Below is the entirety of chapter 9 of my book “The Controversy of Zion and the Time of Jacob’s Trouble” entitled, “The Difference between the Recent Return and the Future Return.”

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“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord…” Jeremiah 31:10-12

“We cannot help looking for the restoration of the scattered Israelites to the Land which God has given to them by a Covenant…we also look for the time when they shall believe in the Messiah whom they have rejected, and shall rejoice in Jesus of Nazareth, whom today they despise.”[1] Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1887)

One of the principle burdens upon which this book rests is the idea that the modern re-established State of Israel did not and does not constitute the great and glorious final regathering and restoration of the Nation of Israel that prophets such as Jeremiah, Zechariah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel described. Essentially, the current State is something like a preliminary design.

            Many Scriptures show that the Gentiles that are left among the nations after the “time of Jacob’s trouble” will

“volunteer every mode of transport to assist the Jews in a massive exodus back to the Land (Isa. 49:22; 60:9: 66:20). This second exodus (Isa. 11:11-13, 14-16; 27:13) is to be distinguished from an earlier return in unbelief in preparation for the crucible of the final tribulation (Jer. 30:3-7; Ezek. 22:19-22; 38:8; Zeph. 2:1-2). This final return begins only after the Antichrist has been destroyed at the Day of the Lord. All of the scriptures depicting the final and complete return (Ezek. 39:29) assume the presence of the new heart and Spirit. Then will be brought to pass the saying that is written:”[2]

“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:23)

However, it seems to many Christians the re-establishment of the State of Israel is the fulfillment of prophecies of “the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel,”[3] suggesting that now, having been “planted in the Land,” the Jews will “never again be uprooted.”[4] Advocates of this view quote verses like the one below as proof that God has indeed totally fulfilled His promise to restore the Jewish people to their ancient homeland:

“I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. And the desolate Land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passed by. And they will say, ‘This desolate Land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’” (Ezekiel 36:33-35)

Such arguments often include passages like Jeremiah 30-31, Isaiah 60-66, Ezekiel 36-37, and other promises to national Israel (like “though I scattered you, I will gather you…” and “He will gather the dispersed from the four corners of the earth”) as stand-alone signs of God’s now-completed promises. Due to the fact that they see the Jewish return to the Land in the twentieth century as the fulfillment of the prophecies of restoration, they believe the return has marked the beginning of a permanent tenure in the Land. While they see the State as vulnerable, they believe it is ultimately inviolable and secure from future expulsion. Though this hope is attractive, it has no sufficient grounds for belief in the texts themselves.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HISTORY AND PROPHECY: 3 TEXTS

The view that the modern State fulfills the prophecies about a final regathering to the Land has glaring weaknesses. The most conspicuous of them is the fact that the prophetic descriptions of the return and the actual historical events are so radically different. Consider these three famous prophecies about the final regathering and compare them to the historical record:

1. Isaiah 35:1-10

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

There are five dimensions of the prophecy most notable for our purposes:

1)    Isaiah connects the return to the land in verse 10 to the revealing of the “glory” and “majesty” of God in verse 2 who has come in “vengeance” in verse 4 to “save” His people from foreign oppressors and enemies. In other words, the return to the Land would be accompanied by an acknowledgment not only of the Lord’s deliverance but of “His glory and majesty.” There was no such revealing between 1948 and the present and no such acknowledgment. The secular State has yet to nationally adore God’s glory and majesty.

2)    Isaiah declares that those who return to the Land do so with “singing” and “everlasting joy upon their heads.” He says that they shall “obtain gladness and joy” and that “sorrow and sighing will flee away.” To claim this as a description of the Jews who have returned to the Land is to ignore the facts. As soon as the UN declared Israel’s Statehood, the Arab world declared war. Those who returned did so with the knowledge that they were returning to fight and defend themselves. They returned with considerable relief in light of the unthinkable suffering of the Holocaust—but not with everlasting joy. To this day, over sixty years later, their sorrow has yet to flee away. In fact, here in the nation of New Zealand where I live, I often meet Jews who immigrated to Israel after 1948 who have since fled in search of refuge due to the instability and volatility of the State. Hope drew them to the Land and fear drove them from it. This isn’t exactly what we read in Isaiah 35.

3)    Isaiah describes the “ransomed” ones who return with “everlasting joy” upon their heads as “holy.” He describes what he calls “the Way of Holiness” in verse 8 whereby the Jewish refugees scattered among the nations make their way back to Zion (Jerusalem) as those who have been saved, redeemed, ransomed, regenerated, and who now rejoice. “The unclean” shall not tread upon this highway—only the holy. Through Isaiah, the Lord spoke that those who return to the Land in the final regathering return as ransomed and regenerate refugees who find joyful solace in a settled and secure Nation without the threat of violence. These verses show that the political restoration to the land in 1948 is altogether distinct from the spiritual restoration to the Lord, which Isaiah envisaged. Herein lies the central underlying message of Isaiah 35: The final political restoration is synonymous with the final spiritual restoration, and the two cannot be separated prophetically. They are two sides of one proverbial coin.

