God says to the Israelites in some of the last words of their leader Moses when they were on the border of the promised land of Canaan or Israel not to get too comfortable when they get settled in the promised land or for their descendents to get too comfortable. Especially God warns the Israelites not to get too comfortable in the promised land of Israel that they take Him the true God the God of Israel for granted but instead set up idols or representations of false gods and shift more to serving and worshipping them. This is what they did by the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and as a result God enabled the Babylonian king to scatter the Israelites to some of the nations around 600 BC. After some of the Israelites repented and confessed their sins to the true God and turned from their idols and the idols around them in Babylon or Persia, God restored quite a few of the Israelites back to Himself and to their land as mentioned in Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah and Haggai in a number of waves especially in the 500s and 400s BC. However, eventually by New Testament times, most of the Jews had made an invisible idol out of the Messiah they wanted being almost solely a political liberator of them at that time especially from the power or oppression of the emperors of the Roman empire. This was at the expense of the main point of the Messiah God wanted for them to have, at least for His first coming, of a liberator or saviour of them and people of all nations from sin and selfishness, the devil and demons, death and the world system that was provided through the death on the cross for their and all nations' peoples or all of our sins and to bring new life of God in our hearts through the resurrection of life of God's Son, the Saviour of the world and the Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth. So, most of the Israelites in the first century AD or New Testament times had made an idol or false god of a political liberator or saviour from control of them from the Gentiles (at that time the Romans) above coming to personally know God and having a relationship with Him that was the focus of their real Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth at His first coming through His death on the cross for our sins and resurrection from the dead to give God's restored life or enable people of Israel or of the nations to be God's spiritually and eternally restored people or children. (However, when Jesus comes again to set up His and God the Father's Kingdom on Earth this will include His being a political deliverer of the Israelites or the Jews from being under persecution or control of the nations of the world and Israel will then in the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom of Messiah Jesus be the head not the tail of the nations with their Messiah ruling the world through restored Israel in Jerusalem. This Second coming in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ will be in the last days after the 7 year tribulation or 70th week of Daniel or time of Jacob's (Israel's) trouble (Jeremiah 30) after the very soon coming end of the Church Age with the rapture or catching up to heaven of all true Christians or of all the true Church.
Since the Great Commission to enable some people of all nations, probably the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations to become true Christians and become part of the true Church and this could be what is needed to complete the Church as in Revelation 5 or Matthew 28, Luke 24, Acts 17:26 etc. I would encouraged the reader whether you're Israelite (Jewish) or Gentile (non-Jewish), if you haven't already done so, to as soon as possible trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour that He died for and made His forgiveness possible for all our sins on the cross and rose from the dead to enable us to be His spiritually restored children so we can be fit to be with Him in heavenly homes with God forever and not still be at risk of an eternity of experiencing God's wrath for our sins and being separated from Him in hell or the lake of fire forever as we all deserve and to be left behind in the tribulation on Earth before that. (However, there will be many people who will be left behind on Earth for the tribulation after the true Church is gone at the rapture who will be saved in the tribulation but this will be under terrible persecution often including martyrdom including in the Western world but these people who then be saved in the tribulation will likely especially be people who never heard the gospel of salvation of Jesus in this present Church age (2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 7). These tribulation saints will also have homes in the heavenly Jerusalem and the surviving tribulation believers will populate the world in mortal bodies in the Millennial Kingdom as the sheep in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. The scripture passage from Deuteronomy 4 of God warning through His servant and Israelite leader Moses against the Israelites becoming too comfortable when they get into the promised land of Canaan then Israel and come to forget God and worship idols and then get scattered among the nations but in the last days get restored to God and their land of Israel when they call out to Him for salvation in the tribulation is as follows:
(Moses said to the Israelites (God's chosen earthly people)) But I must die in this land (on the east side of the Jordan River), I must not go over Jordan; but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant (the Mosaic or Palestinian Covenant as in Exodus to Deuteronomy but especially Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5-6 or Deuteronomy 28 etc.) of the LORD (Jehovah or Yahweh)(the whole Divine Trinity Father, Son and Holy Ghost but for Israel especially God the Father as the Divine Person who had a relationship with them) your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destoyed. And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations (Gentiles), and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen (nations or Gentiles), whither the LORD shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy god, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers (Abrham, Isaac and Jacob(Israel) and Moses) which he sware unto them. Deuteronomy 4:22-31
God carried Ezekiel out in the Holy Spirit means he was in tune with God and His Holy Spirit and His spiritual revelations. Then God set Ezekiel down in a valley full of bones. God then directed Ezekiel to pass by and survey the bones in the valley which resulted in Ezekiel observing that the bones were very dry. God then asked Ezekiel who is here called Son of man if these bones he saw could live. Ezekiel replied thou knowest to God meaning you know but I don't know. God then directed Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones to hear God's word. God then said to the bones in this vision that he would cause breath to enter into the bones and they would live. God said further to the bones that he would lay sinews upon them and then cover them with flesh and skin and then put breath in them and cause them to live and that they would know he was the LORD. The prophecy of this valley of dry bones from Ezekiel 37 is as follows:
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O LORD GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 37:1-6
Then Ezekiel prophesied as God commanded him which first resulted in a noise as of a wind which is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. This caused a great shaking and the bones came together in an orderly way. Then the sinews and the flesh came upon the bones and next the skin covered the flesh. However up to this point there was no breath in them. Then God urged Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind symbolic of the Holy Spirit to breathe upon these bones that they may live. Then Ezekiel breathed upon the bones as God instructed him and the wind caused the bones to live as an exceedingly great army. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of this vision of the fulfillment of this prophecy of the valley of dry bones is as follows:
