to the Jewish people clearly point to a hastened redemption...
-www.jpost.com, 13 October 2024
Arno's Commentary
The regathering of the Jews to land of Israel is clearly documented throughout the Old Testament. In particular, we point to the prophet Ezekiel in chapters 34–37. “And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country” (Ezekiel 34:13). This is God’s declaration, authorized with the eternal “I will.”
Historically, we know that from 1882 to 1903, about 25,000 Jews arrived in Israel, mainly from Russia, Romania, and 2,500 from Yemen. The process of the Jews’ return to the land was politically managed by Zionism. But, above and beyond, it is still the “I will” of God who caused Jews to return to the land of their fathers.
The first 7 verses of chapter 36 are addressed to the topographical land of Israel. Then verse 8 gives the reason: “But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.”
Verse 26 reads: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” We notice “new heart … new spirit.” Jews from all over the world were not only united, but they became different people—courageous farmers and extremely brave soldiers.
But that’s not the end, for we read in verse 27: “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” That is yet to be fulfilled.
The various rabbis who study Scripture all their lives indicate that this is the beginning of the Messianic age, which will lead to the fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
