was clearly seen by Zionists that their only hope was for a national homeland. In 1897 at Basel, Switzer land, the first historic Zionist Con gress was convened; Herzl wrote in his diary, “I have seen this day the founding of the State of Israel. If I were to say it openly, I would be laughed at and scorned. In fifty years everyone will see it.” Interest ingly enough, that was 1897. Exactly fifty years later, in 1947 in the fall of the year, the United Nations di vided Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. What a timely prediction! He spoke better than he knew. No matter from whence the representatives to the Congress came or what the color of their skin, they all expressed their profound love for Israel. The fires began burning with fervency and earnest ness. It was my dear friend, Dr. William L. Pettingill, one of the edi tors of the Scofield Bible, who used to say, “Jews are like homing pigeons. A Jew has a mechanism in his heart. When the hour arrives, he will go back.” I have heard Jewish people, recently arrived in Pales tine, who have testified, “I don’t know why I came here; I was in Po land, and although my relatives are there, there was something which drove me irresistibly back to the land.” Dr. Leon Tucker, an outstanding Bible teacher, was once traveling in a Pullman where he heard two men, whom he recognized as Jews, dis cussing very openly the matter of the return of the Jews to the Holy Land because of the Balfour Dec laration. One of the men very proud ly boasted, “I don’t care what they do with that country or land. I spell my Palestine TJ-S-A’. My capital city is not Jerusalem but WASHING TON.” He further avowed his com plete interest in this nation rather than the new Jewish homeland. Dr. Tucker excused himself and entered the conversation. “Do I understand
thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these things gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth” (Isa. 49:15-18'). Whatever a wedding day may be in its fulness, it is most cer tainly the bride’s day. She is decked out in marvelous bridal attire. So Zion is seen here as a personifica tion of a woman whose children are her adornment. God will multiply His children in spite of men like Hitler and Stalin. How remarkable it is that both Jeremiah and Isaiah indicate God’s g re a t purpose in bringing His people back to the Holy Land. While some people believe that the hope of Israel began somewhere in this century, they are quite in correct The great hope of Israel Was there long before the Balfour Declaration in the 1920’s. Their na tional anthem gives excellent evi dence of this fact, for its very title is “The Hope.” While orthodox Jews celebrate the Passover in exile and dispersion today, for they are scat tered all over the world, they pray that God may grant that they shall do it in a coming year in the Holy Land. You see, Israel has had a great love for Zion for centuries. Although they have been offered other nation al homelands, such as the ones in Venezuela, or Uganda, none was feasible for them. In 1897 at Basel, Switzerland the first Zionist Con gress was convened. Part II H ow thrilling it is to see the lit eral fulfillment before our very eyes of God’s prophetic Word con cerning the Holy Land! This is the great hope of Israel. In the latter part of the 19th century, after the awful anti-semitism in France where they tried to obliterate the Jew, it 4
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