11 Irrefutable Signs We Are in the Last Days :: By Pete Garcia

[Andy C]

1. Israel brought back a second time (Isaiah 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” (Isaiah 11:11).

Isaiah foretold a second regathering of Israel distinct from the return from Babylon.

• The first scattering occurred from 605 to 586BC by the Babylonians.
• The first regathering happened after the Babylonian captivity, beginning in 538-37BC.
• The second scattering occurred in 70AD by the Roman Empire.
• The second regathering is global in scope, from “the four corners of the earth,” which aligns with the modern rebirth of Israel in 1948 and ongoing Aliyah.
• This regathering occurs in unbelief, setting the stage for future national repentance (Ezekiel 37:11, Zechariah 12:10).

1. Third Temple coming (Matthew 24:1-3, 15)

“Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’ 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

…15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand)”

Matthew 24:1-3, 15 (my emphasis)

• The temple and the city’s destruction foretold by Jesus in one other place: (Luke 19:44) (Palm Sunday). It was falsely attributed to Him— John 2:19 (see Matt 26:61).
• Jesus acknowledged the destruction of the Second Temple while simultaneously pointing to a future desecration of it.
• Matthew 24:15 presupposes a standing sanctuary where the abomination of desolation occurs.
• Paul reinforces this in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, describing a man of sin entering the temple of God.
• Temple preparations today indicate readiness without requiring prophetic speculation.

1. Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles until the fullness (Luke 21:24)

“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).

• Jesus declared Jerusalem would remain under Gentile domination until the defined prophetic limit is reached.
• Many empires over the past two thousand years have sought to rename Jerusalem and erase it from history. All have failed.
  • Aelia Capitolina: The Roman emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem after the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 A.D., and it was called that until 324 A.D., when Emperor Constantine I changed its name back to Jerusalem.
  • Al-Quds (Arabic): Meaning “The Holy One,” widely used by Muslims instead of Jerusalem.
  • Bayt al-Maqdis (Arabic): “The Holy House,” referring to the Jewish Temple.
• Major Far and Near East cities of antiquity whose names did not survive time.
  • Alexandropolis → Kandahar
  • Byzantium → Constantinople → Istanbul
  • Ninevah → Mosul (Iraq)
  • Babylon → Hillah (Iraq)
• Although Israel regained control of Jerusalem in 1967 in the Six-Day War, the Temple Mount remains under the Gentile authority of the Jordanian Waqf.
• This partial control aligns with Romans 11:25, where the fullness of the Gentiles precedes Israel’s restoration.
• Jerusalem will remain the most contested city on earth until the Second Coming.

11 Irrefutable Signs We Are in the Last Days :: By Pete Garcia

Israel brought back a second time (Isaiah 11:11) “It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the

www.raptureready.com

 

[Berean]

Andy - I agree 100% we are in the last days. But I have a different take on Isaiah 11:11. When you continue down in that all-important prophetic passage we see it is not likening Israel's promised redemption coming back from Babylon - but from Egypt.

"There will be a highway from Assyria
for the remnant of His people who will be left
Just as there was for Israel
In the day they came up out of the land of Egypt." (v.16)

It also says the highway is from Assyria. This only makes sense when you realize this prophecy was NOT fulfilled by the Jewish return in the last century at all, but is speaking to the remnant descended from the northern kingdom. Which has yet to be restored. We forget that the first exile of the tribes actually took place in 722 B.C. when Assyria carried off the the idolatrous northern kingdom (2 Kings 17:6,20-23) and scattered them among the nations where they assimilated and became as gentiles. Notice Isaiah speaks of the remnant being gathered from many nations and even the islands of the sea.
The Jewish exile to Babylon was to Babylon only. And it took place about a 100 years later. The "Jews" are just the descendants of the southern Kingdom of Judah who did return from Babylon (which is where they were first called "Jews"). And who came home again in the last century. But this passage in Isaiah, I believe, is an oft-repeated promise to also bring home a remnant of the ten tribes who had been divorced by God and taken away by Assyria. The prophet Hosea said it most emphatically:

"Yet, the number of the sons of Israel,
Shall be like the sands of the sea
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
And in the place
Where it is said to them
'You are not My people.
It will be said to them
You are the sons of the living God.

I will sow her for Myself in the land." (Hosea 1:10; 2;23; 1 Peter 2:10)

I ask you, who are called the sons of the living God today? Exactly, the true born-again believer who today is called "Christian." Namely we who were formerly Gentiles but who are now righteous in Messiah. Which tells me, according to Isaiah and Hosea (and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Amos) we too will be coming home to Israel one day. And this being the last days, it shouldn't be too long.

 

[Margery]

I have a different take on Isaiah 11:11. When you continue down in that all-important prophetic passage we see it is not likening this return to Israel coming back from Babylon - but from Egypt.

