Jewish Immigration to Israel: The Biblical Meaning of Aliyah

What is Aliyah?

The term the Israeli government uses to describe Jewish immigration to Israel from the nations is referred to as ‘making aliyah’. In Hebrew, “aliyah” means “to go up,” for example to an upper room of a house. The word is not foreign to Scriptures either. The first time it is used in the Bible is in Exodus when it describes Moses going up to meet with God.

“The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.” – Exodus 19:20

Moses went up to meet with God on Sinai where he received the Ten Commandments for the people of Israel. So the intention of aliyah was not just to go up somewhere. It was to go up and meet with God. The Lord is bringing the Jewish people back to the land He promised to Abraham. He is calling them to make aliyah, to ascend and meet with Him. He is bringing them back not only to keep His promise, but to dwell among them as their God. His plan was always to live among His people, and He is bringing that plan to pass.

Electronic information stand for checking flights

Aliyah On the Rise!

At the end of 2014, the Times of Israel reported that the Jews who had made Aliyah reached a 10-year high, with French Jews topping the list of those returning. At the end of 2015, that number has increased another 10 percent. In 2019, over 35 thousand of Jewish people decided to follow suit and moved to Israel. Although the pandemic slowed things down significantly, still another 21 thousand found their way to the Jewish homeland in 2020. We can see a great increase in Aliyah in 2021 – about 27 thousand immigrants arrived in Israel – so we can only imagine what to expect at the end of 2022.

Why Aliyah Matters to Christians

You may wonder, why should it matter to Christians if Jews are returning to Israel? For those of us who love the Lord and His Word, we are watching ancient biblical prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes. The most repeated promise in the Old Testament is that God will return His people to the land. Take a look at these words from Ezekiel:

“For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God….” – Ezekiel 36:24-28

aerial view of big city with sandy seashore and wavy sea, Tel Av

God is bringing his people back to Israel

Sometimes people will say “I could support Israel if they were living morally or if they all were Christians.” While these are noble aspirations, it is opposite of what the Scriptures foretell.

Ezekiel says that God will gather them from the nations and THEN He will sprinkle clean water on them for cleansing. This is what the prophet said would happen! God is bringing His people back to the land who are primarily secular, don’t know their history and many ignore their God.

But that’s not the end! He is gathering them for a cleansing.

As Yeshua said, “it is not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick” (Matthew 9:12). In this case, it is not the clean that need a cleansing but the dirty. A national cleansing is coming and this process begins by the people returning to the land.

The Spiritual Implications of Immigration Increase

News reports show an increasing number of Jews making aliyah. This means we are that much closer to seeing Israel receive a new heart, new spirit and the revelation of the Jewish Messiah to Israel. And it all starts with aliyah.

He is bringing the Jewish people back from the ends of the earth to live with Him in Jerusalem. They may not be ready, but He already initiated the process. From the very beginning, the Lord has always desired to dwell among mankind. He has been working through all of human history to this end! He wants to be God to His beloved creation. With every new immigrant, this time gets closer.

To deny that the Bible is being fulfilled in our day is to deny the last 50 years of modern history. And don’t forget. The most repeated promise in the Scriptures is that God will bring Israel back to the land of her inheritance.

The Return of Israel to Israel

It is easy to discuss and argue the validity of popular theologies. But it’s difficult to dispute hard numerical data and facts that are coming from present day Israel. Due to a few events in our lifetime, we can say what is sometimes said in business — “the numbers don’t lie.” Let’s look at two things Jeremiah wrote at a time when Israel was being taken captive. It is promises of regathering.

In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance. Jeremiah 3:18

Let’s look at a map – from Israel, the nation farthest north is Russia. If we follow the latitude lines going north of Jerusalem, the line will pass near Moscow, the capital of the former Soviet Union and current Russia.

What’s interesting is that after the fall of the USSR, it was reported that between 1989 -1995 some 1.2 million Jews immigrated to Israel. Many of these immigrants came from two of the largest Jewish communities in Russia — Moscow and St Petersburg. The land of the north started releasing sons and daughters of Abraham within our lifetime! Do you know how many Jewish prophets and scholars prayed for that moment?

Aliyah from Every Continent

With these numbers, the population of Israel increased by 20 percent. To put that in perspective, according to the the United States Census Bureau, the world annual rate of population growth during that time was between 1-2 percent. Israel grew 20 percent in six years simply by counting those who emigrated from “the land of the north” to the land of their fathers.

“Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.” Jeremiah 16:14-17

In essence, Jeremiah said there will come a day when the exodus from the four corners of the earth will be greater than the exodus of Egypt. According to Jewishvituallibrary.org population charts, this already happened in the 1960s, when the Jewish Israeli population crossed the two million mark. (Some sources say that was the estimated number of Israelites who left Egypt.)

Prophesies Fulfilled

2014 marked the first year in over two thousand years that the nation with the largest Jewish population was Israel. That is 68 years after Israel was reborn! Ask yourself, which is greater: that after 460 years God would bring two million people back to His land out of one nation? Or that after 2000 years, God would bring six million people from every nation to His land? We are experiencing the time of the greater exodus!

Friends, these are biblical prophecies being fulfilled in our lifetime and our parents’ lifetime. Never before has any event occurred that could compete with these. We are living in the days that the prophets’ spoke of. And the numbers don’t lie.

The article was updated with new data on June 28, 2022.

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