AN ANGELIC GATHERING
In Matthew 23:37 Jesus 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 were unwilling.” Now in chapter 24, this same Jesus is returning after at least a couple thousand years at a future time 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 around the world and bring them to Jerusalem, instead of scattering them as in A.D. 70 (Luke 21:24). Just such a regathering was predicted in the Old Testament.
So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, 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. 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. (Deuteronomy 30:1-4)
And He will lift up a standard for the nations, and will assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:12)
Ezekiel 20
33 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will reign over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. 34 I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered—with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. 35I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you. 36 As I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 37 I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 38I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
The only thing missing from the Old Testament that our Lord expands upon in His Discourse is that He will use the agency of angels to bring Jews to Israel, instead of El Al airline as they come and go today from the modern state of Israel. Deuteronomy 30:1-4 reveals an important covenantal 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 one would object to the supernatural implications of angels gathering human beings and returning them to Israel! We know that Elijah was translated to heaven without dying. 2 Kings 2 records this interesting event with an emphasis upon the mode of Elijah’s transportation to heaven. 2 Kings 2:1 says he was taken “by a whirlwind to heaven.” In 2 Kings 2:11 the whirlwind is further described as “a chariot of fire and horses of fire.” No doubt this was an appearance of the Shechinah glory of God since Hebrews 1:7 says, “and of the angels He says, ‘Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.’” An individual, Elijah, was taken to heaven by angels (mere human messengers could not accomplish such a task), why not have a group operation? This is exactly what we find in conjunction with an important event like Christ’s second advent.
The Deuteronomy passage also provides an answer for why our Lord used the term “elect” in Matthew 24:31 to characterize His people. It is because at this pivotal point in history, the Jews will fulfill the requirements of Deuteronomy 30:2 and will turn “to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today.” This was also our Lord’s own requirement for the second coming in Matthew 23:39. The passage makes great sense with such a futuristic interpretation and is also in harmony with clear Old Testament teaching about Israel and that wonderful day when they will be converted to Messiah and receive in history their long awaited blessing. Fruchtenbaum says,
In the New Testament, the final regathering revealed by the Old Testament prophets is summarized in Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27. In this passage, Jesus stated that the angels will be involved in the final regathering and they will bring the Jews back into the land. As to locality, the emphasis is on the world-wide regathering. The two passages are a simple summary of all that the prophets had to say about the second facet of Israel's final restoration. The Matthew passage is based on Isaiah 27:12-13 and the Mark passage is based on Deuteronomy 30:4. Its purpose was to make clear that the world-wide regathering predicted by the prophets will be fulfilled only after the second coming. 1
Isaiah 27:12-13 teaches exactly what Fruchtenbaum says and it is clear that Christ had it in mind in Matthew 24:31. It reads as follows:
And it will come about in that day, that 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. It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.—Isaiah 27:12-13.
The Isaiah passage has emphasis upon a regathering of the Jewish remnant that is not in the land of Israel and restoring them back to their homeland. This is one of the reasons why Matthew 24:31 emphasizes a global regathering of saved Jews in conjunction with the return of Jesus to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem
Fruchtenbaum tells us the following:
The Matthew passage is a rather simple summary of all that the prophets had to say about the second facet of Israel’s final restoration. Its purpose was to make clear that the world-wide regathering predicted by the prophets will be fulfilled only after the Second Coming. 2
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/ice_thomas/Mat24-25/Mat24-25_Part28.cfm
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