The Fullness of the Gentiles, The Evidence from the Bible and History
The northern ten tribe House of Israel was exiled by Assyria in the eighth century, B.C., and subsequently lost to recorded history, but Jeremiah makes it plain that they migrated to Europe—his prophecy specifically says that they would be found in the north: “in countries to the north, you people of Judah and Israel will be reunited” (Jer. 3:18, Contemporary English Version). Eighteenth century biblical scholar John Gill stated, “they shall come together out of the land of the north; out of these northern kingdoms of ours, and other parts of Europe, where they chiefly are; this will be when the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in.
John Gill is referring to the passage in Romans 11:25-26, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
What is this fullness of the “Gentiles” (Greek: ethnos=nations) that would herald a redeemed Israel accepting their Messiah? Young’s Literal Translation renders it, “till the fulness of the nations may come in.” The Apostle Paul here in Romans 11 in the New Testament is quoting the great Old Testament prophecy in Genesis 48:19, “And his father [Isaac] refuseth, and saith, I have known, my son [Jacob], I have known; he [Manasseh] also becometh a people, and he also is great, and yet, his young brother [Ephraim] is greater than he, and his seed is the fulness of the nations;”(YLT). What does it mean that Israel would be a “fullness of nations?” The “Bible in Basic English” translation makes it clear: “…his seed will become a great family of nations.” Ephraim-Israel, the ten tribes exiled far from Canaan for their sins, would turn from ungodliness to Christ, and become “a company of nations” (Genesis 35:11; cf. Gen. 17:4-5), a great family of nations in Europe—Christendom!
The two Houses of Israel, Ephraim and Judah, had been punished with exile to foreign lands by God due to their pagan worship practices. What did this comprise? The Bible gives details of rituals in sacred groves under oaks (“green trees,” 2 Ki. 16:4; Jer. 3:12-13), “High Places” with pagan altars (2 Ki. 16:4; 17:9), “And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire (2 Ki. 17:17).” This is summed up well in 1 Kings 14:23,“For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.”
Druidic worship in the British Isles and Norse religion in Europe involved a very similar set of religious customs. Druid worship was also in oak groves. Numerous stone monoliths, standing stones called “menhirs,” stretched like a marked trail from Bethel in Palestine to Stonehenge and Avebury in the British Isles. The Druid “Bel fires” were abundant. This is a stark confirmation of prophecy that the House of Israel would be practicing such customs in distant lands “in countries to the north.” (Jer. 3:18)
The IVP Biblical Background Commentary also confirms this: “Jeremiah 3:9 [speaks of] adultery with stone and wood. Committing adultery with stone and wood refers to the “spiritual adultery” of following after the Asherim (the sacred trees, i.e., wood) and the Baals (stone).” Worship of Bel (or Baal) in Canaan was a cause of frequent denunciation by God (Judg. 2:13; 2 Ki. 17:16, etc.) and the worship of the very same god Bel or Baal with the same rituals was also central to Druidic worship in the early British Isles. There is an unmistakable corresponding identity between the worshippers in ancient Canaan and early Britain.
Some biblical commentators claim that Babylon in the east was the “land of the north” where the exiled tribes would be practicing these sins, but that does not in any way fit the prophecy and its environment. There was no wood or stone in the arid desert region of Babylon in Mesopotamia, only an endless expanse of sand and clay! The prophecy of Israel practicing pagan worship “with wood and stone” was not, and could not, be fulfilled in their original lands of exile in Assyria and Babylon. It does exactly match the pagan practices in early Europe and the British Isles where these Israelite exiles migrated.
100 important biblical promises to Israel have been specifically fulfilled only by the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic and related peoples of Europe, and are listed in the book, “The Story of Celto-Saxon Israel,” by W.H. Bennett also details the migrations of the Israel tribes both by sea across the Mediterranean (Judg. 5:17; 1 Ki. 9:26-27; 10:22) and by land through the Caucasus region (Amos 4:3 Amplified Version, harmon=Armenia & Caucasus Mtns.) into early Europe.
Despite the many past sins and “blindness in part” (Rom. 11:25) of the paganized and “Gentilized” ten-tribe House of Israel, the biblical prophecy of the “fullness of the Gentiles” also included wonderful promises. They would repent and be used of God to become powerful nations (Isa. 41:12-15; Micah 4:13) and carry “the Word of the Lord to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6) in Christian missionary work throughout much of the Church Age. These and many other prophecies have only seen their fulfillment by a redeemed Israel located “in countries to the north” in Europe, from which they have spread throughout the Western World.
The “fullness of the Gentiles” therefore refers to the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and related promises that the Israelite tribes would grow to become large and powerful Christian nations during the Church Age. This is an unconditional covenant that has indeed been fulfilled in our world today.