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Ezekiel 37:7-10
Then God said these bones are the whole house of Israel. This prophesy has already been partly fulfilled in our time since the 1880s when the Jews started coming back to Israel under the Zionist ideology. This has been even more so since 1948 when Israel became an independent Jewish nation. Immigration from countries all over the earth of Jewish people to Israel as this return of Jews to Israel continues to this day. God then says the words and sentiments of the bones are that they are dried and that they are cut off and their hope is lost. I am sure this is how some of the Jews have felt and many still feel that their hope of national salvation with the coming of their Messiah seems to never come. However this is partly because they don't recognize Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. There has been a long time since he came as well and He will come again as their Messiah and their hope at the end of the tribulation. God then prophesies that he will open their graves and bring them out of their graves into the land of Israel. This could symbolize bringing the Jews out of the relative graves of the Gentile or non-Jewish nations as started to happen since the 1880s and has happened even more since 1948 when Israel became a nation and continues to this day. It is obvious in what way the nations could be viewed as graves to the Jews from the Nazi Holocaust or other persecutions such as the Russian pogroms, the Spanish inquisition, the persecution under Stalin or other cases. God says Israel will know He is the LORD when he brings them out of the graves of the Gentile nations. Although I am sure most Jews especially those in Israel acknowledge this to some extent many are still not really living for God. Jews not living for God is the case especially the case the secular Jews or those who follow Eastern mysticism or others that don't seek after God according to even the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures. Although much of Israel especially probably the tribes of Judah and Benjamin or the southern Kingdom have returned to Israel most of them are still there in unbelief without a relationship with God through Messiah Jesus and without God's Holy Spirit in their hearts. The Pathan or Pushtun tribe in Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Bnei Menasche in Manipur and Mizoram states in eastern India among others are probably a main part of the 10 lost tribes. These tribes are also starting to convert back to Judaism and return to Israel but more complications have to be overcome for this to occur to a larger extent. God is gathering Israel, all 12 tribes, into Israel mostly in unbelief but God will pour out His Holy Spirit into them sometime in the tribulation or at the end of the tribulation at Jesus the Messiah's second coming. At the end of the tribulation God will through His Messiah Jesus come to lead the Jewish people to the glorious fulfillment of the blessings of God's covenants with them through Abraham, Moses and David in the Messianic Kingdom. We, or dispensationalist Christians, believe true or Holy Spirit born again Christians of this present age will be caught up to heaven before the tribulation starts and God will then really focus on dealing with and witnessing to the nations through Israel or the Jews as well as in the Messianic Kingdom. However the Church will also share in God's glory through Israel through our reigning with Jesus the Messiah in the Messianic Kingdom although our home will still be the Heavenly Jerusalem and we will then have spiritual or heavenly or incorruptable bodies. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of the explanation of the vision of the valley of dry bones as the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel and God putting His Holy Spirit in them in the last days is as follows:
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves. And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD. Ezekiel 37:11-14
Although I myself am not Jewish but an evangelical Christian I do seek to read and interpret God's Word the Holy Bible literally in context as much as possible. This includes scripture passages supporting the last days restoration of Israel. Some of these scriptures mention the house of Israel and the house of Judah distinctly and in these cases the house of Judah means Israelites of the two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin and some of the Jewish priests and Levites among them while the house of Israel means the 10 tribes of the northern Kingdom of Israel. All these tribes went into exile among Gentile or non-Jewish nations at slightly different times with the tribes of the northern Kingdom going into exile around 720 BC by the invasion of the Assyrians under their general Sennacherab while the southern Kingdom of Israel went into exile in a couple waves around 600 BC be invasion of Israel or particularly Jerusalem and Judah by the Babylonians under their king Nebuchadnezzar. In both of these invasions many of the people of Israel that were taken into exile were taken into lands east of the land of Israel into either other parts of the Assyrian or Babylonian empires based in Ninevah (now in the centre of the Iraqi city of Mosul) or in Babylon (its ruins a little south down the Euphrates River towards the Persian Gulf from the present Iraqi capital city of Baghdad. I believe that over the centuries and from different wars or conflicts and perhaps other factors like famines and migrations for economic opportunities etc. that many of the Israeli exiles, especially of the 10 tribes of the northern Kingdom, were brought further east and perhaps some further north into what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan and are known to us as the Pathan or Pushtun people who in many cases today still claim they are Bene Israel or sons of Israel. In addition, when I recently more carefully read Rabbi Avichail's book The Tribes of Israel, that I have a copy of, I found that the subgroups or subtribes of the Pashtun or Pathan people have names similiar to and most likely preserving the names and some of their identities of the tribes of Israel, especially of the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom or collectively of what the Bible calls the house of Israel. From Rabbi Avichail's book The Tribes of Israel on pages 102 to 103 there is a very complete list of the corresponding names of the tribes of Israel that are some of the subtribes of the Pathan or Pushtun people of Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are: Rabbani for the biblical tribe of Reuben (Reuven), Jaji for Zebulon, Zai-Khan for Naftali, Kaka Khil for Gad, Azhik Zai (Zai means family) for Asher, Mumand for Menasche and Afridi for Ephraim. They don't seem to include the tribe of Dan but most people who follow the ongoing last days restoration of the tribes of Israel to the land of Israel believe that most of the tribe of Dan went into Ethiopia in Africa and are sometimes called the Falasha Jews and most of these people have already returned to the land of Israel. There are however also some of the Israelites of the southern kingdom of Israel represented among the Pathans or Pushtuns as well with some other of their tribes called the Shinwari family for Simeon and the Yunim family for Judah and there is also another Pathan or Pushtun sub-tribe named Lewani that corresponds to the Levites who could have been among either the house of Israel (the northern Kingdom) or the house of Judah ( the southern Kingdom).
