An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25 (Part 28)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"And He will send forth His angelswith a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the fourwinds, from one end of the sky to the other."
-Matthew 24:31
We have seen thatthe return of Jesus to planet earth is said to be "on the clouds of the sky"and will be accompanied "with power and great glory." In the process of that return, apparently as our Lorddescends, He will then send out His angelic company to gather in the Jewish,believing remnant that He will rescue from the danger of all the world's armieswho have gathered by the anti-Christ in an attack upon Israel andJerusalem. The passage before usnow, Matthew 24:31, describes this event.
An Angelic Gathering
In Matthew 23:37Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as He pronounces the a.d.70 judgment and declares, "How I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wereunwilling." Now in chapter 24,this same Jesus is returning after at least a couple thousand years at a futuretime when Jerusalem is again in peril. But this time the Jews respond positively to the Messiahship of Jesus,so our Lord sends out his angels to gather His elect (saved Jews at the end of the tribulation) from aroundthe world and bring them to Jerusalem, instead of scattering them as in a.d. 70 (Luke 21:24). Just such a regathering was predictedin the Old Testament.
"So it shall be when all ofthese things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have setbefore you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you, and youreturn to the Lord your God andobey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command youtoday, you and your sons, then the Lordyour God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and willgather you again from all the peoples where the Lordyour God has scattered you. Ifyour outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and fromthere He will bring you back." (Deuteronomy 30:1-4)
And He will lift up astandard for the nations, and will assemble the banished ones of Israel, andwill gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah11:12)
The only thingmissing from the Old Testament that our Lord expands upon in His Discourse isthat He will use the agency of angels to bring Jews to Israel, instead of El Alairline as they come and go today from the modern state of Israel. Deuteronomy 30:1-4 reveals an importantcovenantal promise made by the Lord to His people Israel. Matthew 24:31 reveals that our Lord,the same One who made the promise in Deuteronomy will fulfill His promises in history,even if it requires a miraculous solution.
Surely no onewould object to the supernatural implications of angels gathering human beingsand returning them to Israel! Weknow that Elijah was translated to heaven without dying. 2 Kings 2 records this interestingevent with an emphasis upon the mode of Elijah's transportation to heaven. 2 Kings 2:1 says he was taken "by awhirlwind to heaven." In 2:11 thewhirlwind is further described as "a chariot of fire and horses of fire." No doubt this was an appearance of theShechinah glory of God since Hebrews 1:7 says, "and of the angels He says, 'Whomakes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.'" An individual, Elijah, was taken toheaven by angels (mere human messengers could not accomplish such a task), whynot have a group operation? Thisis exactly what we find in conjunction with an important event like Christ'ssecond advent.
The Deuteronomypassage also provides an answer for why our Lord used the term "elect" inMatthew 24:31 to characterize His people. It is because at this pivotal point in history, the Jews will fulfillthe requirements of Deuteronomy 30:2 and will turn "to the Lord your God and obey Him with all yourheart and soul according to all that I command you today." This was also our Lord's ownrequirement for the second coming in Matthew 23:39. The passage makes great sense with such a futuristicinterpretation and is also in harmony with clear Old Testament teaching aboutIsrael and that wonderful day when they will be converted to Messiah andreceive in history their long awaited blessing. Fruchtenbaum says,
In the New Testament, the finalregathering revealed by the Old Testament prophets is summarized in Matthew24:31 and Mark 13:27. In thispassage, Jesus stated that the angels will be involved in the final regatheringand they will bring the Jews back into the land. As to locality, the emphasis is on the world-wideregathering. The two passages area simple summary of all that the prophets had to say about the second facet ofIsrael's final restoration. TheMatthew passage is based on Isaiah 27:12 13 and the Mark passage is based onDeuteronomy 30:4. Its purpose wasto make clear that the world-wide regathering predicted by the prophets will befulfilled only after the second coming.[1]
Isaiah 27:12-13teaches exactly what Fruchtenbaum says and it is clear that Christ had it inmind in Matthew 24:31. It reads asfollows:
And it will come about inthat day, that the Lord will startHis 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. It will come about also in that daythat a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were perishing in the land ofAssyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
The Isaiahpassage has emphasis upon a regathering of the Jewish remnant that is not inthe land of Israel and restoring them back to their homeland. This is one of the reasons why Matthew24:31 emphasizes a global regather of saved Jews in conjunction with the returnof Jesus to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Fruchtenbaumtells us the following:
The Matthew passage is a rather simple summary ofall that the prophets had to say about the second facet of Israel's finalrestoration. Its purpose was tomake clear that the world-wide regathering predicted by the prophets will befulfilled only after the Second Coming.[2]
The Feast of Trumpets
Dr. RenaldShowers has done an excellent job collecting evidence and arguing for thisview.[3] After noting that "from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other"means that "the elect will be gathered from all over the world at Christ'scoming,"[4]Dr. Showers provides three lines of proof for his view as follows:
First, because of Israel's persistent rebellionagainst God, He declared that He would scatter the Jews "into all the winds"(Ezek. 5:10, 12) or "toward all winds" (Ezek. 17:21). In Zechariah 2:6 God stated that He did scatter them abroad"as four winds of the heavens." . . . God did scatter the Jews all over theworld.
