REALITY means actual existence, fact, truth. There is no doubt, therefore, that we are able to testify that Jesus Christ is a reality. The records show that for hundreds of years men and women with great faith believed God and prayed and watched for one coming and to be known as the Messiah. It states in John 1, 29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. He was the person referred to by John (1. 14), “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth”. , John thus demonstrated that the promise of God to send a Saviour into the world was actually fulfilled.
Jesus Christ is the Messiah : that is why we are always interested in Israel and the world, because salvation is of the Jews. Christ is returning to the earth in the near future to establish the kingdom of God and make Israel a great nation. Not only have we to watch prophecy fulfilling, but also to remember Jesus’ words, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you”. There is an urgent need in the world to-day to get friendly with Christ—not to stand afar off, for salvation is a personal matter. We need to pray to our Heavenly Father as never before that he will soon send Jesus Christ to earth to carry out his promises. How fortunate are we to see great signs of the times, particularly with Israel a nation again and progressing. God alone can save the world I Though statesmen talk of peace, we know from the word of God that war will occur and that only divine intervention can save the world and bring a glorious personal salvation to all who will heed the Gospel.
New Port At Ashdod
The plan to build a new deep-water port at Ashdod, on the Mediterranean coast south of Tel Aviv, has been launched with the signature of a contract with an American firm to draw up the working blueprints.
A master plan for the port was completed a year ago, but further expenditure was held up pending a re-examination of all the factors involved. The entire scheme will take about 25 months to prepare, but the plans for the breakwater will be ready next spring. By next summer in Israel it is hoped to issue an international tender for the job, and work should get under way a few months later. By the 1963/4 season, the Jews hope to ship more than a million cases of citrus through Ashdod, and by 1964/5 about eight million.
At the height of the construction work, more than 1,000 labourers will be employed in the port. Upon completion of the first stage, it will provide more than 300 permanent jobs, and about double that number during the export season.
The Ministry of Transport hopes to finance the construction partly through 15 to 1 7-year credits from the contractors and partly through loans from international financial institutions.
As the capacity of Ashdod grows, the Tel Aviv and Jaffa ports will gradually be closed down but will be kept in operational readiness for emergency use.
Youngsters Go To School
School started in Israel on 1st September for 600,000 kindergarten, elementary and secondary school children, representing an increase of some 30,000 over the school population of last year. Elementary schools alone will have about 25,000 pupils more this year. Despite this increase, there will be a further reduction in the number of “second shift” classes to 600 compared with about 700 last year and 800 the year before. Over 900 new class-rooms have been built during the past year.
One of the interesting facts disclosed by school statistics is that the Arab school population is still growing more rapidly than the Jewish, despite the fact that the latter is being augmented by immigration. Enrolment is Arab schools increased by more than 4,000, being over nine per cent of last year’s total.
The shortage of teachers which plagued Israel schools in earlier years has been overcome. It is at last becoming possible to eliminate teachers who are not fully qualified, a large number of whom in the meantime have taken courses required by the Ministry of Education and passed qualifying examinations. This is partly due to the arrival of many immigrant teachers. This year alone 200 newly-arrived teachers began work at the schools. Most of them had academic qualifications and possessed considerable experience in their countries of origin. They attended special courses organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture before beginning work in the local schools.
The Jews are doing all they can to educate their children : they are also not discriminating against Arab children. The Bible is also read a lot in Israel and no doubt school children will learn what the Old Testament says about the future of Israel and the coming of the Messiah. Jewish leaders are also showing the children that it is necessary to read the Bible and be able to discuss what will happen to them in the near future.
Egypt And Israel
A Jewish magazine has quoted what a lot of papers have said about Egypt and Israel concerning the Suez Canal.
“The Daily Telegraph”, England, said, “At present Egypt is treating the Canal, so far as Israel cargoes are concerned, as a private waterway, on grounds which she could apply to any other nation with which she chose to quarrel. To emphasise the freedom of the Canal it is unnecessary to hark back to the original challenge, when the Security Council pronounced against Israel in 1951”.
Israel And The World
“Daily Express”, London, stated, “Champion of the world impudence—Abdul Gamal Nasser. He stole the Canal from its rightful owners. He refuses a Danish ship carrying a cargo to Israel passage through
this waterway. At the same time Nasser is asking the World Bank, in which Britain has a stake, to give him a loan of £70,000,000 in order to develop the Canal. So far as Britain’s purse is concerned, it should remain obstinately closed to the Egyptian dictator. There are a thousand projects which should rank ahead of improving a stolen Canal so that Nasser can go on using it as a blackmailing weapon”.
“Corriera Della Sera”, Milan, stated, “After the United States had saved Nasser from certain collapse and persuaded Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, President Eisenhower made two promises. The first on 20th February, 1959: “We should not assume that, if Israel withdraws, Egypt will prevent Israel shipping from using the Suez Canal or the Gulf of Akaba. If unhappily Egypt does hereafter violate the Armistice Agreement or other international obligations, then this should be dealt with firmly by the society of nations”.
The second promise was made on 3rd March, 1957, in a letter to Ben-Gurion :
“I believe that Israel will have no cause to regret having conformed to the strong sentiment of the world community”. But, as the magazine says, “To-day, Israel has reason to regret it”.
Dozens of papers referred to Nasser and what he has done against Israel. We know that these things are according to prophecy. Egypt is still against Israel, but God will again save the Jews from the Egyptians.
Jewish Survey
There are almost two million Jews in Israel. It has recently been declared that there are about 12,082,000 Jews in the world, living in 119 lands and territories, according to a survey published by the World Jewish Congress. We know that all the Jews will not be in Israel before the Messiah comes : there will be about a fifth of them in their own land. God will bring all the Jews finally back to Israel : (Isaiah 43. 5, 6), “Fear not ; for I am with thee ; I will bring they seed from the east, and gather thee from the west : I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back ; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth”.
It is remarkable that a survey of Jews all over the world is still being recorded.
The Universal Language
Hebrew, the language in which the Bible was written, has been studied by non-Jews as well as by Jews. At one time it was taught to royalty, and both Queen Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Grey learnt Hebrew and knew it well. It has been written, “But perhaps the most striking interest in Hebrew was shown by John Eliot, the American Puritan and missionary to the Red Indians. He lived in the 1 7th century and devoted much of his time to the study of Hebrew. In one of his works he pleaded that the language be studied ‘to fit it for universal use’, for, he added, it was the most capable `to express all things, and emotions and notions, that our human intellect is capable of’. Above all, considering also it is the Holy Tongue, Eliot added, ‘What one is fitter to be the universal language’ .
It states in Zephaniah 3. 9, “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent”. Finally there will be only one language in the world. We should be interested in the fact that the Jews are also showing concern that there should be a universal language.
Conclusion
We are living in the last days 1 Christ will soon return : we must do all things for God and Christ. “And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved ; but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days”, (Mark 13. 20). In the Revelation many glorious prophecies are brought under notice and we receive great encouragement, for great and glorious things are promised to those who overcome and are faithful to the end. May we be amongst those referred to in Revelation 3. 21, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”. What a glorious reward for faithfulness
The Borders of the Land of Israel