I also believe there are many scripture, particularly in the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, of the last days return of members of especially the 10 tribes of the house of Israel since most of the Israelites in the land of Israel already and the west are probably more of the southern kingdom of Judah. Although there has started some return of members of the 10 tribes of the northern Kingdom of Israel to the land of Israel and some further return of the remaining members of the 2 tribes of the southern Kingdom of Judah to the land of Israel I believe that the return of these Israelites still in exile among the Gentiles non-Jewish I believe 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations will greatly accelerate after the very soon rapture or catching up to heaven of all the true Church or born again Christians who have received the Lord Jesus Christ or Adonai Y'Shua HaMashiach as our personal Lord and Saviour in what is called the 7 year 70th week of Daniel 9, the tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble etc. that will start very shortly after the rapture of the Church and conclude with Jesus' or Y'Shua's Second Coming from heaven with His true Church and some Old Testament saints of Israel and the nations to Earth to judge the world and set up the visible Kingdom of God based in Jerusalem (Zion) in restored Israel in the 1000 year Messianic or Millennial Kingdom before the eternal Kingdom of God on the New Earth when the New Jerusalem comes down to rest on it and in the new heavens. I also believe as Rabbi Avichail does as he mentions in his book that some of these Israelite exiles have come to have a veneer of other cultures or sometimes appearances but they are still basically ethnically and culturally including spiritually Jewish or Israelite. This certainly seems to apply to many members of the Pathan or Pushtun people and their sub tribes including their essential legal code the Pushtunwali that is very similiar to the Torah or Pentateuch or Law of Moses that they hold to more than the Quran the Islamic scriptures. Some of the Israelite practices the Pathan still follow are cities of refuge, the option of taking the Nazarite vow from which the Pakistan province of Wazistan is probably based and some places in Pakistan or Afghanistan named after the places in Iraq that the northern tribes were first exiled such as the Jazan River in Afghanistan likely being a form of the Gozan River, the Afghan city of Herat being a form of Halah and Habor being preserved as the Khyber pass which means the pass of Habor. These places are all mentioned in 2 Kings 17:4-6. I believe that the trumpet sounding in Isaiah 27 will be directed to Israel especially the 10 tribes of the northern Kingdom still in exile among the Gentiles to return to the land of Israel and will be sounded by God or one of His holy angels at the same time of the trumpet sounding for the Church to be raptured to heaven in 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 4 symbolically represented by the Christian the apostle John in the latter case all in the New Testament and all very soon at the end of the present Church Age and just before the start of the 7 year tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. In Jeremiah 3 most of members of both the house of Judah (Judah and Benjamin) and the house of Israel (the ten tribes of the northern Kingdom) are seen having moved or returned to the land of Israel by the beginnning of the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom of Messiah Jesus or Y'Shua after His Second Coming and setting up the visible Kingdom of God over all the Earth based in Jerusalem. I believe Jesus or Y'Shua will have His throne on Earth in the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom in the holy of holies of the Messianic Kingdom Temple mentioned in Ezekiel 40-48, Zechariah 14, Isaiah 2, Amos 9 as the tabernacle of David and also referred to that in Acts 15 in the New Testament or New Covanant. I also believe that while the Ark of the Covenant and Mercy Seat are now stored under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and will be brought out from there by some Orthodox Jews probably led by The Temple Institute of Jerusalem and under agreement with the Antichrist in Daniel 9:27 for a covenant to let them build their Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem at the beginning of the tribulation, that there won't be any Ark of the Covenant or Mercy Seat in the real Messianic Kingdom Temple after the tribulation because Israel's true Messiah and God in the flesh and Saviour of the world Jesus of Nazareth or Y'Shua HaMashiach will then be ruling the world from His throne in the holy of holies of the Messianic or Ezekiel's Temple in Ezekiel 44 or 45, Zechariah 14, Isaiah 2, Zechariah 6, Amos 9, Acts 15 etc.
In that day the LORd with his sore and great strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the world with fruit. Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shootech forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Isaiah 27:1-13
And the LORd said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. God and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, Return, thou (you) backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity (lawlessness), that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers (Gentiles of non-Jewish nations) under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD(especially God the Father); for I am married unto you; and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors (shepherds) according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall no say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 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 for an inheritance unto your fathers. Jeremiah 3:11-18
God (especially God the Father) speaks to the Israelites looking to the Israelites in the last days (the current last days of the Church Age and the last days of Israel in the times of the Gentiles in the 7 year 70th week of Daniel or tribulation) to look or return to God and foundation in Him. There are some that question why the Jews should be allowed to re-inherit the land of Israel because they were disobedient to God and lost their kingdom in the Old Testament and then were scattered to the nations when they as a nation didn't receive their Messiah Jesus of Nazarth. It is true that they did these things and were chastened for it but it is not true that God has cast them off or delegitimized them permanently from re-inheriting the promised land and other parts of their blessings with God. This is because God made an unconditional covenant with Israel through their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who were obedient in following God when He called them out of then almost universal idolatry to Himself Yahweh or Jehovah with emphasis on God the Father but involving all three Persons of the Trinity as the One true and living God. Many Christians take it for granted that God is faithful to keep us under His salvation through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ under the New Testament or New Covenant through the body broken and blood shed once of God's Son the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection which is true but it must also be understood that Covenant God made with the fathers of Israel Abrham, Isaac and Jacob was also an unconditional covenant and it is not dependent of further obedience of the Jews or Israelites to stay in effect and is also permanent despite their sins or disobedience including the Jews or Hebrews' right to the promised land of Israel. However it is also true that there is an element that they might not fully get control of the promised land and all God's blessings on them there until the Messianic Kingdom because part of their blessings on the land are also based on the conditional Palestinian (as in the old sense of Palestine as referring to the place of the Jews rather than Arabs between the Mediterranean and Jordan River) or Mosaic Covenant or Law of Moses that is dependent upon their obedience to the Law for full blessing in the land of Israel. God goes on to say in the last days when the Jews or Israelites seek Him again which they have partially done already but will do in a fuller way by the end of the tribulation and Messiah Jesus's second coming in glory at the end of the tribulation that God will then comfort Zion or Jerusalem or to a wider extent the land of Israel and make it much more fruitful and fertile including in the desert or wilderness places and that as a result the Israelites especially those that have returned to the land of Israel will give thanksgiving to God. God then still sees the Israelites or the Jews when they are fully in their land as His chosen earthly nation that will be partly under the law of Moses but according to other scriptures such as Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:25-27 they will then in the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom also be under the New Covenant or New Testament that started through Jesus in the present Church Age but will get His final fulfillment through still through Messiah Jesus in the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom. There will also be faith in Jesus for the Jews in the Messianic Kingdom as in Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 53 with the last verses of the chapter pointing to the Messianic Kingdom and Zechariah 12:8-10. Further verses in this chapter go on to talk about God blessing also the other nations of the world through Messiah Jesus and then fully restored Israel in the Messianic Kingdom. The scripture reference from Isaiah 51 of the right of the Jews or Israelites to re-inherit the land of Israel in the already started last days due to God's unconditonal Covenant with them through their father Abraham despite some of their disobedience in the past is as follows:
Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. Isaiah 51:1-4
After Abraham passed God's test of his faith in God by Abraham demonstrating he was even willing to give up his son of promise Isaac to God in obedience to God's command God gave a word of commendation and confirmation to Abraham. God did start off by saying that the covenant he made with Abraham and his descendents (both physically through the nation of Israel and spiritually through the Church) and a promised land on Earth for Abraham's physical seed the Jewish people and for Abraham to be a blessing as a means to bring the Messiah into the world, Jesus of Nazareth, was primarily at God's initiative. This is what it means when God says that by myself I have sworn concerning God's covenant with and through Abraham and his descendents. God sees Abraham not withholding his son of promise, Isaac, from God but willing to put him to death, even though God the Father or Yahweh had already said to Abraham that it would be through Isaac that God's promises to Abraham would be passed down, as a confirmation of Abraham's faith in God and His covenant promise to and through him and of Abraham's faithfulness to God as a secondary basis for God's covenant with and through him to his descendents. This means, among other things, that some of the promises of God to restore Israel or Abraham's physical descendents to their land eventually in belief in God and the Messianic Kingdom blessing ruled by their Messiah as mentioned in Micah 7, Isaiah 51 or Luke 1 etc. are secondarily based on the faithfulness or obedience of Abraham to God as well as primarly based on God's initiative to make the Abrahamic covenant with Abraham and his descendents and not just on God's initiative alone. This is in addition to Abraham earlier in Genesis 15 believing God's promise of many descendents to him (both physical the Israelites including the Jews and spiritual with the true Church or true Christians through Messiah Jesus or Y'Shua HaMashiach) and God promising to bless Abraham's faith in Him and His promise and covenant with him. God's promise to and through Abraham in Genesis 22 including for Abraham's act of obedience to God in not withholding his son of promise Isaac was that God would help Abraham's physical seed the Israelites possess the gate of his enemies with their eventually with God's help defeating the Canaanites and that Abraham's seed would bless all the nations of the earth. This latter promise to Abraham partly by his obedience to God but primarily by God's initiative will be partly by the nation of Israel, Abraham's physical seed, blessing the world or all the nations when they are restored fully to God after Messiah Jesus' second coming and bringing in the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom as in Micah 7 or Isaiah 51 and in the long term view of Luke 1. This promise of God promising to fulfill his covenant to and through Abraham to bless all nations will also be through the Messiah (Jesus of Nazareth) in the line of Abraham to die for the sins of the world on the cross and rise again to pay for the sins of all people in God the Father's sight and restore people of all nations in this current almost ended Church Age or Dispensation and in all other ages according to the light people have including through the witness of the believing remnant of Israel in the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel and directly through Jesus as the King of kings and King of Israel and Head of the Church in Jerusalem in the Messianic Kingdom and that will all continue in the New Jerusalem and New Earth and New Heavens forever. The scripture reference from Genesis 22 of Abraham's obedience to God the Father in not withholding his son of promise from God as a secondary aspect to God's oath or swearing to Abraham and his descendents of His covenant with Abraham to bless all nations and bless and multiply Abraham's seed or descendents including Abraham's physical descendents the people of Israel including the Jews to be more fully realized in the Messianic or Millennial Kingdoma and then eternal Kingdom of God and His Messiah and only begotten Son Messiah Jesus after Jesus second coming in glory is as follows:
And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:15-18
At the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner prophet and herald of the Messiah the Lord Jesus of Nazareth, his father named Zachariah was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by God to prophecy in relation to his son. Zechariah blessed God in saying his son would be related to the fulfillment of God's covenant with David the former greatest King of Israel through whom God had given an everlasting kingdom covenant and promised the Messiah to come as king in his line. Zachariah was looking at Jesus' first coming for the Messiah to come as a king in a political sense to bring in the Messianic Kingdom and deliver the children of Israel from their earthly enemies, then especially the Roman Empire that was occupying the land of Israel and suppressing the Israelites. Although it is true that this fulfillment of the Davidic or Abrahamic covenant didn't happen then but Jesus did first come to die for all our sins and rise again and bring spiritual deliverance from our enemies but he will still come at His second coming to bring physical deliverance to God's earthly people the Jews or children of Israel when all the armies of the nations are gathered against Jerusalem to destroy it and the children of Israel at the Battle of Armageddon when Jesus comes in His glorious second coming to judge the world and set up God's kingdom on Earth. Zachariah then does go on to base his hope in the restoration of Israel in the Messianic Kingdom rightly on the covenant God made through Abraham. It is true that in Galatians and some other New Testament passages God through the apostle Paul applies the covenant God made through Abraham as applying to Christians including all Gentile as well as Jewish ones through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the seed or descendant of Abraham but if one looks carefully through Galatians or other parts of the New Testament one will see nothing of applying to the Church the promise to the children of Israel through Abraham a promised land and that God would protect the Israelites against their earthly enemies in their earthly land especially if they were faithful to Him. The promise of some aspects of the Abrahamic covenant to the true Church in the New Testament also does not abolish the aspects of God's covenant that apply to Israel including to restore them to Himself and to their land in the latter days, already started and that will accelerate in the tribulation, in preparation for God through His Son Jesus Christ reigning over all the world from Jerusalem through restored Israel and with the true Church in the Messianic Kingdom after the second coming in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. This is another passage supporting the idea that God will restore the children of Israel to their land as the head of the nations instead of the tail and to their land of Israel with their Messiah the Lord Jesus against all their earthly enemies in the Messianic Kingdom and that we shouldn't dismiss this that when the children of Israel as a nation didn't receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah God permanently rejected them as His chosen earthly people to be replaced permanently by the Church as some say. We shouldn't follow this replacement theology false reasoning because the restoration of Israel is also based on God's covenant with Abraham and this was an unconditional covenant as Zachariah the father of John the Baptist was rightly claiming although it wasn't for that time but will be for sure soon at the end of the coming tribulation. Also again because part of the Abrahamic covenant is applied to the Church does not negate any part of that covenant from applying to Israel and to fulfill God's promises to them at the proper time which will be after the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) when He and God the Father set up God's Kingdom through restored Israel (and the restored of the nations and the true Church) over all the earth after judging this world. The restored of Israel as well as the nations will be those who survive the tribulation and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) as their personal Lord and Saviour (Redeemer) as the means to being justified with God. The scripture reference from Luke 1 of Zachariah the father of John the Baptist rightly using God's covenant with Abraham to Abraham's physical descendants the Israelites as the basis or establishing the Messianic Kingdom to have God's Messiah to rule over Israel on Earth and deliver them from their earthly enemies but that wasn't for that time but will be literally realized after the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is as follows:
