Israel and Land

The Bible tells me that Israel will get back all the land that God assigned to them (which is more than they have now). Is this a promise for the Millennial Reign or should we expect to see it before?

Fascinating question!

Deut 30 1-10 tells us that Israel will be regathered from the Nations and restored to their own Land. It doesn’t distinguish here between Pre-Tribulation times, the Tribulation itself, or the Millennium.

It also glosses over any time-lag between being restored to their land and returning to the Lord with all their heart. This is not unusual for prophetic words about this subject. We are living in this “time-lag” right now.

Isaiah 11 10-16 speaks of the same thing, this time AFTER talking about Millennial times. Now we shouldn’t get too hung up about this; Hebrew thought didn’t place a high value on chronological order, they were much more concerned with similarity of subject, and would speak about sets of events in the order of their significance and similarity, rather than in the order of their chronology. Nevertheless, being spoken of in the same passage does suggest at least some similarity of timing.

In Ezekiel 20 34-38, God speaks about bringing Israel back to their land in a time of severe judgment. We know this Judgment will happen in Tribulation times.

And in Ezek 36 24-38, God again speaks of the towns being resettled, and the ruined places rebuilt and lived in. Some of this has happened already, but it should be taken for granted that the “Land” spoken of here is the full extent of the “Land” ruled by David and Solomon at the fullest extent of their Kingdom. This was implicit in God’s promises to David in, for example, 2 Sam 7 11-16. So this would include large areas of what is now Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.

So I will give you two scenarios: One. That these are NOT the end times, and that hundreds or even thousands of years still have to pass before those times come upon us. If this is the case, then in the ebb and flow of history, it is just conceivable that Israel could, at some time, retake all this land, militarily, only to lose it again, and then be readied for the final restoration to the Land in the Millennium.

Two. These ARE the end times that we are approaching, and the return of Israel to its land is a sign of those times moving on. The next stage will be the rise of the Antichrist, who will be shot into world political prominence and rule by forging an agreement between Israel and its enemies. Israel will then enter a time of disaster caused by this person.

It strikes me, if this second scenario is correct, which I think is much more likely than the first, that a “multi-nation-conquering, all-powerful Israel” is not one which would need a “peace deal agreement”. It would be in a position to dictate terms favourable to itself.

So I think Israel’s rise to rule over the original Land of David and Solomon is most likely to be in the Millennial Kingdom, after the defeat of the Antichrist, the despatch of satan, and the setting-up of the throne of Jesus in Jerusalem.