Valley of Dry Bones: Ezekiel 37

Ezekiel 37

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

The Vision Explained

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.

Reunion of Judah and Israel

15 The word of the Lord came again to me saying, 16 “And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ 20 The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

The Davidic Kingdom

24 “My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. 25 They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”

Introduction

The dry bones portray a dead lifeless nation, Israel, dispersed among the nations of the world. Israel is waiting for its resurrection in the last days. This chapter marks the beginning of the last days. The prophetic clock begins ticking with this great event. For thousands of years believers worldwide had greatly anticipated the second coming of Jesus Christ. But His coming did not occur, and the church lost its patience. The church finally gave up hope of God’s coming about 350 A.D., ultimately developing an allegorized theology of the ‘Kingdom of God.’ This persisted until the 19^th century when Biblical scholars once again began to anticipate the coming Messiah and His Kingdom on earth. Then in 1948 the great event occurred. Israel became a nation among the nations of the world. The prophetic time clock began ticking once again. God is presently dealing with his chosen nation, Israel. It can now be declared with confidence we are living in the last days of this world. Prophetic Scriptures predominately involve the nation of Israel. The culmination of God’s prophetic program is Jesus’ return to earth as Messiah and Savior of Israel. He will then establish His millennial kingdom and rule the earth for one thousand years.

Discussion of Ezekiel Chapter 37

God is responsible for the creation of Israel. Its history goes back over 4,000 years ago to the promises He made to Abraham. He called them out of the wicked world (Egypt) and led them through the wilderness for forty years. He forged them into a nation and brought them into their promised land. He gave them the law through Moses. They promised to obey it. God repeatedly warned them of the consequences should they not do so. The following are only several examples of His warnings:

Disobey and I will scatter you. After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time – if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and provoking Him to anger, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you (DEUTERONOMY 4:25-27).

If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name – the Lord your God – the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please Him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one 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. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!” – because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see (DEUTERONOMY 28:58-67).

Israel Disobeyed and God Scattered Them

727 BC - The Assyrians conquered Naphtali and the Israelite tribes east of the Jordan River. The scattering of the Jewish people began.

722 BC  – The Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. The survivors of the ten tribes of Israel were exiled into Assyria.
586 BC –  The Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom of Judah. The Jews went into exile.
539 BC – The Persians conquered Babylon. They allowed tens of thousands of Jews to return to Israel under Ezra and Nehemiah. The Jews rebuilt their Temple in Jerusalem. However, most Jews remained in Babylonian exile.
68 AD – The Romans killed 20,000 Jews in Caesarea, and the people of Damascus slit the throats of 10,000 Jews in a single day.
70 AD –  The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple. More than 100,000 Jewish bodies were thrown over the city wall during that siege. After the fall of the city an equal number were sold into slavery. More than a million Jews were killed in the conquest of Jerusalem and the events that followed. Many Jews fled the land.
135 AD  – The Jews rebelled a second time in the Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans desolated Israel. They destroyed 985 towns in Palestine and executed 580,000 men. Many more were sold into slavery. Jews were banished from their land. The ‘Great Diaspora’ began.
1096 AD and ensuing centuries – Christian Crusades sought to capture the holy places in Palestine from the Muslims. These holy wars also brought extermination of the Jews in Europe and dispersed them further. Even the English and French wiped out entire Jewish communities in their countries in the late 13^th
1492 AD– King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain financed the voyage of Christopher Columbus to America by banishing the Jews from Spain (their 2^nd homeland after being exiled from Israel) and confiscating their estates.

God has Regathered the Jews Twice to their Homeland Over the Course of Their History

FIRST REGATHERING: God exiled the Jews due to their disobedience by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, as noted above. He regathered remnants of the southern nation, Judah, during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

SECOND REGATHERING: God dispersed the Jews over the entire world after the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. and the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 A.D. God regathered them recently in the 20th century, and His work continues today.

Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel were the prophets of the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah prophesied during the last days of the southern kingdom as the Babylonians toppled the walls of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The Babylonians executed hundreds of thousands of Jews and deported the rest as prisoners to Babylon. Daniel was one of those deported to Babylon. God gave Daniel His prophetic Word during the seventy-year period of captivity in Babylon. It predicted the coming Gentile empires destined to rule Israel until the Messiah. Ezekiel prophesied to his nation in captivity. Israel had “died” and all national hope was extinguished. Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones prophesies the restoration of Israel to her land where David’s Son, the Messiah, will ultimately reign as king. The visions of Ezekiel Chapter 37 offer hope to a desperate people suffering in exile for the sins of their nation.

