To my knowledge, the in-gathering is associated with messianic Judaism. The in-gathering is the antithetical counterpart to the diaspora. Messianic Jews believe God will regather Jews, or at least messianic Jews, who over the course of the millennia were scattered to the four winds by exile, war, pogroms, deportation, the Shoah, and so forth. They will return to their ancestral homeland in Israel.
There is, however, a sense in which the in-gathering has a more expansive scope. Because human beings are brought into existence by other human beings, we are widely separated from each other in time (as well as space). We come into being at different times during the course of history. The human race is spread out in lineal stages. Ancestors and descendants. Most human generations are far removed from one another in point of origin.
Add to that human mortality, and most generations lived and died in isolation from other generations. We are strangers to each other, like long-lost brothers. So the concept of the diaspora extends to the human race generally. The generational chain constitutes a chronological diaspora. A diaspora in time as well as place.
The resurrection of the just will be a large-scale in-gathering. Not only will there be a reunion of Christians who knew each other in this life, but a reunion of all God's people across the ages.
Edifying.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, yesterday I watched a video (Here) where Michael Brown interviewed a non-Messianic rabbi on his organization's research in finding the "Lost Tribes" of Israel. I was surprised that the rabbi accepted or was inclined to believe some of the popular claims made by some non-Jews that there are Israelite descendants in unlikely places like Japan and India etc. I guess now there might possibly be some truth to such claims. Other peoples and places are more readily believable like in nearby Africa, or in Spain (were Jews were forced to convert or falsely converted due to the inquisition) etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of what cultist leader Garner Ted Armstrong used to say. That Haile Selassie claimed to be a descendant of King Solomon. But with 300 wives and 700 concubines half the world could be a descendant of Solomon to some degree or another. Though, I now suspect that that number of 300 wives and 700 concubines might be numerologically symbolic exaggeration (applying Steve's suggestion that some Biblical numbers are symbolic and not necessarily always literal, nor even rounded up/down approximations).
I played the video in the background and didn't give it my full attention. But if I recall correctly the rabbi claimed some Latinos with the last name Mendoza sometimes have Jewish DNA (or at least cultural indications of having Jewish heritage). I recall a conversation I had with a recently deceased aunt who said we have ancestors and current relatives with (I believe) the last name Mendoza. So, for all I know, I'm a Filipino American with some Jewish blood. That'd be cool! Both my mother and father's side claim (rightly or wrongly) to have some Spanish ancestry.
DeleteThe in gathering seems to come from Ezekiel 37. The prophet has a vision of the valley of dry bones. Israel is defunct.
ReplyDeleteLater God physically restores Israel. But they are spiritually dead. The chapter ends the spiritual restoration and Israel being ruled over by the seed of David.
I forget where I heard or read it (probably Michael S. Heiser), but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Messiah's ingathering (of the whole world) is the reversal of Babel where humanity was scattered to different tongues.
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