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An outstanding and irrefutable sign of God’s sovereignty and ongoing work with mankind is the resurrection of the nation of Israel. This miracle was promised by God and caps a history at which men have marveled.
In 1899, Mark Twain wrote:
…If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and had done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it.
The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?
What other answer is there but, “God”? It’s His doing, not the doing of any people, including the Jews themselves. The Jews didn’t preserve themselves over the millennia by their own willpower or cunning. There’s no more virtue, value, or power in a Jew than in any other human being. This is the story of God’s virtue and the value He places on humanity. This is about His holiness, judgment, truth, and mercy.
There’s proof of God’s doing, because He put His Name on it long ago, through the testimony of many prophets, which we’ll show you in this paper. Close your eyes and deny the evidence if you will, but it will only be to your own detriment.
Unlike other dispersed peoples, the Jews weren’t totally assimilated, but retained an identity throughout the Diaspora. The reason for their preservation is simply because God is doing a very special work through these people for the sake of mankind. The Jewish nation is a wonderful gift for all peoples.
“The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?’” (Genesis 18:17-18 ESV)
And now is the day of fulfillment of all that went before us.
Psalms 85:8-13 KJV
(8) I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
(9) Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him; that glory may dwell in our land.
(10) Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
(11) Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
(12) Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
(13) Righteousness shall go before Him; and shall set us in the way of His steps.
Thirty some years before Mark Twain described God’s miracle of preserving the Jews, he described what he found when visiting their ancient homeland:
“… A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse… a desolation…. We never saw a human being on the whole route… hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”
And the diminished status of Jerusalem:
“A fast walker could go outside the walls of Jerusalem and walk entirely around the city in an hour. I do not know how else to make one understand how small it is.”
What would Twain say now that the Jews have returned and the desolate land is thriving, with Jerusalem well-inhabited? And this after Israel had been dead and buried for millennia already and the decayed bones of other overthrown nations had disappeared. Who ever heard of such a thing happening at any time, foretold by God Himself?
So, for all those who say the Bible is outdated or mythical, behold the nation of Israel according to the Word of God! Who but the all-powerful Creator and sovereign God can announce thousands of years in advance the impossible thing that He will do, despite the ongoing and relentless efforts of man opposing Him?
God started with Abraham, to whom He said:
“And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8 ESV).
About 14 centuries later, this promise was fulfilled when Israel was formed as a nation by forced servitude in the land of Egypt. They were led out of slavery by Moses, through God’s miraculous intervention and power, and then entered the land God promised them forty years later, delayed only by their unbelief. God has been faithful with Israel, though Israel has not been faithful with Him. Man’s unrighteousness has only served to demonstrate His righteousness.
Deuteronomy 9:3-6 ESV
(3) Know therefore today that He Who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.
(4) Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, “It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,” whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.
(5) Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the Word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
(6) Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.
“And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers” (Deuteronomy 30:5 ESV).
And so He did. The nation of Israel was established in the land of Canaan under the divinely-appointed leadership of Joshua. He was followed over the next four centuries by judges who repeatedly delivered Israel from their enemies, returning them to their God Whom they abandoned. Then came kings David and Solomon, under whose reign the promise was fulfilled as the latter described:
“Blessed be the LORD Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He spoke by Moses His servant” (1 Kings 8:56 ESV).
This, however, was only a type of the fulfillment to come, when not only Israel, but the whole world, would experience the lasting and permanent peace of Messiah, the Son of David.
Though God had been patient and often delivered Israel, He warned them that He would lead them away to other lands and would set other nations and peoples over them if they didn’t continue in His commandments (which are life to those who keep them):
Deuteronomy 28:15, 36-37 ESV
(15) But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all His commandments and His statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you….
(36) The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone.
(37) And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.
This is exactly what happened, after unbelieving Israel repeatedly fell into sin, when they were taken into captivity. The seeds of their devastation were even sown by Solomon himself during his glorious kingship, following which the kingdom was split in two during the reign of his son. The northern portion, called Israel, went into exile less than three hundred years later, and the southern portion, Judah, went into exile a hundred years after that.
Things were looking bleak. A reprieve came under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, in the days of King Cyrus (read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah), but it would be a long, long time before Israel would be re-established in the land for good, as we see the nation today. Worse was yet to come for this wayward nation.
(Read Leviticus 26, Israel, the Explanation for the Horrendous Contradictions You Suffer, and The Key for Israel and the Jew.)
