Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Mar 29, 2020

News Letter 5856-006
The 4th Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 25th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 3rd day of the 2nd month 5856 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Middle of the 70th Jubilee Since Yehovah told Moses To go Get His People
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence

March 28, 2020

Shabbat Shalom to the Royal Family of Yehovah,New Moon Second Month

The new moon was sighted from Israel this evening, Wednesday, 25 March 2020!

* From Jerusalem by Karen Andrews at 6:32pm, followed by David McKnew, Gil Ashendorf, and Devorah Gordon.
* From Beer Sheva by Yochanan Zaqantov at 6:28pm

This means sunset on March 25, 2020 marks the beginning of the new month.Shabbat Meeting

With most of the world now in some sort of quarantine of various degrees, I have been going over and over the Sabbatical and Jubilee message. 

I have been asking Yehovah about what we are to do? What does this virus mean to us in these last days? What about the fact that there are no planes flying anywhere? What have I missed and not understood?

This week’s News Letter will be about the second Exodus. But this week’s meeting will be about the Jubilee cycles as well as the First and Second Passover and the many revelations they show us if we are willing to look at them in relation to the Jubilee cycle.

We know for sure that we are in the 120th Jubilee Cycle. We also know for a fact that we are in the middle of that 120th Jubilee Cycle. And we have shown you, and you have done your own studies to know, that we are also at the same time in the 70th Week spoken of in the Prophecy of Daniel 9.

But now the world is under quarantine. Do you believe Yehovah sent this plague? Do you believe Yehovah is real? Do you believe we are actually living in these very last days?  Do you believe you have a role to do to protect your families? What do we do now?

I hope you will join me this Sabbath from your home as we once again go over the Prophecies of Abraham to learn more about this year of 2020 and the many new things I am only just now seeing.

Joseph Dumond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Joseph Dumond’s Zoom Meeting
Time: Mar 28, 2020 01:00 PM America/Toronto

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Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acnQzeGMXRIn the Mail

 

On Wave Sheaf Day in our zoom meeting I shared with you a story about a man who could not be with us that day because he was sitting with his wife as she died. This and my own personal problems made me very emotional this day. I know many of you prayed for his wife that day.

I received an email from Simon and I would like to share it with you.

By way of clarification: My wife, while still extremely sick, is alive and now stable. Pancreatic cancer doesn’t take prisoners and the edema that was caused by the cancer and chemo is quicker and just as deadly. Over 65 years of age, as my wife is, mortality is in the 99+% range. So, I don’t know if Father will continue in sending us miracle after miracle, though I am grateful for the one we received this week. On Sunday Nancy’s combine issues put her in the 0.09% range for survival on Sunday last week. As you have previously indicated, our Elohim doesn’t deal in odds and such. He deals in Sovereignty and His own will to bless whom He shall bless. Blessed be Yehovah!

As a result of this test, I was instructed by doctors to invite friends and family to the hospital to say their goodbyes, which I did. At the end of the visits, I was able to spend 2 hours with a couple, who drove 4 hours to see my wife. I told them all about the 2300 Days of Hell and was able to connect their current understanding of Revelation back to Daniel and other prophecy to help them see that regardless of if there is a “conspiracy” or not, it makes no difference. Father used all things for the good of those who obey Him! This is judgement. The mechanism is as irrelevant as if the crossing of the sea by Yisra’El was possible because of wind, a low rainfall, a land bridge that collapsed after they walked across, or that they all walked on water. Father’s people were delivered by Him and His enemies who tried to kill His people all died! None of them cared, in that moment, what mechanism He used. They just knew He was, is, and always will be, Elohim! They are talking about it a lot. I have encouraged them to study and pray together daily. If this was the only reason for my wife being in the hospital at this time, the trade of two souls and their children to our Father and King for eternity, for this week of suffering, is a very good trade. I know my wife would agree. Should Father choose to take her, I will see her in 13 years.

I am encouraged to hear that some have come to teach with you. Please remind them that they are blessed with “a spirit or teaching” but are not teachers. This so our Father’s enemy does not cause arrogance. Matt 23:8-11 is good teaching especially with understanding that the Hebrew language is verb based, unlike our noun/subject driven language. By this we can see that there is no conflict between Paul telling us that “to some it has been given to teach” and Messiah Yehoshua teaching His disciples that only Messiah is our teacher. I know that you already know these things, and only mention them because you are busy and the young in faith are vulnerable to such attacks. Sometimes they may miss that we are the bride and not a Man. So we, like Havah, are susceptible to being tricked into sin, only to lead others there too. You are busy and they are younger. Sometimes we think our younger brothers know things that they don’t. Your watch is long and broad. I know this adds to it but I pray, for you and others including myself, that we do not grow weary in doing good my brother.

Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of Yehovah!

Shalom. Shalom.
Simon

Yehovah bless you and guard you;
Yehovah make His face shine upon you, and show favour to you;
Yehovah lift up His face upon you, and give you peace.Counting the Omer

Today is the 7th day of the 1st week of seven weeks. Today is the 7th day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath. Today is Sabbath, the 1st Sabbath of seven Sabbaths. Today completes the 1st week of seven weeks.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day 7 Is the First Shabbat Confidence in Law of Yehovah 119:49-56

Psa 119:49 Remember the word to Your servant, On which You have caused me to wait.
Psa 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life.
Psa 119:51 The proud have utterly scorned me, I did not turn aside from Your Torah.
Psa 119:52 I remembered Your right-rulings of old, O Yehovah, And I comfort myself.
Psa 119:53 Rage has seized me because of the wrong Who forsake Your Torah.
Psa 119:54 Your laws have been my songs In the place of my sojournings.
Psa 119:55 I have remembered Your Name in the night, O Yehovah, And I guard Your Torah.
Psa 119:56 This has become mine, Because I have observed Your orders.

