And after their processing in Jerusalem has been completed each one will then be making their way to what will become their new home in one of the original 12 tribal locations in Israel.

These are the two areas I intend to write about this time. In addition it seems necessary to note the great changes the earth will undergo when Jesus Christ touches down on the Mount of Olives that will begin bringing about the beautiful and wonderful world of tomorrow.

A world that will in the very next few years become today!

God Reshapes The Earth —

Let us begin by taking note of the coming changes God will have made that will prepare His people to view and relish a new and living world. A world that after the changes will burst forth with new life and happiness. Radical changes will take place to make all of this possible.

A personal note: When we visited Jerusalem in 1981, and again in 1983, I could not help but notice there were rocks all over the surrounding area. Never had I ever seen an area so filled with them. One could easily see this whole area was under a curse.

Undoubtedly this makes the cultivation of food very difficult. But due to what Jesus Christ will do when He sets foot on the Mount of Olives all this will undergo a wondrous and productive change.

These great changes will take place due to the gigantic earthquake that will take place at the coming of Jesus Christ to this earth. It will be so great as to even effect the orbit of the earth. Awesome changes will take place on earth! Mountains will be leveled and valleys will be lifted up.

Please note the following Scriptures that describe in part the great changes that will occur due to this awesome earthquake when Christ returns:

The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it (Nahum 1:5).

The city of Jerusalem and Mount Zion will be greatly changed by this earthquake to make possible the elevating of Mount Zion and a virtual complete changeover in the city of Jerusalem:

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split into, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south (Zechariah 14:4-5).

"In the same hour there was a great earthquake; and a tenth of the city (Jerusalem) fell. In the earthquake 7,000 men were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven" (Revelation 11:13).

This earthquake will be so great as to affect the whole planet earth:

"... there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city (Rome) was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. ... Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found" (Revelation 16:18-20).

Can we imagine the following taking place with the earth:

"Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty (chaotic) and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants. ... the earth mourns and fades away (moving violently back and forth), the world languishes and fades away; ... the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The Th earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; ... (Isaiah 24:1,4, 18-20).

Mankind will be absolutely terrified! They will be running to seek a place to hide from what they will then be seeing and experience (Revelation 6:12-17). The noise will be deafening:

"In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold ... to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the TERROR of the LORD and the glory of His majesty, WHEN He arises TO SHAKE THE EARTH MIGHTILY" (Isaiah 2:20-21).

The Rehabilitation of the Earth —

This huge earthquake yet to come will directly accomplish much of the rehabilitation of the land surfaces. The God of all power who formed the hills and mountains (Amos 4:13; Psalm 90:2), will reform them – will reshape the surface of this earth.

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted (lifted up) and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth; ..."Isaiah 40:3-4).

The survivors of Israel will come to rejoice with great happiness upon viewing the wonderful results of this earthquake:

Then shall the lame man leap as an hart (deer family), and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land steams of water: in the habitation of dragons (jackals), where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes (Isaiah 35:6-7).

A beautiful new earth that will come to be a most beautiful paradise.

Renewed Life and Happiness —

Having survived captivity, slavery, the plagues from God, and this mammoth earthquake, the men, women and children from the tribes of Israel, will view and experience the beginning of a warm and joyous welcome from Jesus Christ through seeing the earth beginning to burst forth with new life as they make their way to Jerusalem and their new homeland:

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing ... " (Isaiah 35:1-2).

This is so unlike today! The apostle Paul wrote of the present sadness of the creation and the groaning of it while waiting eagerly for the anticipated change that will take place when Christ comes again to earth:

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the REVEALING of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in HOPE; Because the creation itself will be DELIVERED from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know THAT THE WHOLE CREATION GROANS AND LABORS WITH BIRTH PANGS together until now" (Romans 8:18--22).

The universe is currently in a state of decay and corruption. Everything is running down. This current universe is the training ground for God’s purpose of building His family. When that goal has been achieved God will create a new heaven and a new earth.