Ezekiel stood in a great valley littered with dry bones strewn randomly across this valley. The bones represented Ezekiel’s people, the Jews, dispersed across the face of the earth. Their coming together represented God’s gathering of Jews from all over the world in the last days, before the Messiah comes to the earth to rule Israel and the rest of the world. The bones were dead and had been in the valley for a long time. The valley of dry bones represents the world. The LORD graciously interpreted the vision in vs. 11-14.

These bones are the whole house of Israel” . . . Thus says the LORD God, ‘Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. And I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life; and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD’ (Ezek. 37:11-14).

Dry Jewish bones scattered over the nations of the world had been assimilated into foreign cultures for millennia. God’s resurrection power would bring them together and gather them to the land of Israel, where they were reborn as a nation once again. Ezekiel’s prophecy speaks of a physical national rebirth and a spiritual restoration.

Only an omnipotent God can raise the dead. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die” (John 11:25). God proved His ability to resurrect the dead. He has now resurrected an entire nation after 2,600 years! Very few people groups (nations) of antiquity survive today as distinct ethnic groups. The Moabites, Nabateans, Philistines, Midianites, Amalekites, Canaanites, and Assyrians have all disappeared. Their survivors ultimately blended into the Arabs cultures that assimilated them. The reality of a brutalized and globally dispersed group returning to their native land and establishing a nation after two thousand years is unique in human history. Only the Jews have done this. But the greater reality is the Jews did not accomplish this by their own ability. An omnipotent God performed this mathematical miracle.

Shortly before World War II Jews began to return to their homeland, Israel. Their country had deteriorated. Much of it was uninhabitable. It was a mixture of desert and swamps—the later being malaria infested. A trickle of Jews slowly began to return to this land in the early 1900’s. Then came World War II. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime assigned the Jews to concentration camps and executed literally millions of men, women and children. Perhaps this is ‘the noise’ alluded to in verse 7 of this chapter. Jews streamed into their homeland at a rapid rate following this Jewish holocaust.

The Jews lived in a divided nation for approximately 400 years leading up to the time of this prophecy. The northern portion of the land was named Israel and it contained ten of the original twelve Jewish tribes. Its capital was Samaria. The mighty Assyrians laid waste to city after city in the northern kingdom, killing most of the Jews and leading the remaining ones into exile. The few left behind interbred with the Assyrians and became the Samaritans referred to in the Bible.

The southern kingdom, Judah, outlived Israel by another 100 years. God gave Judah many opportunities to follow His commands, but it failed repeatedly. It was ultimately conquered and decimated by the Babylonian army, as noted above. The division of the Jewish nation was not God’s intention. It occurred due to selfish human ambitions and unseen spiritual warfare shortly following the reign of King Solomon. The Jews coexisted in this divided state for over four hundred years. The northern and southern kingdoms even battled one another. After seventy years of Babylonian captivity, the King of the Medo-Persian Empire granted permission for several thousand Jews to return to their homeland. This was God’s first regathering. These Jews were from the original land of Judah. They multiplied and continued to inhabit the land of Israel for another 500 years until the Roman Empire. They never regained their status as an independent nation of the world. These Jews lived in their land under enemy control, and they resented it greatly. Finally, the Romans either exterminated or banished them from their land in the first and second centuries A.D. The Jews continued their exile in the nations of the world for the next two thousand years. The Jews woefully name this event ‘the great Diaspora.’ Such events mark the end of nations in human history. The few remaining survivors ultimately assimilate into the cultures where they flee. The vestiges of national unity are obliterated over time. Even the unique culture and religion of a conquered people disappear in the dusty pages of history. But God wrote a different history for His people. He has regathered the Jews despite horrendous opposition. Nearly every imaginable hostility has fallen upon the Jews over the centuries. No other nation in history has endured such hatred and persecution. Yet, the Jews still survive today, and God has gathered them into Israel. He is preparing them to meet their Messiah.

Reunion of Judah and Israel

God gave Ezekiel a vision of two sticks—one inscribed with the name Ephraim (representing the northern kingdom, Israel), and the other named Judah. God asked Ezekiel to join these two sticks as one in verses 15-19. God interpreted the vision for Ezekiel in verses 21-22.

