Is God Regathering the Jews?

Tom: Thanks, Gary. You are listening and viewing Search the Scriptures Daily, a program in which we encourage everyone who desires to know God’s truth to look to God’s Word for all that is essential for salvation and living one’s life in a way that is pleasing to Him. If you’re a new listener and haven’t been following our program for awhile you’re coming in on the last week or so of our discussion of the last chapter of Dave Hunt’s latest book, Judgment Day: Islam, Israel and the Nations. And, Dave, as I mentioned before, we’re on the last chapter but we may, this is the expanded version of the book, so we may go to some additions that you added on, just to interest our viewers. You know, whenever you redo a book, or come out with a later edition, you always bring it right up to date.

Dave: Well, Tom, and also whenever we go over something, we sometimes—often—take a little longer than we thought. It might take two programs, who knows, it might take three.

Tom: It’s been known to happen. Hopefully though, we are keeping it interesting enough for our listeners. Now, last week, I thought we, that is, you, really covered Armageddon, and the timing of it, all of the different things that are in place today that have never been place before in history that would bring this event called Armageddon right there, right up to the plate right now.

Dave: Well, there’s a lot more to say about Armageddon, Tom, than we said, and maybe we can say a little bit of it today. But anyway, you’re running the show.

Tom: No, go ahead, because last week at the end of the show I said we were going to talk about the Antichrist, and well, let’s set it up with some other aspects of Armageddon.

Dave: Well, I know we went as fast as we could right at the end, but I would like to just emphasize a couple things again. See, this is a controversial idea that Ezekiel 38 and 39 are Armageddon. There are some prophecy teachers and writers who agree with me—very few, we are in the minority.

Tom: That’s been known to happen before.

Dave: Yes, it has. Well, how do I know this is Armageddon? Let’s just go back over that for a minute. We know, first of all, it tells us in Ezekiel:38:11And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
See All..., these are a people who dwell in safety. So, there’s a false peace that Antichrist has given them. We have to come back and talk about Antichrist. And then it says, “They have been gathered out of the nations,” and they are prospering in this land. And believe it or not, in spite of all the wars, all the burdens on them, of course with financial help from the West, Israel is prospering now. Now that they have shut off the Palestinians, investments begin coming back into Israel, because these are bright people, they do terrific work.

Tom: And you can’t deny that God is blessing them, even though they are there in unbelief.

Dave: Right. So anyway, we know they are back in the land, and then God says in verse 16, “I am going to bring you [that’s the Antichrist] I’m going to bring you against Israel, my people Israel.”

Now, many, I would say the majority of prophecy teachers, say, well, this is some preliminary war; this is not Armageddon—this is something that takes place just before the Rapture, or in the middle of the Great Tribulation. No, it couldn’t be anything but Armageddon, which takes place at the end of the Great Tribulation, and I think we will be able to see that.

Anyway, God says, “I am going to bring you….” Now, we’ve got Gog and Magog, but I used to think this—it’s talking about Russia, and you know, certain Arab nations. No! It’s the whole world. If we went to Revelation 20, it uses the same term, God and Magog, and it is very clear there it is all the world. Furthermore, we’ve quoted some passages. We quoted Joel:3:2I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
See All..., God says, “I am going to bring all nations against Jerusalem to punish them for what they have done to my people. They’ve scattered them and they’ve divided my land.” Zechariah 14, God says, “I’m going to bring all nations against Israel.”

I believe that is this war, okay? The final war. Why do I believe that? Well, go down to Verse 18, at the end of it. It says, “When you come up against Israel, saith the Lord God, my fury shall come up in my face; for in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely, in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel…” —we read this last week, but I think it’s worth going over— “…so that the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the heaven, the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are on the face of the earth shall shake at my presence!”

God is coming back to this earth! I say “back,” because this is actually Jesus Christ, who is God. And in Zechariah:12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
See All..., God is speaking, no question about that, and He says, “They will look on me whom they have pierced.” I’d like to ask the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Jews, “When was your Jehovah pierced?” And if they pierce him to the death, here He comes as a resurrected, glorified man, and God says, “Every person is going to quake at my presence.”

So, He’s coming back to this earth, all right? His feet will touch the Mount of Olives. This couldn’t be anything else, and you’ve got all the fish in the sea trembling, every ant and every bug, and the mountains are falling down, and every wall is falling down. That’s some preliminary war before the Rapture or in the middle of the Great Tribulation, and then it all gets put together again, and then you finally come against Israel once more? Tom, that’s just too far-fetched! This is the grand finale, okay?

Now, God says, “I am going to make myself known to all the nations. Well, I don’t know when else that would be, okay? So, we go down to chapter 39, then. Chapter 38 is talking about God’s judgment upon the nations whom He will gather—He doesn’t force them to come. What that means is, they have it in their hearts to destroy Israel. They have wanted to do this, this has been their ambition, this is the final solution to the Jewish problem that Hitler wanted to affect. Now, all the world has joined.

Tom: And there are some incentives aside from just their hatred for Israel. It seems somehow Israel is preserved [through] it, just as the Israelites were preserved in Egypt away from the plagues that came.

