The Differentiator
Vol. 31 New Series February, 1969 No. 1
Under this heading the whole Nation of Israel (Northern and Southern kingdoms, Judah with Benjamin and all the ten tribes are comprehended) is scattered amongst the Nations of earth, as prophesied through Moses in Leviticus 26:27-33
"And if ye will not for all this hearken unto Me, but walk contrary unto Me; . . . I will scatter you among the heathen(Nations), and will draw out a sword after you: and yourland shall be desolate, and your cities waste."Is are amplified in Deuteronomy 4:23-31.
"Take heed to yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant ofthe Lord Our God, . . and shall do evil in the sight of theLord thy God, to provoke Him to anger: . . ye shallutterly perish from off the land. . . . ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And theLord shall scatter you among the Nations, and ye shall beleft few in number. . . .whither the Lord shall lead you. . . .But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thoushalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thine heart and all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all thesethings are come upon thee, even in the latter days (Hebrew—ACHARITH YAMIM), if thou shalt turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient unto His voice."But there is more to it than that. It is revealed to us in Deut. 30:1-6:
"And it must occur that when all these words will comeupon you, the blessing and the malediction, which I have put before you, and you have brought them back to yourheart among all the Nations where Jehovah your God hasdispersed you, and you have returned to Jehovah your God and listened to His voice according to all that I am com-manding you today, you and your sons, with all your heartand all your soul, Jehovah your God must also bring back your captives and show you mercy and collect you againfrom all the peoples where Jehovah your God has scatteredyou. If your dispersed people should be at the end of theheavens, from there Jehovah your God will collect you andfrom there He will take you. Jehovah your God will indeedbring you into the land of which your fathers took possession,and you will certainly take possession of it; and He willindeed do you good and multiply you more than yourfathers. And Jehovah your God will have to circumciseyour heart and the heart of your offspring that you may love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all yoursoul for the sake of your life." (N.W.V.)Now, there can be no misunderstanding that God, speaking through Moses was addressing the children of Israel that had been redeemed out of Egypt in all three of these passages and in so doing he was addressing them as a Nation separated from all other Nations, and so separated for the carrying out of His purposes. They were of the direct line from the twelve patriarchs, sons of Jacob, grand sons of Isaac, the son of promise of Abraham, with whom God made His covenant of promise. It is in this connection that we return to Lev. 26:40-42, remembering that we left off at verse 33, "If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of theirfathers, with their trespass which they trespassed againstMe, and that also they have walked contrary unto Me; andthat I also have walked contrary unto them, and havebrought them into the land of their enemies; if then theiruncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept thepunishment of their iniquity: then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, andalso my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and Iwill remember the land."There can be absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Jehovah the God of Israel, who foresaw the scattering of the Nation, intended to restore them to the land that their fathers possessed and that it was to take place "in the latter days" (ACHARITH YAMIM). It was also to take place after the Nation, in humility, had prostrated themselves before Jehovah their God, confessing their sins and the sins of their fathers in the face of some tribulation (Heb.—TSAR). In Jeremiah 30:7 it is stated,
"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it iseven the time of Jacob's trouble (Heb.—TSARAH)."This passage goes on to say, "For it shall come to pass that in that day, saith the Lordof hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more servethemselves of him; but they shall serve the Lord theirGod."Then, in verses 22 and 24, we read "And ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. Thefierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until He have doneit, and until He hath performed the intents of His heart: inthe latter days (ACHARITH YAMIM) ye shall consider it."Continuing, in chapter thirty-one:
"At the same time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of allthe families of Israel, and they shall be My people. . .TheLord appeared unto me, saying, I have loved thee with aneverlasting (Heb. OLAM, eonian) love: therefore withlovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I will buildthee, . . Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains ofSamaria:. . Behold , I will bring them from the Northcountry, and gather them from the coasts of the earth . . .Hear the word of the Lord, O ye Nations, and declareit . . He that scattereth Israel will gather him . . for theLord hath redeemed Jacob. . .(verses 27 and 28) Behold, thedays come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house ofIsrael and the house of Judah with the seed of man and theseed of beast. And it shall come to pass that like as I havewatched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and tothrow down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watchover them to build, and to plant, saith the Lord."Jeremiah 16:14 and 15 and 23:7 and 8 express in slightly differing words much the same thought, declaring:
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, the Lord liveth, that 16 23brought up the children of brought up and which ledIsrael from the land of the the seed of the house ofNorth , and from all the Israel out of the Northlands whither He had driven country, and from all thethem : and I will bring countries whither I hadthem again into their land driven them; and they shallthat I gave unto their dwell in their own land.” fathers.”It may be seen from these two passages that the exodus from Egypt is a type of the greater exodus that is to come at the commencement of the 'latter days' (ACHARITH YAMIM) and just as the disunited tribes in bondage in Egypt were, by the Spirit of God united and in a night became a Nation, the Nation redeemed by the Lord, even so in the exodus to come the divided and scattered Nation will once more be united in their removal from all the countries of the earth to the rallying point before entry into the land of their fathers. It is here that we turn to Ezekiel 20:33-38 for a very detailed account of what is to happen. (In order to vary the English the N.W.V. is given, which can well be compared with any other).