We begin with Isaiah, who prophesied two centuries after the reign of Solomon, in the days following the exile of Israel and right before Judah was taken away. Here’s what God inspired Isaiah to say about a second recovery, the final establishment of Israel:
“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” (Isaiah 11:11-12 ESV).
Isaiah was speaking of the second time Israel would be recovered even though the first recovery had not yet happened by his day; it would occur 180 years later, in the days of Cyrus, the king of Persia who ruled over the region.
Isaiah prophesied of the first recovery as well, even naming Cyrus as God’s chosen servant to accomplish His will. In this first recovery, Cyrus made a proclamation throughout his kingdom that the children of Israel who remained in exile should go up to Jerusalem to rebuild the Lord’s house. Isaiah’s prophecy:
Isaiah 44:24-28, 45:1-7,13 MKJV
(24) So says the LORD, your Redeemer, and He Who formed you from the womb, I am the LORD Who makes all things; Who stretches out the heavens alone; Who spreads out the earth; who was with Me?
(25) Who brings to nothing the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; Who turns the wise backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;
(26) Who makes the word of His servant sure, and makes good the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, She shall have people; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places of it;
(27) Who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers;
(28) Who says of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall do all My pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the Temple, Your foundation shall be laid.
(1) So says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have made strong in order to humble nations before him. And I will loosen the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut.
(2) I will go before you, and make hills level. I will break in pieces the bronze gates, and cut the iron bars in two.
(3) And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I am the LORD, Who calls you by your name, the God of Israel.
(4) For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect, I have even entitled you. I have named you, though you have not known Me.
(5) I am the LORD, and there is none else, no God besides Me; I clothed you, though you have not known Me;
(6) that they may know from the rising of the sun, and to the sunset, that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is none else;
(7) forming the light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil. I the LORD do all these things.
(13) I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let My captives go, not for price nor reward, says the LORD of Hosts.
So while Judah was still in Jerusalem and the first Temple of God built by Solomon yet stood, Isaiah foretold its destruction and the dispersal of Israel not once, but twice, and how the second recovery would be greater than the first, extending to the “four corners of the earth,” gathering the “banished of Israel” and the “dispersed of Judah.”
And get this: According to Isaiah’s prophecy, the second recovery takes place after the coming and establishment of Messiah as King.
Isaiah 11:1-11 MKJV
(1) And a Shoot goes out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
(2) And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
(3) And He is made to breathe in the fear of the LORD. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.
(4) But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall decide with uprightness for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
(5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His heart.
(6) Also the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
(7) And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
(8) And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
(9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
(10) And in that day there shall be the Root of Jesse standing for a banner of the people; to Him the nations shall seek; and His resting place shall be glorious.
(11) And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again set His hand, the second time, to recover the remnant of His people that remains, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Persia, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.
This is of profound importance to every Jew who denies that Jesus, Yeshua, of the stock of Jesse the father of David, is the Messiah, especially those who say the Messiah hasn’t come yet. According to the prophet Isaiah, the Messiah has come, because Israel has been recovered the second time.
That the Messiah would come from David, the son of Jesse, was established by the Word of God spoken to David by the prophet Nathan:
“And when your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up Your Seed after you, Who shall come out of your bowels. And I will make His Kingdom sure. He shall build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of His Kingdom forever. I will be His Father, and He shall be My Son” (2 Samuel 7:12-14 MKJV).
Solomon fulfilled this prophecy in part, a shadow of the Messiah to come Who would establish the Kingdom that couldn’t fall as did Solomon and his kingdom.
Notice that the Messiah is at first spoken of by Isaiah as a Shoot and Branch coming of out Jesse’s (David’s father) root. Yet at the end of the segment, the Messiah is said to be the Root itself. How can this be? Jesus explained:
Matthew 22:41-46 GNB
(41) When some Pharisees gathered together, Jesus asked them,
(42) “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose descendant is He?” “He is David’s descendant,” they answered.
(43) “Why, then,” Jesus asked, “did the Spirit inspire David to call Him ‘Lord’? David said,
(44) ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at My right side until I put Your enemies under Your feet.’
(45) If, then, David called Him ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be David’s descendant?”
(46) No one was able to give Jesus any answer, and from that day on no one dared to ask Him any more questions.
Jews object that if the Messiah has already come, why don’t we see the world peace Isaiah described? But there is “world peace” for those who believe, not the peace of the world without, but of the world within, the only place that matters.
Each person is a microcosm of the world. World peace comes when each is reconciled to God through Messiah, forgiven their sins, and given a new heart that renders the evil within harmless (the wolf dwelling with the lamb).
