Jeremiah 50:5 & Jer.
51:50 They will ask the way to Zion, with their faces turned thitherward saying: Come; let us join ourselves to the Lord in a
perpetual Covenant, never to be forgotten. Remember the Lord from far off and
let Jerusalem come into your mind. KJV.
This verse is often quoted as an example of the gathering of the Lord’s people
at the commencement of the Millennium. Apart
from the KJV’s archaic wording, other translations put it exactly the same.
What needs to be considered is; Who is it asking the way to the holy Land and
when does this happen?
Jeremiah 50:4 tells us exactly who this refers to: it is the people of Israel, the
Northern ten tribes and the people of Judah, the Jews. Isaiah 11:11-12
Jeremiah 50:6 My people are like lost sheep, whose shepherds have led them astray.
They have run wild and wandered from mountain to hill, forgetful of their true
inheritance.
Other than about half of the Jewish people, they are now in exile. So it isn’t
the Christian church as such, but all the descendants of Jacob, whether actual
or grafted in and only God knows who they are, [Amos 9:9] scattered among the nations, but they will be the faithful Christian believers
in the one true God and all those that place their trust in the Lord Jesus for
their salvation.
The prophet Ezekiel in chapter 37, tells us about the spiritual regeneration
and the physical rejoining of the House of Israel and the House of Judah. In Ezekiel 20:34-38, he tells how they will be gathered and judged, then they will go and
settle into the holy Land. But to enable this to happen, all of the holy Land
must be cleared and cleansed and this will be done by the ‘Lord’s outpoured wrath’. Ezekiel 20:46-48 explains
how this will be achieved – the Lord will
kindle a fire in the Land, it will burn everything from the Negev northward.
This will be the Day of the Lord’s vengeance and wrath, a terrible fire blasted
out from the sun that will devastate the Middle East and will have dramatic
worldwide repercussions. Isaiah
30:25-28, Malachi 4:1, Isaiah 66:15-16, 2 Peter 3:10, Zechariah 3:8
The prophecy that specifically tells us about the glorious Return of Jesus, Rev 19:11-21, does not speak of anything like this, His defeat of the Anti-Christ’s
army is simply by the Sword of His Word, they are not burned up, as the birds
and beasts feed on them. Matthew 24:31 states that: He will send His angels to gather His elect from around
the world… they are those who refused the ‘mark of the beast’, and
righteous Israel – taken [flown?] to a place of safety during the Tribulation.
This is quite different from the many prophecies about the great second Exodus
of the Israelites, who come back to their heritage in other ways; Isaiah 66:20, Isaiah
60:8-9, Psalms 107.
God’s promises to the Patriarchs will be fulfilled and their descendants will
live in peace and prosperity in the Promised Land. Psalms 105:5-10 They will be a ‘light to the
nations, displaying the Lord’s holiness for all to see’. Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 66:18-19, Ezekiel 39:27-29
The Prophetic Word 