WEEK TWO | 2

Today is the first day of the second week of seven weeks. Today is the eighth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Eight | Devotion To the Law of Yehovah | Psalm 119:57-64

57 You are my portion, O Yehovah; I have promised to guard Your words. (Psalm 119:57)
58 I have sought Your face with all my heart. Show me favor according to Your Word. (Psalm 119:58)
59 I have thought upon my ways, and turned my feet to Your witnesses. (Psalm 119:59)
60 I have hurried, and did not delay to guard Your commands. (Psalm 119:60)
61 The cords of the wrong have surrounded me, Your Torah I have not forgotten. (Psalm 119:61)
62 At midnight I rise to give thanks to You, for Your righteous right-rulings. (Psalm 119:62)
63 I am a companion of all who fear You, and of those guarding Your orders. (Psalm 119:63)
64 O Yehovah, Your kindness has filled the earth. Teach me Your laws. (Psalm 119:64)

Today is the second day of the second week of seven weeks. Today is the ninth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Nine | The Value of the Law of Yehovah | Psalm 119:65-72

65 You have done good to Your servant, O Yehovah, according to Your Word. (Psalm 119:65)
66 Teach me good sense and knowledge, for I have trusted in Your commands. (Psalm 119:66)
67 Before I was afflicted I myself was going astray, but now I have guarded Your Word. (Psalm 119:67)
68 You are good, and do good. Teach me Your laws. (Psalm 119:68)
69 The proud have forged a lie against me. With all my heart I observe Your orders. (Psalm 119:69)
70 Their heart has become like fat, without feeling. I have delighted in Your Torah. (Psalm 119:70)
71 It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your laws. (Psalm 119:71)
72 The Torah of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:72)

Today is the third day of the second week of seven weeks. Today is the tenth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Ten | The Justice of the Law of Yehovah | Psalm 119:73-80

73 Your hands have made me and formed me; make me understand, that I might learn Your commands. (Psalm 119:73)
74 Those who fear You see me and rejoice, for I have waited for Your Word. (Psalm 119:74)
75 I know, O Yehovah, that Your right-rulings are righteous, and in trustworthiness You have afflicted me. (Psalm 119:75)
76 Please let Your kindness be for my comfort, according to Your Word to Your servant. (Psalm 119:76)
77 Let Your compassions come to me, that I might live, for Your Torah is my delight. (Psalm 119:77)
78 Let the proud be put to shame, for with lies they perverted me; but I study Your orders. (Psalm 119:78)
79 Let those who fear You turn to me, and those who know Your witnesses. (Psalm 119:79)
80 Let my heart be perfect in Your laws, so that I am not put to shame. (Psalm 119:80)

Today is the fourth day of the second week of seven weeks. Today is the eleventh day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Eleven | Prayer For Deliverance | Psalm 119:81-88

81 For Your deliverance my being has pined away, for I have waited for Your Word. (Psalm 119:81)
82 My eyes have pined away for Your Word, saying, “When would it comfort me?” (Psalm 119:82)
83 For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, Your laws I have not forgotten. (Psalm 119:83)
84 How many are the days of Your servant? When do You execute right-ruling on those who persecute me? (Psalm 119:84)
85 The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to Your Torah. (Psalm 119:85)
86 All Your commands are trustworthy. They have persecuted me with lies. Help me! (Psalm 119:86)
87 They almost made an end of me on earth, but I, I did not forsake Your orders. (Psalm 119:87)
88 Revive me according to Your kindness, that I might guard the witness of Your mouth. (Psalm 119:88)

Today is the fifth day of the second week of seven weeks. Today is the twelfth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Twelve | In the Law of Yehovah | Psalm 119:89-96

89 Forever, O Yehovah, Your Word stands firm in the heavens. (Psalm 119:89)
90 Your trustworthiness is to all generations; You established the earth, and it stands. (Psalm 119:90)
91 According to Your right-rulings, they have stood to this day, for all are Your servants. (Psalm 119:91)
92 If Your Torah had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. (Psalm 119:92)
93 Let me never forget Your orders, for by them You have given me life. (Psalm 119:93)
94 I am Yours, save me; for I have sought Your orders. (Psalm 119:94)
95 The wrong have waited for me to destroy me; I understand Your witnesses. (Psalm 119:95)
96 I have seen an end of all perfection; Your command is exceedingly broad. (Psalm 119:96)

Today is the sixth day of the second week of seven weeks. Today is the thirteenth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1  Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah.
Psa 67:2  For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.
Psa 67:3  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim, Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:4  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You judge the peoples uprightly, And lead the nations on earth. Selah.
Psa 67:5  Let the peoples praise You, O Elohim; Let all the peoples praise You.
Psa 67:6  The earth shall give her increase; Elohim, our own Elohim, blesses us!
Psa 67:7  Elohim blesses us! And all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Day Thirteen | Love For the Law of Yehovah | Psalm 119:97-104

97 O how I love Your Torah1! It is my study all day long. (Psalm 119:97 | Footnote: 1See also vv. 119:113, 119:119, 119:127, 119:163, 119:165, 119:167)
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies; for it is ever before me. (Psalm 119:98)
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your witnesses are my study. (Psalm 119:99)
100 I understand more than the aged, for I have observed Your orders. (Psalm 119:100)
101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I might guard Your Word. (Psalm 119:101)
102 I have not turned aside from Your right-rulings, for You Yourself have taught me. (Psalm 119:102)
103 How sweet to my taste has Your Word been, more than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)
104 From Your orders I get understanding; therefore I have hated every false way. (Psalm 119:104)The Barley Report at the Second Month

As many of you know this year the barley has once again been a controversial subject. Last year there was also a split and in 2016 we had a split.

The problem in 2016 and in 2019 was that we were saying the barley had to be ready by wave sheaf day when the wave sheaf offering was to be made. The other groups were saying that you had to have barley that was ripe and ready to harvest by the end of the 12th month. Only then could you call it Aviv. They did not consider it Aviv if it would be ready two weeks later. It had to be ready by the end of the 12th month.