The problem for the Jews who look for an external savior of the world is that they aren’t recognizing themselves as enemies of God in need of His reconciliation, which precedes harmony and goodwill. Each person needs to believe in Messiah before he can have the peace within that leads to peace at large.
Back to Isaiah’s prophecy, to Whom have the nations of the world sought, after the first and before the second prophesied recoveries of Israel? Who other than Jesus Christ? What other Messiah has appeared in this timeframe?
Have not multitudes testified of Jesus Christ’s saving grace and the miraculous power to deliver from sin by believing on Him? Yes, there are many phonies, precisely because there is the True Messiah and reconciliation to God by faith in Him. Forgers make copies of $100 bills only because they exist. There is no other Messiah like Jesus Christ, Who came from the stock of Jesse (from the tribe of Judah) and fulfilled the prophecies of Israel’s Savior. He is the Sun next to which we have matches that don’t even light.
Jewish brothers and sisters, you need to know that according to your prophets, the second recovery of Israel, which became official in 1948, confirms that your Messiah has already come. Israel, your Savior is here!
“Go up for yourself on the high mountain, bringer of good tidings to Zion. Lift up your voice with strength, O you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift up, do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” (Isaiah 40:9 MKJV)
Though you haven’t been right with Him, He has been compassionate towards you:
“For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them” (Isaiah 14:1-2 ESV).
Is it evil for Israel to rule over the Muslims, as the Muslims complain, seeking their independence? Do Arabs have it better under the rule of despotic and corrupt regimes of the Middle East or under Israel? Will those nations supporting “Palestinian independence” prevail in subjugating Israel to their will and the will of those who would destroy them, or shall the Lord God and Savior of Israel prevail? Whose will has reigned thus far?
It’s natural that the unregenerate world, at enmity with God, would be against what He’s doing with Israel, but how about you professing Christians who support Israel’s enemies? You say you love the Lord Jesus Christ, yet come against His establishment of Israel in all the land He’s given them, in the name of your phony “decency” and “fairness.” Unless you repent, you’ll be the most disgraced of all people. (See A Word to the Enemies of Israel.)
“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” (Isaiah 35:10 ESV).
Israel was birthed following the horrific labor pains of the Holocaust. Has there not been gladness and joy, with sorrow and sighing fleeing away?
“Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth” (Isaiah 43:5-6 ESV).
So it has been. God has gathered the exiles of Israel from the ends of the earth and established them, never to be moved again when His work is finished, just as Messiah is established forever.
Isaiah 60:1-22 ESV
(1) Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
(2) For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.
(3) And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
(4) Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
(5) Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
(6) A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
(7) All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on My altar, and I will beautify My beautiful house.
(8) Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?
(9) For the coastlands shall hope for Me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them, for the Name of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because He has made you beautiful.
(10) Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you.
(11) Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession.
(12) For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
(13) The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of My feet glorious.
(14) The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
(15) Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age.
(16) You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
(17) Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.
(18) Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
(19) The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
(20) Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
(21) Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I might be glorified.
(22) The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.
Who can argue that the work hasn’t begun? And if begun, He Who declared it in advance will complete it, appearances notwithstanding.
“I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of My mountains; My chosen shall possess it, and My servants shall dwell there. Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for My people who have sought Me” (Isaiah 65:9-10 ESV).
“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” (Isaiah 66:8 ESV).
There has never been the birth of a nation as with Israel in our day. “Who has heard such a thing?”
Now hear what Jeremiah foretold of this gathering and second recovery:
Jeremiah 30:10-11 ESV
(10) Then fear not, O Jacob My servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.
(11) For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
Hasn’t this happened? Haven’t the Jews suffered for their sins, yet here they are, not made a full end of as with other nations and even empires?
Jeremiah 31:27-40 ESV
(27) Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
(28) And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD.
(29) In those days they shall no longer say: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
(30) But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
(31) Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
(32) not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
(33) But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put My Law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
(34) And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
(35) Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar– the LORD of hosts is His Name:
(36) If this fixed order departs from before Me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before Me forever.
(37) Thus says the LORD: If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.
(38) Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
(39) And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah.
(40) The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown anymore forever.
As a Jew, my family was sown with beasts (worldliness rather than godliness) – see verse 27. I was raised in the empty shell of Jewish religion, serving at the altar of this world’s fortune. There was no reality or connection to God, Who was nowhere to be heard or found. That was part of His punishment of my people, which came to an end for me when He called me in 1978, the 22nd year of my life and 30th year of the reborn nation of Israel.
Continuing with Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 32:37-44 ESV
(37) Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in My anger and My wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety.
