Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends

of the earth; even every one that is called by My Name: for I have

created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him'

(Isa. 43:3 -7).

Like the apostle, who esteemed his life of suffering; 'light' while he

kept in mind the 'eternal weight' of glory that would be his at the end, the

Lord said to Israel:

'For a small moment (one period at least has lasted nineteen hundred

years!) have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather

thee' (Isa. 54:7).

The context leads us to the glory of restored Jerusalem, a faint

adumbration on earth of the splendour of the heavenly city (Isa. 54:11,12).

The testimony of Jeremiah and of Ezekiel is in entire harmony with what we

have already seen.  The reader may appreciate the references for his own

meditation: Jeremiah 29:14; 31:8,10 and 32:37; Ezekiel 20:34,41; 28:25;

34:13; 36:24 and 39:27.  Hosea, who uses the symbolic words Jezreel and Lo -

ammi, says:

'Then (see verse 10) shall the children of Judah and the children of

Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall

come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel' (Hos. 1:11).

Micah has a word to say concerning the gathering of Israel:

'I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the

remnant of Israel ... and their king shall pass before them, and the

Lord on the head of them'.

'In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I

will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and

I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a

strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from

henceforth, even for ever' (Micah 2:12,13; 4:6,7).

It is possible that the gathering of 2:12 will be for Israel's

cleansing and purging, the figure 'the sheep of Bosrah' rather suggesting

this than immediate blessing, but one thing is certain, the Lord is their

'king' and He is not an absent King reigning from heaven.  He 'reigns' over

them 'in Mount Zion' and so fixes this gathering as taking place at the

Lord's coming and reign.

This refining and purifying is referred to in Malachi 3:1 -3 and 4:5,6,

where the words 'I will send My messenger' and 'I will send Elijah' reveal

that just as John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and

whose ministry overlapped the advent of the King the first time, so Malachi 3

and 4 show a similar ministry at the time of the Lord's Second Coming.  When

the Redeemer shall come to Zion, when He establishes with them His covenant,

then and then only will it be possible to say:

'Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is

risen upon thee' (Isa. 60:1, see also 59:20,21).

Any attempt to isolate Isaiah 60:1 from its context must be resisted,

the glory of the Lord will not rise upon Israel until the Lord of glory

returns (see Isaiah 59:20,21).  Only when the Lord's way has been prepared,