J. GEOFFREY M. THORNE

PROPHECY BECOMES HISTORY when that which is predicted comes to pass.

In this connection a number of questions arise when considering specific statements from God concerning the regathering to the land of Israel (not Palestine) of the people of the Book—the Jews. It is impossible in the short space available to enumerate all the promises, but if we take a representative sample, we find that God has reiterated them over a very long period of time.

These utterances, made at various times and in diverse ways are always clear, specific, and unequivocal. Regardless of the geographical location of the prophet or the date when the Word was spoken, the most remarkable thing, humanly speaking, is their absolute consistency. How could so many men over so long a period of time speak the same things, make exactly the same promises from the same Source, all to be fulfilled at a specific time many hundreds of years ahead ?

Let us start by looking at some of the exact promises.

God through Moses clearly enumerated to this specially chosen nation the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience.

However, this did not mean an end of the nation, otherwise God’s promise to Abram (Gen. 12) would become null and void, and it would make God into a liar. And so Moses continued the outline of God’s plan and said,

Some 700 years later Amos declared,

Isaiah is equally explicit: “Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations... And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations” (Isa. 60:15 and 61:4).

And a hundred years later, God was still making the same promise. This time it was through a very brave priest, Jeremiah:

These prophecies were also given as a witness to the whole world of the faithfulness of Yahweh: “Hear the word of the Lord, Ο ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock” (Jer. 31:10).

Being taken captive did not deter these faithful men of God. For, among those led away to Babylon was an extraordinary young man, Jeremiah’s younger contemporary, a priest by the name of Ezekiel. That he was not speaking his own words is clear from the introduction:

Hundreds of years later the greatest prophet of all, Jesus Christ the Son of God, said, “And they (the Jewish nation) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles UNTIL the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled . . . And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory” (Luke 21:24, 27).

An independent authority writes,

It was actually on Wednesday, June 7, 1967, that Jerusalem was liberated. It was unified under Jewish rule, after almost 2,000 years of Gentile domination; this prophecy of the Lord Jesus has been fulfilled and has been replaced by an historical fact. The “time of the end” must be now, for the times of the Gentiles have been fulfilled.

The total Jewish world population is approximately 14,000,000 and of these some 6,000,000 are in the USA; 3,000,000 in the USSR; about 500,000 in the UK, and 3,500,000 in Israel. On these figures some 25 per cent of the Jewish population have already returned to Israel. The significance of this will be apparent when it is compared with the Jewish population in Palestine in earlier years. In 1827 it was not more than 500; in 1917 about 55,000; and in 1936 some 400,000.

How many more have to return to Israel before Messiah comes? There seems to be strong evidence that a considerable number of Jews will still be scattered abroad when Messiah comes: “I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Grvt up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth” (Isa. 43:5,6). In another wonderfully prophetic utterance, the same prophet passes through time and speaks of coming events in terms of actuality, events of some 700 years ahead, and then of a revolution on earth of the normal ways of life 2,000 years later—ALL TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY THE SAME PERSON—a righteous offspring of Jesse upon whom the Spirit of the Lord would rest. From the sense of the whole of this wonderful eleventh chapter of Isaiah it would appear that at the time when this root of Jesse (Jesus) is in the earth standing for an ensign and to which the Gentiles seek, THEN “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. 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 (wings) of the earth” (Isa. 11:11-12). At this same time (identified by the event) “He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly” (Isa. 5:26). This same promise is reiterated nearly 200 years later by Zechariah: “I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased” (Zech. 10:8).

Jeremiah speaks forth an even more emphatic and elaborate Word from the Lord; in fact, God speaks to us directly in such detail that it is almost impossible for us not to understand, for, according to Daniel, the words were closed up and sealed until the time of the end. We are living in that time. Therefore we should expect the words to be made manifest and clear.

It will be clear to all students of history and prophecy that the 37th chapter of Ezekiel contains details of the return to Israel of its people. In the valley, the dry bones came together with a noise and a shaking, sinews and flesh came upon them, then skin covered them, “but there was no breath in them”. So Ezekiel spoke to the wind as God commanded him “and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, AN EXCEEDING GREAT ARMY”. About three and a half million Jews NOW in the land — and almost all potential soldiers ! Not an exceeding great nation, in fact one of the smallest, but a great army indeed. Having stood alone and defied the might of the United Nations and the Soviet Union, they indeed fight for their very existence as a nation. So then, verses 1 to 14 are no longer prophecy, they are history. And four wars with the Arabs prove it.

One can only conclude that because the Jews have to be called from countries which are north, south, east, and west of Israel, then they must still be there when Christ returns. It is suggested, therefore, that the pre-adventual conditions of the Jews in Israel and their present disposition in the nations, indicate that Christ is at the door, for did not he himself state quite clearly, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh”. And of that redemption he said, “Then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory” (Luke 21:28,27). As if to emphasise this warning to us, he further said, “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass (prophecy becoming history) know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (verse 31).

God is able to graft them in again.

(Romans 11:23)