(38) And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
(39) I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
(40) I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, that they may not turn from Me.
(41) I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all My heart and all My soul.
(42) For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.
(43) Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”
(44) Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD.
Has God not brought great disaster upon the Jews? Look at all that happened to them after Jeremiah. Exiled, their Temple and connection to God were destroyed – all gone. They were scattered throughout the world, persecuted, and at times slaughtered in strange lands. Have the Jews not been tempered by tragedy? Will God not finish what He has begun, fulfilling the holy purpose of His judgment? The fate of the world hangs on it.
Further confirmation from Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 11:16-17 ESV
(16) Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.
(17) Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Ezekiel 20:41-42 ESV
(41) As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest My holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
(42) And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers.
It is His holiness, not that of the Jews. Those who oppose this solemn work truly hate and destroy themselves.
Ezekiel 28:25-26 ESV
(25) Thus says the Lord GOD: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest My holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to My servant Jacob.
(26) And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.
Are not those who treat Israel contemptuously being judged? Look at Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, and other Muslim nations. Would you like to live in those countries? Look at how Europe disintegrates as they kowtow to Islam and persecute Israel. Look at the US with its Muslim president who pretends to be Christian and a friend of Israel, but who despises both Christian and Jew. Watch what happens to all who come against Israel. Look at His-story and see what has happened.
Ezekiel 36:19-24 ESV
(19) I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them.
(20) But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned My holy Name, in that people said of them, “These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of His land.”
(21) But I had concern for My holy Name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
(22) Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of My holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
(23) And I will vindicate the holiness of My great Name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate My holiness before their eyes.
(24) I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
In the end, everyone will know that God alone is righteous, and all will give Him glory in true appreciation and worship.
Ezekiel 37:22-28 ESV
(22) And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.
(23) They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
(24) My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one Shepherd. They shall walk in My rules and be careful to obey My statutes.
(25) They shall dwell in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David My servant shall be their prince forever.
(26) I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
(27) My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
(28) Then the nations will know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.
How wonderful! At long last, our longsuffering God establishes the nation of Israel as one people under Him, their Messiah, Who reigns over all the earth and makes all the kingdoms of this world His. What a glorious day!
These are true words of inspiration and hope for all men, whose fate depends on Him, the Savior of Israel. His people haven’t known Him, but they will when He saves them in their land:
Ezekiel 37:11-14 ESV
(11) Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.
(12) Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
(13) And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O My people.
(14) And I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.
Here’s more about His promised restoration from other prophets:
Hosea 14:1-7 ESV
(1) Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
(2) Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to Him, Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.
(3) Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, “Our God,” to the work of our hands. In You the orphan finds mercy.
(4) I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for My anger has turned from them.
(5) I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
(6) His shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
(7) They shall return and dwell beneath My shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
The chastening of God is effective; therefore we have hope.
“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6 ESV).
Micah 7:8-20 ESV
(8) Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
(9) I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon His vindication.
(10) Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.
(11) A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
(12) In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
(13) But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.
(14) Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
(15) As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.
(16) The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf;
(17) they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall be in fear of you.
(18) Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love.
(19) He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
(20) You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as You have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
God has lived up to His Word, in judgment and mercy. The best is yet to come.
“Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth” (Zephaniah 3:19 ESV).
Amos 9:11-15 ESV
(11) In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,
(12) that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by My Name, declares the LORD Who does this.
(13) 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.
(14) 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.
(15) 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.
“Never again,” says the Only One Who can pull it off in His righteousness.
Joel 3:1-21 ESV
(1) For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
(2) I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of My people and My heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up My land,
(3) and have cast lots for My people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
(4) What are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying Me back for something? If you are paying Me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily.
(5) For you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried My rich treasures into your temples.
(6) You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border.
(7) Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head.
(8) I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the LORD has spoken.
(9) Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.
(10) Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
(11) Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD.
(12) Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
(13) Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.
(14) Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
(15) The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
(16) The LORD roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to His people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.
(17) So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, Who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it.
(18) And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim.
(19) Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
(20) But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations.
(21) I will avenge their blood, blood I have not avenged, for the LORD dwells in Zion.
“I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them…. Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember Me, and with their children they shall live and return” (Zechariah 10:6-9 ESV).
Zechariah prophesied during the time following the Jews’ return from Babylonian captivity (after the first recovery), foretelling a future restoration that would fulfill God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8 ESV).
The time for this has now arrived.
