- Restoration

Ezekiel 36:24-25: “I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.”

It has never before happened that a people were exiled from their homeland, only to return nearly two thousand years later. But this is the story of the Jews.

Throughout the diaspora period (the exile, when the Jews were scattered worldwide in 70 A.D.), the Jews have prayed, “Next year in Jerusalem.” The reason for this prayer has been rooted in the promises that one day they would come home, as nearly all the prophets in the Bible speak of.

It is sometimes claimed that the Bible’s promises to bring the Jews back to their land refer to the return from the Babylonian captivity in 538 B.C., not to today’s immigration of Jews to Israel. It is true that the Bible speaks of the Jews returning from Babylon after 70 years of captivity; these are the prophecies from Jeremiah that Daniel reads in Daniel 9:1-2:

“In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, who was of Median descent and had become king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years that Jerusalem would remain in ruins according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah. It was seventy years.”

However, the Bible’s prophets speak of a gathering of the Jews that will take place from many nations, from “the ends of the earth.” This return does not match the prophecies concerning the end of the Babylonian captivity. Rather, they fit well with today’s situation, where Jews are returning home from almost the entire world.

Isaiah 43:1-6: “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west, I will gather you. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up,’ and to the south, ‘Do not withhold.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”

Jeremiah 31:8-10: “See, I am bringing them from the land of the north, and I gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them are the blind and the lame, pregnant women and those in labor; they return in great throngs. They come with weeping, and I lead them with consolation. I bring them to flowing brooks, on level paths where they will not stumble. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn son. Hear the word of the Lord, you nations, proclaim it in distant coasts and say: He who scattered Israel will gather and keep it like a shepherd keeps his flock.”

The prophet Amos concludes chapter 9 with these words:

Amos 9:14-15: “I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They shall rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.”

These promises confirm the understanding that God has promised to bring the Jews back from the worldwide dispersion that began in 70 and 135 A.D. It was not only the return from the Babylonian captivity that the prophets spoke of, but also the diaspora that has lasted until today. The prophet Amos writes here that they shall never again be uprooted from their land, indicating that he is not referring to the return from Babylon.

The British preacher Charles H. Spurgeon, known as the “Prince of Preachers,” spoke at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Newington in 1864:

Charles H. Spurgeon also said:

“If there is one thing promised in the Bible, it is this. I cannot imagine that you can read the Bible without clearly seeing that there will be a restoration of the children of Israel. A day is coming, yes, it is already on its way, when the whole world will see the true dignity of the chosen race and seek fellowship with them. For the Lord has blessed them.” The covenant God made with Abraham, through which the whole world would be blessed by his descendants, has not been revoked. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the chosen nation shall not be removed from the ‘book of remembrance.’ The Lord has not abandoned His people; He has not given them a certificate of divorce. He has not cast them away. In a little wrath, He hid His face from them, but with great mercy, He will gather them. O time, fly on swift wings and bring this blessed day.

— Charles H. Spurgeon, December 6, 1863, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A native government will rise again; there will once again be a concrete political state; a native government will be established, and a king shall reign. Israel is now estranged from its own land. Her sons, though they never forget the holy dust of Palestine, die in hopeless exile from her sacred shores. But it shall not remain so forever, for her sons shall once again rejoice in her; her land shall once again be called Beulah, for as a young man marries a virgin, so her sons shall marry her. ‘I will place you in your own land,’ is God’s promise to them.”

— Charles H. Spurgeon, June 16, 1864, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

And so it happened: on May 14, 1948, the state of Israel, the Jewish homeland, was restored after 2,000 years of exile.

The Bible promises that when God brings the Jewish people home, He will first restore them as a nation, and then a spiritual restoration will follow. A picture of this process can be seen when God created humanity in Genesis 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” First, God created a body, then He breathed life into it.

The prophet Ezekiel describes this in chapter 36:23-28:

“I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. The nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”

God will thus reveal His holiness to the nations when the Jews return home:

“I will take you from the nations, gather you from all countries, and bring you into your own land.”

Then He will do His work in their hearts:

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all impurities and from all idols. I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh instead. I will put my Spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and observe my laws. Then you shall dwell in the land I gave to your ancestors; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

The restoration of Israel is linked to the harvest (the salvation of the Gentiles). Paul confirms in Romans 11 that this will happen:

Romans 11:12, 15: “Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?”

Romans 11:25-26: “I want you to understand this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not claim to be wiser than you are: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved; as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’”

Paul describes here that a partial, temporary hardening will be removed from the Jewish people when the Gentiles have “come in full number.” Then all Israel will be saved. This is a tremendous promise that Scripture gives about this people’s future, and it aligns with other promises in God’s Word.

The People Will Welcome Jesus

Jesus Himself prophesied in Matthew 23:37-39: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Jesus himself prophesies that a day will come when this people will say,

“Baruch haba beshem Adonai”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The prophet Zechariah says in chapter 12, verse 10:

“But over the house of David and over the inhabitants of Jerusalem, I will pour out a spirit of grace and supplication. Then they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced. They shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles are clear that this people has a promise of a spiritual revival and salvation like no other nation.

Reflection Questions – The Restoration

1. – What does restoration mean according to God’s word?

2. – What would be required for us to say that Israel is fully restored?

3. – What does the Lord say about the restoration of the Jewish people as a people and Israel as a land?

4. – Which Bible verses spoke to you specific?