shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Before long the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. The dead in Christ are going to rise first. Then those who are alive and remain are going to be caught up together in the clouds. There we shall be with the Lord forever. This is why we can comfort one another w ith these words. How wonderful it is to see the land of the Book and the people of the Book! This, however, is not enough. The most important element is the Saviour of the Book. I urge you to pray for the peace of Jeru salem all over that land. Port IV T here is no more wonderful and vivid proof today of God's ful fillment of His prophetic Word than what we see transpiring in the Holy Land. I have taught men in seminary the original language of the proph ecy of Isaiah, but I never thought I should live to see the truths so mar velously transpire before my very eyes. When I was a boy in Hebrew school, we marched up and down the streets of my home city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when the Balfour Dec laration was issued. I remember see ing grown men and women weeping openly. God was giving back their land! Isaiah 61:4 reads, “And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many genera tions.” Traveling to Israel, we see that the Jews are busily building, literally fulfilling the Bible, letter for letter and word for word. In the north, we think of the city of Haifa which reminds one of San Francisco. Below the city is the port where much activity and shipping go on daily. Thousands of crates of those marvelous Haifa oranges are sent around the world. Half-way up the mountain is the Technion, which is
the Israel Institute of Technology. At the very top is Mt. Carmel, where Elijah contended with the lying, idolatrous prophets of Baal. Haifa has an abundance of indus tries, oil refineries, paper mills, ce ment works and many other such operations. There is a huge number of rocks all around. Legend has it that when God created the universe, He gave all the rocks into the custody of two an gels. They carried them in huge con tainers: however, they collided over the Holy Land and spilled them. But the Israelis are making good use of them in building. Tel Aviv is a mod ern city about a quarter of million population. Today that number has doubled. It has some of the most beautiful hotels and modem build ings. They are the most up-to-date facilities you could find anywhere. It is a city throbbing with modern life. The culture is alive. The people are putting an emphasis on arts. Nothing can begin to compare with Jerusalem, the great city of David. Their modem structures, both for private and government operations, almost defy description. New build ings at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus are most impressive. This is under the supervision of the United Nations. It is located at a very strategic place. In the first cen tury A.D., Titus saw its strategic military value. From this spot one can see all over both sides of Jeru salem. The facilities at the university are the last word in academic archi tecture for lighting, ventilation, seat ing and every other purpose. While many languages are spoken by the students, instruction is only given in Hebrew. The Jewish National Li brary has more than a million vol umes. Agriculturally, former sand dunes have been transformed into lush orange groves. Where once there was only dry land, today all sorts of development and transformation are 7
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