4)    Isaiah describes the physical Land of Israel as being supernaturally prosperous in verses 1 and 7 as those who return are described as being supernaturally healed in verses 5 through 6. Clearly this is yet to be. Though the agricultural success of the modern State is often cited as evidence of the fulfillment of these prophecies, Isaiah spoke of such an order of restoration and glorification that any modern success fails to satisfy the details and implications of the text.

5)    Isaiah says that the scattered captives will “come to Zion with singing.” Zion refers to the city of Jerusalem. Though the State was established in 1948, it wasn’t until 1967 that the Jews took possession of Jerusalem. The return to the Land described in Isaiah 35 is a return to the city of Jerusalem, not a return to a secular political State.

2. Isaiah 66:8-14:

“‘Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a Land be born in one day? Shall a Nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?’ says the Lord; ‘shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?’ says your God. ‘Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.’ For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.’”

Many believe that Israel’s declaration of political independence at four p.m. on Friday, May 14, 1948, “fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of a nation being born in a day” and is an “unmistakable milestone on the prophetic timetable.”[5] While the establishment of the modern State is indeed prophetically monumental, it is not the fulfillment of the birth of the Nation described in Isaiah 66:8. The reason is a matter of context.

Here are three concrete facts concerning this text:

1)    Isaiah calls those who have mourned over Jerusalem to rejoice with Jerusalem on the “one day” the “Nation” is “born” because of “her glorious abundance.” Considering that it wasn’t until June of 1967 that the politically-independent State took possession of the city of Jerusalem for the first time, it’s difficult to believe the birth of the State in 1948 is to be understood as the birth of the Nation in Isaiah 66:8. Isaiah connects the birth of the Nation to the call for those who mourn for Jerusalem to rejoice with Jerusalem. Rejoicing with Jerusalem presupposes Jerusalem rejoicing herself. Jewish residents of the modern State weren’t able to rejoice in Jerusalem until nearly two decades after the declaration of its independence. Even then, their ability to rejoice has been overshadowed by the mounting Palestinian dilemma that is currently reaching new heights.

2)    In verse 12 we read that the Lord will “extend peace like a river” and “glory like an overflowing stream” to the city of Jerusalem on the day the Nation is “born.” Jerusalem has been engaged in constant conflict since the Jews took possession of it and is consistently the epicenter of international controversy. Peace and glory do not describe the city at present. This is why we “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”[6]

3)    In verse 14 Isaiah explains that the Lord will “show His indignation against His enemies” on that same day that the Nation is “born.” The “indignation” of the Lord against His “enemies” is an eschatological reality not yet come to fruition.

Contextually, the birth of the Nation in a day results in: (1) the immediate joy of Jerusalem, (2) the extending of divine peace and glory to Jerusalem, and (3) the display of God’s indignation against His enemies who come against Jerusalem. The modern State fails to meet this three-fold description. Therefore, we conclude the birth of the State and the birth of the Nation are distinct events in the mind of the Lord.

3. Amos 9:9-15

“For behold, I will command, and sift the house of Israel among all the nations as one sifts with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’ ‘In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,’ declares the Lord who does this. ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their Land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the Land that I have given them,’ says the Lord your God.”

Many believe that the “sifting” began in AD 70 and terminated with the reestablishment of the State in 1948. They argue that the devastation and scattering of verses 9 through 10 have been fulfilled in history past and that the restoration and rebuilding of verses 11through14 is progressively being fulfilled since the birth of the State. As a result they claim verse 15 as proof that Jews in the Land will never again suffer expulsion and exile and that the State will be protected. There are serious exegetical problems with this view. None of the descriptions of the restored Nation match the modern State which raises the question of whether or not this promise of “restoration” and return is speaking of the modern return or if we’re to look for a yet future return far more comprehensive and ultimate than this present one.

