The Lord’s Great Aliyah

This article talks about:

• Prophecy of the Regathering
• Historical Waves of Aliyah
• End-Time Significance

 

-By Glenn Haines-

A millennium ago, the prophets of old put pen to paper, or rather quill to parchment, and wrote about the great regathering of Jews from the four corners of the world in the Last Days. To some, they were and are, just dry letters on a page. To others they were embryonic, divinely conceived words, waiting for the right time to be brought to birth. For many, many centuries, these words remained dormant, germinating in the hearts of those whom God had touched to pray and intercede for the appointed time.

God had chosen Abraham and appointed him to be the father of many nations, including the Jewish nation (Genesis 12:1-3). From Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, came the 12 tribes of the Jewish people. They were chosen to be a ‘Light to the Nations’, to all the other peoples. However, instead of being a light they tried to become like the other nations, following their gods and worshipping their idols.

Scattered Due to Disobedience and Sin 

First, the 10 northern tribes were taken into captivity by the Assyrians due to their wicked idolatry, disobedience, and occultic practices. This occurred in 722 BCE (before the Common Era or BCE) and then the tribes of Benjamin and Judah were taken into captivity by the Babylonians in 586 BCE for their idolatry and disobedience to the word of God. God was angry with His people, and even though God disciplined His people, He neither abandoned nor forsook them.

The first mention of the Jews returning to their Land was made by Moses, before the Children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob even entered the Land for the first time – as recorded in Deuteronomy 30:4-5. Moses was not allowed to lead the Israelites on the first Exodus (from Egypt) into the Promised Land due to one irreverent act, showing how holy this Aliyah is to the Lord.

What is the Meaning of Aliyah?

Aliyah is a Hebrew word meaning ‘to ascend’ or go up. Jerusalem is a city that was once built on a hill. Wherever you were, in order to get to Jerusalem, you had to “go up!” On the top of Mt. Zion, King Solomon built the Temple, and so to reach the Temple one also had to “go up!” or make Aliyah. 

Not only was it a physical ascension to Jerusalem but also a spiritual one, for this is where the Jews were commanded to go up to meet with God three times a year – during the Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles. (Deuteronomy 16:16, Exodus 23:17, Exodus 34:24). There are also 15 Psalms of Aliyah (Psalms 120 – 134) and these Psalms were read as the priests and pilgrims ascended to the Temple.

It is no accident that the word Aliyah has today been given to the return of the Jews to Israel, because not only is it a physical return to the Land, but it is also the beginning of their spiritual return to their God. Many of the returning Jews, especially those returning from the former Soviet Union, don’t believe in God (see Ezekiel 37:8). But there is coming a time when God will breathe His Spirit into them (v.14), and they will come to life. Then they will all know that He is the Lord.

Second Dispersion, Second Regathering

God gave promises to the prophets that the Jews would come back to Israel. The first exile lasted seventy-years in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:10; 2 Chronicles 36:21; Zechariah 1:12, 16), and they started returning in the 5th century BCE. Unfortunately, not everyone returned, and in 70 CE (or AD), they were again dispersed. 

In 70 AD, the Jews were scattered throughout the world a second time, where they have been wandering for nearly 2,000 years without a country, a king, or even a common language. However, it was God’s desire that all of them would one day be living in Israel.

God began bringing His scattered children back in 1881-82 with the first Aliyah wave. The second wave began in 1904, and the waves continued – 1919, 1924 and 1929. This was the second return, which God promised through the prophet Isaiah (11:11), and this return, He vowed, would outshine the first exodus from Egypt (Jeremiah 16:14, 15).

On May 14th, 1948, Israel became a country once again, recognized by the nations of the world – another amazing event foretold by our God (Isaiah 66:8).

This second exodus, from all the nations of the world, is truly a miraculous event which only an Almighty God could do. To scatter a people around the world takes some doing. But to gather that same people again, after 2,000 years, bring them back to the same country, and give them their language back again – this is something that only God could do. Yes, this Aliyah shows us that this is something only the God of Israel could do. It shows us that He still loves His people and has not deserted them. It shows that He is faithful to His promises and is fulfilling each of them.

The Aliyah is about God’s Promises to His People.

