The Miracle of the Six Day War

June 1967, Israel was on the brink of annihilation, or so it seemed. Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, were talking tough and saying that Israel would soon be driven into the sea. Even in Israel, amongst the Jews themselves, there was a nervous joke that went, “the last one out, turn off the lights.”

But, this was no laughing matter! You had three countries in Egypt, Syria, and Jordan who appeared to be quite capable of accomplishing what they were threatening. Just as it is today, the Muslim outcry of 1967 was to annihilate Israel; to wipe it off the map.

But, the one thing that was disregarded by the Muslims of that day and also of today, is the powerful God of Israel. Even the Israeli’s themselves showed a lack of faith in their approach to this war. Just as they did throughout biblical history. Which is why they were at the precipice of this war in the first place.

Because of their lack of faith and unbelief in a God who declared them as His people, the Jews were driven out of Israel and scattered around the world just as God had prophesied. And as a result, for some 2,300 years, Israel as a nation, did not exist.

But, even when God prophesied the destruction of Israel and the scattering of His people around the world to be enslaved by the wills of foreign governments, God also set forth a future time of redemption for the Jewish people and the resurrection of the State of Israel, to once again become a nation.

Let’s take a look at Deuteronomy 4:26-31, in reference to this particular prophecy of Israel being scattered throughout the world:

“26) I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27) And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. 28) And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29) But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30) When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice 31) (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

That prophecy had been fulfilled in 1948, when Jewish leaders, lead by David Ben-Gurion, negotiated a late night settlement with the British government as the British mandate over Palestine was expiring, to restore the nation of Israel back to the Jewish people. Jerusalem, which was the cite of the Holy Temple of Israel, was divided then into two halves, the western half being in control of the renewed State of Israel, and the eastern portion or Old City of Jerusalem, in the hands of Jordan, the Palestinian people.

This division of Jerusalem would stay in effect until the Six Day War of 1967. This war in itself is evidence of God’s protection of the nation of Israel, and further evidence that biblical prophecy continues to fall in line.

As I stated above, the odds were stacked against Israel in this potential conflict. The three major nations of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, along with its support from the Soviet Union, were ready and capable of extinguishing, once and for all, the nation of Israel. Keep in mind that no other nation in the history of mankind was able to re-establish itself under the same name with virtually the same land borders as the nation of Israel had; and it’s all pre-documented as prophecy in the Bible.

As the tensions grew, Moshe Dayan, who became Israel’s minister of defense on May 30, 1967, promptly made a series of public declarations that war can be avoided. All the while planning a pre-emptive strike against its Arab enemies.

On June 5, 1967, Israel took the offense and initiated the six day war conflict. It struck an immediate devastating blow to its Arab enemies, by destroying 300 Egyptian, 50 Syrian, and 20 Jordanian aircraft in a surprise attack. Most of the aircraft destroyed never got off the ground.

This attack virtually wiped out all potential air forces of its Arab enemies. Israel quickly began a ground assault on Gaza, Jordan and Syria and without air support, Israel was able to defeat their enemies on all three fronts. This was a miraculous victory to say the least and I believe God-given to His nation of Israel.

For some statistical data of the over-whelming odds that Israel faced, let’s take a look at the military lopsidedness that Israel was up against. When you combine the Arab military, which included Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, which also had a role here, they had a combined military force of 740,000. Israel on the other hand had a total of 200,000.

When you calculate the total lost in battle, the Arab nations combined total was 18,000 casualties, and Israel 2,000 casualties. An amazingly lopsided victory to a nation who was so over-powered statistically. Very similar to biblical accounts of past Israelite victories.

How could this unlikely victory have happened? Well, when you look back in history and how Israel was virtually surrounded by its enemies, who in just sheer numbers alone, out-manned Israel, and seemingly over-powered Israel, you wonder how Israel could have succeeded in this war.

It was well documented how the communication of Egypt’s high command, when war broke out, was broken down. This miscommunication between Egypt’s president Gamal Abdel Nassar and his military command all but gave Israel its landslide victory.

With such a miraculous and unexpected victory in only six short days, leads you to Bible prophecy and Scriptures such as Zechariah 12:2, which reads, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.”

Keep in mind that Judah is the ancestral tribe of the Jewish people. Egypt’s high command just might have been put into a super-natural state of spiritual drunkenness by God to bring victory to Israel.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

Today, we are once again at a seemingly potential precipice of war. The scenario is similar, yet the potential aggressors against Israel have slightly changed. For the time being Egypt and Jordan are not an imminent threat to Israel, while Syria along with Iran and Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Hizbollah are still seeking to wipe Israel off the map.

The former Soviet Union, which was in the background in the 1967 conflict against Israel, is once again in the background as the newly formed Russia. This is interesting because we have many prophecies relating to a Nation called Gog. We read of this nation in Ezekiel 38:16, “You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”

Who is Gog? Modern day Russia! Notice it reads, “It will be in the latter days,” the latter days refers to the end times just before Jesus’ return to triumph against this evil force. Although many have said in past generations that their generation was close to the end of the world, there was no generation that was truly capable to understand and actually see this prophecy unfold right before their eyes, like our generation.

I believe that the end time generation may alive today. It may not be my current generation which is entering mid-life, but may either be our children’s or grandchildren’s generation, that may be already with us. But, God's timing is not my timing, so we'll see.

Many of the prophetic principles that needed to be in place, were not in place in past times like they are today. What am I referring to? For one, the Bible prophesies that the Gospel will be available to the whole world. That is something that is only happening today, no previous generation could claim this. With the availability of satellite television programming and Christian satellite networks such as DayStar and TBN, shortly the Gospel will be available to every single country in the world.

Next is the availability of man being able to destroy himself with the technology of nuclear warheads. The capability is now in place and also more accessible to rouge nations, such as Iran, Syria and the like. It is no longer just a few nations that have this technology. And a nuclear, chemical, or biological bomb today, could be carried and easily transported in a brief-case.

It is also prophesied that Christ’s return will be visible to the whole world as it happens. Past generations can only say this would need to be some super-natural occurrence that would enable the whole world to see Jesus return. Again, today we can credit satellite television and internet capabilities for that now being possible without super-natural intervention.

These are just a few of the more notable prophecies that are accessible today to corroborate the world’s readiness for end time prophecies fulfillment. There are many more that can be pinpointed and related to our world today, but that would take up a whole other study.

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