On Monday, The Central Bureau of Statistics published data on the population of Israel just ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, shining a light on the fulfillment of several Biblical prophesies anticipating the return and flourishing of the Jewish people in Israel.

Israel’s population stands at 8.743 million on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. Jews number over 6.5 million, representing 74.6 percent of Israel’s population, a slight decrease compared to last year. Arabs numbered over 1.8 million of the Israeli population, representing 20.9 percent of Israel’s population, a 3 percent increase over the past year.

The statistics showed a population increase similar to previous years of 1.8 percent and a steady maintenance of Israel’s high immigration and fertility rates, the latter ranking as the highest in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

According to end-time scholar Rabbi Pinchas Winston, this decade’s rise in Israel’s Jewish birthrate is indicative of fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham of his prophesied descendents.

Bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. Genesis 22:17

Israel’s high birth rates juxtapose with declining global fertility rates. The global birthrate in the 1950s was 3.6 while last year, the global birthrate was just 1.85, showing a sharp decrease. In contrast, Israel’s birth rate was 3.11, the highest fertility rate in Western developed economies of the OECD. The death rate was four times less the birth rate, with 43,000 deaths in the past year.

Rabbi Winston explained to Breaking Israel News, “When Jacob rises Esau falls, so it is only natural that as Jewish fertility increases, that of the rest of the world declines.”

In the past, Arab Israeli births have outnumbered Jewish ones by a wide margin. But the Jewish fertility rate increased by 20 percent between 1998 and 2017, rising from 2.6 children to 3.1 children per woman, now equal to the Arab birth rate. Growth in the Jewish population is often compared to Arab population growth, as the proportion affects Israel’s ability to maintain its status as both a democratic and a Jewish State.

In the past 30 years, global fertility rates in the Muslim world have decreased, with Turkey dropping from 4.07 to 2.08, Tunisia dropping from 4.82 to 2.14, and Morocco from 5.4 to 2.52

Last year’s immigration trends also fulfill Biblical prophecy as the exiles are gathered from four corners of the earth. Over the last year, Israel welcomed 27,000 immigrants, the majority from the Soviet Union, followed by France and the United States. Israel’s consistent immigration patterns exhibit the continuing ingathering of the exiles, as foretold in the times of the redemption by the prophet Isaiah.

He will hold up a signal to the nations And assemble the banished of Yisrael, And gather the dispersed of Yehuda From the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:12

The Central Bureau of Statistics estimates that Israel’s population will continue to grow, reaching 10 million people by 2024, 15 million by 2048, and 20 million by 2065.