35 So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.” Ezekiel 36:35-36
You see that, in the Bible, it says very clearly in many passages that one of the signs of the last days will be the restoration of the Jewish people from their dispersion through the nations back to the land of Israel, back to the Middle East.
And we can see, also from many scriptures, in Ezekiel, in Jeremiah, in Isaiah, in Zechariah and other passages in the Hebrew scriptures as well as, and it is implied in Jesus’ own prophecies concerning the last days that Jerusalem is going to be at the epicentre of the biblical end time events, when the Jewish people return to the land of Israel in the last days.
There are a number of scriptures. We’ll just read one of them in Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 24 it says
24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:24-28
And this passage in Ezekiel you have a two-stage restoration. First of all a physical restoration through which God is going to ‘gather you out of the nations, bring you into your own land‘, and then it says, there is a spiritual restoration: ‘I’m going to sprinkle clean water on you and you should be clean. I’ll cleanse you from all your idols, I’ll give you a new heart and a new spirit.‘
Does anybody here have a new heart and a new spirit? Yeah! How did you get a new heart and new spirit? Who did you believe in? Yes! Sure! In Jesus!
So, this scripture is implying that something is going to happen in the latter days which will bring a time of trouble upon Israel but also will turn their hearts to God.
And God will reveal to a number of Jewish people that Yeshua is the Messiah, and give them a new heart and a new spirit when they come to that revelation. And when Yeshua comes back in person, then, they will dwell safely in the land that ‘I gave to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob‘.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34
You can see there are huge number of scriptures in the Hebrew prophets which outline this taking place. The Bible also says there’s going to be opposition to this from the nations round about it.
Psalm 83 verse 2 says,
2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” Psalm 83:2-4
These hostile nations (and it lists them in the following verses), but many believe that it’s just a a statement of the spirit which is going to be there following the return of Israel to the land, a hostile group of people saying “Let’s cut them off from being a nation that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” What do these people want to do they want to destroy Israel
What does Iran want to do? What does Hezbollah want to do? What does Hamas want to do? They want to destroy Israel. The Palestinian Authority also has its plan to destroy Israel but they are little bit more subtle about it. Basically, you have a plan to destroy Israel.
Israel doesn’t want to be destroyed, so it’s takes measures to defend itself. Who can blame them?
Now, one of the other points which comes out in the scriptures is that there is going to be a conflict over the status of Jerusalem.
When Israel first came into being as a state, it was divided between the east, in what became the Palestinian era under Jordan, and the west which was under Israel and became the place where the Israeli government was seated. It was divided from 1948 to 1967 by a barbwire wall (like the Berlin wall), and you couldn’t go from one side to the other. Jews couldn’t go to the holy places which were in the old city, they couldn’t go to the Western Wall. They were all expelled from that part and Jerusalem was a divided city.
In 1967, Israel took possession of the old city of Jerusalem. The Jordanians left and Israel took, in fact, the whole of the area known as the West Bank or Judea and Samaria and has been occupying or ruling it since that time.
Then you had the Palestinian Authority coming in and now we have a question about what should be the settlement: should Jerusalem again be divided between the east and the west with the east under Palestine and the west under Israel? What should be the answer to this question?
The whole conflict centers on Jerusalem and in seeking a solution to the status of Jerusalem. Is that in the Bible? Yes. Go to Zechariah chapter 12 and read:
2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. Zechariah 12:2-3
So, you’re going to have a situation which is going to involve not just Israel and the surrounding nations but all nations who are seeking to find a resolution to the status of Jerusalem. Do you see anything like that happening in the world today?
What’s the UN continually going on about? Finding a solution to Jerusalem. You’ve got all the nations of the world trying to impose or find a solution to the status of Jerusalem, and they want Israel out of the old city of Jerusalem. They want Israel out of the holy places, they want some kind of either a UN-based government there or else, they want it in the hands of the Palestinians.
Israel doesn’t want that to happen. So, you have apparently unsolvable conflict over that area.