Written by Hadassah Lerner, His Lighthouse, Inc.
“However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 15 but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.” Jeremiah 16:14-15
The deliverance from Egypt is a central theme all throughout the Bible. The mighty miracles that the Lord did to deliver His people from bondage are remembered every year at Pesach by Jewish families. Remembering as though one of those who were saved from Pharaoh’s hand. For Christians, the Exodus is a picture of what Messiah Jesus has done for us by being the Passover Lamb whose sacrificial blood is on the door of our hearts and His deliverance from a life of sin and bondage. The threads of the Exodus story are woven throughout the whole of scripture. The magnitude of the work of God is one we go back to again and again to remember His great love and faithfulness.
So now these two verses in Jeremiah tell us that there is a day coming when the Exodus from Egypt will no longer be our pivotal point of reference for the Lord’s greatness. There is a day coming and an event happening that will eclipse the first Exodus. It will be so grand and glorious and awesome and horrifying in scope that we will use it as our point of reference.
And what could be so grand as to eclipse the Exodus from Egypt? The future ‘exodus’ from all the points where the Jewish people are now living. The sheer numbers of Jewish people make this a larger event. There are 6 million in the United States alone. What will it take to draw that many Jewish people into the Land who have not taken the opportunity to come now. Sadly, the next verse in Jeremiah tells us:
16 “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks…”
We have seen seasons of Fishermen gently calling the Jewish people to leave their country and go home to Israel. Many have aided in physical, financial, and psychological ways to encourage this Aliyah. Many years ago, there was a season of ‘Hunters’ in Europe. Those who first tried to push the Jewish people out. Then murdered them instead. There was an open door at the beginning to leave, but it all seemed too unreal and the signs of the times were not correctly read nor heeded. Six million did not understand what was obvious and they died simply because they were Jewish.
The rise in anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel is a warning to us that we are entering another time of the Hunters. There has been a long season for Jewish people to return to the State of Israel in peace and joy (since 1948). Many have come and made wonderful lives for themselves. Most have not. Most have assimilated into their birth country and have not turned their hearts toward Home. Many say that if things get bad, then they will go to Israel. The Question is: why wait? And by making Israel a second choice, a back-up plan, they are disdaining the great covenant gift that God has given them.
It is time for the Jewish people to come home. Come today before it gets worse. Wake-up and understand that it IS going to get worse. These are the birth pangs of Messiah. The ingathering of the Jewish people is a sign of the times and a preparation for His return.
If you are Jewish, don’t wait any longer. Come now while you can come with ease and with joy. If you wait, you will be forced out and will be running for your lives. If you are Gentile, prepare to fulfill God’s mandate for you to carry His people home on your shoulders. Aiding and assisting in whatever ways are needed to help the Jewish people home.