Happy 70th Birthday Israel! Without a doubt, this is a historic day for Israel. On this same date in 1948 the modern State of Israel was born. People today may not understand what a miracle that is, so think about it: After nearly two millennia without a state, the State of Israel was reborn in its ancient homeland! This has not happened with any other people or nation - yet, the Scriptures foretold that Israel would be back in the Land in the last days, and here it is. As Messiah has said on multiple occasions, "The Scripture cannot be broken."

The big Israel news today seems to be the move of the USA Embassy to Jerusalem on this very day.

Ceremonies are underway and the catalyst for this historic move, President Donald Trump, is being celebrated by the Jewish State, and by its, and his, supporters. In fact, some see President Trump as a prophetic figure, as regards his role with Israel. The recently minted Trump coin, below, illustrates this.

The coin equates Trump to Cyrus the Persian, who was foretold in Scripture to liberate the Jews from Babylon after 70 years of Babylonian domination.

It was he who gave the word for the remnant to return to Jerusalem, to re-build the Temple. I'm not sure what the coin is attempting to say about President Trump - perhaps it is commemorating his role in moving the USA embassy to Jerusalem. It could be suggesting that he will be instrumental in the construction of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. On the other hand, perhaps it somehow indicates that President Trump will be instrumental in Yah's plan to restore the remnant of the tribes of Israel back to their Land, along with brother Judah. Clearly, significant events are underway with this president. Only time will tell us what the full scope of his reign will bring for Israel.

Of course, not everyone is happy with Israel on this 70th birthday. The "Palestinians",  a number of Muslim nations, and others, are making their hatred of Israel known today, as in the demonstrations below. 

The biggest news for many on this 70th anniversary of the State of Israel is what didn't happen. The return of Christ didn't happen. The Rapture didn't happen. The rise of the antichrist didn't happen. The Great Tribulation didn't happen. For decades the most celebrated Christian expositors of Bible prophecy told us all of those things would happen before this day - the 70 year anniversary of the State of Israel - yet none of them happened.

Perhaps the best example of this can be found in the books by Hal Lindsey. His The Late Great Planet Earth quickly became a huge phenomenon as one of the best-selling nonfiction books of the 1970s. It was translated into more than 50 languages with sales of over 35 million copies. Lindsey even made a film version of the book, narrated by Orson Welles. His prophetic pronouncements became something of a standard prophetic outlook for evangelicals and other believers everywhere. 

The Late Great Planet Earth and its 12 sequels deal specifically with the “signs of the times” that make up what Lindsey termed the prophetic “jigsaw puzzle” of end-time events. In his prophetic scenario the creation of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948 is the prophetic starting line for the final generation. Lindsey recognized that the events of the Last Days must all happen within one generation, as stated in Matthew 24 ("this generation shall not pass away until all these things take place"). He defined a biblical generation as 40 years, and concluded that “all these things” would happen within 40 years of the founding of Israel. On that basis, he and many others, predicted the return of Christ in 1988 and the rapture of the church seven years earlier.

When the prediction based on forty years failed, he and others said that seventy years is the Biblical generation, and looked for "all these things" to take place by this date, today, May 14, 2018. That hasn't happened either.

This failure will undoubtedly be a source of ridicule against every person who believes in the Bible. Many will lose their faith over this failed prediction. Yet, it was not the Bible that failed or Messiah's word that failed. Hal Lindsey and many others like him failed in their interpretation of the prophecies - that's the source of this problem. Bottom line: Modern day Christianity is flawed and its conclusions have missed the mark. Surprise, surprise.

Does that make Hal Lindsey and others like him false prophets? It could, but then again, maybe that's a bit harsh. Nobody has a perfect understanding of Scripture. Maybe they were just trying to understand it the best they can. Their error may have been pushing their flawed understanding of Scripture on everybody else as if their mental construct is Scripture. They would not be the first or the last to do that. God will be the judge.

As for me, I am on record from my earliest radio programs well over a decade ago, telling people everywhere that the prophetic scenario based on the founding of the State of Israel is flawed and can not succeed - and now I have been proven right about that. We are in the Last Days. The Biblical signs are there. The Scripture cannot be broken, and it won't be, by Hal Lindsey or anybody else. Here is a word to the wise:

YHWH answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay." Habakkuk 2:2-3

The Kingdom is coming. Are you seeing it?

Join us tonight at 8 PM CST at Tsiyon.Net for our online meeting, for an exploration of some of the most amazing passages in Scripture.

Eliyahu ben David
Tsiyon.Org