03.04. When Will Israel Be Regathered and Conv....
CHAPTER FOUR When Will Israel Be Regathered and Converted? At Christ’s Coming
SURELY IT IS an established teaching of the Word of God that Israel will all be restored to their land. As to that, the promises are clear. When, then, will Israel be carried back to their land as a nation under the blessing of God to inherit their eternal possession? The Scriptures give the answer that it will be at the second coming of Christ. No past movement of the people of Israel to Palestine fulfills the prophecies, and in the Bible, the restoration is repeatedly connected with the conversion of the entire remnant of the nation and the beginning of the reign of Christ as His Second Coming.
Here is one of the simplest proofs that Christ’s kingdom has not been set up on the earth. In dozens of places in the Bible we are taught that the coming kingdom will follow the regathering of Israel to their own land, Canaan. In 2Sa 7:10, the Lord revealed to David through the prophet Nathan His plan for the regathering of Israel and their settling in "a place of their own" to move no more, in the following words: "Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime."
Then in the following verses, 2Sa 7:11-16, the Lord gave David the great covenant about his dynasty and the everlasting kingdom. The kingdom follows the regathering of Israel to their own land. God will place Israel permanently in their own land and then David’s Descendant will reign over them on David’s throne. The Scripture in Isa 11:10-12 plainly says that the coming of the great King, "a root of Jesse," that is, the Descendant of David and his father Jesse, will be IN THE SAME DAY as the regathering of Israel.
"And IN THAT DAY there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass IN THAT DAY; that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Gush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isa 11:10-12).
Note in verse Isa 11:11 the exact words "in that day." The beginning of the reign of Christ and the assembling of the outcasts of Israel from every corner of the earth will take place in the same day.
Jer 23:3-6 again connects the raising up of the "righteous BRANCH" of David to reign on David’s throne with the regathering of the children of Israel. When God gathers His flock, Israel, out of all countries and brings them again to their own fold, then the Lord Jesus "shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." The same thing is promised in Jer 33:14-17. In Eze 34:1-31, read verses Eze 34:12-14; Eze 34:22-24. The order is the same. God will regather Israel, and then the kingdom of David will be restored. Eze 37:21-25 shows the same thing again. The Regathering of Israel for the Kingdom to Take Place at Christ’s Second Coming
We have taken detailed steps to impress it upon your heart, but ere this you must have seen that the regathering of Israel is one great, sudden event at the second coming of Christ. That is exactly what the Scripture teaches. In Mat 24:29-31, the Saviour gives the order of events. Following a Great Tribulation on this earth, He will return visibly and personally to this earth.
Then He shall send His angels and regather His elect or chosen people of Israel.
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Mat 24:29-31). This Scripture fits with all the others concerning the regathering of Israel and the establishment of His kingdom.
Christ the King will gather His flock, and establish His kingdom over them, on the mountains of Israel. This, Jesus Himself said, did not happen at His first coming, but would happen on His visible, bodily return to this earth. The slow migration of Jewish people back to Palestine cannot fulfill this Scripture, but with all the authority of the Son of God upon them, the angels of Heaven will scatter to all the world to seek out every living Jew and bring him back to the land of his fathers, to meet his promised King, the Lord Jesus Christ! The regathering of Israel to Palestine waits for the second coming of Christ.
Then will come the blessed kingdom of Christ, when "He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever" (Luk 1:33).
Israel Will Be Saved When Regathered The kingdom of Christ awaits not only the regathering of Israel, but their conversion as well. Since the Jewish nation rejected Christ at His first coming, most of the Jews were not saved then, and since most Jews have not been Christians in any age since Jesus came, it is certain that Christ’s kingdom, has not been set up on the earth. Those who do not take the promises about Christ’s kingdom on earth literally, but explain them away, teach that Christ set up His kingdom at His first coming, or, as some teach, at Pentecost. But they overlook many Scriptures which positively teach that at the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on earth the Jewish nation will be converted.
Jews to Be "Circumcised in Heart"
Connected with the promise of the regathering of Israel for their kingdom, at a number of places in the Bible is a statement that they will be circumcised in heart, or converted. Deu 30:5-6 speaks of this as follows:
"And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God WILL CIRCUMCISE THINE HEART, AND THE HEART OF THY SEED, TO LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THINE HEART, AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, that thou mayest live."
Circumcision among Jews always meant that they were a chosen, separate people, set apart according to the plan of God. Actually, circumcision ought to have been, and with spiritual Jews was, a sign that they were wholly set apart to love and serve the true God. A Jew who has been circumcised in the flesh is set apart physically as one of God’s chosen race, Israel. But as long as he rejects the Jewish Messiah, he belies his circumcision. He is not circumcised in heart. When with all his heart he turns to seek the Lord, and finds Him, then the Jew, born again, a child of God, is truly ’circumcised in heart!’ In this passage we are told that the circumcision of heart for all the Jews will be in connection with their regathering to their own land. Circumcision of Israelites in the Old Testament plainly signified separation, and said, ’This man is different, he is God’s man!’ That circumcision only faintly foretold the time when Israelites would be circumcised in heart, when every living Jew would know and love the true God.
