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THE EARTHLY INHERITANCE SERIES of BIBLE SUBJECTS
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Various Bible study guides in subjects pertaining to
New Earth prophecy, as taught by Paul Phelps.
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD,
they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37:9
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THE REGATHERING OF NEW WORLD ISRAEL
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Bible quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version
except for my own translations or as otherwise indicated.
A prophetic study about the people of New Earth, within
the Bible prophecies for the future regathering of Israel.
A Bible study project by Paul Phelps.
After several years of study this writing was completed in 2000.
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The
regathering of Israel is a prophetic plan that starts to fulfil at the end of
this age and continues in the Messianic age. It has several aspects and the
first
are happening now. The present ingathering of Jews is in preparation for their
acceptance of Jesus Christ as LORD—at
his return in the latter days. Hosea 3:5,
Afterwards the Israelites shall return and seek the LORD their God,
and David their king; they shall come in awe to the LORD and to his
goodness in the latter days.
The
present ingathering of Jews to their ancestral homeland is a return to the
same situation as in New Testament time before their captivity to
Rome. These
circumstances have returned—so the people that first rejected Jesus will accept
him at his return! Matthew 23:38-39,
See, your house is left to you, desolate.
For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,
“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Zech. 12:10,
And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on
the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that,
when they look on me whom they have pierced,
they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child,
and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
The
Kingdom gospel at first was preached all over Israel, and it is happening
again in these last days, in preparation for the Lord’s soon
return.
Matt. 10:23,
... for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.
Messiah’s
return is prophesied in Zech. 14:4 (see context) and Judeans (Jews)
will again be in Jerusalem and Judea when he returns. The house of David can
refer to King David’s descendants (see Luke 1:27), but in Zech. 12:10 this
refers
to Judeans (Jer. 17:19-26; 21:11,12), the Jewish people in general. Zech.
12:7,
And the LORD will give victory to the tents of Judah first,
so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah.
The
present ingathering of Jews is the first fulfilment for Israel’s regathering.
Eze. 36:24,28,
v 24, I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries,
and bring you into your own land.
v 28, Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors…
The present
ingathering of Jews to their homeland returns the same situation
that existed nineteen centuries ago, before their capture by Rome into Europe.
The social and spiritual condition of that time has reappeared in modern Israel;
this first part of God’s plan will not go further—until the sin of Matthew
27:25-26
is repented of. But when the Israelis enter into national repentance,
restoration
will continue to fulfilment. Rom. 11:26-27,
And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,
‘Out of Zion will come the Deliverer;
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’
‘And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’
(Psalm 14:7; Isaiah 59:20-21; 27:9)
The
present Jewish regathering mostly affects western Roman Diaspora Jews,
the descendants of European and Mediterranean Jews from the Roman captivity
both Ashkenazi and Sephardic. During the Roman Empire, these Judeans were
under the authority of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. God regathers these Jews
first,
for their rejection of Jesus is the
first issue
to be settled. Western Diaspora Jews,
descendants of Roman captivity, are still in obligation to
Jerusalem’s Sanhedrin.
The
ingathering of Western-world Jews to their homeland shall continue until
the antichrist empire of the end time (Dan. 7:19-25; 9:27; Matt. 24:15-22), a
time
of “distress for Jacob” (Jer. 30:7). The soon return of Messiah to Jerusalem
shall
bring to a close the first phase of Israel’s regathering. According to Rom.
11:15
the next scheduled event is the resurrection of the dead.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead!
The essay
entitled “The resurrection of the righteous” deals with this subject,
which is central for Israel’s regathering. The world resurrection will
bring back
the past generations fallen in death, represented by Lazarus.
John 11:24,
Martha said to him,
‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’
This
resurrection hope of Israel is prophesied in Ezekiel’s ‘dry bones’ vision.
Eze. 37:12-13,
‘Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD:
I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves,
O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves,
and bring you up from your graves, O my people.’
Ezekiel’s
vision shows resurrection. David’s return is
as Israel’s
king,
and as
a man in the flesh after thirty centuries in the grave. Eze.
37:24-25,
My servant David shall be king over them;
and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall
follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.
They shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,
in which your ancestors lived; and they shall dwell therein,
they and their children and their children’s children for ever;
and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
King
David will rise in the resurrection of the righteous, when Christ returns;
(John 5:28-29). The prophecy of King David’s return will fulfil literally; Jer.