This year of 2020, we again had another split. Sadly we do not have a leading authority to take charge of this and direct the people. Every man was left to his own determinations. This year we found barley in the dough stage which would be even more mature two weeks later at Passover. We also had that same dough stage confirmed by all the other Barley search groups. We then cut that barley and it dried overnight and became hard and could be roasted and ground into flour.

On the date we determined for Passover WHO declared an world wide pandemic. The very same day Yehovah sent a pandemic to the Egyptians, Passover Day, WHO declared a pandemic. How do you not see the irony here? By the 7th day of Unleavened Bread, the world was going into lock down and the stock market crashing.

Since that time that we declared the month of Aviv, the Barley has remained in the dough stage even until now. It has not turned brown and to the stage that the heads shatter. The stage the other groups needed in years past to declare it Aviv.

They are now changing their positions. I want you to notice this. I am not accusing them of anything, but I do want to point this change out to you this year as it happens. They are now accepting barley in the dough stage and declaring the month Aviv. The very same thing we did in 2016, 2019 and again this year of 2020. If they were to stick to the standards they were using in prior years they would have to declare a 13th month this year again, as they did last year.

I pray that Yehovah opens all of our eyes to His truths so that we all will keep the Feasts at the proper time in unity.

3/20/2020 Aviv Report – Yoel Halevi (Hebrew In Israel)

BARLEY FIELDS TO BE READY FOR HARVEST BEFORE OMER OFFERING OF 4/12/2020

“Following are some notes regarding the state of barley growth from our trip to the south on Thursday March 19, 2020.

Mordekhai Jct. – barley ears out mostly in the flowering stage, 30-40% in the dough stage. No Aviv.

Tel Gamma – Considerable amounts of barley in the aviv stage but no complete patches yet. Perhaps 40% in the aviv stage at the bottom of the tel with the remainder mostly in an advanced dough stage. Perhaps 70% in the aviv stage at the top of the tel with the remainder mostly in an advanced dough stage.

Gamma Jct (.5 km south) – approximately the same as the bottom of Tel Gamma, 40% aviv.

There is every reason to believe there will be entire fields of harvestable barley before the date for the waiving of the omer.

Jerusalem area: most barley is in the boot with some ears emerging and flowering.

This second report is from Devorah’s Date Tree.

It is understood from the following three passages, that there needs to be harvestable barley fields in Land of Israel by Yom HaNafat HaOmer (The Day of the Wave Sheaf Offering).

“(9) count seven weeks, from when the sickle commences on the standing grain” (Dt 16:9) We see from this passage that Yom HaNafat HaOmer is the period when the country begins to harvest its earliest fields. This is not referring to simply finding an omer of aviv barley, but rather the period in which the earliest fields begin to harvest its developed fields, as we will see in the next two passages below.

“(10) 
When you come to the land which I give to you, and harvest its harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the first of your harvest to the priest
 (14) Lechem (bread), kali (parched grain), carmel (crushed grain) you shall not eat until this very day, until you bring the offering of your God; it is an eternal statute throughout your generations in all your habitations.” (Lev 23:9-10, 14) We see from this passage that the crop is developed enough that it could be eaten by Yom HaNafat HaOmer, and therefore it explicitly states that we are not to eat from the crop until Yom HaNafat HaOmer.

“(10) And they camped at Gilgal and did the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening in the plains of Jericho. (11) And they ate of the grain of the land on the morrow after the Passover unleavened bread and parched, in that very day. (12) And the Manna ceased on the morrow when they ate of the produce of the land and there being was no Manna for the Children of Israel; so they ate from the produce of the land in that year.” (Joshua 5:10-12) Here again we that there is enough harvestable barley for the Children of Israel to live off of by Yom HaNafat HaOmer.

Based on the above passages, it is understood that Chodesh HaAviv (the month of the Aviv), is the month when there is enough harvestable barley by Yom HaNafat HaOmer to feed a small nation. There is no concern of the farmer losing his crop if it ripens before Yom HaNafat HaOmer, because there is no prohibition from harvesting the crop when needed, there is only a prohibition from eating it before Yom HaNafat HaOmer.

Harvestable barley is anything between aviv and completely ripe. Aviv barley is so near ripe that you can’t break it with your fingernail, but it still has a little bit of moisture in it and is therefore parched before it is eaten (Joshua 5:10-12). It is golden light in color and brittle enough to be destroyed by hail [as opposed to the wheat and spelt which were afilot (dark) and were thus not destroyed by the hail] (Ex 9:22,31-32). It should be noted that if one were to cut the barley stalks in the dough stage (a slightly earlier stage than aviv, when the kernel can still be split with ones fingernails), let them dry out for a few days, and then parch them in fire, this would not constitute aviv barley! That is simply unripe barley, which has been dried and parched. Aviv barley is a stage in the development of the grain, it cannot be artificially produced.

We hope this explanation has been helpful to you. We would very much like to be able to go out again and inspect how the barley is developing. If you have been enjoying our New Moon and Aviv Reports and have been meaning to make a contribution, now would be a great time to support our efforts, and if you are a regular contributor and able to give a little extra this time of year, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Devorah Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

The Second Exodus

Now that we have entered into that notorious year of 2020, the one in which I have been warning you about for the past 15 years, I thought I should go over the second greater exodus that is about to come to pass. Before you cheer, I must again warn you that before you can come out of captivity you must first go into captivity. This then means you must go to war and lose that war. Then flee your homes for your lives and live in the wild with only what you have on your backs. This is the picture for the next 10 years until that Second Greater Exodus takes place. After that the 3 1/2 years of tribulation on the rest of the world.

Right now we are in the 4th Sabbatical Cycle of war. But it is also the cycle of pestilence and famine and the pestilence has captured the entire world as I write. It is like we are sitting in our homes on Passover and waiting for the death angel to pass over our homes while we hear the cries and see the numbers of the dead mount up around the world.

