Jay, what do you mean by "need to return" ?
Prophecy about all of the children of Israel being brought back to the land of Israel is in Ezekiel 39:28 at the time Jesus returns. Ezekiel 39:21-29 is Jesus Himself speaking in the text having returned to this earth, His Second Coming.
Ezekiel 39:
28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 39:28 corresponds to Matthew 24:31 fulfilling a promise that God made in Deuteronomy 30:1-6.
Oh Doug, you like to make bold statements. Ezekiel 39:28 is not talking about the time of Jesus' return, but rather about the time when the completion of the Daniel 8:8-14 prophecy will occur in around 20 years' time.
Daniel 8:8-14: - 8 Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. 9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.
13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, "How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?"
14 And he said to me, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed."
NKJV
Now you believe that this prophecy only has a duration of 2,300 days because of the Seleucid Empire's desecration of the Temple around 160 BC but you ignore that the Temple and God's Earthly hosts are still being trampled even today and that this trampling will not be completed until the visitation of the Israel father iniquity upon their children and their children's children in the third and the fourth generation/age of their existence is finished. The fourth age of the existence of the nation of Israel still has another 20 or so years to come to its completion around the time 2044-2045. The trampling of God's sanctuary and His earthly hosts will also come to its completion at this time after which God will judge the wicked fallen heavenly host beasts, along with the kings of the earth who are being influenced to trample God's sanctuary and His earthly hosts and remove them from the face of the earth by imprisoning them in the Bottomless pit for 1,000 years.
Douggg, the evidence we are seeing and what Israel is experiencing today confirms for us that the Little Horn and the armies he is still been given, even in this present time is continuing to happen and my understanding is that the Little Horn's power will be cut short around the year 2044-2045 AD.
Let us examine the Hebrew text for Ez 39:28-29: -
My understanding of the Hebrew Root Word H:0127 is that it is referring to God's prepared field/soil which Jesus hinted at in the parable of the Sower.
At the present time any scattered seed that is being spread in the nation of Israel is being choked out by the weeds of the cares of the world.
Now Douggg, you made this claim in your post: -
Ezekiel 39:28 corresponds to Matthew 24:31 fulfilling a promise that God made in Deuteronomy 30:1-6.
Matthew 24:31: - 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
NKJV
Which you claim is the fulfilment of this passage from scripture: -
Deut 30:1-6: - The Blessing of Returning to God
30: 1 "Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the earth which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
NKJV
This is simply not true. Deuteronomy 30:1-6 is a forerunner to the Ezekiel 39:28-29 prophecy, but it is not a forerunner to the Mathew 24:31 prophecy as you are claiming.
It would seem that you are more confused than Hal Lindsay and Time LaHayes.