many of you have probably heard of the lost 10 tribes of israel but what does the bible have to say about this and is there any such thing as the lost 10 tribes of israel now the event that led to this concept of the lost 10 tribes of israel was the assyrian conquest and by the end of the 8th century bc the most powerful army on earth by far were the assyrians and the assyrians had mastered how to take out fortified cities they’d grown wealthy and grown into a powerful empire so through isaiah god said the assyrian the rod of my anger his purpose is to destroy to put an end to many nations and the assyrians ended many nations for one example the the kingdom the nation north of israel was iram the assyrians attacked iran in a systematic way they took out all the fortified cities down to the capital city of damascus they laid it under siege and when they breached the walls of damascus then the nation of aram ceased to exist and so now they invaded israel and at this time israel was a divided kingdom there was the southern kingdom of judah made up of two tribes and the northern kingdom of israel which was made up of the ten northern tribes so after assyria ended the nation of aram they attacked the northern kingdom of israel they systematically took out the fortified cities down to the capital of samaria they laid samaria under siege and eventually the king of assyria captured samaria and deported the israelites to assyria and when that happened the northern kingdom of israel ceased to exist but that does not mean that the northern ten tribes cease to exist is there an event described in the bible where the 12 tribes of israel are preserved in a remnant that survives the assyrian conquest and the answer is clearly yes god promises in micah 2 12 i will surely gather all of you jacob i will surely bring together the remnant of israel i will bring them together like sheep in a pen the place will throng with people and so god is promising that he will gather all of you jacob how much would all of you jacob include well obviously it would include all 12 tribes of israel and he’s going to bring them together like sheep and a pen [Music] so what is the sheep pen the sheep pen is the city of jerusalem the stone walls of the sheep and that protect the sheep are the walls of jerusalem it’s within the walls of jerusalem that is going to throng with people from all of you jacob all 12 tribes of israel make up the remnant of israel so beginning in 1969 the israeli archaeologist neyman avigad began excavating the western hill and he found that occupation on the western hill began at the time of the assyrian conquest he found all these makeshift houses that had been built in haste that were squeezed together like what you see in a refugee camp and and it was estimated that when the assyrians attacked the northern kingdom of israel that the population of jerusalem grew by at least 15 times and so the city of jerusalem expanded greatly so who were all these people where did they come from obviously they were refugees that were fleeing the destruction of the northern kingdom from the northern ten tribes who were taking refuge in jerusalem once the king of jerusalem at the time hezekiah realizes that it’s inevitable that the assyrians are going to attack judah and jerusalem it says he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it and then it says that he built a wall outside of that one to take the western hill into the city of jerusalem and to protect these refugees so we have in place what god has promised in micah 2 12. god has gathered all of you jacob all 12 tribes and two of the remnant of israel inside the walls of jerusalem and and just in time because in 701 bc the assyrian king sennacherib invades judah and we have both the biblical record and the assyrian record for what happens in the invasion of judah sennacherib’s palace was excavated in nineveh and his records were found so sennacherib himself says as to hezekiah the jew he did not submit to my yoke i laid siege to 46 of his strong cities and conquered them and isaiah is in agreement with this the way isaiah puts it his sennacherib king of assyria attacked all the fortified cities of judah and captured them and then isaiah goes on to describe jerusalem as a city under siege micah chapter 5 verse 1 micah says for a siege is laid against us so think of how dramatic this event is here we have the people of god israel assyria who ends nations has attacked the northern kingdom of israel and ended that nation has invaded judah and destroyed every single fortified city down to jerusalem and now laid jerusalem under siege surrounding the walls of jerusalem is the most powerful army on earth which by the way they were undefeated at this point every city they had attacked they had captured and now inside the besieged city of jerusalem inside the walls god has faithfully gathered the remnant of israel all of you jacob from all 12 tribes and now the question is is will the assyrians bust through the wall of jerusalem and make god’s chosen people extinct or will god deliver his people now think of all the promises that god would break if he allowed his people to be destroyed if there’s no promised people then there’s no people from which the promised messiah can come so the stakes were too high and god cannot break his promises this is the hope of israel so it says in second kings chapter 19 that that night the angel of the lord went out and put to death 185 000 in the assyrian camp when the people got up the next morning there were all the dead bodies so sennacrib king of assyria broke camp and withdrew he returned to nineveh and stayed there and so god saves his people his remnant and god delivers jerusalem from the assyrians now if god had not delivered jerusalem there would be no such thing as jews today this is what isaiah says in isaiah chapter 1 says unless the lord almighty had left us some survivors we would have become like sodom we would have been like gomorrah the jews wouldn’t exist they would be extinct but instead isaiah says for out of jerusalem will come a remnant and out of mount zion abandoned survivors who is this band of survivors they’re all of you jacob from all 12 tribes of israel and this is good news because god preserved his chosen people and from them he brought the promised messiah and for all those who have believed in jesus the messiah we too have become the people of god and god does not lose what he saves there is no such thing as the lost ten tribes of israel [Music] do [Music] [Music] you