The Lord God says, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them form every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king over all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided into the two kingdoms.’

The importance of these Scriptures cannot be overstated. The Jews prior to Ezekiel had lived in two separate nations (Israel and Judah) for more than 400 years. That is the only existence they knew. God regathered the Jews from the nations of the world into their homeland over the past century—2,600 years following Ezekiel’s prophecy. When Israel declared itself a nation of the world in 1948, it was one unified nation—not two. This was God’s original plan, and it sets the stage for the Messiah’s return. God even resurrected the ancient Hebrew language as the native tongue of Israel. Hebrew was essentially a dead language for nearly 2,000 years.

All that has been previously discussed has already been fulfilled. That is how we know we are in the last days. We are living in a moment different from all previous times. God has resurrected a nation from the ash heap of antiquity for the first time in human history. The prophetic time clock is ticking once again and only several minutes remain until the alarm sounds—God’s trumpet.

The last section of chapter 37 (vs. 23-28) has not yet been fulfilled. God has not sent His Messiah to rule the world from Israel. The Messiah will descend from the lineage of King David. His name is Jesus Christ. Israel has not yet bowed to that name. God has not yet weaned them from their idols nor cleansed them from their sins. The Jews have not entered into a “New Covenant” relationship with God, and He has not constructed His sanctuary in their midst. These events must occur before He establishes His millennial kingdom on the earth. But ‘the gathering of the dry bones’ into a great nation has already occurred!

Chronicled Promises of God’s Regathering

1881  – Pogroms in Russia Jewish communities in Russia were attacked, prompting a trickle of Jews to the Promised Land.

1888  – Jews from eastern Europe began to move to the Promised Land in significant numbers.
Increased anti-Semitism in Europe stirred Theodor Herzl to promote the cause of a Jewish State. 
1895 –  A scandal involving a Jewish officer in the French army provoked anti-Semitism in Europe. This stirred Theodor Herzl to proclaim the cause of a Jewish State.
1904  – A second wave of Jews from Russia and Poland returned to the Promised Land—driven by persecution
1920 –  A third wave of Jews from Russia returned to Israel. They came as impoverished refugees.
1924-1932  – The fourth wave of Jews fled to Israel from Poland.
1939-1945  – World War II – the Holocaust. Six million Jews perished in the Nazi death camps. After the War tens of thousands of Jewish survivors migrated to the Holy Land.
1948 –  The nation of Israel was proclaimed by David Ben Gurion on May 14^th. “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one Day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? “ (Isaiah 66: 8). The very next day Israel was invaded by five Arab armies—the first Arab-Israeli war.  But 120,000 Jewish immigrants arrived, despite the war.
1948-1952 –  Mass migration of Jews occurred after the formation of the nation. Large numbers of Jews migrated from Europe and Arab countries.
1970  – A mass migration of Jews began from the USSR. Tens of thousands of Jews took the opportunity to leave, but Russia quickly closed the door.
1989  – Communism collapsed in the USSR and Eastern Europe. The door reopened a second time for Jews to migrate to Israel. One million arrived in the next 10 years.
1991  – Saddam Hussein precipitated the Gulf War. Jewish migrants from around the world flowed into Israel, even as Iraq launched scud missiles at Israel.
Israel rescued Jews from Ethiopia in a 36-hour airlift called ‘Operation Solomon.’ 14,300 black Jews from Ethiopia were brought to Israel.
1993-2015 –  The USA, the EU and the UN press Israel to relinquish land for a Palestinian state. Throughout this time the economy and military of Israel grows. A steady stream of migrants to the Holy land continues from all the nations of the world.

THE MIRACLE ILLUSTRATED BY GROWTH OF THE JEWISH POPULATION OF ISRAEL

YEAR	JEWISH POPULATION OF ISRAEL
1880	24,000
1914	90,000
1931	174,000
1939	450,000
1948	650,000
1950	1,200,000
1958	1,800,000
1992	4,250,000
2000	5,150,000
2006	5,314,000
2009	5,661,000
2012	5,978,600
2015	6,251,000

Many New Testament passages imply the regathering of Israel. For instance, Jesus said, “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet…” (Mt. 24:15). Jesus referenced the “abomination of desolation” recorded by Daniel. This specifically refers to the sacrifices in the Temple of God (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11), implying a rebuilt Temple (compare 2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 7:3-8; 11:2). Other New Testament passages teach God’s redemption of Israel in the last days of this world.