30:9,
But they shall serve the LORD their God
and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
God views
New World Israel as a continuation of King David’s dynasty, which
has been fallen for almost three thousand years. Amos 9:11,
On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen,
and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old...
The
Jerusalem church apostles and elders, James as spokesman, declared in
Acts 15:15-17 that God is choosing Gentiles (non-Jews) and quoted as evidence
the Septuagint text of Amos 9:11 with v 12. The spiritualised Church
application
is true but the earthly kingdom promises remain. When the dynasty
of David
is rebuilt—it will include King David. Hosea 3:5,
Afterwards the Israelites shall return and seek the LORD their God,
and David their king; they shall come in awe to the LORD
and to his goodness in the latter days.
Eze. 34:23-24,
I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David,
and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.
And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David
shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.
The
earthly resurrection returns people to their human flesh nature for David
will be fathering children to successive generations forever. Jer.
33:17,22,
v 17, For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man
to sit on the throne of the house of Israel…
v 22, Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered
and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will increase
the offspring of my servant David, and the Levites who minister to me.
In these
Davidic texts we have proof that earthly resurrection is a central part
of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of David is an earthly inheritance. This is true
of the Law covenant generally. Peter said that David is not in heaven; Acts
2:34,
so his resurrection will be in earth. The ‘Transfiguration’ vision of the
Kingdom
(Mk. 9:1-4) shows that Moses and Elijah are in heaven. But David evidently will
inherit earth—which probably is also true for many other Old Testament saints.
The earthly resurrection shall be “as the sand of the sea,” and life will
continue
in earth forever—children being born generations without end (Ps. 103:17-19).
The expanding population of the new world will require ever-increasing space,
but in this infinitely expanding universe God has big plans.
Isaiah 9:7,
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David
and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice
and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
In this
world Israel has not received New covenant rebirth. That will come in
the new world at the time of resurrection. Isaiah
26:19,
Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust,
awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and
the earth will give birth to those long dead.
God’s
kingdom for both heaven and earth is prophetically called Zion;
she is
also said to be a mother of children. At the end of this age, in the earthly
aspect
Zion travails in birth pangs—preparing to give birth to the people
of New Earth
by resurrection of the dead; (see the essay, “The vision of Revelation
Twelve”).
This is referred to in Romans 8:21-22,
... that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and
will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know
that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now…
Born
again Christians, the heavenly elect, are Zion’s
firstborn
(Heb. 12:22-23;
Rev. 12:1-2,5; 1
Thes.
4:16-17; Isa.
66:7). Afterward the resurrected earthly elect
will appear, Zion’s last-born children. Isaiah
66:8-9,
v 8, Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labour she delivered her children.
v 9, Shall I open the womb and not deliver? says the LORD;
shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb? says your God.
At the
end of this age, Jerusalem will be under the control of antichrist armies
(Zech. 14:1-2; Matt. 24:15-21), but Christ’s return will put an end to this
trouble.
Resurrection of the fallen dead is the miracle that will satisfy hope; Isaiah
49:21,
Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away—
so who has reared these?
I was left all alone—where then have these come from?’
The full
reunion of the two nations Judah and Joseph is after resurrection, for
David, dead three millennia, will be Israel’s returning king (Eze. 37:24-25).
The
Jewish folk (“stick of Judah,” Eze. 37:15-22) is the only portion of Israel that
has
Jewish tradition for identity but the ten tribes (“stick of Joseph”) will also
come.
The reunion as Ezekiel foresaw cannot happen until the
ten tribes are identified
but the
resurrection will identify all the tribes and reunite them wherever they are.
Hosea said that Ephraim would not stay the usual time in Israel’s homeland, and
that his birth will be painful, but that one day God will rescue them from
Death.
Hosea 13:12-14,
v 12, Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up; his sin is kept in store.
v 13, The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for at
the proper time he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb.
v 14, Shall I ransom them the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them
from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol,
where is your destruction? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
The Hosea
13:14 text applies spiritually for Christian believers but as a literal
prophecy it is for the ten tribes led by Ephraim. These are Israel’s fallen
dead
from past times; their resurrection will be in the Jezreel valley!