 

The Second Exodus (Part One)

by David C. Grabbe
Forerunner, “Prophecy Watch,” July 2007

It has long been observed that about one-third of the Bible is prophecy, and the majority of those prophecies have not yet been fulfilled.

In addition, nearly all of those unfulfilled prophecies pertain to the descendants of Abraham in general—and Jacob in particular—and to other nations and entities only as they encounter the descendants of these patriarchs.

Understanding the history and the future of the descendants of Jacob is paramount to understanding the rest of the Bible. In particular, grasping what God says will happen to these people allows us to make sense of this world’s seemingly incomprehensible events. “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” as Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) notes. But God has given us a vision of where current events are leading, and what will soon happen to the nations of Israel that have been scattered around the globe.

Historically, after the death of Solomon (c. 931 BC), the Kingdom of Israel split into two separate kingdoms. The northern ten tribes retained the name Israel, establishing their capital at Samaria. The southern tribes—Judah and Benjamin, along with part of Levi—became known simply as Judah (and its people known as Jews; see II Kings 16:5-6, KJV), continuing to be ruled by the royal line of David from the capital city of Jerusalem.

Two hundred years after this national division, the northern ten tribes were in a terminal state of wickedness and rebellion. Idolatry was widespread, pagan religious practices from the surrounding cultures were common and celebrated, God’s law was trampled underfoot, and God Himself was scoffed at—much as in today’s Western culture. God’s prophets, warning of Israel’s destruction and subjugation, were invariably ignored, mocked, or killed.

Around 722 BC, God caused Assyria to subdue Israel and enslave the people. The Assyrians deported the population from its homeland in Canaan to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea in what is today Iran (II Kings 17:5-6). The northern Kingdom of Israel thus passed from the view of all but the most obscure histories, becoming known as the Lost Ten Tribes.

The Jews—the southern Kingdom of Judah—followed the same course shortly thereafter. With few exceptions, the kings of Judah proved more corrupt than Israel’s kings. Israel set the pace into idolatry, and Judah enthusiastically followed (Ezekiel 16:45-52). As with Israel, God sent prophets to Judah to warn her of destruction if she failed to repent. She refused. Between 604 and 585 BC, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar carried the population of Judah to Babylon (II Kings 24:14). Later, he totally destroyed Jerusalem, Temple and all, and “carried away captive the rest of the people” (II Kings 25:11).

Both kingdoms, having turned from their covenant with God, earned the penalty of national captivity.

 

Reverse Migration

After seventy years in Babylonian captivity, the Jews began returning to Canaan. Under Ezra and Nehemiah, the wall around Jerusalem was rebuilt, and the Temple was restored under Zerubbabel and Joshua. However, the northern ten tribes of Israel never returned. After a long sojourn in and around the areas of their captivity, they migrated north and west into the European continent, eventually spreading from there into the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

However, this migration of Israel will reverse in the days ahead. The Bible shows in many prophecies that a second exodus will occur, and God’s people will return to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The first exodus, when God brought the children of Israel out from Egypt, is a defining event for both Israelites and Christians. Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, and even Pentecost all commemorate God’s sovereignty, providence, and grace in liberating His people (see Deuteronomy 16:1-12). Yet, as remarkable as this spontaneous movement of millions of people from a plundered Egypt to a bountiful Canaan was, the Second Exodus will be so momentous that the original exodus from Egypt will pale by comparison:

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.” (Jeremiah 16:14-15; see also 23:7-8)

In Isaiah 11:11-12, the prophet also tells of this time when

the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left. . . . He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

God tells Jeremiah,

“In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers” (Jeremiah 3:18).

During the first exodus, a few million Israelites left Egypt and headed for the land of Canaan, a relatively short distance away. Today, Israelites number in the hundreds of millions, and their current homelands are thousands of miles from Canaan. They cannot re-migrate to the Promised Land as a single group, for their movements have left them in numerous countries around the globe. Only the sovereign God can orchestrate such a regathering.

While some prophecies speak of Israel returning from every compass point (Isaiah 11:12; 43:5-7), Israel is most commonly foreseen returning from the north and the west (of the Promised Land) (Isaiah 49:12; Jeremiah 3:18; 16:15; 23:8; 31:8; Hosea 11:10; Zechariah 2:6), reversing the path of their migration thousands of years ago.

 

Regathered to Zion

The prophet Isaiah gives numerous descriptions of how this exodus will take place, such as the individual attention that will be given:

“And it shall come to pass in that day . . . you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel” (Isaiah 27:12).

He speaks of

“a highway for the remnant of His people who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt” (Isaiah 11:16).

A similar road appears in Isaiah 35:8-10:

A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it. . . . But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (see also Isaiah 43:16-21; 51:10-11)

Not all of Israel will be able to travel back via this Highway of Holiness, however. Isaiah 60:8-9 asks:

Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you.

Isaiah 66:20 describes this massive undertaking further:

“Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.”

(We have written about this time in our article Where Do We Flee, speaking of the role of the people of the coast in these last days.)

Jeremiah 30 and 31 give a broad overview of what God will do to bring back Israel and the rest of Judah, and restore the Promised Land to them. This was not fulfilled in the 1940s, when hundreds of thousands of Jews returned to their historical land and founded the modern State of Israel, for only Judah took part in that. The prophecies regarding the Second Exodus clearly speak of both Judah and Israel. Notice, for instance, Jeremiah 30:1-3:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’”(emphasis ours)

God refers to both kingdoms here—the descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel as well as the southern kingdom of Judah. The return of Israel will be the larger migration because, aside from the 70-year captivity in Babylon, some of the descendants of Judah have always resided in the Promised Land. Today, the State of Israel is predominately made up of the descendants of Judah.

