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| A Jewish family from France making aliyah (immigrating to Israel) beams as they arrive in the Holy Land. |
Aliyah, Bible Prophecy,
and the Restoration of Israel
The Messianic Prophecy Bible Project
“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.” (Ezekiel
37:12–14)
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| Israeli Prime Minister-Benjamin Netanyahu |
“[After the
Holocaust,]… the Jewish people rose from ashes and destruction, from a terrible
pain that can never be healed. Armed with the Jewish spirit, the justice of
man, and the vision of the prophets, we sprouted new branches and grew deep
roots. Dry bones became covered with flesh, a spirit filled them, and they
lived and stood on their own feet.
“As Ezekiel prophesied:
“Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones
are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is
lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘thus
says the Lord God, Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you
to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall
know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and
brought you up from your graves.'” (Ezekiel 37:11–14)
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| “He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:12) |
Aliyah: A Modern-day
Miracle
The Lord, in
fulfillment of Bible prophecy, continues today to draw His people home to the
Holy Land (Jeremiah 31:3).
Every year, Jewish
people around the world are making Aliyah (returning to their biblical
homeland).
Back when it was
recreated in 1948, there were 806,000 residents living in the Holy Land. About
82% or 661,000 were Jewish.
The State of Israel
is now 72 years old and has an estimated population of nearly 8.8 million.
Almost 75% or about 6,556,000 are Jews. (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics)
Nearly half of the
world’s estimated 15 million Jews live in Israel.
“Once more a
remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.” (Isaiah 37:31 and 2 Kings 19:30)
“I will surely bless you and make your
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the
seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you
have obeyed me.” (Genesis
22:16–18)
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| A group of young Jewish adults visit Jerusalem while in Israel on the Taglit-Birthright program. Birthright is a not-for-profit educational organization that sponsors free ten-day heritage trips to Israel. |
Sometimes they come because anti-Semitism is on the rise in
the land they are leaving, but always they come because God is moving in their
hearts.
“I will gather you from the nations and bring
you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you
back the land of Israel again.” (Ezekiel 11:17)
Ariel Silver: Olim
(Immigrant)
Thirty-eight-year-old
Ariel Silver, a Jewish Believer in Yeshua (Jesus) who emigrated to Israel from
the United States, said adjusting to Israel was fairly easy.
“What makes it
worth it is that as a stranger, I’m welcome here,” he said. “In the States, I
was a puzzle piece that never quite fit in the right way; I was always a little
bit jagged. Here, I’m like the puzzle piece that fits snug on all sides.”
He also said that moving to Israel has been good for his
chosen career path.
“In the States, I couldn’t find work in my
field, and here I have work in my field and I can support myself with that
work,” he said.
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| An American youth visits the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem to pray while on the Birthright program. |
Nine years before
Silver’s Aliyah, he came for a short visit to the Holy Land following his
college graduation. He had no intention of coming one day to stay.
Silver said a number
of experiences changed his mind during his 2003 trip, including a rabbi’s
star-lit teaching in the desert.
“The sun had
gone down in the middle of the desert outside the camp, and all we could see
were millions and millions of stars,” Silver
reminisced.
“[The rabbi] said, ‘You guys are those stars and
the land you are sitting on is the land that was promised.’ It was a very
powerful moment; it was apparent that our presence here was a fulfillment of
that prophecy.”
Silver said that leaving behind his family, including an
11-year-old sister, in the US, and making Aliyah alone had its pros and cons.
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| In Genesis 15:5, God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. (see also Jeremiah 33:22 and Nehemiah 9:23) |
“The downside to coming alone is I don’t have
any help.”
While Silver is
thriving in Israel, he hopes his family will come, as well.
Aliyah: Hearing His
Voice
“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. Then you will
live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be
your God.” (Ezekiel
36:26–28)
Many families throughout the years have made Aliyah to
Israel as a unit and have flourished.
Hannah Beresford emigrated as a 19-year-old with her family
from Hawaii.
“My family was making Aliyah, and I felt God
speaking to me — through Scriptures, the radio, what He said to me personally —
that He wanted me to go too,” Hannah
said.
