[Editor's Note:  This material was originally published in 1978 by Grace Abounding Ministries, of Sterling, VA (and printed by G.A.M Printers, PO Box 25, Sterling, VA 22170), and is the copyrighted intellectual property of Robert L. Whitelaw, his heirs and assigns.  It is published here for your study.  Feel free to share it with others, as long as the purposes are for individual study and not for profit.  For any other use of this material, contact the copyright holder.]

The Biblical Return of Israel

Robert L. White law

I. Introduction

    There should be no question in the mind of any student who has "searched the Scriptures", to use Jesus’ own words (John 5:39), that the Bible clearly promises the return of the "nation" of 'Israel’ – not once, but several times.

    There is equally no question that the Bible, just as clearly, tells us that each such return will be the work of God’s sovereign grace and power alone. In each case, He stipulates the conditions that must precede, accompany, and follow each return if it is to succeed.

    Finally, it is beyond question that each "return" of Israel that occurred in the Bible conformed exactly to God’s prescription; and whatever "return" He may have promised after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD must likewise meet the conditions God has laid down. Where His conditions are not met, every attempt to bring about a "return" by willful or carnal means is doomed to failure, as witness the attempt to invade Canaan after God’s rejection of the nation at Kadesh-Barnea (Numbers 14:39-45), or the attempt to capture Ai without consulting God’s will (Joshua 7). For they that take the sword to promote God’s ends will surely perish by the sword. If not, Christ is made a two-fold liar; once in Matthew 26:52 and again in Revelation 13:10.

    These things being so, there can surely by no objection, no matter what "millennial" view a reader may hold, to reviewing again, one by one, the conditions that God has laid down in Scripture where ever He has promised or pleaded with His people to return to Him.

    Such an exercise is even more timely today when we find three seemingly distinct bodies called "Israel".

(1) the OT nation Israel, finally destroyed and scattered by the Romans in 70 AD, and all its genealogical records destroyed;

(2) the saints of God after Pentecost, both Jews and Gentiles, without racial distinction, whom Paul clearly identified as "Israel according to promise", in Romans 2:28-29, 9:6-8; Galatians 6:16, Ephesians 2:11:22, etc.;

(3) the political body now dominating Palestine by force of arms, whose religious basis (if any) is the Babylonian Talmud, and whose racial origin was the rabbi-ruled ghettos of Eastern Europe, where having earlier migrated from the Khazars of southern Russia, they became the dominant culture in many areas (especially Poland) yet assiduously taught never to assimilate with or give first loyalty to their host nation ("The Thirteenth Tribe", by A. Koestler).

II. Biblical Analysis

Genesis 50:24 "And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."

Deuteronomy 4:25 ff "When thou shalt beget children, . . . and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image,. . . 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 . . . ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. . . . 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."

Deuteronomy 30:1 ff "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that then the LORD thy God

(1) will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and

(2) will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee . . .

(3) and the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live . . .

(4) and thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day."

    Question: Is Deuteronomy 30 true of the nation that calls itself "Israel" today? Or did God change his instructions later? Read on to find out.

Joshua 22 (sic – actually 21):43-45 "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein . . . . There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass."

    (Instruction to reader: compare this statement with the promise given to Abraham, Genesis 17:7-8; to Isaac, Genesis 25:2-5, and to Jacob, Genesis 28:13-15. But also compare Galatians 3:16-18.)

1 Kings 8:33-34 (Solomon’s dedication of the temple): "When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, . . . then hear thou in heaven, . . . and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers."

    Question: Did this kind of confession and prayer precede the return of modern "Israel" in 1948?

1 Kings 8:47 ff "Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, . . . and so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, . . . then hear thou their prayer."

Psalm 14:7 "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad."

    Question: Is this gladness to be carnal or evangelical? When did modern "Israel" rejoice in their Jehovah, who is also ours?

Psalm 85:1-2 "To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin."

    Question: There is one nation and one nation only, whose sins are all covered. Is it modern Israel?

Isaiah 10:20-23 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, . . . shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return . . . "

    Questions: When is "that day"? Why did the Holy Spirit have Paul cite this very passage in Romans 9:27-28 and apply it to all the saints in Rome, both Jews and Gentiles: Romans 1: and 9:24?

Isaiah 35 "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad . . . and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. . . . Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: . . . And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: . . . and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

    Questions: Why did Jesus Point John’s disciples to this very passage in Matt.11? Does modern Zionism offer it returnees "everlasting joy"?

Isaiah 59:20-21 "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever."

    Question: Why does Paul cite this very passage in Romans 11:26 in order to prove that "so all Israel shall be saved"? Has "all Israel" been saved? Will "all Israel" be saved ultimately? Does Romans 9:6-8 tell us of another "Israel" which will be saved, without exception?

Jeremiah 3:11-14 ". . . Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: . . . Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; 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:"

Jeremiah 4:1-4 "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: . . . Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, . . . ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings."

    Question: Does this threat apply today, or is God no longer the Jehovah who spoke then? And did modern "Israel" circumcise themselves to God when they seized Palestine by fire and sword?

Jeremiah 30:3 "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."

    Question: Was this promise not literally fulfilled after the Babylonian captivity?

Jeremiah 30:7 "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. 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: But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them."

    Question: What was the great day, like unto none other in all of history, as a result of which "Israel" was saved? Whose "yoke" was broken on that day, and what king, beloved of the Lord (Isaiah 42:1) was raised up on that day, literally!?

    So we read on in vs. 10, "Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith Jehovah; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee. . . "

    Question: Does this refer to those called "Jews" in the 20^th century? If so, does it teach that God will destroy every nation on earth where Jews lived, leaving only Jews alive? If not, could it be referring to the "remnant according to the election of grace" that Paul speaks of in Romans 11:5?

