There is no continuation of what has been completed.
No there isn't. I guess that is why it is a good thing that it hasn't been completed yet? Where can you mark a time that the transgression of Israel against God (their rebellion) was finished? You can't mark such a date, can you? They are still in rebellion and transgression aren't they? How about making an end of sin? I mean a way has been made, but an end of sin has yet to happen. They are still in sin aren't they? Atonement for the iniquity? If they still have the iniquity, has atonement been applied? It has not been completed yet. It will be completed at Jesus second coming.
Again, the return from exile was fulfilled under Nehemiah and Ezra, when the wall was rebuilt, the temple was rebuilt and the people rededicated themselves to God again.
No promise of return remains, for it has been fulfilled.
Someone made a point of digging deep and connected Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Leviticus together. Jeremiah said the exile would be 70 years, while Ezekiel said 430 years. The 70 years happened as prophesied. So that leaves 460 years left for Ezekiel's prophecy of the return of Israel. That is according to their calendar which was 360 days in a year. For us, it is 365.224 days in a year. A point they made was something written in Leviticus.
"if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,
16 then I will do this to you: …
17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
18 ” ‘
If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins
seven times over. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze…
21 ” ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions
seven times over, as your sins deserve…
23 ” ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me,
24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins
seven times over….
27 ” ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me,
28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins
seven times over…"
Seven times. After their return from Babylon, they did not listen. If you take the 440 years, convert for the Gregorian calendar, and multiply that by 7, and run that from 537AD you get... (drumroll please) 1948. That is by the lunar calendar you get 2520 years, which converts to 2484 years on the Gregorian calendar. 537 AD was the end of the 70 years of Jeremiah, so if one runs 2484 years from 537AD, you get 1948.
What happened in 1948? Israel became a country again. This adds to the others of Ezekiel's prophecies:
Ezekiel 34: "11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep[
a] have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from
all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13
And I will bring them out from the peoples, and
gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country."
This can't be talking about Babylon, because scripture is clear that they are being brought back from the nation of Babylon, not from many countries or nations. This speaks of the end of the diaspora, which, as a group the nation of Israel, ended in 1948.
I don't accept it without thought, but it is interesting that prophecy might be so direct as to give exact dates. It does go to show that perhaps a scholar didn't add the 70 years prophecy to Jeremiah, and add Cyrus to the prophecy. It just adds another level of mystery to God's dealings with Israel and with mankind in general.