Life in all Creation —

Very few stop to think and realize there is life in all of God’s creation as found in the above Scriptures (Isaiah 35:1-2). Today, trees creak; and the wind moans a plaintive sound. It is as if the creation is the mother and God is the Father.

Many examples could be used to demonstrate the fact there is life in all areas we normally do not even think about. I want to touch on only one area: a few years ago there was an article that appeared in the Denver Post Newspaper (Colorado) regarding an experiment made with music and flowers.

It was demonstrated that when beautiful and inspiring music was played in the presence of flowers, they thrived. On the other hand when hard rock was played, they wilted and died.

The Times of Refreshing and Restoration —

Writing of the return of Jesus Christ, the apostle Peter wrote of the dramatic changes this earth will undergo and the need of repentance to be able to live and experience the blessings that will be in store for God’s people:

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, SO THAT TIMES OF REFRESHING may come from THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive UNTIL THE TIMES OF RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS ..." (Acts 3:19-21)

TOMORROW ... WHAT IT WILL BE LIKE , Page 73, Mr. Armstrong

"Feast your eyes for a while on the picture of the world tomorrow which God’s government will produce ... and when you take your eyes from this book, and look again on this drab, ugly, sin-sick world of corruption, violence and suffering – it will make you sick at heart. But doesn’t it make you want to really put your heart into your prayers, praying earnestly, ‘Oh God! Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven!’"

The Journey to Jerusalem —

Though these great changes will be made on the earth, it will be some small amount of time before the gentle rains and the warm sunshine that will follow will begin making the beautiful transformation of greenery and the blossoming of wild flowers.

In the interim there will be much sorrow for some period of time after the liberation of the enslaved Israelis due to reflecting on the cause of all the horrors they have experienced along with the harsh and painful enslavement they received while in captivity.

This will result in true heartfelt repentance after hearing sermons and teachings that will undoubtedly begin en-route from where they were liberated and continue after they will have completed their journey to Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

Remember the Sabbath Day will come to be made known and observed. What they will hear on each Sabbath, and in between, will clearly make known to them why the nations of Israel were defeated and carried into exile. They will come to understand why it came to be necessary for God to punish His people by the deaths of multiple millions of his chosen people killed, while the remainder of them were enslaved.

Learning, and being convicted by what they will be hearing, will cut them to their hearts as were the people gathered on the Day of Pentecost in 31 A.D.! They will learn they also contributed greatly to the death by crucifixion of Jesus Christ because of their many sins (Acts 2:22-39). There will be great sorrow expressed along with the continued flow of tears :

"Behold I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child together; a great throng shall return there. They shall come with WEEPING, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they will not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn" (Jeremiah 31:8-9)

Difficult Decisions —

I wonder if we have ever given thought to the very difficult decisions that will have to be made by the leaders in the processing center once they arrive in Jerusalem as to which tribal location each one is to go and there make their new home.

To determine where each individual and family shall live in Israel will be no easy task. Unlike the 12 tribes of Israel of old who were always separated by their individual tribal symbols (Numbers 2:1-2 34), these survivors over the centuries have crossed over and married into the other tribes.

To compound the problem of making the right decisions, there will be those who have married men and women of the Gentile nations and will be the mates or the offspring of those marriages.

With these difficulties in mind, it would seem the predominant characteristic of each one, such as facial appearance, eyes, etc., will pretty much be the deciding factor though surnames will play a major role.

Surnames will be helpful, but this alone will not be enough for some of the Israelites who have picked up Gentile names while migrating through nations from the Assyrian captivity to where they presently are located today.

For the most part only the tribe of Judah has remained faithful to their heritage by marrying within their own tribe. Though they have been very careful in this area, some also picked up Gentile names beginning with the Babylonian captivity. This can be seen by the chief of the eunuchs giving new names to Daniel and his three friends (Daniel 1:6-7).

Only Jesus Christ will really know where each should make their new home. I am confident He will lead His Family Members to work with chosen human leaders to make the difficult and right decisions.

