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.

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