Jeremiah 31:6-12 "For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: . . . . He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD . . . . and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD."

    Questions: Is this "Zion" to which Israel will return the same Zion described in Hebrews 12:22, "But ye are come unto mount Zion . . . . "? Is the "strong man" from whose hand Israel is ransomed the same strong man Jesus speaks of in Matthew 12:29? Is the "straight way" the same one spoken of by John the Baptist in Luke 3:5? And who but Jesus Himself called Israel to Himself as a shepherd calls his flock?

Ezekiel 36:22-28 "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went . . . . . For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

    Questions: When the people now called "Jews" seized the country now called "Israel", did these glorious things happen as promised? If not, has God changed his plan?

    Why did Paul specifically apply this promise to the church of Corinth, 2 Corinthians 3:3?

Continuing in vs. 28, we read, "And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your unclean nesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it . . . . In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builder. . . . . As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord."

    Question: Did God cleanse the people now called "Jews" fro all their iniquities in the day they seized the land now called "Israel"’ and did they then become a "holy flock" knowing the Lord? If not, what flock does God refer to? Compare 1 Peter 5:2 and 2:9.

Ezekiel 20:33-44 "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. . . . And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. . . . when I shall bring you into the land of Israel"

    Question: When God says "surely", can the thing be changed? If not, how can there ever be any transgressors in the land He calls "Israel", since He plainly says "they shall not enter into the land of Israel"?

Ezekiel 37:11-14 (the famous "Valley of Dry Bones" prophecy) "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 that 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 [i.e. at that time] shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord."

    Question: Are the "graves" spiritual or natural, figurative or literal? If the graves are spiritual graves, would the land not be spiritual also? If the graves are not literal, why insist that the land be literal? Did the people now called "Jews"know the Lord and have His Spirit in them as promised, when they seized the land now called "Israel"? If not, why not?

Joel 2:20 - 3:2 "And it shall come to pass afterward ["in the last days" reads Acts 2:17], that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered . . . ."

    Question: Since God specifically tells us through Peter (Acts 2:16) that this Joel prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost, and since Joel 3:1 specifically states that "in those days and at that time I will bring again the captivity of Judah" how can there be any true Jews left in captivity, or scattered, after Pentecost? Or does God renege on his Promises and let the Jews go back into slavery again after Joel 3:2?

    And, since Joel 3:1-2 is also to occur at Pentecost, by the authority of Acts 2:16, in what sense did God then "plead with all nations for my people and for my heritage, Israel, – both at Pentecost and ever since?

Amos 9:8-15 "Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations . . . . In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, and [reading from the same text James used in Acts 15:15] . . . I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doth all these things . . . And [Amos 9:14] I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel . . . .

    Question: Was James mistaken, and reading from a corrupt text, when he plainly stated in Acts 15:15 that the coming of the Gentiles into the church along with Jews was the fulfillment of Amos 9:11-15? And if James was speaking truth, the "tabernacle of David" was then set up, and build "as in the days of old," without need of an Israeli army or of U.S. money!

Malachi 3:1-7 "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger [angel] of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord . . . and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old . . . . "

    Question: since the messenger is plainly John the Baptist (Matthew 11:10) and the angel of the covenant is plainly Jesus, is not the "offering of righteousness" that restored Judah and Jerusalem to God’s pleasere the precious blood of Christ? If so, was not the return of Israel’s captivity accomplished at the cross? And who are the "sons of Levi" whom Christ purified then and since? Are they the Christ-hating Talmudists presently ruling earthly Israel under the guise of Jews?

Matthew 12:43-45 "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation."

    Question: If this is a true forecast by our Lord of what happened to the generation that rejected and crucified him, would it not apply to Christ-hating nations and their rulers in any age?

2 Corinthians 3:12-17 "Seeing then that we have such hope [confidence], we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of [see the final purpose of] that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it [i.e., their heart] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

    Question: Why does not Paul speak of Israel returning to the land, before turning to the Lord? And what is "that which is abolished"? Is it not the old covenant of Jewish rites and ceremonies, which "could never take away sins"?

Ephesians 2:11-18 "Wherefore remember, that ye [Gentiles] being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us . . . . for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both [Jew and Gentile] unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace [i.e., restoration] to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

    Question: If Gentile believers are now in the same covenant as Jewish believers, and are in one body, by the cross, and are equally nigh to God, and equally restored to peace with Him – i.e., equal in every respect spiritually – why should not Gentile believers claim the land of Israel for themselves, equally with Jews, in accordance with the Old Testament covenants given over and over above?

Hebrews 2:9-13 "But we [now] see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. . . . . . for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, [ Psalms 22:22] ‘I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.’ And [Isa. 8:18] again, ‘I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.’"

    Question: If "the children" which God has given to Christ are of both Jews and Gentiles, without distinction, and are all equally restored as "many sons brought to glory," can there be an carnal restoration to earthly lands or cities that can divide them again?

1 Peter 2:25 "For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."

    One Final Question: If the spiritual remnant of natural Israel, and the spiritual remnant of the Gentiles, to whom God has equally given his call and his covenants, are returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls, what petty restoration of lands or houses or earthly riches is worthy to be compared to such wealth? And if all his saints are returned, what is the captivity from which they are all equally restored? – not Egypt, or Babylon, or Rome, or the programs of Hitler, or Russia, but the far greater deliverance from the captivity of sin and Satan first begun in Eden, which god promised He would accomplish by the "seed of the woman" (Genesis 3:15).

This first Messianic promise, "He shall bruise thy head, Satan!", is then the one great Return of all Israel, to which all later promises refer directly or in type, the great Return accomplished for us by Christ at Calvary. Hallelujah!!

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Appendix A -- The Napoleonic Interrogation -- Abstracted from Douglas Reed's "Controversy of Zion".