The Great Exodus — House of David Ministries
One of the most profound stories in human history is how God miraculously delivered the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. At that moment, they became His people, heritage, and His Holy nation. Never had this happened to any group of people, and still, the Lord made a promise that one day He would do something even more spectacular and demonstratively powerful.
The Lord declared, “Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15, NKJV).[i]
There is much to understand from these verses, and several questions arise. When will this deliverance take place? Is this passage only for the children of Israel, or is the church somehow connected? How does the regathering differ from the resurrection and rapture of the church? And will this deliverance come with great judgments, like those against Egypt?
We need to understand that while the church and Israel are intricately connected, they are also dispensationally somewhat different. Yeshua spoke of two resurrections, promising a special blessing to those who are part of the first one.[ii] The church, along with the Old Testament saints, is part of this first resurrection.[iii]
When Yeshua died on the cross, many graves were opened. As we read, “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:51-53). The dispensation of the first resurrection has begun.
For us who are part of this dispensation, we will be transformed from this mortal body to one that is imperishable and undefiled by sin.[iv] Yeshua compared us to the angels when He said, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30).
The Apostle Paul said: “Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him” (Ephesians 1:9-10).
Here we read that Christ and His church were a mystery that was birthed out of the nation of Israel.[v] The church now comprises every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, including a remnant of the Jewish people.[vi] We are the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham, the father of Israel and the father of many nations—the Gentiles.[vii]
The promise is that together (Jew and Gentile) would be adopted into God’s family to become sons of God and His holy city, the New Jerusalem, and the place of His dwelling—a city not built with stone but made on hearts of flesh by the spirit of God.[viii] We are the ecclesia of God’s people, the body of Christ, and the Church.
The Gentiles have been grafted into Israel to become fellow citizens with the Jewish people and members of God’s household.[ix] Yeshua said, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).
Therefore, every nation has its portion of God’s inheritance connected to Israel. As it is written, “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 32:8).
Those who attach themselves to Jacob and take root in him, their inheritance is part of the tribe the Lord has joined them to. As we read, “And it shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger dwells, there you shall give him his inheritance, says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 47:23).
So again, while Israel and the church are distinctly unique for this season, we are also eternally connected.[x] There will come a time when God will restore all things; as it is written (emphasis added), “Therefore He shall give them [natural Israel] up, Until the time that she [the church] who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren [natural unsaved Israel] Shall return to the children of Israel [true Israel]” (Micah 5:3).
In this verse, we learn much about the dispensations of God’s salvation for Israel and the nations. Paul said it this way, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:11). Thus, Israel’s salvation and final redemption will come in two parts.
For a season, God will give them up, meaning He will turn away from Israel and focus His attention on the salvation of the nations to provoke Israel to jealousy. There will always be a remnant of Israel saved by grace.[xi] “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew” (Romans 11:2). However, the church today is primarily comprised of the nations. This dispensation is called the time or fullness of the Gentiles and the church age.
This period will continue until the resurrection and rapture of the church. At that time, we, who are in Christ, will receive our final redemption and will be birthed and revealed to the creation when we return with Christ. As we read, “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19).
On the Day of the Lord, the remnant of unsaved Israel will return to the true children of Israel, who are in Christ. The church will be joined with Israel to become one people of God, and Israel’s restoration will be complete. The Kingdom of God will be established on the earth. And the church and Israel will reign with Christ as kings and priests over the nations for all eternity.
One important detail. While the church will be delivered into eternal life as part of the first resurrection, Abraham’s natural seed will not yet. We read in Isaiah about the dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom where mortal men and women are given and taken in marriage, and death still reigns:
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed… For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people… They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them” (Isaiah 65:20-23).
The last enemy to be destroyed will be death, the death of death. As we read, “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).
In our current dispensation, God is saving a remnant of Israel and the nations in Christ. Afterward, He will gather the Jewish people’s unsaved remnant, drawing them back to Himself and the land He promised to Abraham. We read:
“For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness” (Isaiah 10:22).
“Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who will remain. And He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:11-12).
“I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, until no more room is found for them” (Zechariah 10:10).
“Therefore say: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again” (Ezekiel 11:17).
“The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines” (Nahum 2:2).
At first, the Lord will draw the children of Israel like a fisherman. But if they harden their hearts, then He will bring judgment against them and the nations where they were scattered. As it is written, “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks” (Jeremiah 16:16).
Twice we read in the book of Jeremiah, “Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you, says the Lord, ‘to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished” (Jeremiah 30:10-11).
