Have you ever been just bursting at the seems? Have you ever discovered something so amazing that you couldn't keep it to yourself, and if you tried you would just burst? I'm not sure if it's the right time, or if it will be received, but I can't keep it in any longer.
A prophetic word that was spoken over me by a former pastor of mine when I was 18 years old may finally be coming to pass more than 10 years later. The verse he spoke over me that night left me confused as to how it could possibly be for me. It was Jeremiah 20:9:
A prophetic word that was spoken over me by a former pastor of mine when I was 18 years old may finally be coming to pass more than 10 years later. The verse he spoke over me that night left me confused as to how it could possibly be for me. It was Jeremiah 20:9:
“But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word
or speak any more in his name,’
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.”
So you might be curious, but you're gonna have to stick with me here. You see there has been a major paradigm shift that has taken place in how our family reads Bible. It has been hotly contested by friends and family that don't understand where we're getting all of it from. You know, the kind of “crazy” things you may have already read on my blog. It has been so difficult for my husband and I to share why we see things so differently than mainstream Christianity, and over the past few days, it has become very clear to me why that is.
IDENTITY!
That may not make much sense to you right now, but I promise it will—soon... well sort of soon... cause it is a long story. But I promise, IT ALL MATTERS. So if you will be patient enough to read right to the end, you may just get as excited as I am. Or maybe you will continue to think I'm nuts, and that's okay, I'm not here to pressure anyone. I am just trying to share how the scriptures have pierced my heart and I don't think I will sleep tonight unless I get this out of me.
First we have to get something clear. The Bible is about COVENANT. And I mean THE WHOLE BIBLE is ENTIRELY about COVENANT. What does that mean? Well God wanted to be in a relationship with His people. So he made a covenant with them, essentially think of this as a marriage—a contract, pledge and promise that happens between a husband and wife.
Who were these covenant people? Well, God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham was promised he would become the father of many nations. Jacob, after wrestling with God, was given the name, “Israel”. It is Jacob's offspring that become the 12 tribes of Israel. When the children of Israel become slaves in Egypt, God raised up Moses to lead them to Mount Sinai in the land of Midian. There, at the base of the mountain, God gives all of Israel a covenant. This covenant is his contract, pledge and promises to His bride. And they promised their faithfulness as His bride when they said, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” (Exodus 24:3)
I think it is very important that we walk through Israel's history to get a better understanding of God's covenant with them.
First we have to get something clear. The Bible is about COVENANT. And I mean THE WHOLE BIBLE is ENTIRELY about COVENANT. What does that mean? Well God wanted to be in a relationship with His people. So he made a covenant with them, essentially think of this as a marriage—a contract, pledge and promise that happens between a husband and wife.
Who were these covenant people? Well, God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham was promised he would become the father of many nations. Jacob, after wrestling with God, was given the name, “Israel”. It is Jacob's offspring that become the 12 tribes of Israel. When the children of Israel become slaves in Egypt, God raised up Moses to lead them to Mount Sinai in the land of Midian. There, at the base of the mountain, God gives all of Israel a covenant. This covenant is his contract, pledge and promises to His bride. And they promised their faithfulness as His bride when they said, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” (Exodus 24:3)
I think it is very important that we walk through Israel's history to get a better understanding of God's covenant with them.
Deuteronomy 29:1-14 These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites... Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God – ...together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.
Later in this chapter God warns Israel. If they hear His words, but do not obey them, they would bring disaster in the land (v. 19) and “All the curses written in this book will fall on them”(v. 20). The Lord tells them it will be “because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.” (v. 25). And He would uproot them from their land and thrust them into another land (v.28).
Deuteronomy 30:1-4 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. |
Fast forward to the years of the kings of Israel.
2 Chronicles 7:17-20 [The Lord appeared to Solomon and said] "As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.'But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name."
Solomon did not observe the decrees and commands. He forsook the covenant that God had made with Israel. Not only did he break every command that God had specifically given for the kings of Israel to follow (Deuteronomy 17:16-20), but he even committed idolatry, building high places for sacrifice to foreign gods and leading his people into this idolatry as well. Because of this God ripped the kingdom of Israel in two. These are referred to as the two kingdoms or two houses, the House of Judah as the Southern Kingdom (aka. Jews), and the House of Israel as the Northern Kingdom (aka. Ephraim). Judah was taken into captivity to Babylon for 70 years, as punishment for their sins. Judah later returned, rebuilt the temple and established the land (Jeremiah 29 and Ezra 1). Israel, however, was taken into captivity, and to this day has NEVER COME BACK.
