"Alas!
for that
What
is this time of Jacob's trouble? Is it some great, terrible
catastrophe upon Israel, greater than Diaspora or more painful than
the Holocaust? Will God heap more affliction upon His "chosen
people" or will Joel 2:27 be fulfilled: "Then you will know
that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and there is no
other; never again will my people be shamed." — (NIV translation) JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE PAST
Jacob's
trouble is the consequence of Israel's disobedience. It is the cursings
of the Law that Moses set forth in Deuteronomy 27 and 28. Deuteronomy
28:1,15 reads: "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully
follow all his commandments I give you today, the Lord your God will
set you high above all the nations on earth ... However, if you do
not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow his commandments
and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon
you and overtake you." (NIV) *Footnote SUMMARY Thus, for the Jew who has returned to the land, the trouble must be past. It could not be future. This, however, does not preclude a future trouble for those Jews who have not returned, who remain out of the land. JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE FUTURE The prophet Joel predicted a time of trouble that was to come upon Israel in his day, and a warning of future trouble. Israel had made a covenant with God, and had broken the covenant so completely that they were considered as dead. In the scriptures Israel is often referred to a fig tree. "He hath barked [peeled off] my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away. Lament like a virgin girded with sackloth for the husband of her youth." (Joel 1:7,8) This depicts the death of the nation and the loss of her God ["Thy maker is thine husband" —Isaiah 54:5] In Joel 1, verse 9 we read. "The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off." The suspension of the Temple offerings was a grave offense, and the covenant had fallen into nonobservance. As a result all the gracious promises of God were cut off. No wonder Joel said, "The priests, the Lord's ministries mourn." The religious leaders of every age, including our own, moan the breakdown of the institutions–even though they have tolerated the social evils and religious abuses which have led to that breakdown. Turning to the Lord was the only way to escape the impending calamities. "Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord. Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come." —Joel 1:14, 15 Joel's vision ceases to be circumscribed by the time and space of his own day and people. He shows reenacting of these scenes on a grander and vaster scale in distant times to come. Joel describes the devastation of the "day of the Lord" and again exhorts the people to: "Turn ye even to me [the Lord] with all your heart, and with fasting and with weeping, and with mourning. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say . Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them." — Joel 2:12,17 "Then will the Lord be jealous for His land, and pity His people." —Joel 2:18 From verse 20 onward we see the evidence of Divine deliverance. The northern invaders are driven into the wilderness and destroyed, the land recovers and brings forth harvests once again. There is a great restitution of all that was lost and Israel is converted and turns to the Lord in sincerity as indicated in verse 27: "And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed." Has the part of the prophecy had its fulfillment? No—the last part of Joel 2:19 has not taken place: "I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen." From Joel's day to our day, Israel has been constantly threatened by other nations, and we have not seen signs of a national conversion. Israel has not put its trust in God and acknowledged and He is dwelling in her midst. In both Ezekiel 38 and 29 and Daniel 11, the invader comes from the north and "...in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel...And thou shalt come from they place out of north parts...And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days." Then follows the terrible devastation upon Israel's enemies of "pestilence and blood; great hailstones, fire and brimstone." — Ezekiel 38:15-22 "Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." —Ezekiel 38:23. What a wonderful outlook for Israel! "In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." —Zechariah 12:8,9. The prophets Joel, Zechariah and Ezekiel, all present the same scenario. Israel will be surrounded by her enemies and threatened, but "The Lord shall go forth, and fight against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle." —Zechariah 14:3 Then Israel will have a change of heart and there will be a national conversion: "And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and bread down, and to throw down, and to destroy and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build, and to plant, saith the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God and they shall be my people." —Jeremaih 31:28,31,33 The prophet Joel continues in chapter 3, verses 16,17: "The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her." (NIV) Summary As we interpret these scriptures, the situation in Israel will seem hopeless. Many nations will be positioned around her to destroy her, but the Lord will step in and miraculously save her. The situation will be so dramatic that not only Israel, but he entire world will realize that only Jehovah, the God of Israel, could bring about this victory. "Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." —Zechariah 8:22,23 CONCLUSION When Will These Prophecies Be Fulfilled? Prophecy can only be completely understood after its fulfillment; therefore, we have to look to the scriptures for indications for signs of the times. Israel's Double There is an important "time prophecy" in Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 12: "...even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee." The word translated "double" has the meaning of "doubling"–a duplicate or like amount. The thought is that Israel would have a period of disfavor equal in length to her period of favor. The beginning of the period of favor started when the 12 tribes of Israel were first recognized as a nation at the death of Jacob in BC 1812 (Genesis 49:28). The end of that period is prophetically stated in Zechariah 9:9 when Jesus [Yeshus] rode into Jerusalem on an ass and pronounced Israel' house "desolate." —Matthew 23:38 This period of 1845 years of favor – "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." (Amos 3:2), was followed by an equal period of time of disfavor.
In 1878 the first Jewish colony, Petah Tikva was established by Jewish refugees from Russia. Promised Land In Genesis God made a covenant with Abraham that "he and his seed" would inherit a portion of land: "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to they seed for ever." (Genesis 13:15) In Acts 7:5, the Christian martyr, Stephen, speaking of Abraham, declares: "And he [God] gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." Certainly we see a partial fulfillment of this prophecy, and the ongoing restoration of land is evident; but, since God cannot retract His word, and if all of the land has not been given to "Abraham and his seed", the it follows that some future time this promise will be fulfilled. Resurrection of the Dead A logical conclusion would be that Abraham would have to be resurrected from the dead in order to inherit God's promise to him. Remember the poignant plea made by Job while enduring great physical suffering: "O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave [Hebrew sheol], that thou wouldest keep my secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appoint time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call and I will answer thee..." —Job14:13-15. In the New Testament, in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul mentions some of the faithful people of the Old Testament. "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and we went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and marker is God." —Hebrews 11:8-10 Paul concludes in verse 13: "These all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Not only will Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the faithful mentioned in the above texts receive life–all who ever lived will be resurrected from the dead to enjoy life here on earth. Jesus' own words: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth..."—John 5:28,29 All mankind will be blessed The scriptures clearly teach that all will be blessed in God's kingdom, and that Israel will be used in a special way. "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain [kingdom] of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth out of Zion, and the world of the Lord from Jerusalem." —Micah 4:1,2 "And
it shall come to pass, that |
