QUESTION: How and when will the lost ten tribes be restored, and can they presently be identified?
ANSWER: Israel, or the ten tribes, was taken to Assyria (2 Kings 17) about 130 years before Judah, or the Jews, was taken to Babylon. Idolatry and turning to Assyria for help, instead of to God, were the immediate causes of the deportation of the ten tribes to Assyria (see Hosea). Not being involved in the guilt of Judah in rejecting and crucifying the Messiah, their restoration to the land of their fathers will be accomplished in a special way. They will not pass through the awful trials under the Antichrist which their brethren of Judah will. Ezek. 20:33-39 records the restoration of the ten tribes by the Lord Himself. The mass of Judah will be restored by the aid of a seafaring nation (Isa. 18).
Whatever human instruments may be employed in assisting the return of the ten tribes, they are hid in the meantime, and God Himself is presented as the source and power of their return. It is to be noted, too, that God deals with the conscience of Israel, or the ten tribes, in the wilderness, not in the land. As the unbelieving and disobedient fell in the wilderness, and only the faithful entered the land, so will it be in the return of these tribes. The rebels and disobedient will be first purged out, and then the godly will be brought into the land to rejoin their converted brethren of Judah. This sifting will take place while the Jews are suffering under the Antichrist in the land. The wondrous meeting of the long-scattered tribes of all Israel is most touchingly described in Jer. 31:8, 9.
There is a later return of any scattered among the nations, whether of Jews or Israelites, when the Lord comes. It is He who sends out His messengers to gather His elect (Matt. 24:31; Isa. 66:19, 20).
There was a return of certain remnants of Judah from Babylon to Jerusalem after the seventy years of captivity (see Ezra and Nehemiah), but there has been no return of Ephraim or the ten tribes. God has His eye upon them; He knows where they are, for He scattered them.
It is most remarkable that people will pretend to tell who and where the descendants of these long-lost tribes are. The truth is, no single people or nation can claim to be their descendants, for they were to be scattered among the heathen and dispersed through the countries. Their scattering and dispersion were to be world-wide (Ezek. 20:34; 34:12, 13).
God further declares them to be "lost" and that He will "search" and "seek them out." What God says, He will do. Man is daring enough to say he has done it. God says He will search for, and seek the lost sheep of Israel. Man says he has searched them out, and can tell you who and where they are.
You have only to read carefully Ezekiel chapters 20 and 34 to have all such thoughts dispelled. There is nothing like the sure and unerring testimony of God's blessed Word in meeting the foolish thoughts and vain speculations of men.
Young Christian