more - such a lack of preparation would demand at the time of the end a stupendous miracle for which there is no

Since writing these words, the world has been moved by the epoch making announcement at Pentecost 1948, that

`Israel' were once more to be considered a `Nation'.

This does not mean that their `lo-ammi' condition has ended, it does not mean that the prophetic clock has

recommenced ticking, but it does mean that the most decisive movement of the centuries has taken place before our

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eyes, and for weal or for woe , the Rubicon has been crossed. For Israel there can be no looking back.

This is now the attitude of the Press, as the following extracts will show :

Tuesday, July 13, 1948

But whatever direction future talks may take, they will get nowhere until the two fundamental issues have been

settled. First, it must be brought home to the Arabs that a Jewish State in the Middle East is now a reality and

that it has come to stay.

The second fundamental issue is that of immigration. If Israel is to be sovereign, her immigration cannot be

The Scriptures make it clear, that after a period of separation and negation, Israel shall `return, and seek the

LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days' (Hos. 3:5).

Jeremiah records the promise of the Lord: `He that scattered Israel, will gather him' (Jer. 31:10). During the

period of Israel's scattering, while they are called Lo-ammi `not My people', the dispensation of the mystery obtains

and the kingdom and its hopes are in abeyance. This fact however does not alter other facts; all truth must be held

without bias or partiality.

Gentile succession from Nebuchadnezzar still continues, although owing to the non-repentance of Israel at the

first advent, the kingdoms represented by the legs (see Dan.2:33) have entered into a phase parallel with the

`mystery of the kingdom of Heaven'. Nations go about their ways, rise and fall, quite independently of the Church

of the mystery, and scattered and blinded Israel are still with us, waiting indeed as Hosea 3 declares `without a king

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and without a prince'. If at the time of the end there is to be an investment of Jerusalem by the armies of the

Gentiles, then of necessity there must be inhabitants of that city; and if the inhabitants therein invested are of the

stock of Israel, then of necessity, during the present period, there must have been movements among the Jewish

people, even though promoted by unbelief in their true Messiah. To borrow a figure from the theatre; the play does

not begin until the curtain rises, but if there were no work being done behind the curtain in preparation, there would

be no play. So, until Israel occupy their position prophetic times will not have re-commenced, but if they are to

commence, then much preparation must be going on here and now, and these prefatory preparations constitute

legitimate `signs of the times' that may be observed even today. Among such initial preparations going on at the

present moment, and before our eyes is the first movement described in the vision of Ezekiel 37. A valley of dry

bones, fitly describes Israel's present condition, and if it describes Israel's present condition, then it is a sign of the

times. These bones are said to be `very dry', and this same word appears in Isaiah 40 where we read `The grass

withereth' (Isa. 40:7,8). In Ezekiel the prophet is not only asked a question but is given a command `Prophesy upon

these bones' (Ezek. 37:4). In the vision we see, in fulfilment of the LORD's promise, a series of movements resulting

in the complete restoration of the whole house of Israel. Most of the prophecy lies beyond the bounds of the present

dispensation, but the opening movement is going on before our eyes.

` ... There was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone' (Ezek. 37:7).

Once again there is a link with Isaiah 40, for the word translated `noise', is the Hebrew qol `voice', which occurs

in Isaiah 40:3 and 6. The combination of a `voice' or `noise' and a `shaking' is found elsewhere in Ezekiel. In the

prophecy against Tyre, the prophet says:

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`for weal or for woe' - for better or for worse.

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besieging or beleaguerment