However, neither Israel nor Judah has truly possessed the land since the time of their respective captivities. Despite some of Judah having returned to the land, ever since the Babylonian captivity, she has only rarely and intermittently held sovereignty over it.

After Judah was taken into captivity, Babylon ruled the Promised Land under Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon later fell to the Medo-Persian Empire, which then became sovereign over Jerusalem and the Promised Land. Because of their vassal status, the Jewish captives that returned from Babylon had to ask permission from Cyrus and Darius, the Persian kings, to rebuild the wall and the Temple. The Jews enjoyed a measure of peace, but their freedom depended on the favor of the ruling Persian emperor.

After Alexander the Great conquered Medo-Persia, the Greeks became the new overseers of the Land of Promise. Jews under the Maccabees gained a measure of independence until Rome took control of the area. Thus, during the time of Christ, Jews lived in the land and even worshipped in the Second Temple, but they did not really possess the land because it was under Roman jurisdiction. Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, notwithstanding some temporary Crusader holdings, the Promised Land has been under the sway of various Arab and Muslim nations—notably the Ottoman Empire—down to modern times.

Even now, the state of Israel does not control all of the land. Jerusalem is a divided city, and the Israelis have not dared claim all of the Temple Mount for themselves (even though they had the opportunity immediately following the Six Day War in 1967), because they know that it would result in an all-out war with the Muslims. Even though the Jews regained a considerable amount of land when it declared statehood in 1948, gaining even more during the Six Day War, the ownership is endlessly argued. Judah is not truly sovereign yet. It does not yet “possess” the land in the fullest sense of the word.

 

But first, Tribulation

Even though Israel and Judah will ultimately be restored to the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they will first go through a time of tremendous tribulation and hardship:

For thus says the Lord: “We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.” (Jeremiah 30:5-7; emphasis ours)

This is what must happen before the Second Exodus. Notice that it is called “Jacob’s Trouble,” not either “Israel’s Trouble” or “Judah’s Trouble.” Both houses will experience it. God causes Jacob’s descendants to be greatly troubled because of their sins. This time of unprecedented crisis—”none is like it”—corresponds to the time of “great tribulation” of which Jesus Christ warns:

“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. . . . For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:15-16, 21-22; emphasis ours)

Luke’s version of the Olivet Prophecy uses different language to describe the same time and events:

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. . . . For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20-24; see Revelation 11:2; emphasis ours)

Just as Christ reassures us in Matthew 24:22 that this will not be the complete end of mankind, Jeremiah promises that Jacob will be saved out of his trouble. Even though that “day” is great, and like nothing we have seen before, it will not be the end of Jacob.

Jeremiah 30:5-7 does not detail why that time is one of tribulation. The only clue we have in these verses is that God compares it, not just to a woman in labor, but to a man in labor. This is certainly an unusual symbol, but the picture of the sorrows and pains of labor and childbirth elsewhere helps us to understand what it portends. For example, Isaiah 13:6-8 prophesies:

Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be limp, every man’s heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; they will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; they will be amazed at one another; their faces will be like flames.

A similar illustration appears in Isaiah 26:16-18:

Lord, in trouble they have visited You, they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them. As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we been in Your sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

Paul also uses this symbol in I Thessalonians 5:1-3:

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. (see also Isaiah 66:6-24; Jeremiah 4:31; 13:20-27; Hosea 13:12-16; Micah 4:9-10.)

Overall, the symbol is one of anguish, sorrow, intensity, great discomfort, and pain. The prophets contain scores of examples of God’s anger at the sins of His people. It is with good reason that the prophecies mention that only a “remnant” will return: Even though the descendants of Jacob will ultimately be saved, the percentage of the current hundreds of millions of Israelites and Jews who survive that trouble will probably be small (see Isaiah 10:20-21).

However, how this illustration is applied is interesting. When it applies to God’s enemies, the emphasis is clearly on the pain, anguish, sorrow, and fear of what is ahead (Jeremiah 49:20-24). But when it refers to Israel, as in Jeremiah 30, there is always hope that the pain will be turned to joy, just as with a physical birth (Isaiah 66:8-9). It is painful, but a tremendous blessing is promised to come when it is over (compare Jesus’ use of this metaphor in John 16:21).

A hint of this hope appears in Jeremiah 30:7: “But he [Jacob] shall be saved out of it.” The pain and the anguish will not end in total annihilation. Certainly, a dear price will be paid in human lives, but the peoples of Jacob will survive and be blessed—both physically and spiritually, as we will see.

 

The Second Exodus (Part Two)

by David C. Grabbe
Forerunner, “Prophecy Watch,” August 2007

While the sequence of prophesied latter-day events seems to be fairly straightforward—the captivity and scattering of Israel; the tribulation of Jacob’s Trouble; God’s intervention on behalf of the remnant of Jacob; the Second Exodus back to the Promised Land; the reunification of Israel and Judah; God’s restoration and blessing of His covenant people—the timing is a large unknown.

(Those who have been following us here at sightedmoon.com and learning about the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles have a much better grasp about the timing of all these end-time events)

It is unclear when these events will begin, nor is it entirely certain how long their aggregate duration will be. Even so, Isaiah 27:13 gives a clue regarding when the Second Exodus will begin:

So it shall be in that day: the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. (Emphasis ours throughout)

The context is “[the] children of Israel” being “gathered one by one” (verse 12). “They . . . who are about to perish” seems to refer to the peoples of Israel enduring the time of Jacob’s Trouble. The turning point, then, and the beginning of deliverance, is when “the great trumpet will be blown.” The Olivet Prophecy correlates to this, for Jesus Christ says,

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect [chosen people] from the four winds, from one end of heaven [the Greek word is plural— “heavens”—referring to things within earth’s atmosphere (e.g., “the four winds”) rather than to the heaven of God’s throne] to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31)

The trumpet is a symbol of considerable consequence in the Old and New Testaments. In general, it can signify an alarm of war, a call to assemble, or a command to march (see Numbers 10:1-10). The fourth annual holy day is the Feast of Trumpets, a “memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 29:1). Psalm 81:3-5 indicates Joseph was released from prison in Egypt on the Feast of Trumpets, making for rich symbolism regarding the future release of Israelite captives. God, through the prophets, often uses “Joseph” to represent, not just Ephraim and Manasseh, but also all of Israel (see Ezekiel 37:16-19; Amos 5:6, 15; 6:6; Obadiah 18; Zechariah 10:6). In addition, God caused the walls of Jericho to fall after seven successive days of trumpets sounding (Joshua 6:4-20).