Hosea 1:10-11,
v 10, Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea,
which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place
where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people’,
it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God.’
v 11, The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered
together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head; and they
shall take possession of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel!
Hosea
foresaw that Israel’s tribes will be in number “like the sand of the sea”
and will be
regathered
in the
place they were conquered.
The Jezreel valley is
a plain in lower Galilee, reaching from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the
Jordan River in the east. That is where Israel’s army was defeated (Hosea
1:4-5;
1 Kings 15:20; 2 Kings 15:29). The ten tribes led by Ephraim were put in Media,
the eastern side of Assyria, now part of northern Iran (2 Kings 17:6,23;
18:11).
In
resurrection multitudes of people will rise from earth like they fell to earth
in death. The Bible plays with words. The name “Jezreel” means ‘God will
sow’
(from the word ‘seed’). God ‘sowed’ the people of Israel in the earth—as seed
(Jezreel; Hosea 2:21-23) but they will later rise up again as grain.
John 12:24-25,
Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those
who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.
1 Cor. 15:35-38,
But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of
body do they come? Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless
it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow that body that is to be,
but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God
gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
John
12:24-25 applies to all resurrections both in heaven and earth for it is not
in this world that we receive our rewards but the new world. Jesus taught about
people of good works (Lk. 14:12-14)—saying that good deeds from this lifetime
have promise of resurrection in the new world.
In
ancient times Israel was a twelve-tribe nation. The tribes are a central part
of God’s plan for his future earthly kingdom. Jacob’s twelve sons were the
start
of the tribes (Gen. 35:23-26). They have Moses’ prophecies for the new world;
(Deut. 33). Prophecies of Israel’s regathering include the tribes. The
blessings
ultimately will include all the nations, for when Christ restores the twelve
tribes
all nationalities everywhere will come in; Israel will then be a world
kingdom.
Isaiah 49:6,
… he says, ‘It is too light a thing that you should be
my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’
In the
Kingdom age
all nations
will come to Zion to learn of God (Isaiah 2:2-3),
and then all people will have place among the tribes of Israel;
Eze. 47:21-23,
So you shall divide this land among you according to
the tribes of Israel. You shall allot it as an inheritance
for yourselves and for the aliens who reside among you
and have begotten children among you. They shall be to you
as citizens of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance
among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe aliens reside,
there you shall assign them their inheritance, says the Lord GOD.
The
tribal inheritances of new world Israel will extend world-wide to include
all people. The promises for Israel about land borders were for this world.
But
Israel of the future will be more than a nation,
it will be a
kingdom that extends
throughout the earth!
God’s kingdom will have no limits for size or citizenship.
In this world Israel’s land is small (from Egypt’s border to the Euphrates
River);
but New World Israel
will be full size: “from the River to the end of the earth.”
And the dominion will expand farther to other worlds beyond earth as needed.
God’s new
world kingdom will be infinite in size but in a symbolic sense can
be described as Israel was—“from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River.”
Figuratively Egypt represents this present evil world, which will soon end. The
original Euphrates River was in Eden and it represents eternal paradise. So the
typology meaning of—“from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River” is that
the Kingdom will extend from the end of this world to God’s eternal
paradise.
“Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will behold a land that
stretches
far away” (Isaiah 33:17). Isaiah
49:19-20,
Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too crowded 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 hearing:
‘The place is too crowded for me; make room for me to settle.’
The Bible
says that many nations will come and join with Israel but it nowhere
says they would ever leave. Those coming to Zion to learn God’s ways become
Jews. No more aliens, they are with God’s covenant people. Israel’s kingdom
territory will be expanded—to eventually become world-wide. Isaiah 56:6-7,
And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him,
to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the
Sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant—these I will
bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Isaiah 26:15,
But you have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the
nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
Isaiah 54:2-3,
Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be
stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen
your stakes; for you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your
descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns.
God is coming
to dwell among the people of earth in his kingdom
(Rev.
21:3).
This is the people of Zion: all who are joined to the LORD.
Zech. 2:10-11,
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your
midst, says the LORD. Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD
on that day and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst.
And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
In the New Earth the requirement will be obedience to God’s law; Micah 4:2,
… and many nations shall come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to
the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.’