"As I am alive, is the utterance of the Lord Jehovah, itwill be with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm and with outpoured rage that I will rule as king over you people.And I will bring you forth from the peoples, and I willcollect you together out of the lands to which you have beenscattered with a strong hand and a stretched out arm andwith outpoured rage. And I will bring you into the wildernessof the peoples and put Myself on judgment with you thereface to face. Just as I put Myself on judgment with yourfathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will Iput Myself on judgment with you, is the utterance of theLord Jehovah. And I will make you to pass under the rodand bring you into the bond of the covenant. And I willclean out from you the revolters and the transgressors, forout of the land of their alien residence I shall bring themforth, but onto the soil of Israel they will not come; and you people will have to know that I am Jehovah."There are numerous other passages that are parallel to these, declaring the intention of the Lord Jehovah the God of Israel, many of them repetition, other explaining or expanding the theme, but all strengthening what has already been quoted. No excuse is offered for these lengthy quotations from the Scriptures themselves. It is "the Word of God that is alive and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword," not our opinions, nor our interpretations of that Word. The Holy Spirit alone can enlighten us through the Word. We can bur hold it forth and indicate its sequence, that others may be led to grasp what we have been shown therein, praying in earnest that they may see and understand.
Before closing, attention should be drawn to one other passage, that described. at great length the deep feelings of a man of God on this subject, when he was given visions of "what shall be in the 'latter days'" (ACHARITH YAMIM), the prophet Daniel. He was considering at the time the prophecies of Jeremiah and he was brought to his knees in prayer and supplication, and sackcloth and ashes:
"And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made myconfession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God,keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, andto them that keep His commandments; we have sinned, andhave committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and haverebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and Thyjudgments: neither have we hearkened unto Thy servantsthe prophets, which spake in the name of our kings, ourprinces and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. OLord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto usconfusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, andto the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, near andfar off, through all the countries whither Thou has driventhem, because of their trespass and they have trespassedagainst Thee. . . O Lord hear; O Lord forgive; O Lordhearken and do: defer not for Thine own sake, O myGod: for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name."By some catastrophe, bringing further distress, affliction and persecution, God's people Israel, known and unknown to us are by the words of the prophets heading for the time of Jacob's. trouble (which is not the great tribulation of the sunteleia tou aiOnios, the prelude to the restoration, the world wide exodus. The words of Daniel 9:3-19 are the words that the Lord their God desires to hear from every home and synagogue the world over. It will come, be it soon or later, but the longer it is withheld the deeper into trouble they will go. Israel has today no sacrifice to offer for sin or trespass and Godward they are helpless; but in so far as they are Nationally concerned, there are yet two words of real comfort; The first is in Ezekiel 11:16.
"Thus saith the Lord God; although I have cast themfar off among the heathens (Nations), and although I havescattered them among the countries, yet will I be to themas a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come."The other is from Psalm 51:17-19.
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and acontrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good inThy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thou the walls ofJerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrificesof righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar."
J.G.H. Steedman