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And he hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. Gospel of Luke 1:67-75
God the Father (the LORD, Yahweh or Jehovah) promises to the believing remnant of His chosen earthly people Israel that He will pardon their iniquity and transgression. This remnant is the true believers in heart and life in God and in this case also those that by the end of the tribulation or the second coming of Messiah Y'Shua or Jesus come to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as their personal Lord and Messiah. These promises of God to the remnant of Israel is looking to God's full restoration spiritually as well of physically of the believing remnant of Israel by the end of the tribulation when they will be seriously persecuted for their faith in God and His Messiah or by resisting the false Messiah the Antichrist or beast out of the sea or man of sin who will rule the world in especially the second half of the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. At the second coming of Y'Shua HaMashiach or Jesus Christ God through His co-divine Son Jesus Christ will judge the world and set up His perfect kingdom of loving-kindness and righteousness over all the earth ruling through restored Israel and the believers of the nations and the true Church. God will at the end of the tribulation cast off all the sins of the believing remnant of Israel (and of the believers of the nations that also support Israel and the God of Israel in the tribulation) due to their coming to acknowledge Y'Shua or Jesus in His first coming as coming to earth to die for our sins on the cross and rise again to give us eternal life when we receive Him as personal Lord and Saviour. God's servant the prophet Micah says that God will then give the fulness of His blessing to Israel of the Abrahamic covenant to be a blessing to all nations, and to have the full allotment of their land and God giving them peace and prosperity there and to be ruled by the ultimate seed of Abraham the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel and Saviour of the world Jesus of Nazareth. Although God took the initiative to establish the Abrahamic covenant, when it was given in Genesis God does acknowledge that there was still some aspect of it that was dependent on the obedience of Abraham (certainly that Abraham followed God's call out of Ur of the Chaldees and from worship of other gods including the moon god Sin the patron god of Ur to the promised land of Israel and to believe in the God of the Bible Yahweh and the associated God the Son Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God the One true God. Although the New Testament does apply some of the Abrahamic Covenant to God's heavenly or spiritual people the true Church such as in the book of Galatians through the Lord Jesus Christ the seed of Abraham and enabling Gentile true Christians to be spiritual children of Abraham through Jesus and the Holy Spirit even in the New Testament this is not meant to exclude the yet future fulfillment of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant to God's chosen earthly people Israel including their full blessings in the land God promised to Abraham and His physical or earthly seed Israel. God even in the New Testament never promised a promised earthly land to the Church that has our inherited land only in heaven and spiritual places in Christ or Messiah in this life. The scripture reference from Micah 7 of God's promised fulfillment of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant God swore to Abraham, by God's initiative but also partly due to Abraham's faithfulness to God, and his physical seed in Micah 7 is as follows:
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old. Micah 7:18-20
the children of Israel Messianic or Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ after His second comingIn this verse God directs Isaiah to write then shall your heart rejoice about the conditions for Israel and the nations at the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom or Millennial Kingdom. This will also be a time of rejoicing for the Church. The Lord Jesus Christ also has this time in mind when he speaks to Christians in John 16:22 about a time when Christians will rejoice with the rapture of the Church and then our coming with him to set up his kingdom on earth in the Millennial or Messianic age. The scripture in Isaiah also says the bones of Israel will flourish like a herb that means they will be in bodies full of life that is also described above in Ezekiel 37 about the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel first including now mostly in unbelief but by the end of the tribulation and at Jesus' second coming to earth also a spiritual restoration with the pouring out of God's Holy Spirit to give them life. The Lord just showed me that bones are used to describe the people of Israel in Ezekiel 24 of God's judgment of them for their idolatry and other sins as also in Micah 3:2-3 and Jeremiah 8:1. I think the picture is that they would be mostly spiritually dead and among the nations until the last days which started especially in 1948 when Israel became a nation again but to a lesser extent in the 1880s when Jews started to go back to the land of Israel in significant numbers. In Matthew 23 where Jesus called some of the Jewish leaders of his day as dead men's bones and all uncleanness he could have these Hebrew scripture verses in mind as that at that time the Jews were still mostly spiritually dead although there were believers with spiritual life in them at that time including the disciples of the Lord Jesus that were mostly Jewish. In this verse in Isaiah 66 God also leads Isaiah to say that the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants meaning then he will deliver his chosen earthly people the Jews and his indignation towards his enemies meaning God's judgment to the unbelievers among the nations that don't trust in the Lord Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour and in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through him or that will then be still antagonistic to God's chosen earthly people the Jews in the tribulation. The scripture reference in Isaiah 66 of God giving flourishing or life to the bones of the Jews at the end of the tribulation and the Lord Jesus Christ's (Messiah's) Second Coming and the Messianic Kingdom is as follows:
And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. Isaiah 66:14
In the Old Testament history of Israel, after the reign of King Solomon, the united kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom of Judah comprised the tribe of Judah and Benjamin which included Jerusalem and the Temple and the Davidic Messianic line. The first ruler of the separate kingdom of Judah was Rehoboam a son of Solomon. There were several righteous kings in the history of Judah that often led revivals in bringing people back to God and His Word and right worship of him at his temple in Jerusalem. The northern kingdom which was comprised of the remaining 10 tribes of Israel was at first led by Jeroboam who unfortunately set up a golden calf and a pagan temple, partly to discourage people from going back to the southern kingdom to worship in Jerusalem. These worship sites were at Dan and Bethel. The capital of the northern kingdom was Samaria. There were several dynasties in the history of the northern kingdom and none of the kings of Israel are described as doing right in the sight of the LORD partly because none of them had the courage or righteous convictions to remove the pagan temples at Dan and Bethel. The kings of Israel also had no relationship to the Messianic line or kingly line of David. Ezekiel was instructed to take two sticks one representing Judah which would represent the southern kingdom of Judah and another representing Joseph or Ephraim which would represent the northern kingdom of Israel and join them together as one stick. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of God using the sign of Ezekiel joining the stick of Judah with the stick of Ephraim to make one stick or one nation is as follows:
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. Amd the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. Ezekiel 37:15-20
In verse 21 Israel refers to the entire people of Israel or all 12 tribes. God promises he will gather the people of Israel or the Jews from among the nations to their own land, the promised land of Israel which with God includes Judaea and Samaria or the West Bank. The so-called Palestinians are actually just Arabs most of whom have come from the nations surrounding Israel such as Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt since some of the Jewish people started to return to the promised land of Israel in the 1880s and especially since 1948. In 1948 the Jewish people were able to get international recognition for a Jewish state named Israel within the land God promised to them in the Bible between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The so called Palestinians should be content with what land they have as their own state or to live in Israel by its rules and the Arab nations should do more to make room for the Palestinian Arabs within their borders partly because many of them originally came from those countries. Israel should also not unduly persecute the Palestinian Arabs either living in Israel or in the Palestinian territories or in other Arab countries.