"There will be a highway from Assyria
for the remnant of His people who will be left
Just as there was for Israel
In the day they came up out of the land of Egypt." (v.16)

No, Isaiah is comparing this return to the one where they came out of Egypt. He is not confusing the two.

It also says the highway is from Assyria. This only makes sense when you realize this prophecy was NOT fulfilled by the Jewish return in the last century at all, but is speaking to the remnant descended from the northern kingdom. Which has yet to be restored. We forget that the first exile of the tribes actually took place in 722 B.C. when Assyria carried off the the idolatrous northern kingdom (2 Kings 17:6,20-23). The Jewish exile to Babylon took place about a 100 years later. The "Jews" are just the descendants of the southern Kingdom of Judah who did return from Babylon (which is where they were first called "Jews"). And who came home again in the last century. But this passage in Isaiah, I believe, is an oft-repeated promise to also bring home a remnant of the ten tribes who had been divorced by God and taken away by Assyria. The prophet Hosea said it most emphatically:

"Yet, the number of the sons of Israel,
Shall be like the sands of the sea
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
And in the place
Where it is said to them
'You are not My people.
It will be said to them
You are the sons of the living God.

I will sow her for Myself in the land." (Hosea 1:10; 2;23; 1 Peter 2:10)

While you are correct in one part, the fact is that many from the northern tribes moved south BEFORE the Assyrian invasion and were present and accounted for in their tribes as seen in the New Testament. The idea of the "lost tribes" is false.

Anna for example is from the tribe of Asher. Luke 2:36

while James says this in James 1:1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. James is actually addressing his epistle TO the Messianic believers in Jesus belonging to the 12 tribes.

Acts 2 shows that such were gathered from the nations in Jerusalem to celebrate a Jewish festival- Pentecost. These were not Gentiles gathering, but rather the Jews of the diaspora who had gathered in Jerusalem.

ask you, who are called the sons of the living God today? Exactly, the true born-again believer who today is called "Christian." Namely we who were formerly Gentiles but who are now righteous in Messiah. Which tells me, according to Isaiah and Hosea (and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Amos) we too will be coming home to Israel one day. And this being the last days, it shouldn't be too long.

NO we are NOT Jews or Gentiles. We are the church, the group that has believers from both those backgrounds. The Gentile part of the church that Paul speaks to in Romans is GRAFTED IN, not replacing the original branches. God will miraculously graft the original branches who were cut off so we could be grafted in BACK INTO THE ROOTSTOCK THEY BELONG TO as Romans 11 tells us. This will happen in full (not just the parts of the church that are Jewish now) when the Tribulation has finished and Israel cries out to their Messiah.

Romans 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Paul says this in Acts 26:7 To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Paul is talking about the 12 tribes right then and there.

 

[mattfivefour]

My biggest problem is with this statement:

I tried to explain that the descendants of the banished northern kingdom , who I do believe we are

How are we such? We certainly are not physically. And I see no warrant in Scripture for us being so spiritually. And, as Margery pointed out, the common myth that there are ten lost tribes is exactly that-- a myth. Scripture is plain that we who are not physically descended from the loins of Abraham are Gentiles.

I for one have never believed what others believed just because others believed it. Nor, for the same reason, have I ever accepted what my early teachers taught me. I questioned everything and searched Scripture for everything. Just before God called me into full-time ministry, He arranged it so that for one entire year I spent literally hours each day, seven days a week, studying Scripture and the doctrines it teaches ... without a concordance. All I had was a simple Gideons KJV. Yet God took me from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 and everything in between, back and forth, back and forth, here and there, hunting parallel scriptures, searching words and meanings from Scripture alone; and remember I had no concordance or other aid but only the leading of the Holy Spirit. In that intense year of solitude He was equipping me for the ministry He was about to lead me into.

In all of that time, even though He led me through the topic you are presenting, He never taught me what you are saying. But I could have missed it. God knows I want only His truth. So, as you are a self-described Berean, then, please point me to the teachings of Scripture that demonstrate why we should believe we are somehow the lost tribes of Israel (which you plainly state in the quote above.)

 

[Tall Timbers]

Sorry to have upset you, Margery. I thought you were going to wait until tomorrow. I am in a retirement community and don't have the Christmas pressures you must have. I was just responding to MattFiveFour. You ask, why I am here? I did not know this was a site dedicated solely to the Dispensationalist viewpoint. I thought it was a Christian site dedicated to exploring the word of God and was open to the truth wherever it was found in the Bible. ( i just checked the rules for posting and see no prohibition about speaking a viewpoint contrary to Dispensationalism. Just be loving and polite in sharing. Which I am striving to do.) But let me ask you - why are you getting so angry?

Please read our Scriptural Truths as they roll into our posting rules:

Thread 'Scriptural Truths'

Jun 3, 2023

Scriptural Truths

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Thread 'Posting Rules'

Jun 3, 2023

Posting Rules


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[mattfivefour]

I now return this thread to its original (and excellent) message.