When Israel Became A Nation

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Wednesday May 13, 2009

Since tomorrow is the anniversary of the date Israel became a nation again in 1948, lets look at how and why it happened!

First of all, Israel becoming a nation again was prophecied in Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 36:24 (NIV)
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.

The land was a desert until Israel became a nation again in 1948. Now it is a beautiful land, just as God said it would be:

Ezekiel 36:33-35 (NIV)
33. "`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. 34. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. 35. 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." 36. 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.'

Secondly, the actual DATE that Israel became a nation was prophesied in the Bible!
May 14, 1948 (Midnight, Iyar 6)

Ezekiel 40:1-6 (NIV)
In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city- on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me there.
2. In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. 3. He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. 4. The man said to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see."
5. I saw a wall completely surrounding the temple area. The length of the measuring rod in the man's hand was six long cubits, each of which was a cubit and a handbreadth. He measured the wall; it was one measuring rod thick and one rod high. 6. Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate; it was one rod deep.

The date given by Ezekiel in verse 1 is Nisan 10, 573 BC.

There were 2520 years (1260 plus 1260, or 360 times 7 years) from the date when Ezekiel saw the temple measured in Ezekiel 40 until 1948 when Israel became a nation again!

573 BC plus 2520 (1260 plus 1260) years = 1948 AD Pentecost

Israel became a nation at midnight on Sivan 5 on the 360 day calendar, which was May 14 evening to May 15 evening in 1948, upon the termination of the British mandate. Sivan 5 was PENTECOST on the Jewish calendar!

From the date when Ezekiel saw the temple measured in Ezekiel 40 until 1948 when Israel became a nation, there were 2520 years; or 1260 plus 1260 years; or 7 years x 360.

Ezekiel refers to "an everlasting covenant" that God would make with Israel:

Ezekiel 37:26 (NIV)
26. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever.

Both the old covenant and the new covenant were established on Pentecost; the old one in 1446 BC, and the new one on AD 30.

God established an "everlasting covenant" with Abraham and his descendants:

Genesis 17:7 (NIV)
7. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

That covenant included the physical land as an inheritance for Israel:

1 Chronicles 16:15-18 (NIV)
15. He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, 16. the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. 17. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
18. "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit."

Israel became a nation again on PENTECOST of 1948! Pentecost is the day that both the old and new covenants were fulfilled! It is also the day that God fulfilled His covenant by bringing Israel back to their own land!

1260 years times two represents the same in days as the prophecies of Daniel 9, Daniel 12, and Rev. 12-13. The time span of 1260 times two days equals a seven-year period on the 360 day calendar. 360 days times 7 years = 2520, or 1260 x 2.

To use the 360 calendar rather than the regular Jewish calendar is consistent with the Bible's prophecies: there are 'seven years' of years (as derived from the 360 day calendar) from Ezekiel 40 until 1948 'Pentecost,' which is also derived from the 360 day calendar. The 360 day calendar is consistently used.

Revelation 11:1-3 (NIV)
1. I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. 2. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."

42 months is 1260 days on the 360 day calendar. 42 x 30 days-in-a-month equals 1260 days, which is half of a seven year period of 1260 times two days.

The only question is why there was not an exact 2520 years TO THE DAY between the prophecy of Ezekiel 40 and Israel becoming a nation. Instead of the date being Nisan 10 of the year 1948, it was Sivan 5.

We have already seen that the old and new covenants that were both fully established on Pentecost, and that would be reason enough that Israel was born again as a nation on Pentecost. Israel became a nation again in keeping with those covenants, but there is another reason.

Ezekiel received his vision Nisan 10, 573 BC, and Nisan 10 is the anniversary of when Israel entered the Promised Land!! 1260 years times-two later Israel once again entered the Promised land (in 1948)!

Joshua 4:19 (NIV)
On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.

Ezekiel 40:1 (NIV)
In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city- on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me there.

God intended that Israel enter the Promised land about 40 years before they actually did. God intended that Israel enter the Promised land one year after the covenant at Sinai, 1446-1445 BC.

Deuteronomy 1:3-8 (NIV)
3. In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. 4. This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.
5. East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying: 6. The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates.
8. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers--to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and to their descendants after them."

So in 1948, the land of Israel returned to the Jews on Pentecost; the anniversary of when God intended Israel to take the Promised Land!

When God poured out His Holy Spirit on Pentecost AD 30, Jesus brought the church into their 'promised-land' rest that day also. The church was "born" the day Jesus arose from the dead; but they were given the POWER to "possess the land" on Pentecost!