God describes Israel as lost or scattered sheep that have gone astray, but promises that He will one day bring them back to Himself.
God describes Israel as lost or scattered sheep that have gone astray, but promises that He will one day bring them back to Himself.
Jeremiah 50:6, 17 “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray” ...“Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away.”
Micah 2:12 “I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.
Ezekiel 34:12-13 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land.
So where did God send Israel when He scattered them? They were first taken to Assyria, but eventually became mixed among the Gentiles.
Ezekiel 11:16 Therefore say, '”Thus says the Lord God: 'Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.'”
Hosea 7:8 Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured his strength, but he does not know it.
Hosea 8:8 Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the Gentiles like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
Amos 9:9 For look, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the gentiles.
The book of Hosea, is filled with imagery of God's relationship with the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God commands the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman, named Gomer, and have children with her, to create a picture of his covenant (marriage) to His people Israel. “...for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)
Hosea 1:6-10 For I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them... For you (house of Israel) are not My people and I am not your God. Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand 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.”
Hosea 8:1-2 Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law. Israel will cry to Me, “My God, we know You!” Israel has rejected the good (His Law); The enemy will pursue him.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Hosea 8:10 Yes though they have hired among the nations, now I will gather them... I have written for him the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing.
Hosea 9:17 My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Ultimately, God divorced unfaithful Israel and sent her away, because they broke the covenant—their marriage vows. They walked away from God's law.
Despite their unfaithfulness, God still loved Israel and promised to bring her back to Himself.
Hosea 2:23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’
Hosea 3:5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.
Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us. He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
Hosea 12:6 So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually.
Hosea 14:1,4 O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity... “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.”
Jeremiah 31:8- 10 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth... Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.”
I'd like to propose something here. What if this is the theme of our New Testament Scriptures? What if it has been starring us in the face and we have missed it, because we don't spend much time thinking about Israel and their covenant with God? What if we were better able to understand Paul's repeated references to the mystery (Rom 11:25, 16:11; 1Cor 2:7; Eph 1:9, 3:3-9, 5:32, 6:19; Col 1:26-27, 2:2, 4:3)? Well, I think I know what THE BIG MYSTERY is, and it is so exciting!
So what became of Israel? Where are they now?
“By New Testament times most from the House of Israel still knew which tribe they were from and lived across the Euphrates River according to Josephus. BUT over the past 2000 years they would completely lose their identity as the “House of Israel” totally fulfilling the prophecy.”
— Jim Staley, Passion for Truth Ministries, Identity Crisis
— Jim Staley, Passion for Truth Ministries, Identity Crisis
"Wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers."
— Antiquities of the Jews – Book XI Ch. 5
— Antiquities of the Jews – Book XI Ch. 5
“The captives of Israel exiled beyond the Euphrates did not return as a whole to Palestine along with their brethren the captives of Judah; at least there is no mention made of this event in the documents at our disposal... in fact, the return of the ten tribes was one of the great promises of the Prophets, and the advent of the Messiah is therefore necessarily identified with the epoch of their redemption.”
— D.A. Neubauer [Ref. Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. I -1888, p. 15,17]
— D.A. Neubauer [Ref. Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. I -1888, p. 15,17]
Remember how God divorced His wife, Israel (Jeremiah 3:8)? Well that presents a big problem. You see, God believes in what He says, and he had this to say about a specific situation with a divorced woman:
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
You may think, “But God is God. He can do whatever He wants. He's not bound by rules.” Of course God can do whatever He wants, but He is also good—and consistent. God is not a hypocrite. If he makes a law, even He himself will act consistently with His Word. Don't believe me? Well, check out Jeremiah 3.
Jeremiah 3:1,6-8,14
‘If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
Would not the land be completely defiled?
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers –
would you now return to me?’ declares the Lord.
...‘Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries.
...‘Return, faithless people,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am your husband. I will choose you – one from a town and two from a clan – and bring you to Zion.
