It would have been extinguished centuries ago. Yes, with the kind of enemies it had repeatedly faced throughout history. With the natural harshness of its land. With its diaspora that lasted for several centuries. With the insurmountable hardships that its people went through. With its amazing restoration and rise to prominence in today’s modern world.
But the world, for one, is to know the God of the universe through the small nation of Israel. The Bible teaches that. So God, in his sovereign plan, had seen fit to preserve this nation against all odds. And, indeed, the amazing survival of Israel up to this day clearly manifests the existence of a divine protector, the presence of the God of the Bible, the reality of his power as creator and controller of the universe.
To borrow some data from a speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jews, just 70 years ago, were taken to slaughter like sheep. They were a people with no country, and no army. Only a few hours after its restoration as a nation, seven (7) neighboring Arab countries immediately declared war on this newly-formed Jewish state. Just six hundred fifty thousand Jews (650,000) against millions of Arabs from Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. But Israel miraculously beat them.
Thirty-five (35) years ago, the three most powerful armies in the Middle East attacked them, but Israel had defeated them in six days. Various other coalitions of Arab countries with modern weaponry repeatedly attacked, only to end up each time in devastating defeat at the hands of the Jewish nation.
Now the Jews have a country, a powerful army and air supremacy, a cutting-edge economy with exports worth billions of dollars, hi-tech companies that develop sophisticated products, pools of dcotors and scientists receiving international awards for their research, satellites that had been sent into space, and many more. A country with 65% desert now sells oranges, flowers, and vegetables all over the world.
To think that, just a few decades ago, they were hopeless and helpless, doomed as they were led to the slaughter. How come they had won their wars and survived? They survived the Egyptian Pharaohs, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans, the inquisition in Spain, the madness of Hitler, the Holocaust, the armies of seven Arab countries, and the ruthlessness of Saddam—all of which did their best to destroy this tiny race, but the Jewish people survived. Ironically, these powers and cultures no longer exist today.
Who would have survived naturally against the aggression of these superpowers? Without divine protection from the God who promised to preserve this nation, Israel would have been wiped out centuries ago. That’s precisely why jealous nations are against the Jews. The God of the Bible, the creator of heaven and earth, continues to make his presence felt and seen not just through nature, through his Word, etc., but also through this tiny nation he protects and preserves for the world to believe there’s a God who rules the universe.