With the use of the phrase “in that day,” Amos connects the “sifting” of Israel among “all the nations” in verse 9 and the “sinners of His people” who will “die by the sword” in verse 10 to four events: the restoration of “the tabernacle of David” in verse 11, the restoration of the “fortunes” of Israel, the “rebuilding” of the “ruined cities,” and the permanent “inhabiting” of the Land in verse 14. The raising up of the tabernacle of David refers to the establishment of the order of day and night worship and prayer in the city of Jerusalem that serves as the theocratic and governmental power-base of the restored Nation. In Isaiah 56 the prophet referred to this governmental center as “the house of prayer for all nations.” Zechariah 6 declares that Jesus will rule the nations from it as priest in the sanctuary and as king on His throne. Day and night worship and prayer and theocratic rule have yet to be established in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, the “plowman overtaking the reaper” and the “treader” and the “sower” in verse 14 speak of such miraculous and supernatural prosperity and blessing that it’s inappropriate to compare it to post-1948 Israel. This verse predicts a post-advent Millennial blessing of the Land we have yet to observe. Lastly, in verse 15 the Lord says, “He will plant them in the Land” and “they shall never be uprooted out of the Land that He has given them;” emphasizing the word “never.” Christian Zionists often use this verse to argue that the modern State is essentially invincible—vulnerable to opposition and attack, but not enemy domination and expulsion. The doctrine is called “the inviolability of Zion.” But a host of prophetic passages declare in shocking detail that Zion will be severely violated and, in the words of the Angel Gabriel, “shattered”[7] before the return of the Lord.

A FUTURE SCATTERING AND REGATHERING

Given these three passages, I submit that the recent return to the Land makes possible the “sifting” and violence of Amos 9:9-10, as well as the final and ultimate regathering and restoration of Amos 9:11-14. An abundance of biblical evidence lends itself to the idea that Israel will suffer great and unprecedented affliction once returned to the Land, even to the point of the expulsion of much of its population and the military domination of the State.[8] If these prophecies of a future “time of Jacob’s trouble” within the Land refer to a crisis that will befall the modern State somewhere in the future, then we’re forced to anticipate yet another regathering distinct from that of the twentieth century, a regathering of epic proportions in the wake of Israel’s darkest hour.

The future return to the Land is distinct from that of the recent history in two primary ways: The first distinction is that in the future return none are left behind.[9] The second marker for the future return will be that every living Jew is “born again”[10] and brought into the Covenant to receive the Land permanently.[11] Neither outcome was the fruit of the return that officially began in 1948.

Again, Reggie Kelly’s voice lends us tremendous aid. He has noted that

“[a number of]remarkable passages show that the judgments of the last tribulation break forth on a people that have only recently returned to the Land (Jeremiah 30:3-7; Ezekiel 22:17-22; 38:8; Zephaniah 2:1-2; Joel 3:1-2). The language suggests that the holy places have been only lately recovered into Jewish possession when the City is suddenly invaded and ‘trodden down’ by the Gentiles (Isaiah 63:18; 64:10-11; Daniel 8:13; 11:23 with Isaiah 28:15-18; also Luke 21:24 with Revelation 11:2).”[12]

That spoken-of invasion is yet future. The recent regathering of the twentieth century makes this very invasion possible; imminent even.

THE FINAL GATHERING OF “THE BANISHED ONES” WHO WERE “DRIVEN” INTO THE NATIONS—ISAIAH 11 AND 27

There are many passages in the book of Isaiah that urge us to anticipate a future gathering of the Jewish people to their Land (to such an extent that I have reserved an entire subsequent chapter to examine Isaiah’s prophecies of the final suffering and salvation of the Jewish people). I want to draw your attention now to two that emphasize particularly the unequaled scope of the post-tribulation return: Isaiah 11:11-16 and Isaiah 27:12-13.

“In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth….They shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them. And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals. And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.” (Isaiah 11:11-16)

We will return to this incredible passage to focus on the critically important phrase “a second time” in a later chapter. For now, I want to point out the nature and scope of the regathering and return to the Land described in verses 12 through 16. Notice these key eschatological phrases:

“assemble the banished ones of Israel”
“gather the dispersed from the four corners of the earth”
“they [the Jews] shall plunder the people of the east”
“[Gentiles] shall obey them”
“the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt”
“He will lead people across [the Sea] in sandals”
“there will be a highway from Assyria”
“the remnant that remains of His people”

These statements clearly show the horrific nature of the final scattering as well as the epic quality of the final regathering that follows. Four of the statements address specifically the extent and scope of the scattering. The remaining phrases speak of the glory and intensity of the regathering. The assembling of the “banished ones” who were “dispersed” extends so globally that they return from the “four corners of the earth.” The crisis that banished them is of such gruesome impact that only a “remnant” of the Jewish people will “remain.” Significantly, this remnant is not found in the Land of Israel but in places like “Egypt,” “Shinar,” and “Assyria”—all of which are currently Arab and Islamic nations! “Shinar” is modern-day Iraq and at the time Isaiah was written, “Assyria” encompassed the nation now known as Iran. The implications of this prophecy are staggering. In 1948 there were approximately 120,000 Jews living Iraq.[13] As of 2004 there are fewer than one hundred[14] with an estimate of seven or eight in the city of Baghdad.[15] Why has the Jewish population so dramatically diminished in Iraq? In short, because of Iraq’s extreme anti-Semitism that was galvanized by the establishment of the State of Israel.[16] This begs the question, “Why would Jews then seek refuge in Iraq, as suggested in this passage?” The answer is simple: because the anti-Semitic violence in Israel will eclipse the anti-Semitic threats in nations like Iraq. To say it another way, Jerusalem will be the eye of the dreadful storm.

