What happens when Israel returns from captivity?

As we already have learned, Israel and Judah go into captivity at the end of Jacob’s Trouble.

They are taken captive and scattered throughout the world into many nations and Islands.

Isa 11:11  It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

It would appear that they remain in captivity for 2 -3 years.

Hos 6:2  After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.

The nation which takes them captive is a cruel nation.

Deu 28:49  The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,

Deu 28:50  a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young.

Deu 28:51  And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.

Deu 28:52  “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.

As we have shown previously, Jacob’s Trouble has a terrible toll on Israel.

2/3rds of the population will die of sword, wild beasts, famine and disease. We have shown that the population of Israel at present is about 424,000,000.

2/3rds will die that is 280,000,000. That leaves 141,000,000. These people will go into captivity. Only 1/10th come out of captivity alive. Which means only 14,000,000 will survive the captivity and Jacob’s trouble.

Before they are rescued from captivity they must learn many valuable lessons. They must realise that their ways have been wrong.

They must repent and return to God.

They must realise that Jacob’s Trouble has been for their ultimate salvation.

This is what God had to do to them before they would see the errors of their ways.

God wants the Israelites to have a changed heart.

Lev 26:39  And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.

Lev 26:40  ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

Lev 26:41  and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt

Lev 26:42  then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land.

Whilst the Israelites are in captivity, God expects that His end time church will feed them and care for them, physically and spiritually.

Notice these following scriptures which show that the church should have looked after Israel.

Eze 34:2  “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

The following Israelites have been through Jacob’s Trouble, they desperately need the church to help them. The church have not sought after Israel.

Eze 34:4  The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.

The church was only interested in feeding itself, they did not care about Israel.

Eze 34:8  “As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”

Because the church will not go after Israel and try to find it and help it, God the Father has to do it Himself.

Eze 34:11  ‘For thus says the Lord GOD: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.

God provides both physical and spiritual food and drink for His church, but they do not pass on these things to Israel.

Eze 34:18  Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet?

The church did not care about giving Israel the best of the food and water, they took that for themselves. This is also referring to spiritual food.

Eze 34:19  And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”

David is God’s trusted servant, and he will feed them. Both David and the Father rescue Israel from captivity.

Eze 34:23  I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.

The following scripture shows clearly that the Father brings Israel back from captivity.

Psa 14:7  Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

Once Israel have been through the captivity, their heart is changed to God.

Eze 34:30  Thus they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people,” says the Lord GOD.’ ”

Elijah goes to them and turns their hearts.

Mal 4:5  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

Mal 4:6  And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

Mat 17:10  And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

Mat 17:11  Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.

The following scripture shows that Elijah may go to them after they have been in captivity for two years then God rescues them in the third year of captivity.

Hos 6:2  After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.

Notice the changed attitude of the Israelites when they return from captivity.

Eze 14:22  Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it.

Eze 14:23  And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it,” says the Lord GOD.

And notice again.

Hos 6:1  Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

Isa 29:23  But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel.

Isa 29:24  These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine.”

Notice how they realised that God had to bring Jacob’s Trouble on them so they would change their ways.

Eze 6:9  Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations.

Eze 6:10  And they shall know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.”

Now that they have a changed attitude God sets His hand to rescue them.

NOTICE THAT IT IS GOD THE FATHER WHO RESCUES ISRAEL

Jer 16:14  “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,’

Jer 16:15  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.

Notice how God says He will lead them out.

Jer 31:8  Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall return there.

Jer 31:9  They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.

Deu 30:3  that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.

God changes the Egyptian Sea, and makes a highway for the Israelites so they can come out of captivity. Notice there was also a highway for the ancient Israelites.

Isa 11:15  The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dryshod.

Isa 11:16  There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.

Notice this amazing scripture, it shows The Father going on ahead of the Israelites and Israel’s King passing before them.

Mic 2:12  “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.

Mic 2:13  The one who breaks open will come up before them; They will break out, Pass through the gate, And go out by it; Their king will pass before them, With the LORD at their head.”

The king who shall pass before them is the resurrected King David.

Jer 30:9  But they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them.

Further confirmation of David the King of Israel.

Eze 34:23  I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.

Eze 34:24  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.

What do you think will happen to the nations which held the Israelites captive? Let’s notice this scripture for this new knowledge on this subject.

Isa 14:1  For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob.

Isa 14:2  Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the LORD; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.

Isa 14:3  It shall come to pass in the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve,

Isa 14:4  that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased!

Isa 14:5  The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of the rulers;

Not only will they rule over their oppressors, on their way back to Jerusalem they will fight a number of battles as well. Notice the following.

Isa 11:12  He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

Isa 11:13  Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

Isa 11:14  But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them.

Isa 11:15  The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dryshod.

When surrounding nations see what is going on with Israel and Judah, and that they are indeed God’s people, they join themselves to Israel.

Isa 56:8  The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

Zec 2:11  “Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.

When the Israelites were taken captive, their children were taken from them. They had no idea what would become of them.

Deu 28:32  Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand.

Let’s see what amazing things are going to happen to those children.

Isa 49:20  The children you will have, After you have lost the others, Will say again in your ears, ‘The place is too small for me; Give me a place where I may dwell.’

Isa 49:21  Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me, Since I have lost my children and am desolate, A captive, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought these up? There I was, left alone; But these, where were they?’ ”

Isa 49:22  Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;

Isa 49:23  Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

And notice.

Isa 29:23  But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel.

Isa 29:24  These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine.”

Isn’t that amazing the children of Israel will be brought back unharmed and the Kings and Queens of the oppressing nations will be their nurses. How amazing, how God can turn things around.

Let’s recap on what we have learned.

The Israelites and Judah had to go through Jacob’s Trouble to see how they had to change their ways.

During their captivity, Elijah turns their heart to the Father and the Father’s heart to them. Israel then realise the error of their ways.

The Father sends people to gather the Israelites in one area, then the Father and David bring the Israelites back to Jerusalem, their children are given back to them.

There is a highway for them to come back on, surrounding people join in with the Israelites. They fight battles on the way back. David is their King forever, and the Father will live with them forever at His future return.

This is truly an amazing story. What happens after Israel return to Jerusalem is equally as interesting.