“In the Last Days, Judah and Israel Will Be Gathered to Their Own Lands—David, Their King (the Messiah), Will Reign over Them”
(See Jeremiah 30:1–24.)
Dr. Ellis T. Rasmussen wrote:
“We have such ancient prophetic books as the book of Jeremiah because the Lord commanded that they be written; in them are recorded prophecies for the latter days so that the people who had sinned and were exiled would know that their latter-day descendants would fulfill the mission of Abraham and Israel and that the Lord’s purposes would be accomplished.
“Jeremiah spoke of Israel and Judah as if they were two peoples, because they had been two nations since the division of the kingdom after Solomon’s reign on through the loss of the ten tribes and the captivity of Judah and they would be separate until the latter-day gathering.
“The times of ‘trembling, of fear, and not of peace’ [Jer. 30:5] before the day of deliverance are in the latter days. The time of peace and salvation is to come in the messianic kingdom. Humankind could not cure their own ills, and Israel’s idol gods, far from being any help to anyone, had been a major cause of their rejection. Their sorrows would be incurable but for the Lord; He will heal and restore the outcasts whom people denigrate, scoffing at their ‘Zion’ [Jer. 30:17].
“‘I will bring again the captivity’ [Jer. 30:3, 18] means, ‘I will return the captives.’ The city of Jerusalem, its dwellings, and citadel shall be restored. A lovely picture of joy and thanksgiving in those times is given when all shall have a renewed relationship with the Lord. It is contrasted with an opposite picture of the fate of the wicked in the latter days.”
(A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament [1993], 562–63.)
