The Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy

ISRAEL TO BECOME A NATION IN ONE DAY
PROPHECY: "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation
be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children." Isaiah 66:8
FULFILLMENT: We've all heard the expression, Rome wasn't built in a day yet this verse, while confessing the
absurdity of a nation being formed in one day, promises that Israel would again become a nation. The passage in
Isaiah leaves no room for doubt as to what this prophecy indicates. It specifically compares Israel (Zion) to a
woman in labor and clearly states the nation's rebirth will occur within a day. As promised, Israel did indeed
become a united, sovereign nation for the first time since the days of King Solomon in just one day: May 15,
1948. Throughout history, it has never been known for a people to have been dispersed for millenniums and to
later become united with their culture, religion, and language intact. Even more exciting, Christian apologist
Grant Jeffrey discovered passages that revealed when this would happen...

Skeptic Interjection: Doesn't the context of this passage refer to Israel during the Messianic kingdom?
Answer: The last several chapters in Isaiah refer to the Messianic era and the events leading up to that period.
The rebirth of Israel is often used by eschatologists to show that we are either in or rapidly approaching the end-
times. Though the 66th chapter of Isaiah clearly describes the earthly reign of the Messiah, it also speaks of the
preceding world events.

THE PRECISE YEAR FORETOLD
PROPHECY 1: "And this whole land shall be a desolation and astonishment. And these nations shall serve the
king of Babylon seventy years." Jeremiah 25:11
PROPHECY 2: "Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the
number of days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity,
according to the number of the days, 390 days so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when
you have completed them, lie again on your right site. Then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for
40 days. I have laid on you a day for each year." Ezekiel 4:4-6

Jeremiah prophesied the Babylonian captivity would last exactly 70 years. Both biblical and secular history show
Babylon captured Israel in the spring of 606 B.C. and the captivity ended exactly 70 years later in the spring of
536 B.C. However God gave the prophet Ezekiel (a contemporary of Jeremiah) a vision that would extend much
farther into the future:

The verse preceding the commandment to Ezekiel (E zekiel 4:3) clearly states this prophecy will be a sign to
Israel. Verse 6 explains that each of the 430 days (390 days for Israel plus 40 days for Judah) represent one
year. However, at the end of the 70 year captivity we know only a portion of the exiled Jews decided to give up
their homes in Babylon to commit to the exhausting task of returning to and rebuilding Israel. The captives who
did remember their former home were now over 70 years old. Those born into captivity, had no attachments to
the old ways of their people and opted to stay in pagan Babylon.

We see in the above verses that God told Ezekiel the Jews would suffer for their iniquity for a total of 430 years.
Since they already served 70 years under Babylonian captivity, this still left a total of 360 years to suffer the
judgment that God had decreed. Yet history shows that after both 360 and 430 years, the Israelites still had no
homeland. The Bible makes it clear
this is because the Israelites did not repent after the 70 year captivity and continued in their disobedience against
God.

In the 26th chapter of Leviticus, God lists blessings and judgments for Israel based on their obedience and
disobedience. In this one passage alone, God tells the Israelites four times that if after receiving judgment the
people still do not repent for their sins, God will multiply or extend the original punishment by seven times:

“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.” Leviticus 26:18

Because the Jews did not repent and turn to God after their captivity, the 360 remaining years would be
multiplied by seven, equaling a total of 2,520 biblical years the Jews would be left without an independent nation.
But in order to examine this prophecy, we need to understand the difference between biblical and solar years. In
the past, men have measured the years by seasons and lunar cycles consisting of 30 days each month. Today,
we know the earth completes its revolution around the sun every 365.25 days. But a Biblical, or prophetic, year
lasts 360 days. Although there are several verses that demonstrate this, let’s use Genesis 7:11 as compared to
Genesis 8:4 and Genesis 7:24 as compared to Genesis 8:3. These verses list the number of months and days
Noah endured the flood. The 150 days the flood waters existed lasted exactly five months from the 17th day of
the 2nd month, to the 17th day of the 7th month, resulting in 30 days per month, or 360 days a year.

We now know:

The Babylonian captivity ended in spring of the year 536 B.C.
The Israelites were to suffer 360 more years without a homeland.
Due to their disobedience, their judgment was extended to 2,520 years.

To calculate the prophecy, we need to perform the following steps:

To convert our 2,520 prophetic years into calendar years, we multiply 2,520 by the 360 days of the
prophetic year. Our answer is 907,200 days. We then divide 907,200 days by 365.25 (the length of a solar
year). Our answer is 2,483 calendar years.
We now want to subtract the year 536 B.C. (the year in which the Babylonian captivity ended) from our
2,483 years (keeping in mind there is no year 0 A.D.) Our answer is 1948- indeed, the year Israel was
reinstated as a nation.

THE REGATHERING OF THE ISRAELITES
PROPHECY: "The hand of the Lord was upon me and He set me in the middle of a valley full of bones. I saw a
great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. Then He said to me, 'Prophesy to these
bones and say to them, '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.' 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. Then He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath 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."

"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: '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 will know that I the Lord have
spoken, and I have done it. Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it: Belonging to Judah and the
Israelites associated with him. Then take another stick of wood, and write on it: Ephraim's stick, belonging to
Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him. Join them together into one stick so that they will become
one in your hand. 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. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of
Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two
kingdoms."

Note: Due to the length of this prophecy I paraphrased the content but the full context is in Ezekiel 37.

The above prophecy contains two parts: the physical reinstatement of Israel as a nation (which occurred in 1948)
and a spiritual revival that will occur in the future (during the Messianic kingdom). Again, no room is left for
interpretation as we are specifically told the bones represent Israel. God reveals to Ezekiel the precise
circumstances as to how this will occur:

The dispersed Israelites (the dry bones) will physically be brought back to their nation. This is represented
by the restructuring of the bones with tendons, flesh, and skin.
Israel will be a united kingdom. Israel had previously been divided into a northern and southern kingdom
(Israel and Judah). God is promising that once Israel is restored, it will be one nation (one stick). In 1948,
Israel indeed became a united nation for the first time in approximately 3000 years.
Still to come: Now that Israel has been physically restored, God promises a spiritual revival during the
Messianic era.

Once again, we have never seen a regathering of a nation where the religion, language, and culture withstood
the test of time. The Jewish dispersion began with the Roman invasion in 70 A.D. Almost 2,000 years later, they
were restored as a united nation.

Update October 31, 2007: Due to length, this article has been divided into chapters with each segment having
its own page. Simply click on the chapter you would like to read or start with the main page and follow the
arrows to read the article like a book. If you would rather read the article on one page (recommended for high
speed internet connections only), you may click here.

UPDATE 10-31-07 This article series is currently under construction and
will be completed by the end of November. My goal is to add a new
chapter weekly. I will list the update notices on the home page.

The outline we will be following for this discussion is as follows:
1) The Rebirth of Israel as a Nation (Current Page)
2) Daniel's 70 Weeks Prophecy
3) The Succession of World Governments
4) The Rise of Antiochus Epiphanes IV
5) Miscellaneous

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