The “remnant” that survives “Jacob’s trouble” and “remains” in the surrounding Arab and Islamic nations in the wake of it will be gathered back to the Land of Israel in a series of dramatic, glorious, and supernatural events. In addition to “plundering” the “people” to the “east” (Jordan, Iraq, Iran, etc.) in an unbelievable and miraculous turning of the tides, the Lord Himself will escort the captives back to Zion, having dried up the Sea as He did when He led them out of Egypt (in their great Exodus). In that day the Lord will establish a highway of sorts upon which Jewish refugees abiding in Iran during the tribulation will journey back to the Promised Land. This is not the description of the recent return to the Land in the previous century.

In Isaiah 27:12-13 we read another astonishing prophecy about the “banished ones” who will take refuge in Egypt and Assyria during the “time of Jacob’s trouble.”

“In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 27:12-13)

Here we read that the final regathering of the Jewish people will be like the threshing and gleaning of grain. A “great trumpet will be blown” signaling to the survivors of the tribulation that the storm has passed and the time of restoration has come. As seen also in Isaiah 11, this passage depicts that from Egypt to the Euphrates River (which runs through modern day Iraq) Jewish refugees will be “gleaned” and gathered.

            As in Isaiah 11, Egypt and Assyria are prophesied to be the nations in which Jews in flight will take refuge in the final crisis which, again, suggests the overwhelming intensity of that crisis. Two of the most historically hostile and anti-Semitic regions on the earth become the place of hiding in the generation of the Age-ending tribulation. This is staggering in its prophetic implications with regards to the unequaled brutality of the Antichrist’s scourge of the Holy Land.

These verses include two important phrases that aren’t found in Isaiah 11: “those who were lost in the land of Assyria” and “those who were driven out to the land of Egypt.” The fact that the survivors are “lost” at the time of their deliverance speaks of their desperate attempt at survival. They will be found wandering the wilderness at the time of the end like hunted and homeless criminals. Additionally and most importantly, those who will be “lost” in those days will be those who will have been “driven out” of the Land of Israel in which they were residing when the trouble began “forty-two months”[17] earlier with the “abomination of desolation.”[18]

CONCLUSION

When the unparalleled scope and magnitude of the final scattering and the incomparable glory and finality of the final regathering are rightly understood, we view the recent return to the Land as probationary and preliminary in nature as we anticipate with great longing and fervent desire the epic regathering to come. It will be the final regathering when “those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”[19]

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[1]The C.H. Spurgeon Collection, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, X, 1864, no.582: 533, 536-537.

[2]Reggie Kelly, “Apocalyptic Evangelism,”Mystery of Israel (website), accessed February 2011,http://the.mysteryofisrael.org/2011/0....

[3] Acts 1:6

[4] Amos 9:14-15

[5] John Hagee, In Defense of Israel: the Bible’s Mandate for Supporting the Jewish State, rev. ed. (Lake Mary, FL: Frontline, A Strange Company, 2007), 11.

[6] Psalm 122:6

[7] Daniel 12:7

[8] Daniel 11:41-45 describes the “Beautiful Land” being overrun by the Antichrist as he establishes his governmental center and military headquarters there until the “appointed end.”

[9] Deuteronomy 30:4; Isaiah 11:11-16; 27:12-13; 43:6-7; Ezekiel 39:28; Amos 9:9; Zechariah 10:8-9

[10] John 3:3, 5; compare with Isaiah 66:8, Zechariah 3:9, and Jeremiah 31:31-34.

[11] Isaiah 4:3; 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; 66:8; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Ezekiel 39:22; Romans 11:25-27

[12] Reggie Kelly, “The Approaching Time of Jacob’s Trouble,”Mystery of Israel (website), accessed October 2010,http://the.mysteryofisrael.org/.

[13] Lipika Pelham, Israelis from Iraq Remember Babylon, BBC, May 7, 2007, accessed April 2011, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_eas....

[14] David Van Biema, “The Last Jews of Baghdad,” TIME Magazine, July 27, 2007, accessed April 2011, http://www.time.com/time/world/articl....

[15] Stephen Farrell, Baghdad Jews Have Become a Fearful Few, New York Times, June 1, 2008, accessed April 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/wor....

[16] Ibid.

[17] Revelation 11:2; compare with Revelation 13:5 and Daniel 12:11-13.

[18] Matthew 24:15; Daniel 8:13-14; 9:26-27; 11:31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-7

[19] Isaiah 27:12-13