Modern Miracles For The Nation Of Israel

MODERN MIRACLES FOR THE NATION OF ISRAEL

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: GOOD TIMING

1. Morris owned one of the most popular menswear shops in Houston. But one night, his shop is broken into and a lot of his best items of clothing were stolen.

2. Morris's best friend, Arnold, when he heard what had happened, went to see him. "Morris!" said Arnold, "I've just heard that your shop was broken into and many items were stolen. What a terrible thing to have happen to such a nice guy like you. You must be terribly upset."

3. "Well to be honest, Arnold," said Morris, "It’s not as bad as you might think." "Really, Morris, why is that?" asked Arnold.

"Well I was lucky," replied Morris. "The thief broke into my store and stole my items at a very good time."

4. "Surely no time is a good time for a robbery?" said Arnold. "Why was this a good time for you?" "Because on the day of the break-in, I had just marked everything down by 40%" replied Morris.

B. TEXT

27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.” Ex. 23:27-28

C. THESIS & TITLE

1. We’re still on our series, “Proofs the Bible is True.” We’ve been looking at God’s interventions all down history.

2. Tonight I want to look at how God is still intervening today to help His people Israel. The wars fought by the Israelis have had unexpected conclusions each time.

3. Reports of keys to their victories could be said to be their extreme good luck, or that God is helping them. Let’s read some of the accounts of God’s recent moving in history.

4. The title is “Modern Miracles for the Nation of Israel.”

I. WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1948

A. BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

1. Even as Israel declared its statehood on May 14, 1948, five mechanized Arab armies invaded. The Jews had only 35,000 fighting men, no air force and only six tanks.

2. The Egyptian army alone had 40,000 soldiers, 135 tanks, heavy guns and an air force of over 60 planes, including Spitfires and bombers. The Jordanians had the Arab Legion, trained by the British and led by an Englishman, Sir John Bagot Glubb, along with 48 British officers.

3. Yet, against all odds, the Jewish fighters won.

B. MIRACLE OF THE KIBBUTZ DEFENSE

1. The Egyptian army launched an attack along the Mediterranean coast against the kibbutz Yad Mordechai on May 19, 1948, as part of an offensive to take Tel Aviv.

2. Two infantry battalions, one armored battalion and one artillery battalion attacked a Jewish kibbutz of 130 residents (supposed to take it in three hours). The battle raged for days.

3. The Jewish defenders held off the entire Egyptian army much longer than anyone expected, using homemade weapons that many times did nothing more than make noise.

4. They even used mock soldiers made out of wood, which they moved from trench to trench, in order to give the appearance of greater numbers. Although the Egyptians eventually broke through they were now days behind schedule and their morale was badly shaken.

C. MIRACLE OF SAFED

1. The Arab position at Safed was a virtually impregnable position. The Israelis then brought up the Davidka, a tremendously noisy mortar – fired it several times — and then a miracle happened: it rained. It never rained in May and June there.

2. The Arabs believed the Jews had fired a small atomic bomb which made it rain. Consequently, they fled and the Israelis captured Safed and drove the Arabs out of the entire northern area of the Galilee.

D. MIRACLE OF THE WRONG TURN

1. 24 homemade Israeli armored trucks and cars took a wrong turn on the way to aid a besieged Kibbutz, and accidentally entered Lebanon. They ran into twenty brand new Syrian armored cars traveling with dozens of Syrian supplies trucks carrying ammunition and artillery.

2. The Israelis immediately fired at the first Syrian truck and amazingly hit a tank loaded with gasoline, causing an explosion, which set fire to the following truck full of hand grenades. One by one, each truck in the Syrian convoy exploded.

3. The scared Syrians abandoned their convoy. The Israelis had just enough people to drive the captured armored vehicles and Syrian weapons back.

E. MIRACLE AT MOUNT ZION

1. Near Jerusalem, Ira Rappaport’s Israeli platoon fought the Jordanian military for Mount Zion and found themselves surrounded by hundreds with only 25 bullets left. The men decided to fight to the last bullet. Then something incredible happened.