Various end-time prophecies show that a trumpet precedes the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:1; Zechariah 9:14-16), when Jesus Christ returns as King of kings and overthrows the nations of this world, establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. The resurrection from the dead is also connected to a mighty trumpet blast (I Corinthians 15:52; I Thessalonians 4:16). While the book of Revelation tells of seven trumpets (Revelation 8:2—11:15), when the last one sounds, “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15), indicating He has returned. This all shows that the timing of the Second Exodus in general corresponds to the return of Christ.

Justice and Mercy

After the peoples of Israel have endured the chastening of Jacob’s Trouble, they will be liberated and brought back to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:

“For it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up [resurrect] for them. Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,” says the Lord, “Nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.” (Jeremiah 30:8-11)

In all of God’s dealings with Israel and Judah, and especially regarding the Second Exodus, we see His perfect application of justice and mercy. He is just, because He does not allow their sin to go unpunished. We could not trust God if He did not hold to His promises of blessing and cursing (Numbers 23:19; Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). If He allowed Israel and Judah to sin with impunity, His laws would have no authority, and His words would be of no consequence. However, for the sake of what is best for Jacob, God has to show him that He is serious about what He says. So His justice will be upheld as Israel and Judah are brought to the painful realization that they have forsaken Him and have been living the wrong way.

Yet, we can also see God’s mercy in His dealings with His people. Today’s Western culture—a product of the nations of Israel—is not so very different from Sodom and Gomorrah. The same sins are committed in the same brazen manner. Our regard for humanity is so low that in America alone during the last three decades, an estimated 40-50 million pre-born children have been killed for the sake of convenience. Further, God has been systematically removed from schools, from government, and from public life. Post-Christian Europe has transgressed even further. Even Jerusalem—the “Holy City”—has an annual “Gay Pride” parade, and is essentially secular.

Despite these atrocious sins, God will not utterly destroy Israel as He did to Sodom and Gomorrah. A number of latter-day prophecies of various peoples—the Edomites, for example—foretell that God will make a complete end of them (Jeremiah 46:28). However, He has chosen not to do this with Israel and Judah, though not because they are righteous in any way.

He will show them mercy because of the promises He made, not because they deserve it. Ezekiel 36 shows this clearly. God repeats several times that He is bringing Israel back for His name’s sake, and not for Israel’s sake:

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this [restoring Israel and blessing the land; verses 6-15] for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. . . . Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!” (Ezekiel 36:22-24, 31-32)

God would be unfaithful to His own promises if He annihilated Jacob’s descendants—even though, by all accounts, it is exactly what they deserve.

Peace and Prosperity

After Jacob is chastened, God will demonstrate His mercy and providence:

Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; the city shall be built upon its own mound, and the palace shall remain according to its own plan. Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before Me; and I will punish all who oppress them.” (Jeremiah 30:18-20)

God will destroy the nations to which Israel and Judah are scattered, and He will correct Israel and Judah in measure, as verse 11 says. But when the punishment is done, He will bring His people back to the land that He promised them and give them rest and peace. A number of other prophecies concerning the Second Exodus relate how God will bless the land, which will once again produce abundantly. Israel and Judah will have the Promised Land, they will have peace—because this time their enemies will be completely destroyed, which Israel failed to do the first time—and they will have prosperity. They will also be blessed numerically, as the remnant begins to multiply.

But this time the peace and prosperity will last, because two factors will be different. First, Israel and Judah will have perfect leadership: Jesus Christ will be King, and David will be His prince (Ezekiel 37:24-25; Jeremiah 23:3-7; Hosea 3:5; Micah 2:12-13). Corrupt or ambivalent leadership will no longer lead Israel astray; instead, the leaders will set the example of righteousness for the people to follow. Additionally, the twelve original apostles will be resurrected and sit as judges over the twelve tribes, ensuring that proper judgment is given (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30).

Second, Israel and Judah will both make the New Covenant, meaning that they will be given the Holy Spirit, which will enable them to keep the law in its spiritual intent (Jeremiah 31:31-34). They will be given a new heart, and will finally be able to know their God (Ezekiel 11:17-20; 36:24-29).

 

Peace on God’s Terms

Lest the grievous reality of Jacob’s Trouble stray too far from his reader’s mind, Jeremiah again cites the coming judgment for sin:

Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind; it will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not return until He has done it, and until He has performed the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will consider it. (Jeremiah 30:23-24)

These verses actually repeat Jeremiah 23:19-20 almost word for word. This repetition is significant because Jeremiah 23 is a warning against false prophets. In particular, it is about men, claiming to speak for God, who tell the people—whose lives deny God—that, “The Lord has said, ‘You shall have peace.’” These prophets say to the people, who were walking according to the dictates of their own hearts, “No evil will come upon you.” In essence, they deny God’s justice, and the fact that sin has consequences. They are telling the people not to worry about God’s judgment upon them—everything would be fine; no change of course would be necessary.

However, the people, in reality, have declared war on God and His way of life through the conduct of their own lives. Whether or not they realize it, their carnal minds hold great enmity for God’s way of doing things. They can never have peace with God until they repent and change.

God always desires peace, but if the sinning party is unwilling to face reality and repent, then His response will be a painful one. There will be peace with God only when the sinner is broken and submits to God. Yet, the false prophets insinuate that God does not care and that it does not matter how one lives. Nevertheless, these verses show that God destroys those who promote the idea that sin does not have consequences, who say God’s justice is of little concern. These ideas keep getting Israel—indeed, all of mankind—into trouble.

