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ISRAEL REGATHERED
Every Sunday we present a prophecy update. We show how news and trends in the world corroborate centuries-old prophecies you read in the Bible.
A literal reading of the Bible reveals that in the last days the nation of Israel will be regathered to the land unconditionally promised her by God. In fact, the Bible predicts two such returns by Jews to the Promised Land:
1. The first is a regathering in unbelief in preparation for judgment, namely the judgment of the Tribulation.
2. The second is a world-wide regathering of Jews who have received Jesus Christ in preparation for the promised kingdom of God on the
earth we call the Millennium.(By “the Tribulation” we mean a specific future seven-year period of time predicted repeatedly in the Bible and described in detail in the Revelation of Jesus Christ).
Ezekiel20:33-38 speaks of a regathering of Jews to Israel which must take place before the Tribulation. The passage speaks of bringing the nation of Israel back “from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out” (v 34). That this regathering occurs before the Tribulation becomes clearer in verse twenty-one:
Ezekiel 22:21 Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.
Like a metallurgist, the Lord will use the fire of the Tribulation to purge His chosen people.
Are nonbelieving Jews being regathered to the nation of Israel? On August 4th the Jerusalem Post published a story titled, Israel Soon to be Larger than Diaspora.
(Let me first define a few terms you’ll hear in the article. Diaspora is from a Greek word meaning ‘the scattering of seeds.’ Used of the nation of Israel it refers to the scattering of Jews outside of the land of Israel and throughout the world. Aliyah is a term that describes the immigration of Jews back to Israel. Someone who “makes aliyah” is called an oleh (m. singular) or olah (f. singular); the plural for both is olim).
Excerpts:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed a planeload of olim on Tuesday at Ben-Gurion Airport, telling them that “for the first time in 2,000 years, there are going to be more Jews in Israel than outside it.”
Speaking to a terminal full of olim from the United States and Canada, who came with Nefesh B’Nefesh on the organization’s 38th chartered aliya flight since the first one in July 2002, Netanyahu noted that Israel’s Jewish population was nearing the six million mark.
Diaspora Jewry is usually estimated at between six and seven million… North American aliya is expected to rise in 2009 due to the worldwide economic downturn, possibly passing the 4,000 mark. Nefesh B’Nefesh figures reveal that some 450 young olim will be arriving this year to serve in the IDF.
Later Tuesday, another 89 Nefesh B’Nefesh olim arrived on a different flight, this time from the UK.
According to Nefesh B’Nefesh, over 1,000 people from the UK have immigrated to Israel with its assistance since 2006, and this summer alone 150 people are “coming home” with the organization’s help.
{ read the entire article }
Prophecy scholar Thomas Ice writes,
The fact that the last fifty years has seen a world-wide regathering and reestablishment of the nation of Israel, which is now poised in just the setting required for the revealing of the Antichrist and the start of the tribulation, is God’s grand indicator that all of the other areas of world development are prophetically significant.
Dr. John Walvoord says,
Of the many peculiar phenomena which characterize the present generation, few events can claim equal significance as far as Biblical prophecy is concerned with that of the return of Israel to their land. It constitutes a preparation for the end of the age,the setting for the coming of the Lord for His church, and the fulfillment of Israel’s prophetic destiny.
These are the last days.
Get ready, stay ready, keep looking up.
Ready or not, Jesus is coming!
