The nation of Israel was reborn on May 14, 1948.  It was a miracle of the first kind – a very “great sign.”  Never before has a nation ceased to exist for so long a time and then returned to become a nation again.  And this is what the Jewish people were able to do after almost two thousand years in exile. 

Yet, this is what the prophecies said would happen.  For example, the prophet Ezekiel said

 “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.  And He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry.  And He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest.’  Again He said to me, ‘Prophecy over these bones, and say to them,’ ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.  Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.’ 

These dry bones represented “the whole house of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:11).  And this question, “can these bones live,” was asked by students of Bible prophecy for hundreds of years following Israel’s destruction in A.D. 70.  The Bible clearly taught that someday Israel was going to be reborn as a nation.  Yet, this prophetic event actually occurring, was about as probable as life returning to a valley of dry bones.

So, Ezekiel obeyed God and prophesied over the bones.  And when he did, he saw the bones coming back to life. He said, “So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they came to life, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:1-10). 

Then in 1948, the impossible happened.  Just as Ezekiel prophesied, the dry bones began coming back to life.  The nation of Israel was reborn.  Even many unbelievers understood the prophetic implications of this event.  One such person was the former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.  In a speech given in Washington to the American Jewish Community, Netanyahu said, “As you all know, I am not a religious man. But you don’t have to be religious to see that the Jewish state is a fulfillment of prophecy.”

Netanyahu then went on to list all the seemingly impossible events that happened to come together and give birth to his nation.

            I remember a day when I was a small boy playing in my grandparent’s front yard.  My grandmother called me to the door and said something to me I will never forget.  She said, “The Lord isn’t coming in my lifetime, but He’s coming in yours.”

Then she turned away, closed the door, and left me standing alone with my thoughts.

This happened in the early 1950s.  During this time, I remember she would often sit in her chair and read her Bible.  When she called me to the door she must have been reading the prophecies and thinking about the implications of the recent rebirth of Israel.

In my imagination, I can see her looking up and watching me play in her yard.  Suddenly, the burden of God’s Word in heart became too great to keep to herself.  She had to tell someone.  How do I know this is what happened?  Because, many times now I have felt the very same way.

It’s very possible that my grandmother’s prediction – that I would be alive when Christ returns – might come true.  This is because she had strong biblical support for her view.  Jesus said that when the nation of Israel was reborn, and certain signs began to occur, then that generation of the Jewish race would live to see the end times. He put it this way:

“Now learn the parable from the fig tree; when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.  Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:32-34).

This fig tree is Israel.  God often referred to Israel in such fashion.  Speaking through Hosea, God said, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season” (Hosea 9:10).  In another place God said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans” (Jeremiah 23:5).

            Jesus’ comparison of Israel to a fig tree may explain a confusing passage in the New Testament – when Jesus cursed the fig tree.  Once, when Jesus became hungry, He walked up to a fig tree in order to eat some of its fruit.  Although the tree was in full leaf, there was no fruit on it.  So, Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

 Later when Jesus and His disciples passed by this tree again, Peter noticed that the fig tree had withered from its roots up.  When Peter asked about this, Jesus responded by saying:

“Have faith in God.  Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain. ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him” (Mark11:23).

Like that fig tree, we can appear very religious.  But if we don’t have our faith rooted deep in Jesus, then we won’t have power to bear any real fruit for God.  In fact, this is what happened to Israel when they rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

So, when Jesus asks us to “learn the parable from the fig tree,” He was telling us not to make the same mistake as unbelieving Israel.  And when He said, “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” He was referring to the generation that sees the rebirth of Israel and the beginning of the signs – our generation.

So, when Israel was reborn on that day in 1948, our world witnessed the first sign of the end-times events in the book of Revelation.  This first sign was the sudden reappearance of the nation of Israel on the world stage.

And we know that when this first “great sign” of the woman appears, another sign is soon to follow.  And that second sign – that I believe began with the Schuman Declaration in 1950 – is the appearance of the great seven-headed dragon.