Paul wrote Romans chapter 11 to remind believers that God fully intended to restore Israel and complete His work of grace with that nation. The blessings of the New Covenant are not merely for the New Testament Church. Both the Old Testament and New Testament are replete with promises that Israel will one day enter the New Covenant relationship with God.

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” “This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of he mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. (Rom. 11:25-32)

Remarkably, God’s regathering of Jews scattered over the nations of the world was predicted in dozens of passages in the Bible—not just in Ezekiel chapter 37. It appears many Old and New Testament authors believed God would restore the nation of Israel on their original land in the end times. Many of the Old Testament Scriptures are chronicled below for students of prophecy.

O.T. Scriptures Declare God’s regathering of Israel

“Proclaim it in all the world … He who scattered Israel will gather them” (Jeremiah 31:10).

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will bring My people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess,” says the Lord (JEREMIAH 30:3).

“Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them. ’For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers” (Jer. 16:14-15).

“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.’ “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil” (Jer. 23:3-8).

“I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land” (Jeremiah 29:14).

“Fear not, O Jacob My servant,” declares the LORD, “And do not be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar and your offspring from the land of their captivity and Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and no one will make him afraid. For I am with you,” declares the LORD, “to save you; for I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, only I will not destroy you completely but I will chasten you justly and will by no means leave you unpunished” (Jer. 30:10-11).

“Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good… (Jer. 32:37-40).

“Therefore, give the exiles this message from the Sovereign Lord: Although I have scattered you in the countries of the world, I will be a sanctuary to you during your time in exile. I, the Sovereign Lord, will gather you back from the nations where you were scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel once again.” (Ezekiel 11:16-17).

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel will again live in their own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I have scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people. They will live safely in Israel and build their homes and plant their vineyards. And when I punish the neighboring nations that treated them with contempt, they will know that I am the Lord their God” (Ezekiel 28:25-26).

“I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers in all the places where people live. Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in lush mountain pastures” (Ezekiel 34:12-14).

“And give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered. I will unify them into one nation in the land. One king will rule them all; no longer will they be divided into two nations” (Ezekiel 37:21-22).

“After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them” (Ezek. 38:8).

“So now the Sovereign Lord says: I will end the captivity of my people; I will have mercy on Israel, for I am jealous for my holy reputation! They will accept responsibility for their past shame and treachery against me after they come home to live in peace and safety in their own land. And then no one will bother them or make them afraid. When I bring them home from the lands of their enemies, my holiness will be displayed to the nations. Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God – responsible for sending them away to exile and responsible for bringing them home. I will leave none of my people behind. And I will never again turn my back on them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon them, says the Sovereign Lord” (Ezekiel 39:25-29).

“For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones … Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to His blessings in the last days” (HOSEA 3:4-5).

“I will bring back My exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God (AMOS 9:14-15).

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save My people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be My people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God” (ZECHARAIAH 8:7-8).

“I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them; And they will be as numerous as they were before. When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back. I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon until no room can be found for them” (Zech. 10:8-10).

“When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob” (Isa. 14:1).

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth”(ISA 43:5-6).

“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back” (ISAIAH 54:7).

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons” (Isaiah 66:8).

“I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory And they will declare My glory among the nations. “Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD…” (Isaiah 66:19-20).

“Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations, and will assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:11-12).

Current Statistics on Jews Regathered from Nations of the Middle East:

Nation Jewish pop. Jewish pop. today

_______________________ 1948_________________________

Egypt 66,000 several hundred

Assyria and Babylon 150,000 < 10

(Modern Day Iraq)

Hamath—(modern day Syria) 15,000 <100

Elam—Modern day Iran 95,000 20,000 to 25,000

It is no wonder, with this great body of prophetic Scriptures that religious Jews today have a strong passion and fervor for the coming Messiah. Indeed, the time of His coming is at hand!

Israel is the only nation on earth created by a sovereign act of God. Israel’s national borders are completely defined in the Holy Scriptures. (Genesis 15:18-21; Exodus 23:31; and Ezekiel 47:13-22). The map above delineates the borders God outlined for the millennial kingdom. It is evident the borders extend far beyond the current boundaries of Israel, at a time when land has needlessly been bartered for peace.