In 587 BC the loss of the southern kingdom of Judah and the land of inheritance is recorded in 2 Chron. 36:11 21; Ez. 24:1 16. The northern ten tribes had already fallen to Sargon II of Ninevah 134 years before in 721 BC. Everything at that point was lost including the land of inheritance. Everything, that is, except the promises of the faithful God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It must be remembered; in Deut. 29:1 another covenant is made with Israel. It was an unconditional covenant based on the promises made with Abraham and the fathers, and was apart from the conditional Mosaic Covenant of commandments of Ex. 24:7-8. In spite of all their rebellion, sins, and dispersion, and even before it ever happened, God said of their latter days:
Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. “If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Deut. 30:1 6).
God will again bring them back from the nations where He has scattered them (v.3), meaning, He will gather them a second time. The first was the return from Babylon where they had been for 70 years (Jer. 25:11-12; 2 Chron. 36:21). The second time would have to be in the last days following the present era. Today we are seeing the beginning of the very thing that God promised and will be completely fulfilled with the establishment of their kingdom. That is precisely what Isaiah also said: “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 who are left” (Isa. 11:11).
If the scattering was the natural descendants of Abraham, and the first re-gathering was likewise, then the second, would also be the ethnic seed of Abraham to the same inheritance of land. That the final re-gathering is yet future cannot be denied because not only have they yet to be completely re-gathered, but Moses also says (v. 5) they will be blessed above what their fathers were.
Joel also speaks of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel and every earthly blessing, and that in their land (Joel 2:18 27).
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.
It is a time when: “And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of Hosts” (Mal. 3:12). That their complete restoration is yet future is verified by the above, it could hardly be said in recent history that all nations have called Israel blessed. The fact is, today, the supernatural hatred of the Jew is on the increase among all so-called civilized nations, but that is about to change and the above quote from Joel will come to pass.
The restoration of the kingdom must include all that was lost. It can include more, but never less, otherwise, it would be only partial and could not be legitimately called a restoration. In Lk. 1:70-74 it is said their redemption will include deliverance from their enemies.
Joel 2:25 29 speaks of the restoration of the former rain, wheat, new wine, oil; the years of plenty that the locusts have eaten they “shall eat in plenty and be satisfied.” They shall praise the name of the Lord their God, He will deal wondrously with them, they shall never be put to shame, and God himself will be in their midst.
And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the Priests of the Lord. Men shall call you the Servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs (Isa. 61:4 7).
As Mal. 3:12 spoke of all nations calling Israel blessed, Amos speaks of that day of the restoration of the kingdom or house of David, and the kingdom of Israel. It is the same house of David reigning over the reunited kingdom of Israel. James in Acts 15:14-18 reminds the Jews of Peter’s episode with Cornelius and quotes from the prophet Amos and says that after this present dispensation ends with the rapture, God will redeem Israel:
Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. “And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
‘After this I will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the ‘Lord who does all these things.
“Known to God from eternity are all His works.”
Daniel and David saw the coming of the Son of Man in His kingdom to earth, wherein not only Israel would be redeemed, but all nations will enjoy the blessings of the restored earth in the kingdom of Messiah:
I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13 14).
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the kingdom s the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations (Ps. 22:27-28).
Books could be filled with quotations from Scripture about the re-gathering of Israel to their original land of promise and the blessings that will follow. Besides the above, the reader is invited to read the following Scriptures about the restoration of Israel to their land in the millennial kingdom and beyond: Deut. 30:1 6; Ps. 87:19 37; 105:6 11; Isa. 2:2 4; 4:2 6; 10:20 22; 11:1 12; 14:1 2; 40:1 11; 43:1 7; 44:21 23; 49:5 16; 22 23; 54; 60; 61:1 7; 62; 65:17 25; 66:10 13; 18 23; Jer. 3:14 18; 23:3 8; 24:6 7; 30:1 10; 31:1 12; 27 37; 32:37 44; 33; 50:4 7; 19 20; Ezek. 20:3 44; 34:11 13; 23 31; 36; 37; 39:25 29; 43:1 7; 47:1 14; Dan. 7:9 27; 9:24 27; Hosea 3:4 5; 6:1 3; 14; Joel 2:18 27; 3; Amos 9:8 15; Micah 4:1 8; Zeph. 3:9 20; Zech: 2; 8:1 13; 20 23; 8:9 10; 12:1 10; 13; 14; Mal. 3:16 18.
