The focus of Christ's sermon now switches to promises about Jerusalem and the Old World Jews. This is the topic from verses 29-35.
The establishment of the state of Israel as a gathering place for the Jews is one of the great pre-millenial signs of the times. Over 100 years ago, Elder George Q. Cannon said, "There is a movement at the present time among the Jews…causing them to turn their attention to the land of Jerusalem, and the way is being made plain for the gathering of that people to the land of their fathers; and changes will take place from time to time in the government at Palestine that will enable the Jews to fulfill all that has been predicted concerning their return to the Land of Promise." (Collected Discourses, Vol.2, George Q. Cannon, January 12, 1890).
Since then, the state of Israel has been established and is the gathering place of the Jews. The spirit of the gathering has brought them by the millions from all over the world. The prophecies regarding the establishment of Jerusalem as a gathering place have been fulfilled more literally than the faithful could have imagined.
LeGrand Richards
"In recent years we have seen how the hearts of the children of Judah have turned to the land of their fathers, to Palestine. Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who was president of both the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the World Zionist Organization, headquartered in Jerusalem, when he was asked why the Jews were returning to the land of Israel, replied that it was because of their belief in a 'mystical force.' (Bartley C. Crum, Behind the Silken Curtain, New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1947.)
"This 'mystical force' that has turned the hearts of the Jews of every country to the land of Israel did not come from man, but came after centuries of being 'sifted among the nations.' Because Moses committed the keys for the gathering of Israel to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the spirit of gathering has been poured out upon the nations of Israel, making possible the fulfillment of the prediction of Isaiah which Moroni quoted to Joseph Smith: 'And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.' (Isaiah 11:12.)" (A Marvelous Work And A Wonder, p. 219)