Next,God also declared that in the future Israel would be gathered from the east,west, north, and south, "from the ends of the earth" (Isa. 43:5-7). We should note that in the context ofthis promise, God called Israel His "chosen" (vv. 10, 20).
. . . Just as Jesus indicated that the gatheringof His elect from the four directions of the world will take place inconjunction with "a great trumpet" (literal translation of the Greek text ofMt. 24:21), so Isaiah 27:13 teaches that the scattered children of Israel willbe gathered to their homeland in conjunction with the blowing of "a greattrumpet" (literal translation of the Hebrew). . . .
GerhardFriedrich wrote that in that future eschatological day "a great horn shall beblown (Is. 27:13)" and the exiled will be brought back by that signal. Again he asserted that in conjunctionwith the blowing of the great trumpet of Isaiah 27:13, "There follows thegathering of Israel and the return of the dispersed to Zion."
Itis significant to note that Isaiah 27:13, which foretells this futureregathering of Israel, is the only specific reference in the Old Testament to a"great" trumpet.
AlthoughIsaiah 11:11-12 does not refer to a great trumpet, it is parallel to Isaiah27:13 because it refers to the same regathering of Israel. In its context, this passage indicatesthat when the Messiah (a root of Jesse, vv. 1, 10) comes to rule and transformthe world as an "ensign" (a banner), He will gather together the scatteredremnant of His people Israel "from the four corners of the earth."
What Jesusdescribes in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 is the Jewish ingathering that will fulfillthe prophetic aspects of the Feast of Trumpets for the nation of Israel. In fact, a prayer for this regatheringof the children of Israel appears to this day in the Jewish Daily Prayer Book.
The Elect
The term "elect"in Matthew 24:31 refers to those Jewish individuals who will become believersin the Messiahship of Jesus by the time the second advent occurs. As a reference to Jewish individualswho are destined to become believers is the same way that the term is used inthe previous two references in Matthew 24 (verses 22, 24). In fact, when you look at Daniel 12:1,which is set within the same context of the tribulation period and reads asfollows:
"Now at thattime Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people,will arise. And there will be atime of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until thattime; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book,will be rescued."
This passage inDaniel uses the phrase "everyone who is found written in the book," to refer toJewish individuals who will come to faith in Christ during the tribulationperiod, which is the context of this passage. Christ, who apparently has this passage from Daniel in mindshortens the phrase "everyone who is found written in the book," to "the elect." So elect is an excellent term thatrefers to an individual, in this context a Jewish person, whom the Lord knowswill come to faith in Christ. Thatthis is not just any individual who will come to faith in Christ during thetribulation is noted by the context in which it is clear that they are Jewishpeople. This is supported inDaniel 12:1 by the modifier "your people" that appears just before "everyone whois found written in the book." Whoare "your people?" In the contextit can only refer to Daniel's people, the Jewish people.
We see that thispassage teaches that in conjunction with Christ's return to planet earth, Hewill have His angels gather all saved Jews (the remnant) and bring them toIsrael. This will be so that theywill be back in their homeland in preparation to dwell there during the onethousand year reign of Christ upon earth. Maranatha!
(To BeContinued . . .)
Endnotes
[1]Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Israelology: The Missing Link In Systematic Theology, rev. ed. (Tustin, Calf.: ArielMinistries Press, 1992), pp. 798-99.
[2] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of theMessiah, 2nd edition(San Antonio: Ariel Press, 2003),p. 425.
[3] For more information supporting this view seeRenald Showers, Maranatha: Our Lord, Come! (Bellmawr, NJ: TheFriends of Israel, 1995), pp.181-84.
[4] Showers, Maranatha, p. 182.
[5] Showers, Maranatha, pp.182-83.
[6] For this prayer see Showers, Maranatha, p. 183.