The testimony of God’s restoration of Israel continues in the New Testament. The words spoken by Jesus and His apostles confirmed and built on the prophecies of Israel’s prophets of old. Jesus foretold Israel’s imminent dispersal, the end of the first recovery, and the eventual second recovery commencing in our days:
“And [the Jewish nation] shall fall by the sword’s edge. And shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations until the times of the nations is fulfilled” (Luke 21:24 MKJV).
When the times of the nations was fulfilled, then the Jews would return to Jerusalem and have their nationhood restored.
The apostles knew of these promises to Israel and inquired of the Lord, after His resurrection, about what would happen to Israel:
“Then, indeed, these coming together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His Own authority’” (Acts 1:6-7 MKJV).
The Lord was essentially saying, “That’s not for you to be concerned about now.” He didn’t correct them because Israel’s restitution was ordained, though it wouldn’t happen in their lifetimes.
The apostle Paul affirms his confidence in God’s faithfulness to His promises:
Romans 3:1-4 HNV
(1) Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision?
(2) Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God.
(3) For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?
(4) May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “That You might be justified in Your words, and might prevail when You come into judgment.”
Paul declares in no uncertain terms that God isn’t finished with Israel:
“I ask, then, has God rejected His people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1 ESV).
In chapters 9-11 of his letter to the Romans, Paul lays out the facts that show God hasn’t abandoned Israel because they don’t presently believe. On the contrary, their unbelief is part of His program for saving the whole world. The promises of God are still in effect.
“Who are Israelites; to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises” (Romans 9:4 MKJV).
Paul shows how the Gentile believers, who worship the God of Israel through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, are part of the same glorious work by which He eventually saves the nation of Israel and fulfills His promise of universal peace on earth:
Romans 11:11-33 MKJV
(11) I say then, Did they not stumble that they fall? Let it not be! But by their slipping away came salvation to the nations, to provoke them to jealousy.
(12) But if their slipping away is the riches of the world, and their default is the riches of the nations, how much more their fullness?
(13) For I speak to you, the nations; since I am the apostle of the nations, I glorify my ministry;
(14) if by any means I may provoke those who are my flesh to jealousy, and might save some of them.
(15) For if their casting away is the reconciling of the world, what is their reception except life from the dead?
(16) For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, also the branches.
(17) And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and became a sharer of the root and the fatness of the olive tree with them,
(18) do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, it is not you that bears the root, but the root bears you.
(19) You will say then, “The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
(20) Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but fear.
(21) For if God did not spare the natural branches, fear lest He also may not spare you either!
(22) Behold then the kindness, and the severity of God; on those having fallen, severity; but on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
(23) And those also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again.
(24) For if you were cut out of the natural wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more these being according to nature will be grafted into their own olive-tree?
(25) For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, lest you should be wise within yourselves; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations has comes in.
(26) And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, “There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
(27) For this is My covenant with them, when I have taken away their sins.”
(28) Indeed as regards the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. But as regards the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
(29) For the free gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
(30) For as you also then disbelieved God, but now have been shown mercy through their disbelief,
(31) even so these also have not believed now, so that through your mercy they may also obtain mercy.
(32) For God has shut up all in unbelief, so that He might show mercy to all.
(33) O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
In Messiah, Jew and Gentile become one, the first last, and the last first:
Ephesians 2:11-22 MKJV
(11) Therefore remember that you, the nations, in time past were in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
(12) and that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
(13) But now in Christ Jesus you who were once afar off are made near by the blood of Christ.
(14) For He is our peace, He making us both one, and He has broken down the middle wall of partition between us,
(15) having abolished in His flesh the enmity (the Law of commandments contained in ordinances) so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, making peace between them;
(16) and so that He might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity in Himself.
(17) And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off, and to those who were near.
(18) For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
(19) Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
(20) and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
(21) in Whom every building having been fitly framed together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord;
(22) in Whom you also are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit.
The root isn’t discarded, but is restored in purity and holiness by God to bless the whole world.
Revelation 21:10-14 MKJV
(10) And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God,
(11) having the glory of God. And its light was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
(12) And it had a great and high wall, with twelve gates. And on the gates were twelve angels, and having names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel:
(13) From the east three gates, from the north three gates, from the south three gates, and from the west three gates.
(14) And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
God’s work with the nation of Israel in the past wasn’t in vain or amiss in any measure, but served as the foundation and means to perform His will and bring a good end for all. The song of Moses is the song of the Lamb – one song for all peoples:
Revelation 15:2-4 MKJV
(2) And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire. And those who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
(3) And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are Your ways, O King of saints.
(4) Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your Name? For You only are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your righteousnesses were made known.”
Amen! Bless the Lord God of Israel and His sure work of salvation for all!