The prophet doesn't just say that God will take back the divorced wife, He proves that it is wrong to do so (“Would not the land be completely defiled?” - Jeremiah 3:1)! So—what?—am I calling God a sinner? ABSOLUTELY NOT! What I am saying is that, “THIS IS THE MYSTERY!” How can God take her back without defiling the land and going back on His own Word?
Now before we find out the answer to the mystery, it's a good idea to ask this question:
Now before we find out the answer to the mystery, it's a good idea to ask this question:
Have you ever wondered why pagan gentiles who hated the Jews, would so readily accept the Jewish Messiah? So Paul is going around to different cities and he's supposedly preaching to Pagans and 100,000 people convert to Christ in just the city of Ephesus. All of these are polytheistic pagan sun god worshipers. They've got a thousand different gods, they don't even need another god... why would they accept a Jewish Messiah? I'm going to suggest something: because many of these gentiles were not pagan gentiles, they were Israelite gentiles.” ...Is it possible that when Paul walks into the Galatian city, that the reason why they accept the message so fast is because they've heard part of it before? They just haven't had the solution or the mystery solved before. They knew the mystery, but they knew there was no solution. I'm gonna share with you why they were so excited to come to Christ. They knew the problem. They knew there was no solution, and the Apostle Paul comes along with Good News.
— Jim Staley, Passion for Truth Ministries, Identity Crisis
But it's not enough to just take someone's hypothesis and turn into fact. We need to see if there is any evidence for such a claim. I believe their is plenty of evidence. Here is a sampling:
James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings.
1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
John 7:33 Jesus therefore said, “Yet a little while I am with you, and I go to him who sent me. You will seek me, and will not find me: and where I am, you cannot come.” The Jews therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we will not find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?”
Remember that Hosea identified the people who were called “not My people” and “sons of the living God” as the House of Israel.
Romans 9:24-26 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only (the House of Judah), but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: I will call them a people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not my beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people, there they shall be called sons of the living God.” (Hosea 1:10)
So when Paul is saying that the Gentiles are called along with the Jews, and makes his case by showing Israel will be called back to God, doesn't it make more sense that these “Gentiles” he is referring to are those lost tens tribes that were mixed among the nations? You don't have to take my word for it, but please consider this question as we continue in this study. As a side note, I'm not saying all Gentiles are Israel, just that Israel were also considered “Gentile”.
Back to the mystery. We still need an answer. How is God going to bring back this people that he divorced? Paul lays it out for us in Romans 7.
Romans 7:1-4 Do you not know, brothers and sisters – for I am speaking to those who know the law – that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead.
First of all, if you don't know the God's law, then Paul was not targeting you as his audience. He said he is speaking to those who know it. Why does that matter? Because, in effect, Paul is saying, “If you don't know the law, you will misunderstand what I am about to say.” He is not mentioning this specific law as a random example. Paul had some pretty amazing credentials as a teacher. He learned at the feet of Gamaliel, and to be allowed to even do that, it was required that you had to have the entire Tanakh (which is our Old Testament) completely memorized — word for word!
Paul is using this very specific example because THIS IS THE GOSPEL. THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS! He is talking about ISRAEL! Israel was the woman that was married to God, that was given a certificate of divorce, and could never return to Him again. But the mystery was this: despite the fact she can never return to her first husband, God promises her that she can. How can God do that? Paul makes it perfectly clear: God releases his bride from the law that says she is an an adulteress and cannot return to her husband, BY DYING FOR HER!
When Christ, laid down His life for the bride, He took away her shame as an adulteress, clearing her name. And then, Jesus rises from the dead, creating an eligible bachelor for His bride! She is now no longer an adulteress and can return to her first love!
And this is why Jesus came — to die for His bride, to bring back the lost sheep and to gather those that were scattered. This is what the New Testament is truly all about. Do you still think that this is far fetched?
Well, consider this: When Jesus, Paul and all the New Testament writers were living, they were teaching off the foundation of the Old Testament scriptures. So when you hear terms in the New Testament, such as, “sheep”, “scattered”, “not my people” you have to remember that it has a context that may not be explained to you in those chapters and verses.
