In May 1948, the modern State of Israel was founded, undoubtedly one of the most important events in history. For the first time in world history, a people that had been uprooted and dispersed for more than 2000 years returned as a sovereign nation back to their historic beloved homeland. This incredible wonder occurred against all odds and unprecedented circumstances.

Israel was built in the face of very intense opposition. The earliest pioneers came in the 1880s, and bought land from the Ottoman overlords, for a dream home in Zion.

In the years following, Theodore Hertzl and others prepared the way in making that dream come true. By late 1930s, the dream awoke to the nightmare of the cruel Holocaust.

Through that deadly experience, God brought forth the nation of Israel in just one day! Wonder of many wonders, the wastelands have since become vineyards, the olive trees are bountiful and fruitful, and flowers are blooming again in the Promised Land.

The most amazing phenomena are the people who built the nation of Israel. These builders were not strong, healthy and muscular men nor are they rich with abundant supplies. Israel was built by Jewish men and women who had just escaped the hell of Nazi concentration camps.

These courageous survivors were staggered ashore, barely alive. Their bodies were famished, skinny and thin, but their determination were strong and their hearts courageous. Against insurmountable odds, facing European opposition, American apathy, and British blockades, they were decided and determined to make their homes in the Holy Land.

Between 1945 and 1948, these dauntless survivors contended against well-armed Arab opposition, British political oppression, and adverse world opinion to secure a place on Earth where they and their future generations would never be again subjected to genocide.

A modern miracle occurred when the United Nations voted for partition, and Israel was reborn in 1948.

This is an ancient prophecy coming true. The prophet Ezekiel foretold the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel after a long exile (Ezekiel 37). God is truly in control of all world events, and He was the One Who brought His people back to the Land.

The regathering of Israel, Ezekiel said, would occur in stages, described as a "Valley of Dry Bones." From the Jewish people's undying love for Zion through the Dispersion, to the Russian Jewish settlers who bought land from the Ottomans in the 1880s, to the political activities of the 1940s, God's promise was fulfilled.

For hundreds of years, skeptics laughed at the thought that the Jewish people would ever return to the land of Israel. In the Middle Ages, the Jews were mocked for their hopes to spend "next year in Jerusalem."

The Bible also foretold that Israel would be reborn through persecution. God says of Israel, through the prophet Jeremiah, "I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers" (Jeremiah 16:15). But in the next verse God says that He will use "fishermen" and "hunters" to pursue His people back to their land.

This picture of persecution has literally been fulfilled in the rebirth of Israel. The primary motivation for modern Zionism has been anti-Semitic persecution. In the last 100 years, God has used Czarist pogroms, Polish economic discrimination, Nazi genocide, Arab hatred, and Soviet repression to drive Jewish people back to their homeland for their safety.