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(2)
The countries of the dispersed remnant are named, but the full quota of Israel and Judah will
come from the four quarters of the earth.
(3)
When this gathering takes place, the whole house of Israel, including the ten tribes, and Judah
will become one nation again, as Ezek. 37: 16-22 declares.
(4)
This gathering will be "the second time" of Acts 7: 13 and Heb. 9: 28.
Isa. 43: contains a glowing prophecy of Israel's re-gathering:
"For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy
ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been
honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy
life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee
from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, 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 contexts 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: Jer. 29: 14; 31: 8, 10 and 32: 37;
Ezek. 20: 34, 41; 28: 25; 34: 13; 36: 24 and 39: 27. Hosea, who uses the
symbolic words of Jezreel or 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" (Hosea 1: 10, 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 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 Mal. 3: 1-3 and 4: 5, 6, where
the words "I will send My messenger" and "I will send Elijah" reveal that just as