Dave: Well, it could be anger because of that, right, I think so. But you know…

Tom: Dave, doesn’t it also talk about spoils?

Dave: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Tom: They must have something else that the rest of the world doesn’t have at that time, or wants.

Dave: Well, we could talk about the minerals in the Dead Sea, and who knows? They may have discovered oil—I think there is oil there, the Lord hasn’t let them find it yet, except in small quantities. But it makes sense, Tom. Look, Israel is a burden to the United States, financially and militarily. I mean, they are our ally, and without them, the Arabs would overrun that whole region, and they would be defying us, okay. But nevertheless, look at what we are doing now. President Bush is wanting to turn the ports over to a company from Dubai, and they are saying, “Well, that doesn’t have anything to do with security.” Well, you know, they’ve got their foot in the door big time!

Tom: Right, potentially, it could be serious.

Dave: We can’t control them. But anyway, we’re cooperating more and more, you know. We are already playing both sides.

Tom: Cooperating or capitulating, Dave, what is it?

Dave: Well, I would say both. But we’re working with the Muslims, and saying—no matter what they do. we say, “Oh, they are peaceful,” which it’s incredible that President Bush could persist in that, because he wants to pacify them. We are licking their boots, is the way I would put it. We are falling down in front of them in cowardice, because we are afraid they would cut off the oil.

Tom: So, we’re really feeding their aggressiveness by capitulating, by compromising, by all of this.

Dave: Yeah, in my opinion. So anyway, what I am saying is it makes sense because look, they are threatening, and they are going to cut off oil and so forth. But look, it’s a very tiny country, a very small number of people—about 6 million there, the same number that Hitler wiped out. And, of course, there’s over a million Arabs there, they don’t want to do away with them, but anyway, they may have to go, because that’s part of the price that would have to be paid, and furthermore, it martyrs them in jihad, they get a big reward for this.

So, I think you can see, look, ultimately, as we become more and more buddies with the Muslims and the Arabs—and Israel? Yeah, they’ve played a role but we don’t need them anymore. What are we concerned about? Iran getting nuclear capabilities? Yeah, but it’s only going to be aimed at Israel, so it’s not going to be aimed at us; we’ll be their friends, and so forth—they’re reasonable people. I mean, I can see the way it’s going, Tom.

But anyway, too much about that. How it comes about, I don’t know. They will have it in their hearts and God will bring them. In other words, He allows them to come; He will make the circumstances right for them to do what they want to do. Okay, so that’s chapter 38, of Ezekiel

[In] 39, God is dealing with Israel. Israel is in unbelief, the Jews are in unbelief all over the world. Zechariah 13 says that two-thirds of all Jews are going to be killed. Jeremiah:30:7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
See All..., calls it, “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” It will be the worst trouble that Israel ever had.

Tom: Now, Dave, I always have to say this when we cover it: You are quoting the Jewish prophets. This is not some kind of New Testament spin that’s anti-Semitic.

Dave: Thank you, Tom. Yeah, they need to understand that. This is what God said through His prophets, and it is because of their rejection of Him. They have thumbed their noses at God, let’s put it that way. You know, when we were in Israel the last time, you remember, we were talking to the head of the Kibbutz there, and what did he say? Ninety percent of the Kibbutzim are atheistic. They don’t believe in God. They don’t believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob gave them this land, okay? And God has made so many promises. He has pleaded with these people down through the centuries, sent prophet after prophet after prophet, and they have thumbed their noses at Him. I mean, even when Jerusalem was destroyed, and He gives them a final chance, you know—look, they still persist!

Tom: Dave, some listeners out there may be thinking, Well, why doesn’t God just abandon them, just let them go, let them be wiped out?

Dave: That’s a good question! Because God, 203 times in the Bible is called the God of Israel, 9 times the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Look, they are an example of God’s mercy and His grace, and the Bible is literally filled with promises of their restoration. So, it’s like, you know, I love it—we talk about it in Judgment Day—I love it when God says to Moses…you know, Moses comes down from Mount Sinai—there’s a golden calf! He hadn’t even gotten down from the mountain and they’ve built a golden calf and said, “These are the gods that brought you out of Egypt!” Oh, this the God that took you through the Red Sea, that’s been giving you manna every day, and water out of a rock? Tom, it’s incomprehensible! You couldn’t believe it! I mean, look, you and I try to write some things—I wouldn’t dare write such an unbelievable scenario.

And then God says (He’s testing Moses), “Moses, I’m going to wipe these people out, and you’ll become the new Abraham, and only your descendants…” You remember what Moses says: “God, you can’t do that! You made promises to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob. If You don’t bring these people into this land that You promised to them and establish them there, then what are the nations going to say? ‘Well, of course we’ll stick with our idols, because that this God that the Jews believed in, he couldn’t do what he said he would do, and our gods are too great.’”

“Well, yeah, but Moses, I’ll bring you in.”

