Were God’s Promises to Gather Israel from “The Four Corners of the Earth” – Fulfilled in 1948?

Were God’s Promises to Gather Israel from “The Four Corners of the Earth” – Fulfilled in 1948?

It is patently obvious that the verses below refer primarily to national or ethnic Israel and cannot simply refer to “spiritual Israel” (the church). These promises of God were dramatically fulfilled in 1948 when nearly 2000 years after Israel having been scattered to the “four corners of the earth” the Nation of Israel became a nation again.

Yet there is more to these UNCONDITIONAL promises. The exact geography of the regathered  Israel is also promised, and this has never happened in all of history. It did not happen during the reign of Solomon as some would like us to believe. In any event many/most of these prophesies were written AFTER the reign of Solomon! So the promise WILL be fulfilled sometime in the future.

This is very significant, because it affirms that God has future plans for the nation of Israel, as an ethnic group, as well as His glorious plans for His church, “spiritual Israel”, even us believing Gentiles, who have been grafted into His everlasting promises to His Elect, both believing Messianic Jews and believing Gentiles! 

Please meditate on the verses below: Gathering Israel – Most Relevant Verses

Isaiah 11:12  “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” (See also Deuteronomy 30th Chapter.)

1 Chronicles 16:35
Then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name, And glory in Your praise.”

Psalm 106:47
Save us, O LORD our God, And gather us from among the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name And glory in Your praise.

Micah 2:12
“I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with men.

Zephaniah 3:20
“At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together; Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” Says the LORD.

Isaiah 27:12
In that day the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel.

Jeremiah 31:10
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare in the coastlands afar off, And say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”

Psalm 147:2
The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel.

Isaiah 56:8
The Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”

Ezekiel 39:27
“When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations.

Psalm 107:2-3
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary

Isaiah 54:7
“For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you.

Ezekiel 39:28
“Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.

Hosea 8:10
Even though they hire allies among the nations, Now I will gather them up; And they will begin to diminish Because of the burden of the king of princes.

Deuteronomy 30:3
then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

Deuteronomy 30:4
“If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.

Nehemiah 1:9
‘but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’

Jeremiah 29:14
‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

Jeremiah 32:37
“Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.

Ezekiel 11:17
“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”‘

Ezekiel 20:34
“I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out;

Ezekiel 20:41
“As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered; and I will prove Myself holy among you in the sight of the nations.

Ezekiel 28:25
‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and will manifest My holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they will live in their land which I gave to My servant Jacob.

Ezekiel 34:13
“I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

Ezekiel 36:24
“For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.

Ezekiel 37:21
“Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

Isaiah 43:5
“Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west.

Jeremiah 31:8
“Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they will return here.

HAVE THE PROPHESIES AVOVE BEEN ALREADY FULFILLED (AS CLAIMED BY SOME) OR DO MANY ALSO REFER TO THE “END TIMES”? 

Here is an answer which I agree with:

“This future conversion of Israel predicted by Ezekiel in chapters 38-39 seems definitely to be a future event that is yet to come. Though the Jews are even now back in their homeland in Palestine, the Jewish people have not as a whole been converted to Christ. Yet, that day will come according to the Apostle Paul who seems to describe a future conversion of Israel in Romans 11; 25-27 (ESV) –

“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Earlier Paul talked about the olive tree representing the people of God. Israel was the root of the tree but some of her branches had broken off and had been replaced by others showing that the Gentiles had been grafted into the olive tree.

Yet, he points out that the Jews could yet be grafted in again to their own olive tree. In Romans 11:23, Paul says, “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”

Romans 11 predicts a future conversion of the Jews associated with the fullness of the Gentiles. This could very well be pointing to a future worldwide revival including the conversion of the Jews to Christ. 

“Unlike my dispensational friends, I believe that Israel’s future conversion will not be a separate event from the church but rather a wholesale coming into the church and becoming followers of Christ. Their coming in will be accompanied by an extensive revival among the Gentiles as well (fullness of the Gentiles).

“What we see in Ezekiel 34-39 points to the Messianic age and a future conversion of the Jews. Parts of those chapters are fulfilled in the New Testament church but they also point to a future conversion of the Jews to Christ and a future grafting in of the Jews into the church [or the grafting in of the church to those Jews who have been converted to Christ].

“This article is not a detailed study of Ezekiel 34-39 but rather a simple overview showing that the prophecies given there point not just to the first restoration of Israel from exile but rather to a further fulfillment some of which occurred when Jesus came the first time and more will be fulfilled in later times when the Jews as a whole are restored and accept Jesus as their Messiah.”  –  by Alex Dodson