Many Messianic and Hebrew Roots believers are eagerly anticipating the “Second Exodus.” We view this future event as a key element of the second advent of Messiah Yeshua. As with the first exodus, when the children of Israel left Egypt to become God’s called-out people, the Second Exodus is closely connected to the Passover.
Biblical References to a Second Exodus
The “Second Exodus” is seen by the Jewish community as a prophesied regathering of Israel from exile back to the physical land of Israel, often linked to messianic prophecies. Christian and Messianic Jewish groups use “Second Exodus” to describe a future divine redemption, either for Israel or for believers in general, drawing parallels between the original Exodus and eschatological (end-times) events.
The Biblical and theological perspective on the Second Exodus is rooted in the idea that just as God delivered Israel from Egypt in the first exodus, he will perform a future, even greater redemption for his people. This concept is found in various prophetic writings, particularly in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh).
In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isaiah 11:11-12 ESV
This passage speaks of a “second time” that God will gather His people, drawing a parallel to the first Exodus. The locations named are all in northern Africa and the Middle East, though they are also called the “four corners of the earth.”
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
Jeremiah 16:14-15 ESV
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”
Jeremiah 23:7-8 ESV
These passages indicates that the future redemption will surpass the original Exodus in significance. They specifically say that the people of Israel will be brought back into their land.
“As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Ezekiel 20:33-38
Ezekiel describes a future purging and restoration of Israel in a wilderness setting, much like the original Exodus. After calling his people out of the places where they have been scattered, God takes them into the “wilderness” and not directly into the Promised Land, the land of Israel.
The Second Exodus and The Messiah
The Second Exodus is described as a greater act of deliverance than the first exodus, involving not just one nation (Egypt) but a global regathering from many nations. Both Jewish and Christian interpretations link this future redemption with the coming of the Messiah, though from differing perspectives. For believers in Yeshua, we recognize this as his return, his second advent. Non-believing Jews are still looking for the Messiah to appear. I remember being at a conference several years back and hearing a Jewish speaker say, “When the Messiah arrives, I intend to ask him, ‘Is this your first trip to Israel?’”
In Jewish thought, the Messianic Age will bring about the return of all exiles to Israel. Some have considered the return to The Land in the 20th and 21st centuries as part of this prophetic fulfillment. However, they know a greater, more miraculous regathering will occur in the Messianic era. Believers in Yeshua generally see this as part of the Millennial reign (Revelation chapter 20).
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.
Moses speaking in Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV
And the LORD said to me, “… I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
Moses speaking in Deuteronomy 18:17-18 ESV
While unbelieving Jews are still looking for this prophet, we understand this to be Messiah Yeshua. Acts chapters 3 and 7 tie the words in Deuteronomy to the first advent of Yeshua, and it will reach complete fulfillment at his return. In Jewish thought, the Messiah is the new Moses. Like the original Exodus led to the Sinai Covenant, the Second Exodus is often associated with a renewed covenant.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 ESV
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
Mark 14:22-24 ESV
Although Yeshua inaugurated the New Covenant with his disciples at his final Passover, the full description in Jeremiah (repeated in the book of Hebrews) indicates there is still more to be fulfilled.
The Greater Exodus – Monte Judah
Messianic teacher Monte Judah has written extensively on this subject in his book, The Greater Exodus. He sees a great similarity between the original exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt and a future, greater exodus of believers from all nations of the earth. This Greater Exodus takes place during the “great tribulation” prior to the physical return of Yeshua to the earth.
Judah embraces a three-and-a-half year timeline for a future “great tribulation.” Like most who hold this view, there are a number of signs leading up to the beginning of the tribulation. It does not come as surprise to those who understand. For him, the key sign is the shutting down of an operating altar on the Temple Mount, an event that will happen sometime following the Fall Feasts (Yom Kippur and Sukkot). It will be during the winter.
Once this sign occurs, the Greater Exodus begins immediately after the following Passover, just as the first exodus did. Judah sees this as consisting of many small groups gathering and moving as God directs, meeting up with other small groups to form larger groups. The entire well-organized process takes three-and-one-half years, during which those in the Greater Exodus are protected from the ongoing “great tribulation.” The Greater Exodus ends in Jerusalem with the “sign of the Son of Man” and the return of Yeshua.
Simply said, there is a future Passover and a future exodus for us at the end of the ages. Moses led the exodus and he was the first to say that there would be a future exodus… The Messiah spoke of it as well, connecting it to His return. The Jewish people refer to the future Passover and exodus as the “final redemption.” Each year at the Passover seder, they look forward to the future redemption (the Greater Exodus) by setting a special cup for the prophet Elijah.
Monte Judah in The Greater Exodus, page 5
Passover and the Return of Jesus – Travis Snow
Christian author Travis Snow summarizes the relationship between Passover and the Second Exodus in the chapter Passover and the Return of Jesus in his book The Biblical Feasts and the Return of Jesus. You can read my review of his book here on The Messianic Light. He goes deeper into the fulfillment of Passover in an earlier book, The Passover King. Like Monte Judah, Travis Snow sees the final three-and-a-half years of tribulation as critical. He places this as the second half of a seven-year period commonly called Daniel’s seventieth week.
Though not as specifically tied to calendar dates as Judah, Snow draws many parallels between the first exodus from Egypt and the Second Exodus. He believes current events involving an antichrist figure and a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem will leave many Jewish exiles in North Africa and the Middle East during the “seventieth week.” In his scenario, which he documents well with Scripture, Yeshua (Jesus) returns not to the Mount of Olives, but rather to Egypt. From there, he will lead the Second Exodus back to Jerusalem. Christians, Messianic Jews, and Old Testament saints “will be with Jesus when he returns on the clouds to Egypt and the Middle East” (The Biblical Feasts and The Return of Jesus, page 72).
While I and many readers of The Messianic Light will likely disagree with Snow as to the identity of who makes up those in the second exodus, his detailed study of future events and past parallels is worth considering. Beginning in Egypt in North Africa, the Messiah – the prophet like Moses – leads the Second Exodus through the waters, wilderness, and military conquests very similar to the first exodus. It all leads up to the final battle with the Antichrist in Jerusalem.
Messiah’s return to Egypt is the natural corollary to Israel’s final exile during the seventieth week. After all, before Jesus can make the trip to Jerusalem, as the Greater Moses He will first have to rescue a surviving Jewish remnant from exile and slavery, just as the first Moses did thirty-five hundred years ago.
Travis Snow in The Biblical Feasts and The Return of Jesus, page 69
The Passover Connection to the Second Exodus
These are just a couple of ways to look at the Second Exodus, and there are many others not quite so different. Each has valuable points to consider along with it’s flaws. Like the first exodus and the first appearance of Messiah Yeshua, the Father has not fully revealed all of the details.
Just as in the first exodus from Egypt, there is a strong connection between Passover and the Second Exodus. As we celebrate this festival, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Yeshua is more than just the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). He is also the Prophet Like Moses who will lead the Second Exodus – whether physically or spiritually.
- The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen (Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV).
- Before the ingathering and final redemption, there will be trials and testing similar to the wilderness journey of the first exodus. Exactly what that testing is remains speculative, but the outcome is a people prepared to enter the Promised Land with Yeshua.
- I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. (Ezekiel 20:34-37 ESV)
- Yeshua connected the Passover meal to the coming kingdom. The final redemption is described as a great feast.
- And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15-16 ESV)
- On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:6-9 ESV)
- And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Revelation 19:9 ESV)