The New
covenant is firstly for restored Israel (Jer. 31:31-34; Eze. 20:37), and
is then open to all. When explaining covenants, Paul refers to Sarah and Hagar,
two women in Abraham’s life (Gal. 4:21-31). Sarah typifies the New covenant of
the Church. But the earthly New covenant (of Jer. 31:31-34 and
Is. 59:21) is not
typified by Sarah, nor by Hagar. The New covenant promise applies spiritually
to the Church (Heb. 8:6-13) but the earthly promise remains. Therefore we ask,
“Who represents the future New covenant of earth, for Israel and
the world?”
Paul’s
evangelistic work was only for the heavenly call; he did not go further.
But it is now time to teach the New covenant’s earthly hope. After Sarah’s
death
Abraham married another wife. Keturah represents the New covenant of earth.
Gen. 25:1,
Abraham again took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
1 Chron. 1:32,
The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine:
She bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
Keturah
was the third mother of Abraham’s children, so she typifies the third
covenant with promise of life. She was a mother long before marriage. Her six
sons were born when she was Abraham’s concubine (a legal mistress); they are
children of concubinage (Gen. 25:6; 1
Chron. 1:32). On Keturah’s wedding day
they were adopted as Abraham’s sons—with all normal rights as sons!
Abraham
was their natural father; but they could not be ‘his sons’ until he
married Keturah
(after Sarah’s death). Keturah
waited for an honourable marriage, and her sons
waited for honourable rights even while dwelling
together in Abraham’s home.
There is
a beautiful symbolism in this. Abraham represents God as husband
of the covenants, and the Father of everyone born into them. His life shows the
plan of God for man. Sarah’s death typifies the end of the Church age. Keturah
typifies the New covenant of earth with life rights for the world,
to be declared
after the Church is gone. All that were born on earth prior to the Kingdom are
typified in Keturah’s six sons. Her marriage day typifies the start of the
earthly
New covenant, and the adoption
of her sons typifies resurrection for
the
world.
Matthew 3:9,
... God is able from these stones* to raise up children to Abraham.
*(“from these stones” indicates an earthly resurrection)
Abraham’s
family was Aramean. The name Keturah (in Aramaic) is
‘riddle’
or
‘tied knot.’ We are glad to have untied this knot of Bible typology.
The New
covenant is God’s kingdom for heaven but also for earth. There are
two parts because the Kingdom has two people groups: heavenly and earthly.
Each group is different because their inheritances are different. 1
Cor.
15:40,
There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but
the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another.
In the
Church age the New covenant has called people into heaven, a
calling
typified by Sarah; but after the Church call has ended the New covenant of the
Kingdom age will be calling people into their earthly inheritance.
Even now
in the last days, people of faith are entering the New covenant’s earthly
calling,
typified by Keturah. This is God’s plan for our time. God is increasingly
calling
people into the earthly inheritance as his return draws nigh; they are becoming
“the elect” of the last days (Mark 13:20-27). Many believers now living will
live
through the tribulation time to the Lord’s return—and into his Kingdom.
The New
covenant offers soul and spirit renewal (Eze. 36:26) and a new body
(Eze. 37:4-14; Jn. 5:25-29). God’s law will be written in people’s heart and
mind
(Jer. 31:33-34; Is. 59:21), and people shall be made righteous forever.
Is. 60:21,
Your people shall all be righteous;
they shall possess the land for ever. They are the shoot that I planted,
the work of my hands, so that I might be glorified.
Jesus
Christ is Lord of the New covenant; the saved nations (Rev. 21:24) shall
inherit life in the New covenant. All those in the New covenant
of earth are the
‘other sheep’ of John 10:16 (Eze. 34:11-23 and 36:37-38). All the
sheep, both in
heaven and earth bow to the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every
family in heaven and on earth takes its name” (Eph. 3:14-15). Eze.
20:37-38,
I will make you pass under the staff, and I will bring you within
the bond of the covenant. I will purge out the rebels among you,
and those who transgress against me; I will bring them out of
the land where they reside as aliens, but they shall not enter
the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
The
purpose of Israel is to bless the world (Gen. 12:2-3) but the blessing is in
the New covenant; those that refuse the New covenant shall not be regathered.
The Kingdom standard is the New covenant and the chosen instrument is Israel.
We should all pray for Jerusalem’s peace—“For there the thrones for judgment
were set up, the thrones of the house of David” (Psalm 122:5-6).