There is an exact 1260 years times-two between the measuring of the temple in Ezekiel 40 on Nisan 10, until Israel became a nation in 1948 on Pentecost in the sense that both Nisan 10 and Pentecost symbolize basically the same thing.

Nisan 10 was also the anniversary of when the Passover lamb was selected for Passover sacrifice. Nisan 10 is also the anniversary of the "triumphal entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem as 'king' a few days before His death on Passover.

Jesus is the new Joshua that leads His people into the Promised land as both Priest and King thereby again combining the two aspects of the meaning of these two dates. We have the covenant of blood led by the priests, and the entry into the promised land led by the captain and king of the covenant. Jesus fulfills both aspects.

On the day that they were selecting the lamb for Passover, the Jews also shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David! - Blessed is the King of Israel!" (Matthew 21:15, John 12:12-13) That was on the exact anniversary of Joshua's triumphal crossing of the Jordan to possess the land.

Pentecost was one of the three mandatory Jewish feasts held every year. Pentecost means '50', and it occurred 50 days after the first barley harvest. Pentecost celebrated the ingathering of the wheat harvest. Pentecost is symbolic of the harvest of souls into God's kingdom.

It was on Pentecost that God gave POWER to the church, and a harvest of 3,000 souls were saved and baptized in water that day. (Acts 2:41). On Nisan 10 Israel crossed the Jordan. They were symbolicly all baptized in the Jordan.

So what is significant about the time frame of "1260 plus 1260" years in relation to Ezekiel 40 and Israel becoming a nation?

This is the very time frame used in the bible to symbolize all that has been said so far as to what Nisan 10 and Pentecost represent! This is the time frame that matches the prophecy.

The prophecy of the "1260 days" found in Revelation 11 ties in directly with Ezekiel 40. Most any commentary on the bible will point this out. One prophecy is adapted from the other. In both cases there is the measuring of the temple with a rod while in a vision. To have this very time frame of '1260-times-two' years between the measuring of the temple by Ezekiel until Israel again became a nation is amazing!

The first place that the bible explicitly mentions the time frame of 1260 days is found in Revelation 11:3, when power was given to the "Two Witnesses."

Revelation 11:1-3 (NIV)
1. I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. 2. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."

Ezekiel 40:3,4 (NIV)
3. He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. 4. The man said to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see."

This obviously alludes to when God 'poured out His Holy Spirit' on the disciples at Pentecost so that they might have power to witness! Thus again we have the connection between Pentecost and 1260, and therefore in turn the connection back to the 1260 years times two - to Pentecost 1948.

Acts 1:8 (NIV)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

The Two Witnesses come back to life after 3.5 days (at the end of the 1260 days of prophesying) when a "breath enters them." This is the imagery of Pentecost.

In Revelation 12 we have the second (and last) explicit reference to "1260 days". The 1260 day time period is patterned after the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness 40 years. This is significant since Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after it was supposed to enter the Promised land on Pentecost, but did not do so until 40 years later on Nisan 10.

So the "1260 days" of Revelation 12 is patterned after a period of time that stretched 40 years between the same two anniversaries that the 1260 years times two spans. And the theme is the same as well! That is, the 40 year wilderness wandering spanned from Pentecost 1445 to Nisan 10 1406 BC, just as the 1260 years times-two (patterned after the 40 years) similarly spanned from Nisan 10 573 BC to Pentecost 1948 AD.

Revelation 12:5,6 (NIV)
5. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Why not just one 1260 year period rather than two 1260s until 1948?

The 1260 year period is adapted from the 1260 day period. There are numerous prophecies that show that the 1260 days is simply half of a seven year period. For example, in Daniel 9:24-27 a covenant is made for seven years and "in the middle it is broken". "In the middle" means after the first 1260 days, which is a 3.5 year period.)

The covenant of Mount Sinai was also over a seven-day period. Remember; both the Sinai covenant and the New Covenant are both referred to in Ezekiel 37 and both were established on Pentecost, the same day Israel became a nation.

The book of Ezekiel contains a prophecy in chapter 37 that tells us that the divided nation of Israel and Judah will again be reunited when they return to their land. In several places in the Bible this is symbolically compared to a broken rod.
Ezekiel 37 speaks about this in the context of the the New Covenant which suggests that the broken rod that becomes one again refers numerically to the two halves of this seven-year period, that is, 1260 days times two:

Ezekiel 37:19-21 (NIV)
19. say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph--which is in Ephraim's hand--and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.' 20. Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on 21. and say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.

We have a divided nation and a divided seven-year covenant symbolized by a divided rod. And this rod ties us also back to the measuring rod in Ezekiel 40.

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