When the Jews in 1948 or from the 1880s leading up to that time had to make a decision whether to reestablish their nations as two countries or one, they wisely decided to become one country. I am sure this was partly to fulfill this passage in their scriptures but also to avoid civil wars between themselves or other problems that were evident in the divided kingdom period. This joining of the two sticks of Judah and Ephraim was realized in our time in 1948 and since that time and will most likely continue to be the case since this seems to be what the Bible says, especially in this passage. Probably most of the people in Israel now are descendants of the two tribes of Judah. There are also probably many individuals of the 10 lost or hidden tribes of Ephraim among the Pathan or Pushtun of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Bnei Menasche of Manipur and Mizoram states in eastern India and other places in Asia. One of the sub tribes of the Pathans or Pushtuns is Efredi which is probably their name for Ephraim. God also said he would place a king over Israel which at least in the Messianic Kingdom will be the prince King David who will reign under the Messiah that I and other Christians think will be Jesus of Nazareth. God says he will cleanse the Israelites of all their idols and detestable things which in some cases will literally be true but in other cases it will just be to cleanse the Jews from other non-Jewish religions such as secularism or Islam in the case of the Pushtuns if they are indeed the bulk of the ten tribes of Ephraim. The fact that the Pushtuns hold to and practice their legal code the Pushtunwali that in many respects is similiar or identical to the Law of Moses instead of the Koran also suggests they are Jews that have been outwardly converted to Islam. God states that in the land of Israel He will bring Jews from all 12 tribes back to Israel and has already started to do so. This will result in their fully being his people and he being their God. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of God making the Jews one people, even in our time, and bringing them back from all the nations where they were scattered and cleansing them of their idols is as follows:
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 37:21-23
God says here through His prophet Ezekiel that he would gather the Jews or children of Israel from the (Gentile) nations to which they had been scattered. Of course this scattering happened twice, once when God let the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in about 600 BC and later when God let the Romans destroy Jerusalem and the second or Herod's Temple in 70 AD. God also let the Assyrians destroy the northern Kingdom of Israel and scatter the 10 northern tribes in about 720 BC. God says he would give the children of Israel the land of Israel in the last days that started in some measure in 1948 when he let the children of Israel re-establish the nations of Israel. This was not a new thing for the Jews or children of Israel to have the land of Israel as God promised it to them from the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob almost 4000 years ago and from the time of Moses to the destruction of Jerusalem under the Romans they were ruling or later on had at least some autonomy in the land of Israel from about 1400 BC to 70 AD. God says through Ezekiel that when the Jews come back to the and of Israel they would take away the detestable things and abominations out of the land of Israel which means they would take away the idols and the false gods and their temples out of the land. This has not really happened with some New Age, Bahai and many Muslim of Allah the moon god places allowed to operate freely in the land of Israel still. The Christian churches are of the same one true God and with the revelation of Israel's true Messiah Jesus of Nazareth but some of the Roman Catholic churches etc. do have idols that are not of God such as idolizing Mary or other human persons. God says when He brings the Jews or children of Israel back to their promised land he would pour our His Spirit into them and give them a new heart for Himself. This according to other Bible prophecies won't fully happen until the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) and God's rule on Earth through Him in the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom when the Holy Spirit will be fully poured out on the restored people of Israel and the saved of the nations. The true Church of people that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour will also be there when we come from heaven at Jesus' second coming. Although there will still be some elements of the Law of Moses that Israel will keep in the Messianic Kingdom the basic way of justification before God will be trusting in God's Son and Israel's Messiah the SAviour of the world Jesus of Nazareth but Israel and the saved of the nations will have the help then of the indwelling Holy Spirit in their hearts to keep the Law. Those that are restored to God of the children of Israel will then in the Messianic Kingdom be God's restored earthly or physical people the people of Israel. However God will judge the Jews or those of the children of Israel that still follow their detestable things or idols in the tribulation including not letting those that follow those things without turning to the true God by the end of the tribulation into the Messianic Kingdom but they will be killed in the tribulation or brought down to hell at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as will also be true of those of the Gentile nations that aren't Christians by the time of the rapture of the Church and end up in the tribulation. The scripture reference from Ezekiel 11 of God restoring the Jews or children of Israel to the land of Israel and then spiritual to Himself in the last days is as follows:
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh; That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 11:17-21
Although the book of Hosea is mostly associated with the northern kingdom of Israel in the separated kingdoms after the reign of King Solomon there are some instances where both kingdoms are mentioned. One such instance is chapter 1 verse 11. This verse is not talking of historical matters in Old Testament times but looks forward to the last days especially the Millennial Kingdom when all the land of Israel including both the land of Judah and the land of the northern 10 tribes or Israel will be ruled by one leader (head) and united as one country. This will be when they are ruled by Messiah Jesus in the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom after Jesus's second coming at the end of the tribulation to judge the world and set up God's kingdom on earth. However part of this prophecy has already happened since 1948 when the Jews decided to not have their land divided in two parts as when they last had some sovereignty in the end of the time of the kings of Israel and Judah but to have it as one country so in this sense this prophecy is partly fulfilled at this time and is a sign that the time is soon for other last days events to happen including the tribulation and Jesus' coming first for the rapture of the church before the tribulation and then with the church from heaven at the end of the tribulation. The scripture reference of the Jews or children of Israel to be united and under one head (ruler) in the last days from Hosea 1 is as follows:
Then shall the children of Judah nad the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Hosea 1:11
God says, looking to the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom, that David will be king over them. However from other scriptures it is plain that David the king is not the Messiah as later in this book he is pictured as offering sacrifices in the temple and having children and not sitting on the throne in the holy of holies in the temple which will be reserved for the Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ). However David the prince or king will help Israel worship God in a general way with helping them observe God's statutes and judgments which will be decreed by Messiah Jesus when he is on the throne. David will also help implement as well God's statutes and judgments already contained in the sixty six books of the Holy Bible. God affirms that the Jewish people will dwell in (all of) their land in the Messianic Kingdom although it will be somewhat different than in Old Testament times and is described later in Ezekiel. This land will be only for the duration of the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom but Israel will probably have a special allotment in the New Earth described in Revelation 21 to 22 for ever. King David will probably have some role as reigning over Israel under Jesus the Messiah for the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom and for ever. God also states that he will make a covenant of peace over Israel meaning no more wars in the Messianic Age like we see much in evidence today. We will see these ware in the Middle East more so until Jesus as the Prince of Peace sets up the Messianic Kingdom of Israel and over the world. God also states that he will multiply the Jews or Israel and that he will dwell among them in his sanctuary or temple. Jesus in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily will sit bodily in the holy of holies but God the Father's Shekinah glory will probably be over the Messianic Temple as well. God and Jesus will be in the midst of Israel, the Church and believing Gentiles without any temple in the New Jerusalem, the New Earth and the New Heavens for eternity according to Revelation 21 and 22. The nations, instead of as is too much the case now in mocking or criticizing or hating Israel or the Jews, will in the Messianic Kingdom and for eternity acknowledge or honour Israel as God's chosen earthly people with the true and living God as their special covenant God. However the Church as God's chosen heavenly people and believers of the nations that in the tribulation and Messianic Kingdom will join Israel will also share Israel's glory in the Messianic Age and eternity. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 37 of God setting David as Israel's king and Himself dwelling amongst Israel in His sanctuary or temple in the Messianic Age (and eternity) is as follows:
