Especially in light of the barbaric murders of Israeli Jews in Tel Aviv yesterday—by Palestinians—it was appropriate that my daily Bible reading landed on Ezekiel 36. In this lead-up to the great Israeli “Declaration of Independence” that follows in Ezekiel 37 (the famous “Dry Bones” prophecy), we find several critical pieces of information that explain God’s actions.

Interestingly, He goes to great lengths to make sure everyone understands that His restoration of the Jewish people to their homeland in the last days is not primarily for them. It is about making the nations aware of His glory, reserved for Him alone. In verses 22 and 23 we read:

“Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.'”

For centuries, the nations where the Jews were scattered during their great exile have looked at them with contempt, and have had contempt for the God of their forefathers. After all, the thinking goes, even He could not “keep them in their land.”

That is a misreading of the situation, and a false perspective.

As God’s overall plan for mankind unfolds, we see Him working exactly as He promised He would. That we live in the moment in which He has restored the Jewish people is no small thing. In fact, we are witnessing one of the great events in history. It is even more than that: it is undeniable proof that God exists and the Bible is true.

Elsewhere in Ezekiel 36, God also explains that the long suffering of the Jewish people will come to an end. Attention will be turned instead to the crimes against Jewish humanity committed by the nations, or, as we would say today, the international community. In verses 6,7, and 15, we read what God has planned for them:

I speak in my jealous wrath because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn.

No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations, and no longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples or cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign Lord.

This is no small thing, either, and very soon the nations and all Israel’s tormentors will answer for the evil they have committed against the Jewish people.

One more proof that the Return of the Jewish people to their ancestral land has begun is the promise in Ezekiel 36 that the Lord will cause the land to bloom with fruit and vegetation, so that it resembles the Garden of Eden.

Truly, today, Israel looks that way. Even the moonscape of the south is being reclaimed with palm and date groves. From Jerusalem to the Golan Heights, Israel is indeed like the Garden of Eden.

So what is the point of this particular passage? It is that God keeps His promises, always and all the time.

The Jews are living proof of that.