Their New Homes —

The appointed home area will be entirely new for most of these men and women for they will have never known any home but the one in the nation where they had previously lived.

Based on all other factors that have already been mentioned (captivity, slavery, the original homes not there any longer, and the development of new friendships, many bonding ones as result of surviving together), it is my belief this will turn out to be an exciting adventure to them.

Very probably these people will be much like Ruth, who was from the land of Moab; yet she chose to leave her family and all she had ever known to go with Naomi and make her home in a new and strange land. It was there she learned a new way of life, found love and acceptance, happiness, and fulfillment in her new life (Ruth 1:16-17; 2:10-12; 4:9-17).

And like Ruth, who was deeply attached to Naomi, there will be those of other nations who will be joined with the native-born people of the tribes of Israel and will also have land allotted to them for their new homes.

"Thus you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. It shall be that you will divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves, and for the stranger who sojourns among you. They shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. It shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger sojourns, then you shall give him his inheritance" (Ezekiel 47:21-23).

(The Gentiles who will join with and settle down within the tribes of Israel will be the exception rather than the rule. Please read pages 57-58 in the book: "TOMORROW ... WHAT IT WILL BE LIKE", under the heading: ‘The International Level’.)

The people of the various tribes will again inhabit the land given to them by God, and have land distributed to each one as here indicated. This will be on the same basis as originally made known by God to Moses; and then carried out by Joshua after entering the Promised Land:

"... But the land shall be divided by lot; they shall inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers ..." (Numbers 26:52-56; Joshua 13-19)).

Soncino Commentary: "The land is not man’s, but belongs to God (Deuteronomy 33:52; Psalm 24:1; 50:12). God has the right to do with it as He wishes. In setting the geographical positions of each tribe’s inheritance, recourse was had to be the ‘lot’, in order to refer the matter to God, unto whom the land belonged. Thus jealousy and strife would be prevented."

Observing the Feast of Tabernacles —

Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, and beginning to settle in their new homes, they will drop everything when the time comes for observing God’s Feast of Tabernacles and be there to honor and praise God.

Depending on the time factor, there may be some beginning to attend with them from other nations (Zechariah (14:16-19).

... Therefore they shall come and SING in the height of Zion. Streaming to the goodness of the LORD [indicating their observance of the Feast of Tabernacles] ... their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow" (Jeremiah 31:8-14).

Though the _expression of their joy and happiness will be reflected in their dancing and being together with dear friends during this festival, they will also have great cause to rejoice greatly before God in dance and song similar to David when taking the Ark of God to its rightful location (II Samuel 6:5, 14-15).

These men and women will deeply appreciate and express their thanksgiving for His abundant mercy and love for them; and they will feel it deeply right down within the very depths of their beings.

Undoubtedly there will be such singing, rejoicing, and praising God so as to lift the rooftops of the very buildings where services will be held! Praising God and Jesus Christ for Their abundant mercy, love and goodness for having spared them, and the promised glorious future He has before them.

To Be Continued —

There are many other Scriptures that could have been used in trying to give a brief outline of what will begin taking place just inside the millennium. In addition to what I am writing in this series I urge you to re-read "TOMORROW ... WHAT IT WILL BE LIKE" by Mr. Armstrong.

Through what we see in these Scriptures we are viewing the soon-to-be future of the survivors of all the tribes of Israel, as well as seeing our future in aiding Jesus Christ in bringing about all of these wonderful changes in human minds as well as in His creation.

Just to think and realize, we will have a part in helping all of these people to come to know Jesus Christ who is the giver of every good blessing.

It is as Mr. Armstrong wrote: "But doesn’t this make you want to shout for joy, to realize what a civilization – what a world – is actually coming? Doesn’t it make you want to really put your heart into your prayers, praying earnestly, ‘Oh God! Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven!’"

Until next time, your brother and servant in Christ,

Don Billingsley

 

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