And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel 37:24-28
At the end of Ezekiel 28 there is a brief description of the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel in the last days, the end of the current church age and in the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. God will be sanctified in the sight of the heathen or nations at Jesus' second coming when he judges the world and establishes Israel as the primary nation on earth through whom he will rule the world in the Messianic Kingdom. God promises that then the Jews or people of Israel will dwell in their land in peace without fear of invasion or trouble from other nations. God also says here that the Jews will dwell in the land of Israel or the Holy land and build houses and plant vineyards which is implying they will be able to settle down on the land without fear of disruption or destruction from Gentile armies as they have experienced for much of their history. God says they will also have confidence both in God's protection also because they will then be living by his law, word or principles but also because God will then have judged the nations that were opposed to Israel about the then just preceding battle of Armageddon. God finishes this passage that about the Jews will know or have an abiding faith, honour to and obedience to Him in the Messianic Kingdom after they have been gathered from the nations to the land of Israel. The scripture reference from Ezekiel 28 of the Jews to be gathered from the nations to the Land of Israel where they will live in peace for the true God the God of Israel is as follows:
Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God. Ezekiel 28:25-26
God addresses the Jews to encourage them as Zion and Jerusalem which are the same thing and then all the Jews or residents of Israel as Israel at the beginning of this passage. God then promises he will overcome the oppression against the Jews of all their enemies in the last days which will especially be in the latter part of the tribulation, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) and the beginning of the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom when God will establish the Jewish nation of Israel as first among the nations through the blessings of God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses and David. God promises he will deliver the Jews that will be persecuted severely by the nations in the tribulation to bring them back to their own land of Israel between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. God also promises he will give the Jews glory among the nations looking forward to the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom when he will give the Jews the blessings of God's covenant with them. God will refine the Jews of their opposition or indifference to Him when all the nations even the United States turn against them in the tribulation. The Jews now outside of Israel are still experiencing the results of the captivity which God will overcome to bring them back to the land of Israel that will result in rejoicing from them and from those left of the nations after the coming of the Messiah in the second coming of the LOrd Jesus Christ to judge the world and set up God's kingdom on earth with the 1000 year Millennial or Messianic Kingdom when God and Messiah Jesus will reign through the Jews and Jerusalem and the nation of Israel (as well as the true Church) over all the earth with Satan and the demons bound etc. in what will likely be earth's most glorious age. The scripture reference from Zephaniah 3 of God's promise to deliver the Jews from the oppression of the Gentiles or nations and bring the Jews into their own land of Israel and make them a cause of glory with the Gentiles in the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom is as follows:
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. ... Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD. Zephaniah 3:14, 19-20
The LORD (God the Father) promises that the days will come, the last days, when he will raise up for David a righteous branch. This is talking about the coming or revelation of the Messiah who will be a son of David. Although Jesus of Nazareth was a son of David and claimed to be such and presented himself as the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel as well as Saviour of the world at his first coming almost 2000 years ago, this prophecy in Jeremiah is about the Messiah coming in glory to set up God's Kingdom on Earth through the reign of His Messiah but I as a Christian believe this will still be realized in Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth but at his second coming when he comes in power and great glory from heaven with his Church and some Old Testament saints and holy angels and the Shekinah glory of God the Father at the end of the 7 year tribulation. This will also start the 1000 year Millennial Kingdom or Messianic Kingdom. Then it follows that the King that shall reign and prosper will be Messiah Jesus at his second coming in the time of peace and prosperity in the Messianic Kingdom. Jesus the Messiah will then execute or implement justice and judgment or righteousness and justice through Israel and all the earth. God also promises through his servant Jeremiah that in the days of the branch of David the Messiah (Jesus Christ) Judah meaning the southern kingdom shall be saved or come to place their faith wholly in the LORD and Israel the northern kingdom shall dwell safely or won't be persecuted or invaded by the Gentiles or non-Jewish people. Then the scriptures further identifies the Messiah as the one that will be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is one of the few time in the Bible that a phrase is used all in capital letters showing it is very important. The title the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS is also an appropriate title for Jesus Christ as the Messiah as he died on the cross and rose from the dead to enable us to receive God's righteousness through His as a free gift by faith. Jesus will also give God's righteousness to His chosen earthly people Israel when He comes to rule the earth from Israel in His righteous 1000 year Messianic rule. Although even after about 3500 years, it is still a major point of reference in the history of Israel or the Jewish people in the Exodus from Egypt and the Passover and the parting of the Red Sea, God says in the last days he will do just as great if not greater deliverance for His chosen earthly people Israel or the Jewish people in delivering them from the north country or Russia or the former Soviet Union which is basically north of Israel especially the area around Moscow the capital of Russia. God says he will also deliver the children of Israel or the Jews from all the nations where he has driven them and bring them back to the land of Israel to dwell in their own land. Although we continue to see this phenomena in our day and especially since 1948 or from about the 1880s this return of Israel to their promised land will have its greatest expression when the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth sets up God's Kingdom over all the earth focused on Israel and Jerusalem at His Second Coming. God through Messiah Jesus will then exalt the nation of Israel for all their suffering they will have undergone since going into captivity by Assyria and Babylon over 2500 years ago to this time and especially the soon coming 7 year tribulation or 70th week of Daniel or time of Jacob's trouble when about a third of the Jews will not only turn back to God but also trust in Jesus as their Messiah as a result of their suffering in the tribulation and hearing the gospel from the Messianic Jewish two witnesses and 144,000 witnesses of Revelation. The scripture reference in Jeremiah 23 of God's restoration of the Jewish people to their land of Israel and raising up their Messiah and King in Jesus' second coming in power and great glory to set up God's Messianic Kingdom is as follows:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither (to where) I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. Jeremiah 23:5-8
