An amazing phenomenon in our day is the idea that the modern state of Israel will disappear. Like Babylon or the Hittites.

So let me ask you a question.

Is the Bible true?

That question is really an answer to the fear spreading today among pro Israel supporters that someone is going to finish the job Haman and Hitler started.

For if the Bible is true, we can have total confidence that not only will Israel survive, but that she will one day soon rest amid the carcasses of her enemies. Said another way, if the Bible isn't true, then yes, Israel might go the way of the chariot.

I hold out hope that enough Bible-believers out there don't buy into the propaganda that the Jewish state born of blood and fire a bit more than a half-century ago is in real existential danger.

Certainly, there are challenges and choppy waters ahead. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Persians will see to that.

At first glance, though, the very thought that Iran or anyone else will destroy Israel is almost comical. Then one senses a creeping…creepiness. As if an unseen hand is spreading gloom over the modern revival of ancient Israel.

A few years ago I was invited to a Hanukkah celebration at the home of a dear Jewish friend. She is active in pro Israel support, and quite good at it. Except that she expressed this mysterious fear over Israel's future.

I lightly commented that Israel can't disappear; it isn't possible. She asked why. I cited the Bible and its promises to the children of Jacob. She looked confused.

Then it hit me: she's a secular Jew. Or at least, she doesn't understand the evangelical assurance that "everything will be okay in the end."

I've thought often of that moment; it's been instructive for me as we move through this interesting period of human history. Indeed, the threats to Israel grow daily: an American president goes on a Muslim-Love 2009 tour. Iran shows its fangs at the U.N. and openly threatens Israel's existence. Serial killers like Hamas gain legitimacy in European circles.

Yet…I cannot feel anything but peace as I think about where Israel is. One has only to read a bit, and walk up and down in the Land of Israel to see that Israel's glory is ahead of her. There are thousands of Jewish homes in the Land of Israel today! Read Isaiah.

Michael Oren's fabulous work detailing the Six Day War ( Six Days of War ; get a copy!) is unintentionally supportive of God's declaration that unless the sun and moon cease to give their light, Israel will never die (Jeremiah 31).

As Israel's neighbors massed their armies on the borders in late May and early June, 1967, Jerusalem had a decision to make. Take the advice of Western powers and "stand down," or pre-empt? The Arabs had a half-million men, almost 1,000 planes, and 5,000 tanks. Oh, and Egypt's Nasser quite clearly had threatened a war of annihilation.

This was the situation on the morning of June 5. Israeli fighter jets took off over the Mediterranean and then veered sharply back toward the east, toward Egyptian airfields. The weather was perfect: no wind and clear visibility. The combination enabled pilots of the Israeli Air Force to find and destroy targets on the ground. In 30 minutes, Egypt lost half its air force. The war was effectively over.

Ezer Weizman, IAF Chief of Staff, had been working on a contingency plan for war - codenamed Focus - for years. While the Arabs polished their fake medals and paraded for adoring citizens, Weizman and the IAF set about "reducing the turnaround time for refueling and rearming jets to less than eight minutes. The Egyptian turnaround rate, by comparison, was eight hours."

Read that last bit again and let it sink in.

Let's take this further.

Israel's Defense Minister, the enigmatic Moshe Dayan, surveyed the plan codenamed Operation Nachshon 1 - a direct reference to the biblical figure Nachshon ben Aminadav, said to have been the first Israelite to dip a toe in the parted Red Sea. The plan would unleash a "shock-and-awe" hammer on Egypt's forces poised to thrust a dagger into Israel from the Sinai that summer in 1967.

The combination of the morning attack on the airfields and Israel's armored and infantry foray into the Sinai crippled the most feared military in the Middle East.

These two stories alone, Focus and Nachshon 1, are my answer to my Christian brethren who "see no correlation between ancient Israel and the modern Jewish state." This is their feeble/comical/infuriating attempt to sever the Israelis from their forefathers, thus marginalizing modern Israel. For if the Israelis today bear no relation to the Bible, well, why not establish a Palestinian state?

There are countless stories like the ones above that detail miracles in Israel's modern history. Who is protecting them, Spiderman? Can we not see that God Himself is intervening again, as in the days of old? This is so obvious, one wonders why Israel critics in the Church, such as Stephen Sizer, Hank Hanegraaff, Tony Campolo and too many others don't see it.

Do yourself a favor and read Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Just read those books. Be overwhelmed with the reality that those promises of a future restoration of national Israel   have happened in our day.

For you see, this is all highly relevant to believers. If we can see with our own eyes that Zion has been reborn - the Jews have re-entered history - then God's promises to us as individuals are true. What about the single mom who has no support? Might she really be able to believe that Matthew 11:28 is true? Maybe your wife has passed away and you can't stand it; read Matthew 5:4! Perhaps you feel alone and friendless; read what Jesus says about that in John 15:15.

This is the hope that critics of the Bible can't provide. Israel's staggering survival against all odds is proof that the Lord of history has decided to re-enter our world and save it from destruction - something man is utterly incapable of doing.

There are so many evidences that God intends to keep His promise that Israel will survive…one wonders why anyone would think otherwise. For Israel's friends, we have no reason to fear. For her enemies, whether in Christendom or an Arab state, it isn't too late to wake up.

Jim Fletcher is director of Prophecy Matters (www.prophecymatters.com ), a ministry outreach of Creation Truth Foundation (www.creationtruth.com) and the author of a new book, It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) . He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 Originally published in One News Now, Prophecy Matters.  June 2009