I have been in the midst of study that is making me jump out of my skin!  There seems to be so much, and I can’t quite figure out where to begin and end.  However, I’m “stuck” on a particular truth, so I’ll do my best to share it with you today!

In “Christian Zionist” circles (in brief, those who believe Israel has a right to her land), it is taught that Israel’s miraculous re-birth as a nation in 1948 is a key prophecy, and that event helps us understand that we are living in the last days.  However, questions linger, and a blog follower even asked me about this recently.  So, I want to dive into these questions:  If God promised an everlasting land to Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant, how do we explain the fact that the Jews were driven out of the land?  Furthermore, if they were driven out before, how do we know the 1948 re-birth of Israel is fulfillment of God’s promise?

Ah, good questions!  I pray that I am faithful to God’s truth, according to what the Lord has impressed upon me!

Let’s begin our study in Isaiah 11.  (I hope you’ll either open your Bible there or click on the link and follow along.)  That chapter begins by introducing us to the stem and the branch of Jesse.  Bible scholars much brighter than I have confirmed that the passage is referring to our Lord Jesus, and verses 6-10 refer to the Millennial Kingdom.  (See God’s Plan of the End for a visual framework of end time events.)  But then, we come to verse 11:

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.

As with many Bible prophecies, Isaiah 11 is partially fulfilled, but awaiting complete fulfillment.  So notice carefully that verse 11 seems to indicate a “second time” in which the Lord recovers the remnant.  Is that happening now?  I can make an argument in two different ways:

• Yes, it is happening now, as God is bringing His people back from the lands mentioned in that verse.
• No, the context seems to indicate the Millennial time period.

Again, I’ll leave the debate to Bible scholars much smarter than me.  However, is there room for the potential that not only is God bringing His people home as He said He would, but perhap we are seeing a foundation being laid for the Millennial Kingdom?  Not saying that’s the case, but it provides a thesis for our study.  (Theses are meant to be proven or disproven…they are not fact!  So, let’s be Bereans and faithfully study God’s Word.)

So, moving on that thesis, if that is the “second time” our Lord has recovered a remnant, when was the first?  Certainly a classic answer would be the return of the Jewish people from exile in Babylon.

To date in my study, I have not found a place in Scripture that tells of any other full-scale exiles and returns (other than the Babylonian exile/return, and the 70 AD exile/1948 return) in which virtually the entire nation was included.  So, the way I see it, the Jews may well have returned home for the second (and final) time to the land promised to them in the Abrahamic Covenant.

Now, consider Ezekiel 36:24-28:

 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

That passage seems to speak of a two-phase return to the land:

• Physical phase: physically returning from places they were exiled, a secular homecoming, and
• Spiritual phase:  the outpouring of the Spirit of God so they walk in obedience to His statutes.

Again, the prophecy is partially fulfilled (Jews physically returning to their land), but awaiting complete fulfillment (the “new heart” and “new spirit” God will put within them).

We’re going to pick this up again tomorrow, but I want to leave you with a thought to ponder until then: Might it be that this second return is the final one, indicating with even more certainty that we are living in the last days?

Stop by over the next few days as we continue these thoughts, and address the idea of Jews being driven out of a land which God promised to them in the Abrahamic Covenant.  See you tomorrow!