Twice clearly indicates God’s assured promise to bring the children of Israel back to Himself and their land, but also to judge them severely for their rejection of Him. As it is written, “They shall walk after the LORD. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, Then His sons shall come trembling from the west” (Hosea 11:10). Israel’s return to their land will happen per God’s word and cannot be altered.
The first resurrection and rapture is the time of Israel’s redemption, and the season is most probably around Passover as we read in Jeremiah, “It shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’”
However, because most of Israel rejected their Messiah, the Lord has invited the nations to His table. Yeshua said, “Many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12).
Those who continue to reject Yeshua (Jew and Gentile) will miss the time of their visitation and, sadly, will endure the tribulation and the wrath of the Lamb.[xii] The Lord declared to Israel, “Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have poured out My fury on you” (Ezekiel 22:20-22).
If we understand the eschatological timeline correctly, Israel’s return to the land will largely occur before the tribulation. However, redemption and returning are not the same.
Redemption is our deliverance from sin and this fallen world into the Kingdom of God. As it is written, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Returning is the physical act of moving to the land of Israel. And until Yeshua returns, Israel will remain under the kingdom of darkness.
The Jewish people who continue to reject Christ will endure God’s judgments throughout the earth, culminating in the battle of Armageddon against Jerusalem. As we read, “For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, the houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Ezekiel 14:2).
These dispensations give us an understanding of God’s word and the seeming paradox. Why would the Lord gather the Jewish people back to Israel, bring the nations against them in a destructive final battle, and uproot them again?
The Lord is gathering Israel back to the land so they might receive Christ before the first resurrection and the rapture. But as we read in scripture, only a remnant will believe, and the rest will go through the refinement of God’s purifying fire. As it is written, “For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness” (Isaiah 10:22).
The Prophet Daniel wrote concerning the time of the Anti-Christ: “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10).
When Christ returns with His resurrected church on the Day of the Lord, He will deliver and redeem the last remnant of Israel with great signs and wonders, forgiving their sins and forever planting them in the land He promised to Abraham; as we read in Micah:
“As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; They shall put their hand over their mouth; Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of You. Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob And mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old” (Micah 7:15-20).
We witnessed the fulfillment of God’s word in 1948 and have now seen the Jewish people returning to Israel for more than seventy years. The only country yet to see the great exodus is the United States. Nearly thirty-nine percent of the world’s Jewish population reside here, more than every other nation combined, except for Israel itself.
America appears to be under judgment, certainly shaking by the Lord for many things. But one rises above all else. God is tearing down the golden curtain of economic prosperity that keeps the Jewish people in bondage and discourages them from returning to Israel. As the Lord declared twice in Jeremiah, “Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice and will not let you go altogether unpunished.”
Political and economic instability have already increased anti-Semitism in nearly every country, including the United States. God will bring the Jewish people home, as He declared: “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters.”
Amid our present trials, we must continue to look to the future and the time of our redemption. As Yeshua said, “When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).
Escape what things? The tribulation and the wrath of the Lamb. Escape how? The rapture and resurrection.
The Lord will fulfill every word of prophecy concerning the Jewish people and the land of Israel—the heart of God’s Kingdom and His Holy city, Jerusalem. As we read, “When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4).
For the Lord declared: “For you [Israel] are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6). “In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6).
The church is called to restore and rebuild God’s Kingdom and the nations. As we read, “And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers” (Isaiah 61:4-5).
Most importantly, we are called to love the Jewish people, sharing the gospel will all who might receive the Spirit of truth.[xiii] And we are called to protect and help the Jewish people return to their land (make Aliyah), now and in their coming time of sorrow.
On that future day when the Lord stands on the Mount of Olives, opposite the Temple Mount, and Christ’s Holy ones, His church is standing with Him; we will be joined with the remnant of Israel and the nations that survived the tribulation.
And, “A great multitude [the ecclesia and church of God] which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, [will stand] before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and [will cry] out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10).
[i] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[ii] Revelation 20:5-6.
[iii] 1 Peter 4:6.
[iv] 1 Corinthians 15:53. 1 Peter 1:4.
[v] John 4:22.
[vi] John 4:22. Revelation 5:9.
[vii] Genesis 17:4.
[viii] Ezekiel 11:19. Romans 8:15, 8:23.
[ix] Ephesians 2:19.
[x] Zechariah 2:11.
[xi] Romans 11:5.
[xii][xii] Luke 19:43-44. Revelation 6:16.
[xiii] 2 Thessalonians 2:10.