God has promised to…

• • Take the Jews out of the nations,

• Gather them from all the countries where He scattered them,

• Bring them back into their own land,
• Sprinkle clean water on them and make them clean,
• Cleanse them from all their impurities and from all their idols,
• Give them a new heart and put a new Spirit in them,
• Remove from them their heart of stone,
• Give them a heart of flesh,
• Put His Spirit in them,
• Move them to follow His decrees and His laws,
• Let them live in the land He gave their forefathers,
• Make them His people,
• And Be their God (Ezekiel 36:24-28)

With All His Heart and Soul

This Aliyah is something very close to the heart of God. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God said that He was going to bring His people back to their Land and to plant them in their Land with all His heart and soul (Jeremiah 32:41). Nowhere else in His Word do we read of God doing something with all His heart and soul. This is truly remarkable.

This Aliyah is so much on the Lord’s heart that He has sprinkled these Scriptures throughout His Word. A friend of mine has collected 64 Aliyah Scriptures in an article he titled, “The Astounding Prophetic Significance of Aliyah.”

The Greatest End-Time Event

This Aliyah is truly something awesome. In fact, I believe that it is the greatest end-time event which God is doing. Already, we have seen some amazing events, but we “ain’t seen nothing yet” if the prophets’ words are to be believed.

Jeremiah foretold that this Aliyah, which is only just beginning, is going to far surpass the first exodus from Egypt. For three and a half thousand years, the Jews have been celebrating the first exodus because of the great deliverance that God performed to bring His people out from under slavery and bring them to the Promised Land. God did some amazing miracles in that liberation from oppression in Egypt. He performed 10 plagues in Egypt, He parted the Red Sea, He drowned Pharoah and his army, He led the Hebrews for forty years with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, their clothes and sandals did not wear out, He fed them manna from heaven each day, and He brought forth water for them from the Rock. What mighty miracles! What has to happen to surpass all those miracles for the Jews to forget those awesome feats? What is God going to do to cause the Jews to forget all about their Passover Seder which they’ve celebrated for thousands of years and only speak about the Exodus which is coming? We are standing on the brink, about to see massive and awe-inspiring miracles, which will far exceed the first!

Operation Solomon

Already, we are seeing some of those miracles beginning to happen. In May 1991, we saw 14,400 Ethiopian Jews flown to Israel in less than 48 hours. Some of the Ethiopians, who had never seen an aircraft up close, were told, “Pack your things, for tomorrow you’ll be in Israel.” This was almost like what Moses said to the Israelites; kill the lamb, place the blood on your doorposts, and tomorrow you’ll be free! (Exodus 12) 

A total of 35 planes took part in Operation Solomon, and at one time there were 26 planes in the air simultaneously. Israel now holds the world record for the number of Jews that flew in a single plane – 1,088. And 1,090 landed, because there were two births on that flight. There were seven children in total born during that operation. 

And when the Ethiopians landed, each of them was given a hot meal, and they had a roof over their head that night. Truly a modern-day miracle.

Operation on Wings of Eagles

Other airlifts of Jews to Israel happened between June 1949 and September 1950 which brought some 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel. The operation was called “On Wings of Eagles” after the Biblical passage in Exodus 19:4, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.”

Come Home Now!

Listening to the news announcer recently, I heard an announcement which seemed to me like a cry from God’s heart to His scattered Children worldwide, “No matter where you are, Israel will always be your home!”

God is calling His Chosen to come home to the Land He has promised them – the Land of Israel. He is bringing them home like Doves to their nests (Isaiah 60:8). He also uses the imagery of clouds to describe how the Jews are coming back. A dove knows where its nest is located and will fly directly there. Some Jews have a strong inner compulsion to come to Israel and fly straight here.

Other Jews, however, are like the clouds, which must be driven by the wind. They don’t really want to come to Israel, but “circumstances” just “blow” them here. (Ruach is the Hebrew word for wind but it also means Spirit.)

Ships of Tarshish

Another Scripture in Isaiah which has yet to be fulfilled speaks of “Ships of Tarshish” that will bring His “sons from afar” with their silver and gold “to the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 60:9).

Although ships and boats have brought God’s “sons” first to Palestine and then Israel, nowhere can anyone point to a fleet of boats and say, “Those are the Ships of Tarshish.”

