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Christ is to be the way back for the scattered north. We read that He is the highway that unites the disparate houses. Recall the closing verse of Hosea’s prophecy for the two houses, No Mercy (Lo-Ruhamah) and Not My People (Lo-Ammi):
11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Hosea 1:10-11 ESV
Also recall Isaiah 11:11-13,16 where the branch of Jesse will assemble the banished of Israel and Judah’s dispersed from all over the earth, and the two houses will no longer be jealous or harass one another. The passage concludes in verse 16, that there shall be a highway from Assyria for the estranged north, and it will represent a 2nd exodus for His people:
11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. 12 He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 16 And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 11:11-13,16 ESV
So the two houses shall leave their separate high places and their lofty cities, travel to the dry valley, which becomes His unifying highway, and then go up from that land to assemble His great mountain at Zion.
5 For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. 6 The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.” 7 The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.
Isaiah 26:1-7 ESV
12 In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. 13 And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Isaiah 27:12-13 ESV
8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Isaiah 35:8-10 ESV
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:1-5 ESV
11 And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.”
Isaiah 49:11-12 ESV
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 2:1-3 ESV
Jeremiah regards the Highway as safe passage and contrasts the by ways as following after other gods. As though God is the real way, and man makes his journey more difficult by following his own side roads:
15 But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,
Jeremiah 18:15 ESV
This highway is made between two mountains in the valley. In other words, man has his high places that are destroyed and brought low into the valley for rebuilding, and that valley is made a strong path for God’s people in reconciliation to Him. In Joel, we read of Judah and Jerusalem being made whole as a people are gathered from all nations into a valley of decision between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives:
““For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.”
Joel 3:1-3 ESV
This is likewise echoed by the prophet Zechariah, who states that God will establish His kingdom by the one who stands on the Mount of Olives, which is split in two (north and south) in judgement, and that He will create a large valley between them to which they will flee from their high places and seek safe refuge within, and the valley will rise as a single mountain to a high point (noted as Azal). The people will flee as they did from the shaking of nations referenced in Amos 1:1, prior to the conquest of the north by Assyria in 722BC.
Note: Verses 1-3 in Zechariah 14 describe calamities that occur prior to His arrival, but share similarities with those that befall the north prior to Assyria’s invasion (Is 10:6). In essence, I believe them to be parallel judgements on the south, Lo-Ammi (Not My People), as similar to what befell the north, Lo-Ruhamah (No Mercy). The remainder of the passage speaks to the resolution of the two houses after judgement. We pick up in verse 4:
4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
Zechariah 14:4-5,9 ESV
In Acts we read how Christ fulfilled this prophecy. After His resurrection, the disciples ask Jesus when he will restore the kingdom of Israel. They do not ask when he will restore the Gentile Church and the Jewish nation, they ask about the restoration of His Kingdom of Israel, which are His people. And Christ states that he will restore the houses from southern Judea (House of Judah) and northern Samaria (House of Israel) when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they are set apart for Him. He then ascends into heaven from the Mount of Olives. So we see that Christ stood on the Mount of Olives that lay before Jerusalem and identified His two split houses of His people, Israel, one split northward with its capital Samaria, and one southward in Judea. Here He declares the beginning of His Kingdom, and tells the disciples to await the Holy Spirit, the valley of refuge which will grow into a great mountain will form between the two as their divisions are brought low. They will form His holy mountain, which are His unified set apart people, Israel. This mountain in the valley is God’s highway for His people. Their unification.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
Acts 1:6-12 ESV
So we see that the north is scattered, and the south is preserved, and that judgements are to be staggered on the two houses, lest there be no one to carry on God’s ways and all Israel is completely destroyed, akin to Sodom and Gomorrah. The south is preserved until they bring in Christ the Messiah, over whom they will stumble and deny Him as their savior. In their stumbling, they will be rendered, ‘Not My People’ and reject Him, but Christ is the highway by which the North will return, and by their return, make the south jealous for Him. This is the 2nd exodus of His people, the 2nd way back from the nations. Recall Hosea 1:11 to Lo-Ruhamah (No Mercy), the House of Israel, and Lo-Ammi (Not My People), the House of Judah:
11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Hosea 1:10-11 ESV
They go up from the land upon God’s Mountainous Highway, who is Christ. Christ came to save the lost sheep of the House of Israel and remove the divisions between Ephraim and Judah. For example, Christ abolished the law of man made ordinances, which became a dividing line between the Jew and Gentile. You will see how everything is coming together in Ephesians 2:
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:11-13 ESV
Paul confirms the mystery of Christ, that a partial hardening has come upon the southern aspect of Israel, the House of Judah until the fullness of the House of Israel comes in (the gentiles), such that all of Israel is saved. Christ is the highway and cornerstone of Zion, the deliverer that banishes the sins of Jacob. Paul references the staggered judgements to the two houses, for just as the north once received no mercy and were scattered far off, they were reconciled to God through Christ, who dies at the hands of the House of Judah. But through salvation of the north (no mercy), the south will be made jealous. They will be brought in through Christ the Messiah, and return to YHWH. Recall Deuteronomy 32, where God states that His people will be made jealous of another people, who have no identifiable nation (gentiles):
21 They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
Deuteronomy 32:21 ESV
Now we return to Romans 11, where Paul is speaking about the southern house of Judah:
9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.” 11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
[continuing on in verse 25, Paul tells us of the mystery, that the gentiles are to be brought in so that all of Israel will be saved]
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
[For the north and south are brothers, and just because the north received mercy, the south are still Israel as well should they accept Christ]
30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:25-36 ESV
Christ is the unifying head, under which the House of Judah and the House of Israel are to reconcile. While the North were scattered, the South were preserved to bring Him into this world, in order that He may make known God’s mystery to His people, dissolve the dividing walls between the two houses, and provide a method whereby His people are granted a highway and a 2nd exodus from the nations that unifies His people, Israel, a Holy mountain of Zion. This structure has Christ as its cornerstone and its foundation built by the work of the apostles and prophets. One may only enter this New Jerusalem if they are written in the lamb’s book of life, and if they enter by one of the gates which are the 12 tribes of Israel. We read in Revelation 21:
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 21:10-14,22-27
The north and south are split into two mountains by God. In staggered judgments, He then brings them low from their high places into the valley between them through Christ, who then serves as the cornerstone for a highway in the valley for His people Israel. The highway is also built on the work of the apostles, and it reaches far to heaven and is used by the 12 tribes of Israel to enter the New Jerusalem.
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