In my search for answers regarding many passages quoted and cited to me in discussions regarding Israel today, I have often been both over and underwhelmed at the approach many scholars have taken in addressing these topics. It can be very difficult to parse these passages and many resources deal with their explanation in vague terms or in ways that are difficult to follow. So I have set out to hopefully lay out a more practical and lay-level guide with which to parse through some of these issues and I hope that you find them useful.
Prophecies Regarding Regathering
One of the dominant thematic elements that occurs throughout many of the Biblical prophecies dealing with Israel is the regathering of scattered Israel. Passages like Isaiah 11:11,12, Jeremiah 23:3, and Ezekiel 34:12,13 are among the many that contain language of gathering and return from exile and dispersion. Dispensationalists often see these passages as a parallel to, if not outright prophecies of, the regathering of the Jewish people to Israel in the 19th and 20th centuries. And, as we saw in Part 2, the apostles themselves had much the same expectation and understanding of such verses when they asked Christ “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Jeremiah 23:3
Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
The book of Jeremiah is an important one for many believers, not least of which is its many prophecies and promises, including those of chapter 23. The simple language in verse 3 is easily and eagerly applied to modern Israel and, without context or critique, is difficult to dispel. The New Scofield Reference Bible is quick to relegate this verse into the future and insists that it “is not to be confused with the return of a remnant of Judah under Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel at the end of the seventy years’ captivity.”
And yet scholars like Anthony Hoekema question just that assumption. The timing of the prophecy seems to have occurred just prior to the Babylonian exile. The language and contrast drawn between this passage and that of Isaiah 11 could very easily link them together prophetically. And Jeremiah 29:10 seems to book-end this prophecy and root it in the return from Babylonian captivity when Jeremiah prophesies that, “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” Given the evidence, it is not unreasonable to conclude that this passage most likely found its fulfillment long ago.
Isaiah 11:11,12
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 is yet another passage with a very high likelihood of having been fulfilled for quite a while in Old Testament Israel. One clue for this is found a few verses later in verse 16 where we are told that, “there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.” If the “second time” refers to an instance after the first return from Egypt during the Exodus, then it is quite possible, in the words of Anthony Hoekema, that this passage refers to “the return of a remnant of God’s people in the foreseeable future from lands which have taken them captive.” The mention of Assyria is particularly important if Isaiah was indeed writing after the captivity of the Northern Kingdom in Assyria in 721 B.C. If this is so, then this prophecy was actually literally fulfilled with Israel’s return in sixth-century B.C.
Deuteronomy 30:3, 5
then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you…And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it.
Some Dispensationalists, and the Scofield Reference Bible notes themselves, claim verses like Deuteronomy 30:3-5 as evidence that the promises given to Abraham regarding the land and Israel’s possession and dwelling of it have yet to be fully realized, that Israel has yet to ever possess the entire land. Thus, many of the passages regarding Israel’s restoration and regathering necessarily require Israel to once again take the land and this necessity gives credence to their interpretations of prophecies calling for regathering. And yet, as we have found in our previous studies, there is indication from passages like Joshua 11:23 and Nehemiah 9 that, not only have these initial promises already been fulfilled, but there is reason to believe that, even if the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant were to be still in effect for Israel, until proper repentance occurs, there can be no expectation of the restoration of Israel to their land.
Ezekiel 34:12,13
As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
We can also link the previous passages to that of Ezekiel 34:12. Dispensationalists will tend to include this passage along with others as reference to a future, earthly millennium, the roots of which are found in modern Israel. But, again, the text does not require or even imply this. Ezekiel also prophesied to the Jews in captivity in Babylon so the first point to be made here is why Ezekiel, or God by extension, would deliver such a promise to exiled Israel when the fulfillment of said prophecy would not occur for thousands of years? Indeed, just two chapters later, in Ezekiel 36, verse 8, Ezekiel prophesies, “you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will sooncome home.” This passage, along with the previous passages and the Babylonian context, seems to make much more sense as describing the imminent return from Babylonian captivity, not a future millennial restoration.
Amos 9, the Remnant, and Pentecost
Another recurring theme is the restoration of a gathered remnant to the land of promise. These passages affirm the replanting of God’s people into the land and, in some places, it is emphasized that they shall never again be uprooted. Amos 9 is one of these primary thematic passages and it is quite important for establishing sound theology for the believer regarding Israel and the Gentiles.
Amos 9:14,15
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. 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
Many denominations within American Christendom do not emphasize the event of Pentecost nearly as much as they should so it bears repeating just how important this event was within church history. Recall that Christ’s response to the apostles’ question regarding the coming of the kingdom included the promise that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
And the actual event of Pentecost helps greatly in understanding the intention behind much of the previously mentioned prophetic language. In Acts 2:5, Luke specifically mentions that “there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.” Every nation under heaven. Many are familiar as well with Peter’s invocation of Joel 2:28 and on pointing to the fact that Pentecost fulfilled the words of this minor prophet. Isaiah 11 also adds that, “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire” and this is echoed and extended to the Gentiles through Christ in Romans 15:12: “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” This is also further emphasized in the following chapter of Joel 3, where he writes that, “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem.” All these passages, and many others, seem to give credence to the possibility that Pentecost, indeed, can easily be seen as fulfilling quite a bit of what the prophets spoke of in regards to the regathering and restoration of Israel.
So what does Amos 9 have to do with Pentecost and the church, you might ask? Following Pentecost, we see the Gospel go forth by the power of the Holy Spirit to the gentiles as well, culminating in the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15. And within that council’s record, James relates to the brothers there that, “Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from 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 I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’”
Where and what does James quote here? Amos 9! Thereby demonstrating to those present and generations of believers after him the presence of a very convincing relationship between the Kingdom of God containing True Israel, Jew and Gentile, and the restoration and regathering prophecies. As well, Alistair Donaldson makes the poignant point that, by James’ testimony and correlation, “he has interpreted Amos in a nonliteral manner and therefore establishes within the text of Scripture itself an interpretive principle that is in direct contradiction to Ryrie’s [Dispensational] literalism.”
Another theme in language among some of the prophecies that speak of regathering specifically mentions a remnant of Israel. This is indeed important because, as we have discussed in our treatment on Romans 11, God has indeed always been concerned with the true believers of Israel and not simply the national or ethnic group. Paul affirms in chapter 9, verse 6 that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring,” and emphasizes in verse 27 that “though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.” With a proper understanding of the message of Romans 9-11, we already recognize that it does not require nor support the expectation of a future earthly Israel and, since the language and message here echoes and supports the fulfillment of passages like Isaiah 11, it seems reasonable to conclude that, quite possibly, this passage and others like it do not require such a fulfillment in the future either.
The Bottom Line
So far, we have looked at a number of passages speaking specifically about the restoration and regathering of Israel to the land of promise. There are, however, other themes that are touched upon in prophecies often mentioned regarding a future for the Old Testament kingdom, themes like promises of blessing and cursing, passages that are equated with 20th century events in the formation of the modern state of Israel, or others that speak of Mt. Zion, Jerusalem, the reign of David, and so forth. These passages and more coming up in part 2.