“Yeah, but, God, that’s not enough, because an awful lot of these people have followed out the promises you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Okay, these are God’s people, no question about it, but they are under His judgment. They are being punished. Wow! How they have been punished all over the world. Read it in Deuteronomy 28, that’s their great prophet Moses. He says, “In the morning you will wish it was evening; in the evening you will wish it was morning. You will be hated and persecuted and killed. You will plant a crop, and others will take it. You’ll marry a wife, and somebody else is going to have her, you know, and on and on it goes. And this is the history of the Jews: scattered all over this world, denounced God, rejected Him, rejected his Word—but still, they cling to certain things. They still keep the Passover. Incredible! God said, “You will always keep the Passover, and they still keep the Passover.”

Anyway, they are under His judgment; they are being punished by God. But at the same time they are being protected. So, if you went to Jeremiah:31:10Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
See All..., God says, “I scattered these people”—He’s talking to the nations—“I scattered these people, and I am going to bring them back, and you had better look out what you try to do to them.”

Okay, so now, chapter 39 moves to Israel. Verse 7, says, “So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel.” So, not only the nations are going to see who the true God is, Israel is going to see who the true God is! “And I will not let them pollute my holy name anymore.” There’s not a preliminary event, this is the grand finale! Israel will never be separated from God again; they will never displease God again. They have been converted, they have been saved, okay. Go to verse 22: “So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.” Well, something has happened to Israel at this event. It can only be Armageddon. This is when the Messiah returns and they realize, “God—He is also a man! He came to this earth, He died for our sins, He has been pierced, He has been resurrected!” Verse 29: “Neither will I hide my face anymore from them for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.”

And we could go to the prophets—to Jeremiah, to Ezekiel, talking about “There is a day coming when My law will be in your hearts, not on tables of stones. It will be in your hearts, and you will never disobey Me again.” This is what happens, and in Zechariah 12, it talks about, God will pour upon them the spirit of supplication. They will cry out for the Messiah to come and rescue them, and He will come and rescue them. But, verse 28 is the one I don’t think we got to. If we did, it was a very light touch last week. Let’s just go to that. Sorry, we’re not getting far today, but I think this is important stuff.

Tom: The Lord willing, we will be back next week.

Dave: Verse 28, God is speaking to His people through Ezekiel his prophet. Ezekiel:39:28Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
See All...: “Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen [that is, among the nations] but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them anymore there.”

Wow! That hasn’t happened yet. The Jews are coming back—they’ve come back by the millions, actually, in fulfillment of prophecy. But the day is coming when God is going to miraculously gather every Jew, every one that’s left alive—two-thirds have been killed—He’s going to miraculously gather them back into their own land. Not one Jew will be left anywhere on this earth. Okay, where do we read about that? Jesus talked about it, Matthew 24, Jesus said—this is yet another controversial passage—it’s a great passage for people who believe in the post-trib rapture—Matthew:24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
See All...: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Now, the people who believe in a post-trib rapture say, “See, what’s this secret Rapture? He’s going to snatch people out of here and nobody will see it happen, they will just know they are gone, and so forth? Well, no, look here, it says He’s going to come visibly, and He’s going to send his angels to gather everybody, His elect. Wait a minute! Israel is called ”His elect” all through the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians:4:16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
See All..., “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” He’s going to catch us up, the dead will rise, “and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet him in the air.” It says nothing like that here. This is a gathering of Jews, His elect, from everywhere on this earth. The angels are going to gather them. They are going to bring them back, and there won’t be one Jew left outside the land, and of course, this is Armageddon.

Tom: But Dave, certainly, the Jews are God’s elect, but aren’t we, true believers in Him?

Dave: Yes, you’ve got to read, What Love is This? and we deal with “elect” in there. It’s used for Christ—Christ is His elect.

Tom: But my point is that when the post-tribbers point to that term, they are applying it to themselves.

Dave: Well, yes, but they are not the only elect, we’re not the only elect, okay? So, at least there is a possibility that Israel could be mentioned here, and then when we see that there is no resurrection: there’s…it’s the angels who gather, it’s not Christ. We’ll be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. No, they are gathered from the four winds, you know, back to one spot on this earth. I don’t think we can escape this. So, I think that explains the verse that we just read, Ezekiel:39:28Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
See All.... They will know, “I’m the one who scattered them, and they will know that I’m the one who brought them back, and I haven’t left any of them anywhere outside of this land.” This is the final fulfillment of the many promises that God has made in the Old Testament concerning Israel.

Tom: Right. Now about this Antichrist, Dave.

Dave: Oh, that’s right! We were going to get to the Antichrist!

Tom: Well, we didn’t have to get to it right away, but I think we are going to go right to it next week. So, Dave, just some points about the Antichrist, who he is. Some people believe that he is a personification of evil, and not a real person. But you know, I grew up Roman Catholic, and even the Catholic dictionary says this is a real person, although they wouldn’t take the same perspective on him that Bible believing Christians would. But still, who is this Antichrist? You have a few tidbits for us next week?

Dave: Well, I think he will not be an obviously evil ogre like some of the films have depicted him that would terrify everybody. The world is going to love him. Jesus said in John 5, “I am come in my Father’s name, ye receive me not; another is going to come in his own name and he will be well received.” He’s not going to come in the name of God. Satan will actually give him his power, but he will seem wonderful at first, until the mask slips, and then this world will become a place—you couldn’t even imagine what it will be like.