The
Gathering of Spiritual Israel
The Scattering
of Israel
Because of
disobedience, what experience came to
Israel?
“Therefore, this
is what the Lord says: You have not
obeyed me; you have not provided
freedom for your fellow countrymen.
So now I proclaim ‘freedom’
for you, declares the Lord –
‘freedom to fall by the sword,
plague and famine. I will make you
abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the
earth.” Jeremiah 34:17. (See
Jeremiah 25:8-11.)
How had Moses
spoken of the dispersion of Israel?
“The Lord will
bring a nation against you from far
away, from the ends of the earth,
like an eagle swooping down, a nation
whose language you do not understand,
a fierce-looking nation without
respect for the old or pity for the
young. They will devour the young of
your livestock and the crops of your
land until you are destroyed. They
will leave you no grain, new wine or
oil, nor any calves of your herds or
lambs of your flocks until you are
ruined. They will lay siege to all
your cities throughout the land until
the fortified walls in which you
trust fall down. They will besiege
all the cities throughout the land
the Lord your God is giving you. Then
the Lord will scatter you among all
the nations, from on end of the earth
to the other. There you will worship
other gods – gods of wood and
stone, which neither you nor your
fathers have known.” Deuteronomy
28: 49-52, 64.
Under what striking
symbol was all this foretold?
“This is what the
Lord says: “Go and buy a clay
jar from a potter. Take along some of
the elders of the people and of the
priests. Then break the jar while
those who go with you are watching,
and say to them, ‘This is what
the Lord almighty says: I will
smash this nation and this city just
a this potter’s jar is smashed
and cannot be repaired. They will
bury the dead in Topheth until there
is no more room.” Jeremiah
19: 1, 10,11.
In what words does
Daniel refer to the Babylonians
captivity as a fulfillment of these
writings?
“All Israel has
transgressed your law and turned
away, refusing to obey you.
Therefore, the curses and sworn
judgments written in the Law of
Moses, the servant of God, have been
poured out on us, because we have
sinned against you.” Daniel
9:11,12.
What prophecy spoke
of their return from captivity?
“For I know the
plans I have for you,” declares
the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future. You are to
seek me and find me when you seek me
with all your heart. I will be found
by you,” declares the Lord,
“and I will bring you back from
captivity. I will gather you from all
the nations and places where I
banished you,” declares the
Lord, “and will bring you back
to the place from which I carried you
into exile.” Jeremiah 29: 11-14.
(See also Jeremiah 23:3.)
Note – The first
dispersion of the Jews occurred under
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
Under Cyrus and Artaxerxes, Persian
kings, large numbers of Jews returned
to Palestine, their homeland.
After the restoration
of Jerusalem and the coming of the
Messiah what further desolation of
the city was to take place?
‘After the
sixty-two sevens,’ the Anointed
One will be cut off and will have
nothing. The people of the ruler who will
come will destroy the city and the
sanctuary. The end will come like
a flood: War will continue to the
end, and desolations have been
decreed.”
Daniel 9:26.
What warning did our
Lord give of a second
‘captivity,” or dispersion,
and a second desolation of Jerusalem?
“They will fall
by the sword and will be taken
prisoners to all the nations.
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the
Gentiles until the times of the
Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Matthew 24:15-20.
Note – When Jesus
stood on the Mount of Olives, weeping
over Jerusalem with the sad lament,
“How often would I gathered
thee,” He said, “Behold
your house is left to you
desolate.” In A.D. 70, about
thirty-nine years later, occurred the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman
armies of Titus, and the scattering
of the Jews all around the world. The
gospel was first preached in
Jerusalem and Judea, but soon
thereafter the Christians were
scattered by persecution and went
everywhere preaching the word. (Acts
8:4.) Paul and Barnabas later said to
the Jews at Antioch, “It was
necessary that the word of God should
first have been spoken to you: but
seeing you put it from you, and judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, so, we turn to the
Gentiles.” Acts 13:46. By the
crucifixion of the Savior and the
persecution of His disciples, the
Jews as a nation filled up the cup of
their iniquity. The death of the
Christian martyr Stephen in 34 A.D.
marked the culmination of the period
allotted to the Jewish nation or 30
Jubilees cycles, and the beginning of
the times of the Gentiles or 40
Jubilee cycles down to end of time in
1994.
What will terminate
the “times” allotted to the
Gentiles?
“And this
gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then
the end will come.” Matthew
24:14.
Note - In April of
1994, the Jubilee cycles for the
Gentiles also came to an end. Since
then we have been living in literal
time because the Jubilee cycles
is no longer operating. Currently,
here in 2010 we are living 16 years
past the time when Jesus gave the
seven angels the seven trumpets
because Earth’s cup of iniquity
over flowed at that time. The only
thing that Christ is waiting for is
the selection of the 144,000 servant
prophets to preach the everlasting
gospel to 7 billion people now living
upon the Earth. The Lord has told the
seven angels who are holding the
seven trumpets to wait a little while
longer until this process is
complete.
Why was the gospel
to be preached to the Gentiles?
“Simeon has
described to us how God at first
showed his concern by taking from
the Gentiles a people for himself.“
Acts 15:14.
True
Israel in God’s Sight
“It was not
through law that Abraham and his
offspring received the promise that
he would be the heir of the world,
but through the righteousness that
comes by faith.”
Romans 4:13.
In view of the fact
that this promise was never fulfilled
to Abraham, and that his descendants
are scattered among all the nations,
how shall we understand God’s
promise to Abraham?
“The promises
were spoken to Abraham and to his
seed. The Scriptures does not say
“and to seeds,” meaning
many people, but “and to your
seed,” meaning one person,
who is Christ.” Galatians
3:16.
Who
are included with Christ in this
promise, as being of Abraham’s
seed?
“A man is not a
Jew if he is one outwardly, nor is
circumcision merely outward and
physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is
one inwardly; and circumcision is
circumcision of the heart, by the
Spirit, not by the written code. Such
a man’s praise is not from man,
but from God.” Romans 2:28,29.
Note - Here, then, is
the key that unlocks, not merely one,
but many otherwise mysterious
passages of the Sacred Scriptures.
The gathering of Israel to their own
land is not a regathering of
Abraham’s literal descendants to
Old Jerusalem “in
unbelief,” but a new gathering
in faith of the spiritual seed to the
New Jerusalem, the city for which
Abraham looked, “whose builder
and maker is God.” (See Hebrews
11:8-10.)
What
will this promise to Abraham’s
seed be fulfilled?
“When the Son
of Man comes in his glory, and all
the angels with him, he will sit on
his throne in heavenly glory. All
the nations will be gathered before
him, and he will separate the people
from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats. He will put
the sheep on his right and the goats
on the left. Then the King will
say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the
kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world.” Matthew
25:31-34.