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| Israeli-Siblings |
Hannah, her brother,
and her sister have each served in the Israel Defense Forces and have become
part of the community.
Sensing God’s
Presence at the Western Wall
Natalya Geffen began
a process of personal transformation and deepening connection with Israel on a
youth trip to the Land.
Although Geffen grew
up in Canada in an Orthodox Jewish family that supported Israel, she says the
Land remained an abstract, somewhat irrelevant concept to her personally —
until that first trip.
“When I approached the Kotel (the Western Wall), an
overwhelming sense that I was standing in the presence of Holiness came over
me, and I began to weep beside those ancient stones,” Geffen said.
“From that moment on, I felt a burning desire in my heart
to ‘come home’ to the Land of Israel”
Geffen said she
promised to make Aliyah, but it didn’t happen right away.
“It took me fifteen years of twists and turns, detours and
dead ends, but I kept my promise,” she said.
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| A Jewish woman seeks God in prayer at the Western (Wailing) Wall. |
As she read the Word
of God, she came to understand her Biblical inheritance in connection with the
Land of Israel.
“I began to read in the Tanakh that Israel is my home and
that one day God would bring back the exiles of Israel. This rekindled the
flame of desire in my heart to make Aliyah,” she said.
A total of 15 years
passed from Geffen’s first youth trip to her Aliyah with her children.
“After exactly 40 years of wandering in the wilderness of
exile, with God’s supernatural help, I came home. Praise Adonai for all
His goodness. It has been like a dream and my mouth is filled with laughter and
my heart with joy,” Geffen said.
“New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all
the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. 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 9:13–15)
Finding Yeshua in the
Holy Land
About 40 years ago,
Ora Zahavy, a Bibles For Israel staff member, also made aliyah with her four
children and husband.
Although they missed
family and friends, and found some of the adjustments challenging, the younger
children found the move a little easier.
“Aliyah was difficult for our older children, as well as
us. We had to get used to a new language, schools, food — just a new
life,” she said.
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| An Orthodox Jewish boy in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem |
But being in the Holy
Land brought about an even more profound change for the Zahavies.
“After we came to know the Lord, we soon realized it was
the hand of God that brought us here,” she said.
She attributes their
coming to know Yeshua as Messiah to the faithful prayers of friends.
“Life is not easy here, but we know this is where we
belong,” she said.
“By the grace of God we go. We know He has kept us safe and
taken care of us all these years.”
“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.” (Ezekiel 36:24)
A great number of
Bible verses prophesy that in the latter days, Israel will be restored both
physically and spiritually.
We have seen, and
continue to see, the miraculous physical restoration of Israel in our day.
Our staff feels so
blessed to be a part of this Scriptural fulfillment, and we look forward to the
time when all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26; Isaiah 45:17; Jeremiah 24:7, etc.).
First and foremost, our mission is ministering to Jewish
people with love and comfort.
“Comfort, comfort my people (Israel), says your God.”
Isaiah 40
Located
in the Holy Land, the Bibles For Israel ministry is producing the first-ever
Messianic Prophecy Bible.
We
educate Jewish people on the prophecies about the Messiah in the Tanakh (Hebrew
Scriptures), showing the truths by defining the Messianic and rabbinical points
of view.
Not
only are we creating the free Messianic Prophecy Bible in print form, we are
tirelessly working on the creation of free Bible software for mobile and
computer devices.
This
free software will be used by everyone – from seminary students to Sunday
school children in African villages, and those who are scattered around
the four corners of the earth.
Our
Bible will reach millions of people in hundreds of languages, spanning all 257
countries and territories in the world.
We also
minister to the spiritual and financial needs of the elderly, poor, and single
parents.
“For
out of Zion shall go forth the Torah and the Word of LORD (YHVH)
from Jerusalem.” Isaiah 2:3
from Jerusalem.” Isaiah 2:3
https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/aliyah-bible-prophecy-restoration-israel/
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| A Jewish woman prays at the Kotel, also called the Western or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. |
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