Well, consider this: When Jesus, Paul and all the New Testament writers were living, they were teaching off the foundation of the Old Testament scriptures. So when you hear terms in the New Testament, such as, “sheep”, “scattered”, “not my people” you have to remember that it has a context that may not be explained to you in those chapters and verses.
For example: You probably have heard the expression, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” So if someone in conversation were to shorten the expression to, “When in Rome.”, you'd think of the full expression and understand their meaning. But what about a person that wasn't familiar with that expression? They likely wouldn't understand what you meant.
I am suggesting that because we do not have intimate knowledge of the Old Testament that we are missing the fuller meanings that were intended by their writers. What they wrote was filled with partial quotes and terminology that you can only fully understand if you compare it to the foundation of the Old Testament. The first century writers and teachers were speaking to people who knew the Old Testament and new it well. IT WAS THE ONLY SCRIPTURE THEY HAD and the people knew what it said.
There are a few more verses, that as 21st Century-Christian-readers, we should take a closer look at:
John 10:3-4 ,7 The watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.”
Now I know it's difficult when you read something so familiar to look at it in a new light. But, according to the scriptures that we already read from the Old Testament—who are the sheep?
As we have explained the only definition of sheep in the entire Bible from these Jewish author's perspective is that the sheep are equal to the twelve tribes of Israel. You get to the New Testament and Jesus is giving these analogies and these parables and these stories about sheep who do you think that he's talking to and referring to?... We have read into the New Testament scriptures, “Oh, WE are the sheep.”, actually not even knowing what we're really saying. ...What is Yeshua (Jesus) saying? There's a pen... there's a fence and there are sheep that are outside the fence. They're scattered throughout the nations. And he says, “Guess what, I am the gate for them to come back.”
— Jim Staley, Passion for Truth Ministries, Identity Crisis
— Jim Staley, Passion for Truth Ministries, Identity Crisis
Here is another great verse to compare to the Old Testament:
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation... who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (Hosea 2:23). Exodus 19:6 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you shall speak to the children of Israel. |
What about this one?:
Matthew 15:24 “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
If Jesus was sent only the lost sheep of the house of Israel to bring them back into covenant, what does that mean for us Gentiles? Are we without hope in the world? Of course not!
Jesus also said:
Jesus also said:
John 10:16 “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”
Ephesians 2:11-19 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth... remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one... He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near (Is 57:19)... Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household...
God had a lot to say about “foreigners” in the Old Testament. Let's look at a few verses:
Numbers 15:15-16 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: the same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.
Leviticus 24:22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.
You may be thinking, those laws have nothing to do with us as Christians. BUT, in Ephesians 2, isn't Paul calling the Christian Gentiles, “foreigners and strangers” who “have been brought near by the blood of Christ"? Brought in to “citizenship in Israel”.
Now consider Romans 11:
Now consider Romans 11:
Romans 11:11-12,15,25 Again I ask: did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!... For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?... I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in...
Maybe you're still thinking that I'm stuck in the Old Covenant—that as Christians we are part of the New Covenant and the Old has no barring on us. The writer of Hebrews identifies for us what the New Covenant is, in Hebrews chapter 8, where he quoted Jeremiah 31.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 |
The point is, dear readers, that our Identity is only found in being grafted into Israel—there is no covenant with a “House of Gentiles”, only with the House Israel and Judah. YOU ARE PART OF ISRAEL! Through this Covenant and through the blood of Christ, we are brought into relationship with the Father. The New Covenant is the Old Covenant put into our hearts. This time the law (wedding vows) will not be kept from the fear of death and rejection, but in the new way, by the law being written on our hearts. We will keep His laws by the grace given to us through the Holy Spirit out of love for our husband. This is what Paul was speaking of when he said:
Romans 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
I just want to leave you with these verses, take them to heart, because to me it is so exciting to know the Lord's plan to bring all peoples to himself, make them ONE and dwell with us. Be blessed, and thanks for reading! Wow, right to the end, I'm proud of you... this thing was long!
Ezekiel 37:16 As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions. Then take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
Ezekiel 37:21-22 Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations... and I will make them one nation in the land, and one king shall be king over them all. They shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again... David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them... The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.
John 11:51 Now this he (Caiaphas did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
Zechariah 2:10-13 ‘Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.’