The symbol of the whirlwind, then, represents God’s fury and anger. Just as no man can control or divert a tornado or hurricane, so God’s anger at the sin of the wicked cannot be resisted. It will continue until He has performed the intents of His heart. In the latter days, which we are in, God says we will consider it, meaning that Israel and Judah have not yet learned this lesson. However, when that chastening is over, Israel and Judah will be restored to the land, and, more importantly, they will be reconciled to God and able to live in peace.

 

A Happy Ending

Jeremiah 31 continues chapter 30, and it contains the proverbial “happy ending” as a humbled Israel and Judah are reconciled to God, who blesses them physically and spiritually:

“At the same time,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.” Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness—Israel, when I went to give him rest.” The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food.” (Jeremiah 31:1-5)

After God performs the intents of His heart, as it says at the end of the previous chapter, and His wrath has consumed those He will consume, then peace in the relationship between Israel and God becomes possible because all of those who declared war on God through their conduct are dead. God does not believe in “peace at any price.” He works toward repentance, but if there is no repentance, the only solution is to destroy those in rebellion against Him. Yet, after the destruction, He promises once again to be the God of all of Israel, and Israel will again be His people.

Verse 2 provides the qualifier that the remnant will be those who have survived the sword. Ezekiel 5:1-4 illustrates this time:

And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber’s razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them. You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment. Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.

From these verses and the remainder of Ezekiel 5, it is evident that a great deal of violence will be done to the peoples of Israel, but when it is over, God will give them rest (Jeremiah 31:2). The people who survive the sword will find grace. God begins to demonstrate His lovingkindness and to rebuild and restore Israel. Jeremiah 31:4 contains the imagery of a festive occasion with dancing, something that the Israelites probably will not have felt like doing for quite some time. There will be food in abundance, and the time of famine will be over (verse 5). On all counts, Israel’s outlook is brightening.

For thus says the Lord: “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!’ Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child, together; a great throng shall return there. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’ For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.” (Jeremiah 31:7-11)

By the time these verses are fulfilled, something critical has happened. We do not know exactly how or when, but this passage hints that the peoples of Israel once again know who they are. They no longer believe themselves to be Gentiles. Israelites understand that they are God’s people, and this is cause for “singing with gladness” and giving praise.

 

The Second Exodus (Part Three)

by David C. Grabbe
Forerunner, “Prophecy Watch,” September-October 2007

What a miraculous occasion it will be when the modern peoples of Israel realize who they are! The idea that the “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel” can be found in Western nations is highly unpopular today. Those in the West who have even heard of it put this notion somewhere between uneducated, wild-eyed fanaticism at best—and racism at worst.

This is assuredly not common knowledge today, and clearly, the peoples of Israel do not want to believe the historical fact of their ancestry. As with the rest of God’s truth that is rejected by carnal man, Israelites believe what they have been conditioned to believe (Ephesians 2:1-3) and what they want to believe.

An individual’s belief in his physical descent from Israel is highly unpopular, at least in part, because when he accepts it, he must also accept the requirements and obligations that come with it. How often do Protestant leaders—many of whom are Israelites—make statements such as, “Only the Jews have to keep the law; Christians are under grace”? In these words, they misunderstand the intent of the law as well as the identity of God’s physical people today. This predisposition, even among the religious, is so set against the reality of where God’s people are that it will take something extraordinary for the scales to be stripped from their eyes. Atheists and secularists will take even more convincing, because they do not believe in God or the Bible in the first place.

Somehow, though, this knowledge will be restored to Israel, or at least to the remnant. We know from Israel’s history that she does not like being called into account or told things that are inconvenient or that would cause her to have to change. This is why, more often than not, she killed the prophets, the messengers God sent to warn or to instruct. It usually took something calamitous—like captivity or subjugation—before the Israelites would relent and listen to God.

Perhaps this is part of the reason Jacob’s Trouble will be so severe, and why Jesus describes it as a time of “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time” (Matthew 24:21). Israelites are a tough people to crack, especially as they have become more secular, and it will take a tremendous amount of distress for them to let go of their worldly predispositions and accept God’s Word.

 

A Changed People

However, Jeremiah 31:7-11, describing the Second Exodus, shows that, one way or another, this will take place. Israel is again ransomed from the hand of someone stronger, just as in the original Exodus. Similarly, Jeremiah 30:8 foretells that God will “break his yoke from [Israel’s] neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them.” Isaiah 10:20 adds that “such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.”

The Israelites return with weeping and with pleas for mercy (Jeremiah 31:9; 50:4). The Tribulation has humbled them, and now they can see both how they have fallen short and what is expected of them. They are broken through destruction, so at last, reconciliation with God can occur. They finally recognize that they need God, a concept totally foreign in the nations of Israel today. God will once again be their Father, rather than being rejected and estranged as He is today. Ephraim will resume his place as God’s son. (Ephraim was the leading tribe in the north, and thus often represents all of the northern ten tribes.)

Jeremiah 31:18-21 describes this change of heart:

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: “You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for You are the LORD my God. Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.” Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD. Set up signposts, make landmarks; set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these your cities.

Notice how different verses 18-19 sound from anything being spoken by the peoples of Israel today. After Jacob’s Trouble, Israel will actually grieve and moan due to the correction she receives. She will beg to be brought back to God. Verse 20 shows the unmistakable compassion and feeling that God has for His people, and His determination to lift them out of the pitiful physical and spiritual condition they will be in at that point.

Verse 21 tells of Israel reversing the course of her migration millennia ago, “Set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back. . . .” Israel comes to this condition and pleads for God’s restoration before she makes the Second Exodus, just as Israel cried out in Egypt to the God of their fathers, and then God delivered them. If this is correct, the identity of Israel will be recognized sometime during Jacob’s Trouble, but before the Second Exodus takes place.