Although the original context of this passage and chapter is God warning that He would judge His chosen earthly people Israel at the end of the time of their monarchy on the throne of king David (before Messiah Jesus in that line) for Israel's sins of idolatry, violence, adultery, covetous and forgetting Him the true God there are some parallels to Russia as the fulfillment of the north country in the last days before Jesus' second coming. Although God in the last days won't allow the north country or Russia to totally destroy Israel and Jerusalem and the temple of God like he did allow Babylon to do that around 600 BC God will allow Russia as the last days land or people of the north to invade Israel I think in the second half of the tribulation or second half of the 70th week of Daniel. I think this will be right at the end of the tribulation or 2nd half of it and will be the invasion of Gog and Magog on the mountains of Israel (that includes Jerusalem if Israel is referring to the complete holy land rather than just the northern kingdom or the 10 tribes as it was sometimes later in Israel's history a reference to). This invasion of course is described in Ezekiel 38-39 and is led by God prince of Magog. Magog was the ususal Hebrew name from what is now known as Russia and is about the same region as described in the New Testament by its Greek name of Scythia. Meshech is Moscow in Ezekiel 38 and the region around it and Tubal is likely Siberia from the name of the Siberian Russian city Tobolsk. I think the invasion of Gog and Magog into the mountains of Israel will be part of the Battle of Armageddon and will join with the kings of the East mentioned in Revelation 16 and the armies of the world dictator the Antichrist who I think will be based mostly in Rome the capital of the former Roman Empire and in Jerusalem in Israel. They will all try to converge to attack Jerusalem but instead of succeeding in giving a decisive blow against the Jewish people and their viability in the land of Israel their Messiah Jesus of Nazareth or YeShua HaMashiach will come from heaven with the glory of God the Father and the holy angels and the true Church and deceased Old Testament and tribulation saints to decimate the armies of the nations coming against Israel and Jerusalem and to establish God's rule over all the earth from restored Israel including to her true Messiah in Jesus or Y'Shua for the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom as in Zechariah 14, Matthew 24:27-31 and, Revelation 19.
One thing I do want to emphasize from this passage in Jeremiah 6 is that it is definitely true including currently that the people of the land of the north as a cruel people applies to Russia and its leaders and armies as well as that of Babylon. This can be seen in the now long standing government of Russian leader Vladimir Putin who has been quite ruthless against his people who want more freedom of speech or a real multi-party democracy and what he did before in limiting freedom of the press that former leader Boris Yeltsin had allowed to become somewhat established. Mr. Putin also either crushed or co-opted all the former so-called Oligarghs either who had a lot of territory including in Siberia or who owned the means to extract oil or natural gas from large parts of Russia or who formerly had significant control in the media or other areas of the economy in Putin's rise to power. Now Putin and his government are being cruel people by being ruthless in invading or supporting other oppressive elements such as the Russian militias in Ukraine, the government of Bashar Assad in Syria and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as being quite active in cyber-hacking sensitive computer systems of western governments or major corporations and interfering in western elections such as supporting far right wing French leader Marine Le Pen of the Front National Party and possibly helping to enable Donald Trump to get to power and through spreading fake news on the internet in Europe and America and other places such as to support Ms. Le Pen and against the establishments in Germany or the overall European Union. Some of this news being promoted by Russia or being fake news however is sometimes exagerated by the western liberal media including in North America how sometimes have their own distorted or fake news or bias such as generally against evangelical Christians or Biblical Jews and in favour of multi-culturalism and encouraging elevated esteem by those who practice or flaunt questionable moral lifestyles especially of the more distorted type. Mr. Putin probably doesn't like the European Union partly because of its regularly lecturing him on human rights and western efforts to democratize or include in the European Union or NATO nations of Eastern Europe that became communist and satellites of Russia or the Soviet Union after World War 2.
Russia has also been a cruel people by oppressive measures against religious freedom including against both Christians and Jews while the Soviet Union stood and on an ongoing basis against Jewish people still there and on a renewed growing basis against evangelical Christians and other Christians other than the Russian Orthodox Church that often in contrast to the Russian Orthodox Congregations usually have smaller and newer congregations and usually meet in rented halls or believers' houses. Under the new law for Religious Activity recently introduced by Putin's government any religious meeting in a place other than their own established religious building became illegal as did public evangelism and evangelism by Russian Chritians on the internet and perhaps on radio, TV or print media. This is also cruel action by Putin and his government as the leaders of the modern land of the north. Babylon was regarded as north of Israel in the Bible even though on a map it more appears east because it was and is mostly desert between Babylon and Israel so it would go north along the Euphrates River and then come back down from the north through Syria or Lebanon to invade Israel. The scripture reference from Jeremiah 6 of some similiarity of Russia in the last days to Babylon around 600 BC as invaders of Israel and as a cruel people from the land of the north is as follows:
O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccarem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. I have liked the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. ... Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion. Jeremiah 6:1-2, 21-23.
Although a couple of verses before verse 14 God mentions that he would gather the Jews from their captivity in Babylon and this did happen to a limited extent at the end of the 70 years captivity, the fact remains that most of the Jews in the world still live outside the land of Israel with almost as many living in United States alone as in the land of Israel and significant amount of Jews still in the former Soviet Union, France the UK, Canada and some places in South America for example. Although it has started now and since about the 1880s when the idea in the good sense of Zionism in the Jews seeking to restore sovereignity under the one true God of a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel that God had covenanted to them through Abraham and Moses, this process will continue and won't be finished until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the saviour of the world and redeemer of Israel to earth at the end of the tribulation. It was God that drove the Jews to all these lands because of their disobedience to him but he will also continue to regather them to their own land until he comes to reign in the person of his only begotton Son Jesus Christ the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world through the Jews and nation of Israel in the 1000 year messianic kingdom on earth after Jesus' second coming. The true Christians or church will also reign on earth with Jesus at that time. God says he would again bring the Jews into this place from where he drove them to the nations meaning he will again in the last days return them to their promised land of Israel between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea as he has started doing in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The scripture reference from Jeremiah 29 about God's regathering of the Jews to the land of Israel in the last days that has already started and will continue at least until Jesus the Messiah' second coming is as follows:
And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. Jeremiah 29:14
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