Proof of God: The Jewish People

12 Jun, 2013

The very best intellectual and tangible proof of the existence of God is the fact that there are Jewish people in the world today.

No people group in the history of the world has been more persecuted and hunted than the Jewish people. From being taken as slaves in Egypt, to the Babylonian captivity, through the numerous inquisitions, massacres and genocides in Europe (in just one year, 1096, 1/3 of the Jewish population was exterminated), to the Holocaust, the Jewish people have not only survived, but thrived. Despite all possible odds, Jewish children torn away from their parents during World War II went on to become some of the most influential people on the planet.

In 1948, Israel was established once again as a country. The land of Israel at that time was a desolate land, devoid of both vegetation and human population. Here’s what Mark Twain wrote just a few a decades earlier in Innocents Abroad: “… A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds…a silent mournful expanse…a desolation…we never saw a human being on the whole route…hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

When the Jewish diaspora began to settle back in, commerce exploded, infrastructures were built, cities propsered, and Israel is now the third largest exporter of fruit in the world! In fact, the palestinians had no interest in that land until Jews started growing oranges the size of grapefruits. This is the Abrahamic blessing in action.

Also, Israel is relatively small, about the size of the state of Connecticut. It is completely surrounded by enemies (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia) much larger than it who would love nothing more than to see the entire country erased. To put it in perspective, toss a matchstick into the middle of a football field. Israel is the matchstick and the green turf is its enemy. Yet despite all odds, they have been able to thwart off attack after attack. The Israeli victory in the Six-Day War is nothing short of miraculous. According to all the military analysts and pundits, it was to be a lopsided match. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) consisted of 275,000 troops, compared to the 456,000 soldiers of the combined Iraqi, Syrian, Jordanian and Egypt armies. Time and time again, God has protected Israel.

All of this is evidence of God fulfilling His word:

Deuteronomy 32:9-10:
For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

Genesis 12:2-3:

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

-by Pastor Bo Jancic