Look how Israel the Fig Tree is blooming!

When people think of prophecy regarding Israel in the last days they think of the most famous one, Isaiah 66:7-8, that Israel will be restored as a nation in one day. Israel was born in one day, May 17, 1948 and it was a glorious day. For the first time in 2,900 years Israel was a nation once again.

However, the LORD has made many other promises about Israel in the last days, and not just the next most famous ones that we know will come to pass during the Tribulation. The LORD has told us what Israel's immigration, agriculture, economy, finances, and global stature will be like as the labor pains increase and the end nears.

Ezekiel 36:24- "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land." This prophecy speaks of the aftermath of the nation's birth. The Jews will be gathered once again inside their own national borders and the momentum of immigration will increase from all corners of the globe as the end nears.  Isaiah 11:11 - "Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea." And it is so, immigration into Israel and the Palestinian West Bank is surging after the financial crisis and economic downturn evaporated jobs elsewhere. The article is discussed in further detail below.

This year we have seen global economic catastrophe. Finances fell, interest rates fell with them, there's record unemployment, currency devaluation, hunger ... you all have heard this and much more, over and over ad nauseum. What you may not have heard is that the global economic crisis is not affecting Israel as much, if at all. Their unemployment rates are low. Interest rates have been raised twice. They were prevented from investing in Dubai so Dubai's credit crash has not affected Israel as it has the rest of the world. Their economy is flourishing. Israel ranks fourth in the world in scientific activity and leads in agricultural advances. As the United States and Europe decline, bread lines form, and Parliaments and Congresses argue, Israel flourishes. This was all prophesied.

Jeremiah 30:3 - 'For behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.'"

Ezekiel 36:24,33 - "Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. "The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. "They will say, 'This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.'

Amos 9:11 "In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, And wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the days of old;

An important article caught my eye this morning. In the early part of the year, it was reported that aliyah was rising and reaching record numbers. Aliyah is the Jewish name for immigration back to the land of Israel. By March 2009 the immigration influx was 20% higher than 2008. Now, with the year almost concluded, we see that those numbers not only held, but rose still again, an increase of 33% over 2008, according to this just-published article:

Crisis Spurs Migration to Israel
JERUSALEM -- Immigration into Israel and the Palestinian West Bank is surging after the financial crisis and economic downturn evaporated jobs elsewhere. After years of a brain drain from the region, and despite the lack of a peace settlement, by the end of this month about 4,000 North American Jews will have immigrated to Israel this year, an increase of 33% over 2008 and the most in one year since 1973, according to Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that oversees and assists with immigration to Israel from North America.

The influx is due in part not only to nationalism, but the fact that Israel's economy is healthier than many other nations. Most other nations, in fact. As people immigrate to Israel, it is being rebuilt as in the days of old, just as the LORD promised...

Israel's economy, fueled mainly by the software, biomedical, weapons-manufacturing and diamond sectors, has grown at least 4% a year from 2004 to 2008. And Israel has a lower unemployment rate than the U.S., at 7.8%, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, next to 10.2% in October in the U.S. The Bank of Israel has raised interest rates twice since August, to its current level of 1%, at a time when banks around the world are cutting rates or leaving them low.

Joel 3:1-2 - "For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,"

The increase in immigration from America also shows a change in the image and economy of Israel. The country is in the process of entering the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and has been upgraded from a developing to a developed economy, said Glenn Yago, an economist at the Milken Institute in Jerusalem. This wave of American immigration suggests that Israel is shifting "from its primary, historical role as a refuge of last resort to a human- and financial-capital destination of first resort," Mr. Yago said.

Israel has vaulted within 60 years from not being a nation at all, to being a flourishing, First World nation. Don't skip over that concept. Israel did not exist 60 years ago, and now it is leading the world in economic, agricultural, financial, technological stature. This is miraculous, but see, it was foretold, the LORD is rebuilding the nation as in the days of old.

Jeremiah 24:2-4 spoke of the figs - One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness." Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

Figs and the fig tree are a Biblical symbol of the Jewish people, and Israel. And as 2009 ends, Israel's economy, finances, stature, agriculture, immigration, technology, and defense are restored, noteworthy, and superlative. It can be said that Israel is blooming even as the rest of the world is withering ... and this is the signal to us:

Matthew 24:32-33 - Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near, right at the door.

Maranatha!