Eze 36:24-27 tells us again of this coming time when Jews shall have a change of heart when they are regathered to Palestine. Remember that this regathering is connected everywhere with the kingdom of David, and the kingdom of Israel cannot be restored until Israel is saved.
"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries., and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Eze 36:24-27). This Scripture is as clear a picture of salvation as "ye must be born again."
"A new heart," "a new Spirit" will be given Jews when they are regathered for the kingdom, of Christ and are in their own land. This is the same individual salvation that Christians have today.
Read again Eze 37:15-28 where the Lord instructed Ezekiel to take two sticks and bind them together until they should be one and to say to the people that one day He would bring back Judah and Israel and make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel forever. In the midst of that passage, now see verse Eze 37:23 -
"Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God."
Israel to Be Saved Then Do not miss the blessed significance of this passage.
Verse Eze 37:23 tells us about Israelites that, "I WILL SAVE THEM OUT OF ALL THEIR DWELLINGPLACES, WHEREIN THEY HAVE SINNED, AND WILL CLEANSE THEM: SO SHALL THEY BE MY PEOPLE, AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD." That plainly refers to salvation.
Verses Eze 37:26-28 say that God will set His sanctuary, His tabernacle, in the midst of them forevermore. He will be their God, and Israel shall be His people! That verse says that when Israel is restored to their land forever they shall never again defile themselves with idols nor detestable things, "NOR WITH ANY OF THEIR TRANS-GRESSIONS." In other words, the Scripture makes clear that Israel will never again turn away from God nor sin against Him when they are brought back to the land of Canaan and restored again as a nation to God’s favor, for they will be saved, and not only saved but glorified.
Paul in his inspired letter to the church at Rome tells us more about this coming conversion of Israel. In Rom 11:25-27 we are told that the conversion of the whole nation Israel will be after the fulness of the Gentiles comes in and that "all Israel shall be saved" when Jesus the Deliverer comes again to reign.
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Rom 11:25-27). In the preceding verses of the same chapter, Paul tells us how present-day Israel, branches of the tame olive tree to whom God gave His great and precious promises, have been broken off because of unbelief, while we, the Gentiles, the wild olive branches, have been grafted in. But when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, that is, when most of the Gentiles who will be saved are saved, then the Lord Jesus will return and appear unto Israel, and they will recognize and love and trust Him and be saved. "All Israel shall be saved." That had not happened yet when Paul wrote. It has never happened since. It awaits the second coming of Christ. This church or gospel age is the time of the "fulness of the Gentiles." The fulness of the Gentiles must come before the time comes for all Israel to be saved. Now most Christians are Gentiles, and relatively few Jews today have accepted Jesus as their Messiah and Saviour. But when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, and when Israel is restored to their land as pictured in the Scriptures above, then "ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED!" When He, the Deliverer, comes to deliver Israel from the armies of the Antichrist and restore them to their own land, then Israel shall be saved.
Here, to me, is one of the most fascinating themes of all the Bible, that Jesus should be loved by His own people, should be sought by the race that rejected Him, that they should mourn for Him and seek Him, and then, praise God, find Him! That is one of the most interesting stories in the Bible, and it is clearly told so all can read it who will. The book of Zechariah is packed full of prophecies concerning the return of the Saviour and the conversion of Israel.
Zec 14:1-21 tells of the return of Christ in power with all His saints, to deliver the Jews, when the Antichrist and his armies shall have besieged Jerusalem and have taken it. That chapter tells how "his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives," how in one day the Lord shall defeat the armies of the nations of this world, and then how "the Lord shall be king over all the earth." That chapter clearly tells of the setting up of the kingdom of Christ on earth. But in the preceding chapters we find scattered the divine prophecies of the conviction and conversion of Israel.
Israel to Mourn Over Their Sins
Zec 12:10-14 shows that a deep conviction for sin shall come upon Israelites when they first see the returned Saviour "whom they have pierced." By that time Israel will have had enough of her rebellion, and when they see the Saviour they will mourn over Him, we are told, "as one mourneth for his only son."
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart" (Zec 12:10-14).
Zec 13:1-2; Zec 13:6 follow immediately, so we print it here before we comment.
"In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land."
"And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
Jesus will open the fountain for sin and uncleanness to all Israel when He returns to reign! When the people Israel, the nation that condemned Him to be pierced with thorns and nails and spear, see Him, they will mourn over Him in sincerest sorrow for sin. They will ask, "What are these wounds in thine hands?" and He will answer, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
They will need no further proof that He is the Messiah than His marvelous coming to fulfill the prophecies, regather Israel and establish His kingdom. So then it will come to pass that "All Israel shall be saved." This conversion of what is left alive of the nation Israel must take place at the second coming of Christ. It has not happened yet, and that is all the more certain proof that Christ has not yet established His kingdom, but that it will be established at the Second Coming.