If the patterns of Israel’s history remain consistent, God will remind Israel of her obligation to Him, which will include the knowledge of who Israel is. She will not listen—Israel has rarely listened—so God will cause the nations of Jacob to go through such “trouble” as they have never experienced. Though God does not revel in destruction, He knows best what it will take to turn His people around. In the end, the repentant people who remain will be willingly led back to the Promised Land.

 

One Nation Again

When God brings back repentant Israel, it will be rejoined with the remnant of Judah under the resurrected King David:

Then say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from 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 shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

“‘David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.’” (Ezekiel 37:21-28; see also Hosea 1:11)

The reconstituted nation of Israel, as well as the Promised Land, will undergo a tremendous restoration:

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:13-15)

The desert will bloom, the people’s hearts will be strengthened, and the sick will be healed (Isaiah 35:1-7). The land will produce abundantly, the people will multiply, and the old cities will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 36:8-12). God will deliver them from their uncleannesses, undo the land’s desolation, and bless the fruit of the fields and the trees (Ezekiel 36:25-36). Israel will be comforted, be given hope, and will finally call God “My Husband” (Hosea 2:14-16).

 

Spiritual Reformation

Even more importantly, Israel will undergo a spiritual rejuvenation. Jeremiah 31:31-34 provides an encouraging conclusion to the saga of Israel and Judah once they have repented and returned to the land:

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (See also Ezekiel 37:26; Jeremiah 50:5, 20)

These verses, quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12 and 10:16-17, show that this is the same covenant that the church has already made with God. Rather than doing away with the law of God, the New Covenant gives the people the means, not to merely obey it, but to accept it and make it a part of their lives. God will give the people of Israel and Judah new hearts, and they will finally be able to follow God consistently and have real relationships with Him. God will forgive their sins, and Israel will finally begin to be the witness to the rest of the world that God intended her to be (see Deuteronomy 4:5-8; Isaiah 62:1-2).

Even though God makes this covenant primarily with Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31), it is not exclusive. Through Isaiah, God shows that Gentiles who submit themselves to Him can and will also make this covenant. Of particular interest is the requirement that the Sabbath be kept by those wishing to do this (Isaiah 56:1-2, 6-8).

Interestingly, despite God bringing the remnant of Israel out of the countries of their scattering and their being ashamed of their conduct, God will further sift His people to ensure that any rebels against Him will not be allowed into the land. Apparently, some will return from captivity but be prohibited from entering the land due to their rebellion (Ezekiel 20:33-34, 37-38).

Finally, Ezekiel 11:17, 19-21 foretells of Israel and Judah receiving from God a new heart—a spiritual heart that will enable them to keep His commandments and statutes:

Therefore say, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ . . . Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord GOD.

Throughout its history, the essential difficulty in Israel’s relationship with God was one of the heart. God exclaims, “Oh, that they [Israel] had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29). In Hebrews 3:10, God again identifies this problem: “Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways’” (emphasis ours throughout).

The heart or spirit of a man is the center of his thought, reason, and motivation. Because of human nature, the natural—unconverted—heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). It has an innate, powerful pull toward the self, always making evaluations based on what it perceives as good for the individual regardless of the effect on others. Humanity has had approximately 6,000 years of such self-centered and destructive living, proving that man is simply unable to govern himself for very long. He needs direction and leadership from another—divine—source.

The Old Covenant that God made with Israel was a good agreement as far as it went, because all of God’s works are good. The problem was not with its terms, but with the people who made it (Hebrews 8:7-8, 10). They lacked the right heart that would have allowed them to follow God truly and obey His laws. God, though, will give a new heart—a new spirit—to repentant Israelites, along with any others who desire to covenant with Him.

This “new spirit” is the Spirit of God—the Holy Spirit (see also Jeremiah 32:37-42; Ezekiel 36:26-27; 37:14; 39:29; Joel 2:28-29). It is the same spirit that Jesus told His disciples they would receive, the power that would allow them—through their words and especially through the conduct of their lives—to be witnesses of God (Acts 1:8; see Luke 24:49). It is a spirit “of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7)—a mind that is balanced because God’s concerns reside at its core. It is a mind inclined to obey God and to seek Him as the only Source of true solutions in a world that does not have the means or inclination to live in a way that is good for everybody and good eternally.

 

A Model Nation

As Israel becomes God’s model nation, due to her new heart and spirit, the rest of the world will see that God’s way—including His commandments, statutes, and judgments—produce peace and abundance. It is the nature of God’s laws that, because of their Source, they bring good, prosperity, health, abundance, peace, and contentment (Deuteronomy 4:5-8). Yet, it takes the same spirit—heart—as the Lawgiver for one to understand and keep the laws in their true spiritual intent. Israel’s godly example will be so striking that the rest of humanity will desire to live the same way and will seek, not only God’s laws, but God Himself:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities; the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us continue to go and pray before the LORD, and seek the LORD of hosts. I myself will go also.’ Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.” Thus says the LORD of hosts: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:20-23)

This is also foretold in Ezekiel 37:27-28:

“My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

God, then, will chastise, humble, restore, and bless Israel with a new heart (spirit) so that she can show the rest of the world how to live. Peter writes,

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).

Throughout the many prophecies concerning Israel, the faithfulness of God is revealed at every turn. Because of God’s faithfulness to His promises, He will act to overshadow the Exodus from Egypt with a Second Exodus. Due to His faithfulness, the tides of history will again turn, and He will redeem His people from the depths of desperation and raise them to new heights. The nations that oppress Jacob will themselves be plundered and enslaved.

Because God is faithful to His purpose for Israel, she will be humbled and brought to repentance. He will not completely destroy her but will do what is necessary to bring her to the spiritual condition and physical location that He planned from the beginning. Though His promises span thousands of years, God’s faithful purpose will never fail!

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