Sign/ The Second Return to the Land
There has long been a close connection between the aspirations of Jews and Christians, the one yearning for nationhood, the other for the second coming of Christ. The connection is this. Based on Bible prophecy, many Christians during the last two hundred years have believed that Christ would return only after a Jewish state had reappeared in the ancient land of Israel.
The idea of building their own nation did not surface among modern Jews until Leon Pinsker, a Jew from Russia, proposed it in 1882, and the first congress of the World Zionist Organization did not meet until 1897.1 But long before these developments, many Jews had turned their faces toward what they regarded as their homeland. Throughout the nineteenth century, a small stream of Jewish emigrants from Europe had been flowing to Palestine.
A major impetus to migration came in 1840, when the British expelled the Egyptians from Syria and enlarged their own influence in the region.2 The Earl of Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley) saw this resolution of the Syrian question as an opportunity to restore many more Jews to the Holy Land. According to his biographer,
He had long cherished the belief, founded upon an earnest and diligent study of the prophecies contained in Holy Scripture, that the Jews were to return to their inheritance in the Holy Land, and it appeared to him that the time was ripe for the accomplishment of these prophecies.3
In meetings and in correspondence with Lord Palmerston, the Secretary of State, who was also the second husband of Lord Ashley's mother-in-law, Lord Ashley strongly urged the government to take measures that would encourage Jews to resettle in Palestine. One offshoot of this effort was that the British advised the Turkish authorities in Syria to grant Jews greater protection and privileges.4
Efforts by the Jewish people themselves to encourage this migration steadily gained strength during the nineteenth century, eventually giving birth to the Zionist movement. With the support of powerful sympathizers, Zionists opened the way for many more people of Jewish descent to move back to the land of their fathers. By the time World War I began, almost 80,000 Jews lived there.5 At the outbreak of World War II, the Jewish population of Palestine had swollen to 450,000.6 Then in 1948, when the number of Jewish settlers had reached nearly a million, a self-governing nation of Israel emerged onto the world scene.7
From the beginning of this return of Jews to their promised land, many Christians saw it as a fulfillment of prophecy. Lord Ashley's biographer reports that when the Earl was an influential figure in British government, there was
everywhere a revival of zeal on behalf of "God's ancient people;" . . . certain promises and prophecies of the Scriptures were regarded as about to be fulfilled.8
Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, the church kept its eyes on the growing Jewish presence in Palestine. And when that presence increased as a result of earthshaking events in the twentieth century, the church saw it as a definite sign that the present age was drawing to a close. The founding of the state of Israel in 1948 greatly strengthened the conviction of Bible-believing Christians that these are the Last Days.
But has the church correctly understood prophecy? Has prophecy been fulfilled by the return of Jews to Palestine and the rebirth of a Jewish nation? Has God planted these events in history to serve as signs that the Church Age is drawing to a close?
There is no doubt that this return has fulfilled prophecy. When the Old Testament describes the future Messianic age, it clearly anticipates a prior return of Jews to their homeland. Of particular interest is an oracle of Isaiah.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isaiah 11:10-12
The "root of Jesse" is Christ. The prediction that the gentiles will seek Christ (v. 10) implies a period of worldwide evangelism after His coming. This oracle is therefore one of the few Old Testament texts that speak of the Church Age. In the next verse (v. 11), the prophet foresees a day when the Lord will accomplish a "second" recovery of His people from exile in remote places. Most commentators suppose that Isaiah is treating Israel's deliverance from Egypt as the first. But the Israelites who escaped from Egypt were not a remnant. They were the whole nation in its infancy, when its population was surging to new heights. Nor did they come from any nation but Egypt. Thus, as some commentators recognize, the first recovery by Isaiah's reckoning must be the return from Babylonian captivity.9 The placement of verse 11 after verse 10 suggests that the "second" will occur only after Christ has come and His gospel has been preached to the gentiles.
In fact, Isaiah envisions a third recovery of Jews to the land. The second (v. 11) will be partial, mainly from the nations listed. The third (v. 12) will be complete, from the four corners of the earth. The second will come about through the secret, Providential working of the Lord's hand. The third will happen in response to a public summons from the person of Christ Himself, the "ensign" in verse 12 as in verse 10. The following text describes the third recovery:
19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD.
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
Isaiah 66:19-22
Once enthroned, Christ will sift the whole world for any remaining descendants of the twelve tribes and bring them to their ancient homeland. This final regathering is the third recovery foreseen in prophecy.
When will the previous recovery occur—the one Isaiah designates as the Lord setting His hand again the second time to recover His people? The answer is given by Jeremiah.
3 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
4 And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
Jeremiah 30:3-9
The prophet affirms that before the time of Jacob's trouble, many Jews will return to the land of their fathers. Students of prophecy equate the time of Jacob's trouble with the Tribulation. Thus, the regathering that Jeremiah foresees will follow by long ages the return of Israel from Babylonian captivity in ancient times and also precede Christ's regathering of Jews after His coming. It must therefore be the recovery that Isaiah designates as the second. Undoubtedly it is the same recovery that has taken place during the last two hundred years of the modern era, as Jews in multiplied thousands have flowed back to Palestine.
Sign/ Rebirth of the Jewish State
One result of the Jews going back to Palestine has been the formation of a Jewish state. This development has also fulfilled prophecy.
In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar which the Lord enabled Daniel to interpret, the king saw a succession of five gentile kingdoms (Dan. 2:41-43) that would hold power over the Jewish nation. The first four represented the kingdoms that governed Israel before Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. Afterward, a Jewish nation was missing from the world scene. Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar's dream clearly implied that it would reappear sometime later in history. This prophecy was fulfilled when the United Nations created the state of Israel in 1948, thereby positioning itself as the fifth gentile kingdom with authority over the Jews.
In his prophecy that a Jewish nation would exist in the Last Days, Zechariah is more explicit. He briefly sketches events preliminary to the great battle known as the Battle of Armageddon, when Christ will descend in glory and, before establishing His kingdom on the earth, defeat all the armies of the Antichrist that have invaded Palestine. The prophet says that when Palestine is overrun by these evil forces, Jews will be living there under the rule of their own governors.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12:3-6
Thus, entrance of the state of Israel onto the world scene in 1948 was an undeniable fulfillment of prophecy.