I stopped short in this verse for a purpose. Let me emphasize here that May 14th, 1948 marks the Second Recovery of the House of Jacob. The first re-gathering took place when Israel was brought back to their land when Jesus was born during the Roman era. The 2nd scattering was perpetrated by Rome in 70 AD. Israel was not recovered for the "second time" until the 1948 miraculous appearance following the WWII Holocaust! What is even more astounding is that the rebirth of Israel in 1948 was constituted by a mere Remnant of the Jewish people, a people which had endured and survived Nazi concentration death camps!

This is the only verse in the entire Bible that sets a specific number for the Re-gatherings of Israel. There will not be a Third Re-gathering. Israel will not require a third re-gathering because God has promised Israel that when he brings back the remnant to the glorious promised land, that he will remember his Covenant!

      Lets look closely at the following verse in Isaiah:

      Isaiah 11:12 And he ( God ) shall set up an ensign for the nations, ( Gentiles ) and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the Dispersed ( Diaspora ) of Judah from the four corners of the earth!

      This is astonishing! God has proclaimed to all the nations of the world that he will set up an ensign, a token for their notice! Ensign means a national flag, or emblem, or banner signaling the authority of the rightful owner! God has announced to the Gentile nations that when the time arrives that he at long last has recovered his dispersed people out of their nations, and reestablished ( Israel ) them in their own land; and re-given them their sovereignty; that it should be a warning to those nations that God is returning also to his people. The nations are warned to take notice of this ensign; lest they fall under the wrath of God!

      This is precisely the cause of conflict in the Middle East today. The nations of the world refuse to respect God's Ensign. The Arabic nations of the Middle East refuse to submit to the authority of "God" to replant his re-gathered people in the land that He gave unto them.

      Islamic extremists burn the Israeli flag, and mock the God of Israel without even a remote notion that God almighty has set that banner there in that land as a warning to them to keep their hands off Israel!

      Israel has been re-gathered for the “second time.” It is in its rightful place. God has brought her back. He will stand by her in the future! He will conclude his work among all the nations of this world through the re-gathering of his people, Israel.

      How do we know that God won't scatter Israel yet again? Old Testament prophet Amos explains:

      Amos 9:14-15 And I ( God ) will bring again the captivity ( 2nd return ) of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof, they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

      And I ( God ) will plant them upon their land, and they shall "NO MORE" be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God!

      Contained in these verses is the promise of God to recover his people Israel, that were dispersed to the four corners of the earth; and plant them back in the land that he originally gave to their fathers; and that after he has planted them back there for the second occasion; that they will enjoy the bounty of a blessed land; and shall never again be plucked up and scattered abroad. This is a God-sworn fact! Israel is back in its rightful domicile for the third occasion in history; twice recovered, but forever to remain in the Promised Land. The only thing still yet lacking for Israel is national spiritual renewal and its coming RIGHTFUL KING!

      And he is coming soon! Salvation for Israel rests in His deliverance!

      Romans 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. ( Israel )

      Jesus commented in his parable concerning the Fig Tree that the generation of Jacob's remants that was the first-fruits of the re-gathered remant within Israel would witness the completion of all the events of the Last Days. Jesus even included the statement that the generation of Jacob's descendants that shall sprout forth after the replantation in the land also would likewise see the total fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones.

      Surely, the reader which has read attentively to this point in this article can now comprehend that the second re-gathering of Israel is indeed the great landmark of Bible Prophecy. Pursuant to that fact is the subject of the city of Jerusalem. The reacquisition of the city of Jerusalem in 1967 by Israel stands out as a monument of verification that God is contesting with the nations of the world that have ignored his miraculous ensign; for possession of the holy city of Jerusalem. God is the power that is making a Jerusalem a stone of stumbling for all those nations that despise Israel. Ultimately, the nations shall fall before the weight of that burdensome stone!

      Not only have we added up the fact that a remant of Israel has been recovered now for the second time in history, but we also find that the city of Jerusalem has been wrested away from Gentile powers for the first time in 2,520 years. The world is not happy about that fact! Jerusalem is today the burdensome problem that God said it would be when he finally recovered his people for the second time. That fact exposes that the year just concluding is also a landmark of Bible prophecy. Because of the recent debacle of the Camp David Summit meetings; Jerusalem has reached the stage of entrapment for all those nations that seek to usurp Jerusalem from Jacob's possession.

      Included within all of this evidenciary material for verifying that we are indeed in the conclusive era of Israel's restorative process is the additional reality that the world's community of nations ( United Nations ) is scheming to partition the land. This conspiratorial design of the nations is unique to this generation! At no other time in history has the Promised Land of Jacob ( Israel ) been subjected to Partitioning! All other occupiers of the promised land took the whole land. Never did any former power divide into pieces!

      Today, the United Nations is parting the land into tiny pieces; giving pieces to any adversary of Israel!

      Listen to this accusation from the prophet Joel:

      Joel 3:2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there ( Jerusalem ) for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and Parted My land!

      In conclusion; let me add all these facts together for you. God has recovered his people for the second time in history, they shall never more be plucked up out of their land. Jerusalem is the paramount problem for all the nations of the world today, demanding any potential solution other than permitting Israel to own it; and the nations are partitioning the promised land granting pieces to Arafat, and the proposed new state of Palestine!

      How do I know that we are living in the last days? How do I know that the current existence of the state of Israel signals the countdown to the return of Jesus?

      I think that anyone that can add one plus one, and acquire two for an answer, and believes the Bible, can readily see that the second regathering of Israel means that Jesus is returning to Israel very soon!