It is my firm belief that one day a convoy of marine vessels will be used by the Lord to help rescue the Jews from the islands or coastlands.

Why Boats? 

God is using boats for a number of reasons, some which were made quite clear during the recent Covid lockdowns when air travel was forbidden. Boats and yachts were not as restricted. Another reason is becoming obvious with rising fuel prices: sailing will be the most economically viable way to travel.

Some smaller islands only have a very small Jewish presence on them, but according to the prophet Ezekiel all the Jews are “coming Home!” (Ezekiel 39:28) These islands are only accessible by boat, and to escape any disaster, threat, anti-Semitism, or persecution, a marine vessel will be needed. So, whether there are 20,000 Jews on the Indonesian Islands, for example, or only 12 living in the Faroe Islands (numbers according to Wikipedia), they all need to come home. God will do what needs to be done to get them all home. 

It is my belief that one of the main reasons God is allowing this present conflict between Russia and Ukraine is to get His children home. Due to this present crisis, over 15,000 Jews have now made Aliyah to Israel. These Jews would still be in the Ukraine had Russia not invaded their country. God is using this present conflict to bring not only the Ukrainian Jews but also bring Russian Jews home – Jews who are seeing the writing on the wall, their Synagogue walls.

If only the Jews in the west could also see these signs and begin preparations to make Aliyah to Israel. Something must happen to move the Jews from their comfort zones in America, Britain, South Africa, and Australia to bring them to their Biblical Homeland. The prophet Hosea predicts that the Lord will “roar like a lion, and His children will come trembling from the west” (Hosea 11:10). I’m not sure what that ‘roar’ will be like, but I wouldn’t want to come “trembling from the west,” with perhaps just the clothes on my back, as some of the Ukrainian Jews have had to do.

How Many Jews are There Today?

During 2021, some 25,000 Jews made Aliyah to Israel. 

If God is bringing all the Jews home, then we need to know how many Jews there are living in the world today. The Israel Bureau of Statistics estimates there are 15.2 million Jews in the world today, of which 45% are living in Israel. 

If anyone asks me how many Jews are in the world today, I ask them to look upwards on a clear night to the stars and count them, if they are able. This was the number of descendants God promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:5). Innumerable! 

End-Time Orchestra

It is as though we are in a large concert hall watching world history unfold before our eyes, like an orchestra playing a magnificent musical piece. 

The Conductor is Yeshua, skillfully directing the Aliyah ministries as they bring the Jewish people home. The musicians all have different instruments – woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings – and all the ministries have different callings, but each is working together in perfect harmony as they carry out their different roles in this awesome Aliyah to produce an anointed melody.

God is not allowing just one person or ministry, such as He used Moses in the first Exodus from Egypt. He will not allow a single person or ministry to get any of the glory in bringing His children home. Just as a single instrument cannot ever hope to bring the fullness and depth of sound that the whole orchestra can achieve, so too one ministry can never hope to achieve what all the ministries can do when working together in perfect harmony for His Aliyah.

Yes, as the musicians each skillfully play their instrument, or ministries play their part in this Regathering, and the End-time song reaches its crescendo as the Jews come flooding home, the audience will watch in wonder and surprise. Then, as the final notes are played and the last Jews are brought home, there will be admiration, awe, and amazement, not only among the Jews but also among all the nations of the earth. 

As the symphony orchestra’s closing notes fade and the curtain falls, then each one will know that it has been the perfect work of the Lord God Almighty and that He has performed it. 

“I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:14). 

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalm 46:10). 

One day, when all the Jews are back in the Land (Ezekiel 39:28), people will ask and then say, “How did that happen? It could only have been the God of Israel.” To Him be the glory!

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Glen Haines was born in South Africa, and he first came to Israel in 1988 when he volunteered for the International Christian Embassy at their Feast of Tabernacles celebration. In 1991, Glen established a ministry called Operation Tarshish which became recognized by the Israeli government in 2000. In 2001, he married a Jewish doctor from the former Soviet Union. While in Jerusalem, he studied tour guiding, and in 2008, he received his license. In 2008, he and his wife adopted two abandoned girls from Russia. He and his family continue to reside in Jerusalem in obedience to a word that Glen received from the Lord.