A casual reading of Moses, the Psalms, and Prophets will show that any restoration of the kingdom of Israel must include certain things.
1. There must be deliverance from their national enemies (Zech. 12; 13; 14; Mal. 3:16 18; 4; Lk. 1:67 75) and many too numerous to list here and a final restoration of Israel as a nation and people of God (Ezek. 34:11 through chapter 37; Rom. 11:25-29).
2. It must include the restoration of their land of inheritance as promised to their fathers; Abraham (Gen. 13:14 15; 15:7; 18; 17:7 8, 19); to Isaac (Gen. 26:3 4); to Jacob (Gen. 28:13; 35:12) and by an everlasting covenant in Gen. 15:18 and reiterated in Duet. 4:31. Since Jerusalem will be the capital city of the kingdom, there could not be a restored kingdom of Israel (Acts 15:16) apart from the complete restoration of their land of inheritance.
3. Before any restoration of the kingdom of Israel, all the above must be preceded by the coming of the Messiah, the son of David and their redeemer (Zech. 8:2 8; 12:1 10; 14:1 11; Lk. 13:35; Acts 3:19-21).
4. There must be genuine repentance on the part of Israel and their leaders (Mal. 4:6; Matt. 3:2, 4:17; Acts 3:19) and acceptance of their Messiah and redeemer (Zech. 12:10; Matt. 23:39; Lk. 13:35). Of the four items listed, the Scripture notations could be multiplied by the hundreds, and any teaching about the kingdom of God on earth is apart from the Scriptures if any one of the above things are missing.
Besides the above, there is one very important thing that is not true. Any teaching that speaks of the present assembly of Christ as the new Spiritual Israel, the kingdom of God, or The new Israel, should not only be looked upon with suspicion, but rejected outright.
They are saying that all the promises thus far shown about the restoration of the kingdom of Adam or Israel will, is being, or has already been fulfilled in the present church, which is usually named one of the above, or, the kingdom of God. After reading the prophets about the restoration of Israel, it is difficult to believe that otherwise intelligent people could apply those things to the present church.
The present church in itself is not a kingdom of any kind, but a people in process of being elected for the government of the coming millennial kingdom (1 Cor. 6:2-3). Because they believe the Lord spoke of the present church in the Memoirs, and especially in the parables, they are confused as to what the church is. Believing the church began with the Lord’s teaching in the Memoirs or on the Day of Pentecost, rather than a second offer of the kingdom being made, only leads to more confusion.
Consequently, even the Dispensationalists are guilty of making up the names such as the “mystery form of the kingdom,” or, “mystery form of the theocracy,” and should also be rejected not being found or taught in Scriptures. The prophets spoke of the Jews returning to the Promised Land of Israel, the rebuilding of the ruined cities, no more being put to shame before the surrounding nations, and many other earthly blessings too numerous to be listed. When restoration is spoken of, the only possible meaning is a replacement of what was lost, and what was lost was paradise on earth: the kingdom of man on earth, and all the blessings thereof.
In the great Messianic Kingdom passage of Isaiah 11:10 12, God says concerning the gathering of all the tribes of Israel the second time:
And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious. 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 who are left....He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The passage clearly speaks of the Second Coming of the Lord and the second re-gathering of Israel, along with the dispersed of Judah, the remnant of His people. The prophet also speaks of God setting up of a banner for the nations and the Gentiles seeking Him. The first re-gathering after dispersion was in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah 536 522 BC. The above cannot be construed to mean the church; the church was scattered in the nations at its conception and will remain so until gathered to heaven by the Lord at the rapture, whereas, Israel will be gathered to their land of promise.
In this dispensation of grace, the Gentiles did not seek Him. He sought them. However, after the tribulation, when He has re-gathered Israel and His glory and power have been demonstrated to the nations, then those who are left, they shall indeed seek Him (Acts 15:17). Verse 14 speaks of this present age when He is taking out of the Gentiles nations a people for His name; the same that Paul speaks of in Rom. 11:25.
We will next examine the offer of the restoration of not only the kingdom of Israel, but the restoration all things (Matt. 17:11; Acts 3:21) that was lost by Adam.
May the Lord bless
pilgrim
