By Sandra Moats

We live in troubled, exciting and amazing times. We were chosen before the foundation of the world to live in this hour on earth. Every day we are witnesses to the fulfillment of divine prophetic happenings, most that were predicted over 2,000 years ago. As Christians we do not live by signs, and do not know the day or hour of the return on Jesus Christ. But He gave us signs to look for so that we would remain awake, and watch for His return.
The signs are spoken of in the Bible, they are signs that precede the return of Jesus Christ to Earth. They were recorded in the Scriptures so that we would know when we are near to His coming. One of the signs is sometimes overlooked. It is a sign that was spoken about by major prophets in the Old Testament some 3,400 years ago.
I think of the land of Israel as a time clock that God uses. The Bible tells us that there is going to be a great ingathering of Jews who have been scattered all over the world because of Roman persecution.
Now it is time for the Jews to come home. Isaiah 11:12 says, “In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
Jesus spoke these words during the last few days of His life on earth. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” Luke 13:34 .
Zechariah chapter 10 verses 8-10 says, “I will signal for them and gather them in, for I have redeemed them, and they shall be as many as of old. Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria; and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, till there is no room for them.
The Prophet Jeremiah in chapter 29:14 says:”And I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will return your captivity and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will return you to the place whence I exiled you.”
“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.” Jer 31:10.
The Prophet Ezekiel wrote that after a long time, in the latter days the Jews would return to their land.They would come from many nations back to their land which had been desolate for 2,000 years. Ez 20:41-42. This prophecy given to Israel is clearly being fulfilled in this day upon earth.
Jesus gave us the signal. It is the hen gathering her chicks. A hen gathers her chicks by making a low clucking sound. I find that interesting in view of how Jesus would gather the children together. The hen the Lord is using for the ingathering in Israel today is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is calling the chicks to safety in their homeland Israel.
About 120 years ago Jews began coming home. It began as a trickle, but after Israel became a nation in May of 1948 the stream began to flow. They had suffered the loss of 6,000,000 Jews under Hitler’s hand in Germany. God began to bring them from the north, south, east and west. “Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth.”Isa 43:5-6.
They Bible tells us how they were to come home to their land. “Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar...” (Isa 60:8-9). In the first 60 years of the ingathering of the Jews came by ships. Most of them came from Russia and Eastern Europe. But after a larger port was built by the British they began to come from all over the world.
When Israel won its independence in 1948, the stream of the great Ingathering widened. They began to come by airplanes bringing Isaiah’s prophecy into sight, “Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts?” Isa 60:8.
On July 5, 1950 Israeli legislation passed “The Right of Return” law in Israel. That law gives Jews the right to return to Israel, to live there and have citizenship. In 1970 that law was extended to include those married to a Jew and those who have one Jewish grandparent. Since 1950 over 3 million Jews have immigrated to Israel.
In 1989 one million Russian-speaking Jews fled to Israel after the Soviet Union fell apart. There have been returns from Iran, Yemen and even Cuba. Jews from India and even from China. Until recently there has been a small trickle from the west, but that has been changing.
It is written in Zephaniah that Jews will come home from Ethiopia, and says they will come back from “the land of Sinim”, or China. Isa 49:12. It is an interesting fact that no Jews lived in either country when the prophecy was written over 2,700 years ago.
Operation Moses began on November 21, 1984, and extended to January 5, 1985. That operation brought home over 6,000 Ethiopian Jews in 33 flights. Under Operation Joshua another 494 came home. In 1991, Operation Solomon, under the Israeli military, airlifted over 14,000 Jews in a 36 hour period.
For 30 years Operation Dove’s Wings flew returning Ethiopians to Israel. In October of 2013 there was a successful operation to bring Ethiopians whose ancestors were linked to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Jeremiah 31:8 says that among the returnees would be “the woman with child and the one who labours with child, together”. In May of 1991 there was a emergency airlift of nearly 15,000 Ethiopian Jews. On those flights there were five mothers who gave birth while aboard the planes on their way to Israel.
For the first time, there are more Jews who live in Israel than any other place on earth. It used to be the United States, but that is no longer is the case.
In 2002 about 45,000 immigrants came home from the United States, Canada, and England. Jewish families in the United States are quietly returning to their homeland. About 20,000 immigrants arrived in 2013. The numbers continue to rise as the hen clucks to her chicks. Remember the signal.
Again, the signal, I believe is the hen clucking – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2010 he said, “Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe. He declared that the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 have been fulfilled with the regathering of Israel. Netanyahu said, “Jews sprouted new branches and grew deep roots. Dry bones become covered with flesh, a spirit filled them, and they lived and stood on their own feet.
He again clucked-calling the Jews home February 15, 2015; after the attacks in Paris by jihadists when four Jews were among those killed. February 16, 2015, after another attack in Denmark he again clucked to Jews to come home. He told them, “I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are, Israel is the home of every Jew.”
It is truly an amazing happening that we are witnessing. Though the happening is wonderful and God breathed, it is a sign for Christians to the soon return of Jesus Christ to earth. We were picked by God to be His witnesses during this last hour. This last hour on earth will increase in signs and happenings as we journey toward Heaven where Jesus longs to gather His chicks. Are you watching and listening for His signal?