THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL IN PROHECY

The return of the Jewish people to Israel and the restoration of the land that has taken place over the last hundred years has been foretold by the prophets of Israel from time immemorial. The number and detail of these prophecies are so overwhelming that not even the most skeptical reader can fail to be convinced that the hand of God is behind the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel today. From Abraham to Zechariah the prophets foretold the events that are taking place today. Below are just some of the prophecies that predict the restoration of Israel and the return of the Jewish people to their land.
The return of Israel to their Promised Land is a testimony to the faithfulness of God to His covenant, to His word and to His promises. If there is no God then the claim of Israel to the land is void. If God does not remember, or cannot fulfill His promise, then He cannot be trusted. If He can change His mind about His promises then He is unreliable. But if He is real and if His word is reliable and His promises trustworthy then the people of Israel and their presence in the land today are a testimony to the reality of God and His ability to govern the universe according to His word even in the face of the resistance of nations.

IN GENESIS

“‘Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebrinth of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:6-7)
"And I will establish My covenant between Me and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7) “And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar. Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt: dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and your descendants I give all these lands and I will perform the oath, which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 26:1-4)
“Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Padan Aram and blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but ‘Israel’ shall be your name.” So He called his name ‘Israel.’ Also God said to him: “1 am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you: and to your descendants after you I give this land.” (Genesis 35:9-12)

IN DEUTERONOMY

“Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other and among those nations you shall find no rest”….. “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice .. that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts of the earth under heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and from there He will bring you.
Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land, which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the Lord will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 28:64-65; 30:1-6)

IN ISAIAH

“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 that are left from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines towards the west.” (Isa. 11:11-14)
(How accurately this describes 20th century and contemporary events!)

“But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, My friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My victorious right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.” (Isaiah 41:8-12)
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west: I will say to the north, “Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 43:5-6)

“‘Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live’, says the LORD, ‘you shall put them all on as an ornament, you shall bind them on as a bride does. Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land, surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children born in the time of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: ‘The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.’ Then you will say in your heart: ‘Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; whence then have these come?’” Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 49:18-23)

IN JEREMIAH

‘“Therefore behold the days are coming,” says the Lord “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but ‘The Lord lives who brought the children of Israel from the land of the north and all the lands where he has driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers. I will send for many fishermen, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill and out of the holes of the rocks.’” (Jer. 16:14-16)
(The final return of the Jewish people to their land is even more remarkable than their return from Egypt. This time they will come from “the land of the north” and “all the lands”, an exact prophecy of today’s events. Their return will be preceded by exhortations (‘fishers’) and persecution (‘hunters’).

“Behold, I will bring them from the north country,

And gather them from the ends of the earth,

Among them the blind and the lame,

The woman with child
And the one who labors with child, together;

A great throng shall return there.”

“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’ (Jeremiah 31:10)

IN EZEKIEL

‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel And they will go there, and will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:17-19)

“And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land.” (Ezekiel 34:13)

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.” (Ezek. 36:24)

"Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ (Ezek. 37.12-14)

‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again." (Ezek. 37.21-22)

IN ZECHERIAH

“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back,
Because I have mercy on them.
They shall be as though I had not cast them aside;
For I am the Lord their God,
And I will hear them.
7 Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man,
And their heart shall rejoice as if with wine.
Yes, their children shall see it and be glad;
Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will whistle for them and gather them,
For I will redeem them;
And they shall increase as they once increased.
9 “I will [a]sow them among the peoples,
And they shall remember Me in far countries;
They shall live, together with their children,
And they shall return.
10 I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt,
And gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon,
Until no more room is found for them." (Zech .10.6-10)

IN AMOS

“I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them”. “I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them.” (Amos 8:14-15)

IN MICAH

"I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel, I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in a pasture a noisy multitude of men." (Micah 2:12)

IN LUKE

"Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the gentiles is fulfilled" (Luke 21:24)

IN ROMANS

"Christ became a servant to the circumcision to confirm the promises given to the fathers" (Romans 15:8)
"Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Romans 11:28-29)